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In this Sept. 24, 2015 photo, consultant Jonathan Hunt checks seedlings growing in the new marijuana growing facility on the Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation in Flandreau, S.D. The project, according to the tribe, could generate up to $2 million a month in profit. The first joints are expected to go on sale Dec. 31 at a New Year’s Eve party. (AP Photo/Jay Pickthorn)

South Dakota Tribe To Open Nation’s 1st Marijuana Resort

Archives for September 2015

Minnesota Police Departments Lost Their Bid Monday To Classify Most Body-Camera Footage As Private

Officials claim they have no authority to make body cam video private.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
In this Nov. 5, 2014 photo, Sgt. Chris Wicklund of the Burnsville Police Department wears a body camera beneath his microphone. Minneapolis, with the largest police department in Minnesota, has become the latest to equip officers with body cameras in what officials say is an effort to improve transparency and hold police accountable. The goal in Burnsville is to have all uniformed offices equipped with cameras by the end of the year. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Minnesota police departments lost their bid Monday to classify most body-camera footage as private. The commissioner for the Department of Administration rejected a request to temporarily wall off the data until state lawmakers pass body-camera regulations. A coalition of police departments had sought the data lockdown to avoid having to release

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Pro-Lifers Embarrassed By Planned Parenthood Hearing, Call It ‘GOP Freak Show’

Pro-life conservatives blasted the spectacle on Twitter. The editors of several prominent anti-abortion publications said the questioners were unprepared, incompetent and embarrassing.

Judd Legum for Think Progress
By Judd Legum for Think Progress
Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards appears before the House Oversight Committee. The committee is investigating Planned Parenthood in connection with a series of sting videos that allege the group illegally sold fetal body parts. (AP Photo)

On Tuesday, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards appeared before the House Oversight Committee. The committee is investigating Planned Parenthood in connection with a series of sting videos that allege the group illegally sold fetal body parts. (That allegation is not supported by the videos or other factual evidence.) The hearing today

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For U.S. Tribes, A Movement To Revive Native Foods And Lands

On ancestral lands, the Fond du Lac band in Minnesota is planting wild rice and restoring wetlands damaged by dams, industry, and logging. Their efforts are part of a growing trend by Native Americans to bring back traditional food sources and heal scarred landscapes.

Yale e360
By Yale e360
Traditional wild rice harvesting on a restored Fond du Lac reservation lake. One person poles the canoe across shallow water, while the other knocks grains loose with ricing sticks. (Photo credit: Cheryl Katz)

Two by two, the wild rice harvesters emerge from the grass-filled lake and drag their canoes to shore. The harvesters, Lake Superior Chippewa, are reaping their ancestral food in the traditional way — one poling the boat through the waist-high tangle, and the other bending the stems and gently brushing ripe seed loose with a pair of batons. It’s

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Israel’s Middle East Allies Are Brutal Dictatorships That Regularly Violate Human Rights

Popularly known as the Middle East’s only democracy, Israel’s military might and occupation of Palestine depend on the support of two brutal, repressive allies in the region.

MintPress News Desk
By MintPress News Desk
BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Both Saudi and Israel need to remain close in order to maintain their artificial desert fiefdoms.

JERUSALEM --- According to its supporters, Israel is the “only democracy” in the Middle East, and is often described as a Jewish nation surrounded by Arab enemies. Although this status is debatable, given its mistreatment and disenfranchisement of both occupied Palestinian and Israeli minority populations, it’s also worth noting that the country

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Bernie Sanders & Jill Stein’s College Plans Treat Education As A Human Right

While Hillary Clinton promises to make college more affordable if elected, both Stein and Sanders have rolled out bold plans to slash student debt and make education accessible to all.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during the Des Moines Youth Summit, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, at Creative Visions in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

WASHINGTON --- With presidential candidates hoping to court young voters, it’s not surprising that the student debt crisis and the rising cost of a college education have become key campaign issues. While Hillary Clinton has promised to make college more affordable, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Dr. Jill Stein want to make it accessible to

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FBI Will Begin Collecting And Publicizing Information About Police Shootings Of Civilians

Federal law enforcement officials have acknowledged in the last year a lack of reliable data about how often police officers use force in the line of duty.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
Police Shooting Missouri

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI will begin collecting and providing to the public more information about police shootings of civilians, FBI Director James Comey said Monday as the agency released annual data on crime nationwide. Federal law enforcement officials have acknowledged in the last year a lack of reliable data about how often police officers

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