It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
A judge punished Alex Jones for refusing to turn over data that could reveal how much he made from Sandy Hook coverage
Kenneth Niemeyer,Ashley Collman,Natalie Musumeci
Alex Jones.Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
Alex Jones is in court again to determine how much he should pay the families of Sandy Hook victims.
On the trial's first day, the judge sanctioned Jones for refusing to turn over discovery material.
Jones was ordered last month to pay $50 million to the parents of Jesse Lewis in a separate trial.
InfoWars host Alex Jones has been punished by a judge for not turning over documents to Sandy Hook families' lawyers — again.
The right-wing conspiracy theorist was sanctioned by a Connecticut judge on Tuesday at the opening of his defamation damages trial in the state for not turning over enough web data about his coverage of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
Jones is on trial in Connecticut to determine how much he has to pay the families of several victims of the 2012 massacre over his repeated bogus claims that the mass shooting was a "hoax."
The families' lawyers wanted to draw a connection between the Google Analytics data and merchandise sales. Jones turned over data up through June 2019, but didn't reveal data from the last three years.
Judge Barbara Bellis called Jones' failure to fulfill his discovery obligations "stunningly cavalier" and sanctioned him. She also banned his lawyers from arguing that he didn't profit from his coverage of the Sandy Hook shooting.
"This stunningly cavalier attitude with respect to their discovery obligations is what led to the default in the first place," Bellis said in Connecticut Superior Court.
The judge added, "The defendants have consistently engaged in dilatory and obstructive discovery practices from the inception of these cases, right through to the trial."
Jones was nowhere to be seen at the courthouse in Waterbury, Connecticut, on Tuesday. The courtroom was packed with a mix of victims' family members and the media. About 20 family members entered together 15 minutes before the trial.
About an hour before the trial kicked off, a lone female protester held up a sign outside: "Alex Jones karma is a bitch," it read.
Last month, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, one of the 26 killed in the school massacre, after they sued him for defamation for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax.
Bellis ruled in 2021 that Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, were liable for defaming 15 plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are suing Jones for defamation, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The plaintiffs in the Connecticut trial were part of three separate lawsuits that have been consolidated and include relatives of several Sandy Hook shooting victims and one FBI agent.
The plaintiffs say they have been harassed in person and received death threats and abusive comments online from Jones's followers because of his claims that the shooting was a hoax, according to the Associated Press.
During his initial defamation trial in Texas, Jones admitted that the Sandy Hook shooting was 100% real and apologized for hurting the feeling of the victims' families, but he later reneged on his apology in an interview and said "I don't apologize anymore. I'm done."
Alex Jones' attorney suggests at
defamation trial that Sandy Hook
plaintiffs are just anti-gun activists
Ashley Collman,Jake Epstein
Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones speaks outside of the Dirksen building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 5, 2018.AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File
InfoWars' Alex Jones faces another trial for falsely claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was a "hoax."
Families of eight victims — plus an FBI agent who responded to the attack — are the plaintiffs.
The trial is in Waterbury, Connecticut – under 20 miles from where the 2012 mass shooting unfolded.
The defense attorney for InfoWars host Alex Jones suggested during his defamation damages trial Tuesday that parents of children who died during the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre are exaggerating their claims to promote an anti-gun political agenda.
During his opening remarks, Norm Pattis said the plaintiffs were attempting to silence Jones for supporting the Second Amendment. Jones has long claimed the massacre was a charade designed to give the government a reason to take away people's guns.
The conspiracy theorist shock jock was nowhere to be seen Tuesday as he faced a second trial for spreading the false claim that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a government-orchestrated "hoax" played out by "crisis actors."
The trial is taking place in Waterbury, Connecticut — fewer than 20 miles from Newtown, where 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in the mass shooting — and is the second of three defamation damages cases against Jones.
Last month, the first of those trials ended with a Texas jury awarding the parents of one of the victims nearly $50 million.
Much more is at stake in Connecticut, where the families of eight victims plus an FBI agent who responded to the attack are all plaintiffs.
Jones has already lost all three defamation cases, and the current round of trials concern how much he owes the families. The Connecticut trial is expected to last five weeks, and Jones is expected to testify, though it is unclear when.
Day one kicked off with a major victory for the plaintiffs, who complained Jones had not turned over enough Google Analytics data to illustrate how Infowars monetizes web traffic.
As a result, Judge Barbara Bellis sanctioned Jones and banned his lawyer from arguing he didn't profit from his Sandy Hook coverage. Bellis called Jones' failure to fulfill his discovery obligations "stunningly cavalier."
Chris Mattei, an attorney representing the Sandy Hook families, kicked off opening statements Tuesday morning, telling the jury of three men and three women that Jones started claiming the massacre was fake the very morning of the shooting, before many of the families had even learned what had happened to their children.
Mattei said none of the family members wanted to sue Jones, but they were defenseless against his lies that questioned their grave loss and led to them to be harassed by Jones' legion of followers.
"None of them wanted to bring this lawsuit, they don't want to be here. We trust you to decide what's appropriate here," he told the jurors.
The families will never get back what they lost, he said, but this lawsuit may help stop Jones when another school shooting inevitably takes place.
"Where will Alex Jones be? Will he be in the studio ready to pounce? Or will you stop him?" Mattei asked the jurors.
Pattis then gave his opening remarks, which started off barely audible for those in the gallery. He said he was "stunned" to hear his opposing counsel's opening statements since "stopping Alex Jones" is "not why we're here."
Instead, jurors are tasked with deciding what the plaintiffs are owed according to the law, Pattis said.
Mattei made several objections when his opposing counsel started describing the parents as political activists for gun control, most of which the judge sustained. He warned Pattis that he was being "improper," and after the third objection, scolded him: "One more time and I will ask you to be seated," he said.
Pattis' arguments were largely tied to free speech. He said that while some people believe Jones, most simply tune him out. He questioned whether the Sandy Hook parents should try to "turn him off" simply because they object to his message.
When Pattis at one point said that "no one will minimize" what the families have lost, a Sandy Hook mother in the gallery could be heard whispering under her breath.
"He just did," she said.
Loyola University Student Created
'The Safety Pouch' To Fight Against
Police Brutality During Traffic Stops
Evie B.
BLAVITY
A junior at Loyola University in New Orleans is off to a tremendous start of the school year as he nationally launches his latest invention, the Safety Pouch. The brilliant product was developed in one of the university’s entrepreneurship classes.
The Safety Pouch was founded and created by its CEO, David Price. During traffic stops, this safety tool was designed to fight against police brutality. In the middle of the pandemic, while The Black Lives Matter movement was going strong and surrounding protests, Price created his business while drawing inspiration from a caring educator. This summer, Price officially launched The Safety Pouch into more than 400 Walmart stores.
The Safety Pouch is an essential driving tool for civilians and law enforcement, designed to eliminate active reaching during traffic stops. It minimizes movement within the vehicle and allows for complete visibility and storage of all driving credentials in one place.
The Safety Pouch also provides a sense of relief and facilitates quicker and more efficient traffic stops for both civilians and law enforcement.
During his freshman year at Loyola University, Price created The Safety Pouch as part of an assignment to develop a product that could bring change to society. As communities urgently demanded calls for racial justice and transparency in policing, Price recalled his idea, which he thought of at the age of 16, as he and his parents sat and had “The Talk.”
With his professor’s assistance, he developed a business plan, as law professors do offer some pro bono advice. Price launched the Safety Pouch as an e-commerce brand online after sourcing manufacturers. He brought it to market in June of 2020, and within two years, The Safety Pounch saw astounding growth exceeding six figures.
Although it may sound like a dream, the journey has been far from easy. With the love and support of his family, he started his small bedroom operation business. Price fueled his concept during the pandemic, slowly making progress by hand-selling pouches at car washes, producing slow online sales and the support of local Black-owned businesses.
With the assistance of high-profile appearances and endorsements from celebrities, Price’s product went viral on social media, earning a media grant offered by the Meredith Corporation valued at $100,000.
“Gaining the opportunity to expand into 400 national brick and mortar locations is truly life-changing,” David Price, CEO And Founder of The Safety Pouch shared. “With this expansion, I hope to get The Safety Pouch in the hands of people who need it the most and contribute to restoring trust and security between civilians and law enforcement.”
To learn more about The Safety Pouch, be sure to visit thesafetypouch.com, and look for it in a local Walmart near you. Also, you can follow the brand on Instagram/Twitter (@thesafetypouch) and Facebook (The Safety Pouch). About The Safety Pouch.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver suspended by NBA for one year, fined $10 million
The NBA on Tuesday announced a one-year suspension and $10 million fine of Phoenix Suns and Mercuryowner Robert Sarver following a lengthy independent investigation into workplace misconduct allegations.
The league launched the investigation into Sarver following a November 2021 article published by Holmes, whose interviews with more than 70 current and former Suns employees revealed a history of alleged "racially insensitive language," "misogynistic" behavior and other hostile workplace misconduct.
The law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz was commissioned to conduct the investigation. Led by partners David Anders and Sarah Eddy, the investigation featured 320 interviews and the review of more than 80,000 "documents and other materials, including emails, text messages and videos." The firm's findings formulated a 43-page report that was made public in coordination with the NBA's news release.
The investigation revealed the following key findings, as laid out in the report:
Sarver said the N-word at least five times in repeating or purporting to repeat what a Black person said — four of those after being told by Black and white subordinates that he should not use the word, even in repetition of another.
Sarver used language and engaged in conduct demeaning of female employees. Among other examples, he told a pregnant employee that she would be unable to do her job upon becoming a mother; berated a female employee in front of others and then commented that women cry too much; and arranged an all-female lunch so that female employees at Western Alliance Bank, where at the time he was CEO, could explain to female Suns employees how to handle his demands.
Sarver commented and made jokes frequently to employees in large and small settings about sex and sex-related anatomy, including by making crude or otherwise inappropriate comments about the physical appearance and bodies of female employees and other women. On four occasions, Sarver engaged in workplace-inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees.
Over 50 current and former employees reported that Sarver frequently engaged in demeaning and harsh treatment of employees — including by yelling and cursing at them — that on occasion constituted bullying under workplace standards.
Terms of the suspension bar Sarver from entering any NBA or WNBA facility for one year. During that time, he also cannot attend board of governors meetings, represent his teams in any capacity, influence any business or basketball decisions or attend any league-affiliated event, including business partner activities.
"The statements and conduct described in the findings of the independent investigation are troubling and disappointing," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "We believe the outcome is the right one, taking into account all the facts, circumstances and context brought to light by the comprehensive investigation of this 18-year period and our commitment to upholding proper standards in NBA workplaces. ...
"Regardless of position, power or intent, we all need to recognize the corrosive and hurtful impact of racially insensitive and demeaning language and behavior. On behalf of the entire NBA, I apologize to all of those impacted by the misconduct outlined in the investigators' report. We must do better.”
“The actions taken on behalf of the NBA and WNBA in response to the findings of the independent investigation are appropriate and necessary. We take great pride in being one of the most diverse and inclusive leagues in sports, and hope that these actions will not only be used to establish a stronger workplace culture for the Suns/Mercury organization but also shine a light on the impact that offensive language and inappropriate behavior can have on employees more broadly," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.
In addition to the suspension and fine, Sarver must complete a training program "focused on respect and appropriate conduct in the workplace." The Suns and Mercury are also mandated to hire an independent firm to "evaluate and make recommendations with respect to workplace training programs, policies and procedures, and hiring and compensation practices — with a focus on fostering a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace." Regular workplace culture surveys and reports to the league office are also required.
The punishment for Sarver falls between the two other most severe penalties in league history.
Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver is banned from attending NBA and WNBA events for one year. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
In 2018, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban agreed to donate $10 million to organizations committed to combating domestic violence and supporting the professional development of women in sports, following an investigation that confirmed allegations of widespread sexual harassment and workplace misconduct in the organization. Cuban was not suspended for presiding over a systematic failure to protect employees.
The NBA will donate Sarver's $10 million fine to organizations "committed to addressing race and gender-based issues in and outside the workplace." The league's statement said Sarver "cooperated fully with the investigative process." However, according to Holmes and ESPN colleague Adrian Wojnarowski, Sarver took issue with his suspension and fine during what became a "largely acrimonious" punitive process.
"Good leadership requires accountability," Sarver said in a statement Tuesday. "For the Suns and Mercury organizations, that begins with me. While I disagree with some of the particulars of the NBA’s report, I would like to apologize for my words and actions that offended our employees. I take full responsibility for what I have done. I am sorry for causing this pain, and these errors in judgment are not consistent with my personal philosophy or my values.
"I accept the consequences of the NBA’s decision."
Here's why Robert Sarver got to keep the Suns while Donald Sterling lost the Clippers
The punishment would be the largest ever levied against an NBA owner ... had it not been for one Donald Sterling, whose own scandal rocked the NBA less than a decade ago and led to the former Los Angeles Clippers owner's ouster from the league.
Sarver might be out $10 million and not even allowed to watch the Suns from the nosebleeds, but he managed to hold onto the team he purchased in 2004 for $401 million. Sterling wasn't so fortunate, as he was banned from the NBA for life, fined $2.5 million and eventually forced to sell the team.
Here's why the Sarver and Sterling cases ended so differently, starting with the medium of the scandal.
Donald Sterling's scandal started with a recording
In case you need a refresher, the Sterling scandal began with an unhappy girlfriend and a phone recording app.
It's important to note that Sterling was far from a good citizen in the NBA before April 25, 2014. His notorious frugality saw the Clippers become a laughingstock for most of his tenure, he often butted heads with the commissioner's officer and he was sued multiple times for racial discrimination and sexual harassment. His players also weren't exactly big fans of him, as exemplified by Blake Griffin's essay about his White Party.
None of that was enough to get the NBA to take action against Sterling. That moment finally came when TMZ published recordings of phone calls between Sterling and his girlfriend V. Stiviano.
In the calls, Sterling complained about Stiviano, who is of Black and Mexican descent, associating herself with Black people, including an Instagram photo with Magic Johnson. The conversations showed naked racism in a league of majority Black players. It wasn't long before those players started taking action against Sterling.
Four days after the recordings were published, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced Sterling's lifetime ban.
More than 70 people accusing Sarver is an enormous amount of people, but a lack of public video or audio evidence also allowed for a slower response and made it riskier to take action against the billionaire. The first story presented in the ESPN article was a confrontation between Sarver and then-Suns head coach Earl Watson over the owner's use of the N-word. Sarver disputed Watson's account of the incident.
Robert Sarver is still owner of the Phoenix Suns. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso, File)
The whole scandal would have very likely played out differently had there been an actual recording, which we may as well call the Ray Rice Principle, in which the NFL suspended the Baltimore Ravens running back two games for allegedly striking his then-fiancee, then indefinitely once the infamous video leaked out.
The NBA didn't have firm proof for some Robert Sarver allegations
That lack of video evidence with Sarver made things particularly difficult for NBA investigators, as fully assessing one man's decade-plus of behavior in the workplace is no easy task when relying on memory and hearsay.
While the NBA was comfortable enough with its findings to conclude "Sarver has engaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards, as reflected in team and league rules and policies," with conduct including "the use of racially insensitive language; unequal treatment of female employees; sex-related statements and conduct; and harsh treatment of employees that on occasion constituted bullying," it also ceded that its investigation wasn't perfect.
For starters, the league said 124 people contacted by investigators either ignored their request for an interview or outright declined. There was also this interesting section about the difficulties of looking into events decades in the past when nearly everyone involved read the original ESPN article:
Many of the events alleged in the ESPN article, and others learned about during the investigation, occurred long ago — in many cases, well over a decade ago. The passage of time posed a significant challenge for the investigation. Most of what was alleged in the ESPN article and reported in interviews comprised oral statements and undocumented interactions. The investigators tried to corroborate witnesses’ recollections with contemporaneous records such as emails and videos, but such corroborative material was generally not available — either because it never existed or because materials were not kept or were discarded as part of routine record-retention practices.
The investigation was therefore heavily reliant on witnesses’ memories, which often fade over time and can be affected by external forces — including, most notably here, the ESPN article itself. Nearly every interviewee had read the article, and some said that their recollections were refreshed by it. To try to minimize the effects of suggestion, the investigators asked open-ended questions and avoided leading questions as much as possible. In making factual findings, the investigators assessed witness credibility in all the customary ways — by evaluating, among other things, demeanor, potential bias, personal motivations, and consistency with other evidence.
It's telling the NBA still took severe action against Sarver despite those complicating factors. They also might explain why the league stopped short of casting him out.
Robert Sarver and Donald Sterling's scandals were fundamentally different
Perhaps the biggest functional difference between Sarver and Sterling, beyond the ways each reached the public, was the different ways they showed racial insensitivity.
Sarver was found to have used the language of racism, but only when recounting what other Black people had said (which is still not acceptable). Sterling might not have been caught on tape saying the N-word, but his comments were more illustrative of the worldview that made the N-word what it is, showing a clear issue with Black people.
The relaying of racial slurs was only one aspect of the allegations against Sarver. Just as serious were the allegations of his mistreatment of Suns employees in the office, including multiple incidents in which he exposed himself to male employees and made sexual comments about female employees.
Sterling was not a well-liked figure around the Clippers' offices either. His ban originated from the Stiviano recordings, but his decades of unpopularity also made it easy for the NBA to show him the door.
Players revolted against Donald Sterling and said next to nothing about Robert Sarver
The term "player empowerment" is now an NBA cliche, but the reaction to Sterling showed how much the players could do if they banded together.
Magic Johnson: "I feel sorry for my friends Coach Doc Rivers and Chris Paul that they have to work for a man that feels that way about African Americans."
Michael Jordan: "I am appalled that this type of ignorance still exists within our country and at the highest levels of our sport. In a league where the majority of players are African-American, we cannot and must not tolerate discrimination at any level."
The same energy was not there when Sarver was accused of using the N-word multiple times. No players called for Sarver's ouster, and there were hardly any questions about it from the media outside Phoenix.
That's not an entirely fair comparison to make, as the circumstances of each owner's allegedly racist speech were very different, but it goes to show there are a handful of people that can push Silver into taking quick, severe action, and that didn't happen in Sarver's case.
Tennessee staff fret as contentious charter school denied Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich., speaks at a news conference in Jackson, Mich., April 5, 2000. When local school officials voted down a charter school linked to Hillsdale College this summer, staffers at the state commission that would soon have to decide whether to let the controversial school open anyway reacted with shock at how things unfolded. The text messages they exchanged, obtained through a records request by The Associated Press, showed the close attention state staffers paid to the school board's resounding rejection in the wake of Arnn’s disparaging comments about teachers. When no one showed up to make the case for the Hillsdale-affiliated charter school application, the alarm among those who would be left holding the bag was palpable.
(Bob Keyes/Jackson Citizen Patriot via AP, File)
KIMBERLEE KRUESI and JONATHAN MATTISE Tue, September 13, 2022
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — When local school officials voted down a Tennessee charter school linked to Hillsdale College this summer, staffers at the state commission that would soon have to decide whether to let the controversial school open anyway reacted with shock at how things unfolded.
The text messages they exchanged, obtained through a records request by The Associated Press, showed the close attention state staffers paid to the school board's resounding rejection in the wake of Hillsdale President Larry Arnn’s disparaging comments about teachers. When no one showed up to make the case for the Hillsdale-affiliated charter school application, the alarm among those who would be left holding the bag was palpable.
“What!!!! They invited both schools to speak and (they) did not show!!!” texted Beth Figueroa, the commission’s director of authorizing.
Critics ranging from some Democratic lawmakers to educators have argued the Tennessee Charter School Commission was designed to rubberstamp charters that local communities don't want, with several members tied to pro-charter groups. The nine members are handpicked by Republican Gov. Bill Lee — a vocal charter schools supporter and proponent of Hillsdale College’s charter initiative — and confirmed by lawmakers in the GOP-supermajority General Assembly. The staffers work for the commission.
Hillsdale, a small conservative college in Michigan, holds outsized influence with Republican politicians. Arnn had recently spearheaded the “1776 Curriculum,” inspired by former President Donald Trump’s short-lived “1776 Commission,” as a direct response to The New York Times’ “1619 Project” focusing on America’s history of slavery. Curriculum materials glorify the founders, downplay America’s role in slavery and condemn the rise of progressive politics.
Its prominence has strengthened among conservatives amid the national debate over the role schools should play in teaching race and sexuality. South Dakota, for one, turned to a former Hillsdale politics professor to write proposed social studies standards for its public schools. They align with the “1776 Curriculum.”
Tennessee's state commission will be put to the test this week during public hearings— run by commission staffers — as board members consider whether to approve applications from three Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools appealing their rejections by local school boards.
The texts were among hundreds of documents the commission provided after the AP requested all conversations relating to Hillsdale College and their charter school affiliates. Most of the records showed commission staffers helping applicants navigate the appeals process, telling them what information was needed and offering appeals training.
But the documents also included texts as staffers watched the fallout of Arnn's disparaging remarks on teachers as local school boards in Rutherford, Jackson-Madison and Clarksville-Montgomery school board denied the Hillsdale-affiliated applications.
“Are we having fun yet?” texted Tess Stovall, commission executive director, on Aug. 10 after sending a link to a news article on the panel's independence being tested. “I like my quotes.”
During the Rutherford County school board meeting on July 18, Ingle and Figueroa texted while watching the livestream. When no one showed from the Hillsdale-affiliated school to defend their application, both expressed alarm. Board members voted 6-1 to reject the charter.
Ingle wrote, “Beth, that’s a tough look.”
“This does not help us,” Ingle continued. He said the Rutherford school board member who voted against rejecting Hillsdale calls him “once a quarter.”
The text messages drew further skepticism about the commission from Jim Wrye, a representative of Tennessee's largest organization representing educators.
“The administration sold the state charter commission to the General Assembly as a neutral appellate body," Wrye, Tennessee Education Association government relations director, told the AP. "We believed the goal was to undermine local control and drop charter schools on communities that do not want them. That belief is only growing.”
In 2010, Hillsdale began establishing charter schools nationwide. Hillsdale maintains it does not operate or manage them, but instead offers support by licensing their curriculum for free and providing training and other resources to so-called member schools.
Tennessee's state commission could overrule local decision-makers on Hillsdale-affiliated schools. Or, the panel could spike them after Arnn's comments, including a declaration that educators are “trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.” The governor, who was on stage with Arnn during some of his remarks, has refused to condemn his words.
Asked about the texts, the commission said staffers regularly monitor local school board meetings to stay “fully prepared" for potential appeals.
“(At) the time of these text messages, commission staff was anticipating 16 new start appeals. Of those 16 possible appeals, we are currently handling 13 public charter school appeals, an unprecedented number in Tennessee since the state started hearing appeals in 2002,” Ingle said via email, noting the commission only had three appeals last year, its first year operating.
Any charter school approved at the local level spares the commission from the time and effort required for additional appeals, Ingle said.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Jeff Yarbro questioned the commission's logic, saying, “Hillsdale's poor showing only makes the commission's job harder if their mandate is to greenlight new schools.”
“The commission shouldn’t have a rooting interest in the charter schools under review,” Yarbro told the AP. “Here, the danger is a commission and staff focused on opening more charters rather than ensuring a fair and independent process.”
Tennessee's Charter School Commission was formed in 2019. Rep. Mark White, the Republican who sponsored the legislation backed by Gov. Lee, said at the time the proposal would move the charter school appeals process from the state education board — which has a wide variety of oversight responsibilities — to a new charter-focused panel.
White, who joined in widespread outcry against Arnn's comments, told the AP he still believes the state commission is the best option for vetting and ensuring Tennessee has quality charter schools. He said the text messages show staffers carefully watch the proceedings because it would affect their workload.
“I know where they’re coming from, and I know they’re solid,” he said.
___
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Tess Stovall’s last name.
Ancient skeleton found in Mexico cave threatened by train Mexico Maya Train
In this photo courtesy of Octavio del Rio, shows fragments of a pre-historic human skeleton partly covered by sediment in an underwater cave in Tulum, Mexico, Sept. 10, 2022. The cave system was flooded at the end of the last ice age 8,000 years ago, according to an archaeologist and cave diver Octavio del Rio, and is located near where the government plans to build a high-speed tourist train through the jungle.
(Octavio del Rio via AP)
MARK STEVENSON Tue, September 13, 2022
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A prehistoric human skeleton has been found in a cave system that was flooded at the end of the last ice age 8,000 years ago, according to a cave-diving archaeologist on Mexico’s Caribbean coast.
Archaeologist Octavio del Rio said he and fellow diver Peter Broger saw the shattered skull and skeleton partly covered by sediment in a cave near where the Mexican government plans to build a high-speed tourist train through the jungle.
Given the distance from the cave entrance, the skeleton couldn’t have gotten there without modern diving equipment, so it must be over 8,000 years old, Del Rio said, referring to the era when rising sea levels flooded the caves.
“There it is. We don't know if the body was deposited there or if that was where this person died,” said Del Rio. He said that the skeleton was located about 8 meters (26 feet) underwater, about a half-kilometer (one third of a mile) into the cave system.
Some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered in the sinkhole caves known as “cenotes” on the country's Caribbean coast, and experts say some of those caves are threatened by the Mexican government’s Maya Train tourism project.
Del Rio, who has worked with the National Institute of Anthropology and History on projects in the past, said he had notified the institute of the discovery. The institute did not immediately respond to questions about whether it intended to explore the site.
But Del Rio said Tuesday that institute archaeologist Carmen Rojas told him that the site was registered and would be investigated by the institute's Quintana Roo state branch Holocene Archaeology Project.
He stressed that the cave — whose location he did not reveal because of a fear the site could be looted or disturbed — was near where the government has cut down a swath of jungle to lay train tracks, and could be collapsed, contaminated or closed off by the building project and subsequent development.
“There is a lot more study that has to be done in order to correctly interpret” the find, Del Rio said, noting that “dating, some kind of photographic studies and some collection” would be needed to determine exactly how old the skeleton is.
Del Rio has been exploring the region for three decades, and in 2002, he participated in the discovery and cataloguing of remains known as The Woman of Naharon, who died around the same time, or perhaps earlier, than Naia — the nearly complete skeleton of a young woman who died around 13,000 years ago. It was discovered in a nearby cave system in 2007.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is racing to finish his Maya Train project in the remaining two years of his term over the objections of environmentalists, cave divers and archaeologists. They say his haste will allow little time to study the ancient remains.
Activists say the heavy, high-speed rail project will fragment the coastal jungle and will run often above the fragile limestone caves, which — because they’re flooded, twisty and often incredibly narrow — can take decades to explore.
Caves along part of the coast already have been damaged by construction above them, with cement pilings used to support the weight above.
The 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) Maya Train line is meant to run in a rough loop around the Yucatan Peninsula, connecting beach resorts and archaeological sites.
The most controversial stretch cuts a more than 68-mile (110-kilometer) swath through the jungle between the resorts of Cancun and Tulum.
Del Rio said the route through the jungle should be abandoned and the train should be built over the already-impacted coastal highway between Cancun and Tulum, as was originally planned.
López Obrador abandoned the highway route after hotel owners voiced objections, and cost and traffic interruptions became a concern.
“What we want is for them to change to route at this spot, because of the archaeological finds that have been made there, and their importance,” said Del Rio. “They should take the train away from there and put it where they said they were going to build before, on the highway ... an area that has already been affected, devastated.”
'Dinosaur mummy': Researchers believe they found one of the best preserved dinosaurs ever
HADROSAUR IS THE OFFICIAL ALBERTA DINO Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY Tue, September 13, 2022 Researchers in Canada have discovered parts of what they believe to be a full "dinosaur mummy" lodged in a hillside, the University of Reading in the United Kingdom announced last week.
The two exposed fossils, a foot and part of a tail clad in fossilized skin, are believed to belong to a juvenile duck-billed Hadrosaur dinosaur that died somewhere between 77 million to 75 million years ago, roughly 10 million years before dinosaurs went extinct, researchers said. Scientists began excavation of the site to remove the entire remains from the hill.
“It’s so well preserved you can see the individual scales, we can see some tendons and it looks like there’s going to be skin over the entire animal,” Brian Pickles, a paleontologist and ecology professor at the University of Reading, told USA TODAY. “Which means, if we’re really lucky, then some of the other internal organs might have preserved as well.”
If the remains are in as good of shape as Pickles hopes, it would be one of the best preserved dinosaur fossils ever discovered and would provide scientists with a clearer picture of what the dinosaur looked like when it roamed the Earth.
In the best case scenario, the creature’s stomach contents might be preserved, allowing scientists to determine the animal’s last meal, Pickles said. Brian Pickles And Caleb Brown Stand Next To The Exposed Skeleton. (Melissa Dergousoff/University Of Reading)
'Perfectly preserved'
A member of a field team led by Pickles, paleontologist Caleb Brown of Canada’s Royal Tyrrell Museum and scientists the University of New England in Australia first spotted the fossil poking out of a cliffside while on a scouting trip for an international field school last year at the Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada.
“It’s hard to imagine. This animal died 76 million years ago. It’s been perfectly preserved since then and it just happened to be just starting to erode out of this cliff when we were walking by,” Pickles said.
Close up details of ankle bones with skin impressions.
"This animal probably either died and then immediately got covered over by sand and silt in the river," Pickles said. "Or it was killed because a river bank fell onto it."
Hadrosaur fossils are common in North America, but finding juveniles is rare.
“Dinosaurs actually grew quite quickly so finding juveniles in the fossil record is important because it can tell us a lot about how their lives progressed,” Pickles said.
Pickles estimates the dinosaur to be about 13 feet long, around the length of a car. Adult Hadrosaurs were about 32 feet long, Pickles said.
It’s too early to identify the exact species. Scientists will need to analyze the skull, Pickles said. Even then, the skull may look different than anything in the record since the animal was still in its developing years. Diagram of potential Hadrosaur preserved in the hill. Other discoveries
Other dinosaurs have been found with pieces or extensive amounts of skin intact before. A small Psittacosaurus in Germany was found with much of its skin and tissue, including its cloaca (functionally, an anus) preserved.
And a Borealopelta displayed at the Royal Tyrrell Museum was found with much of its skin intact in Canada a few years ago, the Atlantic reported.
But the dinosaur in Germany was rather small, and the some of the Borealopelta remains were missing. The Hadrosaur being unearthed in Canada may be the largest and most complete.
Pickles said the team expects to have carved out a block containing the skeleton from the hill by the end of next summer.
Then it will be transported to a lab where a team will use finer tools to surface the animal before it's ultimately displayed at the Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum.
