Beringia
Beringia's JournalI saw a wonderful photo taken by Photojournalist Jeremy Battle so I looked him up
Local Lens: 6 Months As Block Club Chicago’s Inaugural Photojournalism Intern
Photojournalist Jeremy Battle recaps his internship, which took him on assignments ranging from City Hall to South Side lounges by Jeremy Battle May 4, 2026
CHICAGO — I knew I wanted to be a journalist because I loved telling stories, but I rarely thought about how I’d tell my own. Luckily, this is a job that leaves you with a story to tell every single day.
From my first day with Block Club in November, it’s been a whirlwind of emotions. For six months, I’ve woken up early for shoots, traveled to parts of the city I’d never visited and stayed up into the wee hours of the morning editing.
Photojournalists are “professional noticers” — as originally put by Vanity Fair photographer Christopher Anderson — and I’ve enjoyed being able to notice on such a wonderful stage.
And every Block Club reporter I’ve worked with has taught me something meaningful about this job. Though their styles are different, they all have their ways of immersing themselves in the community and telling deep stories.
I’m so happy that my photos have been able to play a role in that.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/05/04/local-lens-6-months-as-block-club-chicagos-inaugural-photojournalism-intern/
Here is one of his photos related to the story of the Broadview 6 on trial for protesting ICE
Federal charges against Straw, rest of 'Broadview 6,' dismissed with prejudice
Source: Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, IL
Update: Criminal case dismissed
The remaining criminal charges against Oak Park Trustee Brian Straw and his “Broadview 6” protest co-defendants have been dismissed with prejudice just days before their trial was set to begin.
The government moved to drop the charges after U.S. Judge April Perry ordered the U.S. Attorneys on the case and their supervisors into her courtroom for an emergency closed door conference Thursday. That order came after she reviewed unredacted transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the group’s indictment last year at the request of defense attorneys, finding that several improper actions by federal prosecutors during the grand jury process had tainted the last seven months of legal fighting from the start.
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In a late turn of events days out from the start of the highly anticipated "Broadview 6" immigration protest trial, U.S. Judge April Perry is ordering prosecutors into her courtroom on Thursday for a closed door meeting.
Perry had agreed to review unredacted transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment of Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw and several other progressive Chicagoland politicians on federal conspiracy and impeding an agent charges last year. With the trial set to begin on Tuesday, May 26, Perry is ordering the U.S. Attorneys on the case and their supervisors into her courtroom to discuss what had been redacted from the original grand jury transcript.
The move comes as one of the most anticipated misdemeanor trials in the history of downtown Chicago's Dirksen Federal Courthouse draws less than a week away. While prosecutors recently agreed to dismiss with prejudice the felony conspiracy charges against Straw and the other three defendants, the trial on their remaining misdemeanor charges has been expected to last two full weeks.
(ICE agents in Broadview, Illinois. The Chicago suburb is the location of a federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing and detention center)
Here are the original Broadview 6 charged with conspiracy to impede a U.S. law enforcement officer and individual counts of impeding a U.S. law enforcement officer are:
Michael Rabbitt, 62, of Chicago (45th Ward Democratic Committeeperson in Chicago)
Katherine Marie Abughazaleh, 26, of Chicago (Progressive journalist and former 2026 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives)
Andre Martin, 27 who was Katherine Marie Abughazaleh's campaign manager, http://archive.today/pthjB
Catherine Sharp, 29, of Chicago, a 40th Ward staffer and former candidate for county board commissioner
Brian Straw, 38, Oak Park trustee, http://archive.today/pthjB
Joselyn Walsh, 31, of Chicago, musician
Arraignments are scheduled for Nov. 5, 2025, at 3:00 p.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather K. McShain
Catherine Sharp is the redhead
Read more: https://www.oakpark.com/2026/05/21/federal-charges-against-straw-rest-of-broadview-6-dismissed-with-prejudice//
Edit to add the outcome of case dismissed
Top of the Lake series by Jane Campion and Gerard Lee,
I recently watched the 2 seasons of The Top of the Lake, directed by Jane Campion and starring Elizabeth Moss. It was gruesome, story about underage girls and the sex trade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_the_Lake
I looked up some reviews and some of them critized the series and I was blown away because with all the legal dramas and police dramas like Law and Order, here was a series that was so unique
Also in season 2, it focuses on underage Asian girls, Thai and Chinese who are part of the sex ring. It brought to mind the David Bowie song that was written by him and Iggy Pop. It was on the top of the charts in the 1980s
Lyrics
Oh-oh-oh-oh, little China girl
Oh-oh-oh-oh, little China girl
I could escape this feeling with my China girl
I'm a wreck without my little China girl
I hear her heart beating as loud as thunder
I saw the stars crashing
I'm a mess without my little China girl
Wake up in the morning, where's my little China girl?
I hear her heart's beating loud as thunder
I saw the stars crashing down
Here is the trailer for season 2
Reviews
https://knightleyemma.com/2015/02/21/top-of-the-lake/
https://loser-city.com/features/top-of-the-lake
We need another Operation Restore Trust like the one President Bill Clinton started in 1995
after Trump is gone
Operation Restore Trust (ORT) was a landmark two-year demonstration project launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 3, 1995, to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid program
Announced by the Clinton Administration at the 1995 White House Conference on Aging, the initiative was designed to protect health care trust funds and improve the quality of care for beneficiary
https://archive.ph/pS3oU
Medicare Crackdown Targets California : Fraud: Clinton tells delegates at conference on aging about state-federal campaign. It focuses on home health agencies and nursing homes in five states.
By ROBERT A. ROSENBLATT
May 4, 1995 12 AM PT
TIMES STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON — President Clinton announced on Wednesday a special federal-state campaign to crack down on Medicare fraud in California and four other big states where complaints are rising about alleged chicanery in nursing homes and home health care agencies.
Speaking to enthusiastic delegates at the White House Conference on Aging, Clinton pledged to protect Medicare from crooks and cheats while also keeping it safe from political and budgetary pressures.
His remarks sought both to assure and woo senior citizens, whose interests have become the latest element in the continuing tug of war between congressional Republicans and the Administration. Each side is hoping to position itself as the protector of the nation’s elderly.
Bill Clinton's list of healthcare accomplishments
https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2145&context=saffy_text
West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, IL owners face off in court over hospital's future
http://archive.today/2026.05.09-130536/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/08/west-suburban-hospital-lawsuits/Chicago Tribune
The owners of the now-shuttered West Suburban Medical Center faced off in court Friday over the hospital’s future, amid accusations of mismanagement and questionable fund transfers.
The hearing was over dueling lawsuits filed by the hospitals’ landlord and the company that operates the hospital, against one another, in Cook County Circuit Court. The lawsuits were filed after West Suburban abruptly closed in late March, with the owner of the hospital operating company citing problems with the billing system that had left the hospital severely short on cash.
The landlord Ramco is asking the court to appoint a receiver for the hospital, so a different operator can take over. The current operating company, Resilience Healthcare, is seeking to stop Ramco from trying to evict it. Both companies say they hope to reopen the hospital, and despite their lawsuits, the owners of the companies are business partners.
During the all-day hearing Friday, the owners of both companies took the stand to give their often starkly different views of events. A crowd of doctors, hospital employees and vendors who served West Suburban filled the courtroom.
original link to Chicago Tribune with paywall
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/08/west-suburban-hospital-lawsuits/
Investigations of Dr. Manoj Prasad after closing of West Suburban hospital and Weiss memorial hospital
Business records reviewed by the I-Team show Resilience Healthcare is the private parent company behind three health care operations: Weiss Memorial Hospital, which closed last summer, West Suburban Medical Center and the River Forest Medical Campus, which both closed on March 25
According to Patlola's lawsuit, filed on Wednesday with Cook County's Circuit Court and reviewed by the I-Team, Patlola argues all of the hospital facilities have closed due to "financial mismanagement and malfeasance of West Suburban's manager."
Manoj Prasad, who is Resilience Healthcare's majority owner and chief executive officer.
"Dr. Manoj Prasad made the unilateral decision to close (West Suburban Medical Center), with no viable plan to reopen," the lawsuit states.
One of the more striking revelations in the newly filed lawsuit centers around allegations of "misappropriating" a $10 million loan from the state of Illinois to Prasad that was meant "to alleviate the financial stress and continue hospital operations" at Weiss Memorial Hospital last year.
Prasad has blamed the hospital's billing system for lost revenue, but the company behind that billing system has strongly denied their platform is to blame.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/new-lawsuit-accuses-shuttered-oak-park-hospital-west-suburban-medical-center-ceo-financial-mismanagement/18943702/
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, Wildlife Law Change A Betrayal Of Public Trust
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2505/S00062/wildlife-law-change-a-deep-betrayal-of-public-trust.htmFrom May 8, 2025
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s use of urgency to rewrite the Wildlife Act–without consultation, without an impact statement, and in direct response to a court ruling in favour of protecting wildlife. “The Government is rushing legislation through Parliament to make it easier to kill kiwi and other precious wildlife," says Green Party co-leader and Conservation spokesperson, Marama Davidson.
“Our native taonga (native birds, plants and animals) should be treasured. They connect us to our whenua and whakapapa, and form a critical component of our national identity.
Whenua is both land and the nourishment of new life. Meaning is embedded pre-linguistically, in middens, stone circles, ancient dwellings, wells, holy trees, mountains, rivers, forests, burial chambers, carvings on rocks, rocks themselves, waterfalls, lakes, and secret groves. Among other places.
Whakapapa means all things are inter-related, therefore rights are not exclusively the domain of humans, but belong to all species, pieces of systems, like rivers and glens, giant lizards and leeches.
“This law change comes directly off the back of a court ruling that found it was unlawful for the Department of Conservation (DOC) to permit developers to kill protected species. “Rather than respecting that ruling, and learning from it, the Government is rewriting the Act to make that killing legal. It’s cynical, calculated, and utterly, utterly devastating.
“For the Minister of Conservation to say only days ago that nature is ‘part of our national identity, economy and way of life,’ then allow this legislation to bulldoze through the House is a disgrace. “You can’t claim to value our biodiversity while forcing through law changes to make it easier to destroy it. This isn’t about protecting biodiversity—it’s about protecting profit and feeding corporate greed. “When nature is only valued for its economic benefit, the outcome is inevitable: destruction. This Government has made it clear that when forced to choose between the interests of industry or the interests of the law, the public, and the environment, it will always choose the bulldozer.
“Our Green Budget will outline our bold vision for an Aotearoa that works with nature, not against it,” says Marama Davidson.
“The people have spoken” Marama Davidson’s full Treaty Principles Bill speech in the House last week
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIat4RhJPVJ/
A Kiwi
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/featured-creature-kiwi/
About God and evolution
I believe in both God and evolution. What sometimes gets me wondering, is why have evolution to get to humans? I mean why the millions of years of dinosaurs? Why the strange odd creatures like the platypus? On the one hand, I see God's affinity with humans, being able to contemplate him, but on the other hand, it seems evolution is a dynamic process that could go any which way, depending on the circumstances. So in my mind, it is not inevitable to have humans. Also I think Jesus coming to earth as God's son, also strengthens the argument that God meant for there to be humans. So these are some thoughts that come up in my mind. I have always been fascinated with wildlife and its divergent ways. It seems like maybe there is a law that a creature cannot be created whole cloth, that it has to come from an evolution from basic components of single cell up. So that God is the one to bring all the necessary components together to start the beginnings of life on earth. But was it inevitable to lead to humans?
The Hunter and the Goat, a moral fable
A very good moral fable about a hunter hunting a goat and his mystical experience.
It was a day in the present that became a day from the past and a path to the future. It was a hoop bending backwards and then forwards through time.
Once upon the present, there was a hunter on the trail of a she-goat, a bighorn sheep, a ewe. He was chasing the wild goat in some high hills, filled with rocks, in a big sky landscape in the undulating terrain of the state of Idaho.
http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/an-tpr-hunter-and-goat.html
Trump ramblings
I am the great and all powerful Trump. Hear me speak. I gather together all who would believe me and believe me there is no shortage of those who I can bring to my feet. I was born great and I get greater all the time. I have great hair and a great body. I don’t even exercise, that is for chumps. I have my hair done by a great hair stylist, she is the greatest. If it is hate groups who are my biggest supporters, then it is hate that I will peddle. I wouldn’t mind peddling dope, but my grandfathers would be against that. I like to continue the legacy of white supremacy for my family. And you can see that in my children, who stare at you with the cold hearts I raised them with. The wall I will build may take a century to build, but nevermind that, I will get it started, a small piece. Hey maybe I can get the Chinese to build it, they did such a great job with their own wall, a great wall. Maybe I can even sell pieces of the wall at the Trump Tower. Hey, I was great in the Apprentice wasn’t I. I couldn’t give a fig about charities, but I played the role well. Biggest show on TV. I don’t believe in charity. Survival of the fittest. How can you know who is meant to rise and who is meant to fall if not for the struggle, and leaving people behind to die in the dust.
I am the ruler of the world and don’t forget it. I could nuke North Korea if I wanted to and no one can stop me. No one gets in my way. Kelly won’t be around for long. I will give him the boot. No one stands between me and my audience. I don’t need anyone anyway, I am the president now. No one beats me. Make America Great Again, is Keep Me Great. I’m not scared of Mueller. So what if I have investments in Russian enterprise. Putin said there was no interference in the election and that is all I needed to hear. Besides it is all about winning, no matter what way it is done. Send all the black people back to Africa. Send the Mexicans back to Mexico. Close all the borders. Make America all White again. Make women kiss men’s feet. And if they start to look like Hags, dump them. I don’t know how long Melania’s looks will last, but she knows she better look hot or else. My wives and children know who is the master. Long live Trump, the best dictator in the World. As for the Republicans, they can kiss my lily white ass. I have never worked hard in my life and never read a book, and I never will. Golf is my occupation, my real love. I am good at tearing things down though, abortion rights, women’s rights, citizen right’s, all down the toilet under my reign. Flush them down my gold toilet and they should be thankful for my kiss goodbye.
Brown Bears, Katmai National Park, Alaska Webcam
https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls
The link works in Firefox, but it did not work in Internet Explorer.
Profile Information
Name: AnnGender: Female
Hometown: Berwyn, Illinois, near Chicago
Home country: US
Member since: Wed Mar 24, 2010, 10:49 PM
Number of posts: 5,704