NPR

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Arkansas Panhandling Law Struck Down, Violates First Amendment, Judge Rules : NPR

When a panhandler approaches a car in the intersection — his hand out, his eyes wide — that physical interaction is protected by the First Amendment, a federal district judge ruled Monday when he threw out an Arkansas city's panhandling ban.

It's the latest such ban to be found unconstitutional since a 2015 Supreme Court decision made it harder for the government to pass laws having to do with the content of speech. That case, Reed v. Town of Gilbert, had to do with regulating church signs, but courts around the country have cited the case as they strike down panhandling laws.

In recent years, you see a lot more pan handling in Downtown Albany and not only in poor neighborhoods. It seems like panhandlers nowadays are more white, working class folk like you might see working construction years ago. I wonder if it has more to do with the heroin epidemic and people loosing their jobs and their homes, getting left behind on the street in the city.

Solitude

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I spend much of my free time up in the woods, walking around, and exploring. I enjoy getting far away from other human beings, and camping out far away from other people. Many of the places are so far off the beaten track that few ever go out here.

Yet I enjoy these places and hope they will be forever. Many will remain largely unchanged, others may scum to contemporary pressures be it high gas prices or new technologies such as farming techniques that forever change the landscape. Much land will remain forever wild, but that does not mean that recreational and governmental uses of the land won’t based on the changing forces.

It’s not scary to be alone. It’s enlightening to be up in the woods with no pressures to do anything or be in a rush to be anywhere. You sit and listen to the wind blow through the trees, the water bubbling down the creek, the birds chirping in the air, or the chipmunks running around and opening acorns.

Solitude

I enjoy being alone, with nobody to bother me or tell me what to do.

Minnesota Schools Could Make Firearms Safety Part of Physical Education

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Minnesota Schools Could Make Firearms Safety Part of Physical Education

This is why Sen. Justin Eichorn of Grand Rapids is pushing for the addition of firearms safety, hunting, trap shooting, fishing and archery to physical education classes.

"We're trying to help get our Minnesota kids away from the TV and get them out in the woods and on the water again to get them hooked on the outdoors and hooked on fishing," Sen. Eichorn told the Senate Education Committee Sunday. "We want to start bending that curve to get children to care about the outdoors and the history of and heritage of hunting and fishing in Minnesota."

According to a report from WBIR, if SF 793 passed, the initiative would be treated as a "pilot project" at six Minnesota schools. The curriculum for said classes would come from the Department of Natural Resources, although DNR officials would have to speak with local Native American communities. Kevin Murphy, a sixth grade teacher in Cass County, also spoke at the hearing, as his school district already teaches many of the subjects in Eichorn's bill. He says firearms safety, snowmobile safety, ATV safety, boat safety and fishing are essential to the school's curriculum.

"That is huge in local culture," he said. "The firearms safety part of it, the hunting aspect of it, the outdoor education is all very, very important as a cultural element." The bill will be finalized near the end of the session, according to WBIR.

April 2, 2019 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Mostly sunny and 25 degrees at the bus stop near in Valero. 😎 One of the coldest April mornings in recent memory, ❄ although not record breaking cold. At least it’s sunny. With the sun, and slight south breeze at 6 mph, it doesn’t feel bad at all 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 9 am. 🌡️

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 52 degrees at 4pm. After the cold weather, the mercury will warm up for weather that is typical for today. South wind 6 to 16 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 2010. 8.0 inches of snow fell back in 1924.❄

The sun will set at 7:22 pm with dusk around 7:51 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 48 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 48 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 33 degrees at 5am. Typical for tonight. South wind 5 to 9 mph becoming calm after midnight. In 2018, we had partly cloudy in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 16 occurred back in 1954.

Tomorrow will have isolated showers between 2pm and 3pm. Mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 56 degrees at 4pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around April 10th. Breezy, with a light west wind increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 79 was set in 1981. 11.0 inches of snow fell back in 1891.❄

Yesterday was mostly a recovery day after the 24 hours I worked on Sunday into Monday. I really can’t complain some my colleagues in the budget side of things put in a whole lot more hours.😴 The good news is that I’ll have comp time I can use if I want to take some time off to make a long Easter weekend for a camping and fishing trip.⛺

My recovery from the lack of sleep was difficult yesterday although after a good night’s sleep last night I’m feeling better today. 😎I’m also glad it’s going to be warmer today so I turned off the heat again. Still not warm enough though to open the window for fresh air but I expect in a week or two with the average high reaching 60 by mid month there will be many more opportunities for sleeping with the windows open.🔳

I went down to the library for a while today to do some client business. I don’t have internet at home so I went to the library for the public Wi-Fi which works well. 📡Then I came back home and got a few more hours of sleep. I worked on some code and the blog, rode the exercise bike for a while then went for my evening walk.🚲

I thought about going out fishing or maybe for a hike🚶 after returning home from the library but I basically just collapsed into bed and took another nap. I’m feeling much more rested today💤. Maybe a bit groggy when I first woke with the cold weather but generally I’m feeling much better today.

Looking ahead, there are 15 weeks until Last Sunset After 8:30 PM 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 8:30 pm with dusk at 9:04 pm. On that day in 2018, we had hot, humid, mostly sunny, patches of fog and temperatures between 96 and 69 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 83 degrees. We hit a record high of 97 back in 1900.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 57. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 63. Maximum dew point of 45 at 2pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 54 degrees.

Sunday is starting to look really nice. I’ll have to think 💭 what I will do that day. I’m undecided at the moment. I’ll have to think about it some more, maybe a nice long walk in the woods. 🌲

In four weeks on April 30 the sun will be setting at 7:54 pm,🌄 which is 31 minutes and 51 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had partly sunny, rain showers and temperatures between 51 and 38 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 64 and 42 degrees. The record high of 86 degrees was set back in 1903.

Looking ahead, Last Sunset After 8:30 PM 🌆 is in 15 weeks, Labor Day 👨‍🏭 is in 5 months, Constitution Day 📜 is in 24 weeks, October 🛥 is in 26 weeks and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 83 weeks.

Cliffs Edge