Salt Lake Tribune – by Brian Maffly

Federal land managers are moving forward with a proposed sale of controversial oil and gas leases in Utah’s San Rafael Swell and on the doorstep of Dinosaur National Monument, the agency announced Friday.

The move comes despite misgivings from Uintah County and National Park Service officials, who fear that energy development would detract from Dinosaur’s scenic allure.

Gov. Gary Herbert had asked the BLM to “re-evaluate” three leases bordering the Utah half of Dinosaur. BLM agreed to “defer” two of the leases, but a third is to be sold along with 74 others at the BLM’s quarterly auction to be held online Dec. 11.

Continue reading “BLM to auction oil and gas leases next to Utah’s Dinosaur National Monument and in San Rafael Swell”

Fox News

President Donald Trump is expected to announce the end of an Obama-era program that allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children stay and contribute to the country, sources told Fox News late Sunday.

An official announcement to the end of the program will be on Tuesday, the sources said. After the announcement, Congress will have a six-month window to act.

The program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was established in 2012. DACA, as it is usually referred to, protected young immigrants who came to the U.S. as children without legal status.   Continue reading “DACA: Trump expected to end ‘Dreamers’ immigration program”

Fox News

City officials in San Diego declared a public health emergency Friday over an outbreak of hepatitis A that has been linked to at least 15 deaths and 400 hospitalizations.

The liver disease outbreak started last November, with the homeless population affected most. The emergency declaration will help the city access state funds and provide legal protection for new sanitation measures, the Union-Tribune reported.     Continue reading “San Diego declares health emergency to combat hepatitis A outbreak”

Huffington Post – by Carla Herreria

The police officer seen in a viral video arresting a nurse in Salt Lake City is now under criminal investigation, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill ordered a criminal investigation Friday into the actions of Detective Jeff Payne who aggressively arrested nurse Alex Wubbels on July 26 for refusing to draw blood from a severely injured patient.
Continue reading “Officer Who Arrested Utah Nurse In Viral Video Is Now Under Criminal Investigation”

Forbes – by Nick Sibilla

In a major win for private property rights, a federal judge ruled that Indiana can no longer seize vehicles under its controversial civil forfeiture laws, which allow police to confiscate property without filing criminal charges. Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled that Indiana’s laws were unconstitutional because they failed to provide a timely hearing for the property owner to contest the seizure.

The decision comes just days after Hoosier lawmakers held a summer study committee to discuss forfeiture reform, and less than a month after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new policy to expand police seizures nationwide.  Continue reading “Federal Judge Rules Indiana Seizing Cars With Civil Forfeiture Is Unconstitutional”

McClatchy DC – by Anita Kumar, Franco Ordoñez

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is expected to end an Obama-era program that shielded young people from deportation, but he will likely let the immigrants known as Dreamers stay in the United States until their work permits run out, according to multiple people familiar with the policy negotiation.

That plan would allow Trump to fulfill a campaign promise to end one of Barack Obama’s signature initiatives while also giving the president a way to keep the pledge he made after Inauguration Day to treat the Dreamers with “great heart,” said sources on both sides of the issue who are involved in the discussions.
Continue reading “Trump expected to halt Obama’s program but allow some Dreamers to stay temporarily”

Sent to us by a reader.

SHTF Plan – by Daniel Lang

When it comes figuring out how to invest your money, one of the best things you can do is to simply watch what other more successful people are doing. Investors who have made a lot of money, either did so by being lucky, or more likely, they have a long track record of predicting events, identifying trends, and avoiding economic crashes. Whether they’re really savvy or they’re just elitists with access to insider information that the public isn’t privy to, they know something that we don’t. And that something has made them very rich.  Continue reading “Rothschild Just Pulled A Lot Of Money Out Of The US: “Period of Monetary Accommodation May Well Be Coming To An End.””

Washington Times – by Andrea Noble

The country’s sheriffs are nearing an agreement with the federal Department of Homeland Security that would let them act as contractors to hold illegal immigrants in jail for pickup, hoping they have found a way to handle the increasingly tricky issue of immigration detention requests.

Rather than holding immigrants on their own authority, the sheriffs say, they would be acting on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would pay to have detainees kept until federal officers can get them.   Continue reading “Sheriffs near agreement to act as contractors, hold illegal immigrants for feds”

NBC News

CROSBY, Texas — A flooded chemical plant near Houston exploded twice early Thursday, sending a plume of smoke into the air and triggering a fire that the firm plans to let “burn itself out.”

Arkema Group, one of the world’s largest chemical companies, had warned Wednesday that the plant would catch fire and explode at some point — adding that there was nothing to stop it.

The plant in Crosby, Texas — about 20 miles northeast of Houston — was inundated by more than 40 inches of rain from Hurricane Harvey and has been without electricity since Sunday.   Continue reading “Crosby, Texas, Chemical Plant Explodes Twice, Arkema Group Says”

Fox News – by Alex Pappas

The FBI is declining to turn over files related to its investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails by arguing a lack of public interest in the matter.

Ty Clevenger, an attorney in New York City, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in March of 2016 asking for a variety of documents from the FBI and the Justice Department, including correspondence exchanged with Congress about the Clinton email investigation.   Continue reading “FBI shuts down request for files on Hillary Clinton by citing lack of public interest”

Yahoo News

After receiving heavy criticism for keeping its doors closed while thousands remained without shelter, Pastor Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch will open its doors on Tuesday to residents who have been displaced by the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.

“We have never closed our doors. We will continue to be a distribution center for those in need,” reads a statement by church spokesman and Osteen’s father-in-law Donald Iloff from Monday, according to CNN.   Continue reading “Joel Osteen’s Houston Megachurch To House Displaced When ‘Shelters Reach Capacity’”

Chicago City Wire – by Giovanni Whaley

As of Monday, when Gov. Bruce Rauner signed Senate Bill 31 into law, police in Illinois may not detain, arrest or even search a person based on immigration status.

For one man in Chicago who lost his brother at the hands of an illegal immigrant, the enactment is a tough pill to swallow.

Dennis McCann was killed by a drunken driver in 2011, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. The driver, Saul Chavez, was arrested but eventually released on bail. He then fled to Mexico, according to the paper.
Continue reading “Activist argues ‘sanctuary’ status makes Illinois a safe place for criminals”

Huffington Post – by By Nina Golgowski

More than a dozen senior citizens are reportedly back on dry land after a plea for help showed them sitting in waist-deep floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

The residents of La Vita Bella, an assisted living home in Dickinson, Texas, were trapped this weekend when water poured inside, Kim McIntosh, whose mother owns the facility, told the New York Daily News.
Continue reading “Nursing Home Residents Seen Sitting In Waist-High Water Before Rescue”

Yahoo News

Emergency workers begin releasing water into the Buffalo Bayou from two flood-control dams in Houston on Monday, a move that could impact thousands of residents, officials said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it began to release water from the Addicks and Barker dams early Monday morning to prevent uncontrollable flooding of the Houston-metropolitan area as water levels continued to rise rapidly beneath torrential rains being released by Tropical Storm Harvey.   Continue reading “Army Corps releases water from 2 Houston dams; thousands of homes to be impacted”

am New York – by  Ivan Pereira

The people of Texas will get a helping hand from New York as Hurricane Harvey continues to devistate the southeastern part of the state.

New York City on Sunday deployed to Houston the Office of Emergency Management’s Urban Search & Rescue New York Task Force One, an 80-member unit including representatives of the NYPD and FDNY, as well as EMS responders.   Continue reading “Hurricane Harvey relief efforts getting assist from NYPD, FDNY”

CNN – by Susannah Cullinane

US agents have arrested 30 illegal immigrants thought to have crossed into San Diego through a cross-border smuggling tunnel from Mexico, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.

The agents discovered the tunnel after encountering several people who had apparently just been smuggled into the California city, near the Otay Mesa port of entry, early Saturday, CBP said.   Continue reading “Illegal immigrants arrested after cross-border tunnel found in San Diego”

Weather Channel

Thousands of homes are taking on water and hundreds of people are trapped and stranded in rising floodwaters across the Houston metro after Harvey dumped more than 20″ of rain. The death toll from Harvey has risen to at least 3 as hundreds of water rescues are underway across the area.

“There is life-threatening, catastrophic flooding happening now in Southeast Harris County,” Jeff Lindner of the Harris County Flood Control District told The Weather Channel.

Lindner said water had overtopped Interstate 10, that there had been more than 400 water rescues overnight in the Houston area and that hundreds more were stranded in cars across roadways in the area.   Continue reading “Catastrophic Flooding Happening Now in Houston as Harvey’s Death Toll Rises to 3”