Utah National Guardsmen Face Sanction Over Bikini Calendar Shoot on National Guard Property

A number of Utah National Guardsmen and State Troopers are in trouble after allowing a racy calendar shoot to take place at one of their facilities with scantily clad British models firing automatic weapons- some of which were the property of the state of Utah.

British bikini models fired guns owned by the state of Utah as an on-duty state police officer stood by, according the early findings of an ongoing investigation.

A second officer from the Utah Department of Public Safety was off-duty, according to a statement the department issued late Thursday.

DPS is investigating the two officers’ roles in the models’ photo and video shoot for the 2015 bikini calendar called "Hot Shots."

Meanwhile, the Utah National Guard also is investigating how the models entered Camp Williams and used resources there, including riding in a tank and other vehicles, as part of the shoot.

Logs from that day show that one of the officers was on duty and another off. Both belong to the department’s SWAT team.

While part of the photo shoot was at the Utah National Guard's Camp Williams, videos and stills of some of the barely dressed models were filmed at the privately operated Big Shots Ranch in Grantsville, UT.

Although policy for the Utah State Police allows for officers to serve as firearms instructors or display weapons in the department's armory to public officials or groups like the Boy Scouts, such events have to be pre-approved by the chain of command. Some of the guns used by the British models include the Heckler & Koch MP5 9mm submachine gun, a select fire 9mm Glock 18 [which means the gun can fire semiauto of full auto- NANESB!] and the M4 Carbine, the current US Army and National Guard issue rifle which is essentially a scaled down M-16 rifle. Although a Utah State Police spokesman said three of the weapons are believed to be agency-issue, the ammunition was reportedly provided by Big Shots range.

The two Utah State Police officers identified in the video were identified as members of the agency's SWAT team and logs indicate that one of them was on-duty at the time. Both of them were reportedly in uniform at the time, as well.

Meanwhile, the Camp Williams segment of the photo shoot may end up costing some National Guardsmen their jobs.

Maj. Gen. Jeff Burton told lawmakers Thursday that the handful of Guard members involved could face fines, demotions or forced retirements when an investigation is complete. Those involved, which include combat veterans and Purple Heart recipients, didn’t follow guidelines for private use of military equipment at Camp Williams, he said.

The Hot Shots calendar is available in early November and a portion of all sales will go to the UK-based Help for Heroes charitable organization.

National Guard Deployed to St Louis Suburb After Week of Protests and Looting

After criticizing the presence of 'militarized' police in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO last week, Missouri governor Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard into the city to restore order on Sunday night.

The unrest started last weekend when a Ferguson police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager named Mike Brown. Although some witnesses gave conflicting accounts that claimed Brown was fleeing or surrendering when he was shot, the police claim that there was an altercation before the shooting where Brown tried to take the officer's service weapon.

After the shooting, a number of vigils and protests in Ferguson where demonstrators called for the officer to be charged with homicide took place [there are some unconfirmed reports out of St Louis that seem to corroborate the officer's version of events- NANESB!].

As tensions between citizens and area law enforcement escalated- with looting and clashes with police in riot gear following the shooting- state and local officials decided to hand over authority to the Missouri Highway Patrol and Captain Ron Johnston. Johnson espoused a hands-off approach to de-escalate tensions, in some instances outsourcing public safety to domestic terror groups like the Black Panthers. However, the clashes and looting continued over the next several nights [further agitated by outside groups such as the Revolutionary Communist Party and New Black Panther Party- NANESB!].

Heading into the weekend, Gov Nixon ordered a midnight curfew for the city of Ferguson as the looting and clashes continued. However, looters ignored the curfew and raided a Dominoes Pizza, Family Dollar store, a self-storage unit and an auto parts store. Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson also released surveillance video purportedly showing Brown committing a strong-arm robbery of a nearby convenience store shortly before the shooting took place, despite pleas from the DOJ not to do so.

An autopsy was also conducted that determined Brown was shot six times- none of them in the back, contrary to early eyewitness accounts. US Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a federal autopsy of Brown and ordered FBI agents to canvas the neighborhood to search for possible additional witnesses to the shooting.

New England Digs Out of Massive Snowstorm, Braces for Record Cold to Kick off 2014

Reuters photo

We didn't have to wait very long for the first big storm of 2014 to hit New England. Winter storm Hercules [seriously- how long have we been naming winter storms?- NANESB!] dumped two feet of snow on eastern Massachusetts followed by subzero temperatures. The storm also was blamed on thousands of cancelled flights from airports Boston to Cleveland as well as at least 15 deaths throughout the Midwest and Northeast. In Massachusetts, the National Guard was activated in case evacuations of any coastal areas were necessary.

Soldiers and Airmen from the Massachusetts National Guard preparing vehicles to check on roads and bridges in eastern Massachusetts ahead of the arrival of  65th Public Affairs Operation Center

In addition to the nearly two feet of snowfall in some areas, the National Weather Service has said windchill would bring temperatures down into the -20s with what forecasters are describing as an 'Arctic Blast' before temperatures get back into the 20s and 30s. Many forecasts are also predicting rain over much of the northeastern USA over the next few days.

Surprisingly, the Berkshires and western Massachusetts got off relatively light, averaging about 9 inches in Pittsfield and North Adams.

Death Toll From Colorado Flooding Revised As Waters Recede

Helen H. Richardson- Denver Post

At least 7 people are feared dead after floodwaters tore through parts of Colorado's Front Range north of Denver last week. The college town of Boulder was particularly hard hit and several outlying mountain towns were cut off from the rest of the state after rising floodwaters undercut state and local highways.

Transportation networks were also snarled by the flooding, as rising waters shut down portions of I-25 between Denver and Cheyenne, WY. Union Pacific was working to restore service over their Denver- Cheyenne mainline as well as portions of the former Rio Grande Denver to Salt Lake City mainline just west of Denver. The UP is also working to shore up their transcontinental mainline downstream in Nebraska from additional damage from the floodwaters.

Joseph K Vonnida- Getty photo

The Colorado National Guard had been activated and was using helicopters and high wheel vehicles in an attempt to get to some of the completely cut off homes and towns in the mountains. The National Guard has also made it a point to evacuate people with their pets if possible in what officials are calling "No pets left behind".

Early estimates put the total amount property damage in the $2 billion range. Rebuilding efforts will likely be complicated by the fact that most of the damaged structures and properties lack flood insurance.

Hundreds of Thousands Without Power As Death Toll From Hurricane Sandy Expected to Rise

Storm surge from Hurricane Sandy inundating the Inlet section of Atlantic City, NY as seen from above Dan Cuellar photo

From Labrador to South Carolina, much of the eastern seaboard is digging out from the havoc wrought by Hurricane Sandy's impact and local officials are starting to assess the damage as the death toll from the storm is expected to climb.

Hurricane Sandy- dubbed Frankenstorm after some meteorological projections put it on a collision course with another winter storm system moving in from the Midwest- made landfall just south of Atlantic City, NJ on October 30 before moving inland into Pennsylvania. Although it lost strength after moving inland, all five boroughs of New York City were hit particularly hard by the outer bands of Sandy.

Sandy's impact on the Big Apple was a double whammy of storm surges coming around the same time as high tide. From lower Manhattan to Queens, streets, tunnels and subway lines were flooded, stranding residents and forcing the NYPD and FDNY to respond to a number of calls by boat. In the Breezy Point section of Queens, as many as 110 homes were lost during a 5-alarm fire since the FDNY's trucks could not navigate the flooded streets to reach the homes until the tide receded.

State Island was the hardest hit out of all the boroughs in New York City. Portions of the island were under an evacuation order, but a number of residents chose to ride it out after Staten Island was left relatively unscathed by Sandy last year. According to officials 15 of the 39 confirmed fatalities in New York City from Sandy were on Staten Island.

Even amid the storm, several New York City hospitals took the unprecedented step of evacuating hundreds of patients as backup generators failed. Bellvue Hospital, which had received patients from elsewhere during the storm, began evacuating about 400 patients to Mt. Sinai. A New York City Health and Hospital Corporation official said that National Guardsmen activated due to Sandy instrumental in bringing in much needed fuel for the generator and assisting staff with transporting patients into waiting ambulances. Some of the patients had to be moved down 17 flights of stairs.

With some subway lines still inundated with saltwater, New York's MTA announced that it will resume limited subway service in Manhattan beginning Friday.

While power had been restored to some 4 million households throughout the region, at least 2.5 million are still without electricity in the New York metropolitan area. Across the Hudson in New Jersey, people have been lining up by the hundreds at gas stations to fill their cars or keep their generators running. Many gas stations are without power and remain closed while the ones that are open sell out quickly and it could be days before they're resupplied. This means that many in the slow-moving gas lines- some nearly two miles in length- will have waited in vain.

Amtrak announced that limited intercity service to Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC will resume out of New York's Penn station beginning Friday.

Downtown Elkins, WV under a blanket of snow from the western portion of Hurricane Sandy. Higher elevations in the Appalachians received anywhere from 2 to 3 feet of snowfall. AP Photo/Vicki Smith

To the west, Sandy dumped several feet of snow in West Virginia and central Pennsylvania. At least 6 people were confirmed killed in West Virginia and an estimated 109,000 customers throughout the state were still without power on Thursday, prompting Gov. Tomblin to seek a federal disaster declaration. At least 36 state highways remained shut down on Thursday due to rising floodwaters, fallen tree limbs and heavy snowfall. The melting snow is also expected to saturate the Potomac watershed in the coming weeks.

Four National Guardsmen Killed In C-130 Crash While Fighting South Dakota Blaze

MAFFs equipped C-130 dropping retardant on Colorado's Waldo Creek fire in June- Hyoung Chang Photo via Denver Post

An Air National Guard C-130 specially equipped to drop water or retardant on wildfires crashed while battling a blaze in the Black Hills region of South Dakota over the weekend, killing at least four crewmen.

Those killed in the crash have been identified as Lt. Col. Paul K. Mikeal, 42, of Mooresville, Maj. Joseph M. McCormick, 36, of Belmont, Maj. Ryan S. David, 35, of Boone, and Senior Master Sgt. Robert S. Cannon, 50. Two other crew members were seriously injured in the crash, but military officials have declined to identify them. The aircraft was from the North Carolina Air National Guard's Charlotte-based 145th Airlift Wing.

The crash prompted the grounding of six other MAFFs-equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft deployed to combat wildfires throughout the Western United States, although they were cleared to take off again by Tuesday afternoon.

Citing favorable a favorable shift in the wind, officials estimated that the White Draw fire north of Edgemont, SD was 50% contained by Tuesday.

With the crash and subsequent grounding of the MAFFS-euipped C-130s [Modular Airborne Firefighting System], there were less than a dozen fixed wing aircraft available to combat wildfires that have been sparked in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Daktoa, Utah, Airzona, New Mexico and Nevada. The nation's already-dwindling firefighting aircraft fleet was down to just 9 fixed wing aircraft after a deadly plane crash near the Nevada-Utah in June killed two crew members, a P2V tanker made a crash landing at a northern Nevada airport and another P2V was taken out of commission after large cracks were discovered in the airframe.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, evacuation orders were lifted for some parts of the city as fire officials said the devestating Waldo Canyon fire was around 70% contained. The fire, which began in a national forest about 11 days ago, destroyed about 350 homes in the Colorado Springs area and is the costliest wildfire in the history of Colorado.

Streaky Sports Chowdah Update- Brady, Pats Soar in Meadowlands, Stymie Sanchez & Jets; Miller, Sabres Rattled in Boston; Wilson Ramos Safe at Home

NFL: If it feels like forever since the Patriots last won a game, that's probably because the last time they actually won a game was on October 16th against Dallas. Since then, New England has had a bye week and Sunday afternoon losses to the Steelers and Giants, setting up a pivotal prime-time matchup between them and the Jets- each team sporting an identical 5-3 record heading into Sunday night.

New England was also coming into Sunday night's game at New Jersey's Meadowlands with an injury-depleted defense after releasing lineman Albert Hainesworth (who was eventually picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Jim Davis- Boston Globe photo

The Jets opening drive got off to a promising start, beginning on their own 33 and moving down the field to inside the New England 10 yard line while taking barely two minutes, but after a 3 yard rush at the Patriots 10 and 2 straight incompletions from QB mark Sanchez at the 6, the Jets had to settle for a 24 yard FG attempt, which Jets kicker Nick Folk missed.

For their first two possessions, the Patriots would make their way into Jets territory, but be held to FG attempts each time (Gronkowski would make both attempts- one from the 50 and one from the 36 yard line- to make it a 6-0 Patriots lead).

The Jets would get on the board at the 4:44 mark of the 2nd period after Pats QB Tom Brady fumbled on their own 8 yard line, then get assessed a 5 yard penalty on their own 5 for a Jets safety to make it a 6-2 game with New England on top.

The Jets would then start their next drive from their own 35, taking all of 1:18 off the game clock to find the end zone to take a brief 9-7 lead over the Patriots when Sanchez ran the ball in from the Patriots 2 yard line.

However, even in some of their earlier losses, the Patriots offense has demonstrated a certain resiliency and ability to strike quickly and the final minute and 20 seconds of the 1st half on Sunday night's game was no exception. Starting on their own 20, New England managed to drive all the way down to the Jets 16 yard line when they found the end zone for the first time in the evening when Brady connected to Rob Gronkowski with 9 seconds left in the half to go up 13-9.

New England would get the ball to start off the 2nd half, although the Pats and Jets would trade 3 and outs on their first possessions. The Patriots managed to pad their lead on their second possession after Joe McKnight fumbled a Zoltan Mesko punt and New England recovered, coming away from the Jets 9 yard line with another Gostkowski FG to show for it to make it 16-9 New England.

The Jets followed that up by starting on their own 40 yard line and getting as far as the Patriots 37 before linebacker Rob Ninkovich intercepted a thrice-tipped Mark Sanchez pass and ran it back for 18 yards, giving New England the ball back on their own 43. With the shorter field, New England marched right down and Brady found Gronkowski for another TD pass to really start to break things open with a 23-9 lead with 4:44 to go in the 3rd. The Jets would come right back with a lengthy drive of their own to make it a 23-16 game early in the 4th. However, the Patriots offense would answer with another scoring drive of their own, hitting paydirt when Brady connected with Deion Branch for an 8 yard TD run to make it a 30-16 game.

The backbreaker would come on the following possession when the Jets were pinned deep in their own end and Ninkovich picked off Mark Sanchez again, returning the INT 12 yards for a pick 6 to put the game away at 37-16 with 7:45 to go in regulation.

This was a pretty big road win for New England, breaking a deadlock in the AFC East and regaining some momentum that had been missing for nearly a month. Just when it looked like the rest of the NFL seemed to have Brady figured out, he goes 26-39 with 329 yards and three TD passes and no interceptions.

Sunday night's win puts Brady and Belichick as the winningest coach & QB tandem since the AFL/NFL merger in 1966, breaking a tie with Miami's Dan Marino and Don Shula. New England also has not lost three consecutive games since 2002.

For next week's matchup, the Patriots find themselves in the prime time limelight when they host the Kansas City Chiefs and former Pats QB Matt Cassel at Foxbourough, MA on Monday night football.

NCAA FOOTBALL: For better or worse, all eyes were on Happy Valley Satuday afternoon for some actual football amid the Penn State sex abuse scandal when the Nittany Lions would take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the first time in 46 years without Joe Paterno.

Nebraska got out to an early 10-0 lead in the first half before adding to that lead in the 2nd half to make it 17-0. The Nittany Lions would get on the board late in the 3rd to make it 17-7 and close the gap to 17-14 with 6 minutes to go in the 3rd, but the Lions final drive sputtered and fell flat on a 4th and 1 on Penn State's own 46 as time expired.

AP Photo

ACC: Speaking of low-scoring NCAA Football games, both Boston College QBs played a role in the Eagles 3rd win (2nd against an ACC opponent) of the season on Saturday against the North Carolina State Wolfpack. Backup Josh Bordner got BC on the board in the first with a 3 yard TD run to make it 7-0. After the Wolfpack fot on the board with a 32 yard FG, Eagles starting QB Chase Rettig then returned to the game and connected with WR Colin Larmond for a 17 yard TD catch.

Surprisingly, that was all the would need. Although they allowed an NC State touchdown early in the 3rd quarter, the Eagles defense pitched a shutout and Boston College hangs on to win by a 14-10 final.

Next week, the BC Eagles will travel to South Bend, IN to take on #24 Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish won the last contest between the two Catholic institutions last year at Chestnut Hill by a 31-13 final.

Babineau/Bruins.com photo

NHL: Wow- so much to love about Saturday night's affair at the Garden that the game itself seemed like a mere afterthought.

For the pregame ceremony before the Sabres and Bruins got underway at the Garden. the Bruins arranged for Daron and Lori Jacobs of Pembroke, MA do the ceremonial puck drop. Their son is a Lieutenant in the Massachusetts National Guard and had recently deployed to Afghanistan, but unbeknownst to them was in the building Saturday night to join them in time for the pregame ceremony. For those of you who missed it, NESN thoughtfully tweeted a link to this embeddable video over the weekend.


Both Buffalo and Boston were going into Saturday night's game riding a 4-game winning streak. The Sabres got the only goal of the first period on a Thomas Vanek tally 5 minutes and 38 seconds. However, the most talked about moment from the first period was Milan Lucic's hit on Ryan Miller when he ventured out of the crease to play the puck as it bounced off the boards. The hit sent Miller on his backside and his mask flying while earning Lucic a trip to the sin bin for charging.

At the 7:40 mark of the 2nd period, Rich Peverly got Boston on the board, beating Ryan Miller to tie the game at 1-1. Boston would then score two goals in sixteen seconds from Tyler Seguin and Nathan Horton to make it 3-1.

The Bruins would then blow it open in the 3rd, scoring three more goals (including Seguin's second of the night) while Buffalo would get a late power-play goal after the game was basically decided. The Bruins go on to win their 5th in a row and are above the .500 mark after downing the Sabres 6-2.

The postgame talk, however, centered around not only Lucic's hit on Miller, but Buffalo's response- or lack thereof. There was no retaliation from any of Buffalo's enforcers and on Monday, it was announced that there would be no further punishment from the NHL against Lucic for the hit.

The 8-7-0 Bruins homestand continues on Tuesday night against the 8-6-1 New Jersey Devils. Puck drops at 7 PM and the game will be televised on NESN.

MLB: Just 51 hours after his abduction, Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was freed from his captors after a prolonged shootout between his kidnappers and police at a remote hideout.

Washington Post Image

According to a statement from Venezuelan investigators, six suspects were taken into custody when Ramos was freed and five Colombian nationals- thought to be accomplices- were held for questioning on Monday.

The rescue operation took place in a remote area of western Venezuela's mountainous Carabobo state where police and soliders either had to hike in or be flown in by helicopter. Ramos was reuinted with his family in Valencia by 3 AM the following morning.

Also on Monday, it was announced that Ramos finished 4th overall in balloting for National League Rookie of the Year.

RED SOX: The Jonathan Papelbon era in Boston has officially come to an end with the free agent closer reaching a 4 year, $50 million deal that includes a vesting option for 2016. This would be the most lucrative contract for a closing pitcher on record.

CARDINALS: After interviewing Ryne Sandberg, Terry Francona and Jose Oquendo, the St Louis Cardinals have named former catcher Make Matheny as their new manager. Matheny was behind the plate for St Louis when they were swept by the Red Sox in the 2004 World Series. The catcher won 4 gold gloves- all of them with the Cardinals- before signing with the San Francisco Giants in 2006 as a free agent and ultimately retiring as a player due to post concussion syndrome.

MARLINS: Amid much fanfare, the Marlins unveiled their new 2012 uniforms and official name-change to the Miami Marlins to coincide with the scheduled opening of their new ballpark in Little Havana.

The Marlins have also reportedly been in talks with free agent 1B Albert Pujols, although there's no indication that those talks have gone anywhere yet.

ASTROS: There could be another realignment in the works as prospective Houston Astros owner Jim Crane has reportedly agreed to switch from the National League to the American League as early as 2013.

The move must get the approval of other MLB franchise owners, but it's thought the move could save Jim Crane a discount of almost $50 million on the Astros purchase price.

NBA: As negotiations between the team owners and Players association continue to wither on the vine, Yahoo Sports is reporting that a number of disgruntled players gathered for a clandestine conference to decertify the NBA Players association.

As it stands, even if the dispute were resolved tomorrow, there would be no NBA games until mid-December at the earliest. However, it looks like the season is pretty much dead as it is.

Reuters Photo

NCAA HOOPS: As indifferent as I am about College hoops, I still thought this was pretty cool.

Before a crowd of about 7000 including President Obama on board the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, the NCAA Basketball season got underway when #1 North Carolina took on Michigan State on a basketball court set up on the carrier's deck while she was in San Diego.

Play was a little sloppy because there was intermittent wind and drizzle, making the court slick and 3 pointers problematic at times, but North Carolina bested the Spartans by a 67-55 final.

The game drew favorable comparisons to the NHL's now-annual New Year's Day Winter Classic outdoor game, and there is talk of not only a second 'Carrier Classic' next November, but also making it a doubleheader or adding some women's games.

Nevada National Guardsmen Among Four Killed After Gunman Opens Fire on Nevada Restaurant

A gunman opened fire on a Carson City, NV International House of Pancakes restaurant, killing four people and wounding seven before turning the gun on himself. Of the 12 people the gunman shot, five were uniformed members of the Nevada National Guard who were dining together.

Because of where the Guard members were sitting and the fact they were in uniform, investigators say it appears the shooter -- Eduardo Sencion, 32, a Carson City resident who worked in nearby Tahoe and had no criminal history -- could have targeted them, Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said this evening.

"Information suggests at this point in time that the National Guard members were sitting all the way into the restaurant along the southeast side and that he entered through the front doors and traveled all the way through the restaurant to the back area," Furlong said.

"Obviously when five out of 11 of the victims are uniformed National Guard members, that's taking a priority interest in our agency," he said.

Investigators are still trying to determine what motive there might have been for the shooting rampage, the sheriff said.

"There has been some suggestion by his family members that there is some mental health issues that we are going to have to look into," he said.

Sencion allegedly walked into the restaurant shortly before 9 a.m. brandishing an AK47 and started shooting, then ended it by shooting himself in the head, police said. He was taken to a hospital where he died three hours later.

Carson City Chief Deputy Jack Freer said that the people wounded at the IHOP were taken to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno and a hospital in Carson City. He said their conditions were unknown.

Sencion worked at a family-run market in nearby Tahoe and was described by coworkers and quiet and helpful and showing no apparent signs of trouble. FBI agents were interviewing coworkers and searching Sencion's residence on Thursday, removing two computers. According to reports in the Nevada Appeal, Sencion had a US Passport that expired in 2002.

[With the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 approaching as well as the 2009 shootings at Little Rock, AR and Ft Hood, TX targeting US Soldiers in mind, it isn't beyond the pale to have considered some sort of radical Islam element to this shooting- NANESB!]

A pair of funds for the victims of the shootings as well as their families have been established- one through the Carson Medical Group and the other through the Nevada Military Support Alliance.

Still Reeling From Irene, Northeast Braces For Arrival of Additional Rain

Brattleboro Reformer Facebook Page

As National Guardsmen and utility crews were working to reach some of Vermont's isolated, flood-ravaged towns by air and damaged roads, forecasters were predicting additional thunderstorms to come in from the west over Labor Day weekend. While dozens of roads remain closed to through traffic throughout the Green Mountain state, the village of Wardsboro, VT is reportedly the only town that's completely inaccessible by land on Thursday.

AP Photo

Complicating relief efforts in the Green Mountain state was the fact that 55 Guardsmen and all six of the Vermont National Guard's Blackhawk helicopters are presently deployed to Iraq. In the immediate aftermath of Irene, the New Hampshire National Guard sent two Blackhawks to Vermont and assistance came from as far away as Illinois when six CH-47 and two Blackhawk helicopters were dispatched. Food, water and other supplies were previously being made by the Vermont National Guard's much smaller Kiowa and Lakota helicopters.

Up and down the East coast as many as 900,000 utility customers from North Carolina's Outer Banks to the Green Mountains remain without power and farmers were assessing damage to their crops and livestock.

As the state government and individual Vermonters launched online appeals for donations and volunteer workers on Thursday, the Obama Administration approved emergency aid and funding for the Green Mountain state.

Roads Crumble, Bridges Collapse and Towns Cut Off As Vermont, Upstate New York Lashed by Remnants of Hurricane Irene

Andre Malebra- Burlington Free Press

After making a second landfall on Sunday outside of Egg Harbor Township just outside of Atlantic City, NJ, Hurricane Irene churned north and was downgraded to a tropical storm around the same time she made a third and final landfall near Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY.

However, the storm would continue wreaking havoc with torrential rains and inland flooding as it continued north through the mountain ranges on either side of the Hudson River.



Southwest of Albany, Scoharie County was hit particularly hard by heavy rains and flooding. The rains sent water over the banks and through the main streets of towns like Prattsville and Windham.

Irene did not let up when she crossed over into the Green Mountain state, dumping as much as 11 inches of rain in just under 48 hours, turning placid rivers into swollen torrents of water sweeping away cars, homes, railroads, chunks of highways and even the region's iconic covered bridges.



Portions of roadways and bridges throughout Vermont have been washed out, leaving entire towns severed from the rest of the state. Route 9, a two lane thoroughfare that crosses the southern portion of Vermont linking Bennington with Brattleboro has been closed indefinitely according to the Vermont Agency of Transportation. At least 30 bridges on state highways- from covered to modern- remained closed as well as any number of bridges on county or municipal roads.

The Vermont National Guard was activated to airlift food, clean water and supplies to towns by helicopter where the road links to the rest of the state had been severed. With 55 Vermont National Guard soldiers and 6 Blackhawk helicopters deployed in Iraq, the National Guard from New Hampshire and Illinois sent additional craft and personnel to assist while high-wheeled vehicles were used to traverse stretches of road that had been washed away.

So far the death toll from Irene is 41 throughout 11 states. The storm is also responsible for an estimated $7 billion in property damage from North Carolina's Outer Banks to northern Vermont.

BREAKING STORY- SENATOR-ELECT SCOTT BROWN (R-MA) LINKED TO SECRETIVE, HEAVILY ARMED MILITA GROUP!

The crack research staff at Not Another New England Sports Blog! has just uncovered Senator-elect Scott Brown's (R-MA) ties to a heavily armed militia group known to congregate in New England. Reportedly the group assembles one weekend a month and two weeks a year and was reportedly active in the Boston area during the 2004 Democratic National Convention and has also been seen with weaponry in and around Logan airport.

The group has a long history in the region and is best known for inciting violence against authority figures shortly after it's founding.

A spokesman for Scott Brown was unable to take our inquiries seriously and declined to comment, but this photo NANESB! obtained would indicate that Brown has risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel within the organization.

Veteran's Day. November 11, 2009.

No updates today. As far as I'm concerned, November 11 is sacrosanct. No sports scores, no trains, no politics, no dysfunctional beauty pageant winners. Today is not the day....

To all the other Veterans of our armed forces, past and present and their loved ones- thank you for your service and sacrifice. To those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, may you at last find peace on the other side.

To our allies north of the border, here's a moving tribute to Canada's fallen from Don Cherry on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.