Photo provided by CBJ following the installation of the HESCO barrier project
Photo provided by CBJ following the installation of the HESCO barrier project
With the summer heat rising and water levels climbing in Suicide Basin, emergency officials, city officials and the National Weather Service are closely monitoring the threat of another glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in the Mendenhall River Valley. This threat follows a record flood event on August 6, 2024, which swept through neighborhoods, damaged property, and reshaped how Juneau prepares for these recurring flooding events.
Suicide Basin, located above the Mendenhall Glacier, has released floodwaters nearly every year since 2011. These events occur when meltwater trapped behind the glacier breaks through ice dams, sending torrents into Mendenhall Lake and River below.
As of Monday, July 7, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports that the basin’s laser-monitored water elevation is approximately 1,224 feet, well below the 1,247 feet recorded on the same date last year, and more than 100 feet below 2023 levels. The current elevation is about 147 feet below the overflow channel, which begins spilling at 1,371 feet.
If the rate of rise in the basin remains around 4 feet per/day, this would result in a full basin in 37 days, though the rate of the rise could change.
These differences in water levels from 2024 and 2023 to current levels are due to the cold spring/early summer time temperatures. Freezing levels remained 3000 to 4000 feet through the spring and early summer time but are now around 7000 feet, meaning rapid melt could accelerate water accumulation.
Monitoring equipment, including two daily cameras and a USGS laser sensor, remains active. Officials caution that water level data may show occasional jumps or drops due to icebergs disrupting sensor readings.
City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) officials, in partnership with state, federal, and tribal agencies, have implemented Phase 1 and Phase 1A of a near-term flood mitigation strategy. With guidance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, CBJ has installed HESCO barriers along vulnerable stretches of the Mendenhall River. These modular barriers are designed to protect against floodwaters as high as 18 feet.
Given the growing threat and lack of a permanent solution, officials urge Juneau residents, especially those in the Mendenhall Valley, to take stay informed and prepared.
This map from the U.S. Geological Survey shows the former Nazi Creek on Little Kiska Island. (U.S. Geological Survey photo)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
A small creek on Alaska’s Little Kiska Island has been renamed, more than 80 years after it was named after Germany’s Nazi Party by World War II soldiers fighting in the Aleutians.
Nazi Creek was the last landmark in the United States to bear the Nazi name. Its new name is “Kaxchim Chiĝanaa,” meaning either “gizzard creek” or “creek or river belonging to gizzard island” in Unangam Tunuu, the language of the Indigenous Unangax̂ people.
On Thursday, the Domestic Names Committee of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted 17-0 to approve the new name, without discussion.
The board’s decision allows the federal government to officially change the creek’s name in federal databases that are the official repository of geographic names. That repository is used by federal agencies and commercial companies that provide maps to the general public.
The board also approved the renaming of nearby “Nip Hill,” named by soldiers using a derogatory term for Japanese people. That hill was renamed “Kaxchim Qayaa,” or “gizzard hill,” again using the traditional name for Little Kiska Island, which is not far from Kiska Island, site of a World War II battle.
Michael Livingston, an employee of the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, has been working for almost two years to have the names changed. Moses Dirks, an expert on Unangam Tunuu, recommended the new names.
“I think that’s pretty awesome. I think elders … and others are happy about it. It really should have never been there in the first place,” Livingston said of Thursday’s vote.
“Like one of my teachers … used to say, if you know something that can make our community better, our villages better, be brave and stand up and say something about it, do something about it,” Livingston said.
The new names were previously recommended by the Alaska Historical Commission, which considered them in April. The changes were endorsed by local Native tribes and Native corporations, the Museum of the Aleutians, the manager of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, Congregation Beth Sholom of Anchorage, and the Alaska Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, among others.
Kiska Island is located 242 miles west of Adak, at the far end of the Aleutian Islands. The area has been mostly uninhabited since World War II, when invading Japanese forces took 42 people on Attu Island prisoner. More than half died in Japanese internment camps.
The United States forcibly relocated almost 900 Unangax̂ residents of the Aleutian Islands, housing them in unsuitable internment camps in Southeast Alaska and elsewhere. Many became sick and died from the conditions imposed by the government.
Aleutian Islands residents subsequently received reparations from the federal government under legislation that also paid reparations to Japanese Americans also interned during the war.
Livingston’s work isn’t yet complete. He’s also seeking to rename Quisling Cove, a small body of water named after the Norwegian Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling. That name change remains pending.
While a recent Justice Department memo prioritizes national security cases, it directs the department to “maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence” across 10 broad priority categories.
Denaturalization is different from deportation, which removes noncitizens from the country. With civil denaturalization, the government files a lawsuit to strip people’s U.S. citizenship after they have become citizens, turning them back into noncitizens who can then be deported.
The government can only do this in specific situations. It must prove someone “illegally procured” citizenship by not meeting the requirements, or that they lied or hid important facts during the citizenship process.
The Trump administration’s “maximal enforcement” approach means pursuing any case where evidence might support taking away citizenship, regardless of priority level or strength of evidence. As our earlier research documented, this has already led to cases like that of Baljinder Singh, whose citizenship was revoked based on a name discrepancy that could easily have resulted from a translator’s error rather than intentional fraud.
A brief history
For most of American history, taking away citizenship has been rare. But it increased dramatically during the 1940s and 1950s during the Red Scare period characterized by intense suspicion of communism. The United States government targeted people it thought were communists or Nazi supporters. Between 1907 and 1967, over 22,000 Americans lost their citizenship this way.
Everything changed in 1967 when the Supreme Court decided Afroyim v. Rusk. The court said the government usually cannot take away citizenship without the person’s consent. It left open only cases involving fraud during the citizenship process.
After this decision, denaturalization became extremely rare. From 1968 to 2013, fewer than 150 people lost their citizenship, mostly war criminals who had hidden their past.
Sen. Joseph McCarthy appears at a March 1950 hearing on his charges of communist infiltration at the State Department. AP Photo/Herbert K. White
How the process works
In criminal lawsuits, defendants get free lawyers if they can’t afford one. They get jury trials. The government must prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” – the highest standard of proof.
People facing denaturalization get no free lawyer, meaning poor defendants often face the government alone. There’s no jury trial – just a judge deciding whether someone deserves to remain American. The burden of proof is lower – “clear and convincing evidence” instead of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Most important, there’s no time limit, so the government can go back decades to build cases.
The Supreme Court has called citizenship a fundamental right. Chief Justice Earl Warren in 1958 described it as the “right to have rights.”
In our reading of the law, taking away such a fundamental right through civil procedures that lack basic constitutional protection – no right to counsel for those who can’t afford it, no jury trial, and a lower burden of proof – seems to violate the due process of law required by the Constitution when the government seeks to deprive someone of their rights.
The bigger problem is what citizenship-stripping policy does to democracy.
When the government can strip citizenship from naturalized Americans for decades-old conduct through civil procedures with minimal due process protection – pursuing cases based on evidence that might not meet criminal standards – it undermines the security and permanence that citizenship is supposed to provide. This creates a system where naturalized citizens face ongoing vulnerability that can last their entire lives, potentially chilling their full participation in American democracy.
The Justice Department memo establishes 10 priority categories for denaturalization cases. They range from national security threats and war crimes to various forms of fraud, financial crimes and, most importantly, any other cases it deems “sufficiently important to pursue.” This “maximal enforcement” approach means pursuing not just clear cases of fraud, but also any case where evidence might support taking away citizenship, no matter how weak or old the evidence is.
This creates fear throughout immigrant communities.
About 20 million naturalized Americans now must worry that any mistake in their decades-old immigration paperwork could cost them their citizenship.
A two-tier system
This policy effectively creates two different types of American citizens. Native-born Americans never have to worry about losing their citizenship, no matter what they do. But naturalized Americans face ongoing vulnerability that can last their entire lives.
This has already happened. A woman who became a naturalized citizen in 2007 helped her boss with paperwork that was later used in fraud. She cooperated with the FBI investigation, was characterized by prosecutors as only a “minimal participant,” completed her sentence, and still faced losing her citizenship decades later because she didn’t report the crime on her citizenship application – even though she hadn’t been charged at the time.
A woman receives a U.S. flag after passing her citizenship interview in Newark, N.J., on May 25, 2016. AP Photo/Julio Cortez
The Justice Department’s directive to “maximally pursue” cases across 10 broad categories – combined with the first Trump administration’s efforts to review over 700,000 naturalization files – represents an unprecedented expansion of denaturalization efforts.
The policy will almost certainly face legal challenges on constitutional grounds, but the damage may already be done. When naturalized citizens fear their status could be revoked, it undermines the security and permanence that citizenship is supposed to provide.
The Supreme Court, in Afroyim v. Rusk, was focused on protecting existing citizens from losing their citizenship. The constitutional principle behind that decision – that citizenship is a fundamental right which can’t be arbitrarily taken away by whoever happens to be in power – applies equally to how the government handles denaturalization cases today.
The Trump administration’s directive, combined with court procedures that lack basic constitutional protections, risks creating a system that the Afroyim v. Rusk decision sought to prevent – one where, as the Supreme Court said, “A group of citizens temporarily in office can deprive another group of citizens of their citizenship.”
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
“My dad was deported over four years ago,” Gia wrote. Joe served time in federal prison on fraud charges, and was then deported in 2019 — sent to Italy, a country that he had never known.
“Since then, our family has lived in an emotional limbo,” she characterized.
“No matter how strong we try to be in the absence of a father, of a parent,” Gia described, “it’s something that never stops hurting.”
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Giudice realizes that his marriage has come to an end in a painful moment. (Bravo)
With his deportation, Joe had to leave behind all four daughters
Gia Giudice wrote about how much Joe meant to her and to her younger sisters: Gabriella, Milania, and Adriana.
“He was our provider. Our protector,” she wrote, really laying it on.
“And he still is, just now from thousands of miles away.”
Gia wrote that seeing the Chrisley family receive their pardon “inspired” her to try. “It showed me that people can be forgiven, that families could be restored, and that sometimes the justice system has room for grace.”
It seems that Gia Giudice has inherited her mother’s penchant for drama. Let us hope, for the sake of other RHONJ stars, that she has not inherited her mother’s explosive temper. (Image Credit: Bravo)
“That gave me hope,” Gia wrote of the infamous Chrisleys’ pardon.
“Hope that maybe my dad could come home too.”
She emphasized: “A pardon would mean more than just legal forgiveness. It would mean healing for my sisters, for my mom, for my family, and for me.”
Gia added: “This isn’t just about one man. It’s about a family who deserves to be whole again.”
Wearing a red jacket, Savannah Chrisley speaks on the “Unlocked” podcast in early 2024. (Image Credit: YouTube)
Is it ethical to try to get a Trump pardon when your dad is alive and well? Maybe
Some replied to praise Gia Giudice. Savannah Chrisley wrote “I’m so proud of you” with a red heart emoji.
Others vocally condemned this.
Many noted that Joe both received a conviction of actual crimes and is currently safe and well.
The majority of the victims of the Trump regime’s deportation program cannot say the same — as they have no criminal histories and are either detained inhumanely, deported to countries unknown, or simply vanish.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Giudice feels emotional pain when he realizes that his marriage is effectively over. (Bravo)
Gia has now apologized for posting her plea on the Fourth of July.
“I did not intend to post it on the 4th of July. That was just not my intention at all,” she shared on her “Casual Chaos” podcast Wednesday (per Page Six). “I have so much respect for my country, and I was not trying to show any privilege or entitlement.”
“I was making the video for him on Thursday night, and I wrote out what I was going to say,” she explained.
“So, Friday morning before the craziness of the weekend, I just finished the video, and I posted it. Then I realized, ‘Oh, my God.’ But at that point, the video had gotten a lot of traction,” Gia said.
“I woke up and knew I had to do something for my dad. That was the only thing on my mind, was my dad,”
Gia Giudice attends the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California on March 17, 2025. Broadcasted live on FOX. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)
Truth be told … one can understand Gia’s desperation. Right now, pardons are essentially for sale, and one of the currencies is appealing to Trump.
Gia is 24, pretty, and white, and therefore stands a better chance than most of rectifying an impossible situation for her family.
She can’t save the communities that Trump’s ICE goons are terrorizing.
But if there’s the slightest chance that she can bring her father home, appealing to America’s mad king’s ego seems like a small price to pay.
If you were one of the many Vanderpump Rules viewers who had a bad feeling about Brock Davies from the very beginning, it turns out your instincts were spot-on.
In her upcoming memoir, My Good Side, Scheana reveals that Brock has not always been a perfect partner. Far from it.
In fact, it seems the recovering deadbeat dad cheated on Scheana while she was pregnant with the couple’s first child.
Brock Davies and Scheana Shay attend the CLD Pre-Festival House 2023 on April 11, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for CLD PR)
Scheana Shay drops bombshell about Brock Davies’ infidelity
“I remained in a state of paralyzed shock as he confessed that he’d cheated on me two years prior, when we were living in San Diego during the pandemic, while I was pregnant with Summer,” Scheana writes in an excerpt published by Glamour.
“As I sat there, feeling completely sick to my stomach, he admitted that — at the time — he was scared about being a father again, specifically about whether he even deserved to be, and he chose to deal with it by sleeping with someone else,” she continued.
“I use the word ‘chose’ because it was very much a conscious decision. No one twisted his arm or dragged him into bed.”
Brock Davies and Scheana Shay attend the 2024 People’s Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on February 18, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
Yeah, it’s a pretty corny excuse from a guy who already has multiple kids (whom he allegedly abandoned after assaulting their mother), but we guess it worked, as Scheana eventually forgave the guy.
Thankfully, she rightly flipped out on him first.
Scheana recalls outrage over Brock’s affair
Shay recalls that she was “unable to contain [her] rage” that Davies had a “brief affair” with a woman at his gym in 2021.
“I slapped him and threw a Rubik’s cube in his direction, which he dodged,” she wrote.
“To this day, every time I see a Rubik’s cube it triggers me, pulling me right back to this incredibly dark moment in my life. Same goes for any mention of an F45 gym,” Scheana continued, adding:
Brock Davies and Scheana Shay attend the 73rd annual Miss USA Pageant at Peacock Theater on August 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
“That same night, Brock gave me a letter that he’d written a year after the affair ended. He wrote the letter, which included more specifics than I ever wanted, such as how many times they’d slept together, where they’d done it, and where they hadn’t (our house).
“He also pointed out that it was purely physical, never emotional, and he always used protection. Gee, thanks! He definitely wasn’t sober when he put pen to paper, so the spelling errors were rampant.
“I can’t explain why, but that really irritated me. Maybe because it felt like another sign of his carelessness.”
Well, we guess not banging in the house and always wrapping it up is courteous as one can be while having an affair.
Scheana went on to explain that Brock added insult to injury by refusing to have sex with her while she was pregnant.
Brock Davies and Scheana Shay attend the 2024 Creative Arts Emmys at Peacock Theater on January 07, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
“The letter made me remember the weeks leading up to my second trimester when, like many pregnant women, I was sexually stimulated. I’ll never forget how, during that time, Brock was ‘afraid’ to have sex with me (or he simply didn’t want to),” she wrote, adding:
“That did a number on my anxiety, and it killed my confidence in a way I can’t even describe. His behavior now made so much more sense.
“Once I’d read it, that was more than enough. I told him to immediately toss it into the fire. I never wanted to set eyes on those words again.”
Actually, perhaps we ought to clarify this sentence for accuracy:
Andrew Schulz is a Donald Trump voter. It doesn’t sound as if he’s a supporter any longer.
Andrew Schulz attends the Netflix “Tires” Season 2 Premiere at The Paramount Theatre on June 4, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Saucedo/Getty Images)
On his Flagrant podcast on Thursday, Schulz went OFF on President Trump, even theorizing at one point that on air the Commander-in-Chief is not actually in control — and may be controlled by larger forces at the CIA and other agencies.
“Everything he campaigned on, I believe he wanted to do, and now he’s doing the exact opposite thing of every single fucking thing,” Schulz said.
Schulz actually interviewed Trump last year and he eventually voted for the Republican candidate.
Fast forward about six months into his Presidency, though, and Schulz is taking issue with the president on numerous fronts — including the so-called Epstein Files and how they haven’t been released; along with funding wars and the spending in the just-passed Big Beautiful Bill.
Andrew Schulz attends Netflix is a Joke presents FYSEE LA Comedy Night at The Comedy Store on May 29, 2025 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix)
“There’ll be people, they’ll DM and say, you see what you’re boy’s doing? You voted for this. I’m like, I voted for none of this!” the comedian and podcast host went on.
“He’s doing the exact opposite of everything I’ve voted for! I want him to stop the wars, he’s funding them. I want him to shrink spending, reduce the budget, he’s increasing it.
“It’s like everything that he said he’s going to do — except sending immigrants back.”
To many, of course, it’s not exactly shocking that Donald Trump was either dishonest on the campaign trial or just a complete idiot who would say anything to receive praise.
We often doubt whether the guy has any actual values or beliefs.
Donald Trump delivers remarks before signing the âNo Men in Womenâs Sportsâ executive order in the East Room at the White House on February 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
At another point on this new podcast, Schulz blasted Trump for lashing out when a reporter asked on Wednesday at the White House about a DOJ/FBI memo denying that convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein kept a list of famous clients with whom he hooked up young escorts or sexual partners.
“So we’re stupid? We’re the f-cking idiots?” Schulz said in response to the Trump’s response to this issue.
“Guys, just to let you know we’re wasting time. That is, in all seriousness, I think what is enraging people right now… is it’s insulting our intelligence. Obviously the intelligence community is trying to cover it up.
“Obviously the Trump administration is trying to cover it up.”
Schulz isn’t the first celebrity to strongly disagree with President Trump after seeming to be on his side. Just consider what Kim Kardashian recently said about Trump’s mass deportation policies.
Mama June Shannon is taking aim at Jessica Shannon’s fiancee, Shyann.
For years, June spent away a small fortune — on drugs and on her ex, Geno Doak. Some of that money was not even hers to spend.
Now, she’s rooting for Jessica to break up with her girlfriend-turned-fiance.
She says that Shyann is spending her daughter’s money and is too “controlling.” Is she speaking from experience or total hypocrisy?
During a confessional segment on Mama June: Family Crisis, June Shannon delves into hypocritical topics. (Image Credit: WEtv)
Mama June Shannon hopes Jessica Shannon dumps Shyann soon
During a sneak peek of the Friday, July 11 episode of Mama June: Family Crisis, the titular June Shannon calls Lauryn to invite her to a family dinner.
She also revealed that she would be inviting another daughter, Jessica Shannon.
This is when Justin Straud asked if June would be inviting Shyann, who at the time of filming was apparently only Jessica’s girlfriend. (They became engaged in September 2024)
“If she comes, she comes,” June said. Her lack of enthusiasm was palpable.
On Mama June: Family Crisis, June Shannon calls one daughter and discusses another. (Image Credit: WEtv)
As the conversation continues, June goes on to tell Justin that Shyann is “probably out spending Jessica’s money.”
She shaded that the couple was doing “everything Shyann wants to do.”
June told the confessional camera: “I don’t wanna hurt Jessica’s feelings by no means, but I really hope that her and Shyann, like, run their course and it ends very soon because I cannot stand Shyann.”
Is Shyann ‘controlling’ and too eager to go on shopping sprees?
As Mama June Shannon continues, she explains that Jessica seems to spend more time with Shyann and Shyann’s family than she does with her own.
“Shyann is, like, controlling,” the grandmother claims.
Additionally, she says that Shyann immediately wants to go to “the local Wal-Mart” whenever Jessica gets paid.
The Mama June: Family Crisis cameras show Jessica Shannon with her fiancee, Shyann. (Image Credit: WEtv)
June, who once blew 7 figures on drugs and lost her house in the process, then offered some financial advice.
“You can’t save and keep thinking about your future if all you’re doing is spending as fast as you’re making it,” she counseled.
One has to wonder if June is speaking from a place of experience and her hard-learned lessons … or if she’s just being a huge hypocrite.
Is June Shannon the best person to call out someone for spending someone else’s money? Probably not. (Image Credit: WEtv)
Is Mama June right? Maybe it doesn’t matter
Mama June Shannon famously spent money that was not hers during her downward spiral. She stole Alana Thompson’s money to spend on drugs. She also sold Jessica’s car out from under her.
Let us imagine for a moment that she’s absolutely right about Shyann.
There is no evidence for that, but let’s pretend. June would still be the wrong messenger for this.
Sometimes, people rooting for a breakup are in the wrong. Other times, they are absolutely right. But June cannot actually control Jessica’s choices.
And, as many social media users have already pointed out, June’s own track record suggests that maybe she shouldn’t be giving relationship advice. To anyone. Ever.
And for once, we have some updates on the troubled singer that are not entirely negative.
Yes, it was revealed today that Justin will be dropping his seventh studio album on Friday.
We also learned that the Biebs managed to settle his beef with former manager Scooter Braun — and it only cost him $26 million!
Singer Justin Bieber takes part in the draft during 2024 NHL All-Star Thursday at Scotiabank Arena on February 01, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
First, the bad news: Justin was just forced to fork over
AEG advanced Justin $40 million for the tour, and they demanded repayment on $26 million of that after JB canceled several shows.
Scooter’s company, Hybe, footed the bill with the understanding that Justin would pay them back.
The two parties agreed to a payment plan — but Justin only wound up making one payment.
Now, years later, TMZ is reporting that Justin has paid back the full amount in one lump sum.
US businessman Scooter Braun and Canadian singer Justin Bieber arrive for YouTube Originals’ “Justin Bieber: Seasons” premiere at the Regency Bruin Theatre in Los Angeles on January 27, 2020. (Photo by LISA O’CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images)
Not only that, Justin and Scooter have reportedly reached a settlement for the $11 million in various unpaid commissions that Bieber owed.
TMZ reports that Scooter settled for only about half of what Justin owed, making it a hell of a deal for the Biebs.
The news comes amid reports of financial troubles for Bieber.
But if he had that kind of cash on hand, we guess he’s not struggling too badly!
The timing of today’s two big Bieber events might not be coincidental, as Justin might have been motivated to settle the score with Scooter before his new album drops.
Justin Bieber attends the Annual Casamigos Halloween Party on October 27, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Casamigos)
The good news: New Bieber music is on the way!
Anyway, now that he’s cleaned up his messy business entanglements, Justin is free to focus on the music!
Billboards featuring a shitless JB, the title of the album (Swag, one of Justin’s favorite words) and a tracklist popped up first in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik and later in Los Angeles.
Perhaps, like Bjork before him, the Biebs is huge in Iceland.
Justin has yet to confirm the project, but multiple outlets have confirmed that it’s on the way. And Beliebers will be pleased to learn that it features a whopping 20 tracks!
Even better, of course, is the fact that the latest Justin news has nothing to do with his drug use or his allegedly troubled marriage.
It’s Christmas in July for folks who have been rooting for the man to turn things around.
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.
