By Jack Hervela
Immigration courts experiencing difficulties with shutdown
In response to the partial government shutdown, United States immigration courts are now having to postpone cases for thousands of immigrants.
“Immigration experts said cases could be delayed months or years since the courts have more than 800,000 pending cases,” reported The Associated Press Thursday.
Trials of detained immigrants will continue but for the thousands more, the wait is indefinite.
“The cases that are not being heard now — there is no readily available place to reschedule them until at least 2022 or beyond,” said San Francisco Immigration Judge Dana Marks.
An influx of immigrants from Central America over the last five years has over-saturated immigration courts already, leading to regulations from the Trump administration for faster case turnover.
“It is just dripping with irony,” said Sarah Pierce, policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. “This administration has put a lot of emphasis on speeding up court cases, and the shutdown obviously is just going to cause massive delays.”
Ocean temperatures continued steady rise in 2018
According to a report released Thursday in the journal Science, the oceans are warming much faster than thought, setting a new heat record in 2018.
“New measurements, aided by an international network of 3,900 floats deployed in the oceans since 2000, showed more warming since 1971 than calculated by the latest U.N. assessment of climate change in 2013,” stated Reuters in a Thursday piece.
These rising temperatures are damaging marine ecosystems and forcing warm water fish to cooler water.
“Global warming is here, and has major consequences already. There is no doubt, none!” said contributing scientists through a statement.
Along with disrupting ecosystems, these warmer temperatures are raising water levels due to melting ice caps and, “release more moisture that can stoke more powerful storms,” Reuters reported.
Choice border wall prototype encountering issues
Following a border wall address watched by around 35 million Americans Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s choice “steel slat prototype” was found vulnerable to easy breaches in photos obtained by NBC News.
The photos come from the border wall prototype testing area, nicknamed “Pogo Row,” just over the border from Tijuana around late 2017 but were never released until now.
“A photo exclusively obtained by NBC News shows the results of the test after military and Border Patrol personnel were instructed to attempt to destroy the barriers with common tools,” reported NBC News Thursday.
Trump responded Thursday saying, “that’s a wall designed by previous administrations.”
Steel slat has been used by previous administrations, this certain prototype was built under the Trump administration.
Photo and video of the border prototypes can be found here.
Rockford town hall meeting on drinking water postponed
A Jan. 23 Rockford town hall meeting concerning the carcinogen PFAS, found in local tap water, has been postponed due to the partial government shutdown.
“The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced Thursday that a town hall meeting about the PFAS investigation at Wolverine Worldwide’s former House Street dump has been postponed because of the shutdown,” reported WOOD TV8 Thursday.
Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and DEQ were slated to oversee, yet EPA employees are struggling with questions themselves as to when work will resume.
While the EPA is being stunted in their work, “The DEQ says while the shutdown is delaying the EPA’s report about fieldwork results from last year, it ‘doesn’t expect any immediate disruptions to this important project,’” WOOD TV8 reported.
As for now, the meeting will be rescheduled once the shutdown ends.
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announce divorce after 25 years
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, the world’s richest couple, announced their divorce Wednesday.
The couple stated that after, “a long period of loving exploration and trial separation,” it was time to call it quits.
Now, for MacKenzie, the future looks, green.
“Washington, where the family lives and Amazon is based, is a community property state, which means assets accrued during the marriage must be split equally in a divorce. Given that Amazon launched after the pair were married, this rule would likely apply to virtually all of Jeff Bezos’ current $137 billion net worth,” reported CNN Thursday.
Many of the specificities are yet to be ironed out, especially considering the couple could file, and divorce in a different state.
For more understanding on how MacKenzie could exert leadership over Jeff or accrue much money, follow the link.
