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In this Sept. 24, 2015 photo, consultant Jonathan Hunt checks seedlings growing in the new marijuana growing facility on the Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation in Flandreau, S.D. The project, according to the tribe, could generate up to $2 million a month in profit. The first joints are expected to go on sale Dec. 31 at a New Year’s Eve party. (AP Photo/Jay Pickthorn)

South Dakota Tribe To Open Nation’s 1st Marijuana Resort

Archives for September 2015

Edward Snowden Joins Twitter, Immediately Starts Following The NSA

George Pataki almost immediately calls on Twitter to ban Snowden from the site.

CBC News
By CBC News
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is only following one other account on Twitter, and that is @NSAGov (Twitter/@Snowden/CBC News screenshot)

If the NSA ever wants to get in touch with famed whistleblower Edward Snowden, it can do so via direct message on Twitter — a privilege that is theirs and theirs alone. Snowden officially joined Twitter early Tuesday afternoon as a verified user with the handle @Snowden. His first tweet, sent at 12 p.m. ET, reads, "Can you hear me now?" His

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Minnesota Police Departments Lost Their Bid Monday To Classify Most Body-Camera Footage As Private

Officials claim they have no authority to make body cam video private.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
In this Nov. 5, 2014 photo, Sgt. Chris Wicklund of the Burnsville Police Department wears a body camera beneath his microphone. Minneapolis, with the largest police department in Minnesota, has become the latest to equip officers with body cameras in what officials say is an effort to improve transparency and hold police accountable. The goal in Burnsville is to have all uniformed offices equipped with cameras by the end of the year. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Minnesota police departments lost their bid Monday to classify most body-camera footage as private. The commissioner for the Department of Administration rejected a request to temporarily wall off the data until state lawmakers pass body-camera regulations. A coalition of police departments had sought the data lockdown to avoid having to release

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Man Accused Of Stealing $5 In Snacks Died In Jail As He Waited For Space At Mental Hospital

After the 24-year-old’s arrest, a judge ordered him to a state psychiatric hospital to get help. But like an increasing number of the mentally ill, he sat in jail for months as he waited for a bed to open.

Washington Post
By Washington Post
Mitchell reportedly had mental issues and was jailed in Virginia for allegedly stealing $5 worth of groceries.

Jamycheal Mitchell had stopped taking his schizophrenia medication before he walked into a 7-Eleven near his family’s Portsmouth, Va., home in April and allegedly stole a Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar and a Zebra Cake totaling $5.05. After the 24-year-old’s arrest, a judge ordered him to a state psychiatric hospital to get help. But like an

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Muslim Man Killed By Hindu Mob In India Because They Suspected He Ate Beef

News of the arrests led to tension in the area as villagers clashed with the police, allegedly forcing them to fire in the air. Villagers have claimed that a boy was injured in the firing.

Dhaka Tribune
By Dhaka Tribune
Mohammad Ikhlaq and his 22-year-old son were dragged from their house by around 100 villagers in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh and beaten with bricks. Ikhlaq's son is critical.

DADRI, UTTAR PRADESH:  The 50-year-old father of an Indian Air Force personnel was beaten to death by a mob on the outskirts of Delhi on Monday night, allegedly over rumours that he had eaten beef. Mohammad Ikhlaq and his 22-year-old son were dragged from their house by around 100 villagers in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh and beaten with bricks.

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Pro-Lifers Embarrassed By Planned Parenthood Hearing, Call It ‘GOP Freak Show’

Pro-life conservatives blasted the spectacle on Twitter. The editors of several prominent anti-abortion publications said the questioners were unprepared, incompetent and embarrassing.

Judd Legum for Think Progress
By Judd Legum for Think Progress
Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards appears before the House Oversight Committee. The committee is investigating Planned Parenthood in connection with a series of sting videos that allege the group illegally sold fetal body parts. (AP Photo)

On Tuesday, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards appeared before the House Oversight Committee. The committee is investigating Planned Parenthood in connection with a series of sting videos that allege the group illegally sold fetal body parts. (That allegation is not supported by the videos or other factual evidence.) The hearing today

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For U.S. Tribes, A Movement To Revive Native Foods And Lands

On ancestral lands, the Fond du Lac band in Minnesota is planting wild rice and restoring wetlands damaged by dams, industry, and logging. Their efforts are part of a growing trend by Native Americans to bring back traditional food sources and heal scarred landscapes.

Yale e360
By Yale e360
Traditional wild rice harvesting on a restored Fond du Lac reservation lake. One person poles the canoe across shallow water, while the other knocks grains loose with ricing sticks. (Photo credit: Cheryl Katz)

Two by two, the wild rice harvesters emerge from the grass-filled lake and drag their canoes to shore. The harvesters, Lake Superior Chippewa, are reaping their ancestral food in the traditional way — one poling the boat through the waist-high tangle, and the other bending the stems and gently brushing ripe seed loose with a pair of batons. It’s

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