Author: Joe from MassPrivateI

Washington Post – by May Cobb

It had been a good day at the park. A miracle day, in fact, for our family. Our 5-year-old son, who is moderately autistic and prone to violent outbursts and self-injurious behavior, had sailed through the outing without a meltdown. So it was all the more shocking when the police approached us.

It was a Sunday, four days before Thanksgiving, and my mom was in town visiting. My son had a good morning, and feeling encouraged by that, we selected a new park to visit, the boardwalk on Lady Bird Lake in Austin.   Continue reading “We had a great day at the park with our autistic son, until someone called the police”

Seattle Times – by Brendan Kiley

Seattle’s wireless mesh network, a node of controversy about police surveillance and the role of federal funding in city policing, is coming down.

Megan Erb, spokeswoman for Seattle Information Technology, said the city has budgeted $150,000 for contractor Prime Electric and city employees to remove dozens of surveillance cameras and 158 “wireless access points” — little, off-white boxes with antennae mounted on utility poles around the city.   Continue reading “Surveillance system or public-safety tool? Seattle dismantles controversial wireless mesh network”

Talk Poverty – by Rebecca Vallas

Last week, President Trump’s Department of Labor (DOL) hid an internal analysis that showed that its so-called tip-pooling rule would allow employers to pocket billions in workers’ tips. They claimed that they were “unable to quantify” the rule’s effects. But we now know that they did, in fact, conduct an analysis—they just didn’t want the American public to see the result, so they buried it.

I discussed what happened and what this policy is all about with Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist at the Department of Labor under President Obama.   Continue reading “The Department of Labor Buried Evidence Showing It’s Set to Steal Billions in Workers’ Wages”

Register Guard – by Christian Hill

Eugene Water & Electric Board commissioners changed course and adopted an “opt out” policy for so-called smart meters with a unanimous vote Tuesday night.

The decision means customers will have to contact EWEB and specifically direct that the meter attached to their home or business not transmit their electric and water usage data. Currently, meter readers visit customers’ properties monthly and take down that information.   Continue reading “EWEB decides customers must ‘opt out’ if they oppose ‘smart’ meters”

Penn Live – by Wesley Robinson

An amateur witness sketch proved to be no laughing matter after authorities were able to identify a man accused of a theft last month.

Hung Phouc Nguyen was identified, in part, thanks to the sketch drawn by a witness. As a result, he has been charged in connection to a theft around 1:20 p.m. Jan. 30 at Central Market in Lancaster.   Continue reading “Witness sketch proves useful, helps police ID market theft suspect: police”

Sputnik

Four days after reporting their Texas vacation home missing, Jo and Lonnie Harrison were informed Tuesday that it had been repossessed.

Turns out the Madisonville home that the Harrisons purchased as part of a land deal in November 2017 was moved to a new location roughly an hour away in Rockdale, Texas, by a repossession company based out of Temple, local news station ABC13 reported. Continue reading “‘Who Steals a House?’ Missing Texas Home Repossessed Down to ‘Blocks and Pipes’”

Reason – by Christian Britschgi

The Indiana branch of the American Civil Liberties Union is fighting for your constitutional right to flip off the cops.

Last week the group filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mark May of Vigo County, Indiana. May was ticketed $500 for flipping off Iowa State Trooper Matt Ames while driving down a state highway last year.   Continue reading “Do You Have a First Amendment Right to Flip Off the Cops?”

Yahoo News

HONOLULU (AP) — The FBI is investigating four Honolulu police officers who are accused of forcing a man to place his mouth on a urinal inside a public restroom, according to the police department’s top official.

Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard said another officer reported the suspected misconduct after the officers responded to a complaint Sunday afternoon of a person trespassing in the restroom.   Continue reading “Hawaii police officers accused of making man touch urinal”

MassPrivateI

In what can best be described as ironic, Big Brother is finally turning their sights on law enforcement.

After years of abuse, the city of Baltimore wants to purchase fingerprint scanners for the police.

An article in the Baltimore Sun reveals, the Baltimore Police Department  (BPD) is struggling to control overtime abuses, spending nearly a million dollars a week.  Continue reading “Big Brother wants to force police to submit fingerprints to prove they showed up for work”

ProPublica – by Kiah Collier, T. Christian Miller

The kickback scheme was allegedly hashed out over weeknight drinks at a steakhouse in a border county in south Texas. Amid surf and turf and expensive scotch, a Hidalgo County official said he would meet with contractors in the clubby confines of the restaurant in a strip mall in McAllen.

There, Godfrey Garza Jr., director of the county’s drainage district, cajoled company executives to hire a firm owned by his family in exchange for a cut of lucrative construction contracts, according to new documents filed in state district court in Hidalgo County. The target of the plan: a $232 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the county to build a border fence and rehabilitate aging dirt levees along the Rio Grande.   Continue reading “New Details Alleged in Scheme to Make Millions Off First Border Wall in Texas”

The Root – by Michael Harriot

In April 2016, a 13-year-old boy was shot by officers of the Baltimore Police Department. The boy ran when faced with the police, so they gave chase. During the chase, the police spotted the boy holding a gun, and when he turned, they shot the teenager. The youngster wasn’t critically injured, and it seemed like an open-and-shut case of a justifiable use of force.

Now people are wondering.   Continue reading “Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person”

KHON 2 News

Have you noticed more police out giving tickets on freeways and roads?

The Honolulu Police Department tells us thanks to federal grant money, it’s able to step up traffic enforcement by using the money to pay for officers’ overtime.

“We have a speeding grant, a distracted driving grant, a pedestrian grant, a bicycling grant, and then we have a Click It or Ticket occupant protection and a DUI grant,” said acting Capt. Ben Moszkowicz. “So with those five enforcement grants, total it’s approximately $1.8 million that we get from the federal government to bring in officers on overtime to conduct enforcement in addition to their regular duties.”   Continue reading “Notice more police officers out writing tickets? HPD explains why”

NJ.com – by Michaelangelo Conte

JERSEY CITY — Popcorn smoldering in a microwave oven caused the evacuation of hundreds of people, including prisoners, from the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City this afternoon.

A source told The Jersey Journal popcorn being heated triggered the alarm and a recorded message broadcast throughout the building ordering the evacuation into the cold and breezy weather at about 1:15 p.m.   Continue reading “How a salty snack led to the evacuation of a county courthouse”