Local Roundup [DOT 1/8/23]

Don't Just Talk About Getting Out of Bubbles. Bust 'Em.

1/8/23 blue dogcollar 29
Man Reading Newspaper
Man Reading a Newspaper / Angelo Rizzuto / New York City / August 1954 / source: https://www.loc.gov/item/2020636138

What’s Really Happening

Today’s DOT is going to skip all of the big international news organizations. No NY Times, Washington Post, Guardian, CNN, or BBC. Instead, lots of articles from local newspapers.

One thing that struck me as I compiled these links is that the quality of reporting is quite high. But what was even more striking is that the level of analysis was so much higher than what you get from the typical big outlet DC bureau political piece.

Less cliched bothsiderism and tired reflections on conventional wisdom. More attention to the specific details at hand. You really get the sense that reporters and writers are wrestling with the issues themselves, and not just massaging what a pack of other pundits are telling them.

Let’s see what else is happening out there!

Tampa Bay Times: St. Petersburg social workers go to 911 calls. What’s the program’s future?

I think Lemmy has brought up how badly suited most police officers are for a lot of calls they answer. This is an interesting alternative where social workers are dispatched in many cases.

During nearly 9,000 encounters with the public, and without the presence of officers, no injuries have been reported.

Detroit Free Press: Detroit was never going to admit it overstepped in Detroit Will Breathe charges

One of the running complaints of right wingers about the January 6 prosecutions is how they’re being unfairly targeted compared to Black Lives Matters protestors. Which ignores a couple of key points. One is that BLM protests were overwhelmingly peaceful considering the millions who marched, violence was heavily instigated by police. The other is that many ridiculous prosecutions of peaceful protesters have, in fact, gone on, as this Detroit Free Press article points out.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Judge rejects Trump bid to upend Georgia probe

In a searing 9-page order, Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that Trump and Cathy Latham, an “alternate” GOP elector who joined the former president’s motion, did not have have sufficient legal standing to mount a challenge before any indictments are announced.

The Texas Tribune: Texas A&M suspended professor accused of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in lecture and…

Texas A&M regents could offer a settlement to the journalism professor at center of hiring controversy

These cases have gotten some national attention, but the Texas Tribune’s reporting has been fantastic.

In the first, Texas A&M University suspended a respected medical expert in opioids from her faculty position after a medical student who is the daughter of a Texas GOP official heard the professor mention that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had opposed opioid harm reduction measures like Narcan treatment in emergencies. The student’s complaints were quickly escalated to state officials who then pressured the university.

If this tactic sounds familiar, it’s what a certain Bedbug did when he ran to a George Washington University provost to demand action over a professor tweeting an joke insult to his dozen or so followers.

In the second, Texas A&M leadership blocked the appointment of University of Texas/Austin professor and former NY Times editor Kathleen McElroy to head the Texas A&M journalism department. McElroy is Black, and right wing pressure groups rallied to push Texas A&M’s leadership to override the journalism department’s decision.

Since the news broke, the university’s president and two deans have resigned amid widespread outrage on campus.

Indianapolis Star: Gen Con is back this week in Indianapolis. Here’s everything you need to know

Gen Con, the world’s largest gaming convention, returns to Indianapolis this week.

An estimated 70,000 people, some dressed in elaborate costumes or ‘cosplay’, are expected to converge at the Indiana Convention Center from Aug. 3-6.

Arizona Republic: 31 days of 110-degree temperatures in Phoenix. Will the streak end tomorrow?

On Sunday, Phoenix set a new record: 31 days straight of over 110-degree heat smashing the previous record of 18 days set in June of 1974.

President Joe Biden coming to Arizona to talk about climate change, clean energy

President Joe Biden is returning to Arizona next month as part of a Western swing touting the Inflation Reduction Act’s impact on fighting climate change and progress on boosting the clean-energy and manufacturing industries.

Biden will visit Arizona, New Mexico and Utah from Monday, Aug. 7, to Thursday, Aug. 10.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: With no other options to clean up its drinking water, small Minnesota town turns to bugs

Faced with ongoing pollution from farm fertilizers, the Minnesota city of Cold Spring has adopted a treatment system using microbes to digest nitrate contaminants. One downside:

the 5% bump in their water bill last year. The state’s 2018 bonding bill paid for about $4 million for the project. Customer water bills pay the remaining $2 million. A federal grant took care of about $468,000.

On the plus side, unlike conventional treatments, all of the nitrates are consumed by the microbes. So unlike conventional treatments, there is no sludge of nitrates and salts that need disposal.

OregonLive: Oregon self-serve gas bill will become law as Kotek declines to veto

New Jersey is now alone as Oregon is ending its mandatory gas station attendant pumping law.

Gov. Tina Kotek will allow a bill allowing self-serve gasoline across Oregon to become law, ending a 72-year ban on most drivers pumping their own gas…. The law will still require gas stations to staff at least half their pumps for people who can’t, or don’t want to, pump their own gas.

Sacramento Bee: With far-right supervisor leaving, logic and sanity can return to Sacramento County

Remember when she said racism doesn’t exist? Or that “children do not get or die from (COVID)”? (More than 17,000 have.) Then there was the incident when she was caught offering to help the would-be organizers of a California “People’s Convoy,” one of several rumored U.S. trucker protests in early 2022, inspired by a similar protest in Canada that disrupted that country for months.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Advocates see gains in efforts to reclaim Makua Valley from Army

This is a fascinating article about a decades-long effort by native Hawaiians to reclaim land leased by the military in Hawaii.

Both military officials and activists alike recall the early cultural access events as tense or outright hostile, with blistering speeches and bitter arguments between activists and officials. But in recent years they’ve managed to cool tempers.

Malama Makua member Vince Dodge said the fact that many of the activists — including his late father — are veterans or come from military families themselves may have helped the two sides develop a rapport and find common ground during visits.

“Maybe we have the easy part now, because things weren’t so friendly and cordial back in the day,” Dodge said. “Our Army cultural support team is really a wonderful cultural support team. It was very adversarial in 2004; it was a totally different kind of vibe then.”

An Army spokesman said the military branch spends about $6 million a year on reseeding local plants, preserving and studying archaeological sites, groundwater monitoring and removing unexploded ordnance.

After a tour of Army facilities led by military officials in April, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi told reporters he was “especially impressed” at “the stewardship in the Makua Valley that the Army has done up there for the last 20 years. It’s absolutely incredible.”

The US military controls land all over Hawaii, and there are many disputes like this over issues with deep cultural and religious significance. What’s interesting, though, is that unlike the culture war issues launched by the Sacramento city council person, there seems to be an ability by all parties to work in good faith.

Which probably says something about how much bad faith infects the far right, and what kind of framework should be adopted when dealing with their demands, and whether to believe people who insist that deep down they’re reasonable and it’s up to everyone else to make accommodations for them, and surely they’ll come around.

De Telegraaf: Amerikanen doen bod op failliet VanMoof

Volgens micromobility.com, dat elektrische steps en e-bikes produceert, heeft het een zogeheten non-binding offer ingediend. Over de omvang van het bod maakt het bedrijf nog niets bekend.

I have no idea what any of this is about besides something about bikes. But for Farscy’s sake, I’ve included it.

Medicine Hat News: Katch n’ Kennel fundraiser returns

And for the Canadians:

The Medicine Hat SPCA is looking to raise $50,000 with the return of the popular Katch ‘n Kennel fundraiser.

The last time this fundraiser was run was in 2019 and the MHSPCA are excited to bring it back again. Last year operating costs for the organization were $700,000 and they cared for 400 animals. Money raised during the Katch n’ Kennel fundraiser will be used to cover veterinary costs for half a year.

Event day will be on Sept. 23, and from now until then community members will be selected to remain in jail at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede until they can raise their bail to be set free.

Anyway, there’s your local news roundup. There’s a whole world outside of Manhattan, K Street, and Hollywood, and here’s your chance to talk about other things going on, or whatever else is on your mind.

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29 Comments

  1. I’m going to check out that MN story about the lake treatment. Our lake has been turning into a swamp over the past several years thanks to runoff from the subdivision being built on the other side. The Conservation Commission tried to stop it but got overruled, for the first time ever, by…wait for it…a Republican governor. Now our water is a murky red and covered with algae and choked with lilly pads.

    • That’s terrible. It’s the kind of thing that strong local press helps stop, but if developers and politicians know that they’ll never get their photos printed right next to sad looking baby ducks, they’ll just steamroll ahead.

    • That’s almost literally every body of water in Florida. We’ve had a couple of success stories basically through grass-roots initiatives via protective legislation to force Republicans to quit fucking things up. Those will be overturned in short order, I expect.

  3. For half my geeky teenage years would have killed to go to Gen-Con, but no way mom and dad would ever let me go to Indianapolis.

    Would all over the Avalon Hill wargames and role playing games.

    Yeah, NERD!

          • It was an early case where if you honestly described what they believe, it sounds like you’re the unbalanced one. And so in order to appear objective, you have to falsify your reporting.

            It’s been going on at a much bigger scale with abortion, evolution and history, where the far right has been very open in what they publish about where they’re going. They were straightforward that they thought a  doctor who performed an abortion was a murderer who needed to be brought to justice.

            But they also knew if they just weasel worded things a bit when talking to a regular reporter, the actual belief would be normalized for as long as possible.

    • It’s interesting that the Louisville program seems to have grown out of an investigation by the feds as a precursor to a consent decree. Without that kind of threat, even if local leaders want to move away from excessive policing, it’s almost impossible to get the political consensus needed to actually implement the programs.

      That article links to this one which talks about it:

      https://www.lpm.org/news/2023-03-08/heres-what-the-doj-report-says-about-bad-practices-within-lmpd

      Knowing that high level Democrats back these kinds of consent decrees is one of the big reasons why police unions have been backing the GOP. They’re a serious threat to all of the police fiefdoms and budgets, and billions of dollars are at stake.

    • i like the part where they made the bid for vanmoofs strong brand reputation and innovative technology…

      they’re known for breaking down often and going out of business

  7. The Hawaiians & the military have had issues since the first occupation of the islands.  They control much of the sacred lands, put fences and won’t allow access.  The only non-public beaches in Hawaii are on military bases, all other beaches require public access (though many billionaires have fought to overturn that law with no success).  I could go on about this subject forever having been a military brat then an activist after learning Hawaiian history, having Hawaiian blood in our family, and seeing life from the other side.  What is more surprising is Hawaii does have some great journalists and many of them work for this news organization…

    https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/07/red-hills-fuel-director-raised-an-alarm-before-pipes-leaked-the-navy-removed-her/

     

    • That’s impressive journalism, and it involves digging into a lot of detailed technical and legal issues.

      The fact that this is happening for a relatively small circulation publication tells me that big national publications are underestimating their ability to find and hire vastly more capable reporters than people like Chuck Todd and Peter Baker. I get how the demands of daily reporting mean that there isn’t time to go long form all the time, and a lot is only going to get 200 words or less.

      But if smaller outlets can pull off so much, it’s reasonable to expect the big ones to drop the cliches like “Dems in Disarray!” and figure out much sooner that inflation has slowed.

  8. Dozens of PDs and the State Police where I live have hired social workers and mental health clinicians to co-respond, but also to stay behind and connect people to community services and resources after the calls are resolved.  Part of the goal is to keep folks from clogging up the ERs or worse, coming to jail where they can languish for months on misdemeanor charges that would net them a couple of days in jail if they were competent to plead.  I’m not familiar with the data as far as outcomes, but there is a lot to be said for taking a more humane approach to people who are in crisis.

    • Police and prisons are so much more expensive than lower impact interventions, and that’s a part of the reason why there’s a lot of opposition to changing the status quo.

  9. Mad props to the Sac Bee’s Robin Epley for this gem (emphasis mine):

    Frost then refused to wear a mask in the board chambers, leading her colleagues to place an embarrassing plexiglass box around the board chair’s seat, giving the distinct impression of an angry raccoon accidentally surrendered to a cat shelter: We know it shouldn’t be there and it knows it shouldn’t be there — but you can’t deny it’s fascinating to watch from behind thick glass.

    Combined with the lead photo, that passage is just glorious.

    Can’t go local for the SPROTS updates, tho.

    US women scrape through with Portugal tie

    Dutch rider wins women’s version of the Tour de France (she also finished 2nd in the Vuelta and won the Dutch national championship earlier in the year)

    • That sounds right about people who fall for lies and keep digging themselves in deeper, parallel to the way people who fall for con men and fortune tellers keep shelling out more money despite terrible results.

      Fortune tellers don’t hook people with fantastic lies to start. They typically start with a bunch of mundane, easy truths like “You look like you have some stress. Money is a part of it. You’re also worried about a loved one, and there is a death in your past that once troubled you.” From that they build up over time to a crazy fantasy.

      There are techniques for breaking the hold they have, but it won’t get dispelled by a laundry list of facts or playing along and hoping it goes away.

  13. After Chrome translated the Dutch article for me, it was actually interesting. Hard for this American bicycle guy to fathom that a cycle-maker could fail in The Netherlands, of all places.

    • actually you’re probably more likely to fail here than most places….we have an abundance of quality options

      many of which are cheaper than vanmoof was

      you know….in a country with 6 million more bikes than people….you best be good

      (edit) or dirt cheap….that works too

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