Latest news with #TreatyofGuadalupeHidalgo
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Gulf Of What? A note from StormTracker 59 on hurricane season
GHENT, WV (WVNS) — President Donald Trump signed executive order #14172, 'Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness', on February 9th, 2025, where the Gulf of Mexico was renamed to the Gulf of America. The formally named Gulf of Mexico received its name from early European explorers that had to cross the body of water to arrive in Mexico1. Since the late 1600's, the name just stuck. Mexico, at the time, covered present day Mexico and several state that would become the United States of America including Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, portions of Colorado, and Wyoming. Spain controlled Gulf waters along Florida and France held control of much of the waters along Louisiana. For more than 400 years the name 'Gulf of Mexico' survived early colonization, the Louisiana Purchase in 18032, Texas independence in 18393, Texas statehood in 18454, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 18485, and the 1853 Gadsden Purchase6 where Mexico and the U.S., traded control over what is now the United States of America. Not to mention the internal changes in colonial Mexico from Spanish control. The Gulf of Mexico has been a long standing name for generations of citizens of several counties that border it and around the world. With recent changes from the February 2025 executive order, however, some contention has arose from the move bringing politics to a body of water's name that is highly important to the Atlantic Hurricane Season. Making it a name that will come up quite a bit from June to November during the 2025 hurricane season. For the most part, meteorologists have always shortened the name 'Gulf of Mexico', now 'Gulf of America', to simply 'The Gulf', as it is a body of water most audiences are familiar with, know their directional relationship to it, and where to find it on a weather map. If a hurricane is in the Gulf, like Helene from 2024, most of us know where to look. But with so much political turmoil over the recent changes from President Trump, meteorologist have found themselves under fire for following this practice as if it were a slight towards the President's order. It is not. Why spend 30 seconds during a severe weather event talking about where a location is when most already know where you are talking about? For your StormTracker 59 team, our main concern when it comes to natural disasters is always the safety and wellbeing of our community, first. Breaking in for tornado coverage, Facebook lives during major winter storms, or rising to the challenges in the community after historic flooding. We care more about our community's weather concerns than what the political world thinks about us. We are scientists, not political commentators you might find on 24-hour news networks. With that said, the Gulf of America the name of the body of water that runs along the western side of Florida, southern Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas by executive order and recognized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration whom we rely on throughout the year, especially during hurricane season. NOAA has already started issuing communications on alerts and discussions using the new name and as a result, when applicable to our forecast discussions, we will do the same. Again, our focus isn't on the name of the body of water the deadly CAT 4 hurricane comes from, but what impacts it will have to you when it does. However, after over 400 years of history, multiple years of combined education between our meteorologist during a time when the name was different, new things take time to adjust too and mistakes will be made. We may slip and refer to 'the Gulf' as the Gulf of Mexico. We will strive to call it what it is, the Gulf of America, but when we do or don't we are not jumping into the political world. We leave policy and politics where they belong, in the hands of elected officials. We let them answer for their choices as we do our best to follow those choices. Our hope, as the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season gets underway, is that it is a calm year that falls short of current forecasts and we don't have to see headlines like 'death toll rises in wake of another hurricane'. It is also our hope to continue to provide the best coverage of impactful weather events as we've always have without politics getting in the way of vital information that can keep you safe. Gulf of America or Gulf of Mexico, when hurricanes come, it won't matter to us, or you, when we're left picking up the pieces in the aftermath. We'll keep politics out of our weather forecasts as we have enough to deal with from Mother Nature than fighting political ideologies or policy. Our focus will always be on the weather and how it will impact you. That, at the end of the day, is all we care about. 1) Britannica – Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America: National Office of the Historian – Louisiana Purchase 1803: & 4) Texas State Historical Society – The Texas Revolution: Key Events and Impact: National Archives – Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848): National Office of the Historian – Gadsden Purchase, 1853–1854: Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmaker asks U.S. attorney to intervene in New Mexico common lands case
Rep. Miguel Garcia (D-Albuquerque) wants U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison to attend an interim legislative Land Grant Committee meeting this year. Garcia is showing speaking during the committee's first meeting since the most recent legislative session on May 30, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) A state lawmaker is asking the top federal prosecutor in New Mexico to reopen a case that allowed the American government to take millions of acres of commonly owned land promised to New Mexicans in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Rep. Miguel Garcia (D-Albuquerque) on May 28 sent a letter to U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison asking him to reopen a 128-year-old court case called United States v. Sandoval. Garcia is asking Ellison to attend one of this year's interim legislative Land Grant Committee hearings, at which land grant attorney Narciso Garcia will present the legal arguments and questions surrounding the case to either Ellison or his designee, and the committee will ask him to intervene. Last Friday, at the committee's first meeting since this year's legislative session, Garcia said he took it upon himself to make the request, and that Ellison's office is deliberating how to respond to it. Ellison's office declined to comment. The case deals with commonly owned land — locally managed lands meant to sustain communities — in seven areas in New Mexico granted by the Spanish Empire and later recognized by Mexican law. The justices ruled that the common lands were actually owned by the Spanish Empire, and therefore became the U.S. government's property as a result of the the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American War. During this period, land speculators, including U.S. government officials, took advantage of adverse U.S. Supreme Court decisions to defraud communities of their common lands, Arturo Archuleta, director of the New Mexico Land Grant Council and the University of New Mexico Land Grant-Merced Institute, told the committee. The Sandoval decision resulted in the seven land grants shrinking from an average of 450,000 acres to 1,500 acres, Garcia wrote. He wrote that the ruling was a travesty of justice, and told the committee that it resulted in the depopulation of some land grant communities who could no longer herd as many cattle and sheep or produce as many forestry products. 'This was devastating for these communities because this is what brought on poverty in our state,' Garcia told the committee. 'This is a good example of how our land grant communities were turned from a vibrant, self-sustaining community to an impoverished community.' Garcia attached to the letter a 2018 working paper written by John Mitchell, who argues that after Mexico ceded the Territory of New Mexico to the U.S., Congress failed to incorporate it and allowed a temporary government to grant common lands to the inhabitants, which took away jurisdiction from the U.S. Supreme Court concerning land titles in the territory. 'Ultimately, the decision still belongs to the New Mexico Supreme Court who could hold that the de facto government did in fact grant common lands under existing law,' Mitchell wrote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Chicago Tribune
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Obama directs public schools to accommodate transgender students
Today is Tuesday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2025. There are 232 days left in the year. Today in history: On May 13, 2016, the Obama administration issued a directive requiring public schools to permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity. Also on this date: In 1846, the United States Congress formally declared war against Mexico, following battles along the disputed U.S.-Mexico border in the preceding weeks; the Mexican-American War would continue for nearly two years until the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February 1848. In 1940, in his first speech to the House of Commons as British prime minister, Winston Churchill said, 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.' In 1973, in tennis' first so-called 'Battle of the Sexes,' Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1 in Ramona, California. (Billie Jean King soundly defeated Riggs at the Houston Astrodome later that year.) In 1980, a tornado struck downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, killing five people and injuring 79. In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Ağca. (Ağca was sentenced to life in prison in Italy in July 1981, but was pardoned in 2000 at the Pope's request.) In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as a police helicopter dropped two bombs onto the group's row house, igniting a fire that killed 11 people (including five children) and destroyed 61 homes. Today's Birthdays: Actor Harvey Keitel is 86. Musician Stevie Wonder is 75. Screenwriter-producer David Simon ('The Wire') is 66. Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is 64. TV host/comedian Stephen Colbert is 61. Musician Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 59. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is 48. Actor Samantha Morton is 48. Actor-writer-director Lena Dunham is 39. Actor Robert Pattinson is 39. Actor Debby Ryan is 32. Country musician Morgan Wallen is 32.
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First Post
05-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Why Alcatraz prison, which Trump wants to reopen, is notorious
US President Donald Trump has said he plans to reopen Alcatraz as a prison. Located two kilometres off the shores of San Francisco, Alcatraz is currently one of San Francisco's most popular tourist destinations. Over a million people visit it every year. But why is it so infamous? read more Over one million tourists visit Alcatraz every year. Image courtesy: National Park Service US President Donald Trump has said he plans to reopen Alcatraz as a prison. Trump, taking to social media over the weekend, posted, 'Rebuild and open Alcatraz.' 'When we were a more serious nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. 'Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz,' Trump added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But what do we know about Alcatraz? Why is 'The Rock' arguably America's most notorious prison? Let's take a closer look: What do we know? Alcatraz is located two kilometres off the shores of San Francisco. Operated by the National Park Service, Alcatraz is currently one of San Francisco's most popular tourist destinations alongside the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco cable cars. But let's take a look at Alcatraz before it was a tourist attraction. At first, Alcatraz was just an island. As per Alcatraz got its name from Spanish naval officer and explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala y Aranza in 1775. Aranza named it La Isla de los Alcatraces – the island of the pelicans – as he sailed through the San Francisco bay. Mexico gained control of the island in 1821 after its war of independence against Spain. Then, in 1848, the US took control of Alcatraz after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was then US president Milliard Fillmore who, recognising the island's strategically important location, gave the go-ahead for it to be converted into a military installation. Alcatraz was named La Isla de los Alcatraces – the island of the pelicans – by Spanish naval officer and explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala y Aranza in 1775. AP By 1858, the US had built Fort Alcatraz. During the US civil war, the fort was used to keep Confederate prisoners and private citizens suspected of aiding and abetting the South. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This came at the time when then president Abraham Lincoln had suspended habeas corpus. A decade later, Alcatraz had transformed into a military prison. As per Architectural Digest, by 1900, Alcatraz was home to 441 prisoners. In 1907, the US Army redesignated Alcatraz 'Pacific Branch, US Military Prison, Alcatraz Island.' By 1912, a 600-cell holding complex had been built as well as a mess hall and hospital. By 1930, control of Alcatraz was handed over to the US Bureau of Prisons. It was used to house the worst of the worst – the difficult to handle, the violent, or those deemed escape risks. The outlet quoted from the book Alcatraz Prison in American History as stating 'To keep escape attempts at a minimum, Alcatraz had a rule of silence. Prisoners were not to speak to one another in the cell block or dining hall.' By 1934, Alcatraz was thought to be the world's most secure prison. As per SFtravel, each prisoner had their own cell. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD There prison also employed one guard for every three prisoners. Over the years, some of America's most notorious and high-profile prisoners were sent to Alcatraz. This list includes Al Capone, James 'Whitey' Bulger, George 'Machine Gun Kelly' Barnes, and Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. Alcatraz, interestingly, was thought to have the best food in the entire US penal system. Prisoners were given grilled sausages, Swiss steak, spare ribs, and stuffed peppers. The great escape During its time as a federal prison, Alcatraz witnessed over a dozen escape attempts. Twenty-three men were caught, six were shot and killed, and two drowned. Five prisoners are listed as 'missing and presumed drowned' – meaning no one has officially ever escaped from Alcatraz. But that's not the full story. Some think that three men – Frank Morris, John and Clarence Anglin – may have escaped. On June 12, 1962, all their beds were found stuffed with dummies. As per the FBI, Morris and the Anglin brothers used a homemade drill made out of vacuum cleaner parts to break into an unguarded utility corridor. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Paint peels off a wall of the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. While no one has ever officially escaped Alcatraz as a prison, mystery around the fate of three prisoners abounds. AP The prisoners then made their way onto the roof of the prison, dropped down to the shore and then used a raft made from over 50 prison raincoats to seemingly try to get away. While bits of the raft were discovered, no trace of three men have ever been found. The 1979 movie Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood is a retelling of the 1962 escape. Alcatraz was shuttered as a prison in 1963. While many ascribed the decision to the high-profile 'escape,' the actual reason is far more humdrum. Alcatraz was shut down as a prison because it was simply deemed too expensive to continue operating as such according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website. As per the website, Alcatraz was costing taxpayers almost three times more than any other federal prison. Life after a prison As per in March 1964, five indigenous activists occupied Alcatraz. The Sicangu Lakota claimed that Alcatraz, according to the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, was indigenous land. In November 1969, 78 Native-American activists known as the Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz for over a year and a half. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The movement, which ended in 1971, gained global attention to the fight for rights for Native Americans. Alcatraz began becoming a tourist attraction in 1972. Operated by the National Park Service, Alcatraz is currently one of San Francisco's most popular tourist destinations alongside the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco cable cars. AP This was when it was designated part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Alcatraz was handed over to the National Park Service. By the mid-1970s, it was thrown open to the public with tours being offered to educate the populace about its past as a prison and the island's rich history. Today, over one million people visit Alcatraz every year. With inputs from agencies
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mesilla quietly plans anniversary of colony's founding
Feb. 28—MESILLA — At the historic plaza in the center of Mesilla, all was quiet on Friday ahead of a planned anniversary of the civil colony known as La Mesilla, when a disputed border divided the fertile valley between United States and Mexican territories. Workers at jewelry shops, restaurants and souvenir stores ringing the popular plaza were largely unaware of the celebration. The Taylor-Mesilla Historic Site facing the plaza, which preserves the longtime home of former state Sen. J. Paul Taylor and his family, had no information about the event. A receptionist at Mesilla's town hall referred a reporter to a spare announcement on the town's website. Saturday marks the 175th anniversary of the settlement led by Don Rafael Ruelas, leader of about 60 families that established La Mesilla on March 1, 1850. The village of Mesilla is commonly reported to have originated in 1848 as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which closed the Mexican-American War and extended the boundaries of the United States. Locally, the new border was drawn beneath the village of Doña Ana. Landowning families wishing to retain Mexican citizenship, among others, moved south of the boundary to farm the Mesilla Valley, but before long, the boundary moved. The Gadsden Purchase, which took effect in 1854, finally situated Mesilla within U.S. territory. Historian and author Dave Thomas, who is scheduled to make a presentation during Saturday's celebration, has argued in interviews that March 1, 1850, is Mesilla's true founding date. After initial rapid growth, Mesilla was eclipsed later in the 19th century by the growth of Las Cruces. Today, the town has a population of about 1,800 and is known for pecan groves buffering the town from its larger neighbor, and for its zealous protection of its historical center rich in historical sites and Spanish colonial architecture. The two-hour commemoration of Ruelas' settlement of La Mesilla on Saturday is to include ballet folklórico and mariachi performances as well as a proclamation by the town's mayor, Russell Hernandez, between 2 and 4 p.m. in the historic plaza.
