Tag: land of the free

Fencing Reinstalled Around Capitol Building Ahead of State of the Union Address

For the third year in a row, the U.S. Capitol Police constructed a metal fence around the Capitol building ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address.

The fence was initially installed in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol protests and remained in place for months afterwards. It was eventually removed in July of 2021, though the barrier has been reinstalled on multiple occasions. This includes a rally in support of January 6 prisoners, a planned trucker protest and previous State of the Union addresses.

The latest construction was ordered by the U.S. Capitol Police Board, a group of congressional security officials who oversee the Capitol grounds, but whose meetings and reports are not made publicly available, CBS News reported.  “National Special Security Events require a robust security plan, so out of an abundance of caution, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Capitol Police temporarily put up a fence around the U.S. Capitol Building,” said the U.S. Capitol Police in a statement.

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Walls Work? Biden Mocked As Capitol Police Reinstall Metal Fencing For His SOTU Speech

Capitol Police have reinstalled metal fencing around the U.S. Capitol this week ahead of President Biden’s upcoming State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

CBS News is reporting that the Capitol fencing, originally installed following the January 6 riot and frequently utilized for defense ever since, is being reinstalled in conjunction with the SOTU address.

They describe it as “controversial.”

“For the third year in a row, an eight-foot, black metal fence will surround the U.S. Capitol complex during an address to Congress by President Joe Biden,” they write.

“The fencing, which is plastered with signs reading ‘Area closed by order of the United States Capitol Police Board,’ has become an increasingly common and controversial security measure” since the Capitol riot.

The fencing is expected to remain in place until at least Wednesday.

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New Hampshire Bakery Ordered to Remove Mural Because It Depicts Pastries

On the morning of June 14, 2022, a new mural was unveiled above the entrance to Leavitt’s Country Bakery in the small town of Conway, New Hampshire (pop: 9,822). Inspired by the nearby White Mountains, the mural features a mountain range—of pastries. The whimsical idea and style was a perfect fit for the small-town bakery, and certainly a step up from the drab wooden façade that preceded it.

The mural had been painted by three local high school students as a project for their art class, and the unveiling was attended by many students and community members, including the local press.

“There were a lot of late afternoons,” said Olivia Benish, the art teacher who oversaw the project. “I wanted to give my top students a project, and they really did a great job.”

The project took 80 hours for the students to complete, which they put in over the span of five weeks.

“I’ve never done such a big piece of art before. So it’s pretty exciting,” said ​Morgan Carr, one of the artists.

Leavitt’s’ owner Sean Young was also pleased with the mural, and he was especially proud that he was able to partner with the high school on the project.

“We thought it would be a fun project for the kids and good for the community,” said Young. “Hopefully this will be an annual project, as we have other sides to the building.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the end of the story. A week later a town official showed up to the bakery and informed Young that the mural violated a local zoning ordinance which places a limit on the allowable size of store signs. According to the town, the Leavitt’s building can’t have a sign more than 22 square feet. The mural, being 91 square feet, far exceeds that. Thus, according to officials, the mural must come down.

It’s worth noting that Conway has many large murals, all of which the town allows. So what’s different about this one? According to officials, this mural counts as a “sign” because it depicts the kinds of things the store sells, namely pastries. In other words, if the mural had depicted real mountains—or anything else for that matter—there would be no problem.

There would also be no problem if this exact same mural were displayed somewhere else. In fact, town officials told Young that if he moved the mural to the farm stand next to the bakery—which is on the same lot—then it could stay up because the farm stand doesn’t sell baked goods.

Despite immense public backlash, the town has put its foot down and is insisting the mural be removed or changed. Near the end of 2022 they threatened Young with enforcement proceedings. If he doesn’t remove or paint over the sign, he could face criminal charges and fines of $275 per day.

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Youngkin aims to stop sale of some cannabis products, expand enforcement in Virginia

Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration is trying to stop the sale of some potentially unsafe cannabis products.

Youngkin is asking lawmakers for more resources to bolster enforcement in his proposed budget, which will set the tone for debate in the 2023 session. Meanwhile, state officials say existing efforts to expand oversight have not resulted in any criminal penalties or lost permits to date.

Sarah Grant, general manager of “THE Dispensary” in Richmond, said state inspectors have stopped by three times since lawmakers took steps to enhance oversight last summer. They were asked to voluntarily remove all of their hemp-derived Delta-8 and Delta-10 edibles, which account for at least 40% of sales, according to Grant.

“We would at least have to cut staff and then we would have to look at closing our doors,” Grant said.

Grant says Delta-8 and Delta-10 are found naturally in small amounts in hemp, which is legal to sell. But a lack of regulation has allowed potentially unsafe synthetics with inaccurate labels to proliferate, according to some experts.

Grant said they’re currently defending the safety and legality of their products through an administrative hearing, which state officials described as an informal fact-finding conference.

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An 8-Year-Old Ohio Girl’s Lemonade Stand Was Shut Down By Police After Nearby Food Festival Complained

An eight year old girl had her lemonade stand shutdown by police after a nearby food festival filed a complaint about her.

The police officer who had to shut her down felt so bad that he gave her the $20 necessary to get a permit.

Asa Baker was selling lemonade outside her father’s business when the Alliance, Ohio Rib and Food Festival called the police to complain.

“Well, they were really sad that they had to shut me down but they gave me $20 to try and pay for it,” Baker told local station WJW-TV.

Katrina Moore, Asa’s mother, told the station that the police officer did the right thing — even though he didn’t want to do it.

“I could definitely tell he did not want to shut her down, but, I mean, you get a call, he has to do it. He definitely did the right thing, you know, in the situation he was put in,” the mother said. “Later that day, I made a (social media) post in appreciation for the officer that gave her the money for shutting it down. You know, as unfortunate as it was, I still was very grateful that he was at least able to give her $20.”

“I understand the rules, I understand why she got shut down. It’s just a sad, sad situation,” Moore told the station.

Kyle Clark, Asa’s Dad, said that he did not know that children need a permit to operate a lemonade stand.

“We looked it up and it was pretty much anywhere in Ohio. You have to have a license and I’ve never heard of that,” Clark said.

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Good Samaritans Fined, Threatened with Arrest for Pulling Government Litter Out of a River

In a world where rational and logical thought prevail, one would think that fishermen pulling a trove of dangerous military waste from a river would be considered a good deed that should be rewarded. Unfortunately, however, logic and reason have seemingly gone extinct in today’s America and instead of being rewarded, three fishermen in Georgia have been slapped with heavy fines and are facing potential jail time.

The group of fishermen, led by Bryce Nachtwey are not your everyday run-of-the-mill fishermen. In fact, they aren’t after fish at all. Instead, Nachtwey and his crew use magnets to look for treasure at the bottom of waterways all over Georgia.

Last month, Nachtwey and his group dredged up a shocking find — a Delta Airlines duffel bag, chock full with 86 rockets, a tank tracer round, and .50 caliber ammo belts. All of this ammunition was live and all of it had been dumped or lost in the river by the US Army.

Naturally, finding tank rounds and explosives is not like finding treasure and quite dangerous, so after pulling up their “catch,” Nachtwey called the bomb squad on Fort Stewart, trying to do the right thing.

A Fort Stewart Military Police officer who was summoned out to the bridge off which Nachtwey was fishing, explained to the group that he had never seen something like this, and needed to check in with his command to see what next steps to take. Before his command could respond, however, a game warden with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources showed up to extort the group for their legal activity.

The warden told the group that it was illegal for them to be fishing off the bridge, which surprised the group since they were experienced in the area and had never been told this before.

“I didn’t see any signs,” said one of Nachtwey’s crew. But this didn’t matter, the warden was hellbent on extorting these young men, even if their good deed saved the lives of swimming children down the road.

“You’re all gettin’ tickets, you can come to court and talk to a judge, okay?” the warden said. “The reason magnet fishing is not allowed is because of exactly what y’all got right there. You don’t know what’s going to blow up and not blow up.”

If they refused the tickets or argued any longer, the group of fishermen could choose jail. Obviously, they chose the former but did explain that they had jumped through all the right hoops and red tape to be there that day.

Nachtwey explained that he and his group had not only called the DNR well in advance, but that they were within a “green zone” — meaning they knew magnet fishing was explicitly permitted in this area of the river.

This didn’t matter to the warden, however, who claimed his authority let him ticket anyone, any time, no matter what zone they are in.

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