The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources secretly rewrote rules protecting streams that the N.C. Environmental Management Commission had written last year. The commission had updated and approved the rules last year, but “if at least 10 objections are filed, then the General Assembly must vote on the rules. In this case, sufficient objections were filed — including four from Department of Environment and Natural Resources staff members, supposedly writing as private citizens.” Commission members scolded DENR in a committee meeting.
Citing the idea as a “distraction,” the city won’t remove benches around Uptown, as was proposed by the city’s homelessness task force – the members of which included Center City Partners, CMPD, the county and the Charlotte Housing Authority – to “encourage” individuals experiencing homelessness to visit shelters instead of gathering near Trade and Tryon.
After Missouri’s governor ordered the highway patrol to take over policing in Ferguson, the police department will release the name of the officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The hacktivist group Anonymous supposedly released the name of the officer Thursday, though people close to the matter said the group was incorrect. Their Twitter account has been suspended.
Harvard scientists organized a robot flashmob.
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2014.
