Category: Local Interest,

Monsanto pleads guilty to illegally spraying banned pesticide on Maui

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Hawaii,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

[Monsanto] plead guilty to spraying a banned pesticide on research crops in Maui, Hawaii, the US Department of Justice said.

Monsanto Co., also the maker of weedkiller Roundup, will pay the fines for storing the pesticide Penncap-M, an “acute hazardous waste” at sites [on] Maui and Molokai.

…The company knew that its use was prohibited after 2013. Penncap-M is considered an “acute hazardous waste.” The company also told employees to reenter the area only seven days after the spraying, when it knew that years earlier, 31 days was set as the required amount of time. 

Monsanto pleads guilty to illegally spraying banned pesticide in Maui – CNN

Consequences for willful and flagrant endangerment of employees, locals, and the environment should include criminal prosecution for the decision makers involved.

Thousands of artifacts discovered at a 12,500-year-old site in Connecticut

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

An ancient settlement that dates back 12,500 years has been uncovered in Connecticut  that was once home to southern New England’s earliest inhabitants.

…The artifacts discovered in Connecticut coincide with a study from 2015 that concluded the North American hunters used spear-throwers to hurl their weapons over longer distances and bring down large prey.

Anthropologists have studied tiny fractures in the stone spear points used by the Paleo-Indian hunters that began appearing in North America between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago.

He found they contained distinctive chips and fractures that match those created in stone tools that have been thrown using a spear-thrower or atlatl.

These are essentially levers that are attached to the end of the spear or dart, allowing it to be thrown far faster and further than if thrown by hand like a javelin.

The technology is widely thought to be a predecessor of the bow and arrow that later became common among the Native cultures in North America.

…In addition to providing Paleoindian hunters increased lethality and safety, the portability and range of the spear-thrower may have meant that Paleoindian hunters were not tethered to trapping areas and knick points, thereby facilitating greater mobility and reduced hunting-group sizes.’

Thousands of artifacts discovered at a 12,500-year-old site in Connecticut | Daily Mail Online

wild

Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Local Interest,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

Fueling the district’s economic problems is the fact that 24% of the 3,750 students in Flint Community Schools are designated as special education, a number that is nearly twice as high as the 13.2% statewide average.

…Flint’s water was contaminated with lead when officials used corrosive river water from April 2014 to October 2015 that wasn’t properly treated. In children, lead exposure can result in serious effects on IQ, ability to pay attention and academic achievement. 

Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs

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Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Local Interest,, Modern Parenting,, Schools,Leave a comment

The contamination of this long-struggling city’s water exposed nearly 30,000 schoolchildren to a neurotoxin known to have detrimental effects on children’s developing brains and nervous systems. Requests for special education or behavioral interventions began rising four years ago, when the water contamination became public, bolstering a class-action lawsuit that demanded more resources for Flint’s children.

…The percentage of the city’s students who qualify for special education services has nearly doubled, to 28 percent, from 15 percent the year the lead crisis began, and the city’s screening center has received more than 1,300 referrals since December 2018. The results: About 70 percent of the students evaluated have required school accommodations for issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as A.D.H.D.; dyslexia; or mild intellectual impairment.

…Pediatricians here caution against overdiagnosing children as irreparably brain damaged, if only to avoid stigmatizing an entire city. 

…The suit accuses the school systems of violating federal and state laws, including the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, by failing to identify students who could qualify for special education services, by failing to provide the mandated instructional services to those who do qualify and by punishing children for disability-related behavior.

Students were denied assessments for education plans or behavioral intervention plans, and then were segregated from their peers, secluded and restrained, repeatedly sent home from school, expelled or arrested, the lawsuit said.

…The district ignored her pleas to accommodate his A.D.H.D., which his pediatrician said was exacerbated by elevated lead levels.

…Bethany Dumanois, who has taught in Flint for 25 years, works two jobs to keep teaching because she said she cannot abandon children whose discolored, rash-covered skin and chunks of exposed scalp haunt her. In the earlier days of the crisis, she spent class time addressing questions from her students about whether they would die from the water like their class lizard, a bearded dragon, did.

…Instead of investing in more teachers, social workers and special education aides, she said the district had pushed laptop computers and iPads, “just jumping on any bandwagon, trying to sugarcoat what’s happening with these kids.”

On a recent night at a local restaurant, Ms. Pascal, the 23-year Flint teaching veteran, vented over the “injustices everywhere.” The district adopted a new reading program with no money to buy the instructional materials. She had been asked to identify a handful of her students for a new behavior support program, but wants to include all 21.

She thinks about quitting, but said she refuses to leave another vacancy for the district to fill.

Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water – The New York Times

sigh…

Michigan State Rep Barred From Speaking After ‘Vagina’ Comments

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Local Interest,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Brown, a Democrat, argued that her Jewish faith allowed for therapeutic abortions when the mother’s life is in danger without regard to length of pregnancy.

“I have not asked you to adopt and adhere to my religious beliefs. Why are you asking me to adopt yours?” she said. But what came next is what got her in trouble: “And finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no.'”

…She defended her use of the word “vagina,” saying it is the “anatomically medically correct term.”

“If they are going to legislate my anatomy, I see no reason why I cannot mention it,” she said according to the Free Press.

“Regardless of their reasoning, this is a violation of my First Amendment rights and directly impedes my ability to serve the people who elected me into office,” Brown added.

…”Byrum, D-Onondaga, caused a disturbance on the House floor Wednesday when she wasn’t allowed to introduce an amendment to the abortion regulations bill banning men from getting a vasectomy unless the sterilization procedure was necessary to save a man’s life,” the Detroit News reports.

Michigan State Rep Barred From Speaking After ‘Vagina’ Comments : The Two-Way : NPR

hmmmm

A Federal Judge Orders Sweeping Changes To Bond Hearings In Boston Immigration Court

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Boston,, Domestic Affairs,, Granite State,, Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Saris ruled that asking an undocumented immigrant who is eligible for bond to prove why they are neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community violates the individual’s due process.

Moving forward, the burden of proof will be placed instead on federal immigration officials, similar to how bond hearings are decided in criminal court proceedings. 

Saris additionally ordered immigration judges to consider alternative conditions to detention, like GPS monitoring and orders of supervision that require regular check-ins with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A Federal Judge Orders Sweeping Changes To Bond Hearings In Boston Immigration Court | WBUR News

hmmm

Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Wins Court Battle Against Police Union Over ‘Do Not Call List’ – NBC 10 Philadelphia

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Local Interest,Leave a comment

The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ruled against a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, which claimed that the DA’s office violated police officers’ rights by maintaining a “Do Not Call List” filled with the names of cops whose past misconduct branded them as unreliable witnesses.

…The court added that Krasner has an “obligation” to the information because it could negatively affect the outcomes of future court cases.

Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Wins Court Battle Against Police Union Over ‘Do Not Call List’ – NBC 10 Philadelphia

If the rights and privileges of police officers do not come second to the greater good than their very existence is an insult to not only law and order but justice.

Continued efforts by an association to put the rights and privileges of so-called officers of the law above the just functions of a civilized society is an offence against the society they are duty bound to serve and disqualifies from the position they claim to hold.

The moment any law enforcement officer or organization seeks to raise an officer above the law or set aside behavior that is not 100% strictly in accordance with the laws they are sworn to uphold, they become an enemy of law and order itself.

Kauai’s Waimea High School gets a taste of new farm-to-table menu

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Hawaii,, Schools,Leave a comment

“It’s so important, I believe, for the people in the state of Hawaii to have food that’s locally grown, nutritious, delicious, and just easily accessible,” says First Lady of Hawaii Dawn Ige. “As an educator, I know how important a healthy meal is. If students have a healthy meal in their stomach, it just makes them feel better, so learning becomes a more natural and more exciting thing for them to do.”

Farm-to-school is one thing, but farm-to-state is an even bigger goal. Aside from the 100,000 meals that the Department of Education puts out a day, the prisons serve both the corrections officers and inmates. Senator Kouchi estimates that that’s another 13,000 meals, and points out that there’s also the state hospitals to take into consideration.

“If we hit this goal, we can more than double our food production here in Hawaii,” says Senator Kouchi.

Kauai’s Waimea High School gets a taste of new farm-to-table menu – HI Now

hmmm

Some Louisiana felons regain the right to vote

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Gulf Coast Region,Leave a comment

[Last year] Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed into law a bill that will restore voting rights to people with felony records who are on probation or parole, as long as they have been out of prison for five years. Both chambers of the state’s GOP-controlled legislature passed House Bill 265 with bipartisan support in May 2018.

No longer ‘voiceless,’ Louisiana felons regain the right to vote – ThinkProgress

hmmmm

Julian Castro whines that NH not diverse enough to hold first primary, and if he didn’t succeed there it can’t be that he didn’t show up enough it has to be the fact that there are too many white people there

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Granite State,, Race,Leave a comment

Reacting to Castro’s comments, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley told WMUR, “I can imagine he’s frustrated but blaming his campaign’s challenges on the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire is a bit much.”

Julian Castro says NH not diverse enough to hold first primary, time for change

Man, he never stops whining, does he?

Surely his comments that the first four states aren’t diverse enough has NOTHING to do with the fact that his poll numners are in the basement.

Number one, don’t expect to do well in retail campaigning state without showing up. And more importantly, when you are asking for the most powerful job in the Western World don’t be a whiny little bitch when things don’t go your way.

Bye, Felicia!

Standing between Jeff Sessions and the Senate is a certain Donald Trump

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Local Interest,Leave a comment

Most of Sessions’ former colleagues are remaining on the sidelines of the crowded primary, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will remain neutral.

…Sessions said he did not regret recusing himself from the Russia investigation — a decision Trump remains furious over. But he did push back on the impeachment inquiry Trump faces in the House, saying that the president has faced a “continuous political attack” but that Trump “conducted himself in this matter within the law” in his dealings with Ukraine.

…The other candidates have already signaled a willingness to attack Sessions directly. Tuberville put out a video shortly ahead of Sessions’ announcement showing news clips of Trump criticizing his former attorney general. 

…Jones brushed off any concerns about Sessions entering the race, saying of the GOP primary: “They’re the ones that are running around with their hair on fire. It doesn’t affect anything that we’re doing.”

Standing between Jeff Sessions and the Senate is a certain Donald Trump – POLITICO

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