Locally

Charges have been dropped against State Police Officer Ryan Londregan, who fatally shot black man Ricky Cobb II, as Cobb was driving away from an arrest while Londregan and another officer were leaning into the car.

I happened to be going into the Government Center for jury duty on a day that Londregan had a hearing, and I saw some of his supporters setting up in the atrium, but I didn't realize what they were there for until later.  There were also counter-protesters angrily shouting slogans like "No justice, no peace!" for a while.  

The atrium you can see in the picture in the article extends up the entire height of the building between the two towers of offices and courtrooms, and the protesting was very audible even on the top floor, which is where the jury office is now.  It used to be in the basement under the street that the building straddles.

I was surprised that protesting was being allowed inside the building.  There is a large paved space outdoors on the north side.

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Closer to home, it is yard sale/estate sale/spring clean-up season, with two especially interesting finds.  The first is a pair of pliers used by cobblers, which incorporates a small, square hammer head, so leather can be pulled taut and nailed at the same time.  One of the handles is bent, so I'm going to have to figure out how to straighten it.  The other item looks a lot like a golf club, but it has a ridged horizontal metal blade, and is apparently an old-fashioned weed-whacker.  It has been very handy, as we have been getting a lot of rain and the weeds have been growing at high speed.