TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge on Wednesday allowed Enbridge to resume pumping oil through a Midwestern pipeline, nearly a week after shutting it down because of damage to a structure that anchors a section of the line running through a Great Lakes channel.

Enbridge’s Line 5 moves crude oil and liquids used in propane from the city of Superior to Sarnia, Ontario, passing through parts of Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. A four-mile-long segment divides into two pipes that cross the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Circuit Judge James Jamo granted a request from state Attorney General Dana Nessel to close the line June 25 after Enbridge, the Canadian company that operates it, reported that an inspection had found damage to an anchor supporting the underwater section’s eastern line. The pipe itself was unharmed, the company said.

During a hearing Tuesday, Enbridge attorneys urged Jamo to lift the restriction for the underwater western line so oil could resume flowing. The company says the interruption threatens supplies for customers of refineries that receive Line 5’s oil in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Read more: https://dailyreporter.com/2020/07/01/michigan-judge-allows-restart-of-disputed-oil-pipeline/
(Milwaukee Daily Reporter)

I can't remember now where I saw it, but there was an interesting video on one of the social media sites last week in which an interviewer randomly asked attendees at the Donald Trump rally in Tulsa why they love Trump so much.

"Are you kidding?" one woman asked. "He's done everything he said he would do."

"He moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem," said another.

"He actually lets our troops shoot back when they're shot at," said a young man sporting an American flag t-shirt.

"He's made this country great again," said an older man in the trademark red baseball cap. "Nobody's pushing us around any more. And that's nothing but good."

Read more: https://madison.com/ct/opinion/column/dave_zweifel/plain-talk-trump-distracts-from-the-real-damage-with-tweets-and-scandals/article_ed87b6b2-d615-5251-93e2-f9d1d9e8f92f.html

Texas woman’s racist rant against her manager at a Houston staffing agency was captured on cellphone video and has quickly gone viral on social media. In the video, the woman repeatedly called her boss the n-word and taunted that they needed to call the police on her for using the slur.

The confrontation happened June 29 at Gibson Arnold & Associates, a staffing agency that focuses on finding candidates for jobs in the legal industry. According to a statement shared on the firm’s website, the woman was a temporary worker and she was escorted from the building immediately after the exchange. The firm did not disclose the woman’s name.

The video embedded below contains offensive language.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Woman Was Fired After Coming to Work Intoxicated, According to the CEO



Read more: https://heavy.com/news/2020/07/watch-texas-woman-racist-rant/

There is a different video which interviews three employees (including the CEO) of the staffing agency.

https://www.fox26houston.com/video/735525

WASHINGTON — Jordan Simmons noticed the young Black woman next to him had stopped chanting, breaking down in tears. She had been leading fellow protesters outside the White House to repeat the names of Black Americans killed by police.

Simmons, a usually quiet 18-year-old from Laurel, Maryland, turned to his mother.

“I want to do a chant, but I’m nervous,” he said.

He was in the crush of the crowd surrounded by people -- Black, white, old, young.

“You take the lead and I’ll follow,” Elaine Simmons coaxed.

“Hands up! Don’t shoot!” he chanted. “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”

Read more: https://www.heralddemocrat.com/zz/news/20200703/civil-rights-activists-from-1960s-cheer-on-black-lives-matter-protesters-leading-new-fight
(Sherman Herald Democrat)

More than 200 people thronged the Cooke County Courthouse square Wednesday evening, many calling for the removal of a Confederate monument.

The group that turned out July 1 calling for the removal of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the northeast corner of the courthouse grounds was met with counter-protesters.

Several wore shirts adorned with PRO Gainesville, a Gainesville-based group that has appeared regularly at the monument site since mid-June. The group alternated between marching around the courthouse and gathering at the courthouse's east steps, shouting "black lives matter," "tear it down" and other calls to action. Many carried signs with various protest statements or slogans.

Counter-protesters milled around the statue — a 30-foot-tall stone monument with an inscription spanning the four sides of the base — or stood on the east sidewalk on Dixon Street across from the courthouse. Some open-carried firearms while a few carried signs.

Read more: https://www.gainesvilleregister.com/news/local_news/protest-marchers-advocate-removal-of-confederate-monument/article_5ba615ec-bc94-11ea-8a13-f74c411e0e6c.html

CTNEWSJUNKIE PHOTO
Ballot order for the 2020 presidential preference primaries


HARTFORD, CT —President Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be at the top of their respective primary ballots on Aug. 11.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill randomly selected the presidential candidates to decide the order for the ballots, which can now be printed.

On the Republican Party ballot Trump will appear on the top line and Rocky De La Fuente will be on the second followed by “uncommitted.” Biden will be followed by Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard and “uncommitted.”

“What you’re choosing as a voter, when you’re voting as either a Democrat or Republican, in the presidential primary is your preference for delegates to the national convention,” Merrill said.

Read more: https://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/20200630_trump_biden_top_primary_ballot_in_connecticut/

An 88-year-old Trumbull woman and several organizations that protect voting rights for the poor and minorities are suing Secretary of the State Denise Merrill in federal court seeking greater access to absentee ballots for November’s election during the coronavirus pandemic.

Gloria Francesconi of Trumbull is a member of the League of Women Voters, Connecticut Chapter, who has voted in nearly every election since she was 21, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

But as an 88-year-old state resident, Francesconi is at higher risk to suffer complications and death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, making it potentially dangerous for her to show up at the polls during the November election.

She’s not alone, according to the CT ACLU. Throughout the state, people of color and the poor have been hardest hit with complications and deaths caused by COVID-19

Read more: https://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/20200702_connecticut_voters_sue_to_get_access_to_absentee_ballots/

SOUTH KINGSTOWN - More than 1,300 students who signed up to live at the University of Rhode Island this fall are now scrambling to find transportation or off-campus housing after the university announced last week that dormitories would not be available to most in-state students.

Lourdes Monteiro, a rising sophomore from North Providence, said she needs “a campus environment to be successful,” adding that she missed being able to meet with her adviser and receive tutoring last semester, when URI moved to remote learning.

“It seems like URI cares more about the money they get from out-of-state students,” she said. “It’s double the cost of in-state tuition. You think URI would prioritize the well-being of the students who live here.”

“These are unbelievably hard decisions that we are making,” said Kathy Collins, URI’s vice-president of students affairs, on Wednesday. “Schools across the country are working to decrease student housing density because it would be irresponsible to house students at full capacity.”

Read more: https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200702/local-students-scramble-after-uri-limits-on-campus-housing-of-rhode-island-students-to-freshmen

Scott Keeley is ready for some fun in the sun.

He’s got a folding chair out, his fishing pole at his side, and a sign he’s stuck into the beach sand that reads “Shoreline Access Protected by the Rhode Island Constitution.”

He says he wants people at the Charlestown Town Beach to know they can move out into the sand beyond the town beach limits.

“The Constitution already says that we have access to it,” Keeley says. “When you come to the beach, spread out and use the whole shoreline. Don’t feel you have to stay inside the roped limits.”

Keely’s technically sitting in South Kingstown, just over the town line. He was arrested in this spot last year for trespassing. The town quickly dropped the charges and agreed to a $25,000 settlement.

Read more: https://thepublicsradio.org/article/covid-19-heightens-tensions-over-shoreline-access-in-rhode-island

LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is warning local elected officials that they risk losing state funding if they don’t enforce health orders as the coronavirus pandemic worsens.

Newsom has rolled back or limited some businesses reopening in Los Angeles and 20 other counties, now including San Diego. Recently reopened bars, indoor restaurant dining and other indoor entertainment venues were ordered closed in those counties for at least three weeks.

About 200 state inspectors fanned out Friday to look for violators over the long Fourth of July weekend. The new enforcement strike teams issued seven citations in their first day of operation.

https://thepublicsradio.org/article/the-latest-calif-gov-warns-local-officials-on-enforcement