‘Potentially historic’ storm on the way
NEW YORK – A winter that has largely spared the Northeast thus far is about to arrive with gusto: A storm the National Weather Service called “potentially historic” could dump 2 to 3 feet of snow from northern New Jersey to Connecticut.
“This could be a storm the likes of which we have never seen before,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a news conference Sunday.
De Blasio held up a piece of paper showing the city’s top 10 snowstorms and said this one could land at the top of a list that goes back to 1872, including the 26.9 inches that fell in 2006.
National park in Colo. turns 100
Rocky Mountain National Park has had its ups and downs during the past century. In the 1940s, gas rationing cut attendance, and the park is still trying to recover from devastating floods in 2013.
On Monday, the park marks its 100th anniversary, celebrating a record number of visitors last year who were enjoying one of the nation’s crown jewels.
Not everyone was in favor of the park. Local citizens like Freelan Oscar Stanley, who opened the legendary Stanley Hotel in 1909, were pitted against powerful proponents of timber, mining, hunting and grazing.
Designation for Alaska refuge sought
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is boosting protection of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and will ask Congress to designate more than 12 million acres as a wilderness area, including its potentially oil-rich Coastal Plain.
The designation would seal off the area in Alaska’s northeast corner from oil exploration and give it the highest degree of federal protection available to public lands. Obama and the Interior Department announced the effort Sunday.
Alaska’s top elected officials, including Gov. Bill Walker, reacted angrily at the administration’s moves, and Obama’s efforts to win wilderness designation will likely face stiff resistance in the Republican-controlled Congress.
Naked violinist sues over arrest
PORTLAND, Ore. – A Hillsboro, Oregon, man arrested after playing a violin while naked outside the federal courthouse in Portland last year is suing police.
The Oregonian reports that 25-year-old Matthew T. Mglej claims authorities used excessive force and violated his First Amendment rights. He named the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and Portland Police Bureau as defendants in a lawsuit filed last week, and he’s seeking $1.1 million in damages.
Police showed up after receiving complaints about the demonstration, during which the man played violin, meditated and quoted former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They said they arrested him for indecent exposure and carried him to a patrol car when he refused to walk.
Mglej claims jail deputies cut his wrists by jerking on his handcuffs and called him names when he cried from the pain and for his service dog.
Associated Press
