Sports stars raise millions for Houston flood victims but Rangers under attack

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JJ Watt’s fundraising campaign tops $3m for Harvey relief effortTexas Rangers refuse to swap home series with Houston AstrosTropical storm Harvey – live updates Houston sports figures have rallied to raise million of dollars for those affected by the flooding and destruction in the wake of tropical storm Harvey.Experts say that the city and surrounding area could take years to recover from the damage done by the storm. NFL star JJ Watt – perhaps Houston’s highest-profile athlete – started a fund to help victims of Harvey and the drive has already raised more than $3m. The Houston Texans defensive end has donated more than $100,000 of his own money and says his new goal is to get the fund to $4m. Continue reading…

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Houston dam begins to overspill as Harvey triggers unprecedented impact

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‘We have never faced this before, we have uncertainty in how the water is going to react’ official says, as water levels in reservoirs threaten monitoring equipmentTropical storm Harvey – live updatesA vital dam in suburban Houston that protects the central city began overspilling on Tuesday, and officials said the rainfall from Harvey is so unprecedented they do not know what the impact on surrounding communities will be.Water levels in the Addicks reservoir have reached 108ft, said Jeff Lindner, a Harris County flood control district meteorologist. Continue reading…

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The Houston area affected by Harvey: a visual guide

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A look at the area hit by the hurricane turned tropical stormTropical storm Harvey – live updatesSome parts of Texas may experience 50 inches (127cm) of rain or about a year’s worth of rainfall in just over a week. Continue reading…

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US Open: Nadal through in straight sets, Kerber crashes out – as it happened

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Rafael Nadal dealt with a wobbly first set to reach the second round, but Angelique Kerber’s title defence was obliterated by Naomi Osaka• Defending champion Angelique Kerber loses to Naomi Osaka 10.42pm BST Unfortunately today’s live blog must end here. Damn rain, spoiling our tennis fun. Day two was a washout, although at least we had entertainment under the roof on Arthur Ashe. The highlight, for me, was Naomi Osaka increasing Angelique Kerber’s misery. Rafa Nadal also made it safely through and so did Karolina Pliskova. Plenty of matches still have to be sorted out tomorrow, but there’s still the night session to come on day two and Bryan Armen Graham will be around in a few hours with live coverage of Roger Federer against Frances Tiafoe. Cheerio! 10.39pm BST A typically weird Ostapenko score, but the 12th seed is through to the second round. Moved to Arthur Ashe after a long rain delay, she showed how much she likes the big stage by winning three straight games to win the match. She earns two match points. She blooters an ace down the middle. Arruabarrena calls for HawkEye. There is no reprieve. Ostapenko will play Romania’s Sorana Cirstea next. Continue reading…

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How the war on drugs fueled the fentanyl crisis | George Karandinos

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The campaign to cut off heroin supplies has encouraged the growth of labs producing the opioid. We need to instead embrace a public health approach A staggering 59,000 people died of drug overdose in 2016 according to a recent New York Times analysis. Annual overdose deaths in the US have already surpassed those inflicted by Aids at its peak. Sparked by big pharma’s criminal mismarketing of opioid painkillers, the overdose epidemic rages to new heights with the increasing street presence of illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a fully synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than heroin. Without an immediate massive investment in harm reduction and treatment, this toll will only worsen, even if the specter of carfentanil, a synthetic opioid 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, is held at bay. Continue reading…

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If Donald Trump won’t tackle climate change, then Chicago will | Rahm Emanuel

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Across the US, towns and metropolises like mine are united to meet the Paris climate agreement’s targets and protect our residents and businessesWhile the Trump administration is dropping the mantle of leadership on climate change, American cities from coast to coast are picking it up. From small towns to metropolises and from the coasts to the heartland, Republican and Democratic mayors are united in common cause to curb emissions, shrink our carbon footprints and fight for a greener future. Rather than accepting the White House’s wrongheaded withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, cities are redoubling our efforts to meeting the landmark accords’ benchmarks. We not only have the power to take action, but unlike Washington we have the will to get the job done. Continue reading…

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New Mexico Paramilitary Christian Group Members Arrested In Child Abuse Investigation

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Earlier this week, New Mexico authorities raided the Fence Lake (NM) compound of the paramilitary Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps in a child abuse investigation.  They arrested sect co-leader Deborah Green and two other group members, while another member was arrested in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. According to People, the defendants are variously charged with child abuse, criminal sexual penetration, failure to report a birth, and bribery of a witness. Peter Green has been charged with 100 counts of criminal penetration of a child.Four more sect members were arrested yesterday on charges of failing to register the births of their 11 children.  They were apprehended as they were allegedly trying to flee the state in two vans filed with children. Fox News, reporting this, says that the group describes itself as

Fired Employee Loses Religious Discrimination Suit Against Kansas Secretary of State

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According to the Topeka Capital-Journal,  a Kansas federal district court jury rejected a religious discrimination claim by a former employee in the business services division in the state Secretary of State’s office.  Plaintiff Courtney Canfield claimed that assistant secretary of state Gary Laughlin had told Canfield’s grandmother– a long-time friend of Lauglin’s– that Canfield had been fired because she did not attended church. At trial, the secretary of state’s office said it had fired Canfield for sporadic attendance, breaching office cellpohne policies and creating a distraction for other employees.

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$1M Award By Religious Arbitration Panel Is Vacated

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In Matter of Young Israel of Eltingville, Inc. v Oorah, Inc., (Richmond Cty. NY S.Ct., June 30, 2017), a New York trial court vacated a $1 million damage award entered by a Jewish religious arbitration panel in a long-running dispute between a Young Israel synagogue and the Kars4Kids charitable organization. (See prior posting.)  Apparently the litigation grew out of a disagreement over which entity was responsible for certain renovations in the building which the two organizations agreed to share.  The court held that Sidney Stadler, who held himself out as president of Young Israel at the time the agreement to arbitrate was signed, in fact lacked authority to enter into the arbitration agreement on behalf of the synagogue.

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NY Court Invalidates Service of Process on Sabbath, Focusing On Competing Sabbath Times

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New York General Business Law Sec. 13 provides:Whoever maliciously procures any process in a civil action to be served on Saturday, upon any person who keeps Saturday as holy time, and does not labor on that day, or serves upon him any process returnable on that day, or maliciously procures any civil action to which such person is a party to be adjourned to that day for trial, is guilty of a misdemeanor.In Signature Bank NA v. Koschitzki, (NY Kings Cty. Sup. Ct., July 27, 2017), a New York state trial court vacated a default judgment against Sabbath observant Jews who were served before the end of the Sabbath on a Saturday afternoon.  Defendants were served at 5:30 pm on November 26, 2016. There are two methods used by Jews to determine when the Sabbath ends.  One method would have resulted in Sabbath ending at 5:15. The other method, relied upon by defendants, would have ended the Sabbath at 5:43. The court said:The Court understands that there is disagreement as to the time at which Sabbath ends among different groups of observant Jews. This Court does not believe it would be appropriate for it to determine the manner in which religious custom should be observed by any individual group or require that one particular group’s traditions be adhered to uniformly. The time asserted by defendants is not unreasonable given the conflicting opinions contained in different religious sources.Arutz Sheva reporting on the decision has more details on the two computational methods.

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