Latest news with #Monier
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ACWA Presents Leadership Award to Wes Monier
Wes Monier MONTEREY, Calif., May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) today presented its 2025 Excellence in Water Leadership Award to Wes Monier, recently retired Chief Hydrologist for Turlock Irrigation District (TID), for his commitment to water resource issues, especially in utilizing advanced technologies in water management practices. Monier's focus on partnerships with public, private and educational institutions gave TID access to technologies that have allowed the district to adapt to greater variability by optimizing the operations of its facilities. For example, TID utilizes data garnered through the Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) program to remove uncertainty and conjecture regarding how fast snow is melting and when and how much runoff enters reservoirs. Because of Monier's resourcefulness, TID was the first irrigation district to utilize the data. Monier also began incorporating Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) technology into TID's water operations. Combining ASO and FIRO data, Wes and his team developed TID's Hydrocomp Forecast and Analysis Model, which is one of the only hourly and physically-based hydrologic models used for water operations in California. 'Wes has demonstrated remarkable collaboration throughout his career that has resulted in partnerships with wonderful organizations such as NASA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography,' said ACWA President Cathy Green. 'The technology and models Wes and his team were able to develop in partnership with these organizations provide TID with insight into the current and future state of its reservoirs to inform water operation decisions on both a short- and long-term basis.' The Excellence in Water Leadership Award, Building a World of Difference®, recognizes individuals who have made a remarkable and visible contribution to California water. The award, sponsored by Black & Veatch Corporation, was presented during ACWA's 2025 Spring Conference & Expo in Monterey where approximately 1,500 water industry professionals in California are attending programs and panel discussions on a variety of key water issues. For more information about ACWA's awards programs, please visit ACWA is a statewide association of public agencies whose approximately 470 members are responsible for about 90% of the water delivered in California. For more information, visit Contact: Heather Engel, ACWA Director of Communications | C (916) 669-2387 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What happens if Trump doesn't obey court orders? New spotlight on U.S. marshals
As a couple of key court cases against President Trump's executive actions intensify, questions of how and whether the White House will follow judges' orders are mounting. Already, some judges have issued orders reprimanding the Trump administration and demanding action. But who has the authority to enforce such orders? Situated at the nexus of the face-off between the executive and judicial branches is a little-scrutinized arm of the federal government: the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Marshals Service is a federal law enforcement agency. It is tasked with a broad range of actions — hunting fugitives, transporting federal prisoners and managing goods seized from criminals. Oftentimes the Marshals Service will work with state and local law enforcement agencies on particularly difficult cases, such as hunting down a man who escaped a Pennsylvania prison last year. "People ask us to do jobs they're not willing to do," said Barry Lane, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service. Federal courts also rely on the U.S. Marshals Service to enforce federal orders. Sometimes that means keeping order in a courtroom, said Stephen Monier, a retired former U.S. marshal for the district of New Hampshire. "The judge can say, get him out of here for being disruptive in the courtroom — which, then, we would be responsible for," Monier said. "We would remove him from the courthouse." The Marshals Service reports to the Department of Justice, which is part of the sprawling federal executive structure. But it serves as the enforcer of federal court orders — occupying an unusual position between the executive and judicial branches. "Like the director of the FBI, the director of Marshals Service reports to the attorney general of the United States," Monier said, adding, "but because of our unique role with the court, we are the enforcement arm of the court." Another responsibility of the Marshals Service is protecting courthouses and judicial officers. U.S. Marshals have ramped up security efforts in response to an increasing number of threats against judges and court personnel — including creating the Judicial Threat Branch to monitor and respond to high-level incidents. One of the marshals' responsibilities was providing protective service detail for U.S. District Judges Aileen Cannon and Tanya Chutkan, who ruled in criminal cases against Trump. "These decisions generated threats directed at the judges that warranted protective service details," the U.S. Marshals Service's annual report notes. Trump has repeatedly said he will follow court orders, and White House officials have said they are following the letter of the law in the myriad cases brought against the administration since he took office. So far, the Supreme Court has issued limited rulings affecting the White House. Last weekend, the justices temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out deportations of Venezuelan men deemed foreign gang members. "We are obviously complying with the court's order," Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday. "However, it was a temporary pause. The Supreme Court basically said, sit tight and they will follow up with an order, and we're confident that the Supreme Court will rule on the side of law and recognize the president absolutely has the executive authority to deport foreign terrorists from our nation's interior under the Alien Enemies Act." But Trump has already lashed out at other federal court judges who've ruled against his administration over their efforts to deport immigrants — including U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, who threatened to hold White House officials in contempt of court for not following his earlier orders to stop a plane carrying deportees to an El Salvador prison midflight. Boasberg said last week that he found probable cause for putting administration officials in criminal contempt for not turning the planes around. Being held in criminal contempt of court means defying a judge's orders. Boasberg said that Trump administration officials violated his orders by not stopping a plane carrying deportees to El Salvador. He warned that he could refer the matter for prosecution — where Department of Justice officials would have to decide whether to take up the case. If they decline to do so, Boasberg said, he would appoint a private attorney to prosecute the case against the administration and specific officials. Holding a defendant — never mind a government official — in criminal contempt is rare. "It would be very unusual in my experience," Monier said. In another case, the Supreme Court said the administration had a duty to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man the Trump administration said it had mistakenly deported to that country. But Abrego Garcia remains in El Salvador, and U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis condemned the government's lawyers for defying the court's order, saying their "objection reflects a willful and bad faith refusal to comply." No. The U.S. Marshals spokesperson declined to comment for this article and referred The Times to its annual report. The U.S. Marshals Service is also without a permanent director, since Gadyaces Serralta, whom Trump appointed last month, has yet to be confirmed. Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
What happens if Trump doesn't obey court orders? New spotlight on U.S. marshals
WASHINGTON — As a couple of key court cases against President Trump's executive actions intensify, questions of how and whether the White House will follow judges' orders are mounting. Already, some judges have issued orders reprimanding the Trump administration and demanding action. But who has the authority to enforce such orders? Situated at the nexus of the face-off between the executive and judicial branches is a little-scrutinized arm of the federal government: the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Marshals Service is a federal law enforcement agency. It is tasked with a broad range of actions — hunting fugitives, transporting federal prisoners and managing goods seized from criminals. Oftentimes the Marshals Service will work with state and local law enforcement agencies on particularly difficult cases, such as hunting down a man who escaped a Pennsylvania prison last year. 'People ask us to do jobs they're not willing to do,' said Barry Lane, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service. Federal courts also rely on the U.S. Marshals Service to enforce federal orders. Sometimes that means keeping order in a courtroom, said Stephen Monier, a retired former U.S. marshal for the district of New Hampshire. 'The judge can say, get him out of here for being disruptive in the courtroom — which, then, we would be responsible for,' Monier said. 'We would remove him from the courthouse.' The Marshals Service reports to the Department of Justice, which is part of the sprawling federal executive structure. But it serves as the enforcer of federal court orders — occupying an unusual position between the executive and judicial branches. 'Like the director of the FBI, the director of Marshals Service reports to the attorney general of the United States,' Monier said, adding, 'but because of our unique role with the court, we are the enforcement arm of the court.' Another responsibility of the Marshals Service is protecting courthouses and judicial officers. U.S. Marshals have ramped up security efforts in response to an increasing number of threats against judges and court personnel — including creating the Judicial Threat Branch to monitor and respond to high-level incidents. One of the marshals' responsibilities was providing protective service detail for U.S. District Judges Aileen Cannon and Tanya Chutkan, who ruled in criminal cases against Trump. 'These decisions generated threats directed at the judges that warranted protective service details,' the U.S. Marshals Service's annual report notes. Trump has repeatedly said he will follow court orders, and White House officials have said they are following the letter of the law in the myriad cases brought against the administration since he took office. So far, the Supreme Court has issued limited rulings affecting the White House. Last weekend, the justices temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out deportations of Venezuelan men deemed foreign gang members. 'We are obviously complying with the court's order,' Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday. 'However, it was a temporary pause. The Supreme Court basically said, sit tight and they will follow up with an order, and we're confident that the Supreme Court will rule on the side of law and recognize the president absolutely has the executive authority to deport foreign terrorists from our nation's interior under the Alien Enemies Act.' But Trump has already lashed out at other federal court judges who've ruled against his administration over their efforts to deport immigrants — including U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, who threatened to hold White House officials in contempt of court for not following his earlier orders to stop a plane carrying deportees to an El Salvador prison midflight. Boasberg said last week that he found probable cause for putting administration officials in criminal contempt for not turning the planes around. Being held in criminal contempt of court means defying a judge's orders. Boasberg said that Trump administration officials violated his orders by not stopping a plane carrying deportees to El Salvador. He warned that he could refer the matter for prosecution — where Department of Justice officials would have to decide whether to take up the case. If they decline to do so, Boasberg said, he would appoint a private attorney to prosecute the case against the administration and specific officials. Holding a defendant — never mind a government official — in criminal contempt is rare. 'It would be very unusual in my experience,' Monier said. In another case, the Supreme Court said the administration had a duty to 'facilitate' the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man the Trump administration said it had mistakenly deported to that country. But Abrego Garcia remains in El Salvador, and U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis condemned the government's lawyers for defying the court's order, saying their 'objection reflects a willful and bad faith refusal to comply.' No. The U.S. Marshals spokesperson declined to comment for this article and referred The Times to its annual report. The U.S. Marshals Service is also without a permanent director, since Gadyaces Serralta, whom Trump appointed last month, has yet to be confirmed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hillsborough County planning $6.1M renovation of Goffstown complex
Feb. 18—A $6.1 million renovation project at the Hillsborough County complex in Goffstown will include more space for the sheriff's office and the construction of a building to house the UNH Cooperative Extension. "A major part of this reorganization includes relocating the sheriff's office, which will move into newly renovated spaces on the second floor of the Bouchard building and into the first-floor space currently occupied by the UNH Cooperative Extension," County Administrator Chad Monier said Friday. Manchester construction company Brookstone Builders Inc. will serve as general contractor for the project at 329 Mast Road. "The UNH Cooperative portion we're demolishing (is) an existing barn and (we're) building a new building on the same footprint or foundation for UNH," company President Karen Scales said. Parking lot upgrades and landscaping also are included, she said. At the sheriff's office, workstations now are shared by multiple staff members, Monier said. "The dispatch area, which is roughly 238 sq. ft., regularly accommodates up to five individuals, all in close quarters with no access to outside air," he said in an email. The renovation will create suitable areas for a law enforcement office, emergency dispatch center, offices, storage and conference room space, he said. Other county departments also will relocate into larger areas in the Bouchard building. An official at the cooperative extension referred questions to Monier. Pandemic relief Federal pandemic relief funds will pay for the project, which should be completed by Sept. 30, 2026. Without the funding from American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, "these needed upgrades would have had to be delayed, which could have further strained county operations and impacted its ability to meet the needs of the public and staff," Monier said. Federal law requires that states obligate, but not completely spend, all of the ARPA money by year's end or Washington takes back whatever is left to the federal treasury. County commissioners did that in late December. Monier said the town of Goffstown confirmed on Friday morning that the required permits will be signed on Tuesday. County officials intend to begin the project as soon as possible, he said. mcousineau@
