Buzz Blog

The President of Nigeria has remained remarkably silent about the abduction of 200 girls in the country by Muslim militiamen.---

Top of the Alty World

“Nigeria falters in the Face of Terrorism”--The Economist

Despite a pledge for government transparency New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has taken to using personal e-mails for public business to make them harder to access by reporters.--ProPublica

Members of the GOP debate how to impeach Obama for the Benghazi scandal without the move backfiring on them.--Slate

A time line shows Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy's long history of ignoring court orders and communications from the federal government.--High Country News

Top of Alty Utah

A former sex worker turned advocate for victims of human trafficking finds leniency in Utah but says the state has a long way to go to helping sex workers.--Salt Lake City Weekly

The case of a mentally-ill man who turned himself in for having urges to shoot people at City Creek mall is now being heard in mental health court.--Salt Lake City Weekly

Google Fiber is one step closer to becoming a reality in Salt Lake City.--Utah Political Capitol

A man seeking to join the plaintiff's in Utah's same-sex marriage case so he can marry his computer seems to be making a political point, but he's also got a history of mental illness and stalking complaints.--Q Salt Lake

Rantosphere

The Guardian takes a look at a case against a female Occupy Wall Street member facing seven years in jail for assaulting a police officer. Cecily McMillan lost her case despite having proof of the bruising on her breast where she says the officer grabbed her and despite the fact that in testimony the officer repeatedly identified the wrong eye that was injured.

“To the jury, the hundreds of police batons, helmets, fists, and flex cuffs out on March 17 were invisible – rendering McMillan's elbow the most powerful weapon on display in Zuccotti that night, at least insofar as the jury was concerned. That hyper-selective retelling of events to the jury mirrored the broader popular narrative of OWS. The breathtaking violence displayed by the NYPD throughout Occupy Wall Street has not only been normalized, but entirely justified – so much so that it doesn't even bear mentioning.”--The Guardian

The Long View

Developments in Utah's scenic canyons face fiery destruction from wildfires.

“At about 1,300 acres, a late-June fire in Yarnell, Ariz., about 30 miles northwest of Phoenix, was by no means the largest, but it was the deadliest—not just of that year, but in more than two decades. And many of the factors that contributed to the tragedy are inherent across the American West—especially across the Wasatch Front, in City Creek, Emigration and the Cottonwood canyons; in Federal Heights, Herriman and the Jordan River Corridor; and in plenty of other gorges, ravines, hillsides and overlooks that make the areas between the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains such an enticingly natural place to live.

Utahns flock by the thousands to these places—many of which had little development just a few decades ago—to make homes for themselves and their families. “People move up into these areas thinking about seclusion or getting up into nature,” Unified Fire Authority Captain Clint Mecham says, “but not thinking about fires.”--Salt Lake City Weekly