AoSHQ The Morning Report
July 2, 2026
HAVERHILL, Mass. — Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barrett announced that after millions of gallons of wastewater leaked into the Merrimack River, it has ended.
Nearly a week ago, on the night of Friday, June 27, torrential rainfall overwhelmed the wastewater pipeline and contributed to a break in a 42-inch sewer force main near Haverhill’s main pumping station. After further inspection, crews found an additional break that would require additional repairs.
The discharge caused several closures to surrounding beaches, including all in Ipswich.
All beaches in Ipswich closed to swimming following Merrimack River sewage contamination Mayor Barrett says emergency bypass contractors have installed a temporary 24-inch bypass pipeline that sends wastewater to Haverhill’s wastewater facility.
“This is a major milestone in the emergency response,” Mayor Barrett said. “Stopping the discharge into the Merrimack River has been our highest priority since this incident began. Contractors and engineers have worked around the clock over the past several days to make this happen.”
Contractors will continue installing a secondary temporary 24-inch bypass pipeline, allowing increased wastewater to be transferred. Crews will also continue to work on repairing the 42-inch force main for a permanent fix.
Officials say that despite the stoppage to the wastewater discharge, residents should avoid contact with the Merrimack River for at least 48 hours.
“Although the discharge into the Merrimack River has ended, residents and recreational users are advised to avoid contact with the Merrimack River in the vicinity of Haverhill and downstream for at least the next 48 hours, or until otherwise recommended by public health officials, due to the potential presence of elevated bacteria and other pollutants associated with the recent sanitary sewer overflow,” Mayor Barrett added.
The Supreme Court handed down some good rulings on Tuesday, but one of them, Trump v. Barbara, was truly stinking hot garbage, to put it as nicely as possible. It was one of the most consequential rulings in a generation, and if you're not furious about it, you haven't been paying attention.In Other News
As my PJ Media colleague Athena Thorne put it, the Supreme Court ruled that “any basic skank who can sneak onto American terra firma and give birth is automatically the parent of a U.S. citizen, with all the rights and benefits that implies.”
A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston effectively converts a preliminary injunction she issued a year ago, in which she temporarily blocked many of Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban.
Casper rejected the administration’s argument that the lawsuit to block the changes brought by Democratic state attorneys general was premature because the rules had yet to be implemented. Instead, she agreed that the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to regulate elections, and that Trump’s requirements violated the separation of powers.
For many supporters of the Second Amendment, it’s been easy in recent weeks to despair over the ways in which gun control advocates are successfully undermining the right to keep and bear arms. Virginia’s ban on future sales of standard-capacity magazines and so-called assault weapons is set to take effect on July 1, with state courts thus far appearing reluctant to intervene. New York and Connecticut became the latest states to pass “Glock bans,” which prohibit residents from buying one of the nation’s most widely available handgun brands.In Other News
But not everything has been doom and gloom for lawful gun owners in other parts of the United States. The last few weeks have also featured some bright spots. In West Virginia, for example, law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds may now enjoy their right to bear arms on equal footing with all other adults after legislation passed in April to expand the state’s permitless-carry protections finally went into effect. Down in Florida, meanwhile, state Attorney General James Uthmeier joined forces with Second Amendment advocacy groups, agreeing with them that the state’s mandatory three-day waiting period on gun purchases is unconstitutional and asking a federal court to strike down the law. And the Second Circuit struck down New York’s “vampire rule” in what is almost certainly a precursor to the Supreme Court’s imminent decision in Wolford v. Lopez regarding Hawaii’s version of the rule.
All of these are victories for the right to keep and bear arms, which Americans rely on to defend themselves and others far more often than many people realize. Even the notoriously anti-gun Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged that most studies on the issue find that between 500,000 and several million defensive gun uses occur every year in the United States. An extensive 2021 national survey conducted by a Georgetown professor further substantiated this reality, concluding that Americans used their firearms defensively an average of 1.2 million times a year.