Monday, April 4, 2016

CLG: Western Mass. Power Plant Owner, Mgmt. Companies Agree to Plead to Tampering and False Reporting, No joke: 500k food stamp recipients to lose benefits on April 1




News Updates from CLG
04 April 2016
 
Previous edition: EgyptAir hijacking: 'Bomb found on plane with 81 passengers held' at Larnaca airport
 
Heads up! Let's hope the dirt-bags don't 'go live,' as they did on 9/11: FEMA to Perform 'Full-Scale Exercise' at Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant --Training will analyze response to a radiological release at Seabrook Station; NH, Mass. emergency officials participating | 01 April 2016 | The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will conduct a "full-scale" training exercise at the NextEra Energy Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant located in Seabrook, New Hampshire, on April 8, 2016. The exercise if being organized by FEMA, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and state and local emergency management officials...Officials from communities in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, within a 10-mile radius of the plant, are being requested to activate their emergency operations centers during the exercise, according to a press statement.
 
UK and US to simulate cyber-attack on nuclear plants to test resilience | 30 March 2016 | Britain and the US will stage a war-game later this year, simulating a cyber attack on a nuclear power plant, to test the readiness of the government and utility firms. As David Cameron prepares to fly to Washington to attend a nuclear security summit, convened by Barack Obama, government sources said the two countries plan to cooperate on exploring the resilience of nuclear infrastructure to a terrorist attack. Government sources said the exercise was not triggered by any credible intelligence about the threat of such an attack, but that it was" prudent planning," adding: "It gives us the ability to test these systems, and make sure that we learn any lessons."
 
Militant interest in attacking nuclear sites stirs concern in Europe | 30 March 2016 | Meter-thick concrete walls and 1950s-style analog control rooms help protect nuclear plants from bomb attacks and computer hackers, but Islamist militants are turning their attention to the atomic industry's weak spots, security experts say. Concerns about nuclear terrorism rose after Belgian media reported that suicide bombers who killed 32 people in Brussels on March 22 originally looked into attacking a nuclear installation before police raids that netted a number of suspected associates forced them to switch targets..."The insider threat is one of the most difficult to deal with, as this hinges on the ability to screen employees and figure out the nature of their intentions," said Page Stoutland at the U.S.-based Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), citing recent reported incidents in Belgium.
 
Western Mass. Power Plant Owner, Mgmt. Companies Agree to Plead to Tampering and False Reporting --Companies to pay $8.5 million to resolve allegations (USDOJ, District of Massachusetts) | 30 March 2016 | Berkshire Power Plant's owner and management company have agreed to plead guilty to tampering with emissions equipment and submitting false information to both environmental and energy regulators. The former plant operation and maintenance company also agreed to pay a state civil penalty. United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced the resolution today following a joint federal and state investigation into allegations that Berkshire Power Plant in Agawam, Massachusetts, tampered with its air pollution monitoring equipment and falsely reported data to environmental and energy regulators regarding its emissions levels and its availability to produce power...Berkshire Power Co. ("BPC"), the owner of Berkshire Power Plant ("the Plant"), and Power Plant Management Services ("PPMS") the Plant manager, agreed to plead guilty to felony charges that they violated and conspired to violate the federal Clean Air Act. 
 
Over 30K people protest Japanese PM's plan to restart nuclear reactors | 26 March 2016 | Over 30,000 people turned up for demonstrations in Tokyo to protest a plan being promoted by Japan's prime minister to restart a number of nuclear power plants. On March 11, Japan marked the five-year anniversary of the devastating Fukushima disaster. Ruptly footage captured people waving flags, carrying banners, and holding up placards while marching through popular Yoyogi Park on Friday. The activists say that restarting the nuclear reactors will create safety risks.
 
Looks like a big fat false flag went belly-up: CIA left explosive material on Loudoun school bus after training exercise | 31 March 2016 | The CIA left "explosive training material" under the hood of a Loudoun County school bus after a training exercise last week, a bus that was used to ferry elementary and high school students to and from school on Monday and Tuesday with the material still sitting in the engine compartment, according to the CIA and Loudoun County officials. The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the CIA said in statements Thursday that the explosive material was left behind after a training exercise at Briar Woods High School during spring break. The CIA said it was a training scenario for explosives-detecting dogs.
 
CIA left inert explosives on school bus after exercise | 01 April 2016 | The CIA left behind inert explosives in a Virginia school bus used for a canine training exercise and students were transported in it before the materials were found, officials said. The inactive explosives were discovered in the engine compartment when the Loudoun County Public Schools bus was undergoing maintenance, the Central Intelligence Agency said in a statement on Thursday...The school district in the Washington suburb said the materials were aboard the bus on Monday and Tuesday when it carried elementary and high school students.
 
US spy plane to use in Afghanistan cost $86m but was 'never used' | 30 March 2016 | The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spent 86m (60m pounds) on a spy plane to be flown in Afghanistan, but it was never used, a government report says. The plane, to help fight [for] theAfghan CIA's drug trade, cost a tenth of that sum and millions more went on upgrades. But to this day, it remains in storage in the US state of Delaware, a report by the Inspector General's Office of the US Justice Department says.
 
New British Empire? UK to re-establish military bases east of Suez | 01 April 2016 | Flush military chiefs have been handed an 800-million pounds budget boost as they consider new bases in the former British protectorate of Oman and beyond to re-establish its power east of the Suez Canal. In a statement issued on Friday, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon lauded his department's bolstered 35.1-billion pounds budget. It is the first increase in six years. Britain hopes to re-establish substantial, permanent bases east of the Suez Canal to complement its Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia - currently leased to the US Air Force - and training facilities in the Sultanate of Brunei.
 
Pentagon orders military families out of Turkey due to ISIS threat | 29 March 2016 | The U.S. military has ordered military family members to evacuate southern Turkey, primarily from Incirlik Air Base, due to security concerns, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Family members will also be evacuated from facilities in Izmir and Mugla, according to a Pentagon statement. A U.S. defense official told CNN that the base had been placed under Force Protection Condition Delta for weeks, the highest level of force protection for U.S. military bases. Delta level means that either a terrorist attack has just taken place in the immediate vicinity or "intelligence has been received that terrorist action against a specific location or person is imminent," according to military guidelines.
 
ISIS reportedly hijacks university's chem lab for explosive experiments | 01 April 2016 | The Islamic State terror group has been making use of a chemistry lab in Iraq's University of Mosul -- which it seized nearly two years ago -- to test and build deadlier bombs, military officials and other sources told The Wall Street Journal Friday. The report comes as analysts warn that ISIS soon could get its hands on the materials necessary to build and deploy a radioactive "dirty" bomb...Just last week, investigators revealed that brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, two of the suicide bombers in Belgium, apparently scoped out footage of an expert at the country's nuclear research center known as SCK-CEN.
 
Belgian charged with terrorism over foiled attack plot | 02 April 2016 | A Belgian national named only as Y.A. was charged on Saturday with participating in the activities of a terrorist group in connection with a joint Belgian-French investigation into an apparently foiled attack plot. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that the 33-year-old had appeared on Friday before a judge, who had remanded him to custody. He was detained late on Thursday.
 
FBI teams helping Belgium investigate recent attacks - White House | 31 March 2016 | The United States has sent FBI teams to help Belgian authorities investigate the March 22 attacks that killed 35 people, including several Americans, and U.S. and Belgian officials will discuss the cooperation this week, the White House said on Thursday. "...We have FBI teams on the ground assisting with the investigation. We are sharing information and intelligence with Belgium as it relates to terrorist threats," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told a news briefing.
 
EgyptAir hijack ends with passengers freed unharmed, suspect arrested | An EgyptAir plane flying from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus on Tuesday by a man with what authorities said was a fake suicide belt, who was arrested after giving himself up. The passengers and crew were unharmed. Eighty-one people, including 21 foreigners and 15 crew, were on board the Airbus 320, Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement. Conflicting theories emerged about the motives of the hijacker, an Egyptian...The Cypriot state broadcaster said he had demanded the release of women prisoners in Egypt.
 
Times Square evacuated after a suspicious truck was left running and unattended with wires extending from the dashboard and gas canisters behind the seats --Southern wing of Port Authority Bus Terminal was also evacuated for an hour after false bomb scare this afternoon | 02 April 2016 | Times Square was evacuated after a suspicious vehicle with exposed wires from the dashboard and gas canisters behind the seats was left unattended and running, authorities said. The bomb squad, fire department and emergency units were called to the scene around 8pm on Saturday after the moving truck was found on West 46th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, according to the NYPD. The evacuation was called off around 8.35pm, although authorities are still investigating the vehicle and questioning the truck driver...New York City's Port Authority was also evacuated this afternoon at 2.43pm after a suspicious box wrapped in brown paper was found by a bomb-sniffing dog.
 
Richmond Greyhound shooting: Trooper, suspect dead; 2 people injured | 31 March 1016 | A Virginia State trooper who was shot when a suspect opened fire at a Greyhound bus station in Richmond Thursday afternoon has died, multiple sources told WTVR CBS 6 News. Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne N. Geller said four people, including the suspect, were shot when troopers were called to the bus station in the 2910 N. Boulevard at 2:45 p.m. Geller said a trooper,who was already at the station, met a man just inside the entrance. Geller said the trooper was talking to the suspect when he pulled out a gun and shot the trooper. Geller said two nearby troopers returned fire on the suspect.
 
Amtrak Derailment: Train From New York Hits Backhoe; 2 Killed, at Least 35 Injured | 03 April 2016 | An Amtrak train carrying more than 300 passengers Sunday and traveling at more than 100 mph plowed into a backhoe on tracks outside of Philadelphia, killing two workers operating the construction equipment, injuring at least 35 others and closing parts of the highly trafficked Northeast Corridor...Amtrak train 89 departed from New York and was headed for Savannah, Georgia, when the crash occurred just before 8 a.m. in the Pennsylvania town of Chester, about 15 miles from Philadelphia, Amtrak officials said. The train continued moving for another mile before coming to a stop in Trainer.
 
D.C. Madam's Attorney Says Election Bombshell Already Online | 31 March 2016 | The colorful litigator who represented the late "D.C. madam" Deborah Palfrey and threatened this week to release call logs of his former client that he says are "very relevant" to the 2016 presidential election tells U.S. News those records already are digitized and posted online. Montgomery Blair Sibley says the records will become public if he fails to reset a 72-hour countdown clock, which could cut short his soft two-week ultimatum for federal courts to consider lifting a 2007 gag order that covers the records, lest he deem that order void. The countdown clock is a safeguard, Sibley says, that ensures that if he disappears the records will be published.
 
Bernie Sanders Supporters Protest Election Coverage at Hollywood CNN Building | 03 April 2016 |  A large group of Bernie Sanders supporters gathered at the CNN building on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood Sunday to protest the cable channel's coverage of the 2016 presidential election. Sanders supporters organized online under the #OccupyCNN and #BernieBlackout hashtags. Many protesters voiced concerns that candidates are not getting equal airtime on the cable channel.
 
Superdelegates are ripping off voters, placing Clinton ahead of Sanders in states where he actually won more votes | 29 March 2016 | After winning five-straight state primaries in relative blowout fashion, Bernie Sanders has cut significantly into Hillary Clinton's pledged delegate lead. According to the most recent totals, Clinton currently has 1,267 pledged delegates to Bernie's 1,037...What's disturbing, though, is that in spite of the actual closeness of the contest between them, members of the political establishment, called superdelegates, are going against the will of the voters in their own states to support Clinton over Sanders.
 
Trump backers: 'There will be war' over disputed delegates | 03 April 2016 | Death threats, protests and allegations of vote-stealing didn't stop Tennessee Republican Party leaders on Saturday from finalizing a list of delegates to the GOP's national presidential nominating convention over fierce objections from backers of Donald Trump...The measure, approved by a tally of 40-25, comes a day after the Trump campaign accused the party of trying to "steal" delegates, even after he handily won the state's primary last month. On Saturday Trump's backers flocked to the party's executive committee meeting in Nashville, doubling down on allegations that officials are trying to stack Tennessee's delegation with members likely to vote for another candidate if given the chance...Robert Swope, Metro councilman for the Fourth District, met with the crowd of Trump supporters outside the meeting. He said a rule change that occurred Saturday morning allowed for the meeting to be closed to the public. "Trust me, there will be a war," he said of the delegate list to be discussed in the meeting.
 
'Zodiac' Ted Cruz jokes about running over Donald Trump with his car on 'Jimmy Kimmel' show | 31 March 2016 | Presidential candidate Donald Trump may be the one driving Republican rival Ted Cruz crazy, though he may want to stay clear of the Texas senator when he gets behind the wheel. Cruz swung by "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Wednesday night and joked that he may run the brash billionaire over if given the chance...Cruz then added without prompting, "If I were in my car and getting ready to reverse and saw Donald in the backup camera, I'm not confident which pedal I'd push." [Is Ted Cruz the Zodiac Killer?]
 
Michelle Fields touched Trump twice - and was warned by agents to stop, Secret Service says --'Can I press charges?' Trump's fury as campaign manager is charged with battery of reporter who candidate says GRABBED him first and member of his Secret Service detail backs him up | 29 March 2016 | Republican front-runner Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been charged with simple battery for allegedly grabbing a reporter [sic], in a case that may hinge on a Secret Service claim that the journalist first made unwanted physical contact with the businessman-turned-politician. 'The news conference was over, was done, was finished and she was running up and grabbing and asking questions,' Trump said talking on his plane to reporters when he touched down in Wisconsin this afternoon...Speaking on condition of anonymity, a member of Trump's Secret Service detail told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that Fields touched Trump twice – and was warned by agents to stop – before Lewandowski pulled her away. 'She crossed in between agents and our protectee after being told not to,' said the agent, who was present that night in Jupiter.
 
Corey Lewandowski: Trump stands by campaign manager amid battery charge | 29 March 2016 | Donald Trump has stood by his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who was charged with battery on Tuesday over an incident involving a reporter [sic] during a campaign rally earlier this month. In a press conference on his plane Tuesday afternoon, Trump defended his top staffer. "I think it’s a very very sad day in this country when a man can be destroyed over something like that." The reality television star, whose catchphrase on his show The Apprentice was "you're fired," nevertheless insisted, "I don't discard people." The Republican frontrunner also pushed back at the claim that Michelle Fields was physically hurt by Lewandowski.
 
Judge's outrage at suspect who 'robbed a 103-year-old woman of her food and money in her Bronx apartment building' | 03 April 2016 | A judge expressed his shock upon learning a [legally blind] 103-year-old woman had been robbed in her Bronx apartment building. Sharon McNeil, 53, followed Louise Signore into the elevator and knocked her down before stealing her shopping cart and purse, authorities said. She was arrested and charged with robbery, assault and harassment around 11am on Saturday, according to PIX 11. Judge Ralph Fabrizio called out the 'callousness' of the robbery while McNeil pleaded not guilty on Sunday, the New York Daily News reported...She went into the elevator with the 103-year-old woman and later knocked her to the ground, police said. McNeil stole Signore's purse as well as her shopping cart, which contained two meals received at a local community center, and fled the scene according to authorities.
 
No joke: 500k food stamp recipients to lose benefits on April 1 | 31 March 2016 | More than 500,000 Americans receiving food stamp benefits will no longer qualify for them beginning on April 1. This is a result of government requirements linking the assistance to an individual's ability to find a job and work. In order to keep their access to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) for more than three months, able-bodied adults ages 18-49 who don't have children or other dependents must work, volunteer, or enroll in a job-training program for 20 hours a week or more...By the end of 2016, up to a million people around the nation could lose their benefits.
 
$15 minimum wage passes in California; Gov. Brown plans to sign | 31 March 2016 | In votes that drew cheers from low-wage workers inside and outside the state Capitol on Thursday, Democrats swiftly pushed a bill through the Legislature to raise the state minimum wage to 15 an hour by 2022. Almost immediately, Gov. Jerry Brown announced he would sign it at a ceremony Monday in Los Angeles. The bill, SB3 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, drew opposition from Republicans - not one of whom voted for it in the Senate or Assembly - and business-group leaders who said it will force job cuts and higher prices for consumers.
 
Conn. governor signs executive order banning state-funded travel to North Carolina | 01 April 2016 | Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has joined a growing chorus of political and business leaders who are effectively calling for a boycott of North Carolina over a law they believe is discriminatory toward transgender people. Malloy, a Democrat, signed an executive order Thursday banning state-funded travel to the state. The move comes a week after Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation that excludes anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Proponents of the law focused on striking down a Charlotte ordinance that allowed transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice.
 
4 San Francisco police officers implicated in alleged text message scandal | 01 April 2016 | The San Francisco Police Department is facing a widening scandal over racist and homophobic text messages. Four additional officers are now involved and the whole mess could threaten all the cases those officers investigated. This latest text messaging scandal centers on Officer Jason Lai. Internal Affairs investigators found a series of texts he exchanged with at least three other officers while Lai was being investigated for sexual assault. He was charged last week with illegally using police computers to look up confidential DMV records.
 
Police will not be charged in Minneapolis death of black man | 30 March 2016 | Two Minneapolis police officers involved in the shooting death of a 24-year-old black man will not be charged, prosecutors said on Wednesday, because evidence showed Jamar Clark was not handcuffed and that he reached for an officer's gun. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman told a news conference that Clark struggled with Officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, who are white, was not handcuffed and at one point had his hand on a gun. Freeman made the decision not to charge the officers, bypassing use of a grand jury.
 
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CLG Editor-in-Chief: Lori Price. Copyright © 2016, Citizens for Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.
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