INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A Missouri group connected to the militia movement has a new home on Kansas City-area highways. The Original Three Percenters of Missouri have agreed to clean up litter along the I-470 and I-70 Interchange.

In return they received several Missouri Department of Transportation recognition signs with the group’s name on them on the highway and ramps which will be passed by an estimated 100,000 vehicles per day. Anti-hate groups say three percenters are extremists connected to terror plots and attacks.

Since 1987, about 5,300 groups have adopted 6,400 miles of Missouri highways.

“I think it’s a great program because there’s a lot of great organizations doing it between schools and businesses,” Barry Higgins said.

https://fox4kc.com/news/extremist-militia-group-with-alleged-terror-ties-awarded-modot-recognition-signs/

WASHINGTON (AP) — The monarch butterfly fluttered a step closer to extinction Thursday, as scientists put the iconic orange-and-black insect on the endangered list because of its fast dwindling numbers.

“It’s just a devastating decline,” said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new listing. “This is one of the most recognizable butterflies in the world.”

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the migrating monarch butterfly for the first time to its “red list” of threatened species and categorized it as “endangered” — two steps from extinct.

The group estimates that the population of monarch butterflies in North America has declined between 22% and 72% over 10 years, depending on the measurement method.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/beloved-monarch-butterflies-now-listed-as-endangered

A family were left stunned when their dog escaped only to return later that day with a rosette from a dog show. Peter and Paula Closier became sick with worry when their five-year-old beagle-cross Bonnie vanished on Sunday morning.

They looked all over the house in Bolney, West Sussex with their two daughters and their neighbours even joined in. Paula, 48, had called the police, vets and dog warden in a frantic bid to find her.

Little did they know John Wilmer had spotted the pet by the side of the road just minutes after she escaped as he took his two dogs to a show in Felbridge, Surrey. The family’s fears were eased when Paula spotted a Facebook post by John asking for the creature’s owner to get in touch.

And once he knew the owners had been told, John decided to enter Bonnie into the competition for best rescue dog and she returned with the third place rosette. When Bonnie got back she just thought she had had a fun day out but “knows she shouldn’t have run out in the morning.”

...

“When she was missing I had five different outcomes in my head, the best being that she came back. This was even better than that, she came back with a rosette.”

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/family-stunned-dog-runs-away-24477776

BREAKING — IG knew @SecretService texts from Jan 6 had been wiped in February … but didn’t tell Congress . That’s despite the fact that multiple committees were actively investigating Jan 6 and seeking those records w @mariasacchetti

A watchdog agency learned in February that the Secret Service had purged nearly all cellphone texts from around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, but chose not to alert Congress, according to three people briefed on the internal discussions.

That watchdog agency, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, also prepared in October 2021 to issue a public alert that the Secret Service and other department divisions were stonewalling it on requests for records and texts surrounding the attack on the Capitol, but did not do so, the people briefed on the matter said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal investigations.

The previously unreported revelation about the inspector general’s months-long delay in flagging the now-vanished Secret Service texts came from two whistleblowers who have worked with Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, the people knowledgeable about the internal discussions said.

In recent days, one former employee approached the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), an independent government-accountability group, and described the decision from Cuffari’s office not to promptly disclose that Secret Service records had been wiped from agency phones starting in January 2021. The group relayed the information to congressional staff, who independently corroborated the account with a second whistleblower.

Eric Trump changed his official residence from New York to Florida in March, following in his father’s footsteps, according to a declaration of domicile filed with the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office.

Six days later, Eric and his wife Lara closed on a $3.2 million, five-bedroom home by Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter. Although the purchase has gained some attention, the fact that Eric officially changed his domicile does not appear to have been previously reported. “Yes, that is correct,” the former president’s son, who helps oversee the Trump Organization, confirmed in an email. “I’m out of New York. Leased my apartment, moved my family, put my kids in new school in Florida.” 

Florida does not levy a state income tax, unlike New York, which taxes its highest earners at 8.82%.

Donald Trump, a lifelong New Yorker, switched his state of residence to Florida in 2019, tweeting “My family and I will be making Palm Beach, Florida, our permanent residence. I cherish New York, and the people of New York, and always will, but unfortunately, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2022/07/20/eric-trump-joins-family-in-leaving-new-york-declaring-florida-his-official-residence/

The Cobb County School District said Tuesday it’s halted the rollout of a new logo for an elementary school after parents pointed out similarities to Nazi iconography.

The logo for East Side Elementary in Marietta depicted an eagle, the school’s mascot, over the initials ES. The Nazi eagle, which was developed in the 1920s and later became a symbol for white supremacists worldwide, depicts an eagle holding a swastika in its talons.

Parents were notified of the new logo on Monday. It was chosen to “represent the eagle soaring into excellence and to honor the history of our great school,” the message to parents said. The district has been working with all schools to create logos, the message said.

The logo drew condemnation on social media.

https://www.ajc.com/education/cobb-school-logo-resembling-nazi-crest-sparks-outrage/EWC7I5TOS5BPLM75UGV5WGUF3M/