Category: Media and Culture,

Montana bill would ban pipelines from crossing underneath rivers, lakes

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

The measure would ban pipelines with a diameter of 10 inches or greater from going under navigable water bodies and establish construction requirements for them to cross above ground, including rules on casings and leak detection. The new regulations would apply to fossil fuels such as crude petroleum, coal and their products.

The bill’s introduction comes after several major spills into Montana rivers over the last decade, ranging from Glendive to Billings. And it comes as the nation debates the best methods to transport crude oil, what risk to water sources is acceptable, and how far tribal sovereignty extends when projects cross aboriginal lands that are no longer tribally owned, as was the case outside Standing Rock where thousands have gathered for months to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline.

White Wolf : Montana bill would ban pipelines from crossing underneath rivers, lakes

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What went wrong at Newsweek, according to current and former staffers.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Her alleged sins included undermining the company’s attempt to enforce aggressive page-view quotas for reporters, insufficient commitment to search engine optimization, and rejecting story proposals for being “not Newsweek.” (At most publications, shooting down story ideas that don’t fit the editorial ethos is an essential part of editors’ jobs.) The letter also faulted her for making an “inflammatory allegation” in a conference call with other top editors. Her inflammatory allegation, according to the termination letter: that “the company had real problem(s) of morale and credibility.”

Just a few months later, that assessment reads as a dramatic understatement. Newsweek is coming apart at the seams. On Feb. 5, the magazine fired three of its top journalists, including the editor in chief, who had been investigating the financial dealings of its parent company, Newsweek Media Group, in the wake of a surprise raid of its offices by investigators for the Manhattan district attorney. Those firings touched off a cascade of public resignations and recriminations at the once-proud publication, leaving its management jumbled and its newsroom gutted. Amid the turmoil, the magazine on Feb. 9 announced after an outside investigation that it was reinstating a top editor it had suspended just weeks earlier over sexual harassment allegations at his previous employer. That prompted a fresh exodus of female staffers.

This week, a cadre of Newsweek’s remaining top editors threatened to resign unless their bosses allowed them to publish one of the investigative stories the fired staffers had been working on. The company’s executives backed down, and the story—headlined “Why Is the Manhattan DA Looking at Newsweek’s Ties to a Christian University?”—ran on Tuesday. It began with an explosive editor’s note accusing Newsweek Media Group’s management of “egregious” breaches of journalistic ethics in the story’s review process.

What went wrong at Newsweek, according to current and former staffers.

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Bus terminal privatization questioned – News

On By peanutgallerynhIn Granite State,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

None of the concerns expressed at the public hearing dealt with the Portsmouth facility. The Dover-related concerns came primarily from Alder Lane abutters, as expressed by 21-year resident Theresa Proia.

She drew a contrast between state officials, who worked with the neighborhood when the facility was originally constructed in 2008, and with C&J, which operates the facility.

“They were very good to our neighborhood,” she said of state officials. “They were transparent. We talked about the plans for the whole parking lot, the lighting, the fencing, and the trees that would be placed on both sides of the fence to protect the aesthetics of the neighborhood.”

With C&J, she said, trees were removed and new parking spaces added without any consultation.

“Space have been paved and additional parking has been put in with no transparency whatsoever,” said Proia. “So you can understand that our neighborhood is very concerned about moving forward with this process, and whether privatization would be good for us.”

Bus terminal privatization questioned – News – seacoastonline.com – Portsmouth, NH

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Alex Hirsch on Twitter: “What the fresh hell. This is REAL. Filmed in 1958- about a conman who grifts a small town of suckers into building a wall. History not subtle enough for you? GUESS THE GRIFTER’S NAME (And watch until the end)…

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Alex Hirsch on Twitter: “What the fresh hell. This is REAL. Filmed in 1958- about a conman who grifts a small town of suckers into building a wall. History not subtle enough for you? GUESS THE GRIFTER’S NAME (And watch until the end)… https://t.co/NahiOpbzm7”

Wild.

Hometown paper to McConnell: ‘Now would be a good time to choose to lead’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has the power to end the Trump shutdown. He’s just refuses to use it. Now even his hometown paper is calling him out for his lack of leadership on the issue.

In response to McConnell’s refusal to allow a vote to reopen the government, the Lexington Herald-Leader Editorial Board wrote, “we have one word: Override.”

…“Now would be a good time to choose to lead,” the newspaper advised McConnell.

Hometown paper to McConnell: ‘Now would be a good time to choose to lead’

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$20 million raised in GoFundMe for Trump border wall to be refunded

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

While Kolfage said money donated to the original campaign would go to the government to fund a border wall, he wrote Friday that he has since formed a nonprofit corporation in Florida named “We Build the Wall, Inc.” to receive the GoFundMe contributions.

…Since the original intent of the campaign’s promise has changed, GoFundMe said in a statement that the more than 337,000 people who donated will receive a refund.

“When the campaign was created, the campaign organizer specifically stated on the campaign page, ‘If we don’t reach our goal or come significantly close we will refund every single penny,’ ” GoFundMe spokesperson Bobby Whithorne told The Hill on Friday. “He also stated on the campaign page, ‘100% of your donations will go to the Trump Wall. If for ANY reason we don’t reach our goal we will refund your donation.’ ”

“However, that did not happen. This means all donors will receive a refund,” Whithorne continued. “If a donor does not want a refund, and they want their donation to go to the new organization, they must proactively elect to redirect their donation to that organization.”

$20 million raised in GoFundMe for Trump border wall to be refunded | TheHill

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Test of steel prototype for border wall showed it could be sawed through

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

As a candidate, Trump promised to build an “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful” wall on the border that would be paid for by Mexico.

….The Trump administration directed the construction of eight steel and concrete prototype walls that were built in Otay Mesa, California, just across the border from Tijuana, Mexico. …Trump settled on a steel slat, or steel bollard, design for the proposed border barrier additions. Steel bollard fencing has been used under previous administrations.

A photo exclusively obtained by NBC News shows the results of the test after military and Border Patrol personnel were instructed to attempt to destroy the barriers with common tools.

While it is true that previous administrations used this design, the prototype was built during his administration.

Test of steel prototype for border wall showed it could be sawed through

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Philly police still arrest way more Black people for pot than anyone else

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

Hundreds of cannabis buyers are still cuffed each year for purchasing weed, and despite decades of data that show black and white populations consume the herb at equal rates, racial disparities in the arrests remain stark.

…Black people in Philly, who make up roughly 44 percent of the population, comprised 76 percent of all arrests for marijuana possession in Philadelphia between 2015 and 2018, the first four calendar years since decrim, according to data from the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting System. That rate is the same among juveniles arrested on the same charges.

And for those caught in the act of purchasing the crop — which remains a criminal offense, albeit rarely charged in Philadelphia — the discrepancy is even higher.

In those same years, 81 percent of all buyers arrested at the handoff were black. That was 1,454 out of 1,796 people, according to data provided to Billy Penn by the Philadelphia Police Department.

of Philly news

sigh…