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Anti-Trump rallies crop up again on ‘Not My President’s Day’

By Chris Francescani and Robert Chiarito

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Renewed protests against U.S. President Donald Trump flared on the Presidents Day holiday on Monday, with grassroots activists vowing to take to the streets in dozens of cities in “Not My President’s Day” rallies.

Protest leaders had said they expected thousands to rally in about 28 cities ranging from Los Angeles and Chicago to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the latest round of demonstrations to express displeasure with Trump’s policies and pronouncements.

In New York, hundreds of protesters stretching at least eight blocks chanted “He cheats, he lies, open up your eyes” near the Trump International Hotel on the edge of Central Park.

“I think he’s got a mean personality,” said marcher Edith Cresmer, a 78-year-old urban planner. “But the worst thing about him is how he incited peoples’ fears and pits them against each other.”

Luis Llobera, 38, and his wife and baby took a train from Westchester County north of the city attend the Trump protest.

“We are not American citizens but our son is,” he said as his wife cradled their 7-month-old, Atlas. “We want to make sure our son has a government that is right and good.”

Organizers of the New York rally said they opposed the Trump agenda, including proposed cuts in federal spending and construction of a wall along the border with Mexico.

“Donald Trump is literally our president, but figuratively, he has attacked every value New Yorkers embody and does not represent our interests,” organizers said on Facebook.

The idea for the Presidents Day protests originated in Los Angeles, where about 4,300 people had said on Facebook they would attend a City Hall rally, according to organizers, and it spread to other locales via social media.

In downtown Chicago, about 1,200 people gathered across the Chicago River from the Trump International Hotel and Tower. Signs spotted in the crowd included “My body My Choice” and “Jesus was a refugee,” references to Trump’s anti-abortion stance and his efforts to stop admission of refugees.

As people gathered, a group of 25 local musicians called themselves #SAHBRA, “Sousaphones Against Hate, Baritones Resisting Aggression,” played songs to lighten the mood.

With Monday being a day off for many schools, many parents brought their children to the protest.

Eileen Molony, a photographer from Oak Park, had her 12-year-old son and 9-year old daughter in tow.

“As an immigrant family we feel strongly against the ban,” she said. “We feel America is about inclusion, but everything Trump has shown is that he’s about division.”

Chicago police reported no arrests in the protest, the latest in a series since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Recent anti-Trump protests have included a “general strike” on Friday, a day after thousands of immigrants across the United States stayed away from work and school to highlight the contributions of foreign-born residents to the U.S. economy.

On Saturday, Trump staged a rally for supporters in Florida at a Melbourne aircraft hangar to attack the media and tout his accomplishments in office.

Presidents Day is the unofficial name of the holiday honoring the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the first and 16th U.S. presidents, respectively.

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Contaminated water found throughout the U.S.

By Kami Klein

Drinking water and unsafe levels of lead are back in the news and it’s not about Flint Michigan this time.. Schools in the Bronx, Pennsylvania and in Massachusetts have shown levels of lead higher than in Flint. In fact, Reuters reported nearly 3,000 areas with recently recorded lead poisoning rates that were at least double of those in Flint during the absolute peak of the city’s crisis. What is alarming is that more than 1,100 of these communities had a rate of elevated blood tests at least four times higher than those tested in Flint, Michigan.

Lead poisoning has been shown to permanently stunt a child’s intelligence and development. In adults, lead poisoning can damage the brain and nervous system, the stomach, and the kidneys. It can also cause high blood pressure and other health problems.

There are other contaminants other than lead to be worried about in our drinking water.

Evidence was gathered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from samples of more than 60,000 water systems in all 50 states between 2013 and 2015. These samples show that the tap water of 218 million Americans contain high levels of chromium 6. In fact, this carcinogen turned up in as much as two-thirds of our nation’s water supply! These high levels of chromium 6 were deemed unsafe by public health officials. Oklahoma, Arizona and California had the highest average statewide levels of the chemical found in their drinking supply. This was the poison in the water that got Erin Brockovich upset enough to take on huge corporations in the attempt to clean it up and help families who suffered from cancer and other disease stemming from the groundwater becoming contaminated.

Over 50% of the U.S. population depends on groundwater for drinking water. But contamination is being discovered daily from industrial waste, sewage, fertilizer runoff and pesticides. In the United States there are thought to be over 20,000 known abandoned and uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and these sites could contaminate the groundwater if there is a leak. Research into who is monitoring these sites has not turned up a definitive answer.

Do we really know what is in our water when we drink it? Most people want to have faith in the laws and the standards that are set for our cities but what is being discovered in many areas, are that those standards are not being met nor are they being brought to the attention of the public.

More than half of Americans are buying bottled water assuming it is safe but bottled water is not consistently tested and there has been E Coli as well as other contaminants found in them as well. A proven filtering bottle to carry with you or a filtering system at home, not only makes sense for your health and for your family, but is smart for the pocketbook as well!

Water is life. Standards recommended by health officials say to drink at least 64 oz per day. Clean drinking water is a priority for your health.

Seychelle Filtration Systems

(Additional Sources: 1. Lead in Water: What are the health Effects and Dangers , 2.Water lead levels in Bronx school ‘higher than Flint, Michigan’,3. Groundwater Contamination, 4. How safe is bottled water? 5.Public water supply is unsafe for millions of Americans, 6.Environmental Science and Letters, 7. Centers for Disease Control,8. Mother sues Pennsylvania school district over lead-tainted water

Meteor lights up the night sky over Illinois and Wisconsin

National Weather Service tweet about meteor

(Reuters) – (This February 6th story has been refiled to correct location of Lisle to west of Chicago in paragraph three.)

A meteor plummeted in a fireball over Lake Michigan early on Monday, lighting up the night sky in bright blue just before scattering over the lake in many pieces, according to a police video and an expert’s description.

Lisle, Illinois, police officer Jim Dexter recorded the meteor’s descent on the dash camera of his patrol car at 1:25 a.m.

Aside from Lisle, which is less than 30 miles (48 km) west of Chicago, and other parts of Illinois; witnesses reported seeing the meteor from Wisconsin, Michigan and as far away as New York state and the Canadian province of Ontario, according to a description on the website of the American Meteor Society.

The meteor’s fiery descent is likely to rank as one of the most spectacular events of its kind anywhere in the world this year, Mike Hankey, operations manager for the society, said by telephone.

The meteor broke apart into pieces of rock and metallic dust that descended in a cloud onto Lake Michigan, Hankey said. No one is reported to have been injured by debris, he said.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Lead levels fall below federal limits in Flint, Michigan: state

(Reuters) – Lead levels in Flint, Michigan’s drinking water, the focus of a public health crisis, have fallen below federal limits, state officials said on Tuesday, although they cautioned residents to keep using filtered water as the city’s old lead pipes are replaced.

Tests showed lead levels in the city’s drinking water were 12 parts per billion (ppb) between July and December, below the federal limit of 15 ppb, Michigan officials said in a statement.

The water crisis erupted when tests in 2015 found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in Flint, a predominantly black city of about 100,000.

Flint was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched its water source to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014. The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from pipes and into the drinking water.

Lead poisoning stunts children’s cognitive development, and no level of exposure is considered safe. Flint’s contamination prompted dozens of lawsuits and criminal charges against former government officials.

The city switched back to the previous water system in October 2015.

Flint’s lead levels are now comparable to levels in cities of similar size and with infrastructure of similar age, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said in a statement.

Even with the test results, programs that provide water filters and related services will continue, he said.

“This is not the end of our work in Flint, but it is one more step along the path toward Flint’s future,” said Snyder, a Republican who has been sharply criticized by residents for his handling of the crisis.

Flint’s mayor, Karen Weaver, said in a statement she would continue efforts to replace the estimated 20,000 lead-tainted pipes that remain in the city.

“We are not out of the woods yet. My goal has not changed. All of the lead-tainted pipes in Flint still need to be replaced,” she said.

Flint resident Melissa Mays, a plaintiff in a drinking water lawsuit, said the results were misleading because only one-third of Flint homes had been tested and the state had not identified which homes have lead pipes.

“Until they get every home to test zero, they should not be making these statements,” she said. “It’s giving residents a false sense of security.”

In December, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette charged four former officials with conspiring to violate safety rules, bringing to 13 the number of current and former officials charged in connection with the crisis.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and David Ingram in New York. Additional reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago.; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Peter Cooney)

Ford cancels $1.6 billion Mexican plant after Trump criticism

By Bernie Woodall and David Shepardson

FLAT ROCK, Mich./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co said Tuesday it will cancel a planned $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and will invest $700 million at a Michigan factory, after it had come under harsh criticism from President-elect Donald Trump for its Mexican investment plans.

The second largest U.S. automaker said it would build new electric, hybrid and autonomous vehicles at the Flat Rock, Michigan plant.

Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said the decision to cancel the new plant in Mexico was in part related to the need to “fully utilize capacity at existing facilities” amid declining sales of small and medium sized cars such as the Focus and Fusion.

Fields also endorsed “pro growth” tax and regulatory policies advocated by Trump and the Republican led Congress.

Trump repeatedly said during the election campaign that if elected he would not allow Ford to open the new plant in Mexico, which he called an “absolute disgrace” and would slap hefty tariffs taxes on imported Ford vehicles.

Ford executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. told reporters that he spoke with Trump to notify him of the decision. A Ford source said the decision was influenced by Trump’s policy goals such as lowering taxes and regulations but there were no negotiations between Ford and the Republican over the decision to cancel the Mexico plant or invest in Michigan.

Also on Tuesday, Trump threatened to impose a “big border tax” on General Motors Co for making some of its Chevrolet Cruze cars in Mexico. The New York businessman takes office on Jan. 20.

Fields said Ford will build a battery electric SUV with a 300-mile driving range at the Michigan plant by 2020, and will launch production there by 2021 of a fully autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel or a brake pedal for use in ride services fleets. Ford also plans new hybrid versions of its F-150 pickup truck, Mustang and police vehicles by 2020.

Ford will add 700 jobs at the Flat Rock plant, Fields said, to cheers from union workers gathered at the factory for the announcement.

Ford in April announced it would invest $1.6 billion in the new plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico to build small cars. The company said it will shift production from Michigan of its Focus to an existing plant in Hermosillo, Mexico. Trump had urged Ford to cancel the planned Mexican plant.

When Trump announced his campaign in June, 2015, he said Ford would cancel its planned Mexico investments. “They’ll say,‘Mr. President we’ve decided to move the plant back to the United States — we’re not going to build it in Mexico.’ That’s it. They have no choice,” Trump said.

Trump tweeted a link on Tuesday to a story about the decision.

Ford said it will add two new unnamed products at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, where the Focus is manufactured today.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)

Michigan governor expects no charges over Flint crisis

Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder in Lansing, Michigan, U.S.,

(Reuters) – Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said he had “no reason to be concerned” he would be charged in connection with the Flint drinking water crisis that exposed city residents to high levels of lead, the Detroit Free Press reported on Thursday.

Snyder made the comments to the newspaper on Wednesday, the day after two Flint emergency managers appointed by the governor were indicted on felony charges of conspiring to violate safety rules.

“I have no reason to be concerned,” Snyder was quoted as saying, while acknowledging he could not speak on behalf of state Attorney General Bill Schuette. Both Snyder and Schuette are Republicans.

Snyder told the paper much of the $3.5 million in taxes he is using for his criminal defense was being spent to find and prepare records requested by Schuette and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is also investigating the water scandal.

Schuette has filed 43 criminal charges against 13 current and former state and local officials, including the emergency managers this week.

Snyder’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the interview.

Flint has been at the center of a public health crisis since last year, when tests found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in the poor, predominantly black city of about 100,000 residents.

Critics have called for charges to be brought against the governor, who has been in office since 2011, as well as other high-ranking state officials. Snyder has said he believes he did nothing criminally wrong.

Asked at a news conference on Tuesday whether the investigation would lead to charges against senior state officials, Schuette said no one was excluded from the probe.

Flint’s water contamination was linked to a switch of its source to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014, a change made in an attempt to cut costs, while the city was under state-run emergency management.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Lisa Von Ahn)

Former Flint officials criminally charged in water crisis

The Flint Water Plant tower is seen in Flint, Michigan, U.S.

By Steve Friess

FLINT, Mich. (Reuters) – Michigan prosecutors on Tuesday charged four former government officials with criminal conspiracy to violate safety rules in connection with the Flint water crisis, which exposed residents to dangerous levels of lead, the state’s attorney general said.

Former state-appointed emergency managers Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose and former city employees Howard Croft, a public works superintendent, and Daugherty Johnson, a utilities manager, were the latest to be charged in the case, Attorney General Bill Schuette said.

He told a news conference in Flint that the defendants conspired to operate the city’s water treatment plant when it was not safe to do so.

“The tragedy that we know of as the Flint water crisis did not occur by accident,” Schuette said. “Flint was a casualty of arrogance, disdain and failure of management, an absence of accountability.”

Asked whether the investigation would lead to charges against higher-placed state officials, Schuette reiterated that no one was off the table.

Some critics have called for high-ranking state officials, including Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, to be charged. Snyder has said he believed he had not done anything criminally wrong.

Court documents did not list attorneys for the four men. An attorney who had previously represented Earley could not immediately be reached for comment.

Michigan has been at the center of a public health crisis since last year, when tests found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in Flint, a predominantly black city of about 100,000.

Flint’s water contamination was linked to an April 2014 decision by a state-appointed emergency manager to switch the city’s water source to the Flint River from Lake Huron in an attempt to cut costs.

The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from city pipes into the drinking water. The city switched back to the previous water system in October 2015.

The initial change in the city’s water source was made while Earley, 65, was emergency manager.

At hearings in Washington last March on the crisis, lawmakers criticized Earley for failing to ask enough questions about the safety protocols in place at the time of the switch. In his testimony, Earley blamed city and federal officials for the problems, and said the decision to switch was made before his tenure.

“A broad net is certainly being cast,” said Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards, a water engineer who first raised the issue of Flint’s lead contamination.

Lead can be toxic, and children are especially vulnerable. The crisis has prompted lawsuits by parents who say their children have shown dangerously high levels of lead in their blood.

(Additional reporting by Laila Kearney in New York and Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago.; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Weekend weather, freezing, dangerous Conditions in Ohio cause deadly pileups

weather map from Noaa weather service 12-9-16

By Kami K

Cold weather is in store for almost the entire nation this weekend as frigid temperatures dive in from Canada. Highs will be reaching in the low 40’s for Texas and frigid low temps of -22 degrees in the Dakotas. According to the National Weather Service, a system moving into the Pacific Northwest will spread heavy rain and snow over the region today. Snow levels will start off very low with snow accumulations likely even in Portland and Seattle with the probability of at least 4” of snow through Saturday evening.

Twelve to fourteen inches of accumulation will be seen in some areas in the north from lake effect snowfall along areas close to the Great Lakes. These lake effect snows have caused dangerous conditions on roads and highways. In a report from The Weather Channel, heavy lake-effect snowfall made travel dangerous along Interstate 90 near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border Thursday, causing a pair of pileups 50 miles apart that left more than a dozen injured.

Shortly before 3 p.m. EST, the Lake County, Ohio Sheriff’s Office said that a pileup involving more than 50 vehicles occurred along I-90 southeast of Painesville. As a result, authorities closed both directions of the interstate. The road was closed for more than 14 hours and about 20 people were injured, according to the Associated Press.

Another pile-up occurred earlier Thursday along the same interstate, but this one was on the other side of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. The Weather Channel reported that at least 15 people were injured in a pileup that involved at least a dozen vehicles between Exits 9 and 16 near Girard Township, Pennsylvania.

A more deadly chain reaction crash in Michigan resulted in the deaths of 3 people when slick road conditions caused a 30 to 40 car pileup on Interstate 96 Thursday morning.

“Bands of lake-effect snow are streaming through the Great Lakes region as arctic air flows over the relatively warmer lake waters,” said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. “Those snow squalls can lead to visibility that deteriorates quickly, along with slick roads.”

Police and weather specialists are cautioning all drivers about respecting the weather conditions and being cautious.

Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw told CBS Detroit, “We’re just trying to tell people I know it’s the first snowstorm, I know it’s the first time we’ve seen snow in a long time, but you gotta slow down and you gotta take a look at those closing distances between the cars in front of you.”

Judge orders bottled water delivered in Flint, Mich., in water crisis

(This version of the Nov. 10 story, corrects the name to Natural Resources Defense Council in paragraph 3)

By David Bailey

(Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday ordered state and city officials to deliver bottled water directly to qualified residents in Flint, Michigan, where a water contamination crisis has made unfiltered tap water unsafe to drink since April 2014.

Officials must deliver four cases of bottled water a week immediately unless they can prove a water filter is installed and properly maintained at a home or if residents opt out of a filter or deliveries, U.S. District Judge David Lawson said.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by residents and advocacy groups Concerned Pastors for Social Action, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

“Here the plaintiffs seek a stop-gap measure that provides ready access to safe drinking water,” Lawson said. “It is in the best interest of everyone to move people out of harms way before addressing the source of the harm.”

Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched its water source in April 2014 to the Flint River from Lake Huron in a money-saving move. The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from city pipes and into the drinking water.

The city switched back in October 2015 after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children, but the water has not returned fully to normal. Flint has been replacing lead pipes running to homes, and state officials have said the water is safe to drink if properly filtered.

The crisis drew international attention and numerous lawsuits and led to calls by some critics for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to resign over the state’s response.

The groups’ lawsuit, filed in January, seeks replacement of lead service pipes. They later asked Lawson to order home water deliveries or faucet filter installations because transportation issues made it hard for some residents to get to water distribution centers.

The city and state argued that bottled water was widely available at government-run distribution points and ordering door-to-door deliveries could be financially crippling.

Lawson called the city and state efforts commendable, but said the plaintiffs offered credible anecdotal evidence the distribution network was in flux and not completely effective.

“The court correctly recognized that the government created this crisis, and it’s the government’s responsibility to ensure that all people in Flint have access to safe drinking water,” NRDC attorney Dimple Chaudhary said.

(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Leslie Adler)

U.S. counterterrorism agents arrest Michigan man with explosives

By Laila Kearney

(Reuters) – Federal counter terrorism agents have arrested a 29-year-old Michigan man accused of illegally purchasing an arsenal of explosives and other devices capable of mass casualties, according to a criminal complaint filed this week.

Sebastian Gregerson, a Detroit resident who also goes by the name Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, was arrested on Monday by officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s counter terrorism squad, according to the complaint.

Gregerson is accused of unregistered possession of a destructive device and the unlicensed receipt of explosive materials, the complaint said.

His court-appointed attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

The FBI began its investigation in April 2015, when an anonymous informant alerted the agency that Gregerson said he was in possession of grenades and bazookas, the complaint said.

Over the past 16 months, Gregerson bought weapons, ammunition and tactical gear including a car pistol holster, hundreds of rounds of ammunition for an AK-47 rifle and commercial-grade road spikes to disable vehicles, the complaint said.

He also bought several training manuals and subscriptions to publications about how to evade capture and “survive dangerous situations,” it said.

In recorded phone conversations with an undercover FBI agent, Gregerson discussed making homemade grenades and ways to attack buildings and law enforcement by using the explosive devices, the complaint said.

It was not clear from the complaint whether Gregerson said he planned to carry out such an attack.

Gregerson was arrested on Sunday, when he met with undercover agents at a gas station and traded a Beretta M9 handgun as payment for several grenades, the complaint said. He was not licensed to receive explosive materials, it said.

Gregerson is scheduled for a detention hearing on Thursday at the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse in Detroit, court documents said.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by David Gregorio)

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