Latest news with #SpecialUsePermit
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Leavenworth refiles lawsuit against CoreCivic to enforce development regulations
The city of Leavenworth is continuing its legal fight in state court to get CoreCivic to comply with development regulations. (Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — The city of Leavenworth has not given up its fight to force CoreCivic to follow development processes before reopening its prison facility as an ICE detention center. The city refiled in Leavenworth District court this week after losing its case in U.S. District Court last week. Leavenworth officials asked for an injunction that would stop CoreCivic from housing detainees until the court could decide whether the private prison company must obtain a special use permit. CoreCivic operated the Leavenworth Detention Facility until 2021 and has signed a contract with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to reopen the prison as the Midwest Regional Reception Center. However, city of Leavenworth officials said CoreCivic must apply for a special use permit before it can reopen. City manager Scott Peterson said in an email the city refiled in state court because it was 'following the logic' of Judge Toby Crouse, whose ruling dismissed the case because he was not convinced it should be heard in federal court. At a city council meeting Tuesday, several people stood up to thank city officials for fighting to keep the prison from reopening. Mike Trapp, a former Columbia, Missouri, city councilman, noted how important it was for CoreCivic to follow development regulations. 'Land-use decisions are the fundamental core government response,' he said. 'You function as the board of directors for the city, you pass the laws, but the biggest thing you do is deal with zoning and platting issues, and land-use as the most fundamental and core function of government. And to see that challenged is unfortunate.' Peterson said the case has never been about politics, as CoreCivic's lawyer claimed during the U.S. District Court case. 'The city commission, composed of a healthy mixture of liberals and conservatives alike, chose unanimously to file this suit to protect the city of Leavenworth's power to govern development within its jurisdiction,' he said. 'All that the city of Leavenworth has ever asked of CoreCivic in this matter is to go through the Special Use Permit process, as outlined by the Leavenworth Development Regulations.' CoreCivic had agreed that it would not allow any detainees in the facility until June 1 while the case was in court. Peterson said the city hopes that remains true. 'We also hope that CoreCivic will act upon their vocal commitment to be good partners with the city of Leavenworth by not proceeding with any use of the Midwest Regional Reception Center until such time that this matter has been resolved,' he said. Ryan Gustin, CoreCivic spokesman, would not answer questions about when the company would begin accepting detainees after last week's win.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
White Mountain National Forest Issues Notice of Intent on Waterville Valley Resort's Environmental Impact Statement
White Mountain National Forest opens the floor for public comment regarding Waterville Valley Resort's Environmental Impact Statement for their Town to Summit gondola. Green Peak Sample Rendering Waterville Valley Resort, Waterville Valley NH, May 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Since the early 1970's Waterville Valley Resort has had a vision—to enhance the connectivity between the Town of Waterville Valley and the Mountain. Now, the White Mountain National Forest is looking for the public's input on that vision! The Waterville Valley Resort Environmental Impact Statement proposes our steps of action to help this vision become reality. The ever-evolving ski industry creates an escalation of guest expectations, and Waterville Valley Resort aims to meet these expectations by creating a link between the Town and the Resort via construction of a new village to summit lift system, as well as increasing resort access, diversity of terrain, and additional guest services. The White Mountain National Forest has issued a Notice of Intent to keep the public informed. Through the White Mountain National Forest, public comments are now being accepted — to view our Environmental Impact Statement, receive official project updates from the White Mountain National Forest, and submit public comments, visit Waterville Valley Resort's Environmental Impact Statement informational website. Through the development of the proposed action, Waterville Valley Resort intends to deliver the following:Develop Non-Vehicular Transportation Link Between the Town of Waterville Valley & Waterville Valley Resort Waterville Valley Resort plans to install a 8-10 person gondola or chondola, expected to reduce travel time between the village and summit of Green Peak to approximately 10-15 minutes. The lift will have two separate segments and a mid-station. The top terminal located on the top of Green Peak on NFS lands, and within the resort's existing Special Use Permit boundary. The bottom terminal will located entirely on private land directly adjacent to the Town Square and future village development in the Town of Waterville mid-station terminal would be located within the proposed SUP boundary, west of Tripoli Road on NFS lands. It will give guests the ability to get on or off at the mid-station, providing skiers and riders with the option to either download the lift to the town or ride to the top of the mountain. The mid-station would also include a building for storage of lift system cabins and/or chairs and a second-floor lodge. The top segment of the lift system is anticipated to have a higher capacity than the lower segment to accommodate more repeat skiing around the area, whereas the lower segment would be mainly for transporting guests to and from the Terrain Diversity Waterville Valley Resort proposes six additional trails with intermediate and beginner terrain levels, covering 32 acres. Additionally, the Resort proposes to add roughly 200 acres of new gladed terrain. Glades will be developed to increase the amount of intermediate to expert-level skiing and riding. To develop the gladed terrain, 10-25% of the standing tree density would be removed. With these new trails will come additional snowmaking infrastructure. The proposed snowmaking would cover all 32 acres of new traditional terrain. Exact locations of this infrastructure will be determined in the final stages of the project. The proposed snowmaking would be an extension of the current system at the Resort, meaning no additional water rights are needed. Improve Lift and Terrain Access for Guests at Waterville Valley Resort Base Area A parking lot is proposed to be constructed adjacent to the mid-station with approximately 80 parking spaces, the size of which was determined by the Resort based on anticipated staff and guest needs. To provide access to the lot and to the proposed mid-station, an approximately 700-foot-long access road would be constructed off Tripoli Additional On-Mountain Guest Services and Amenities Waterville Valley Resort proposes to build a new restaurant at the top of Green Peak. Service will include food and beverage, restrooms, and a ski patrol station. It is anticipated that approximately 250 seats would be provided at this restaurant. Additionally, a deck or other outdoor space would be included on the second floor. The mid-station of the proposed gondola will provide additional guest services. The first floor of the building would consist of gondola cabins and chair storage as well as a small ski patrol station, and the second floor would provide guest service space for a restaurant, restrooms, and event spaces (meetings, film screenings, receptions, etc.).Waterville Valley Resort is excited to take the next steps toward improving the guest experience and enhancing the long-standing relationship between the Town of Waterville Valley and the Resort. Your voice matters—please take this opportunity to learn more about Waterville Valley Resort's Environmental Impact Statement, White Mountain National Forest's Notice of Intent, and and share your input on this transformative IMPACT STATEMENT INFORMATIONAL WEBSITE Attachment Green Peak Sample Rendering CONTACT: Jamie Cobbett Waterville Valley Resort 603-236-84311 x 3455 jcobbett@
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida wildlife agency considers bringing back barbaric steel traps
There are three three-legged bears in Seminole County, according to Bear Warriors United President Katrina Shaix. All three lost their legs to traps. (Photo via Shaix) I'm probably in the minority here, but I love being asked to fill out surveys. When big corporations or ginormous government agencies want my opinion, I'm happy to give it to them. Y'all want to hear from little ol' me? How flattering! I got a request just the other day from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to offer my thoughts on revising their rules about using steel traps to catch wild animals. 'The FWC is seeking feedback from the public on proposed changes to wildlife trapping regulations in Florida,' said the agency's email, dated May 9. Well, gosh, I was happy to oblige them! I am generally in favor of steel traps when it comes to minds. As for actual steel traps? Put me down as a NO. For the past 53 years, steel-jaw foothold and leg traps and body-gripping traps to capture wild animals have been banned for use in Florida unless you were one of the few people who qualified for a special use permit. But now the wildlife commission is considering changes to its trapping rules. A spokesperson for the agency, Ryan Sheets, said this effort to 'modernize' the rules does say that 'requirements currently associated with the Special Use Permit process be incorporated into rule.' However, Sheets told me, 'nearly everyone would be required to obtain a permit prior to trapping wildlife in Florida.' The problem is that the permittees would no longer be the small, select professional group that now qualify. Instead, the general public could get one. 'The key component to the rule changes to steel-jaw foothold traps and steel-jaw body-gripping traps is that they will remove the existing 'Special Use Permit' requirement to use these traps … which, for all intents and purposes, effectively reverses the state's ban on steel-jaw traps,' Robert Ruderman of Humane Wildlife Consulting of South Florida said. The wildlife commission's talk about 'modernizing' the trapping rules is 'just a shameless attempt to gaslight the public,' Ruderman told me this week. I guess you could say that the wildlife commissioners feel trapped — or at least tightly confined — by the existing rules. Now, like any trapped animal, they want to loosen things up. This loosening of the regulations hasn't gotten a lot of attention yet, because everyone's so upset about the FWC's misguided and unscientific push for another bear hunt. But advocates of humane treatment of animals are paying close attention, indeed. 'We're glad they're considering an update to the trapping rules,' said Kate McFall, Florida director of the Humane Society of the United States. But her organization is opposed to any attempt to make it easier for people to use steel foot and leg traps, which she called 'barbaric.' 'We do not want to put these antiquated traps in the hands of the general public,' she told me. In case you're wondering (I sure was!), the use of these traps date to the days when men wore hats made of animal fur instead of ballcaps touting overpriced sports teams or brainless political slogans. Trapping was the preferred way to catch beavers, wolves, and other wildlife used by hatters, mad or otherwise. A lot of folks these days sneer at fashion news: 'Who cares who wore what at the Met Gala!' But the economics of fur fashion drove a lot of the early American (and Canadian) exploration and economy. Some of the earliest steel traps were made by a guy named Sewell Newhouse, who lived in the upstate New York town of Oneida. Newhouse's father was a blacksmith, so at age 17 he made his first steel trap using his dad's scrap metal. In 1849, Newhouse the trap maker joined a religious commune in Oneida run by an unusual fellow by the name of John Humphrey Noyes. The fur trade was in full swing then, and a history of Newhouse traps says that by 1855, 'the demand for Newhouse steel traps had grown to such an extent that the Oneida Community leaders decided to begin manufacturing on a much larger scale, and it became a major part of the business dealings of the community.' The main thing the Oneida community is remembered for these days is not its trap factory but what happened when they got behind closed doors. Noyes believed he was God's prophet on Earth, and his version of the gospel called for the commune members to all have sex with multiple partners. In fact, Noyes has been credited with coining the term 'free love.' 'They were swingers basically before swinging was ever invented,' explained the author of a recent book on the Oneida community. Isn't history fun? It's impossible to miss the irony of the commune-ist Newhouse's life. Here was a man who made a living making traps for animals, but he didn't want to be trapped into a conventional marriage. He was in favor of free love and captured wildlife. Eventually the commune got out of the steel trap business. Instead, they became known for making a different metal product: forks, knives, and spoons. Their popular Oneida Flatware is still a big deal today. I guess you could say they stuck a fork in their trapping business. Outside of Davy Crockett cosplay, nobody's wearing fur hats anymore. Instead, the steel traps are now mostly used to protect commercially valuable animals from predators or to catch unwanted intruders. There are about 200 licensed professional trappers in Florida, according to the Florida Trappers Association. One of the most active is Mark Neely, a Navy retiree who's been in the trapping field since 2005. He specializes in catching coyotes on cattle ranches because 'there's nothing like trying to outsmart a coyote.' Neely sat on the technical advisory group that the wildlife commission formed to consider how to change its rules. He attended every meeting but told me he didn't understand where the staff was coming from on some of its proposals. 'Sometimes I wondered, 'Have any of these people set a trap before in their lives?'' he told me. 'Sometimes I wondered if this person knew what they were talking about.' Neely was not a big fan of the animal welfare folks on the committee, either, whom he also did not consider well-informed. 'They talk with their hearts, God bless 'em,' he said. Neely contended the wildlife commission would never get rid of the need for permits for using steel traps. Nevertheless, he said, he's inclined to favor the existing rules over any new ones. 'If I could do it over,' he said, 'I wouldn't make any changes.' I don't know why Florida clamped down (so to speak) on the use of steel leg and foot traps in 1972. This was the era when Congress passed our foundational environmental laws, like the Clean Water Act (1972) and the Endangered Species Act (1973), all of which resulted from the first Earth Day protest in 1970. Perhaps it was driven by that same circumstance. I bet it had something to do with the traps' propensity for grabbing the wrong thing — dogs, cats, eagles, panthers, even children. Ten years ago, for instance, a 12-year-old boy in North Carolina got his hand caught in a trap and it took six emergency room doctors to get the thing off of him. Even when a steel trap grabs hold of the right wild animal's leg, the animal may be so desperate to escape that it winds up ripping off that limb. Sometimes trappers put out so many traps that they can't come back to check on what they've caught until it's too late to stop that from happening. 'The length of the suffering is significant,' McFall told me. The state's permitting system has limited the number who can use these instruments to about 100 people. But they are still in use and still taking a toll. Katrina Shadix of Bear Warriors United told me that she's seen not one, not two but THREE three-legged bears in Seminole County, all of them nicknamed 'Tripod.' How did they get that way? The answer, in the words of Admiral Ackbar from 'Return of the Jedi': 'It's a trap!' The 1972 state law that bans steel leg and foot traps doesn't allow for any exceptions, Shadix told me. But the wildlife commission has allowed their use to continue as long as the trapper applies for a free permit first. In other words, she said, the wildlife commission has been breaking the law. That's why, in 2019, Shadix threatened to sue the FWC over its trapping rules. Shadix is not shy about taking state agencies to court. She recently won a big case in which she'd accused the state of breaking the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect manatees from a major die-off. Shadix told me that her threatened lawsuit prompted the wildlife commission staff to promise that if she held off suing, they would update the rules to make sure they are more humane. The update has hobbled along about as fast as one of those three-legged bears. In 2023, Shadix and more than two dozen other people concerned about the humane treatment of wildlife showed up at a commission meeting where the staff presented a report on how they were progressing. 'The objectives for updating the wildlife trapping rules include allowing for all current uses of traps without the need for a permit,' said a memo from one senior wildlife commission staffer. Shadix and the other the people who showed up for the meeting urged the commissioners to keep the permitting requirement and start charging a fee for it, too. And they suggested anyone using a trap should get mandatory training and licensing as well. 'Let's definitely do require licensing and training,' said Katherine McGill, who runs 411 Wildlife Solutions in Brooksville, according to 'I do not understand why there would not be a fee with this permit, just like every hunter and angler and so forth pays.' After listening to the parade of speakers, FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said he was on their side. 'I think as we are modernizing our trapping policies and procedures, I think the public's correct,' Barreto said. 'We want to [have] best practices, we want to check all the boxes, we want to be humane.' If the FWC now makes it easier, not harder, to use these cruel traps, perhaps that should count as another falsehood told by Barreto, who recently denied before a state Senate committee plans to build on submerged land in Palm Beach County even though the Palm Beach Post reported he'd tried to do exactly that. 'Everything they're proposing is making things worse, not better,' Shadix told me this week. The good news here is that there's still time for the wildlife commission to reconsider. Sheets, the FWC spokesman, told me the staff hopes to bring its recommendations to their bosses in August so they can vote on them. That's the same meeting where they're expected to vote on holding another bear hunt, too. If the commissioners do vote to let anyone who wants to use a steel leg or foot trap, I have a suggestion. Perhaps everyone who finds this to be disturbing should run right out and obtain one of these traps. Then, they should bring these traps to the very next FWC meeting. They should set them up all around the table where the commissioners are meeting. These traps would be clearly marked and checked regularly, which is better than what the animals get these days. Maybe if they experience what being snagged is like, then the commissioners will do a better job of figuring out what's humane and what's not. You don't have to have a mind like a steel trap to see that. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge rules U.S. owes North Dakota $28M over oil pipeline protests
April 24 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ruled the U.S. government must pay North Dakota nearly $28 million in damages stemming from the Dakota Access oil pipeline protests in 2016 and 2017. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor issued his ruling Wednesday, siding with North Dakota's claims of negligence, gross negligence, civil trespass and public nuisance against the United States in connection with the protests. "This is a major win for North Dakota taxpayers and the rule of law," North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley, both Republicans, said in a statement in response to the ruling. "As outlined in the trial testimony and Judge Traynor's ruling, decisions made by the Obama administration emboldened protesters and ultimately caused millions of dollars in damage to North Dakota, while endangering the health and safety of North Dakota communities, families and law enforcement officers who responded to the protests." The protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the pipeline garnered wide public and political attention from August 2016 through March 2017, as they erected encampments on land near the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers. The state's claims focused on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers use of a Special Use Permit to allow the protesters to demonstrate on Corps land. In his ruling on Wednesday, the President Donald Trump appointee said the Corps had not officially granted the SUP despite saying one had been issued, and this so-called de factor permit prevented law enforcement from taking action against the protesters. Traynor described this action as the Corps having "invited and encouraged the DAPL Protesters and their violent and tumultuous behavior," leaving North Dakota to clean up the mess. "The State of North Dakota needed the power of the federal government to protect its citizens from danger. The federal government abandoned its duty," he said. He added that the damage caused by the protests was "unfathomable," highlighting there human excrement pits, makeshift housing structures and violent clashes with law enforcement. "The bottom line: United States had a mandatory procedure, it did not follow that procedure, and harm occurred to the state of North Dakota," Traynor said.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grand Targhee Wants to Build Three New Lifts and Expand Terrain
The Caribou-Targhee National Forest has released a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) regarding several improvements and expansions proposed by Grand Targhee Resort, Wyoming, marking a significant milestone in the approvals process that invites public "Future Vision" page of Grand Targhee's website provides a streamlined description of the resort's proposed new Crazy Horse Lift would enhance access south of Fred's. The new North Boundary Lift would improve access to Targhee's northernmost terrain. A new platter lift is aimed at supporting ski team development. Both the Shosone and Dreamcatcher lifts would be upgraded, and two new on-mountain restaurants would be reading for more about Targhee's big to keep up with the best stories and photos in skiing? Subscribe to the new Powder To The People newsletter for weekly updates. Other parts of the MDP include adjustments to Grand Targhee's Special Use Permit (SUP) boundary in the Mono Trees and South Bowl areas. Together, the development of these areas would broaden the resort's SUP boundary by approximately 850 to the "Proponent Objectives" section of the draft EIS, the improvements at Grand Targhee are "needed in direct response to evolving consumer demands and the competitive regional and destination skier markets."A 90-day public comment period on the draft EIS has begun, and Grand Targhee and the Forest Service will hold an open house on April 17 in Driggs, Idaho, to discuss the planned expansion. Public comments on the draft EIS can be made here and read here. Public comments shared this week appear to be mixed so far."I understand the idea for expanding and wanting to get bigger, but I love it just the way it is. I would keep it just the way it is," reads one comment. 'The small town vibe is one of the reasons grand Targee quickly became our favorite and we will continue to go expressed their support."Big beautiful plans. Would be super fun to see this happen," reads another comment. "That being said, please figure out how to incorporate Teton Valley infrastructure improvements to accommodate the increased traffic and demand this would create."Once the public comment period concludes, the Forest Service will prepare and release a final EIS before making a decision on Grand Targhee's 625-page draft EIS features the Caribou-Targhee National Forest's environmental analysis of Grand Targhee's wide-ranging proposals and notes the potential impacts of five alternatives. The second alternative involves the resort moving forward with every improvement while others reduce the project's scope."Grand Targhee greatly values our partnership with the Forest Service," said Grand Targhee Resort General Manager Geordie Gillett in a press release shared by the resort. "We've been in discussions with the Caribou-Targhee National Forest for several years about how to ensure GTR continues to provide a refuge for skiers and maintain our status as the premier powder skiing destination in the United States."
