Outrage Over Killing Of Unarmed Sacramento Man Grows
As outrage over Stephon Clark's killing grows, his grandmother asks: 'Why? Why?'. LA Times: "Sacramento officers searching the neighborhood for a reported vandal encountered Thomas' grandson Stephon Clark, who lived there with them. Police fired a reported 20 rounds at the 23-year-old. Videotapes of the encounter showed officers shouting "gun, gun, gun" before opening fire, but the only object discovered near the dead man was a cellphone... A mass turnout of mourners is expected at the City Council chambers on Tuesday, while the Rev. Al Sharpton intends to deliver the eulogy Thursday at Clark's funeral. Black Lives Matter demonstrators intend to camp outside the county prosecutor's office from Tuesday through Thursday to demand criminal charges against the two officers who shot Clark. Before their game Sunday, Sacramento Kings and Boston Celtics players wore T-shirts bearing Clark's name. The black shirts had the words "Accountability. We Are One" emblazoned on the front and "#StephonClark" on the back."
Pruitt Seeks To Undermine EPA Science
Scott Pruitt’s attack on science would paralyze the E.P.A. NYT: "Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has announced that he alone will decide what is and isn’t acceptable science for the agency to use when developing policies that affect your health and the environment. It is his latest effort to cripple the agency. Mr. Pruitt, who as Oklahoma’s attorney general described himself as 'a leading advocate against the E.P.A.’s activist agenda,' said in an interview published in The Daily Caller last week that he would no longer allow the agency to use studies that include nonpublic scientific data to develop rules to safeguard public health and prevent pollution. Opponents of the agency and of mainstream climate science call these studies 'secret science.' But that’s simply not true. Peer review ensures that the analytic methodologies underlying studies funded by the agency are sound."
EPA Eases Rules on 'Major' Polluters
Environmental groups sue EPA for easing rules on 'major' polluters. Washington Examiner: "A coalition of environmental groups sued the EPA Monday for withdrawing a policy that imposed strict limits on hazardous air pollutants from factories, plants and other types of facilities considered 'major' polluters. Under the "once-in-always-in" policy, established in 1995, major polluters failing to meet certain emission thresholds were required to meet those standards from then on, even if the facility made changes to reduce its pollution. With the new Trump administration policy, issued in January, facilities labeled as 'major sources' of pollution may be reclassified as “area” sources when they limit their potential to emit pollution. Environmentalists say the EPA’s change would allow facilities to emit more pollution. Seven environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council, filed suit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing the EPA violated the law by not subjecting the move to public comment."
EPA Nominee Oversaw Cancer-Causing Spill
Trump’s Latest EPA Nominee Let Cancer-Causing Chemical Pollute Groundwater. HuffPost: "The former Ford Motor Company executive nominated Friday to a top Environmental Protection Agency position is accused of overseeing an industrial spill that contaminated the groundwater of a Michigan suburb with a cancer-causing chemical. William Charles 'Chad' McIntosh, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the EPA’s Office of International and Tribal Affairs, ran Ford’s environmental compliance and policy divisions from 1998 until he retired last year. During that time, degreasing chemicals that had long spilled from a Ford manufacturing plant in Livonia, Michigan, were breaking down into vinyl chloride and tainting the local groundwater. Exposure to vinyl chloride is linked to a rare form of liver cancer, brain and lung cancers, lymphoma and leukemia, according to the National Cancer Institute."
2020 Census Will Poll Citizenship
CA sues Trump administration over addition of citizenship question to census. WaPo: "The state of California sued the Trump administration Monday night, arguing that the decision to add a question about citizenship in the 2020 Census violates the U.S. Constitution. The state’s attorney general acted just after the Commerce Department announced the change in a late-night release. The suit is just the start of what is likely to be a broader battle with enormous political stakes that pits the administration against many Democratic states, which believe that the citizenship question will reduce the response rate for the census and produce undercounts. As a result, opponents say, states with significant immigrant populations stand to lose seats in state legislatures and Congress, along with electoral college votes in presidential elections and federal funding based on census counts. Republicans gained a significant advantage in redrawing maps after the 2010 Census."
More from OurFuture.org:
The Ghost Of Pete Peterson. Richard Eskow: "Peter G. “Pete” Peterson, the billionaire businessman and anti-government crusader, died last week at the age of 91. He leaves behind family and friends who will miss him, and a vast coterie of consultants and politicians who may miss his checks even more. His legacy is marked by Pete Peterson’s long war against Social Security and Medicare, his austerity economics, and the false aura of objectivity Peterson used to promote his ideology."
