Newport mayor answers residents’ questions about downtown ‘pit’

Pollution violators set free...

Pollution violators set free... (First column, 2nd story, link) Related stories:Diddy Pardon to Mark 250?Once Centerpiece of Celebration, Faded Declaration Recedes... Drudge Report Feed needs your support! Become a Patron

Storm disrupts downtown Apex construction zone, residents rush to help

Apex residents stepped up to clean up after storms that knocked over cones, bricks, and barriers in the downtown area.

Entire Police Department Fired Over Evidence Room Drama

Barrackville Police Department / FacebookA small West Virginia town has been left without its police department after every officer was removed from duty following a dispute over an alleged break-in at the department’s evidence room. Barrackville’s police department announced Tuesday that Mayor Tom Straight and the town council had removed all members of the force from duty. Former Sgt. Hunt told 12 News he discovered the evidence room had been entered without authorization and raised concerns about missing access keys and the town’s handling of the investigation. Hunt alleged that a council member had taken police keys and said he and the department’s only other officer were fired after challenging town officials. The department clerk also resigned, leaving Barrackville with no police employees. Hunt said he told officials he would take steps to secure whistleblower protection after raising his concerns. The turmoil comes days after Chief Zachary Freeburn stepped down amid disputes over the council’s authority over the department. County deputies will now respond to calls in the town of about 1,300 residents as officials seek a resolution.Read it at The New York PostRead more at The Daily Beast.

The Athletics Are An Abomination

SAN FRANCISCO — On Wednesday night I attended a Major League Baseball game for the first time since the final game the Athletics played in the Oakland Coliseum. I have all but stopped paying attention to the sport, less in active protest than as a casualty of no longer being able to pay like nine dollars to be inside of a major-league ballpark (OK, fine, major-league ballpark) within 30 minutes, though the existence of the geographically unmoored Athletics is omnidirectionally repulsive. It was an existence I was confronted with, as my friend Adam wanted to go to a Giants game, and it just so happened that the one game that fit both of our schedules was Giants–A's. Fine. Of the many ways the Athletics are currently giving me low-grade psychic damage, the primary one is that they did not disappear when they left Oakland. They remain a pitching, hitting symbol of team owner John Fisher's blithe cruelty toward the Town and the malignant indifference of commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB. When I see the team's logo, I think of the people who loved the Oakland Athletics, the dozens of crying fans I saw at that last game, the guy who brought a photo of his dead cousin to the game because baseball was something they always shared. On Wednesday night, the stadium was packed with tons of A's fans, as well as plenty of split-logo hats and 1989 World Series gear. It was a strange experience, seeing the masses animated by a sense of denial and nostalgia, proudly wearing their green and gold as if the Oakland Athletics still existed. It's like wearing a dead guy's clothes to watch him be reanimated, Frankenstein-style. It was sad. The loudest cheer of the night was for the displayed final score of Mexico's 3-0 World Cup win over Czechia.

Indiana man tells police he cut off his penis, used it to start a fire

Officials were stumped after what started as an investigation into a stabbing and arson took a disturbing left turn after an Indiana man admitted that he used his severed penis to start a campfire. On May 6, the Fort Wayne Fire Department investigated a fire at a detached garage. Around the same time, police responded []...Click to read more