Two 800-year-old gravestone slabs that went down with the ship transporting them in the 13th century have been recovered. One slab is intact and in excellent condition; the other is much larger but broken into two pieces. The slabs were brought to the surface in a complex operation required a barge anchored to the seabed, a crane and huge metal crates to raise the heavy Purbeck stone slabs. The Mortar Wreck sank in Studland Bay off the coast of Dorset in the second half of the 13th century. Dendrochronological analysis of the hull planking found the clinker-built ship was made from oak trees cut down in Ireland between 1242-1265, when Henry III ruled England. It is the only known wreck of seagoing vessel from the 11th to the 14th centuries in English waters, and the oldest known shipwreck in the seas surrounding the British Isles. (There are a few Roman wrecks but they were found inland.) This was a period of prosperity when the population was booming and huge building projects like the construction of Westminster Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral were underway. The Purbeck quarrying and transport industry was at its peak during this time, and the gravestone slabs were very popular among the clerical elite. The ship was carrying a heavy load of unworked quarried Purbeck stone, the gravestone slabs, carved with cross decorations but not polished yet and not personalized, and a number of daily use objects including Purbeck stone mortars used for grinding flour, which is what the wreck was named after. The wreck was discovered in 2019 by Bournemouth University divers. It was granted official protection in 2022, and maritime archaeologists have been monitoring it for condition and exposure as sediment erodes. The monitoring of the Mortar Wreck will continue. This includes a plan to document the timber frames of the ships hull. It will also be a learning site for students at the university to be trained in maritime archaeology. The recovered slabs will be desalinated and conserved by Bournemouth University experts. They will go on public display at the Poole Museum in its new Shipwreck Gallery when it reopens next year.

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Thursday evening’s PBS NewsHour warned of Trump persecuting his political opponents in a second term, and they pretended that no one is presently prosecuting his political opponents in their first term. Anchor Amna Nawaz dragged out the "without evidence" swagger:  Anchor Amna Nawaz: For months, former President Donald Trump and his allies have claimed, without evidence, that the Biden administration has weaponized the Department of Justice to pursue prosecutions against him for purely political reasons. But, as Laura Barron-Lopez explains, the presumptive Republican nominee has also suggested that a second Trump term could see an escalation of those prosecutions. Laura Barron-Lopez, White House reporter: Amna, Donald Trump first called for his political enemies to be locked up during his 2016 campaign. Now he's forecasting plans to enact such threats if he returns to the White House. PBS won’t bother to pursue the line of argument that a lead prosecutor in the Trump “hush money” case, Matthew Colangelo, had a high-ranking position in the Biden Justice Department before joining Bragg’s prosecution of Trump. Barron-Lopez promised a discussion about “the rule of law and how a future President Trump could upend it.” She brought on a familiar guest: Ryan Goodman had previously appeared on PBS in February to neutralize all the scandals and suspicions emanating from Biden and son Hunter. Now he’s shifted to throwing out dire warnings about a second Trump term. Barron-Lopez identified Goodman as "a professor at NYU Law who previously served as special counsel at the Department of Defense." But for whom? Once again PBS left off the fact that Goodman served during the Obama-Biden administration, which presumably means he has a rooting interest in clearing Biden’s name.    After playing a clip of Donald Trump on Hannity, out came the "no evidence" line again:  Barron-Lopez: There's been no evidence of President Biden weaponizing the Justice Department, and some of these prosecutions, we should note, are state prosecutions, not federal. What are the implications of Trump's comments to FOX News? Ryan Goodman: I think there are very serious implications, because the president of the United States is the commander in chief, but is also the top executive for the Justice Department, and has enormous power. So this is not just a kind of an idle threat. And we know from the first Trump administration that he, in fact, did try to make good in the threats by, for example, asking his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton.  So I think it's a very real concern for politicizing and weaponizing the Justice Department. Conversation turned to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. the man behind the partisan prosecution of former President Trump, with guest Goodman ludicrously suggesting Bragg had no choice but to indict Trump. ("The way I look at the Alvin Bragg case is, as a district attorney, what choice did he have?") This is odd, since Bragg's predecessor in office, Cyrus Vance Jr., had reviewed the evidence and passed on the case. Laura Barron-Lopez: There's also been a lot of threats against judges, jurors, law enforcement. From your perspective, as someone who served in government, what kind of damage has this already done to the judicial system? And what's at stake for the U.S. justice system in this election? Is it not hypocrisy for flags to whine about Republicans damaging the “judicial system,” considering their constantly attempts to denigrate the integrity of the U.S. Supreme Court with silly stories about upside-down flags? This segment was brought to you in part by BNSF Railway. A transcript is available, click “Expand.” PBS NewsHour 6/6/24 7:21:28 p.m. (ET) Amna Nawaz: For months, former President Donald Trump and his allies have claimed, without evidence, that the Biden administration has weaponized the Department of Justice to pursue prosecutions against him for purely political reasons. But, as Laura Barron-Lopez explains, the presumptive Republican nominee has also suggested that a second Trump term could see an escalation of those prosecutions. Laura Barron-Lopez: Amna, Donald Trump first called for his political enemies to be locked up during his 2016 campaign. Now he's forecasting plans to enact such threats if he returns to the White House. Last night, FOX News host Sean Hannity asked Mr. Trump to respond to criticism that he would seek retribution against his opponents. Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: It has to stop, because, otherwise, we're not going to have a country. Look, when this election is over, based on what they have done, I would have every right to go after them. And it's easy, because it's Joe Biden, and you see all the criminality, all of the money that's going into the family and him. Laura Barron-Lopez: To discuss the rule of law and how a future President Trump could upend it, I'm joined by Ryan Goodman, a professor at NYU law who previously served as special counsel at the Department of Defense. Ryan, thank you so much for joining us. There's been no evidence of President Biden weaponizing the Justice Department, and some of these prosecutions, we should note, are state prosecutions, not federal. What are the implications of Trump's comments to FOX News? Ryan Goodman, Former Department of Defense Special Counsel: I think there are very serious implications, because the president of the United States is the commander in chief, but is also the top executive for the Justice Department, and has enormous power. So this is not just a kind of an idle threat. And we know from the first Trump administration that he, in fact, did try to make good in the threats by, for example, asking his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton. So I think it's a very real concern for politicizing and weaponizing the Justice Department. Laura Barron-Lopez: And when he asked Geoff Sessions to do that, Sessions refused, according to Robert Mueller's report. So what's to stop President Trump from doing that again, potentially successfully, if he has a second term? Ryan Goodman: At some level, there might be very little to stop President Trump from doing that again. We only found out, as the public, from the Mueller report years later what he had tried to do with Jeff Sessions. Even at the time, Jeff Sessions was recused from the very investigation itself with respect to Hillary Clinton. So Trump was saying, please unrecuse yourself and do this. So there was an additional safeguard that time around. And President Trump, according to The New York Times, was also directing Attorney General Barr to go after the investigation of the investigators, which ended up with nothing. It was actually an embarrassment, no other word for it, for special counsel John Durham. So I think that's when he had a more pliant attorney general. And we only discovered that by a New York Times 2023 article about how Trump had driven Attorney General Barr and John Durham to do that, years later. So I do think that the forces that stood up against him in the past are not going to be the same, when he has learned much better how to utilize the levers of power. Laura Barron-Lopez: Right. He could install loyalists across all of these agencies, not just the Justice Department. I also want to ask you about comments from Stephen Miller, former senior adviser to then-President Trump. And he's still close to Trump. And he said on FOX after the New York verdict: "Is every Republican DA starting every investigation they need to right now? Every facet of Republican Party politics and power has to be used right now to go toe to toe with Marxism and beat these communists," using common slurs that Republicans do now for Democrats there. Other Trump allies have called for Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg to be jailed. What are they essentially calling for here across the board? Ryan Goodman: So it's quite extraordinary. Mr. Miller himself, I imagine, will have a senior position in a second Trump administration if there is one. They're calling for state-level attorney generals and local-level district attorneys to just indict people on the basis of politics. It's not as though Mr. Miller is actually citing criminality or actual crimes being committed. So it's just really extraordinary what he's saying rhetorically, but I don't think it's pure rhetoric. And the comparison with what Alvin Bragg has done in New York, I think, is stark. The way I look at the Alvin Bragg case is, as a district attorney, what choice did he have? He was actually handed basically a case that the Southern District of New York said Michael Cohen was guilty of having acted on behalf of Individual 1, but they hadn't charged Individual 1. And in the plea agreement, Michael Cohen pleads to falsifying business records as part of the Trump Organization. So that's a very different crime base that Alvin Bragg was going off on. And what Stephen Miller is saying is, there's hardly a word for it other than, like, retribution and political retribution. But this is really where he's at. I don't think there's any way to otherwise interpret his words. Laura Barron-Lopez: There's also been a lot of threats against judges, jurors, law enforcement. From your perspective, as someone who served in government, what kind of damage has this already done to the judicial system? And what's at stake for the U.S. justice system in this election? Ryan Goodman: So I think that our country is unfortunately entering a very dangerous period in which there are heightened threats of political violence, and there have been skyrocketing threats against election officials, for example, as well. And it's just extraordinary to see how a former president of the United States has been placed under multiple gag orders in order to protect the judiciary, jurors, and witnesses. And I think he's giving a license to other people to try to do the same. So, in fact, in New York, he stopped doing it. But then surrogates seemed to be picking up the exact messaging that he had instead left to them to do.

A Pennsylvania school crossing guard has been accused of providing marijuana edibles and vapes to middle school students and allegedly smoking weed with a juvenile. Kiara Lee, 26, was arrested on Tuesday. Lee was charged with two felony counts of drug possession with intent to deliver, two misdemeanor counts of corruption of a minor, and two misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana, according to court records reviewed by the New York Post. She is being held in the Delaware County jail after not being able to post the $20,000 bail.Lee is a crossing guard for Penn Wood Middle School in Darby, Pennsylvania. However, she was placed on administrative suspension and banned from the campus after the disturbing accusations surfaced. On May 16, Penn Wood Middle School Principal Myishing Cox confronted a student and their guardian regarding drugs being used and distributed near school property, according to WCAU.The student said Lee provided them with vapes and frequently smoked marijuana with the crossing guard, according to officials. The student also claimed that Lee provided vapes to another student on three separate occasions. A student witness informed school officials that they had seen Lee providing drugs and vapes to at least two students on multiple occasions. A second student witness allegedly confirmed the allegations against Lee. School officials reported the alleged crimes to the Darby Borough Police Department.Police officers interviewed the guardian of the student, who allegedly confirmed to investigators that Lee had been giving their child vapes and marijuana edibles.Law enforcement allegedly discovered text messages between the minor and Lee that confirmed that they had ingested marijuana edibles and discussed their experiences with the drugs. Darby Borough Chief Joseph Gabe said, "While marijuana may not seem like a big deal to some folks in the community, I think we can all agree that crossing guards should not be providing narcotics – even if it is 'just' marijuana — to our kids."Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer added, "School crossing guards epitomize the role of public servant. They are — quite literally — entrusted with the lives of our children and hold a position of sacred trust in communities across the Commonwealth and the country."The Borough of Darby said in a statement released on Wednesday, "The Council of the Borough of Darby is deeply disturbed by the allegations contained in the Affidavit of Probable Cause related to Ms. Kiara Lee. We have placed Ms. Lee on administrative suspension and banned her from our facilities pending the outcome of an internal investigation. We are grateful for the men and women of the Darby Borough Police Department for their hard work in making sure our community is safe."The William Penn School District released a statement that read:The William Penn School District is disheartened that someone employed by the Darby Borough serving our district and community would behave in this reprehensible manner. We thank Police Chief Joseph Gabe and the Darby Police Department as well as District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer and his office for pursuing this case and announcing charges against the suspect. The William Penn School District aims to support our students, and we will work with whoever has been affected and their families to provide assistance at this time. As the suspect is not one of our employees, we will be issuing no further comments.Lee is set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on June 14.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!