Rob Vanella And The Delaware Call Prevail Over State Cops And DOJ. This is great!:
Robert E. Vanella, on behalf of The Delaware Call, a news organization, asked DSP for seven categories of records concerning its troopers, including their employment histories with other law enforcement agencies, their résumés, and demographic information. DSP denied the requests in their entirety. After petitioning the Chief Deputy Attorney General (the “Chief Deputy”), who found no FOIA violation, Vanella appealed to the Superior Court. That court ordered DSP to produce trooper names, ranks, and salaries, upheld the denials in all other respects, and later denied Vanella’s motion for attorney fees and costs. We conclude that DSP did not carry its statutory burden to justify the contested denials and that FOIA does not authorize a fee award in an on-the-record appeal. We therefore AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part, and REMAND.
In other words, the State Police tried to withhold information, the Attorney General’s office ‘found no FOIA violation’. The courts, ultimately the Delaware Supreme Court, found that the Police had to provide the information. BTW, one of the justices argued that Vanella and the Delaware Call should have been reimbursed for legal expenses.
Coons–‘I Won’t Take Their Blood Money Any More’:
As Congressional Democratic incumbents are scrutinized nationwide amid primary election challenges from progressives, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons has pledged to stop accepting donations from controversial data company Palantir after previously bringing in thousands from it.
Palantir has come under fire from advocates in recent years over its work with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, U.S. military and the Israeli Defense Forces.
After privately receiving criticisms from the Wilmington-area advocacy group Indivisible Highlands and Beyond about the Palantir donations, Coons, who is set to face three opponents in next month’s primary election, pledged in a letter to the organization to no longer accept or seek contributions from Palantir.
“The re-election campaign … shall not accept or solicit campaign contributions from Palantir Technologies, its [political action committee], or C-Suite Palantir employees,” Coons wrote in the letter sent to the group last month.
But when reached for comment by Spotlight Delaware, a representative from Coons’ office declined to say whether the senator would return or donate the $27,500.
Weep not for Chris Coons. There’s plenty more blood money where that came from, lots of it from Israel, and Coons has plenty in his campaign coffers. He’s the absolute dirt-worst.
Supreme Court Allows Trump Mail-In Ballot Suppression Scheme To Continue. Not as bad as it sounds, though–but it could be:
A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with plans to restrict mail-in voting before the midterm elections.
In an emergency opinion, the justices said President Trump could proceed with implementing an executive order he had signed, which directed the U.S. Postal Service to help decide which voters should receive mail-in ballots. Under the executive order, the Department of Homeland Security will also create lists of U.S. citizens that the administration believes could be used to monitor voter rolls for noncitizens.
The decision means the administration can move ahead with planning for restricting the use of mail ballots even as a lower court continues to weigh the legality of Mr. Trump’s executive order. But with a little more than two months until Election Day — and considerably less time before early voting begins in many states — it remains unclear whether the White House’s rules will be in effect for a midterm election in which control of both chambers is at stake. Additional legal action is a near certainty with the plan’s fate not yet final.
A separate injunction by the same lower court complicates matters. That court action prevents the postal service from implementing some parts of the executive order. That case could also soon be headed to the justices.
Yep. 6-3.
Trump Needs–A Second Bunker?? Turns Out There’s Already One:
A new report says the White House already has an existing underground bunker for the president and his staff in case of national security threats, potentially undercutting administration claims of an urgent need for the East Wing renovations. (Potentially?)
Three former officials told The Washington Post that the White House complex currently includes a subterranean, highly secure facility of the kind President Trump has said is needed under his proposed ballroom. Two of the officials reportedly said the bunker can withstand a nuclear blast and is capable of housing the president and dozens of staffers for weeks on end.
The officials say the military complex undercuts the need for the current East Wing renovations, which the Trump administration has argued are needed to mitigate threats to the president and those who tail him on a daily basis.
The facility sits 60 feet underground and was completed during the Obama administration, as reported by The Washington Post.
Trump Doing Trump Things. Betcha Rethugs are scared shitless by this:
A new rule proposed by the Trump administration aims to kill public notification for datacenter air pollution, public health advocates warn, and allow emission permits to be issued behind closed doors.
The datacenters are often sources of nitrogen oxide, which helps form ozone, carbon monoxide and heavy metals, among other pollutants.
The Clean Air Act requires “minor” air polluters to disclose to the public via state agencies how much pollution their proposed project will release, but the proposed new rule from Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would dismantle that protection for datacenter proposals. Instead, it would make disclosure voluntary at state and some local officials’ discretion.
Yes, Football Causes CTE. Cigarettes Cause Cancer. Football Causes CTE:
Since the degenerative brain disease known as C.T.E. was first scientifically linked to football about 20 years ago, and as hundreds of former professional football players have been diagnosed with the disease after their deaths, a haunting question has lingered:
Just how many N.F.L. players will end up with C.T.E.?
New data provides a sobering indication: At least one in four of all the people who have played in the N.F.L. might expect to end up with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a study of hundreds of cases over a recent six-year period.
Researchers considered every former N.F.L. player who died from 2016 to 2021. There were 878. Some died in their 20s, some in their 80s, most in between.
The study’s main finding was simple math: At least 215 of those 878 former players — 24.5 percent — had C.T.E.
The actual prevalence could be far higher. The roughly 25 percent rate does not consider the 643 brains that were not examined. Some of those, maybe many of them, likely had C.T.E. too.
Gee, wonder if ESPN and all the other NFL broadcast partners will cover this story aggressively. Actually, I don’t wonder.
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