Michael Casey, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, file)

Massachusetts cranberry bogs are being given a second life as vibrant wetlands

August 28, 2025

A growing number of cranberry bogs in Massachusetts are being converted back to nature as farmers get out of the business. The shift comes as the industry is being hit by lower prices for the pinkish crimson berries used in sauce and juice along with rising costs of producing the larger, hybrid varieties are popular. Farmers also are seeing the effects of climate change which is bringing unpredictable weather like droughts and warmer fall conditions that can influence the color of berries. Farmers have in the past considered options like selling the land for development or solar farms are now getting paid through state and federal funds to conserve the land.

FILE - Demonstrators holds up a banner during a citizenship rally outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions in third ruling since high court decision

July 25, 2025

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from ending birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin’s decision Friday is the third court ruling blocking the birthright order since a Supreme Court decision in June that restricted the power of lower-court judges to issue nationwide injunctions. Sorokin said a nationwide injunction he granted months ago remains in place, under an exception to the Supreme Court’s decision. The judge is overseeing a lawsuit by more than a dozen states that argue the citizenship order is blatantly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court will likely be considering the issue again soon.

Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Tracy -Lee Lyons during court proceedings to dismiss cases in which the defendant has been unrepresented for more than 45 days Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Boston. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Charges dropped against more than 120 defendants in Massachusetts because they can’t get attorney

July 22, 2025

More than 120 defendants in Massachusetts have had their charges — ranging from assault to drug possession — dropped after public defenders refused to take new cases over a long-running pay dispute. The dismissals Monday in Boston were the result of a court ruling that requires they be dropped if a defendant has not had representation for 45 days. Earlier, scores of suspects in jail were released under the same rule, known as the Lavallee protocol, if they have been held without an attorney for at least seven days. Public defenders started refusing new cases after their calls for a raise were rebuffed by state lawmakers.

FILE - Mairelise Robinson, a U.S. citizen who is 6 months pregnant, attends a protest in support of birthright citizenship, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Trump’s birthright citizenship order remains blocked as lawsuits march on after Supreme Court ruling

July 18, 2025

A federal judge’s order blocking former President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship has taken effect. U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante in New Hampshire issued the ruling last week, and with no appeal filed, it is now enforceable nationwide. The order protects children of undocumented immigrants from losing citizenship. Meanwhile, a Boston judge heard arguments from states opposing Trump’s policy, calling it unconstitutional. The judge has not ruled yet but appears likely to side with the states. The issue could return to the Supreme Court, which has not ruled on the policy’s constitutionality. The Justice Department has not commented.

People show their support for a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's policy of targeting students for deportation who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Monday, July 7, 2025, at the federal courthouse in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)

A recap of the trial over the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus protesters

July 10, 2025

University associations are challenging in a lawsuit the Trump administration’s campaign of arresting and deporting college faculty and students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. During the first four days of the trial, plaintiffs put several noncitizen scholars on the stand to talk about how the crackdown prompted led them to limit their travel and stay away from protests. And an official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement testified that a special group was formed to investigate protesters. He said it looked at as many as 5,000 people and estimated that it compiled reports on about 200.

FILE - A crowd gathers in Foley Square, outside the Manhattan federal court, in support of Mahmoud Khalil, March 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, File)

Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists faces federal trial

July 6, 2025

A federal bench trial is set to begin over a lawsuit that challenges Trump administration efforts of arresting and deporting faculty and students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The lawsuit, filed by several university associations against President Donald Trump and members of his administration, would be one of the first to go to trial. Plaintiffs want U.S. District Judge William Young in Massachusetts to rule that the policy violates the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. Since Trump took office, the U.S. government has used its immigration enforcement powers to crack down on international students and scholars at several American universities.

Historian Jennifer Cromack points out the word "Slavery" on a recently found, 178-year-old anti-slavery scroll at Grotonwood, the home mission of The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Groton, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Anti-slavery document from 1847 reveals American Baptists’ commitment to abolition

July 2, 2025

A volunteer searching the archives of the American Baptist in Massachusetts has found a nearly 180-year-old document shedding light on the church’s support for ending slavery. The 5-foot-long scroll is a handwritten declaration signed by 116 New England ministers saying they “disapprove and abhor the system of American slavery.” The document was signed two years after the issue of slavery prompted Baptists in the south to break away and form the Southern Baptist Convention. Church officials consider the scroll one of the most important abolitionist-era Baptist documents. It was discovered in a storage room in Groton, Massachusetts.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Washington, as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, look on. ( (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Lawsuit challenges billions of dollars in Trump administration funding cuts

June 24, 2025

Attorneys general from more than 20 states have filed a federal lawsuit challenging billions of dollars in cuts made by the Trump administration that would fund everything from crime prevention to food security. The lawsuit filed in Boston is asking a judge to limit the Trump administration from relying on a provision in the federal regulation to cut grants that don’t align with its priorities. Since January, the lawsuit argues, the federal Department of Government Efficiency has used that provision to cancel thousands of grants previously awarded to states and grantees.

FILE - U.S. passports are arranged for a photograph in Tigard, Ore., on Dec. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Judge says government can’t limit passport sex markers for many transgender, nonbinary people

June 17, 2025

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from limiting passport sex markers for many transgender and nonbinary Americans. The ruling covers transgender and nonbinary Americans who are without a valid passport or need to apply for a new one within a year. In an executive order signed in January, the president used a narrow definition of the sexes instead of a broader conception of gender. The order says a person is male or female and it rejects the idea that someone can transition from the sex assigned at birth to another gender.

Yurong "Luanna" Jiang, center, who delivered a speech at her Harvard University commencement, jokes with her college friends Helen Ji, left, and Cynthia Luo, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Chinese student struck a chord emphasizing humanity during Harvard commencement speech

May 30, 2025

A day after her emotional speech at Harvard University’s commencement, Yurong “Luanna” Jiang kept running into classmates who praised her for recognizing everyone’s humanity. The master’s student from China addressed the crowd as the Trump administration expands its criticism of the Ivy League school into a nationwide campaign to control higher education by restricting the enrollment of international students. Jiang tells The Associated Press that she had hoped to remain in the United States, but now may go overseas to work in international development. She says it’s difficult to say what will happen in her immediate future.

Omer Shem Tov, center, an Israeli hostage who survived over 500 days in Hamas captivity, celebrates while being welcomed during his arrival at Logan Airport, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Feted by school children, tossing out a first pitch: Former Israeli hostage grapples with celebrity

May 22, 2025

Former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov is visiting Boston with a message — don’t forget those who are still being held in Gaza. Shem Tov, who was abducted from the Tribe of Nova music festival with two of his friends, spent 505 days in captivity, much of it underground. He was released in February and is visiting Boston and New York to share his story and urge people to continue calling for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. He was greeted by a group of singing school children on his arrival in Boston and threw out the first pitch at a Boston Red Sox game.

Michael Casey.