From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
The Jamestown Sun – by Jack Dura
MANDAN, N.D. – Mandan and North Dakota officials say he’s a “prolific and persistent requester” who inundates local government with requests for open records and attorney general opinions.
“It’s because every time I turn over a rock, I find something else and it leads me to two more rocks,” Jordan said. “I turn over those rocks, and there they are.” Continue reading “Frequent open records requests by Mandan man catch government’s attention”
Clouds of smoke filled the streets of Trenton as dozens of American Revolutionary War re-enactors engaged in a running battle through town, firing muskets during Trenton’s Patriots Week.
Residents and tourists snapped photos as they walked alongside the re-enactment of the Battles of Trenton, getting a close-up look at the action. Continue reading “Revolutionary War re-enactors bring the Battle of Trenton to life in historical blast from the past”
David Graham Phillips rose later than usual on January 23, 1911, following a late night of editing the corrective proofs of his new short story for the Saturday Evening Post. “Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise” was, like most of his stories, a scandalous one — this time about an unrepentant prostitute.
Phillips, who had just been heralded as “the leading American novelist” by H.L. Mencken, was carrying the final proofs that he intended to mail to the magazine as he left his building, the National Arts Club on Manhattan’s Gramercy Park. Continue reading “(1911) New York Sullivan Act (Gun Control)”
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) Groundbreaking research from the University of Vermont could help pinpoint the cause of a mysterious disease that has killed tens of thousands of sea stars up and down the West Coast.
You wouldn’t think of the Green Mountain State for sea star research, but a University of Vermont lab’s study is making waves in the search for what’s causing a devastating disease. Continue reading “UVM professor making waves in marine biology research”
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) Should criminal action be forgiven if it’s done for the greater good? That’s the case nine disorderly conduct defendants are making following a summer protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
“I would absolutely do this all again,” said Rachel Siegel, who along with he 14-year-old daughter was arrested in late July. They were among a group of people that blocked a road outside a Williston U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement facility. “It’s important in the great tradition of civil disobedience to follow our higher moral code and that sometimes it’s contrary to the law of our government.” Continue reading “Vermont ICE protestors use ‘necessity defense’”
Apr 12, 2018 — This week, we’re taking a close look at a part of the justice system we don’t hear much about. That’s your local village or town court and the justices who preside over them.
In the North Country, an overwhelming majority — about 85 percent — of our local judges were not lawyers before they took the bench. They don’t have to be, according to state law. Continue reading “How does NY go about turning a regular person into a judge?”
After 40 years of dairy farming, I sold my herd of cows. The herd had been in my family since 1904; I know all 45 cows by name. I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to take over our farm – who would? Dairy farming is little more than hard work and possible economic suicide.
A grass-based organic dairy farm bought my cows. I couldn’t watch them go. In June, I milked them for the last time, left the barn and let the truckers load them. A cop-out on my part? Perhaps, but being able to remember them as I last saw them, in my barn, chewing their cuds and waiting for pasture, is all I have left. Continue reading “Dairy farming is dying. After 40 years, I’m done.”
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) In this Burlington home, the presents are wrapped and favorite ornaments hung, but holiday festivities have been put on the back burner.
“I forgot about Christmas,” Logan Morey said.
Logan and his mom were volunteering at Spectrum Youth & Family Services, an organization that helps homeless teens. Continue reading “Burlington boy packing bags to help homeless teens”
The New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth, and Families wants to hire 57 more child protection service workers over the next two years.
The budget request comes after a steady increase in the number of investigations the agency is handling, and the number of children it is placing in foster care. Continue reading “DCYF: More Staff Needed to Handle Increase in Child Abuse and Foster Care Cases”
NORFOLK, Va. — A U.S. Navy hospital ship has returned home after its crew treated thousands of people in Central and South America, including migrants who fled crisis-wracked Venezuela.
Kevin Buckley, the commanding officer for medical operations on the USNS Comfort, said Tuesday that 26,000 people were treated for anything from hernias to cataracts.
Continue reading “Navy hospital ship Comfort returns after treating Venezuelan migrants”
The Jamestown Sun – by April Baumgarten
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — A northwest Minnesota man who planned to start a “second American Revolution” will spend five years in prison for storing a cache of pipe bombs at his hunting property.
Federal Judge John Tunheim handed down the 60-month sentence to Eric James Reinbold, 42, of Oklee, Minn., Friday morning in Fergus Falls. In July, a jury found Reinbold guilty of possessing unregistered destructive devices after a three-day trial. Continue reading “Northwest Minnesota man who plotted ‘second American revolution’ sentenced to five years”
In the village of Cook’s Bay, on the remote side of the remote island of Erromango, in the remote South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, 1-month-old Joy Nowai was given shots for hepatitis and tuberculosis that were delivered by a flying drone on Monday.
It may not have been the first vial of vaccine ever delivered that way, but it was the first in Vanuatu, which is the only country in the world to make its childhood vaccine program officially drone-dependent. Continue reading “An Island Nation’s Health Experiment: Vaccines Delivered by Drone”
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) In recent months, Vermont authorities have ramped up the hiring of drug recognition experts to help determine if a driver is impaired on something other than alcohol. But, defense lawyers and the ACLU are among those who continue to criticize the move, saying DREs are not scientifically reliable.
St. Johnsbury-based attorney David Sleigh said when it comes to the credibility of the drug recognition protocol, the margin for human error is just too much to trust. Continue reading “How do police test for drugged drivers?”
The Marshall Project – by Eli Hager and Anna Flagg
ori Lynn Adams was a mother of four living in poverty when Hurricane Floyd struck eastern North Carolina in 1999, flooding her trailer home and destroying her children’s pageant trophies and baby pictures. No stranger to money-making scams, Adams was convicted of filing a fraudulent disaster-relief claim with FEMA for a property she did not own. She also passed dozens of worthless checks to get by. Continue reading “How Incarcerated Parents Are Losing Their Children Forever”
DIXMONT (BDN) — The man who police shot after blowing up his Dixmont house is seeking $120 million from the law enforcement agencies and officers involved in the 20-hour June standoff that preceded the explosion and shooting.
In a notice of claim sent Monday to the Maine State Police and other law enforcement agencies, attorneys for 62-year-old Michael Grendell requested $20 million in compensatory damages for the loss of his house and injuries, and $100 million in punitive damages. Continue reading “Man whose house was blown up and shot by police seeks $120 million in damages”
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Buffalo’s four refugee resettlement agencies need to stay open because they provide critical support to newcomers who are helping revitalize New York state’s second-largest city.
The Democrat makes the argument in a letter Tuesday to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose agency lowered the national refugee cap this year to 30,000. Continue reading “Cuomo tells feds Buffalo needs all 4 refugee agencies”
TICONDEROGA, N.Y. (AP) — The first Christmas at Fort Ticonderoga under the newly formed United States was a riot — literally.
Staff and volunteers at the upstate New York tourist attraction and museum will stage a re-enactment this weekend of what’s known as the Christmas riot of 1776, when Pennsylvania soldiers attacked Massachusetts militiamen. Continue reading “Fort to restage 1776 Christmas riot involving US soldiers”
Minot Daily News – by Jill Schramm
The regional cloud-seeding project saw a busy June, although it had an overall average season and came in under budget, according to information provided the Ward County Commission Tuesday.
Darin Langerud, director of the North Dakota Cloud Modification Project, told commissioners the program flew just over 444 hours in District 2, which is similar to the 10-year average for flight hours during the June through August season. Continue reading “Cloud-seeding season sees average year after busy start”