Also on today’s menu:
A Memorial For Christa McAuliffe
Raquel Welch Dies At 82
Yet Another Mass Shooting
The New Hampshire Supreme Court is hearing the state’s appeal of a decision allowing the American Civil Liberties Union-New Hampshire to have access to the personnel records of former State Trooper Haden Wilber, who was fired in 2021 for repeated lies about illegal searches of drivers at traffic stops. In particular was the case of a woman who won a $200,000 settlement after Wilber arrested her for allegedly possessing a small amount of heroin and smuggling additional drugs into jail inside her body. No drugs were found during an invasive body cavity search, and she spent 13 days in jail before her release.
Gilles Bissonnette, the legal director of ACLU-NH, told the court that most of that information became public only because Wilber chose to appeal his termination to the New Hampshire Personnel Appeals Board. New Hampshire State Police denied the request of public records related to Wilber’s disciplinary history. A superior court judge sided with the ACLU in May, ordering State Police to turn the files over. The state appealed the decision to the supreme court.
The ACLU maintains that the records could reveal more about how State Police trained and supervised Wilber, as well as the practices of the Mobile Enforcement Team of which he was a member. The case can help to clarify how RSA 105:13-b, a statute governing police personnel files, relates to New Hampshire’s right-to-know law that opens governmental records to the public with limited exceptions.
A Memorial For Christa McAuliffe
Governor Chris Sununu has announced plans to erect a permanent memorial on State House grounds to honor Christa McAuliffe, one of seven members of the crew of the Challenger space shuttle who lost their lives when the craft exploded shortly after takeoff on January 28, 1986. The 37-year-old from New Hampshire would have been the National Aeronautic and Space Administration’s first designated teacher in space.
Sununu has placed $500,000 in his state budget proposal for the memorial, and he issued an executive order creating a commission to study, design, and oversee its construction, with a timeline of having it completed for an unveiling by September 2, 2024, which would have been McAuliffe’s 76th birthday.
McAuliffe taught at Concord High School and her students traveled to the launch site, witnessing the tragedy. She is buried in a local cemetery, and the city named a planetarium for her, later changing the name to the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center to include recognition of Alan Shepard, another Granite Stater who was the first American in space. An elementary school, a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, and a commemorative coin also honored McAuliffe’s memory.
Raquel Welch Dies At 82
Jo-Raquel Tejada, known professionally as Raquel Welch, died peacefully after a brief illness on February 15 at age 82.
Welch, an international sex symbol in the 1960s, played roles ranging from a bikini-clad cavewoman in “One Million Years B.C.” to a scientist in “Fantastic Voyage.” She played a transgender star in the 1970 comedy “Myra Breckinridge” and won a Golden Globe for her role in 1974’s “The Three Musketeers.” In one of her most demanding roles, Welch played a woman with a degenerative illness in “Right To Die,” a 1987 drama for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe.
In her autobiography, Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, she discussed her childhood, her early career woes as a single mother in Hollywood, and why she would never lie about her age.
Yet Another Mass Shooting
Two people were taken into custody after one person was killed and three more were wounded in a shooting at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, on February 15.
The shooting occurred in a busy shopping area that lay across a large parking lot from the Walmart where 23 people were killed in a racist attack targeting Hispanic people in 2019.
U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar, whose district includes El Paso, reacted to the shootings on Twitter, saying, “Today’s shooting at the Cielo Vista Mall has brought back traumatic memories for many of us. Please know you are not alone.”
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