The Weekend Off – News You Missed

Janey in Upstate New York trying to catch a snowflake… or giving some sass to her caretaker, Zach.

Alaska

ADN – Jail contractor calls for end to free local phone calls

In the jailhouse phone business, the usual practice in the United States has been for the company that provides telephones behind bars to pay a “commission” to the government agency that allows it to serve a captive customer base.

Fairbanks Daily Miner – Lockheed Martin wins Alaska spaceport contract

The state-owned space agency on Friday named Lockheed Martin the winner of a bidding process to reconfigure a launch pad to accommodate larger rockets than what the Kodiak Launch Complex can currently handle.

Juneau Empire – South Korean vessel heads to Bering Sea where 27 died

Ongoing search efforts at the site where a fishing ship sank in the Bering Sea, killing at least 27 people, likely will be measured in weeks, not days, a representative of the South Korean government said Thursday. 

National

Vice News [Jason Leopold] – Exclusive: Psychologist Not Named In Torture Report Confirms His Role in CIA Interrogation Program

A retired Air Force psychologist widely considered the architect of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program confirmed to VICE News today what has been an open secret for the past decade — that he was under contract to the agency after 9/11 and that he was “part” of the program.

Huffington Post – Defense Bill Passes, Giving Sacred Native American Sites To Mining Company

The U.S. Senate passed a measure authorizing the nation’s defense programs Friday, and along with it managed to give lands sacred to Native Americans to a foreign company that owns a uranium mine with Iran.

 LA Times – Company stores trap Mexican farmworkers in a cycle of debt

The mom-and-pop monopolies sell to a captive clientele, post no prices and track purchases in dog-eared ledgers. At the end of the harvest, many workers head home owing money.

International

Global Post – Red Light Jihad: Islamic insurgency in Thailand’s strangest party town

SUNGAI GOLOK, Thailand — Pin is stumbling drunk. When she bends down to refill a customer’s Heineken, her hair dips into the beer. Her breath smells like menthols and fish sauce. She is shrieking advances in tortured English at any male who passes by.

NY Times – Last Hong Kong Protest Camp to Be Cleared Monday, Police Say

The Hong Kong police said on Saturday that they were preparing to dismantle the last of the three pro-democracy protest camps that blocked major streets in the city for 11 weeks. The clearance of the camp, which was by far the smallest of the three, will take place on Monday, a spokesman for the police force said.

The Guardian – Venezuela to face US sanctions over violence against protesters

The US is poised to impose sanctions on Venezuela over the sometimes-violent suppression of anti-government protests which racked the country earlier this year.

The US Congress passed a bill this week to punish officials involved in the February-to-May clashes, which resulted in 43 deaths, including victims on both sides of the divide.

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