From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
As tornadoes and straight-line winds blew off roofs and destroyed buildings Tuesday night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, most of the city’s warning sirens failed to sound.
Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken said Wednesday that the problem was caused when an employee in the city’s 911 dispatch center didn’t follow the proper procedure to initiate all 77 of the city’s warning sirens, the Argus Herald reported. Instead, only one quarter of them were activated.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government will act to ban thousands of flavors used in e-cigarettes, President Donald Trump said Wednesday, responding to a recent surge in underage vaping that has alarmed parents, politicians and health authorities nationwide.
The surprise White House announcement could remake the multibillion-dollar vaping industry, which has been driven by sales of flavored nicotine formulas such as “grape slushie” and “strawberry cotton candy.” Continue reading “Government plans to ban flavors used in e-cigarettes”
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB/Gray News) – Some air rifles that can unexpectedly fire, even if the safety is engaged, are being recalled.
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Sept. 10 that about 1,400 DIANA Stormrider Gen 2 Air Rifles are being recalled. The unexpected firing of the rifles could result in serious injury or death, the commission says. Continue reading “RECALL: Air rifles can unexpectedly fire, posing risk of serious injury or death”
Watching Jassmine McBride struggle to breathe is vicariously excruciating, particularly in one scene during “Flint’s Deadly Water” showing her on a hospital gurney, writhing with discomfort. Her painful is palpable on two levels, the physical aspect being more obvious. But this “Frontline” episode emphasizes the emotional agony of this moment by first showing McBride daring to hope for a treat most people take for granted: a simple birthday party. Continue reading “This is our “Chernobyl”: Frontline’s “Flint’s Deadly Water” exposes shocking Legionnaires’ crisis”
Fall color will likely reach its peak later than usual this year across a large portion of the United States, and the weather is to blame.
By mid-September, some parts of the Rockies and northern tier often begin to see the early stages of fall color, eventually reaching a late-September peak in the Rockies’ highest elevations, northern MInnesota and northern New England. Then, an early- or mid-October peak is typically found in the rest of the Rockies, Midwest, Appalachians and most of the Northeast. Continue reading “Why Peak Fall Foliage Could Be Delayed This Year”
A former top official in the Federal Emergency Management Agency was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly taking bribes from the head of a company who received $1.8 billion in federal contracts to repair Puerto Rico’s power grid after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.
Ahsha Tribble, a deputy regional administrator, another former FEMA official, Jovanda Patterson, and Donald Keith Ellison, the former president of COBRA Acquisitions, were charged in a 15-count indictment. Continue reading “Former top FEMA official busted for taking bribes after Hurricane Maria”
A sixth person has died of a severe lung disease tied to vaping.
Kansas health officials confirmed on Tuesday that a person over the age of 50 died of a lung illness after vaping. It marked the state’s first death among six cases of severe lung disease possibly tied to vaping. Continue reading “A sixth person has died of a vaping-related lung illness”
Hurricane Dorian’s storm surge and battering surf changed the coastline of parts of North Carolina’s southernmost Outer Banks by carving dozens of new inlets into the beach there.
The National Park Service (NPS) estimated 54 new inlets were cut into the narrow strip of sandy beaches in the southernmost Outer Banks. The storm also cause damaged to historic structures and cabins along North Carolina’s Cape Lookout National Seashore.
In early Spring of this year, an Air National Guard crew made a routine trip from the U.S. to Kuwait to deliver supplies.
What wasn’t routine was where the crew stopped along the way: President Donald Trump’s Turnberry resort, about 50 miles outside Glasgow, Scotland. Continue reading “Air Force crew made an odd stop on a routine trip: Trump’s Scottish resort”
In response to several threats made toward area schools in recent weeks — and a broader climate including mass shootings in Texas and beyond — the FBI and numerous local law enforcement personnel gathered in Bryan on Thursday morning for a news conference designed to encourage the public to help deter threats made to schools and other public spaces.
Led by the FBI, a coalition of safety entities launched a new public awareness campaign titled “#ThinkBeforeYouPost: It’s Not A Joke” at the County Administration Building.
Continue reading “FBI, local law enforcement launch awareness campaign against hoax threats”
MERCER COUNTY, W.Va. (WVVA) As mass shootings become more and more commonplace, Walmart and Kroger are both changing their policies regarding guns.
Walmart is no longer selling ammunition for hand guns and short-barrel rifles, requesting customers to refrain from openly carrying firearms including ‘open carry’ states. Continue reading “Gun owners respond to Walmart and Kroger gun policy change”
Walmart and the parent company of Fred Meyer stores are both asking customers not to openly carry firearms into their stores, even if it’s legal in their state.
Walmart announced that they would be taking the step on Tuesday, and Fred Meyer’s parent company Kroger followed suit. Continue reading “Fred Meyer’s parent company, Kroger, joins Walmart in asking customers not to open carry”
A vegan woman is taking her neighbors to court over the smell of their backyard barbecue, according to Australia’s 9News.
Cilla Carden, who lives in the Australian city of Perth, has filed a complaint with her region’s highest court over the issue. Carden’s claim states that her neighbors cook fish so often that she’s unable to even go outside. Continue reading “Vegan woman in Western Australia takes neighbors to court because she can smell their barbecue”
The New Republic – by Lena Solow
When teachers and other school staff in West Virginia walked off the job in 2018, news coverage of the historic strike focused on bread-and-butter issues like their rising health-care premiums and low wages. There were horror stories of teachers working extra jobs and struggling to pay for emergency medical costs. But there were other galvanizing factors that, though less discussed, were no less galling—indignities that have become increasingly familiar to workers across the country. Continue reading “The Scourge of Worker Wellness Programs”
ODESSA, Tx. (KOSA) — UPDATE: Officials have released the names of the seven people who were killed in Saturday’s mass shooting.
– Leilah Hernandez, 15
– Joe Griffith, 40, Odessa
– Mary Granados, 29, Odessa
– Edwin Peregrino, 25, Odessa
– Rodolfo Julio Arco, 57, Odessa
– Kameron Karltess Brown, 30, Brownwood
– Raul Garcia, 35, El Paso
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Law enforcement agencies shared new details on the recent mass shooting in a press conference on Saturday. Continue reading “Officials share details of what happened leading up to Saturday’s mass shooting”
ODESSA, Texas (KWTX) Police in Midland report a gunman was shot and killed at the Cinergy movie theater in Odessa following several shootings in the area that left five people dead and an additional 21 wounded.
“It has been confirmed that the active shooter was shot and killed at the Cinergy in Odessa,” Midland police said on Facebook, “There is no active shooter at this time. All agencies are investigating reports of possible suspects.” Continue reading “Active shooter killed in Odessa; at least 5 victims dead”
President Donald Trump’s personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, is no longer part of the administration as of Thursday, according to reports.
The 27-year-old’s sudden resignation reportedly came after the president discovered that she shared details about the Trump family and Oval Office operations at a recent off-the-record dinner with reporters in New Jersey, according to a New York Times report that cited two anonymous sources familiar with the departure. Politico later confirmed the exit. Continue reading “Madeleine Westerhout out as Trump’s personal assistant: reports”
New York Post – by Yaron Steinbuch
A New Hampshire woman is pissed off with the state Department of Motor Vehicles, which told her to surrender her vanity license plate because of a common parental phrase – PB4WEGO.
Wendy Auger received a letter from the DMV informing her to turn in the plate, which she has had for 15 years, because phrases involving bodily functions are forbidden, according to seacoastline.com. Continue reading “New Hampshire woman fights state for ‘PB4WEGO’ vanity plate”
Huffington Post – by Josey Harvey
President Donald Trump seriously does not want you to think he suggested bombing hurricanes.
He vehemently denied the claim for a third time on Tuesday, after Axios dropped a scoop Sunday that said multiple anonymous sources from the White House had attested to hearing the president make a suggestion to “nuke” hurricanes in order to prevent them from making landfall. Continue reading “Trump Seems Seriously Touchy About The Whole Nuking Hurricanes Story”
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — The Latest on Oklahoma’s opioids case against Johnson & Johnson (all times local):
3:10 p.m.
An Oklahoma judge has found Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries helped fuel the state’s opioid drug crisis and ordered the consumer products giant to pay $572 million to help address the problem. Continue reading “Oklahoma judge finds J&J fueled opioid crisis”