From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
In its liquid form, tritium looks just like water: clear and odorless.
Yet it’s radioactive, and in the past two months, two nuclear power plants outside New York City and Miami were found to be leaking tritium: the former into groundwater within the facility’s confines, the second straight into Biscayne Bay. Continue reading “Nuclear Plants Leak Radiation, and Regulator Faces Scrutiny”
Dallas Morning News – by Bobby Blanchard
AUSTIN — A U.S. District Court approved a motion Monday for Texas to intervene and join a lawsuit involving 90,000 acres of land along the Texas-Oklahoma border.
Last year, a group of landowners sued the Bureau of Land Management in a land dispute along the border. The seven families behind the lawsuit were suing for thousands of acres of land that the Bureau of Land Management claims belongs to the government. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — and several other Texas politicians — praised the landowners for suing. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton even filed a motion to join the suit, which the court approved Monday. Continue reading “Texas allowed in on Red River land grab lawsuit”
CHEVERLY, Md. (AP) — An undercover narcotics officer was mortally wounded by his own colleagues as he responded to an attack on his police station by a gunman with a death wish, their police chief angrily explained on Monday.
And while Officer Jacai Colson lay dying, the gunman’s two brothers coldly recorded Sunday’s firefight on their cellphones, Prince George’s County police chief Hank Stawinski said, tapping a podium and trying to contain his emotions. Continue reading “Maryland Police: Officer killed by friendly fire in attack”
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military to withdraw most of its forces from Syria, timing his move to the launch of Syria peace talks Monday — an end game that allows the Russian leader to cash in on his gains and reduce his risks in the conflict.
The start of the negotiations in Geneva offers Putin an opportune moment to declare an official end to the 5 ½-month Russian air campaign that has allowed Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army to win back some key ground and strengthen his positions ahead of the talks. With Russia’s main goals in Syria achieved, the pullback will allow Putin to pose as a peacemaker and help ease tensions with NATO member Turkey and the Gulf monarchies vexed by Moscow’s military action. Continue reading “Putin orders start of Russian military pullout from Syria”
An anti-Donald Trump rally flew Mexican flags from cars and trucks on Sunday as it rolled through the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, local Fox affiliate KTTV reports.
“Most of the cars carried Mexican flags — in a clear protest over Trump’s plan to build a wall at the border,” KTTV reported, adding that the protest was peaceful. Continue reading “Anti-Donald Trump Rally Waves Mexican Flags in L.A.”
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A criminal and internal investigation is underway at Kellogg’s after a video surfaced online that appears to show a man filming himself urinating on products on an assembly line.
An internal investigation found it was recorded in 2014 at a facility in Memphis, Tennessee, the company said. Continue reading “Video appears to show man urinating on products at Kellogg’s assembly line”
Donald Trump‘s Chicago rally Friday night was canceled as large crowds of protesters amassed inside and outside the venue, leading organizers to fear for the safety of those gathered.
Five arrests were made and two police officers were injured, interim Chicago Police Superintendent John Escalante said during a press conference Saturday night. Of those five arrests, two each were made by the Chicago Police Department and University of Illinois police, and one arrest was made by Illinois State Police. One of the individuals arrested was a journalist. Continue reading “Trump Rally Postponed in Chicago as Large Crowds of Protesters Gather; 5 Arrested”
Dallas Morning News – by Lauren McGaughy
AUSTIN — President Barack Obama will visit Austin on Friday to help kick off South by Southwest. The same day, pro-gun protesters plan to march in the streets to show support for the state’s new open carry law.
This isn’t the first time protesters have openly carried guns during the nine-day festival. But it is the first time that SXSW organizers have brought in the president, who has repeatedly called for tightening gun laws in the wake of mass shootings nationwide. Continue reading “Open carry leader: Obama’s Austin visit during SXSW gun rally could ‘get interesting’”
The two top executives of Wounded Warrior Project were fired Thursday by the board of directors.
Americans donate hundreds of millions of dollars each year to the charity, expecting their money will help some of the 52,000 wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Continue reading “Wounded Warrior Project execs fired”
WASHINGTON — Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, met with President Obama on Thursday for the first official visit by a Canadian leader in 19 years, a diplomatic honor made possible in part by new pledges of cooperation on combating climate change.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Trudeau announced Thursday morning new commitments to reduce planet-warming emissions of methane, a chemical contained in natural gas that is about 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide and that can leak from drilling wells and pipelines. Continue reading “Obama and Justin Trudeau of Canada Unveil Efforts to Fight Climate Change”
Fracking opponents were dealt a big blow Wednesday (March 9) by the state’s 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, which upheld a district court ruling that St. Tammany Parish government cannot use its zoning regulations to block a proposed oil drilling project northeast of Mandeville. The controversial case is likely to move to the state Supreme Court.
The appeals court in Baton Rouge, which heard arguments in the case Nov. 5, upheld the April 2015 ruling of 19th Judicial District Judge William Morvant in the lawsuit brought by St. Tammany and the group Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany in an effort to block the project by Helis Oil & Gas of New Orleans.
Continue reading “Fracking opponents lose round in state appeals court”
Speaking at Common Cause’s ‘Blueprint for Democracy’ conference today, Edward Snowden used his time to speak out about surveillance, personal liberties and of course, the San Bernadino iPhone.
“The FBI says Apple has the ‘exclusive technical means’ to unlock the phone,” Snowden said. “Respectfully, that’s bullshit.” Continue reading “Snowden: FBI’s claim that it requires Apple’s help to unlock iPhone is ‘bullshit’”
(Reuters) – The robots sent in to find highly radioactive fuel at Fukushima’s nuclear reactors have “died”: a subterranean “ice wall” around the crippled plant meant to stop groundwater from becoming contaminated has yet to be finished. And authorities still don’t how to dispose of highly radioactive water stored in an ever mounting number of tanks around the site. Continue reading “The Robots Sent into Fukushima have “Died””
New York Post – by Shawn Cohen
A Queens man was found with a cache of weapons that included an AK-47 assault rifle and 17,000 rounds of ammunition after police learned he ordered a fake NYPD police ID online, police said.
Lee Bergman, 43, was arrested Tuesday morning when police discovered the arsenal in a safe in his home at 81-00 Shore Front Parkway in Far Rockaway. Continue reading “Queens man found with AK-47 assault rifle, 17,000 rounds of ammunition”
The Republican National Committee announced today it is suing the State Department for access to more of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s records and those of her top aides.
The RNC said it has filed two separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in an effort to compel the State Department to respond to records requests the RNC made last October and December. Continue reading “GOP Suing for Hillary Clinton’s Text Messages”
BALTIMORE (AP) — Two Baltimore schools police officers have been charged after cellphone video surfaced showing one of them slapping and kicking a teen at a school while the second officer stood by.
Anthony Spence, 44, and Saverna Bias, 53, turned themselves in Tuesday night, city police announced in a written statement Wednesday morning. Both are charged with second-degree assault and misconduct in office. Spence is also charged with second-degree child abuse. Online court records show both posted bond and were released Wednesday. Continue reading “2 Baltimore schools officers face charges after video probe”
SEATTLE (KOMO) – Nine Seattle firefighters were injured in an apparent natural gas explosion that leveled at least three businesses in the Greenwood neighborhood early Wednesday morning.
The explosion happened in the area of the Greenwood Quick Stop Market at N. 85th Street and Greenwood Avenue N. just before 1:45 a.m. Continue reading “9 firefighters hurt as blast levels building in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood”
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told the Senate Homeland Security Committee Tuesday that more must be done to address the problems in Central America that have led to an uptick in unaccompanied children attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, because “there’s only so much border security you can accomplish” to deal with people who are motivated to leave their homes to travel to the U.S. Continue reading “DHS Secretary: ‘There’s Only So Much Border Security You Can Accomplish’”
A cross section of California leaders in business, education, law enforcement and religion joined Tuesday in urging the Supreme Court to uphold President Obama‘s plan to offer temporary relief and work permits to as many as 5 million immigrants who have been living in the U.S. illegally.
They drew a sharp contrast with Texas, which has complained of the burden imposed by immigrants and led the legal fight to block Obama’s executive action. Continue reading “California leaders tell Supreme Court that undocumented workers are making the state stronger”
National Security: The Washington Post, of all places, found that not only did Hillary Clinton send and receive classified material on her unsecured email server as Secretary of State, she wrote dozens of classified emails herself.
To understand the implications of this revelation, let’s rewind the clock to almost exactly one year ago, when Clinton first addressed her private email controversy at a press conference held in the United Nations building. Continue reading “Email Scandal: Hillary Clinton’s Last Defense Just Blew Up”