‘It is vindicating’: Britney’s supporters believe she will soon be free from her dad
There were no leaks of the courtroom audio this time but the voice of Britney Spears was heard just as loudly in her latest call for release from a controversial legal conservatorship.
Three weeks ago, when the performer first laid out her anguish at the impact of the arrangement on her life, the feed from a system designed to let people listen in remotely during the pandemic was streamed illegally online. The system has since been shut down.
So, as she embarked on round two of her assault on the legal system, it was just those packed inside Department 4 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court who could hear her plea for freedom.
What is perhaps most illustrative of the complexity of the conservatorship web surrounding Britney Spears is how long it takes to get all the relevant parties together in the same courtroom. More than a dozen lawyers appeared remotely or in-person at the hearing.
One of those lawyers alone mentioned a figure of $3m (£2.2m) racked up legal fees in this case – and this conservatorship has been going for 13 years.
During both of her appearances at the hearings, both times on the phone, the emotion was palpable. For the second time, she spoke so quickly the judge had to ask her to slow down for the sake of the court stenographer.
The words tumbled out: “I’m here to get rid of my dad. I want to press charges for abuse of conservatorship. I want an investigation on my dad,” she said. The arrangement is “literally letting my dad ruin my life”.
Her supporters believe she is close to being free of the conservatorship. Pic: AP
When she broke down crying, upset at what she saw as her family not caring for her, judge Brenda Penny told her softly to take a minute to compose herself.
Her allegations against her father and conservator Jamie were labelled “unsubstantiated” by his attorney.
The major victory for his daughter was permission to choose her own lawyer. Her choice Mathew Rosengart has represented a slew of Hollywood stars over the years and indicated that ending the conservatorship will be his first task.
“If he loves his daughter, it is time to step down,” he said of Mr Spears.
Many of the lawyers agreed that the conservatorship system is broken and not working in the interest of the person it is designed to protect. Campaigners say there are possibly millions of people in the same situation.
Spears’ new lawyer Mathew Rosengart has a big reputation. Pic: AP
Once again the cool austerity of the courtroom was in contrast to the boisterous support for Britney Spears in the heat on the street outside. It seems to grow with every hearing.
Of the latest legal victory, Leanne Simmons, one of the original organisers of the Free Britney campaign, told me: “It is vindicating. It’s been tough. We’ve been laughed at, we’ve been called conspiracy theorists, so to hear Britney confirm these things we’ve been fighting for, it is a little validating.”
A man who tried to shoot a pastor during his service at a church was wrestled to the floor after his gun failed to fire, according to police.
Bernard J. Polite, 26, said “God made me do it” and planned to “wait to be arrested”, court documents reveal, when he entered the Pennsylvania church just after 1pm on Sunday.
Glenn Germany, who was giving a sermon being live streamed from Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church, told WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh that Polite smiled at him just before he pointed the gun.
He ducked out of the way as someone from the congregation tackled Polite, before he helped to wrest the gun away and keep him down until officers arrived.
“I am feeling grateful that I woke up this morning and that I am here, it could have gone an opposite direction,” Mr Germany said on Monday.
“But God has intervened and I am grateful for him.”
Polite was not known at the church, officials said, and court filings say he wandered over to the church after hearing music coming from there.
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The body of a shooting victim was found in a home near the church in North Braddock, where Polite had been shortly before going to the church, county police said.
The county medical examiner’s office identified the body as Derek Polite, 56, of North Braddock, but did not confirm any specific relation to Bernard Polite.
Polite faces numerous charges, including aggravated assault and attempted homicide, and is in custody without bail.
State police said they don’t know if Polite has a lawyer, and county court records do not list one.
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In a Facebook post on Monday, the church said Pastor Glenn is “doing fine” and “he says he is doing great and blessed to be alive”.
“He sends his love to everyone and he thanks you all for your prayers and concerns,” it adds.
It could be a scene from centuries ago. In the Nevada desert, Native Americans are protesting over a mining project they say desecrates sacred land.
They are riding to Sentinel Mountain, which their ancestors once used as a lookout in times gone by. Here, they say, more than 30 of their people were massacred by US cavalry in 1865.
Today, the land is at the heart of America’s electric car revolution and Joe Biden’s clean energy policy
Native American tribal members say the mine neglects their interests and offends their history.
The route of the “Prayer Horse Ride”, a journey on horseback through mining-affected communities in Northern Nevada, is designed to publicise their objections.
“Being the original inhabitants of the land means we have cultural ties and roots to these landscapes,” says Gary McKinney, a member of the Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute tribe.
“To me, it’s sacred ground,” says Myron Smart. His grandmother survived the massacre of 1865 as a baby. Industrialising this place, he says, offends her memory and reflects the story of Native Americans through time.
“We’re people too. We have red blood just like everybody in the United States.”
Myron Smart says the land is sacred ground
Myron Smart’s grandmother, who survived the 1865 massacre
However, a US judge has rejected their complaints and the project is going ahead.
The open mine, which is on public land, will source lithium to power up to a million electric vehicles a year and will create 1,800 jobs in its construction phase.
President Biden aims to make the United States a world leader in electric vehicle technology and reduce reliance for lithium supply on countries like China.
The Thacker Pass project has supporters as well as opponents.
Lithium Americas, the company behind the project, insists the mine is not located on a massacre site. This was supported by a judge in 2021 who ruled the evidence presented by tribes “does not definitely establish that a massacre occurred” within the proposed project area.
Tim Crowley, the company’s VP of Government and External Affairs, said in a statement to Sky News: “Lithium Americas is committed to doing this project right, which is why we have a community benefits agreement in place with the local Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe that ensures benefits from Thacker Pass accrue to them.
“Concerns about cultural and environmental resources were thoroughly addressed in the BLM’s (Bureau of Land Management) approved Environmental Impact Statement, which withstood comprehensive reviews by the Federal District and Circuit Courts.”
However, members of different Nevada-based Native American tribes continue to oppose the mining project. They say their evidence of the 1865 massacre, and a separate inter-tribal conflict, is rooted in the oral history passed on from their ancestors, through generations – not collated with a court case in mind, but compelling nonetheless.
“Back in our ancestors’ days, they didn’t write any documentation down, they didn’t send letters, they didn’t write in journals,” says Gary. “So there was no way that the United States government could know our story.
“These stories have been passed down generation to generation, so we have direct lineage from survivors of these massacres, which is how these stories remain in our families.”
The courts have also rejected complaints by tribal members and conservationists on the environmental impact and planning consultation.
The project throws a focus onto the issues surrounding the pursuit of clean energy.
“First off, we have to acknowledge that we need electric vehicles,” says Amanda Hurowitz of Mighty Earth, a global environmental non-governmental organisation.
They are more efficient than petrol and diesel cars, she says, and they are needed for the US to hit its climate targets.
But they also need more mined minerals – like lithium – and getting those materials out of the ground has an impact.
“All mining operations need to get consent from the local people,” she adds, “and the more consent, the better.”
Authorities in California have been mocked over a “billion-dollar” bridge to nowhere.
The state government of California has long planned for a Los Angeles to San Francisco high-speed rail project.
Despite initial funding being approved back in 2008, the line is still a long way off and expected to cost over $100bn in total.
So far, construction has only begun on the earliest phase and further funding has been used on environmental planning ahead in the Phase I System.
However, the California High-Speed Rail Authority recently publicised one of the completed sections of construction – finished back in 2018 and reported to cost $1bn on its own.
This is a 0.3-mile stretch of bridge, called The Fresno River Viaduct in Madera County, and it has attracted ridicule for going from nowhere to nowhere.
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Pictures shared by the authority of the bridge show it connected to nothing at either end with some claiming it is indicative of the wider project.
It runs above a road and close to a number of houses – parallel to another rail track – but currently serves no purpose.
Elon Musk poked fun at the recent X post of the construction, with the billionaire posting a crying emoji in response to news of the project.
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Others waded in as well on social media.
However, a number of those criticising it made false claims of the viaduct, its cost and time it took to complete it.
Since it was finished six years ago, after three years of construction, dozens more structures have been completed and there are over a hundred miles in active construction across the project.
Due to the vast scale of high-speed rails, they are often complex, expensive and lengthy projects – with the California High Speed Rail being no different.
The rail would come into use some time in the early 2030s but scrapping it reportedly remains a possibility.
California High Speed Rail has been approached for comment.
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