$180K payout for fired youth prisons leader

By Bill Lucia | Editor

By Jake Goldstein-Street

During Upton’s tenure, conditions became increasingly dangerous in the state’s juvenile detention system, especially at Green Hill School. There, crowding contributed to problems with fights and drugs. And staff shortages undercut programs that typically make juvenile facilities more appealing than adult prisons. A state appellate court last year ruled the overcrowding at Green Hill violated state law. Upton reached the $180,000 settlement with the state in late May. As is customary, the state is not admitting fault as part of the agreement and still disputes Upton’s claims. 

By Jerry Cornfield

Open government activist Arthur West, earlier this month, mounted an unsuccessful challenge to a statement about the budgetary effects of the ballot measure to repeal the state’s new income tax on high earners. And he continues to press ahead with a legal fight against such public investment impact disclosures.

But this week, West also sued the head of the state Republican Party. West says that Jim Walsh and the party defamed him with social media posts about the failed attempt to get the statement amended or removed from ballots. One post said West was “tricked” into making “procedural errors,” which derailed a separate challenge to the statement. Another said the judge in the case “set a trap for a gullible nonlawyer.”

In his lawsuit, West is seeking punitive damages and an “unambiguous retraction and correction of the defamatory statements” from Walsh and the party. Walsh argues that the social media posts do not amount to defamation.

An inspection last year found the chemical tank that failed catastrophically at a Longview mill, killing 11 workers, was “not fit for continued service” unless it was repaired and had a “high likelihood/consequence of failure.” That’s according to an update on the May 26 incident released today by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. The Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers called the findings “deeply troubling.” A union spokesman added: “The update raises urgent questions about how technical findings and recommendations concerning the tank were communicated, evaluated and incorporated into decisions about its continued operation.”

The agency’s update can be found here.

The Associated Press has coverage here.

By Jacob Fischler

A federal judge has imposed a new two-week freeze on the Trump administration regulation to restrict mail voting, calling the U.S. Postal Service rule a violation of states’ power to administer elections. District Judge Indira Talwani’s temporary restraining order reinstated a pause she had lifted just a day earlier, following a U.S. Supreme Court procedural ruling Monday that allowed the administration to implement the policy. The federal government will likely appeal Thursday night’s order.

By Shauneen Miranda

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington over laws that allow immigrants without legal status to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they live. The Trump administration has sued 21 states over such laws, which enable noncitizen students who meet certain requirements to get in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, regardless of their immigration status. 

ICYMI

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