United States federal agency
POPULARITY
Categories
Very soon after it was completed in 1842, the Bunker Hill monument started to be about a lot more than just the battle that took place on June 17, 1775. Research: "Battle of Bunker Hill." Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Britannica, 18 Nov. 2025. libraries.state.ma.us/login?eburl=https%3A%2F%2Flibrary.eb.com&ebtarget=%2Flevels%2Freferencecenter%2Farticle%2FBattle-of-Bunker-Hill%2F18086&ebboatid=9265928. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026. Markoe, Lauren. “Gun Owners take Aim at New Law.” The Patriot Ledger. Oct. 10 and 11 1998. National Park Service. “Peter Brown.” Last updated 2/26/2025. https://www.nps.gov/people/peter-brown.htm National Park Service. “Remembering Revolution: Bunker Hill Monument.” Last updated 1/2/2025. https://www.nps.gov/bost/remembering-revolution.htm#27EBF851-37AB-4F4E-AA50-9BEDD914F0CC Webster, Daniel. “Dedication Speech for the Unveiling of the Bunker Hill Monument.” 6/17/1843. Via American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/dedication-speech-unveiling-bunker-hill-monument National Park Service. “The Bunker Hill Monument Association: Expressing Gratitude and Patriotism.” Last updated 1/22/2024. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/bhma.htm National Park Service. “Bunker Hill Lodge.” Last updated 1/12/2026. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/bh-lodge.htm National Park Service. “King Solomon's Lodge.” Last updated 3/30/2023. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/bh-ksl.htm Warren, George Washington. “The history of the Bunker Hill monument association during the first century of the United States of America.” Bunker Hill Monument Association. https://archive.org/details/historyofbunkerh00warr/ The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire. “Caleb Stark.” https://www.socnh.org/caleb-stark/ Stebbins, G.B. “May Day – North and South.” The liberator. v.16:no.21(1846:May 22). Via Digital Commonwealth. https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:gb19h555q Mansfield, Howard. “Silent Witness.” Yankee. Mar/Apr2025, Vol. 89 Issue 2, p80-106. National Park Service. “Bunker Hill Monument Projection, 1998.” https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/bunker-hill-monument-projection-1998.htm Hay, John. “Broken Hearths: Melville's ‘Israel Potter’ and the Bunker Hill Monument.” The New England Quarterly , June 2016, Vol. 89, No. 2 (June 2016). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24718238 Purcell, Sarah J. “Commemoration, Public Art, and the Changing Meaning of the Bunker Hill Monument.” The Public Historian , Vol. 25, No. 2 (Spring 2003). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2003.25.2.55 Everett, Edward. “An oration delivered at Charlestown, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1850.” Boston. 1850. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822038214979 National Park Service. “Irish Claims to the Revolution.” 2/26/2025. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/irish-claims-to-the-revolution.htm “Unworthy of Concord: A Know-nothing Appeal.” Pilot, Volume 38, Number 18, 1 May 1875. https://newspapers.bc.edu/?a=d&d=pilot18750501-01.2.19&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------+%2C+4---------------- National Park Service. “Operation POW.” March 1, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/operation-pow.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Friday, June 26, 2026 Today, Trump launches fresh attacks against Iran but doesn't announce them until 30 minutes after the markets closed Friday; the Justice Department is now zero for ten in voter roll lawsuits as a federal court rejects Trump's attempt to get Pennsylvania data; the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to green-light its unprecedented immigration detention policy; the Buttigieg family was the subject of a vile home invasion; bible stories are installed in Texas public school curriculum; a federal judge says a man with the same name as Alaska senator Dan Sullivan is eligible to be on the primary ballot; tens of thousands march in the first Budapest Pride parade since Orban's ouster; the reflecting pool algae was caused by the administration removing nanobubblers for vanity reasons ahead of the Lincoln Memorial UFC weigh in; Mamdani's rent freeze has been approved by the New York City Board; the FEMA guy who claims he teleported to a Waffle House has been sacked; and naming your kid “Donald” has never been more unpopular; plus Allison delivers your Good News. Thank You, IQBAR Text DAILYBEANS to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Message and data rates may apply. Thank You, Fast Growing Trees Get 20% off your first purchase FastGrowingTrees.com/dailybeans Join The Daily Beans and give a gift today to ensure The Trevor Project can continue its crucial work in the face of continued challenges.Donate to The Trevor Project - Daily Beans Podcast The Latest Breakdown:A MAJOR Win for Independent Media Against Todd Blanche! StoriesU.S. launches additional Iran strikes as tensions flare up over Hormuz | NBC News Pennsylvania's voter rolls are safe from DOJ's grab, rules federal judge, bringing Justice Dept record to 0-10 | Democracy Docket Trump administration asks Supreme Court to OK its unprecedented immigration detention policy | POLITICO Pete Buttigieg Target of Vile Attack on His Young Family | The New Republic Bible stories are approved as required reading in Texas public schools | AP News Man with same name as US Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible for Alaska's primary ballot, judge rules | AP News Tens of thousands march in the first Budapest Pride since Viktor Orbán was voted out | PBS News How the Reflecting Pool Turned Green: Missing ‘Bubblers' and a Rush Job | The New York Times Mamdani's Rent Freeze Is Approved by New York City Board | NYT FEMA official who said he teleported to a Waffle House steps away from post | The Washington Post Naming Your Kid ‘Donald' Has Never Been So Unpopular | NOTUSGood TroubleHow to help those impacted by the Venezuela earthquakes | AP News Venezuela Earthquakes - Global Empowerment MissionVenezuela Earthquakes - COREDirect ReliefIFRC Disaster Response Emergency Fund →Oppose House Amendment to Defund the Peace Corps! →Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance - Open For Comments →Stand With Minnesota →ICE List →iceout.org Good NewsDogs Matter Facebook.com/dogsmatter2.org Paula Poundstone - YouTube Cali Cream Tour — DANA GOLDBERGTickets for Dana Goldberg: Outrageous - Sep 23 - Den Theater - Chicago →Share your Good News & Good Trouble - The Daily Beans →Beans Talk audio -beans-talk.simplecast.com →Email Dana LGBTQ Owned eating establishments in your area - hello@mswmedia.com Subject: “Dana's Project” Subscribe to the MSW YouTube Channel - MSW Media - YouTube Our Donation Links The Trevor Project - trevorproject.org/beans Blue Wave California - bluewavecalifornia.org/concert Donate to Public Citizen - https://citizen.org/beans/ The Daily Beans is donating $10,000 and invites you to give what you can to support their life-affirming work - Donate to It Gets Better / The Daily Beans Fundraiser Pathways to Citizenship link to MATCH Allison's Donationhttps://crm.bloomerang.co/HostedDonation?ApiKey=pub_86ff5236-dd26-11ec-b5ee-066e3d38bc77&WidgetId=6388736 Join Dana and The Daily Beans in support of Human Rights Campaign http://onecau.se/_ekes71 More Donation LinksNational Security Counselors - Donate, ActBlue.com/donate/msw-bwc, WhistleblowerAid.org/beans Dr. Allison Gill - The Breakdown | Allison Gill, Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com - Bluesky, MSW & The Daily Beans Podcast @muellershewrote - Instagram, MSW Media - YouTube →Federal workers - email AG at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. Dana Goldberg - Dana is on Patreon! At Dana's Dugout, @dgcomedy - Bluesky, @dgcomedy - IG, Dana Goldberg - Facebook, DanaGoldberg.com More from MSW Media - Shows - MSW Media, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, The Breakdown | Allison Gill Reminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:https://apple.co/3XNx7ckWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?https://patreon.com/thedailybeanshttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/https://apple.co/3UKzKt0 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
June 27, 2026The reflecting pool fiasco represents the Trump administration perfectly, The remodeling of the West Colonnade, which Trump said he had paid for, was in fact paid for by the taxpayers, Trump is redirecting taxpayer money from the National Park Service, The looting of our tax dollars is turning the resources of the country to the administration's own ends, People are paying with their lives, as research funds are being allocated for political reasons, and faith in science and experts is being destroyed, Hegseth is decimating the US Military, firing more than two dozen military leaders, The US and Iran are trading strikes again and Trump is making apocalyptic threats against the country, Mike Johnson promised “to take care of” a group of Trump supporters against a possible Republican loss in the midterms.Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe
In the United States over 300,000 children go missing every year. Also, the National Park Service manages over 4,700 underground caves. We investigate children going missing in National Parks, Crater Lake, Rocky Mountain, and Yellowstone. Each case has its own strange details, massive search efforts, and unanswered questions that continue to fuel speculationWatch the full episode on YouTube:▶ https://bit.ly/TheoriesOfTheThirdKindYTSupport the show + unlock bonus episodes:
Friday, June 26, 2026 Today, another federal judge has permanently blocked Trump's order restricting mail-in voting; the Supreme Court has stripped temporary protected status from 350,000 Haitians and Syrians, and blocks asylum seekers at the border; vendors have been told to begin dismantling the Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp; massive earthquakes rocked Venezuela, Japan, and California; the Pentagon restored flu vaccines after hundreds fell ill; Senate Republicans caved on yesterday's War Powers Resolution; US Park Police seek to identify a person who touched the water in the reflecting pool a week ago; Jamie Raskin will open a discharge petition to force a vote on the $1.8B Slush Fund; a judge wants answers on why the tarp hasn't been removed from the Kennedy Center facade; plus Allison delivers your Good News. Thank You, Smalls For a limited time, get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping and free treats for life, when you head to Smalls.com/DAILYBEANS Join The Daily Beans and give a gift today to ensure The Trevor Project can continue its crucial work in the face of continued challenges. Donate to The Trevor Project - Daily Beans Podcast Guest: John FugelsangTell Me Everything|John Fugelsang, The John Fugelsang Podcast, John Fugelsang|Substack, @johnfugelsang|Bluesky, @JohnFugelsang|TwitterSeparation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang The Latest Breakdown:The Breakdown | Trump And Trillionaires' Secret Plan To Destroy America StoriesVendors Told to Start Dismantling Florida's ‘Alligator Alcatraz' Detention Center | The New York Times Judge orders DOJ to produce, unredact sought after Epstein files | The Hill Supreme Court Allows Trump to Strip TPS, Turn Away Asylum Seekers Arriving at the Border in Pair of New Immigration Rulings | American Immigration Council Federal Judge Strikes Key Parts of Trump Order Restricting Mail Voting | The New York Times A federal judge wants answers on the tarp and scaffolding at the Kennedy Center | MS NOW Several Strong Quakes Hit Across the World in 24 Hours | The New York Times Pentagon restores mandatory flu shots for all recruits as boot camp outbreak sickens nearly 300 | AP News Reflecting Pool caulking cut with 'sharp knife or razor' in previously undisclosed incident, NPS says in court filing | ABC News Raskin launches discharge effort to formally block 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' | POLITICOGood TroubleMail-in voting is under attack. Here's what you can do - Democracy Docket Ballot Mail for Federal Elections - FederalRegister.gov →Oppose House Amendment to Defund the Peace Corps! →Comment on FR-6518-P-01 Equal Access in HUD Programs Revisions →Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance - Open For Comments →FieldTeam6.org →Standwithminnesota.com →Tell Congress Ice out Now | Indivisible, Defund ICE | 5Calls →ICE List →iceout.org Good News Tour — DANA GOLDBERGTickets for Dana Goldberg: Outrageous - Sep 23 - Den Theater - Chicago →Share your Good News & Good Trouble - The Daily Beans →Beans Talk audio -beans-talk.simplecast.com →Email Dana LGBTQ Owned eating establishments in your area - hello@mswmedia.com Subject: “Dana's Project” Subscribe to the MSW YouTube Channel - MSW Media - YouTube Our Donation Links The Trevor Project - trevorproject.org/beans Blue Wave California - bluewavecalifornia.org/concert Donate to Public Citizen - https://citizen.org/beans/ The Daily Beans is donating $10,000 and invites you to give what you can to support their life-affirming work - Donate to It Gets Better / The Daily Beans Fundraiser Pathways to Citizenship link to MATCH Allison's Donationhttps://crm.bloomerang.co/HostedDonation?ApiKey=pub_86ff5236-dd26-11ec-b5ee-066e3d38bc77&WidgetId=6388736 Join Dana and The Daily Beans in support of Human Rights Campaign http://onecau.se/_ekes71 More Donation LinksNational Security Counselors - Donate, ActBlue.com/donate/msw-bwc, WhistleblowerAid.org/beans Dr. Allison Gill - The Breakdown | Allison Gill, Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com - Bluesky, MSW & The Daily Beans Podcast @muellershewrote - Instagram, MSW Media - YouTube →Federal workers - email AG at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. Dana Goldberg - Dana is on Patreon! At Dana's Dugout, @dgcomedy - Bluesky, @dgcomedy - IG, Dana Goldberg - Facebook, DanaGoldberg.com More from MSW Media - Shows - MSW Media, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, The Breakdown | Allison Gill Reminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:https://apple.co/3XNx7ckWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?https://patreon.com/thedailybeanshttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/https://apple.co/3UKzKt0 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Socialists dominated the Democratic primaries in New York, which is a gift to the GOP nationwide. An off-duty Tacoma police officer arrested a driver that was intoxicated and naked. // SCOTUS delivered a few big wins for conservatives on immigration and gun rights. // The National Park Service says the reflecting pool was damaged. Jason has some travel gripes from his trip to New York.
The U.S. is celebrating 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, but some Native Americans in the Mount Rushmore state are turning their focus to a different anniversary, as South Dakota Searchlight's Meghan O'Brien reports. Ben Jones is South Dakota's state historian. He also chairs the state's America 250 commission. He wants it to be an inclusive celebration. “There was just a strong desire personally, and I think among all the members of the commission, that we include everybody and everybody who lives in South Dakota to be a part of this.” But as July 4 nears, Trina Lone Hill (Oglala Sioux) is not planning to celebrate. “For me personally, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is like a slap in the face.” Lone Hill is a former historic preservation officer for the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Now, she serves on its tribal council. The founding of the country meant lost land, language, and culture for Indigenous people. So Lone Hill's focus is on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the week before Independence Day. The conflict on June 25, 1876, was a major victory for the Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho, Lakota, and Dakota people. It happened during the United States' encroachment on their land, after the discovery of gold in the Black Hills. Lakota people know the conflict as the Battle of the Greasy Grass. Representatives of several tribes are working with the National Park Service to commemorate the anniversary at the battlefield in Montana. Lone Hill will be one of more than a dozen speakers at the three-day event. U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) holds a press conference on Monday, June 1, 2026, in Tucson., Ariz. The Indian Health Service (IHS) is preparing to close one of its three locations in Arizona. The agency says this is part of a plan to modernize operations and improve health outcomes. As KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, state Democrats are raising alarm. More than 28,000 patients depend on the Tucson, Ariz. area office, especially members from the Tohono O'odham Nation and Pascua Yaqui Tribe. It mostly handles administrative work, but is expected to merge with the IHS Phoenix office. That location is already responsible for 180,000 patients in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. “Consolidating one to another, you're going to have a disruption of service. Any cut is going to cause a delay.” State Rep. Brian Garcia (Pascua Yaqui/D-AZ) is concerned. So too is State Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales (Pascua Yaqui/D-AZ), who also chairs the Indigenous Peoples Caucus. “I've never been to that clinic, but I know that some of our members do, and I used to represent Tohono O'odham and it's in their San Javier District, so it's disheartening to learn of its closure.” Arizona state Democrats sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy earlier this month, urging him to halt the looming closure. The agency did not comment on the letter. Mark Cruz testified Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee. The nominee to lead the IHS appeared before a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday. Mark Cruz (Klamath Tribes) answered questions from lawmakers on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee during his confirmation hearing to become the next IHS director. Cruz currently serves as senior advisor for Native Affairs at HHS. He told senators he would focus on strengthening tribal consultation, improving health care access, and addressing workforce shortages across Indian Country if confirmed. His nomination now moves forward in the Senate confirmation process. IHS provides care to about 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Thursday, June 25, 2026 — First Nations challenge Alberta's separation drive
Photo: A panoramic view of Monument Valley. (Gabriel Pietrorazio) The nation's 575 federally recognized tribes are now eligible for conservation grants from the National Park Service. And as KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a new digital tool is designed to help them navigate the bureaucracy. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been around since 1964. “It receives about $900 million each year from offshore oil and gas royalties – not taxpayer dollars – to support conservation and outdoor recreation nationwide. And yet, I had never heard of the program.” Starlyn Rose Miller is from the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe of Montana. She is with the nonprofit Wilderness Society, which launched the new online hub. “Tribal governments are so busy. We thought if we could put a hub up designed in partnership with Indigenous-led orgs, agencies, nonprofits, that it could be helpful.” The fund has aided more than 47,000 projects in nearly every county nationwide. Bethel siblings Vjosa Pellumbi, left, and Drini Pellumbi pose after winning the top prize at the UAF College of Business and Security Management’s Arctic Innovation Competition held at the 8 Star Events Center in Fairbanks on April 18, 2026. (Photo: Sarah Lewis / UAF) High energy costs are a fact of life in remote, rural Alaska with few easy answers. A brother and sister team from Bethel, Alaska recently won top honors at an innovation competition hosted from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. As KYUK's Evan Erickson reports, they are committed to being part of the solution. Fraternal twins Drini and Vjosa Pellumbi have more in common than the same birthday. So far, their education and career paths have followed side by side. The brother and sister graduated from high school with college credit gained through the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) and are currently studying mechanical engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The Pellumbi twins are busy advancing a prototype of a device that attaches to home boilers and aims to reduce heating costs in cold-weather climates. Drini Pellumbi says their device essentially takes heat that would have been wasted by the boiler and just repurposes it to heat incoming water. Their Arctic Heat Recovery System design earned the top prize and $21,000 at the Alaska Innovation Competition hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The same day, Vjosa Pellumbi said the pair celebrated their 20th birthday. “It was such a whirlwind of emotions, because during the finals of that competition, we still had finals for our semester course, and you know we’re taking rigorous engineering courses, so stresses were high. It was just, it was a lot of good news that day.” This summer, the Pellumbis are both in Washington, D.C., interning with a wildlife conservation nonprofit. In their off-hours, they are plugging away at their prototype. Drini says the heat recovery concept is nothing new, but that it's so far been focused on large-scale commercial applications. “On my table right in front of me we have a couple thermocouples and sensors. We’re in two separate apartments, but we take turns, whose room carries all the junk. I guess a lot of people just don’t see a profit margin in developing it for Alaskan citizens, like residents, to use. We’re not really in it for the profit, we’re in it because it’s clean, it saves oil, it saves money, it saves pollutants from entering the atmosphere. Hopefully it’ll be good all around.” Friends and family in Bethel – where fuel prices have recently spiked due to the war in Iran – are eager to be the first to test the device. The Pellumbis say it has the potential to save homeowners thousands of dollars per year. They say the money they earned at this year's Arctic Innovation Competition is going directly into making the heat recovery system a reality. The second-generation Albanian-Americans credit their mother for pushing them to apply together for the competition. Vjosa says the parallel paths her and her brother have taken come down to family ties. “Within Albanian culture, one of the core values is being very family-oriented. So I guess that’s always been why we’ve gravitated towards doing the same things, because we've always been close.” Both say they could end up specializing in different engineering fields down the road. But for now, they say they're enjoying being a team as long as they can. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Tuesday, June 23, 2026 — Descendants reflect on Greasy Grass anniversary
An appeals court has sided with the Trump administration in a dispute over a slavery exhibit at Philadelphia's President's House site. The ruling overturns a previous decision that ordered the National Park Service to restore panels removed from the memorial honoring people enslaved by President George Washington. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed with the latest news from a leading Black-owned & controlled media company: https://aurn.com/newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Across the United States, from Alaska to Puerto Rico, there are about 112 million acres of officially designated wilderness. That amounts to about 5 percent of the country's land mass. It might appear to be even smaller when you consider that more than half of those 112 million acres protected as wilderness are in Alaska. To say that wilderness is at risk from the human imprint isn't hyperbole. While there are millions of acres of proposed, recommended, and potential wilderness across the country, Congress acts extremely slowly on these matters. Indeed, it was back in 1989 when America's Red Rock Wilderness Act was first proposed in Congress to protect 8 million acres in Utah as official wilderness. The clock continues to tick on that proposal. Without official designation as wilderness, lands can be impacted by motorized and mechanized activities, from logging and mining and energy development to off-road-vehicle recreation. But the threats to both unofficial and official wilderness might be growing, as the Trump administration has called for a review of wilderness management on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and even the National Park Service. To explore what's at stake with wilderness in America under these proposals, we have Kevin Proescholdt, the conservation director for Wilderness Watch, a nonprofit advocacy organization, and Bob Krumenaker, chairman of Keep Big Bend Wild, a nonprofit advocating for official wilderness designation in Big Bend National Park and a long-time National Park Service manager joining us today. Public comment on the Interior secretary's directives is being taken through mid-August. Here are links to the public comment pages: BLM https://www.regulations.gov/document/BLM-2026-0034-0001 https://www.regulations.gov/docket/BLM-2026-0068 https://www.regulations.gov/docket/BLM-2026-0069 https://www.regulations.gov/docket/BLM-2026-0067 NPS regulations.gov - NPS 2026-0101 regulations.gov - NPS 2026-0100 FWS Wilderness Administration and Resource Stewardship; Managing Climbing Activities in Wilderness https://www.regulations.gov/document/FWS-HQ-NWRS-2026-1618-0001
For nearly a century the National Park Service would tell you all about the civil war battles and tactics, but meticulously avoided the most explosive word in the American lexicon: Slavery. Former National Park Service Chief Historian Dwight Picaithley says that all changed in 1998, triggering thousands of protest letters and political threats. Later in the show: At the start of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass wrote and spoke harshly about Abraham Lincoln for not moving more quickly on emancipation. But in his new book Jonathan White reveals how Douglass came to become one of Lincoln's greatest admirers. Plus: In A Wonderful Career in Crime, Frank Garmon tells the story of the only criminal to have been pardoned by two of the most prominent political foes of the day, President Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate states.
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore Black history exhibits and other historical content removed from national parks. The ruling cites exhibits related to slavery, civil rights, Indigenous communities and climate science and gives the administration 21 days to comply. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed with the latest news from a leading Black-owned & controlled media company: https://aurn.com/newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
More employees at the National Park Service have voted to unionize. About 650 employees in the agency's Intermountain Region will now be represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. That's following a vote of 317-11 in favor of the new bargaining unit. The National Park employees oversee 87 different parks across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and Montana. Many work as park rangers, scientists and administrative staff.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Though almost driven to extinction in the 1800s, this massive bovine has made a comeback – thanks in part to the popularity of its rich meat. Anney and Lauren herd together the history and science behind American bison.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Pierre Thomas has the latest on the chilling plot to target the UFC event that drew thousands to the White House South Lawn in celebration of Trump's 80th birthday, the FBI and Secret Service said, allegedly involving explosive drones and snipers meant to shoot politicians and wealthy people; Kayna Whitworth has details on the two college students who were swept off a California beach near Santa Cruz on the heels of more than 500 people being rescued in Newport Beach amid dangerous conditions; Mary Bruce has details on the National Park Service's efforts to clean algae that's turning the newly repainted Reflecting Pool green – one of several multi-million dollar Trump renovation projects being paid for by taxpayers; and more on tonight's broadcast of World News Tonight with David Muir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alaska is a land brimming with natural resources, including gold, silver, copper, coal, oil, salmon, and crab. Still, too often, outsiders have plundered these resources, enriching themselves and leaving Alaska and Alaskans with little to show for it. Alaska has had a “boom and bust” economy since the early 1900s, and no place exemplifies this economy better than Valdez. The aggressive Alaska Syndicate was formed in 1906 with backing from J.P. Morgan and the Guggenheim family, and its initial goal was to mine copper. However, soon the syndicate wanted all Alaska had to offer, including gold, coal, and salmon. It also fought to control rail and sea transportation in Alaska, and with powerful government connections and unlimited funds, it mostly got what it wanted. It needed a railroad to transport copper from its remote Kennecott mines to the ocean, then steamships to ferry it to southern ports. The syndicate chose to construct rail tracks from Kennecott to Cordova, and when rival builders began constructing a railroad from Valdez to Alaska's interior, a violent confrontation erupted, culminating in a shootout in Keystone Canyon. Sources Bill, Laurel Downing. “Crime syndicate and the Keystone Canyon affair.” September 1, 2021. Senior Voice. “Copper River and Northwestern.” National Park Service. “History of Kennicott.” Silk Stocking Row. “History of Valdez.” Valdez Museum. “Kennicott Mine & ghost tour walking points.” Alaska.org. “Keystone Canyon Railroad Tunnel.” Valdezalaska.org. Roan, A.J. “Alaskan copper mine, once giant of America.” January 20, 2022. Mining News. Tower, Elizabeth A. Icebound Empire. 2015. Louisville, Kentucky. Old Stone Press. ______________ Coming Soon Join the Last Frontier Club’s Free Tier and receive updates, bonus episodes, and more. ______ Robin Barefield lives in the wilderness on Kodiak Island, where she and her husband own a remote lodge. She has a master's degree in fish and wildlife biology and is a wildlife-viewing and fishing guide. Robin has published six novels: Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman's Daughter, Karluk Bones, Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge, and The Ultimate Hunt. She has also published two non-fiction books: Kodiak Island Wildlife and Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. She draws on her love and appreciation of the Alaska wilderness as well as her scientific background when writing. Subscribe to Robin’s free, monthly Murder and Mystery Newsletter for more stories about true crime and mystery from Alaska. Join her on: Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Visit her website at http://robinbarefield.com Check out her books at Amazon Send me an email: robinbarefield76@gmail.com ___________________________________________ Would you like to support Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier? Become a patron and join The Last Frontier Club. Each month, Robin will provide one or more of the following to club members. · An extra episode of Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier is available only for club members. Behind-the-scenes glimpses of life and wildlife in the Kodiak wilderness. · Breaking news about ongoing murder cases and new crimes in Alaska _______________________________________________________________ Merchandise! Visit the Store
America’s Time Capsule was developed in collaboration with scientists at NIST, preservation experts at the Library of Congress, and in coordination with the National Park Service. It was built at NIST’s technology fabrication shop in Gaithersburg, Md. Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
America’s Time Capsule was developed in collaboration with scientists at NIST, preservation experts at the Library of Congress, and in coordination with the National Park Service. It was built at NIST’s technology fabrication shop in Gaithersburg, Md. Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome back to the Outdoor Adventure Series! In this episode, Howard sits down with Melissa Pierick, Director of Marketing and Community Relations for the Ice Age Trail Alliance. Melissa shares her personal journey of discovering the Ice Age National Scenic Trail—an incredible 1,200-mile adventure that winds through Wisconsin, right past the state capital of Madison. Melissa offers insight into the trail's all-season appeal, the vibrant community of “thousand milers,” and the surprising beauty waiting around every corner. We'll also learn about the Alliance's dedicated volunteers, the communities supporting the trail, and how you can get involved— Plus, we'll get a sneak peek at upcoming events, including a unique, behind-the-scenes opportunity for attendees of the OWAA's annual conference in Madison this August to explore future trail segments and enjoy Wisconsin's unrivaled hospitality. Get ready to be inspired to get outside and start your own adventure on the Ice Age Trail!DISCUSSIONIntroduction and WelcomeIntroduction of Melissa Pierick, her role, and a fun fact about Madison 00:34, 00:49Melissa Background and Trail DiscoveryHoward asks about her connection to the Madison area and the Ice Age Trail 01:01Melissa describes living in Wisconsin and not discovering the trail until 2019 01:16Reflections on discovering new places through the trail 03:49, 04:49Ice Age Trail Details and "Thousand Miler" JourneyThe 1200-mile span of the trail 05:36"Thousand miler" achievement and culture 06:00Contrast with thru-hiking culture on other trails 06:06Trail as an All-Season ExperienceDiscussion about hiking in various seasons 07:55Community Involvement and Support Along the TrailLocal community engagement 09:10Overview of the Ice Age Trail's passage through over 130 communities 10:09Description of official Ice Age Trail communities and their partnership with the Alliance 10:43Local business involvement and hospitality 11:15Trail Use and Permitted ActivitiesPermitted trail activities beyond hiking 12:50Trail is designated as a footpath (hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, running, backpacking, walking) 13:08Exceptions for biking on certain segments (urban paths, rails-to-trails) 13:27Rules for “thousand miler” qualification (must be on foot) 13:46Trail Geography and Hiker DemographicsMap overview and curiosity about hiker origins 14:14Explanation of trail route across Wisconsin and locations connected 14:31Hiker demographics: Wisconsin, nearby states (Illinois, Minnesota), international visitors 14:51, 15:29Trail History and Organizational StructureNational Scenic Trail designation in 1980 16:37Historical background: conservationist origins, failed national park effort, scientific reserve units 16:52Organization of the alliance, dating back to the 1950s 18:27Volunteerism on the Ice Age TrailVolunteer numbers (around 2,000 annually) 19:12Wide range of volunteer activities 20:15Website Tour and Online ResourcesGuided walk-through of the Alliance website 23:24Highlights of the interactive trail map and how it's updated 24:21Explanation of key map features 25:37Exploration of specific trail features (Devil's Lake, ferry crossing, local ice cream shops) 28:43Elevation range and features 29:562Upcoming OWAA Conference and Post-TourDetails about the August OWAA conference in Madison 38:17Description of the post-conference tour with the Ice Age Trail Alliance 34:36Reflections on Meaningful Work and Community Impact“aha moments” and meaningful experiences 39:06Melissa discusses gratitude, the supportive hiker community, and the fulfilling impact of her work 39:21"Obituary Builder" InsightMeaningful, memorable life activities over career achievements 43:00LEARN MOREWebsite: To learn more about the Ice Age Trail Alliance, visit their website at https://IceAgeTrail.org or their social sites:Facebook 1: https://www.facebook.com/iceagetrail Facebook 2: https://www.facebook.com/groups/525543867532782/ Instagram: http://instagram/iceagetrailorgDestination Madison: https://www.visitmadison.com/NEXT STEPSVisit us at https://outdooradventureseries.com to like, comment, and share our episodes.KEYWORDSIce Age Trail Alliance, Ice Age Trail, Thousand Miler, Monty the Mammoth, Destination Madison, Madison Wisconsin, National Scenic Trail, National Park Service, Outdoor Adventure Series, Podcast Interview, OWAA#IceAgeTrailAlliance #IceAgeTrail #ThousandMiler #MontytheMammoth #DestinationMadison #MadisonWisconsin #NationalScenicTrail #NationalParkService #OutdoorAdventureSeries #PodcastInterview #OWAA #OWAA2026My Favorite Podcast Tools: Production by DescriptHosting BuzzsproutShow Notes by CastmagicWebsite powered by PodpageBe a Podcast Guest by PodMatchBanner Customization by Nano Banana & Canva
The parents of National Park Service ranger Robin Pendery say their daughter was equal parts scholar and adventurer — a “world class climber” — whose curiosity and drive showed up early, long before she joined Denali National Park & Preserve’s mountaineering staff. Congressional candidate Bill Hill, an independent from Naknek challenging first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich for Alaska’s lone congressional seat, won’t say if he’ll caucus with Democrats or Republicans if elected. An emotional day played out in an Anchorage courtroom Tuesday as jury members were presented with dozens of crime scene photos from a 2023 homicide case involving a U.S. Army man accused of killing his wife.
Pulaski is often built up into an almost mythic figure who represents patriotism, bravery, freedom, independence, and the U.S. as a melting pot. a nation of immigrants. But there’s also a very different version of his story. Research: “Benjamin Franklin to George Washington, 29 May 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-24-02-0072. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 24, May 1 through September 30, 1777, ed. William B. Willcox. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984, p. 98.] https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-24-02-0072 “General Count Casimir Pulaski: ‘The Father of the American Cavalry’: First Commander of Washington’s Cavalry; Commander of the Independent ‘Pulaski’s Legion.’” The American Catholic Historical Researches , JANUARY, 1910, New Series, Vol. 6, No. 1 (JANUARY, 1910). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44374799 American Battlefield Trust. “Casimir Pulaski.” https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/casimir-pulaski Britannica Editors. "Confederation of Bar". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Sep. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Confederation-of-Bar. Accessed 20 May 2026. Britannica Editors. "Confederation of Bar". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Sep. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Confederation-of-Bar. Accessed 21 May 2026. Britannica Editors. "Kazimierz Pułaski". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Mar. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kazimierz-Pulaski. Accessed 20 May 2026. Britannica Editors. "Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Dec. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/place/Polish-Lithuanian-Commonwealth. Accessed 21 May 2026. Britannica Editors. "Stanisław II August Poniatowski". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Feb. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stanislaw-II-August-Poniatowski. Accessed 21 May 2026. Byczkiewicz, Romuald K. “For Your Freedom and Ours: Casimir Pulaski, 1745-1779.” Sarmatian Review(Vol. 26, Issue 1). George Washington’s Mount Vernon. “Casimir Pulaski.” https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/casimir-pulaski Georgia Southern University. “Georgia Southern researchers solve Casimir Pulaski mysteries, subject of Smithsonian Channel’s ‘America’s Hidden Stories: The General Was Female?’” 3/28/2019. https://www.georgiasouthern.edu/2019/03/28/georgia-southern-researchers-solve-casimir-pulaski-mysteries-subject-of-smithsonian-channels-americas-hidden-stories-the-general-was-female-free-screening-on-arm Hautzinger, Daniel. “Who Was Casimir Pulaski, the Polish Revolutionary War Hero Honored with a Holiday and Street in Chicago?” WTTW. 11/17/2025. https://www.wttw.com/playlist/2025/11/17/casimir-pulaski-revolutionary-war Jones, Charles C. Jr. “Casimir Pulaski: An Address Before the Georgia Historical Society.” 1/13/1871. Savannah. 1873. https://polona.pl/item-view/8e95b726-b73c-4a27-9070-d7750b57cc4f Jones, Charles Colcock. “Sepulture of Major General Nathanael Greene : and of Brig. Gen. Count Casimir Pulaski.” Augusta, Ga, 1855. https://archive.org/details/sepultureofmajor00jonerich/ Kajencki, Francis C. “Casimir Pulaski, Cavalry Commander of the American Revolution.” Southwest Polonia Press. 2002. Kajencki, Francis C. “The Pulaski Legion in the American Revolution.” Southwest Polonia Press. 2004. Makarewicz , Stanislaw. “The Four Birth Records of Kazimierz Pulaski.” https://www.poles.org/birth.html Manning, Clarence A. “Casimir Pulaski, a Soldier of Liberty.” Bulletin of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, January, 1944,Vol. 2, No. 2 (January, 1944). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24725053 Moyer, Del-Louise. “Rebecca Langley and the Pulaski Banner.” Pennsylvania German Blog. 11/22/2015. https://alyssumarts.com/2015/11/22/rebecca-langley-and-the-pulaski-banner/ National Archives. “Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 8205, for Eleazer Phillips, South Carolina.” NAID: 196395780. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/196395780? National Park Service. “Casimir Pulaski Memorial.” https://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/pulaski.htm National Park Service. “Casimir Pulaski.” Fort Pulaski National Monument. https://www.nps.gov/people/casimir-pulaski.htm Pienkos, Angela. “Bicentennial Look at Casimir Pulaski: Polish, American and Ethnic Folk Hero.” Polish American Studies , Spring, 1976, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring, 1976). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20147942 Pinkowski, Jack. “Mysteries Surrounding Casimir Pulaski.” "Bialy Orzel," April 18, 2008, p. 26-27. https://www.poles.org/L_Kaz/E_Kaz.html Pula, James S. “Pułaski at Savannah: A Journey through Fact and Fiction.” The Polish Review, Vol. 67, No. 4 (2022), pp. 5-33 (29 pages). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48805968 Pula, James S. “Whose Bones Are Those?: The Casimir Pulaski Burial Controversy.” The Georgia Historical Quarterly , 2016, Vol. 100, No. 1 (2016). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43855885 Somers, Jennifer. “Who was Casimir Pulaski? Why does Illinois celebrate him?” KSDK. 3/6/2023. https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/history/casimir-pulaski-day-illinois-meaning-first-monday-in-march/63-2698e93d-1c82-4e42-ac52-4ab47903ccde Spencer, Richard Henry. “Pulaski's Legion.” Maryland Historical Magazine. September 1918. Ungvarsky, Janine. “Casimir Pulaski.” Ebsco. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/military-history-and-science/casimir-pulaski United States Senate. “Ex. Doc. No. 120: Reports of the Secretaries of State, War, an d the Treasury, respecting the services of Count Pulaski.” Wickham, Jonathan, director. “The General was Female?” Smithsonian Channel - America's Hidden Stories. 4/8/2019. Williams, Henry. “An address delivered on laying the corner stone of a monument to Pulaski, in the city of Savannah.” Commissioners of the Monument Fund. 1855. https://archive.org/details/addressdelivered00geor/ Wizevich, Eli. “Discover the Short Life and Long Legacy of Casimir Pulaski, a Polish Cavalry Officer Who Became an American Revolutionary Hero.” Smithsonian. 3/6/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/discover-the-short-life-and-long-legacy-of-casimir-pulaski-a-polish-cavalry-officer-who-became-an-american-revolutionary-hero-180986162/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
President Trump's newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is green again. Algae has taken over after taxpayers spent $14 million on upgrades. The National Park Service says leftover algae hiding in the pipes is to blame. Maybe. But when Trump is involved, it's fair to ask questions. Could anti-Trump bureaucrats inside the system have ignored the problem knowing full well it would embarrass the President and tarnish a project carrying his name? Or maybe leftist saboteurs contaminated the pool with algae. The mainstream media went into full meltdown mode after I simply asked the questions. Their reaction tells you everything. Today, we break down the media's obsession with protecting the bureaucracy while attacking anyone who dares question the official narrative. Plus, UFC 250 at the White House and President Trump's announcement of an agreement with Iran has the left in another fit of rage. It doesn't matter whether it's sports, diplomacy, economic wins, or restoring American pride. If Trump is involved, Democrats and their media allies oppose it on emotional irrationality. Their hatred of Trump has become stronger than their love of country. Sponsors The Maverick System — https://TheMaverickSystem.com VRA Insider — https://VRAInsider.com Patriot Mobile — https://www.PatriotMobile.com/Grant TWC Health — https://Twc.Health/Grant (Use code Grant for 10% off) Lost Soldier Oil & Gas — https://www.LostSoldier.com Sugarfina — https://invest.sugarfina.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the summer of 2024, Yosemite dispatchers became increasingly concerned about a man making repeated harassing calls to the park's 911 center. What started as an investigation into nuisance phone calls and an illegal campsite hidden near a trailhead would quickly escalate into threats, violence, and an assault on a National Park Service ranger.Source:United States District Court; Eastern District of California; Case no. 1:24-mj-00085-EPGSupport the show!For bonus content join our Patreon!patreon.com/CrimeOfftheGridFor a one time donation:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cotgFor more information about the podcast, check outhttps://crimeoffthegrid.com/Check out our Merch!! https://in-wild-places.square.site/s/shopFollow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crimeoffthegridpodcast/ and (1) Facebook
In this week's public lands news briefing, we covered four stories:- Mike Lee pushes the latest effort to repeal the Roadless Rule, a landmark conservation policy protecting 58 million acres of national forest land.- Department of Homeland Security waived dozens of environmental laws to accelerate construction through the Big Bend Region for an updated border wall. - Ed Stierli from the National Parks Conservation Association joins us to discuss growing concerns over National Park Service funding priorities and controversial projects moving forward on the National Mall.- RideApart Editor-in-Chief Jonathon Klein helps unpack President Trump's decision to rescind decades-old off-road vehicle directives and what the change could mean for conflicts over public land and recreation access.REMINDER: Starting June 1st, we will no longer release episodes on Fridays. Our next public lands news briefing will be released on June 22nd.Subscribe to the Outdoor Minimalist newsletter: https://www.theoutdoorminimalist.com/Sources & ResourcesNPCA Website: https://www.npca.org/Big Bend Border Wall: https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-administration-waives-environmental-laws-to-blast-border-barriers-roads-through-big-bend-national-park-2026-06-08/June 10th Senate Committee Meeting: https://www.energy.senate.gov/hearings/2026/6/business-meeting-to-consider-pending-legislationNew York Times Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/climate/park-service-fees-washington-trump.htmlRideApart: https://www.rideapart.com/info/team/jonathon-klein/ORV Executive Order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/removing-unnecessary-and-counterproductive-restrictions-on-access-to-federal-lands/
Welcome to summer, Wildlings! Hit the waves with Nichole as she guides you through the ups and downs of her rafting adventure on the Colorado River in Cataract Canyon! Get nostalgic for the past school year as we listen back to the best moments created by our Penpal by Podcast student podcast groups all the way from Crow Agency, MT, to Brooklyn, New York! Evan elucidates the lore behind La Lechuza in Cryptid Corner - it's a real hoot! Haadiyah from South Africa interviews her grandma, Hunter from California reflects on his favorite sound, and back home on the range (in the studio), there's a funny little Animal Call to be identified!Not to mention some hilarious jokes and one doozy of a riddle. So grab a snack, tell a friend, stay curious and, as always: keep it WILD!!!Parents: visit our website to help your kids contribute jokes or favorite sounds, or to send us a message.Timestamps for this episode are available below.00:00 - Episode 21 Intro01:20 - Cataract Canyon09:26 - Animal Call10:39 - Joke Time!11:29 - Penpal by Podcast20:04 - Riddle Clue20:26 - Animal Call Reprise21:23 - Cryptid Corner: La Lechuza24:34 - Favorite Sound25:17 - Call for Submissions!25:44 - Animal Call Reveal28:00 - Grandparent Stories: Haadiyah's Grandma33:15 - Riddle Answer33:56 - Preview of Episode 2234:25 - Credits + Call for Reviews + Word of Mouth!34:56 - BloopersArchival audio in Animal Call:Rice, Jeff. Audio file copyright 2010, the Western Soundscape Archive at the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library, http://westernsoundscape.org & Public Domain recordings from the National Park Service. Musical segments performed by Daca (Henry Payne Reeves) include "I'm Ridin' Old Paint" and "Old Chisholm Trail", from the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.Archival audio in Cryptid Corner: Snippets from "El Pajaro Gigante de Robe" by Los Campeones de Raul Ruiz, published by Freddie Records, & "El Tecolotito" as performed by Ricardo Archuleta, from the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.Archival audio in Grandparent Stories:Snippets of “Mannenberg” by Abdullah Ibrahim, 1974.wildinterest.com
This Day in Legal History: Magna Carta Sealed at RunnymedeOn this day in 1215, in a meadow at Runnymede on the south bank of the Thames, King John of England affixed his seal to a document the rebellious English barons had drafted, in which the king conceded a series of limits on his own royal authority. We call it Magna Carta — the Great Charter. The immediate political context was a baronial revolt against John's tax exactions for his disastrous French wars, and most of the sixty-three chapters as drafted in 1215 are concerned with the highly specific grievances of a feudal aristocracy: scutage, wardship, the inheritance fees of widows, the freedom of the church, the standardization of weights and measures in the king's markets. The two chapters that the centuries have remembered are 39 and 40. Chapter 39 says that no free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. Chapter 40 says that to no one will the king sell, deny, or delay right or justice. The Charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III within ten weeks of sealing — the pope held that John, as a vassal of the Holy See, could not be bound by a treaty extracted under duress — and the country immediately collapsed into the First Barons' War. But John died in October 1216, his nine-year-old son Henry III's regents reissued the Charter as a tactical concession the next month, it was reissued again in 1217 and 1225, and by the late thirteenth century the 1225 version had been confirmed by successive kings as a foundational statute of the realm. Edward Coke, writing in the seventeenth century, transformed Chapter 39's “law of the land” into the doctrine of due process, and the founding generation of the American Republic picked up Coke's reading and wrote it directly into the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. The phrase “due process of law” in those amendments is the most consequential American inheritance from the Runnymede document. The principle the barons were trying to extract from a beleaguered king — that the law constrains the sovereign too — is the substrate on which everything we recognize as constitutionalism is built. Eight hundred and eleven years on, the principle is still the work.The Rhode Island travel-ban lawsuit we covered on June 8 took a sharp turn on Friday. Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., of the District of Rhode Island held a status conference in Dorcas International Institute v. USCIS at which he was openly frustrated with the Justice Department for failing to immediately implement his June 5 vacatur of the four USCIS benefit-freeze policies for nationals of the thirty-nine travel-ban countries. The judge's message, in plain terms, was that vacatur under the Administrative Procedure Act is self-executing — the moment the order was entered, the policies ceased to exist, and the agency was obligated to resume processing affirmative benefits, asylum claims, and adjudicator-instruction reviews on the prior pre-freeze basis. The Trump administration, after the hearing, told the court it would comply, restart adjudications, and clear the backlog. It also did what defendants typically do when they have lost on the merits and lost again on compliance: it filed a notice of appeal with the First Circuit and asked the appellate court to stay the vacatur pending appeal. That is the live question now. The First Circuit's stay analysis runs through the standard Nken v. Holder factors — likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, the balance of equities, and the public interest — and the administration's strongest argument on each is going to be familiar: the executive needs administrative breathing room to implement a travel ban, mass restoration of adjudications creates national-security risk, the harm to applicants is reversible if their adjudications are paused for a few more weeks. The plaintiffs' strongest counterarguments are also familiar: the policies were unlawful when adopted and the agency had no business adopting them, the harm to applicants from continued delay is concrete and accruing daily, and the First Circuit is not in the business of staying vacaturs of unlawful agency action in order to let the agency continue acting unlawfully. Watch the First Circuit's calendar this week. The stay motion is the next inflection point.Trump officials agree to resume asylum processing after being scolded by judge | The Washington PostGoogle filed suit on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against a China-based cybercrime network it calls the “Outsider Enterprise,” alleging that the network's members used Google's Gemini large-language model to generate the code, copy, and templates for a phishing-as-a-service platform that has built more than nine thousand fraudulent websites and sent two and a half million scam text messages in the two weeks ending June 1 alone. The complaint is significant for two reasons. First, it is, to Google's knowledge, the first time the company has affirmatively sued threat actors for using its own generative-AI product as the input to a scaled criminal operation, as distinct from the more usual posture of suing scammers who impersonate Google brands. The legal theories are a mix of Lanham Act false-designation-of-origin and trademark-infringement counts, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act counts based on Outsider's unauthorized access to Google services, breach-of-contract counts on the Gemini terms of service, and a RICO count. Second, the factual record will be a road map for the next decade of AI-misuse litigation. The complaint describes Telegram channels in which Outsider members trade prompts that get Gemini to write phishing code, a library of two hundred and ninety prebuilt templates impersonating brands ranging from the U.S. Postal Service to state DMVs to E-ZPass, and an FBI estimate that the broader campaign Outsider participates in has stolen roughly 3.87 million card numbers and caused $1.9 billion in losses since July 2023. The remedy Google is seeking is a permanent injunction shutting the operation down, plus domain seizures and account terminations across Google's services and at major U.S. carriers, which Google says it has been coordinating with the FBI, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. The deeper legal question the case may end up clarifying is whether and to what extent platforms can use private civil suits as the front-line enforcement mechanism against AI-augmented criminal activity that the public criminal-justice system has had trouble keeping up with.Google sues Chinese cybercrime ring that weaponized Gemini AI for phishing scams | TechCrunchA federal district judge in Washington on Friday issued a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from continuing to implement Executive Order 14253, the order under which the National Park Service had been scrubbing exhibits, signage, and online materials at sites administered by the Department of the Interior. The judge gave the administration three weeks to restore the materials it had already removed. The order at issue, signed in March, directed federal cultural agencies to identify and remove content that, in the executive's view, reflected “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology” or “partisan” framing. In the months that followed, the National Park Service had taken down or altered displays addressing slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War, climate change, and the histories of Native American dispossession at sites including the Stonewall National Monument, Independence Hall, and the Manzanar National Historic Site. The case is American Historical Association v. Department of the Interior, brought by historians' professional associations and a coalition of plaintiffs that includes affected park employees and visitor-experience contractors. The legal theory pleaded was multi-strand: First Amendment viewpoint discrimination as applied to government speech that has taken on a public-forum character, Administrative Procedure Act challenges on the ground that the agency failed to provide a reasoned basis for the removals and failed to consider statutory commands under the Organic Act of 1916, and a Federal Records Act challenge to the destruction of materials that constituted federal records. The judge held that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the First Amendment claim and the APA claim, found irreparable harm in the ongoing loss of public access to the underlying historical materials, and found that the public interest was best served by restoration. The administration is widely expected to appeal to the D.C. Circuit. In the meantime, the three-week restoration clock is running.Judge blocks Trump national parks order, calling it “censorship” | The Washington Post This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe
Subscribe to our YouTube channel On our political radar this week… A summer snowflake sighting in Wisconsin: Donald Trump stalked out of an NBC interview when his lies about election fraud were challenged by NBC's Kristen Welker. While Trump was attacking mainstream media as “crooked”, his allies at CBS were proving they fit that description by firing 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley for calling out management efforts to spin stories on behalf of Trump. Just days after proclaiming “ I don't think about Americans' financial situations,” Trump gave Democrats another campaign commercial saying that “he loves the inflation” … which has hit a 3-year high. Adding to the out-of-touch aura from the White House, he's reaching out to the average American as only an 80-year-old billionaire can do it: first by attending a basketball game where the cheapest tickets cost thousands, and then by offering a UFC 250 gold coin for $11,999.99. The Michigan sales tax on that trinket: $720. But it includes free shipping! © Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com Entertainment for Trump's 80th birthday party – the UFC concussion contests on what used to be the White House south lawn – has cost taxpayers upwards of $60-million plus thousands of hours of staff time according to the National Park Service. Add to that the $2-million or so it costs taxpayers almost every week for Trump's weekly golf trip to Florida and you've got enough money to gift 6,000 or so Americans with Trump 250 commemorative coins. As Michigan State University looks once again for a new President, retiring U.S. Senator Gary Peters' name moves to the top of the speculation. This comes as retired Senator Debbie Stabenow and Governor Gretchen Whitmer say they're not interested in the job. All 3 are MSU alumni. CMS Energy is adding to the politics of affordability, asking for still another massive rate increase. The utility wants to raise electric rates by $486-million. This rate hike request comes less than three months after the utility received approval for a $217 million increase. Attorney General Nessel and multiple legislators are pushing back – Nessel fighting the increase through the Public Service Commission, lawmakers proposing measures to limit the frequency of rate increase requests. The battle for control of the closely divided Michigan Legislature is well underway. Democrats need to flip 4 seats to regain control of the state House; Republicans need to turn around 2 seats to win control of the state Senate. We'll get into the details with Kyle Melinn, editor of the insider newsletter MIRS News. Governor Whitmer headlined the ribbon cutting for an important bridge this week … just not THE bridge. While the Miller-Rotunda Bridge in Dearborn (important to the Ford Rouge Plant complex) is now open, the Trump administration continues to delay the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. The Trump roadblock for Michigan's economy is supported by state House Speaker Matt Hall, who says Michigan needs to renegotiate toll sharing for the bridge – even though Canada paid the full cost of construction. The New York Times is reporting that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is promoting Haley Stevens' campaign for the U.S. Senate. This comes as Abdul El-Sayed surges in internal polls … all of this two weeks before the first primary election ballots go into the mail. Ballots begin going out to Michigan voters on June 25. Every elective state and federal job will be filled in the November election. While the spotlight will be on the races for Governor and U.S. Senate, there's a lot more at stake, including control of the state Legislature. That's where we started our conversation with visiting pundit and chronicler of Michigan politics, Kyle Melinn. Kyle is editor of the MIRS Report, the go-to source for Michigan political insiders, providing in-depth coverage of all of state government and politics. He's been with MIRS for 25 years, dating back to the Engler administration. In addition to his daily reporting, he is also a political columnist for Lansing City Pulse. © Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Introducing our new podcast! Greed, Grift$ and Grab$: The Trump Crime Family Chronicles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored in part by
Send us Fan MailRory Irish is the owner of Trail Mater and Moab Motorsports, an off-road recovery operation based in Utah. In this episode, he shares his unconventional path from surveying and pipeline welding in Colorado to becoming a YouTube sensation and industry figure.Rory bounced between Moab, Utah and western Colorado throughout his childhood. After dropping out of high school, he earned his GED (scoring highest in Colorado that year) and spent five years as a surveyor before transitioning into construction and the oil field, where he learned welding.Ten years ago, Rory moved back to Moab to build his recovery business, initially working at Moab 4x4 Outpost. When the original owner relocated, Rory and an investor purchased the shop, later buying out the investor in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed him toward full-time recovery work and YouTube content creation. Trail Mater evolved from a simple tow truck into a specialized off-road recovery vehicle equipped with winches, welders, and custom tools. His YouTube channel now has massive reach. Rory emphasizes that he's an off-road recovery company first, YouTube channel second. He works closely with BLM and National Park Service to minimize environmental impact and refuses to stage recoveries for views.Support the show
What’s Up, Interpreters? A Podcast from the National Association for Interpretation
NAI Vice President for Programs Jessica Moore is the Superintendent at Sinks Canyon State Park and Interpretive Lead for Wyoming State Parks. She grew up in Michigan where she started her career as an Interpretive Ranger with the National Park Service, moved to Washington State where she spent 18 years working as an educator at a 725-acre wildlife park, and was hired on with Wyoming State Parks in the fall of 2022. Jessica has had a lifelong passion for nature and conservation and now enjoys spending time in beautiful Sinks Canyon. She joins Song Stott and Paul Caputo on this episode.
On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines: A proposal to beef up security at Anchorage's military base has gotten push-back from Anchorage Assembly members and residents. The Juneau Assembly has voted to undo a funding scheme that required some homeowners in the glacial outburst flood zone to pay thousands toward the Mendenhall River flood wall. And sled dog pups show off at Denali Park.Photo: Denali Park sled dog puppy. (National Park Service)
A legal battle is underway over President Donald Trump's plan to host a UFC event at the White House. Two Washington-area residents have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the event, arguing it violates federal rules and bypassed required approvals and environmental reviews. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed with the latest news from a leading Black-owned & controlled media company: https://aurn.com/newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Buy a hand-muff made from muskrats trapped by Randy Newberg: https://shopfreshtracks.com/collections/gear-list?srsltid=AfmBOoqkvnz41xhiwnbIJR30_pxnmv2yXhwfzkf0oHt4nwltq3pbMaMt Comment on wild horses on BLM Land: https://eplanning.blm.gov/Project-Home/?id=F8129444-CA5D-F111-BEC6-001DD8029ED0 Arizona Residents contact your leaders in regards to wild horses: https://www.howlforwildlife.org/hold-the-line This week we take a look at Trump's new executive order to rescind previous regulations from 1972 and 1977 that governed off-road vehicle use on public lands. The administration argues these older orders were overly vague and difficult for agencies to implement. Critics contend that increasing road access displaces wildlife, pushes animals onto private land, and alters hunter success rates, which can ultimately lead to fewer available tags and reduced recreational opportunities. Other news stories include; The National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System released a list of locations where hunting and fishing opportunities will be opened or expanded. While new access is available, the specific regulations and management changes for many of these sites remain unclear. American Prairie canceled their public bison hunt after the Bureau of Land Management revoked their grazing permit. This decision followed pressure from Montana state officials and industry organizations, despite the non-profit's work on wildlife management and public land access. A mule deer was harvested in Alaska for the first time, prompting concerns from wildlife managers regarding disease transmission to native species. Managers have opened year-round hunting with no bag limit to mitigate the risk of parasites and diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease. A recent oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge received minimal interest, with very few tracts receiving bids. The low turnout highlights the high costs, logistical challenges, and lack of industry incentive to develop in the region. The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public input on the management of wild horses and burros on public lands. There is also a push for Arizona residents to contact officials regarding the removal of unauthorized horses on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send us a text! We love hearing from listeners. If you'd like a response, please include your email. Looking for things to do in Boston in addition to walking the Freedom Trail? Might we suggest visiting Forest Hills Cemetery in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood? This 275-acre historic cemetery, founded in 1848 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, is the final resting place of poets e.e. cummings (all lower case on purpose) and Anne Sexton, composer Amy Beach, victims of the Great Molasses Flood, and so many more. Forest Hills is also known for its Contemporary Sculpture Path, established in 2001. We discuss “Resting Benches” by Danielle Krcmer & Lisa Osborne, “Neighbors” by Christopher Frost, and the intricate Victorian marble monuments of Gracie Allen and Louis Mieusset. Join Jennie and Dianne for their overview of this stunning burial ground that has never been just a place to end an Ordinary Extraordinary story, but one where stories, art and nature have continued to bring peace and fascination to the living for nearly 180 years and counting. Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.comFamily Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharingImage Credits: Top Left: "Boy in the Boat" photo by LMJ and posted to findagrave.com on 10/11/2004. - Top Right: Gates of Forest Hills Cemetery Canva.com - Center Left: Portrait of Amy Beach in the Public Domain - Portrait of e.e. cummings in the Public Domain - Center Right: "Gracie Allen" photo by LMJ and posted to findagrave.com on 11/05/2004.Resources used to research this episode include:Forest Hills Cemetery , . "About Us/Resources/History/." https://www.foresthillscemetery.com/. www.foresthillscemetery.com/. Accessed 1 June 2026.National Park Service , . "Forest Hills Cemetery ." https://www.nps.gov/. www.nps.gov/places/forest-hills-cemetery.htm. Accessed 1 June 2026.Marx, Walter H. "Boy in the Boat Statue at Forest Hills ." https://www.jphs.org/. www.jphs.org/locales/2005/9/30/boy-in-the-boat-statue-at-forest-hills.html#gsc.tab=0. Accessed 1 June 2026.Sammarco, Anthony M. "The Boy in the Boat." https://foresthillstrust.blogspot.com/. 21 Feb. 2010. foresthillstrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/boy-in-boat.html?m=1. Accessed 1 June 2026.Poetry Foundation , . "E.E. Cummings ." https://www.poetryfoundation.org/. www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-e-cummings. Accessed 1 June 2026.Brandman, Ph.D, Mariana. "Amy Beach (1867-1944) ." https://www.mawomenshistory.org/. www.mawomenshistory.org/resources/biographies/amy-beach-1867-1944. Accessed 1 June 2026.Support the show
The Trump Administration's National Park Service plans to remove three quotes from the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. The quotes being removed include comments on slavery, war, and immigrants. The removal of the three quotes comes just ahead of the 251st anniversary of the monument on June 17th. Is the removal at all warranted or a clear depiction of censorship of American history? Sen. Ed Markey is outraged about the removal saying, "real Americans’ patriotism doesn’t need censorship to survive, American patriotism is backed by our freedom to speak and be heard.” Do you agree? Dan tends to agree with Sen. Markey and discussed it further.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
DESCRIPTION: Elon Musk discovers that filing a lawsuit against Sam Altman and sh*tposting about it on social media is a lot more fun than testifying Alex Jones is back on his BS. He managed to delay a proposed deal to license InfoWars assets to the satirical news outlet The Onion. Again. The judge presiding over Trump's shakedown case against the IRS for the wrongful disclosure of his tax returns in 2020 has appointed a whole squad of lawyers to serve as amici. They'll brief the issue of whether the court has jurisdiction to preside over a case where the president appears to be suing himself. L&C's Doofus of the Day is Pete Hegseth. MAIN SHOW: James Comey has been indicted again. This time his "crime" is posting a picture of seashells arranged to say "8647." It is exceptionally stupid, but we will break it down in exceptional detail. As a companion to our written post, we unpack Wednesday's Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais effectively gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Subscribers will get a deep dive into what the new districts might look like with Joe Dye. Finally, we'll cringe our way through the DOJ's latest motion in the ballroom case — it's the most inappropriate, unprofessional thing we've ever seen, including from pro se litigants. Louisiana v. Callais [Supreme Court opinion] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-109_21o3.pdf The Supreme Court Just Effectively Repealed The Voting Rights Act https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/the-supreme-court-just-effectively US v. Comey https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73256624/united-states-v-comey Trump DOJ Pursuing Separate Comey Probe for Classified Leaks https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-doj-pursuing-separate-comey-probe-for-classified-leaks Trump v. IRS https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72207870/trump-v-internal-revenue-service Live updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman's court battle over the future of OpenAI https://www.theverge.com/tech/917225/sam-altman-elon-musk-openai-lawsuit National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72028010/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-in-the-united-states-v-national/ Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
DOCKET ALERTS: The lady who wore a penis costume to a No Kings protest in Fairhope, Alabama was acquitted of disturbing the peace. DNI Tulsi Gabbard referred the Ukraine Whistleblower and former Intelligence Community Inspector General to the DOJ for criminal prosecution. Crime: TBD. US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro continues to harass the Federal Reserve. This time she sent prosecutors to bang on the door demanding to inspect the ongoing renovations. The Trump administration uses the threat of administrative sanctions to force changes it can't get from Congress or the courts. The Justice Department extorted $17 million from IBM — which just so happens to have billions of dollars in government contracts! — for committing DEI "fraud." And the FTC forced brand advisers to agree not to "discriminate" against conservative media outlets. On a more positive note, a judge in Maryland continues to block the ICE facility being constructed in the state, and Judge Richard Leon put the kibosh on Trump's ballroom … again. MAIN SHOW: A jury slapped Live Nation and Ticket Master in the antitrust lawsuit filed in New York. The feds noped out two days into trial, but the states who picked up the baton and ran with it. The jurors found the company liable on all counts. We talk about the ins and outs of the decision and some pending legal questions still waiting for resolution. We also break down a new lawsuit brought by a lawful resident of Maine with no criminal record who was seized by ICE during "Operation Catch of the Day" and brutalized. Can he sue under the Maine Civil Rights Act? And if so, is this a path forward for blue states to fill the gap left by inadequate federal laws? Penis costume protester prevails in court https://www.courthousenews.com/penis-costume-protester-prevails-in-court/ Tulsi's "Criminal Referral" of the Ukraine Whistleblower and ICIG https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2026/4154-pr-06-26 Prosecutors from Jeanine Pirro's office tried to access Federal Reserve headquarters, but were turned away https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prosecutors-jeanine-pirro-office-visit-federal-reserve-headquarters-jerome-powell/ Justice Department settles with IBM over alleged DEI practices https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/04/16/justice-department-settles-with-ibm-over-alleged-dei-practices/ Ad firms settle with Trump FTC over claims they boycotted conservative media https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/ad-firms-settle-with-trump-ftc-over-claims-they-boycotted-conservative-media Maryland v. Mullin https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72313096/state-of-maryland-v-mullin National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72028010/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-in-the-united-states-v-national US v. LiveNation [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68557723/united-states-of-america-v-live-nation-entertainment-inc/?order_by=desc&page=1 Carvajal-Munoz v. Ravencamp [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73186770/carvajal-munoz-v-ravencamp/ Maine Civil Rights Act, 5 M.R.S. 4682 https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/5/title5sec4682.html "State Law, the Westfall Act, and the Nature of the Bivens Question," [2013 U. Penn. L. Rev.] https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1976&context=facpub Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
The Fifth Circuit is crossing out laws just for sport. This time it's a 140-year-old ban on making homebrew hooch, because YOLO. Trump's lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over an article describing his creepy birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein was dismissed. But … that dismissal was without prejudice, so he can take another swing at it. The trollsuit against the BBC is still limping along. Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Education Josh Kleinfeld makes an interesting pitch to George Mason's Antonin Scalia Law School, which is currently under investigation by … the Department of Education. And Trump's ballroom blitz takes a tumble in court. MAIN SHOW: Trump discovers one weird trick to make the Presidential Records Act disappear. All he has to do is order the Office of Legal Counsel to come up with a memo saying it's unconstitutional and — hey, presto! — he can steal or shred or delete any document he likes. SUBSCRIBER BONUS: Are we the pirates now? Trump v. Murdoch https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70843413/trump-v-murdoch Trump v. BBC https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72040010/trump-v-british-broadcasting-corporation Fifth Circuit Home Distillers Ruling https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-10760-CV0.pdf Trump Admin Lawyer Applies To Be Law School Dean, Suggests It Might Help Investigations Go Away https://abovethelaw.com/2026/04/trump-admin-lawyer-applies-to-be-law-school-dean-suggests-it-might-help-investigations-go-away/ Ballroom Blitz Blocked https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/ballroom-blitz-blocked National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73127510/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-v-nps April 1, 2026 OLC Memorandum on the Presidential Records Act https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1434131/dl Judicial Watch v. NARA ("Socks Case"), 845 F.Supp.2d 288 (DC Cir. 2012) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15818036517066124081 Trump v. Mazars, 591 US 848 (2020) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2096461232780826445 Nixon v. Administrator of General Svcs. et al., 433 US 425 (1977) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11884364268460571560 Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
In Episode 557 of District of Conservation, Gabriella discusses her visit to Meridian Hill Park in D.C., National Park Service beautification efforts in DC, the Trump Interior Department opening 92M of 95M national wildlife refuge acres to new fishing + hunting opportunities, and a recap of last week's POMA Summit in Hugo, MN. Tune in to learn more!SHOW NOTESMeridian Hill Park ReportInterior Expands Hunting and Fishing Access Across Federal LandsFWS Public Lands and WatersSO 3447 - Expanding Hunting and Fishing Access, Removing Unnecessary Barriers, and Ensuring Consistency Across the Department of the Interior Lands and WatersProfessional Outdoor Media Association
CreepGeeks Podcast Episode 361 INTRO You're listening to CreepGeeks Podcast! This is Season 10, Episode 361 Booms, Tick Boxes, Bigfoot Campers, Erin Brockovich, Lochness Monster Drone and Crawl Space Cryptid Welcome to CreepGeeks Podcast! We broadcast paranormal news and share our strange experiences from our underground bunker in the mountains of Western North Carolina. THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY BARLEY'S BITES Barley's Bites Barley's Bites is dedicated to providing top-quality, home-made dog treats for every doggo to enjoy. Our treats are made with fresh, healthy ingredients and no harmful chemicals, ensuring your pet receives the best possible nutrition. Jack loves them, and the dog neighbors approve. Made in New Mexico! Thanks, Kristen and Dave, for sending Jack and us some tasty treats! Barley's Bites: Exclusive offer for CreepGeeks Listeners- Barley's Bites would like to offer all CreepGeeks Podcast listeners 20% off their orders with code "CreepGeeks" at checkout. Your favorite anomalous podcast hosts are Greg and Omi Want to support the podcast? Join us on Patreon: CreepGeeks Paranormal and Weird News is creating Humorous Paranormal Podcasts, Interviews, and Videos! Get our new Swag in our Amazon Merch Store: https://amzn.to/3IWwM1x Get Starlink for Rural Internet Access- Starlink | Residential Hey Everyone. You can call the show and leave us a message! 1-575-208-4025 Use Amazon Prime's Free Trial! Did you know YOU can support the CreepGeeks Podcast with little to no effort? It won't cost you anything! When you shop on Amazon.com using our affiliate link, we receive a small percentage. It doesn't change your price at all. It helps us keep the coffee and gas flowing in the Albino Rhino! CreepGeeks Podcast is an Amazon Affiliate CheapGeek and CreepGeeks Amazon Page's Amazon Page Support the Show: CreepGeeks Swag Shop! Website- CREEPGEEKS PARANORMAL AND WEIRD NEWS Hey everyone! Help us out! Rate us on iTunes! CreepGeeks Paranormal and Weird News Podcast on Apple WARNING: This Podcast May Contain Bioengineered and Cell-Cultivated Food Products. Stanley Milford Navajo Rangers Book- The Paranormal Ranger: A chilling memoir of investigations into the paranormal in Navajoland https://amzn.to/3ZhzG8m Interested in Past Lives or Past Life's Journeying- RC Baranowski. Past Life Journeying: Exploring Past, Between, and Future Lives Past Life Journeying: Exploring Past, Between, and Future Lives - Kindle edition by Baranowski, R. C.. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. Over on our Patreon- Patron's Messages- Welcome, Patrons and new Patrons- New Lake Shawnee Haunted Amusement Park Video is available! Brown Mountain Lights Brown Mountain Lights Geological Survey- Here's a thought: Are Brown Mountain Lights caused by lithium? 1-800 Number Comments- Fate Magazine - Fate Magazine Did you know that #creepgeeks is ranked- FeedSpot- 10 Best North Carolina News Podcasts You Must Follow in 2025 10 Best North Carolina Technology Podcasts You Must Follow in 2025 GoodPods- Best Fortean Podcasts [2025] Top 3 Shows - Goodpods Best Bigfoot Podcasts [2025] Top 30 Shows - Goodpods Greg's Pen Tangent -The Sharpie S-Gel in Copper: https://amzn.to/4gNatda CreepGeeks Podcast NEWS: Omi- Into the Shadows of McDowell County Haunted Hollers of McDowell County What are we doing, what're we up to? CreepGeeks Podcast has won its copyright debacle. Digital Audio Player: FIIO Snowsky Echo Mini https://amzn.to/4n8rQYh Omi is a big-time artist and is busy. North Carolina artist creates 'Bluebirds of Hope' from glass shattered by Helene | Fox Weather One Artist Picks Up the Pieces | Our State Greg is pushing forward in his quest to own his own digital content. Greg celebrated his YouTube Channel's 15th birthday! Listener Messages- Dave in New Mexico- You guys need to drink more water. The Brain is the Last thing to Hydrate. Hey y'all. I do not know if this is interesting enough for y'all or not, but, what is up with all these booms? South Carolina had one yesterday (and parts of NC heard it), and now Massachusetts. https://youtu.be/DftmBX98WTY?si=GCWispPYuH2_GuBi https://youtube.com/playlist?list=RDNSAKdZb-JzHDI&playnext=1&si=vy-3TE5uclTTMLP8 Last Episode FollowUp: Aliens.gov website has launched. White House launches cheeky 'Aliens.gov' website -- as admin slowly releases UFO files: 'They walk among us' Dead Vultures 33 black vultures found dead in Smokies, National Park Service seeks public's help Vulture vomit is the leading theory for Kentucky's 1876 meat shower Missing Scientists- Jemez Mountains, Boulder through the Back Window? Los Alamos is close enough Missing scientist's shattered car sparks chilling mystery in remote New Mexico mountains | Daily Mail Online Authorities say remains and gun found in Carson National Forest are one of the missing scientists. Weird: Manufactured Food Shortages Will Continue- Walmart Is Being Accused Of Significantly Hiking Up Meat Prices Weird NEWS: Booms- Loud Boom Effect Bolides or Exploding Meteors? Sky Quakes? Military Craft? OR- We're Shooting down inbound Missiles South Carolina Eastern Mass New York TIKTOK TRASH Tick Box Conspiracy Tick Season: What's Really in Those Boxes? | TikTok Meanwhile Google wants to release 32 million "good" mosquitos in Florida and California. CIA Codes / Grabovoi Codes Life Hacker Grabovoi Numbers https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTk4yPyCg/ Denver International Airport Underground Tunnels Denver Airport to Open Mysterious Underground Tunnels Often Cited by Conspiracy Theorists Data Center Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich Asks Americans for Help as She Launches Data Center Map - Newsweek Cryptid: Teenage Campers and Bigfoot BFRO Report 81202: RECENT: A group of teenage campers stalked by a group of sasquatches 16 miles northwest of McCall in Payette National Forest CrawlSpace Cryptid Oregon family finds man living in crawl space Yes, there really is a a proposal to ban hunting and fishing in Oregon Underwater Drones Searching for Nessie Underwater drone joins annual hunt for Loch Ness monster | The Standard UFO /UAP Paranormal: Snooki - Jersey Shore Snooki Has a Ghost Hunting Show in Canada and She Drinks "Spirit Juice" When the Spirits Get Too Close – Creepy Catalog Animals/Follow Up: *AD BREAK* READ: If you like this podcast, subscribe on YouTube, follow on Spotify, review on Apple podcasts, support on Patreon, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @CreepGeeks. LIBSYN AD *AD BREAK* Bumper Music- SHOW TOPICS: AD- Want to Start your own podcast? https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=CREEP Looking for something unique and spooky? Check out Omi's new Etsy, CraftedIntent: CraftedIntent: Simultaneously BeSpoke and Spooky. by CraftedIntent Want CreepGeeks Paranormal Investigator stickers? Check them out here: CraftedIntent - Etsy Check out Omi's new Lucky Crystal Skull Creations: Lucky Crystal Skull: Random Mini Resin Skull With Gemstones - Etsy Get Something From Amazon Prime! CheapGeek and CreepGeeks Amazon Page's Amazon Page Cool Stuff on Amazon -Squatch Metalworks Microsquatch Keychain: Microsquatch Keychain Bottle Opener with Carabiner. Laser-cut, stone-tumbled stainless steel. DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED IN THE USA. Amazon Influencer! CheapGeek and CreepGeeks Amazon Page's Amazon Page Instagram? Creep Geeks Podcast (@creepgeekspod) • Instagram photos and videos Omi Salavea (@craftedintent) • Instagram photos and videos CreepGeeks Podcast (@creepgeekspodcast) TikTok | Watch CreepGeeks Podcast's Newest TikTok Videos Need to Contact Us? Email Info: contact@creepgeeks.com Attn: Greg or Omi Want to comment on the show? omi@creepgeeks.com greg@creepgeeks.com Business Inquiries: contact@creepgeeks.com CreepGeeks Podcast Store Music is Officially Licensed through Audiio.com. Artist: Paper Tiger / Song Name: Knollwood / License# 1227348319 #creepgeek #bigfoot #mattrife #creepgeeks Tags: WNCbigfoot NC bigfoot sighting, Bigfoot, Ghost, Appalachianhotblob, Paranormal, CreepGeeks,
Today's Headlines: The Traitor Fund is effectively dead for now — the DOJ said it "disagrees strongly" but will abide by the court's ruling, which is the closest thing to a clean win we've gotten in a while. Trump's America 250 birthday celebration continues to implode, with a competing Power to the People Festival announced for October 3rd featuring Springsteen, Joan Baez, and Dave Matthews, while the UFC fight at the White House is still on but now requires attending service members to meet a waist-to-height ratio under .55, and the National Park Service is spending $5 million on a no-bid contract to gold-plate four bronze horse statues near the Lincoln Memorial, which is giving Saddam Hussein's living room. Trump reportedly told Netanyahu on a bad phone call that "you're fucking crazy, you'd be in prison if it weren't for me, everybody hates Israel because of this" — accurate — and Netanyahu pulled back on planned Beirut strikes, with Lebanon's parliament speaker saying Hezbollah is ready for a full ceasefire with Israel, though the US bombed Iranian drone sites yesterday and a cargo ship was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, so "ceasefire" continues to mean whatever anyone needs it to mean. Florida's attorney general sued OpenAI and Sam Altman for marketing ChatGPT without adequately warning of its dangers, citing its alleged role in mass shootings, suicide encouragement, and helping a murder suspect dispose of bodies — and Anthropic filed its IPO the same day at a $965 billion valuation, because timing is everything. And finally, a second man named Dan Sullivan entered the Alaska Senate race against incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan with no policies and no party affiliation, just a stated goal of unseating the other Dan Sullivan, which is either a Democratic ploy or the most chaotic campaign launch of the cycle. Resources/Articles mentioned: AP News: Trump reconsidering $1.8 billion fund, AP source says, as Justice Department temporarily pauses it Rolling Stone: Tom Morello Announces Power to the People Festival With Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, More NBC News: No heavyweights allowed: Troops must meet fitness criteria to attend White House UFC event Ts-horse-statues Axios: "You're fucking crazy": Trump fumes at Netanyahu in call on Lebanon Axios: Lebanese official told U.S. that Hezbollah ready for full ceasefire with Israel AP News: US bombs Iran, downs missiles fired at bases in Kuwait Axios: Florida sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman over ChatGPT - Axios Tampa Bay CNBC: Anthropic confidentially files IPO prospectus with SEC, prepping Wall Street for landmark AI deal NYT: Senator Dan Sullivan Has a New Challenger in Alaska Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of Gangland Wire, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins sits down with author Frank Hayde to explore his latest book, Hoffa's Connection. Hayde, a Kansas City native and noted mob historian, brings forward a largely overlooked figure in organized crime history—Sylvia Pagano. The conversation centers on Pagano's rise from Kansas City to Detroit, where she operated at the intersection of organized crime and labor unions under Jimmy Hoffa. Known for her effectiveness as a union organizer, Pagano infiltrated workplaces, signed up members, and quietly maintained ties to powerful mob figures. Her ability to navigate both worlds made her a key behind-the-scenes operator during a volatile era in American labor history. Hayde details Pagano's role in helping broker alliances between the Mafia and the Teamsters during a turbulent strike, marking a turning point in the relationship between organized crime and labor. Drawing from FBI wiretaps, he reveals candid conversations that shed light on her relationships with influential mob leaders like Tony Giacalone and Moe Dalitz, emphasizing her strategic importance across multiple crime families. The episode also explores the life of Chucky O’Brien, who grew up surrounded by Hoffa and organized crime figures. Through Hayde's research and interviews, listeners gain insight into the generational impact of mob ties, as well as the strict code of silence that governed both mother and son. Beyond individual stories, the discussion expands to the broader national network connecting crime families and labor unions. Pagano's reach extended well beyond regional boundaries, illustrating how organized crime leveraged union influence across the country. This episode offers a fresh perspective on the enduring mystery surrounding Hoffa's disappearance by examining the deeper historical context—and the overlooked players like Sylvia Pagano who helped shape it. It's a detailed look at power, loyalty, and survival within the American Mafia. The book is Hoffa’s Connections:The Story of Sylvia Pagano: the Kansas City Girl at the Center of the Mafia’s Alliance with the Teamsters Union xxx [0:00] Hey, all you wiretappers out there, good to be back here in the studio of Gangland [0:03] Wire. This is Gary Jenkins. I’m a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective, later sergeant. I have this podcast, Gangland Wire. I’ve got a website. If you want to go check my website out, I’ve got a few things for sale on there. And you can go rent the documentaries I’ve done about the Kansas City mob on Amazon. Just search my name. I’m all over the internet. Just search my name and mafia and you’ll find more you ever wanted to know about me and the mob and what I’ve done. And today I have a really a former Kansas City boy, a Kansas City native who has done several books on the mob, particularly the Kansas City mob. And he’s got a most recent one that I find just really fascinating. It’s a little known story that will help shed the light on Jimmy Hoffa, a little bit more light than most of you ever knew. There’s some questions that I had myself that’s not really in the in the popular culture about Jimmy Hoffa. It’s Frank Hayde. Welcome, Frank. Thanks, Gary. Great to be with you again. All right, Frank. We’ve done Mafia Dreams and Mafia and the Machine. So tell the guys a little bit about yourself and your books. [1:13] I grew up in Kansas City. My family stretches way back in Kansas City, and they were involved in the political machine under Pendergast, and so I heard a lot of stories about those days growing up. Later in my career with the National Park Service, I worked a short stint at the Harry Truman National Historic Site, where I learned more about local history, more about the political machine and the mob in Kansas City. So that’s where my interest started. [1:39] And then many years later, I wrote The Mafia and the Machine, and then followed that up with some of these other books, including this most recent one, Hoffa’s Connection, the story of Sylvia Pagano, the Kansas City girl at the center of the Mafia’s alliance with the Teamsters. You know, that’s the mouthful, I know. You know how it is with the subtitle. You can try to get the, summarize the entire book in your subtitle. So, that’s what that is. Yeah. When you look up a book or you see it online or whatever, you want to know quickly what it’s about. So I see that title, Hoffa. Oh, that’s interesting. I thought everything was done about Hoffa. Then you got this subtitle in here and you say, oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t know about this. And I didn’t myself, this Sylvia Pagano. And the story starts in Kansas City. It’s a fascinating story, guys. I want to tell you, it is a fascinating story. [2:31] But before we get started, Frank was a park ranger, a law enforcement park ranger for the National Park Service for 20 years. And he has a really interesting mob interaction when he was in, I believe you run a temporary assignment out in California. Tell the guys about your mafia interaction as a law enforcement officer. [2:53] Yeah. So I was actually at the park service 32 years. 20 of those were law enforcement and just retired. But in the summer of 2024, I got to go out to Redwood National Park on what we call a detail, which is a temporary assignment. They were shorthanded and needed a little extra help. And I knew the place pretty well because I had worked there earlier in my career. So I went out there and it’s a beautiful place. And I was on patrol and I came upon a campsite and there was some violations going on. Nothing major, just the typical stuff that we see as park rangers. And I contacted the occupants of this campsite and I got their licenses and I was back in my vehicle running the licenses. There was a male and a female and the female, I noticed it was a New York license and Brooklyn address and last name is Scarpa. I said, no, that can’t be. That’d be too much of a coincidence. And ran the information, recontacted the subject. And I asked the female, I said, by any chance, are you related to Greg Scarpa? She said, oh, yeah, that was my grandfather. And Greg Jr. was my father. [4:02] And I guess I had to laugh. And by then, I had already written a ticket or two, I think, for just petty offenses. And so I handed her ticket and then asked her if she’d take a picture with me. But she was real nice. She understood that people don’t mind, and she was great. She took a picture with me, and she was more than happy to talk about her father and her grandfather. And it was all very interesting and just quite the coincidence. Yeah, really. That was quite a coincidence. Not only the main coincidence was that you knew her. And then a lot of people might know the name. You really knew the name. Yeah, no. And you had this whole interest in it to talk about. Yeah, I can tell you that 99% of park rangers, you have no idea. Now, if you’re a Brooklyn cop, that’s different. But I was probably the only park ranger alive that would have made that connection because of my interest in the topic. I’ve been trying to get Greg Scarlett Jr. to come on. He’s made some intimations to somebody else. He followed my Facebook group, and I followed his. And so I don’t know. I reached out indirectly. I don’t know exactly how to get a hold of him. Maybe I’ll package this little story up and I’ll send that to him. Maybe that’ll get him to come on the show. Except you wrote the tickets, damn it. That’s the problem. I hope he won’t come after me to write in his daughter’s tickets. Yeah. [5:25] All right, Frank. So let’s go in this most recent book, Hoffa’s Connection. How did you, Sylvia Pagano, how did you even get onto that name other than, did you start, she’s Chucky O’Brien’s mother, who most guys know if you’re really into Hoffa at all, or even on the little bit, Chucky O’Brien was, everybody thought he was like his illegitimate son a lot of times or his surrogate son. And he was really close to Hoffa and drove him around. I was going through your book. He was a guy that Hoffa could send around to other mob people because he was half Italian himself and both sides trusted him to carry messages and do meetings and things like that. So how did you get onto this originally? So I got a call from Jack Goldsmith, who’s a very interesting man because he is the learned hand professor of law at Harvard University, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, former assistant attorney general under President Bush. But for me, the most interesting thing about him was that he is Chucky O’Brien’s stepson. [6:29] And he was working on his book, Inhofe’s Shadow, when he contacted me. It’s a great book. I would recommend it to all the wiretappers. But it’s about Chucky. And he wanted to know if I had come across any information on Chucky O’Brien in my research for the Mafia and the Machine, because Chucky was from Kansas City. I said, what? Chucky O’Brien was from Kansas City? Because I knew all about Chucky O’Brien, but I had no idea he was from Kansas City. So that shocked me. And I don’t think very few people knew that. His Kansas City roots were scarcely known. Everybody just thought of Chucky as a Detroit guy. But when I finally read Goldsmith’s book, it’s about Chucky, but he touches on Sylvia. And I found what he wrote about Sylvia to be completely fascinating, especially because she was Kansas City. And so I thought, shoot, she’s in my wheelhouse. I thought, wow, she would make a great subject for a book. But I balked at it because she was so secretive that she left hardly anything information, hardly any documents exist about Sylvia. It’s just she wasn’t like the men that she associated with who were so extensively documented. There was just very little known about her, not even very many photographs in existence. [7:44] But fortunately, I got together with Pat Faisal in Kansas City. He’s a terrific researcher. You’ve worked with him a lot, Gary. You’ve had him on your show, I think. I think he’s written a couple of really important books on local history, and he had come across her independently of me, and through his own research, he had stumbled on just a brief mention or two of Sylvia Pagano in various FBI documents. [8:09] And so we decided to put our heads together, and Pat helped me with the research, did the lion’s share of the research, fed it to me, and then I would write the story. And that’s how it came together. [8:21] Interesting. And Frank, one of the coolest things, the research that Pat found was those wiretaps or bugs that the illegal bugs the FBI had in her house. And so they got a lot of really great conversations and they’re all transcribed and out there for somebody to find. So to me, that was fascinating. [8:45] Yes, that was probably our best source are these transcripts from the illegal microphones that the FBI placed in homes and businesses of organized crime associates all over the country back in the 60s. Got some great information from those. Sylvia talking freely in her apartment. Candidly, because she doesn’t know anybody’s list. And they had him in Tony Giacalone’s home juice company in Detroit also. And Sylvia was often a topic of conversation over there as well. By the way, Tony Giacalone was Sylvia’s paramour for many years. They had a long affair. People who think that Sylvia had an affair with Hoffa that produced Chucky O’Brien, [9:28] And that is not accurate. Chucky, we know who Chucky’s father was. He was a criminal out of St. Louis from the time he was a boy and went to prison when he was a young guy, was recruited from prison to come to Kansas City and work as a driver, for none other than Charlie Banagio. And so that put him right at the center of the action. [9:53] And Sylvia, having married the young man that put her right, she was already at the center of the action because she knew all the movers and shakers in the North End at that time already from the time she was a girl. But they became very much a part of Banagio’s network. And this was one fact that really blew me away that I didn’t know. And I don’t think you know it or Owsley or O’Malley or really anybody in Kansas City that Charlie Banagio was Chuckie O’Brien’s godfather. Yeah, I didn’t know that. Yeah. That is interesting. So Sylvia Pagano, she lives down there in the North End, what we call the North End folks, which is our little Italy. There’s a big church that anchors that neighborhood. And that’s where all the people came from Southern Italy and Sicily, moved into Kansas City and were associated with the church down there. After them, the Vietnamese came in and the church sponsored a lot of the Vietnamese and settled in that same neighborhood as it became a shifting neighborhood. So she’s down over there in Little Italy or the North End. And she meets a guy named Michael. Was it Three Fingers? [11:03] Oh, yeah. Frankie. Frankie Three Fingers. Coppola. Coppola, yeah. So tell us about that relationship. Yeah, that’s really interesting because Frankie Three Fingers… Hasn’t really been chronicled much as part of the Kansas City family. Because he was a roving guy, he had a lot of clout in both Italy and the U.S., and he had memberships in multiple families, and he was a high-ranking status too. So wherever he went, whether it was Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York, New Orleans, he was all over the place, and he was well-respected wherever he went. But he was in Kansas City for quite a long time. He was strongly associated with Padagio. And it appears from all the evidence, as well as testimony from organized crime experts in Detroit, that Frankie Three Fingers escorted Sylvia to Detroit after her marriage with Charles O’Brien ended in about 1941 in Kansas City. [12:13] So Sylvia arrives in Detroit on the arm of Frank Coppola, and that put her on the fast track to getting to know the upper echelon of the Detroit family and mobsters, top mobsters beyond Detroit. Coppola was associated with Costello in his slot machine racket down in New Orleans. [12:36] And later, after he got deported back to Italy, He worked with Lucky Luciano to put together the whole narcotics syndicate network that included the French Connection. So tremendously influential as a mobster. Sylvia could really not have picked a more influential and well-connected guy as a boyfriend. That really put her on the fast track to getting to know a lot of the most powerful guys in the country. Really interesting guy. Frank Copeland. I’ll just say it and maybe someone else can run with it. I don’t know if it’ll be me or not, but he would make a great subject for a book. Yeah, he’s not very well known. And the mob used to have this guy, Nikolai Gentile. He traveled around to different families and brokered different deals. I think back before communication was so fast and you didn’t fly from one city to the other, you had to take a train. That’s a whole day on the train to get one city to the other. Telephone communication wasn’t that good. You didn’t hardly make long distance phone calls back there in the 20s and 30s. I don’t think they were hard. So you have guys like this that then travel around and take messages that are trusted by the different cities. And so he had to be one of those guys. [13:52] You’re exactly right. In fact, he knew Nicola Gentile. [13:58] Gentile is also, I speak about him in this book also. He plays a role, a pretty important one, and he describes some events that are really fascinating. This story actually doesn’t begin in Kansas City. It begins in Pueblo, Colorado. There’s three geographic areas that are really emphasized in this story. Pueblo, Colorado, Kansas City, and Detroit. But Nicola Gentili and Frank Coppola knew each other in the United States, and they knew each other in Italy. And you’re exactly right, they had a similar role as traveling diplomats within the mafia. Very interesting. Not too many other guys, especially later on. They had Johnny Roselli, who was really well-traveled, and some others. But in those early days, a couple of these guys, Coppola, Gentile, I don’t know if there was any others or not, but that was what they did. They were all over the place, and they were so well-connected, and they really had memberships in multiple families. And that seems to have faded away later. You didn’t hear too much about guys that had more than one member. So occasionally somebody would switch families, but yeah, they were really interesting, [15:11] real, what you would call international mystery men, I think. Interesting. So she had an affair with him, and he brought her up to Detroit and started making connections in Detroit, if I remember the story right, with the Jackalones. And so what. [15:27] Take us on from there. How does she then move in with Hoffa? And she’s like in the middle between the Peckerwood truck drivers and the Italian mob, which they both needed each other and they worked well together for a long time. So how does she end up in the center of that? Yeah, she’s still quite young when she gets to Detroit. She’s just early 20s, maybe mid 20s at that point. But and here she is she’s immediately meeting all of the wise guys but she was still she needed a job she needed work i’m sure coppola helped her out to some extent but he had his own wife he had his own he probably had another mistress or two as well i mean she needed to make a she needed to make a living and raise her son chucky and um she got a job with the teamsters at that time in In Detroit, unions were strong. There was a lot of unions, and it was the capital of industrial unionism at that time. And so that just became a natural choice. She ended up meeting Burke Brennan initially, actually, even before Hoffa. Brennan was Hoffa’s right-hand guy. [16:36] And he gave her a job with the Teamsters as a salter. She was an organizer, and a good one, and a legit organizer. But her specialty was salting. Now, what’s that? So she was a union representative, and she would get a job in a factory or a warehouse, just an ordinary job. And she would go to work, just like everybody else, punch the clock. But while she was there, her real objective was signing other people up to join the union. So she’s like a secret agent in a way, buried into the normal workforce, but with a real different agenda. And she was real good at it. And the union guys noticed that she worked really hard and she was loyal and that she would keep her mouth shut. And so those were the same qualities that the mob guys admired. So this was at the time, though, and this is very important, when most of the unions and the mob were still at odds with each other. Back then, the gangsters were getting hired by companies to break strikes and to oppose unions. [17:47] And there was a particularly bad strike going on. It lasted a long time. The Teamsters were striking the Detroit Lumber Company. This was at about 42. And it was violent. And Hoffa could see the writing on the wall that the Teamsters were losing the battle. It went on and on. It was violent. And that’s where Sylvia Pagano stepped in. Burt Brennan told Jimmy Hoffa he should talk to Facci. Facci was Italian for face. And that was Sylvia’s nickname that she got when she was young back in Kansas City. Had a very pretty face. And so they called her the face. So Hoffa talked to Fauci and she set up a basically like a summit meeting peace conference, more or less. And they brokered a deal where the mob switched sides and became allies with the Teamsters against the Detroit Lumber Company. So that was really the moment that changed history, brought the mafia into the Teamsters orbit and vice versa. And that’s all traceable right back to Sylvia Pagano. [18:55] Wow. That’s interesting. I always wondered what the genesis of that was with Hoffa and the mob. And of course, we can see how it developed, but what that actual birth of that was. I think you’ve stumbled across the birth of it. You also… [19:11] We’re able to stumble across the birth of the Eastern families and New York families connection to Hoffa, which that that gets even bigger. Tell us a little bit about that. She was involved in that, believe it or not, guys. And just like in Detroit, back in New York, there’s Johnny Dio. He was busting up labor union strikes for the companies. Yeah, I think that to some degree in New York, New Jersey, that some Teamsters locals had already been infiltrated by the mafia independently and maybe unbeknownst to Hoffa in Detroit. But it really became a big thing with Hoffa and with Sylvia’s brokering that alliance. Little isolated examples of mob infiltration, I think, were already happening in Detroit. But once again, as Hoffa’s progressing in his career, moving up the ranks, he always had his eye on the top job. He wanted to be the president of the IBT. And of course, he knew he needed help in the Northeast for that, to realize that goal. And so with Sylvia helped set up meetings with Tony Ducks Corral Johnny Diagordi Tony Provenzano and Sylvia had gotten to know Provenzano in Detroit because he had strong connections to Detroit let’s see his cousin was married to. [20:39] Tony Giacalone’s cousin was married to Tony Pro, I believe, or vice versa. That’s your book. Yeah. I’d have to go back and read my own book. Yeah, it’s hard to keep up. Hard to remember all the details. All these players. Giacalone’s cousin was married to Provenzano. And so Sylvia had already met Provenzano in Detroit. And Chucky, her son, had already started calling him Uncle Tony. And so she had this great connection to Provenzano. And so she helped facilitate the Teamsters Mob Alliance in New York and New Jersey, just as she had in Detroit. And then it goes on from there. Then she later, we’re moving forward now, but she would later become the link between Hoffa and his closest contact in Cleveland, which was Moe Daylitz. She became the link between Hoffa and Alan Dorfman in Chicago. And she became the link between Hoffa and the Sevilla brothers in Kansas City. So she really was, and this is all, they taught, there’s a, from those FBI tapes, those illegal FBI tapes, we have Tony Zarelli and Nick Sevilla in Florida speaking about Sylvia Pagano and her relationship as a liaison between the Detroit family and between the Kansas City family. Like, there’s your proof right there. Not that you need it. She was really… [22:09] The guys, a lot of them really liked, adored her in the sense of she did have an affair with a couple of them, and she was a good-looking woman. A lot of them had, Moe Dalitz was known to have a crush on Sylvia, possibly an affair with Sylvia. But she was more than your mob mole, right? She was a dealmaker. She was an advisor. She was a liaison. She brought money to the table. She did deals with the guys. She helped broker some pension fund loans, all these things. So what I like to say about Sylvia is that we all know that the mob never inducted women into their ranks. But if they had, Sylvia Pagana would have been their first choice because she worked hard. She was loyal. [22:56] She kept her mouth shut. And she really lived truer to the code than some of the men did. She was 100% omerta. She really was. and she learned that in the north end of Kansas City, where Umerta was extremely strong even up into this century after it wasn’t so strong in other places and so she passed that on to Chucky O’Brien. He was also a real strong adherent to the code of silence. Yeah, I think we have to remember Chucky O’Brien was half Italian. His father was Italian. No. [23:33] So his mother, Sylvia, was the Italian. Mother, Sylvia, yeah. Yeah, his dad was Irish. Yeah, I got that mixed up. Exactly, asked backwards. But yeah, he was half Italian. And so he really talked the talk, and he moved right in. All these guys were like his uncle, Uncle Nick, Uncle Quirk, and that kind of thing. So he came back to Kansas City. Tell a little bit about Chuckie O’Brien and Kansas City. Yeah, so in 1950, he’d been in Detroit for about nine years by that point. 1950, he’s getting into high school age, and Sylvia sent him back to Kansas City to live on Independence Avenue with his grandparents, and he went to Cardinal Glennon High School. [24:13] And became a good athlete, started dating a gal from the old neighborhood who was a lot like Sylvia. I think that’s really interesting because Chucky really idolized his mother, but he never really, when he was young at least, got to spend as much time with her as he wanted. He spent a lot of time back in Kansas City. He spent a lot of time at his uncle’s house in Detroit because Sylvia was so busy with Hoffa and with the mob. So here’s Chucky in Kansas City. He meets a gal from Sylvia’s old neighborhood who has other things in common with Sylvia and who even looks, in my opinion, quite a lot like Sylvia. And he would eventually take her back to Detroit and marry her and have a family together. But his main objective, it really in Kansas City wasn’t so much going to school. It was becoming a truck driver. He wanted to become a truck driver so that he could put himself on the path to becoming a union organizer like his hero and surrogate father, Jimmy Hoffa. And according to Chucky, Uncle Nick and Uncle Cork got him his first job as a driver and got him his first union card with local 541. [25:23] And this was right at the time when Local 541 was becoming ground zero for labor strife and union corruption in the United States. And Gary, you said a key word earlier, which was Peckerwood. And that’s who was running the Kansas City Teamsters at the time. It was dominated by Peckerwood guys, country boys, basically, and like Hoffa. And these guys were just as bad as the Italian gangsters who were more famous. They ran those locals with intimidation and terror, and they were violent, and they were very ambitious. They had political power. [26:08] Make a long story short, in 1953 in Kansas City, we had an inter-union labor war. And it was the Teamsters versus almost every other union in town. And Teamsters were trying to dominate a lot of these other unions is what it was. And so you had a complete paralysis of the entire construction industry for three months. Imagine just all construction stopping for three months in any metro area and how devastating that is to the economy. 23,000 Kansas Citians were out of work. The Teamsters were refusing to pick up or deliver supplies. And that eventually morphed into violence and sabotage. You had guys going into battle at construction sites. People were getting badly injured. People were getting kidnapped. It was, and then furthermore, we had four military defense projects centered in the Kansas City area, and this is right at the height of the Korean War. So these military installations were suffering work stoppages also. So this was unacceptable in Washington. And Congress swooped in with hearings and an investigation. [27:17] And they called this, basically, it was, I think the exact language was something like the most forbidding chapter in the history of American unions, something like that. It was a big deal. This history has been mostly forgotten. But Kansas City was [27:32] completely paralyzed for about three months. And that was the union that was the local mainly primarily local 541 which chucky was a young member of he was too young at that time to get drawn into the politics of the union i don’t believe that he was on the front lines of these these battles and violence that was happening he was just a brand new truck driver at the time but he was part of that in the sense that he was a local a member of the local at the time this stuff was happening so yeah that’s that’s what happened when Chucky came back to Kansas City. [28:07] Interesting. And that must have been the time when Roy Williams started moving up the ladder and the mob was moving in and they moved this auto ring and some of his people out. And Roy Lee Williams must have, with the support of Nick Civella and the local mob, must have moved right on in. Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. The main guy behind all the strife and violence I was just talking about was Orville Ring, classic quintessential Peckerwood guy and then after all this happened Hoffa swooped in and helped negotiate an end to these conflicts in 1953 and, And Nick Civella and his crime family, they were all watching all this from the wings, planning and scheming. Wow, there’s a lot going on here. How can we capitalize on this? [28:50] So in the aftermath of it all, the Savellas basically intimidated Orville Ring out of the Union. He went back to his farm. Later, he was killed in an accident on his farm, which a lot of people thought was the mob, that the mob did it. But it looked probably just an accident. And I think a tractor rolled over on him or something like that. But yeah, Roy Williams. So at this time, just basically the Italians were taken over from the Peckerwoods. There were still some useful Peckerwoods, and they worked together. And Roy Williams was the key guy there. This is when Nick Civella and he started working together to take over the Teamsters in Kansas City. You’re exactly right. And the rest is history. Really? really. Roy Williams is an interesting guy. He was a war hero from World War II. He had several bronze stars and he was a huge war hero, but he knew which side of the bread got the butter. And so he went with that and he went with Nick Civella. And he did, he bucked up to him a few times, but Nick Civella, actually in a famous scene, Nick Civella had him picked up and driven somewhere and shined a bright light in his eyes and said, you will go along with this scheme. [30:05] So it’s, but he kept going along to almost, he almost, he did become the president of the union for a short period of time, almost right there at the end of his life and when everybody was going to jail. But he was Nick Civella’s protege and Nick Civella’s puppet for his whole life and the whole Teamsters union was. [30:24] Yeah and that story you mentioned with the white spotlight shining in his eyes they kidnapped him and took him into this empty warehouse and i always point to that as just one of those. [30:34] Terrifying stories about how the mob used to work and yeah man and that wasn’t the only time that they intimidated roy williams in that manner so he like you said he was this tough guy war hero He was a big guy, and yet even a guy like that can get intimidated into doing whatever these guys tell him to do because his tactics that they used were just terrifying. Yeah. I read one thing where he later on, he claimed when he turned and gave evidence and talked to the Bureau that he claimed that they also threatened his wife and children during one of these sit downs with him. I mean, they did the same thing to Alan Glick out in Las Vegas. Tuffy DeLuna was out there, and he read off Alan Glick’s name of his wife and his children. He said, you may find yourself expendable, but I don’t think you’re going to find your family expendable and read off their names. So there’s two good examples of them. Say that Bob never messes with your family. There’s two good examples of them using the family and family as threats. Yeah. [31:40] It’s very tough. Yeah, it is. I heard knowing Mo Dalitz, to me, that was key because he was such a mover and an operator. Talk a little more about that. He had been in Cleveland. He had to set her up with Bill Presser. And that was primarily Jewish mobsters in Cleveland, seemed to me like. And then he also had all those connections to Chicago to get to Red Dorfman, his son, Alan Dorfman. Talk a little more about that relationship with Mo Dalitz. In Mo Dalitz’s biography, I can’t think of the name of the author at the moment, but that author states that Sylvia was one of Mo Dalitz’s lovers. I’m not sure if that’s true or not. I do think that Mo Dalitz, at the very least, had a crush on Sylvia, but also respected her very much. And she, just as she had with the Detroit family before, she brokered an alliance with Daylitz. What happened was Daylitz had a laundry empire, was a rum runner and a racketeer and a leader in the Jewish mob. But he also had a lot of legitimate businesses, including a laundry empire in Detroit and Cleveland. [32:53] And while he was still in Detroit, before he really made his move to Cleveland, his permanent move to Cleveland, his laundries, along with other laundry owners, they bonded together in an association. And they were very anti-union. And they were basically at odds with the Teamsters. And until Sylvia swooped in. And Sylvia had her own connections by now to the Laundry Workers Union also. So she’s working for the Teamsters, and she’s very close to Hoffa, but she then married a guy named John Paris, who was the head of the Laundry Workers Union. [33:32] So Sylvia knows Hoffa, and she knows the head of the Laundry Workers Union very closely, and she knows Dalitz. So she’s the one who’s positioned to bring these people together, sit them down at the same table, and start working together, start negotiating. And that’s what she did with Daylitz. And so that led to Daylitz paying off Hoffa, basically, to settle this contract on terms that were favorable to Daylitz and the other laundry owners. [34:07] But you could say that Hoffa, in that case, sold out his members, at least at that time. Now, I do want to make it clear that most rank-and-file teamsters for many decades loved Hoffa because he definitely did negotiate some great contracts that brought truck drivers into the middle class, got them very good pay and benefits. And it’s only fair, it’s only right to give him credit because as somebody once said about Hoffa. [34:33] He was always a criminal, but also always a teamster. And he worked very hard for his membership. He never stopped working. And it was sincere, I do believe. But there were times when he, the ends justified the means and he did whatever he had to do to keep the union alive, but also to serve himself and enrich himself. And that was one of those cases where the membership lost out a little bit when Hoffa and Daylitz formed their alliance with the initiation and the help of Sylvia Pagano. Interesting. So let’s go back to Chucky O’Brien for a minute. He goes back up from Kansas City. He ends up back up in Detroit and working very closely with Jimmy Hoffa. And you talked to his son. Yeah. And to make that, and he was probably a huge help and some insight into what his father was like. So talk about Chucky O’Brien when he got back with Hoffa. Yeah, so he goes back to Detroit. [35:31] And he steps right back into the Hoffa family circle because Sylvia became part of the Hoffa family. She was Josephine Hoffa’s best friend. Jimmy Hoffa relied on her not only for important work in the union and for important connections to the mob, but he also relied on her heavily as Josephine’s personal assistant and caretaker. Sylvia worked extremely hard serving other people. And she was an excellent caretaker to Josephine who needed a lot of care, had very poor health, made worse by severe alcoholism. And Sylvia was a wonderful caretaker. But Chucky stepped right back into that family orbit. Later, when his own kids were small, Chucky and his wife and his kids moved into the Hoffa house. They’d all lived under the same roof for quite a few years. But Sylvia was really the glue that kept it all together and Chucky’s son who’s also named Chuck O’Brien he was a young boy at this time so his memories of his grandmother. [36:42] And Jimmy Hoffa started when he was a young boy and continued up until Sylvia died when he was in his late teens, but he was a great source for the book helped out a lot I really appreciate him And it was interesting to have direct access to someone who actually lived under the same roof with Jimmy Hoffa. So he was not privy, young Chuck was not privy to any inside information or any mob dealings or anything like that. But he later moved to Kansas City and went to work in the River Key for his uncle at the Godfather Lounge, which just a couple of years later was torched in the River Key War. And then young Chuck had worked in professional hockey for a while. And then he became a truck driver and joined Local 41. And so all this history just comes full circle and repeats itself. And I was a little fascinated by these Sylvia’s grandkids who were born and raised in Detroit. They both ended up back in Kansas City in the land of their parents and their grandparents. And they ended up in the same neighborhoods that Sylvia had been born in many years before. [37:57] Interesting. And Chucky O’Brien, then he’s kind of Hoffa’s driver sometimes. And Aaron Renner on up to the end of Hoffa’s life was even implicated at the very end. Some people claim that he helped set Hoffa up because he was the one person that Hoffa trusted. And that one movie, The Irishman or whatever, really threw a lot of shade on Chucky O’Brien. So how did you deal with that. [38:21] Yeah, I think Chucky got a real bad rap, and as I used to study Hoffa and read all the Hoffa books, I always thought, I always had a very low opinion of Chucky O’Brien, and he became the butt of a joke, and he was portrayed as this blundering, not-too-bright guy who either helped kill his surrogate father or was duped into giving him a ride to where he was killed without knowing what was going on and without being able to, realize it to the point where he could have maybe helped Hoffa. I think Jack Goldsmith put all that to rest. He really changed my opinion of Chucky in his book, but I realized that Chucky had been misunderstood in many ways. Was he involved in Hoffa’s disappearance or not? I think Goldsmith basically vindicates Chucky. [39:15] However, I do believe that there’s still some evidence that could strongly suggest that even in light of what Goldsmith wrote, that Chucky could still have known more than he let on. But he was so committed to Emerita that he took a lot of secrets to his grave, I believe. What’s interesting is some of the other co-conspirators in the Hoffa thing ended up dead, like Sally Buggs, and got killed in Little Italy a few years later, and the prevailing wisdom, at least, was to, keep him quiet about the Hoffa case. And they would have probably done the same thing to Chucky if Chucky could have pointed the finger at anybody or implicated anybody. And I’m sure he could have. I’m sure he knew some things about that. He was so close to Giacalone. Chucky was very close to Tony Giacalone and to Tony Provenzano. [40:07] And I think that Chucky survived because Giacalone trusted him 100% just as Sylvia Pagano’s son. Giacalone’s trust in Chucky to not give anybody up was just so rock solid. And he loved Chucky. And I think that he was also honoring Sylvia by allowing Chucky to stay alive. So I know I’m straying from your initial question, Gary. There’s so much going on with the whole Chuck O’Brien thing and his involvement. It gets very interesting. You have to get really down in the weeds with it to understand all of it. But I think that Goldsmith’s book is a great read for anybody who’s interested in Hoffa and the whole case. I definitely would recommend it. So it may come down to Chuck O’Brien. And was he more loyal to the mob, to the mafia and their code? Or more loyal to Hoffa and the Teamsters? as Hoffa as an individual, not to the teams or his union, but Hoffa as an individual. Was he more loyal to Hoffa or more loyal to the union or more loyal to the mob? And giving up those guys, he has to turn his back on everything. [41:21] The union and the mob. And so I can see where he, whatever he knew, [41:25] he was not going to say a word. It would be to his advantage. He has no, they didn’t have a hammer on him. Wasn’t a criminal. They didn’t have a life sentence hanging over his head for anything. They did have, they did prosecute Chucky on a federal case. It was a small time thing. He took some, maybe took some gifts from a, from an employer in his role as a union guy, some small gifts. And then he had also got caught up in a cargo theft case, which is all documented in the book, Office of Connection. But the law enforcement did have a couple of cases that they could apply pressure onto Chucky. But he didn’t say a word, and he just went to prison and served his time. He didn’t have to serve too much time. He was only in for about a year, I think. It was a low-level felony. But he just, he’d never thought once about turning state’s witness. He just went and served his time and got back out and went on with his life. [42:25] Yeah. It’s those 50 and 75-year sentences that’ll make the right attorneys. You get even, I used to say, when they came up, those sentencing guidelines for cocaine dealers, you could make a guy talk about his mother when he’s looking. He’s 40 years old and he’s looking at a 50, 75-year sentence. Yeah. I do have to say, though, if there’s one guy that might, and there was a few of them who went and served a hard time. Yeah, a long time until they’re old. Rather than give anybody else up. And I think Chucky would have been one of those guys. I do. Yeah. [42:57] Having been raised by sylvia pagano he was just so committed to that culture and those traditions and that way of life and and omerta yeah sylvia even had almost a kind of a halfway making ceremony for chucky she arranged for the top guys in detroit when he came back to detroit from kansas city in the early 50s tony giacalone put together a little event where chucky walked into the back room of grecian gardens restaurant in detroit and all the top guys were sitting around a table and he made a pledge of loyalty to them at that time and then he sat down and broke bread with them and he didn’t prick his finger and burn a card and he wasn’t made into the family but it was all halfway a little bit and they did that for sylvia and because they just valued her so much they respected her and they needed her they she was the connection to their most valuable asset, which was Jimmy Hoffa. So that tells you a little bit about how much respect they had for Sylvia and also for Chucky’s unique role. Here he is. [44:05] He’s he’s the son of charlie banagio’s low-level chauffeur yeah and yet he’s sitting down with guys like meyer lansky in florida he’s sitting down with all the top guys in detroit chicago inu acardo rica rosanova all these top guys in chicago then he would sit down with them on behalf of jimmy hoff he was he probably i say in the book that he probably had more chucky o’brien the son of, Banagio’s chauffeur probably had more sit-downs with high-level mobsters than Nick Civella did. As Hoffa’s representative, that was the life. And he knew how to handle that kind of thing because he was raised by Sylvia. So he knew how to say, what not to say, how to behave himself in those types of meetings. So that came naturally to him. And he was Hoffa’s gopher. He drove in places. He took Hoffa’s wife to her medical appointments. He did low-level stuff like that, but he also did more important work, more sensitive stuff, like sitting down with mob bosses and relaying information back and forth, just like as Sylvia had taught him to do. [45:16] That’s fascinating. I tell you what, guys, Frank Hayde, Hoffa’s Connection, the story of Sylvia Pagano, the Ken City girl at the center of the mafia’s alliance with the Teamsters Union. I might have links in here. You better get this book. This is untrod territory. Unplowed ground, as we used to say on the farm. This is fresh stuff that you’ve read. There’s so many books out there about Hoffa and his disappearance that they just want to, come on, we can’t do this. I can’t do this again, Hoffa’s disappearance. You’re never going to find his body. You’re never going to figure out exactly who killed him. Nobody’s going to talk, and anybody that could is dead. But this unearthed some really fresh, interesting information about Hoffa and his connection with the Italian La Cosa Nostra in the United States, the entire United States, really. Yes. Thank you, Gary. That was a very nice little summary of it. And I really appreciate you. You’ve had me on your show before, my other books, and I listened to your podcast. Can’t get enough of it. You do terrific work. All us wire trappers love you, man. And we all appreciate you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Are you still doing the, are we still buying you cups of coffee and that kind of stuff? Yeah, you can always buy me a cup of coffee and hit the donate button. [46:29] I forget about doing that. I’ve been doing this so long and I got a few guys that hit it regularly and some never do. I do this for the pure joy of it anyhow, but it helps to have a little extra money coming in now and then. When you were selling books yesterday, you love writing this book. You love all that research and putting it together and educating people, but it’s nice to get paid for it too. [46:50] It’s a small-time racket, but hey. It’s a small-time racket. Another interesting thing, Frank, we were talking about people doing time, getting so much time, and trying to force them to talk. Yesterday, Frank had a program at the library, and we had a local guy who was a subject of his last book, Mafia Dreams, who was a mob hanger-on guy when he was a young guy. And he got caught up in a murder, an accidental murder in a way. That it’s a long story and you have to get mafia dreams to learn about it. The next generation of the wannabe. [47:25] Italian mafia guys in kansas city and so that guy was there he did 25 years 25 years for what we call felony murder another guy he transported a friend of his to a drug by only the guy killed the man was selling the or tried to kill the man that was selling the drugs and the fbi had it set up and ran in and shot and killed the kid who almanese had carried up to the drug ripoff and And so they charged this driver with felony murder, and he did 25 years, just got out about four or five years ago. He could have talked. He had enough to buy him a lot of grace on that 25-year sentence, and he did every minute of it. He never said a word, and it was hard time. It was state time here in Missouri. Yeah, I think that’s true. I think he is representative of Kansas City in a way, because I do believe that in Kansas City, the Code of Emerita persisted longer than most places. And yeah, when you’re 24 years old, I think he was 24 at the time that he was sentenced. Maybe he was 25 and you get sentenced to 25 and a half years. [48:38] And you have the chance to whittle that down by giving up information on your friends. And you don’t take it, and you choose to do the 25 and a half years, that’s hardcore. And he did, and those are the best years of his life that he’ll never get back. But he is out now, and he’s making a legitimate living and keeping his nose clean and just trying to make up for a lot of lost time. Yeah, he is. 25 years will straighten your mind out, won’t it? Yeah. Man. All right, Frank. Thanks so much for coming on the show. Hey, thanks again, Gary. Don’t forget to donate Bob the Bob Gary cup of coffee, y’all. Thank you. Okay, Gary. Okay, Frank. That was great. Talk to you later.
Nancy and Tara are in Alaska this week, so we're dusting off this story from the vault that took place on the border of America's largest national park, Wrangell St Elias, in Alaska.A hippie turned religious fundamentalist moves his family of 15 children to Alaska and creates what he calls "Hillbilly Heaven." He picks a fight with the National Park Service and all of his abuses on his family get exposed.Support the show!For bonus content join our Patreon!patreon.com/CrimeOfftheGridFor a one time donation:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cotgFor more information about the podcast, check outhttps://crimeoffthegrid.com/Check out our Merch!! https://in-wild-places.square.site/s/shopFollow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crimeoffthegridpodcast/ and (1) Facebook
Look Forward breaks down the Texas Senate race turning ugly fast: Ken Paxton's first general election ad calls Democrat James Talarico "too Low-T for Texas," Stephen Miller falsely called the straight, cisgender Talarico Democrats' "first transgender senate candidate." GOP nicknames include "Tofu Talarico," "Six Gender Jimmy," and "Tala-freako." Talarico raised $600,000 in the two hours after Paxton clinched the nomination.The Iran war may be nearing its end, NYTimes reports the deal is 95% complete with the final 5% oddly being the entirety of the reason the conflict is continuing. But Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is threatening Oman, raising fears of a new front in the conflict. The Trump administration is considering disrupting international airline travel for passengers from sanctuary cities. Hawaii finds a clever constitutional workaround to limit Citizens United's corporate campaign finance dominance. A North Carolina GOP lawmaker pulls their name from a radical abortion bill after social media backlash.The DOJ opens a case against E. Jean Carroll which is clearly a transparent retaliation against Trump's rape accuser. Trump's team pushes to put his face on a new $250 bill. The National Park Service spends America 250th anniversary funds on golden horse statues. And artists immediately bail on DC's 250th birthday bash. We cover the Texas race, Iran's endgame, DOJ retaliation, and golden corruption.Look Forward is a weekly progressive political podcast covering U.S. politics, government policy, Democratic strategy, elections, voting rights, Supreme Court rulings, and political news. Featuring progressive commentary, political analysis, and unapologetic opinions on the fight for democracy. Hosted by Jay and Brad. A TNP Studios production. New episodes weekly on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major platforms. For more TNP Studios content, check out The Nerdpocalypse (movie & TV news), Black on Black Cinema (Black film reviews), and Dense Pixels (video game news).
I'm excited to talk about one of my favorite places, Cumberland Island National Seashore here in coastal Georgia. I got word from the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife that they are working to prevent some new proposed construction of large houses on Cumberland Island and increased recreational activity that will be disruptive to wildlife. We also talk about the wild horses who live there, as they were introduced to the island and they face some welfare issues and also cause some ecological issues for island habitat. As part of this discussion, we will consider the trump administration's budgetary and staffing cuts to the National Park Service, but end this 20-minute segment on a positive note by discussing the Wildlife Corridors Act proposed in Congress, to help wild animals migrate safely between habitats on public lands. In Tune to Nature host Carrie Freeman leads this 29-minute conversation with guest Kelly Cox, the Senior Policy & Planning Specialist at Defenders of Wildlife, where she works to protect imperiled species and their habitats on national public lands. The Defenders of Wildlife website is https://defenders.org/ Kelly recommends that people follow Wild Cumberland, a local group of advocates to stay informed on the public lands sale and visitor management plan. "In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/ While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody. And remember to take care of yourself and others, including the free-living animals who call Cumberland Island home. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers. Photo Credit: Host Carrie Freeman took this photo of a wild horse in 2018 that she saw on Cumberland Island (she mentioned him in the show).
Today's Headlines: A Delaware court ruled that companies can vote in municipal elections in the beach town of Fenwick Island — not just business owners, but the companies themselves as entities — and given that two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware, that's either a quirky local ordinance or the most efficient corporate takeover of democracy ever attempted. Joe Biden is suing the Trump administration to block the DOJ from releasing audio recordings of his conversations with his ghostwriter, which the DOJ is planning to drop on June 15th purely for the humiliation factor, since the investigation was closed and no charges were ever filed. Trump threatened Oman — the Gulf state that has been acting as the diplomatic channel between the US and Iran — during a Cabinet meeting, saying they'd better "behave or we'll blow em up." On the reflecting pool saga, a National Park Service analysis found that Trump's no-bid pool contractor — his favorite pool guy, does all his pools — submitted a contract with an $850,000 overcharge above the typical profit margin, and it turns out the contractor can't even seal the gaps between the concrete slabs, which is a fairly foundational part of the job. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he'll tax any Traitor Fund payouts to Californians at 100%, with a New York assemblyman proposing the same, which is the most satisfying thing to happen all week. New York state also passed a tax on luxury second homes valued at $5 million or more, expected to generate $500 million a year, and both New York and New Jersey AGs subpoenaed FIFA over alleged deceptive pricing practices for World Cup tickets at MetLife Stadium. A Google software engineer was charged with fraud and money laundering after making $1.2 million on Polymarket by betting on search trends using nonpublic Google data under the username AlphaRaccoon, which is somehow the most on-brand financial crime of 2026. And finally, the EU is actively screening travelers for Ebola as suspected cases in the Congo surpass 900. Resources/Articles mentioned: Reuters: Delaware court upholds voting by companies in small town's election CNN: Biden sues to stop Justice Department from releasing interview recordings CNN: Trump's threat against Oman means he's now attacked or threatened 1 out of every 13 countries NYT: Iran War Live Updates: U.S. Strikes Military Site and Drones in Iran AP News: Trump plays mayor at Cabinet meeting, showcasing his DC renovations NYT: Reflecting Pool Contract Has ‘Inflated' Profit Margin, Government Analysis Finds WaPo: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy debuts America 250 jet US News: California to Impose 100% Tax on Trump's January 6 'Slush Fund,' Governor Says WSJ: New York Lawmakers Pass Pied-a-Terre Tax CNN: Sky-high World Cup ticket prices spark investigation by NY and NJ attorneys general WSJ: Google Employee Charged With Insider Trading on Polymarket Politico: Europe beefs up Ebola detection as Congo epidemic surges Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Priscilla Wakefield was a Quaker, writer and social reformer who believed financial security shouldn't be reserved for the wealthy. Living in late 18th- and early 19th-century England, she founded the country's first penny savings bank, giving working women and children a safe place to save. Victoria Bateman, author of Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power, tells hosts Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth about Wakefield's life, her ideas and how a simple concept — saving small sums — helped spark a quiet revolution in financial inclusion, with lessons for today. But that didn't stop Wakefield from running into financial problems of her own. Further reading:Economica: A global history of women, wealth and power, by Victoria Bateman (2025)Reflections on the present condition of the female sex, by Priscilla Wakefield, (reprinted 2015, Cambridge University Press)Credits: Cambridge Library Collection, National Portrait Gallery, Disruption Worthies, National Park Service, Hollinger & RockeyTo enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here: / @ftthestoryofmoney Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin WigglesworthProducers: Lulu Smyth and Laurence KnightExecutive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela SaragosaOriginal music: Breen TurnerBroadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros GiuompasisPodcast Development: Laura ClarkeVideo editor: Kristen Kenyon and Josh Divney at Podcast DiscoveryLearn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.comRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Let us know what you think!#genealogy #familysearch #census #bountylandEpisode OverviewHittin' the Bricks with Kathleen is the genealogy podcast that features your questions and her answers, helping researchers uncover overlooked records and stronger research strategies. In this episode, host Kathleen Brandt answers listener questions focused on three high-impact genealogy sources that can quickly break through stubborn brick walls: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) records, Virginia Revolutionary War bounty land grants, and Ireland's newly free 1926 census.Kathleen explains where to search, what clues researchers often miss, and how to connect these records to broader family stories involving migration, military service, inheritance, and identity.In This Episode, You'll Learn Why CCC records are valuable for Depression-era genealogy research How Revolutionary War bounty land files extend far beyond the first certificate What makes the 1926 Irish Census important for Irish family history How supporting records reveal widows, heirs, migration patterns, and community ties Why original files often contain clues omitted from abstracts and indexes Topics Covered Civilian Conservation Corps records and Depression-era family research CCC applications and clues about parents, schooling, work history, and migration Researching CCC records through newspapers, local societies, state archives, and National Park Service collections Virginia Revolutionary War bounty land digitization Common mistakes in bounty land research Warrants, surveys, plat maps, patents, tax lists, deeds, probate, and wills Why abstract books are not enough for complete genealogy research Ireland's free 1926 Census and Irish genealogy research Linking Irish census records to passenger lists, naturalization records, and church documents Episode Discussion & Key MomentsKathleen walks listeners through three record groups that frequently contain overlooked genealogical evidence. The episode begins with CCC records, explaining how applications and related files reveal personal details about family structure, education, employment, and migration during the Great Depression.The conversation then shifts to Virginia Revolutionary War bounty land grants, where Kathleen explains why researchers should never stop at the initial certificate. Supporting documents—including surveys, deeds, probate files, and tax lists—often identify widows, heirs, neighbors, and land relationships that deepen family reconstruction.Finally, Kathleen explores the release of Ireland's 1926 Census, discussing how researchers can connect census findings with U.S. immigration records, naturalization paperwork, and church records to build more complete Irish family histories.Key questions examined include: What records are researchers most likely to overlook? Why do original files matter more than abstracts? How can one record group lead to multiple generations of evidence? Resources & Research Tools MentionedNational Archives of Ireland 1926 Census Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) applications and records Newspapers and local historical societies State archives and National Park Service collections Virginia Revolutionary War bounty land records Plat maps, tax lists, deeds, probate, and wills Ireland's 1926 Census Passenger lists, naturalization records, and church registers Why This Episode MattersMany genealogy breakthroughs come from looking beyond indexes and pulling the full record set surrounding an ancestor. This episode demonstrates how layered research across military, land, labor, and immigration records creates stronger and more accurate family histories.About the PodcastHittin' the Bricks with Kathleen is the genealogy podcast that features your questions and her answers, helping listeners navigate historical records, research challenges, and overlooked sources to uncover deeper family stories.Support the showBe sure to bookmark linktr.ee/hittinthebricks for your one stop access to Kathleen Brandt, the host of Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen. And, visit us on YouTube: @HTBKRB with Kathleen John and Chewey video recorded specials. Hittin' the Bricks is produced through the not-for-profit, 501c3 TracingAncestors.org.
Every year for two weeks between mid-May and mid-June, Congaree National Park in South Carolina is home to a fairy-tale-like display of flashing lights. These rhythmic performances happen all because of thousands of fireflies, flashing their belly lanterns at exactly the same time. According to the National Park Service, there are just three species of these synchronous fireflies in North America, making the experience all the more magical for the lucky visitors who get the chance to see them. (encore)This story was originally reported for NPR by science correspondent Pien Huang. Read Pien's full story here.Want more of the science behind wildlife wonders? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.Today's episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Berly McCoy. Pien checked the facts. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
Public lands stewardship has most definitely changed under the second presidential administration of Donald Trump. Land-management agencies such as the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management have lost thousands of employees, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is on a mission to turn the country's public lands into a cash cow of sorts. As the political tenure in Washington D.C., swings wildly back and forth like a massive pendulum when it comes to our public lands, there is an effort under way to provide a roadmap for public lands stewardship in the United States that stretches far into the future. Ground Shift is a new nonprofit organization working to, as they put it, "develop creative, durable, and transformative ideas to shape the next century of public land and water stewardship in the United States." To better understand this organization and its goals, our guests today are Lynn Scarlett, who was a deputy Interior secretary during the administration of President George Bush, and Tracy Stone-Manning, who directed the Bureau of Land Management under President Joe Biden.
Today's Headlines: A federal judge unsealed what the DOJ claims is Jeffrey Epstein's suicide note yesterday — found tucked inside a graphic novel by his former cellmate. On related Epstein news, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified behind closed doors at the House Oversight Committee about his relationship with Epstein, his former next-door neighbor whom he claimed to find "disgusting," and yet somehow visited Epstein's island for lunch with his family and several nannies after Epstein's 2008 conviction — his explanation being that he only meant he wouldn't have a "1 on 1" relationship with Epstein, which is genuinely one of the worst answers ever offered to a congressional committee. Elsewhere in this administration, The Atlantic has more reporting on FBI Director Kash Patel, revealing he flies on government planes stocked with personalized Woodford Reserve bourbon engraved with his name and the FBI shield, which he hands out as gifts — one of which ended up on an online auction site. Speaking of taxpayer resources being used creatively, Republicans in Congress are reportedly proposing to give Trump a billion taxpayer dollars for his White House ballroom-slash-bunker, and debris from Trump's East Wing demolition that was dumped at a National Park Service golf course has tested positive for lead, chromium, and other toxic metals. In Trump vs The Pope news, Trump accused Pope Leo of supporting Iran getting a nuclear weapon, the Pope responded that he isn't afraid and will keep advocating for peace, and Rubio flew to Rome to meet with him anyway. Back home, the FBI raided the office of Virginia Democratic state senator Louise Lucas, who led the redistricting effort that netted Democrats four new congressional seats, though the investigation's subject remains undisclosed. In tech news, Anthropic and SpaceX announced a partnership giving Anthropic access to SpaceX computing power for Claude Pro and Max, and Kevin O'Leary's Manhattan-sized Utah data center got approved despite furious local protests he dismissed as fake and possibly AI-generated. And finally, RFK Jr. withdrew an FDA rule that would have banned minors from indoor tanning beds — which the WHO classifies as a Group 1 carcinogen on par with cigarettes and asbestos — because apparently that was next on the list. Resources/Articles mentioned: NYT: Jeffrey Epstein's Purported Suicide Note Is Released by Federal Judge NBC News: Howard Lutnick evasive during Epstein testimony, House Democrats say The Atlanic: Kash Patel's Personalized Bourbon Stash NBC News: Republicans propose $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to secure Trump ballroom WaPo: White House East Wing debris dumped at nearby golf course has toxic metals, report says NYT: Rubio to Visit Rome After Trump's Feud With the Pope and Meloni Politico: FBI raids office of Dem state lawmaker in Virginia who led redistricting efforts NBC News: Anthropic and SpaceX announce major partnership as AI arms races continues Gizmodo: Kevin O'Leary's Massive Data Center Project in Utah Gets the Greenlight, Locals Are Furious LA Times: RFK Jr. clears path for minors' use of tanning beds, much to the dismay of dermatologists Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices