BlueWaveNeverEnd
BlueWaveNeverEnd's JournalHow One Reaction to a Mural Tore a New England Town Apart
How One Reaction to a Mural Tore a New England Town Apart
The 6,000 residents of Littleton, N.H., had found a way to coexist despite their differences — until a town official’s words set off a conflagration.
Until that moment, it had not attracted much attention. Its subject matter — a blooming iris, dandelions, birch trees — did not seem controversial.
But for Ms. Gendreau, 62, who was also a state senator representing northern New Hampshire, the mural had set off alarms. She was certain there were subversive messages in its imagery, planted there by the nonprofit group that had planned and paid for it.
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“We need to be very careful,” Ms. Gendreau said at the meeting. She urged residents to “research” what the mural “really means,” and called for closer oversight of other public art.
“I don’t want that to be in our town,” she said.
Before she made the comments that plunged Littleton into tumult, Ms. Gendreau had occasionally injected her religious faith into municipal business. When the board hired Jim Gleason as town manager in 2021, he was startled by the words she used to offer him the job.
“God wants you in Littleton,” he recalled her saying. Not long after that, Ms. Gendreau began starting select board meetings with a prayer.
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In October, in an interview with The Boston Globe, Ms. Gendreau called homosexuality an “abomination” and warned of “twisted preferences” she saw “creeping into our community.” She also spoke out against a well-known musical about a gay couple, “La Cage Aux Folles,” that was being staged at the Littleton Opera House by a local theater group that had made the town-owned building its home for a decade.
paywall free link
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/28/us/littleton-new-hampshire-mural.html?unlocked_article_code=1.n00.4xJA.8Ookou3AdI-0&smid=url-share
'Everyone is selling': Florida condo owners feel crush of rising insurance costs
'Everyone is selling': Florida condo owners feel crush of rising insurance costs
'The cost is so great the condos aren't selling as quick as they were,' Christina Auer says
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Insurance experts tell WPTV that the days of cheaper policies are not coming back.
"Weather, litigation, reinsurance, it's all crashing in on the residents in these condos," Lisa Miller, a former deputy insurance commissioner now the head of Lisa Miller Associates, said.
The higher prices, Miller said, are now part of the new normal for condos, especially those near the water like Auer's home.
"Everyone is selling," Auer said about her neighbors struggling with the insurance costs. "The cost is so great the condos aren't selling as quick as they were."
https://www.wptv.com/money/real-estate-news/everyone-is-selling-florida-condo-owners-feel-crush-of-rising-insurance-costs
16-year-old shoots 10 at restaurant in Seminole County, sheriff's office says ( all expected to live)
text messages reveal that WI GOP director asked Trump supporters to flood "Souls to the Polls" with ride requests
Souls to the Polls on Thursday called for the removal of the Republican Party of Wisconsin's new executive director over Election Day 2020 text messages in which he asked about getting supporters of then-President Donald Trump to flood the Milwaukee voting rights group with requests to be taken to the polls.
The group's call came after the Journal Sentinel reported on the text messages from new GOP executive director Andrew Iverson when he was Wisconsin head of Trump Victory, a joint operation of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in 2020.
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He and representatives of other groups said the text messages showed an attempt to interfere with legitimate efforts to help Black and brown people vote and are part of a larger context that includes email communication from an appointed member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission praising GOP campaign efforts that he said discouraged Black voter turnout in Milwaukee.
On the day of the 2020 presidential election, Iverson sent two text messages to Carlton Huffman, then Trump Victory's state strategic initiative director.
"Can Mario (Herrera, head of Hispanic outreach for Trump Victory) help get some Trump supporters to participate in Souls to the Polls?" Iverson told Huffman at 9:45 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2020. "'Can't wait to go vote for President Trump!' Wesring (sic) MAGA hat or something."
"I'm excited about this. Wreak havoc," Iverson then told Huffman. "For the afternoon and they'll make it clear they're excited to vote for Trump?"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/souls-to-the-polls-calls-for-removal-of-wisconsin-gop-executive-director-over-text-messages/ar-AA1nMlh6
half of audience walks out when Stagecoach headliner plays gospel
Eric Church was Tonight's Headliner at Stagecoach but instead of singing HIS Songs, His entire set was a Gospel set with not even 1 of his hit songs that his fans waited all day to hear.
He never once Welcomed the Audience or addressed them. he just went through his set and never looked up to notice over 50% of the crowd had Walked out within the first 20 minutes!
Eric Church has a reputation for being one of country music's true rebels, with songs such as his quaking blue-collar anthem "How 'Bout You" that asks "I like my country rocking, how 'bout you?" But that's not the same guy who showed up to Stagecoach as a headliner on Friday.
For his seventh time playing the festival — and fifth time headlining — Church opted for something different.
After a lengthy church organ played as the intro, Church appeared seated on a stool in front of stunning set of red stained glass windows on the production screen.
He began playing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" before he was joined by backing vocalists for "Mistress Named Music," then a choir for "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "This Little Light Of Mine," "When The Saints Go Marching In," "I'll Fly Away," "I Saw The Light" and more.
The unplugged jam session sent festivalgoers for the exit of the Empire Polo Club starting about 15 minutes in, a sight that could be best described as Moses parting the Red Sea. It was a surprising move by Church, considering his recent setlists appear to be in line with the type of show many were probably expecting him to perform.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/eric-church-sends-stagecoach-festivalgoers-for-the-exits-with-acoustic-gospel-set/ar-AA1nN714?
pictures of aftermath of Friday's tornados that wrecked destruction in Nebraska and Iowa
Three tornadoes wrecked hundreds of homes in Omaha and Elkhorn, Nebraska, and half of the town of Minden, Iowa, on Friday and there are more twisters expected over the weekend. Hundreds of homes were flattened, ripped from their foundations, or had their roofs torn off when tornadoes barreled through. More tornadoes or on the way this weekend with very severe warnings issued for Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas for Saturday and Iowa to East Texas on Sunday
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13357241/tornado-aftermath-Nebraska-Iowa-video-forecast-texas-kansas-oklahoma.html
Republican NY DA refuses to stop for speeding, drives back home and calls police chief to complain
Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley drove home and called the Webster police chief when officers tried to pull her over for speeding Monday.
An upstate New York district attorney refused to stop for cops when she was caught speeding — and instead drove back her house and called the police chief to complain about the “a–hole” officer who pursued her home, bodycam footage shows.
Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley admitted that she was driving 55 mph in a 35 mph zone on Monday on Phillips Road in Webster — less than half a mile from her neighborhood, WHAM reported.
“Once I realized that the intention of the [police car] was to pull me over, I called the Webster Police Chief to inform him that I was not a threat and that I would speak to the Officer at my house down the street,” she said in a statement.
New York D.A. Fails to Stop for Speeding Ticket, Swears at Police Officer: 'I Understand the Law Better Than You'
In bodycam footage of the exchange, District Attorney Sandra Doorley admitted to going 20 miles per hour over the speed limit and said, “I don’t really care"
d to stop for authorities before having a heated interaction with the officer who attempted to pull her over.
Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley returned home on April 22 following the attempted traffic stop in Webster, N.Y., and then repeatedly refused to comply with the officer’s commands when he arrived at her house, bodycam footage of the exchange showed.
In the footage, which the Webster Police Department provided to local outlet WHAM-TV, she mentioned her position as district attorney several times, swore at the officer and called Webster Police Chief Dennis Kohlmeier on her cellphone, telling him: “Can you please tell him [the officer at her home] to leave me alone?”
After arriving at her home and exiting her car, Doorley, who could be seen standing inside of her garage, told the officer, “I’m sorry. I’m the D.A. I was going 55 coming from work.”
Pointing out the reason for the traffic stop, the officer, who was standing outside of the garage, told Doorley, “55 in a 35,” and she responded, “I don’t really care.”
https://people.com/da-fails-stop-speeding-ticket-swears-at-cop-8640069
Man charged with manslaughter after flying nitrous oxide canister kills teen
The owner of a suburban Detroit business was charged with involuntary manslaughter after a building storing thousands of cans of nitrous oxide and butane exploded last month and a teenager was killed by flying debris, officials said.
Noor Noel Kestou, 31, of Commerce, Michigan, was taken into custody on Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City after authorities learned he had a one-way ticket to Hong Kong, police said. He was arraigned on Thursday in Macomb County, Michigan, and pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, online court records show.
The fire and series of explosions occurred on March 4 at a warehouse in Clinton Township that was improperly storing canisters of butane and nitrous oxide, officials said.
Goo Smoke Shop/Select Distributors Wholesale Warehouse, a vaping products supplier, had recently received a semi-load of butane containers, over half of which was still at the facility at the time of the fire, officials said. More than 100,000 vape pens containing lithium batteries and pallets of nitrous and lighter fluid were also in the building, officials said.
The blast sent debris flying up to a half-mile in each direction, officials said. Turner Lee Salter, 19, was struck in the head and killed by a nitrous oxide canister about a quarter mile away from the fiery explosion, according to fire officials.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/man-charged-with-manslaughter-after-flying-nitrous-oxide-canister-kills-teen/ar-AA1nJN8V
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