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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 8 November 2022

Judge rejects claims of election violations in Detroit

By ED WHITE Associated "Despite plaintiffs' argu-
Press ments to 'shed light in a dark
DETROIT (AP) — A judge place,' they have failed
threw out a lawsuit Mon- dramatically," the judge
day that challenged voting said. "Over an eight-hour
by absentee ballot in De- evidentiary hearing, no evi-
troit, saying a Republican dence of election law vio-
candidate for secretary of lations" was revealed.
state failed to produce any Kenny noted that Detroit
evidence of violations. elections administrator
"Plaintiffs have raised a Daniel Baxter and former
red flag of election law Michigan elections direc-
violations and corruption tor Chris Thomas testified
concerning Detroit's pro- about how the city per-
cedures for the November forms its job.
8th election. This court's rul- Approximately 60,000 De-
ing takes down that flag," troit voters had submitted
Wayne County Judge Tim an absentee ballot by last
Kenny wrote. Thursday, Kenny said.
Kristina Karamo and others "While it is easy to hurl accu-
sued to try to force Detroit Former President Barack Obama, second from left, campaigns for Michigan Gov. Gretchen sations of violations of law
Whitmer, left, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, and Attorney General
residents to vote in person Dana Nessel, right, during a rally, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, in Detroit. and corruption, it is another
or go to the city clerk's of- Associated Press matter to come forward
fice to get an absentee and produce the evidence
ballot. making a variety of alle- sentee ballots and monitors claimed the city was us- our Constitution and laws
They filed a lawsuit 13 days gations about how Detroit drop-off boxes. The lawsuit, ing "uncertified high-speed require," the judge said.q
before Tuesday's election, reviews signatures on ab- among other things, also tabulators" to count votes.

Protect Louisiana, Texas land for rare burrowing snake

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Fish and Wildlife Service lands qualify for such des- canopied pine savannas, eral agency said.
Associated Press has proposed as critical ignation. said Don Dietz, consulting Big Cypress State Park
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Four habitat. Private land in- In north Louisiana's Bien- biologist for a family that makes up about 0.5% of the
areas in Louisiana and two cluding some covered by ville Parish, private owners owns 70% of the land. proposed Bienville unit. An-

in Texas should be protect- conservation agreements hold more than 99% of a "Red-cockaded wood- other 8.4 square miles (22
ed as critical habitat for a comprises all of the small- proposed area about the peckers eat a lot of ants, square kilometers) are part
rare snake that eats pocket est, in Texas, and virtually size of Milwaukee roughly which need the open area of a conservation agree-
gophers and takes over the all of the biggest, in north 95 square miles (246 square below. So the habitat is es- ment benefiting the snake,
rodents' burrows, the fed- Louisiana where the largest kilometers). The smallest sentially the same," Dietz according to Fish and Wild-
eral government says. known population lives. area, about 8 square miles said. life's economic analysis.
Louisiana pinesnakes, Critical habitat is a limited (20 square kilometers) in Noah Greenwald, endan- The Weyerhaeuser Co. an-
which produce the largest protection, affecting only Scrappin' Valley, Texas, is gered species director at nounced in 2020 that it
eggs and hatchlings of any contracts using federal all privately held. the environmental non- had a 30-year agreement
U.S. snake, have been pro- money or requiring federal However, the Scrappin' profit Center for Biological to manage land in Bien-
tected as threatened since permits. Other critical habi- Valley land is already man- Diversity, said, "Far too few ville Parish for the Louisiana
2018. Their decline is largely tat decisions have sparked aged for endangered little private landowners care pinesnake.
due to the drastic reduc- challenges by landowners red-cockaded woodpeck- about nature and ensuring Weyerhaeuser said it is
tion and fragmentation of and dissension over what ers, which also need open- species like the Louisiana working to understand how
grassy longleaf pine savan- pinesnake survive. When the federal proposal "would
nas with sandy soil. And it does happen it's really overlap and potentially im-
since Louisiana pinesnakes' great." pact the acres of critical
5-inch-long (12.7-centime- The Fish and Wildlife Service habitat we are currently
ter) eggs are so big that said two of seven known protecting for the Louisiana
they lay only three to five pinesnake populations are pinesnake."
at a time, losses are hard to in Texas, but Dietz was dubi- The company said in 2020
replace. ous. He said he tried unsuc- that state and federal biol-
The snakes grow to 5 feet cessfully for a decade to ogists helped it identify two
long (1.5 meters) but are trap Louisiana pinesnakes areas totaling about 2.8
hard to count because to prove they lived in Scrap- square miles (7.25 square
they spend more than half pin' Valley. kilometers) as the most im-
their time underground. "I want to believe there's portant for the snake. It
They also are camouflaged some out there, but in Tex- said it would convert about
on brown pine needles, as there may not be," Dietz 440 acres (180 hectares)
with black, brown and rus- A baby Louisiana pinesnake poking its head out of its egg said. from loblolly to longleaf
set patches on a buff to while hatching at the Memphis Zoo on July 8, 2010. The U.S. Other populations live in pine and keep another
yellowish background. government says four areas in Louisiana and two in Texas should Louisiana's Bienville, Grant, 1,383 acres (560 hectares)
National forests cover most be protected as critical habitat for a rare snake that eats small Natchitoches, Sabine, and with an open canopy and
of four areas that the U.S. gophers and takes over their burrows. Associated Press Vernon parishes, the fed- grassy forest floor.q