One day after a jury convicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on murder charges, the U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation into possible patterns of discrimination and excessive force among the police department there.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the new civil inquiry on Wednesday, the first such "pattern or practice" investigation in the Biden administration, which has pledged to build trust between police and communities.
"Today, I am announcing that the Justice Department has opened a civil investigation to determine whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing," he said in remarks at the Justice Department.
He said the investigation is separate from the previously announced federal criminal inquiry into George Floyd's death.
I think this is a good thing. We should make sure we are keeping government workers accountable, just like in the private the sector, and when there is gross negligence or patterns of harm to the public regulate them and ensure they are protecting the public's interest.
Each type of water: whether expansive oceans and lakes or meandering streams and rivers – have their own unique hazards that challenge the paddler. Some are natural such as currents, rip tides, rocks, reefs, narrowing channels, winds and myriad natural obstacles (surface and submerged). Other hazards are man-made (dams, weirs, spillways, structure abutments, stump fields, barge wake) that can also cause the flowing waters to act in ways that can be very dangerous to paddlers of all skill levels. Of these, arguable none present the diversity and intensity of hazards as do the flowing channels of water we call rivers.
Assessor Manuals are published by the Office of Real Property Tax Services and distributed to local assessors in order to help them perform their duties. These manuals contain information on how to maintain assessment and tax rolls, collect information on properties in their municipality,?estimate market value and administer exemptions on qualified parcels. Updates are issued annually where appropriate.? The information contained in these manuals is intended to supplement the training that each local assessor must receive in order to retain their position. While these manuals provide information of aid to local assessment officials, they do not contain all that an assessor must know in order to fulfill their responsibilities.
Manufactured Housing is very odd the state’s assessment records. Some towns assessors don’t use that code at all, preferring to either leave the housing style field blank or describing such structures as Ranch style. For example, Coeymans doesn’t have a single building that is Manufactured Housing but Cario has several hundred. In some towns its inconsistent – varies widely by property – probably whoever was assessor at the time.
But then again, assessment records are riddled with errors. If you look at the City of Albany assessment records, only two buildings were built before 1850, a fact that doesn’t take long to disprove.
Good morning! What day is it? A soon to be very wet Hump Day, of course. 🐪 ☔ 🥛 But maybe only briefly, looks like a fast moving front out front of snow out west, which will hit warm air and be rain here. I’m sure that dairy camel in Vermont won’t be happy. Five weeks to Flower Moon 🌕 . Put a flower in your hair. 🌼 Those days of daisies can’t be that far away. Rain and 39 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 1 am. ☃️
Out for the morning walk with a rain coat on, ☔ because while it looks like the rain has passed everything is wet for now. But I think is more is coming, and while it might be dun for now, it will return. 🌧 But it at least will be done for the weekend, at least Saturday. 🐲 Listening to Puff the Magic Dragon, a song that might have been more appropriate for 420. That said, despite being perfectly legal, I didn’t smell much cannabis smoke yesterday. 🌾 I always thought restrictions on marijuana were awful silly and racist, mostly used to go after the colored and poor. A good agricultural crop, even though I’m too cheap to smoke. 🚬
“A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar”
“His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave So Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave”
A bit chilly for the morning walk 🚶🏻 in my t-shirt 👕 and vest and the air is damp with a taste of cattle and manure on it. 🐮. I’ve spent enough time in the Finger Lakes National Forest to know that taste well. That said when the sun ☀ peaks out its pretty nice. Going to miss my morning walks 🚶🏻 when I go back to working downtown. 🚍 But on nice days when I don’t have to dress up for clients 👨🏻🏫 I’ll walk down to the express bus stop 🚏, assuming they restore that service at some point. Then I can do my walks on the Emperor’s Plaza or in the Concourse. 🏢
This morning will rain, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds. 🌦 High of 51 degrees at 1pm. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 31st. Maximum dew point of 44 at 12pm. 🏖️ Okay, maybe not beach weather. But don’t worry, the muggers are waiting with their dew points in the seventies. North wind 5 to 11 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 52 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1923. 0.6 inches of snow fell back in 1947.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 59.4° from the due south horizon (-11.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:06 pm with the sun in the west (281°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (287°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:44 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 2 seconds with dusk around 8:14 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southeast (160°) at an altitude of 64° from the horizon, 236,948 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:50 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 39 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 40 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 41 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will rain showers likely before 10pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers between 10pm and 1am, then a chance of snow showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 31 degrees at 3am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 31st. Northwest wind around 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1947.
Weekend forecast remains true, great weather Saturday, showers Sunday. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Maximum dew point of 40 at 8pm. 🌞 Sunday, showers likely, mainly before 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57. Chance of precipitation is 60%. ☔ Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees. I am thinking I will get packed on Thursday and Friday, and do my laundry then before heading up north for the weekend, probably Friday or maybe Saturday. Not totally sure.
Like so many Americans I wonder when life returns back to normal. 🏢 I watch the building traffic on the road in front of my apartment, keep checking the Twitter and bus schedule. 🚍 I have a meeting this afternoon and I wonder if I’ll get the news 📰 about when the building downtown reopens. I’m a bit anxious. Tomorrow I renew my cell phone plan 📱 and I suspect this will be the last month I’ll need the data plan but I’m fine with that as I like the walk down to the library. 📚 I’m sure it won’t be long before that’s fully re-opened. Kind of wanted to do a remote work trip to the Finger Lakes but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen before I return downtown.
As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Cinco de Mayo 🤠 when the sun will be setting at 8:00 pm with dusk at 8:31 pm. With the COVID mostly in the rear view mirror, it might be more typical Cinco de Mayo, although I’m not sure if all the watering holes will be open if they exist anymore. On that day in 2020, we had sunny and temperatures between 59 and 38 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 66 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1944.
