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Lobbyist pleads guilty to conspiracy in scheme to bribe Michigan marijuana board chair

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A fourth person pleaded guilty Friday in an investigation of bribery at the now-defunct Michigan marijuana licensing board.A lobbyist, Brian Pierce, said he conspired to give $42,000 and other benefits to Rick Johnson to help clients with marijuana license applications before the board was disbanded in 2019.Johnson pleaded guilty in April, admitting that he accepted at least $110,000 in exchange for approving applications. A businessman and another lobbyist have also pleaded guilty in the FBI investigation. Johnson, a former Republican state lawmaker, served as speaker of the House from 2001 through 2004.Gov. Gretchen Whitmer abolished the medical marijuana board a few months after taking office in 2019 and put oversight inside a state agency.Michigan voters legalized marijuana for medical purposes in 2008. Voters approved the recreational use of marijuana in 2018. The Associated Press

Hundreds of police among mourners for slain Wisconsin deputy sheriff

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

HUDSON, Wis. (AP) — Hundreds of law enforcement officers from several states joined other mourners in paying final respects Friday to a Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot by a suspected drunken driver during a traffic stop.The funeral for St. Croix County Sheriff’s Deputy Kaitlin “Kaitie” R. Leising was held in the gymnasium of Hudson High School while a montage of photos from her life were shown on a large screen overhead. Leising’s family, including her wife, Courtney, and their 3-month-old son, Syler, stood to the side of the casket, hugging visitors.Mourners included a large delegation from the Pennington County, South Dakota, Sheriff’s Office, where Leising worked before moving to St. Croix County last year. After the funeral, a law enforcement procession was scheduled to take her casket from the high school in Hudson to a church in Baldwin.Leising, 29, was slain May 6 in Glenwood, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Minneapolis. Leising and the driver she...

What to know about judge’s ruling on age limit for young gun buyers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A U.S. judge’s ruling striking down a federal law that bans licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 is the latest example of how a landmark Supreme Court decision is transforming the legal landscape around firearms. The ruling issued Wednesday by a federal judge in Virginia is just the beginning of what’s likely to be a lengthy court battle over rules aimed at making it harder for 18- to 20-year-olds to get handguns. The judge’s ruling doesn’t go into effect until he issues a final order that would bar the government from enforcing the age limit. The Justice Department didn’t immediately comment on the ruling but is likely to appeal and could ask for the final order to be put on hold while it does. The judge cited the Supreme Court’s June decision in a case called Bruen, which changed the test that courts had long used to evaluate gun laws. The ruling has opened the door to a wave of challenges from gun-...

Joliet man found guilty of 2019 Harrah's Casino stabbing death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

JOLIET, Ill. -- A Joliet man was found guilty of stabbing a Wisconsin man 26 times in the Harrah's Casino Hotel in 2019.Robert Watson, 29, was found guilty in the 2019 death of Emanual Burgarino, 76, of Wisconsin, in the hotel of the Harrah's Casino in Joliet, according to the Will County State's Attorney's Office.On March 24, 2019, Watson fatally stabbed Burgarino in the fifth-floor hallway of the Harrah's Casino hotel. A witness testified that Watson had followed Burgarino into the elevator and exited with him on the fifth-floor. ‘What would happen if I bashed you with this bat?’: $800K bond for Chicago woman accused of battery spree The witness told the court that he had an uncomfortable feeling about Watson, he rode back down when Watson departed the elevator on the fifth floor. He then rode back up and, not seeing Watson, went to his room.A few minutes later, he heard a commotion in the hallway. When he opened his door, Hill saw Watson attacking Burgarino. After seeing Hill, ...

Facebook, Google face lawsuit in Buffalo shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Nearly a year after a gunman opened fire at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, loved ones of three victims have filed a lawsuit taking aim at social media companies they say fueled the racially-motivated attack.Attorneys representing the families filed the lawsuit Friday against six websites, including Google, Meta's Facebook, Snapchat and Reddit."The only thing I want is justice," a victim's loved one said. The attorneys argue the platforms played a key role in the shooter's planning and motivation. Attorney John Elmore said the platforms can "radicalize homegrown terrorists.""We're not going to stop until we win," he said.The lawsuit is similar to a case currently before the Supreme Court that attempts to hold social media companies responsible for real-life harms.Carl Szabo, who represents companies like Google and Meta, said it's wrong to blame societal problems on Big Tech."It has no merit," Szabo said. "As horrible as these events are, we need to go a...

Migrant teen from Honduras dies in immigration custody, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. (WFLA) — A 17-year-old boy from Honduras died in U.S. immigration custody in Florida, according to U.S., Honduran, and local officials. On Thursday, Enrique Reina, the Honduran Secretary of Exterior Relations and International Cooperation, tweeted that 17-year-old Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza died in a facility in Safety Harbor."The Government of the President @XiomaraCastroZ laments and offers its condolences for the death of the 17-year-old Honduran minor Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, which occurred in a shelter located in Safety Harbor, Florida, USA," Reina wrote.An anonymous U.S. source told the Associated Press that Ángel entered the states weeks ago. Title 42 explained: What is it, why is it ending, what’s next? The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Florida also confirmed the death of a 17-year-old boy at the Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services (JFCS) shelter, although they did not identify the minor.According to the JFCS' website, t...

Can this wetter weather affect our lakes?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) –With much wetter weather expected this weekend than the region has seen for a while, the Lower Colorado River Authority said it is monitoring rainfall and inflows into the Highland Lakes, ready to move floodwaters downstream through the series of dams on the Highland Lakes if necessary.The Highland Lakes are a chain of manmade lakes built between 1935 and 1951 on the Colorado River northwest of Austin. The lakes were built to protect communities from flooding events, generate hydroelectric power and provide a reliable water source. ​When it rains heavily over the Highland Lakes watershed, the Colorado River and connected streams swell, which sends the runoff into the Highland Lakes, per the LCRA.   ALERT: Severe storms, flash flooding risk begins tonight The two largest lakes are Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, and now are only 44.1% and 60.7% full, respectively, according to Water Data for Texas. When it rains upstream of Lake Buchanan, that freshwater fl...

Climate anxiety is more common than you think. These CU Boulder students want to help

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

You might have felt the symptoms before: A pit in your stomach, panic, existential dread, hopelessness, disenfranchisement, frustration and even anger.Greenhouse gases are seeping into the atmosphere, warming the planet. Polar ice caps are melting, rising sea levels and altering the chemistry of the planet’s oceans. Wildfires spark more frequently, burn hotter, spread faster and wider. Waterways like the Colorado River are dwindling. Deforestation threatens even the planet’s most wild forests and jungles. Mining operations scar and poison beautiful, even sacred landscapes, endangering the way of life for those living in the area.For some – especially young people facing decades of uncertainty – it’s too much.And so the paralyzing fear sets in, the anxiety and depression. These problems are indeed existential threats, scientists repeatedly confirm, but what can any one person do to stop them?“Anxiety stems from not being able to control or do anything,” Lizzie Weinreb, a student at t...

Movie review: Despite filmmaking flourish, ‘Hypnotic’ proves too absurd to take seriously

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

There’s something strange about “Hypnotic,” the new action thriller from writer/director Robert Rodriguez, starring Ben Affleck. There’s a sheen of inauthenticity to the trailer for this film, in which Affleck stars as a detective working a bank robbery while wracked with guilt over the kidnapping of his young daughter. Indeed, for the first 30 minutes or so of “Hypnotic,” there’s something that rings false — it feels like Rodriguez sloppily executing a sketchy exercise in the tropes and aesthetics of a detective noir. But then you realize that’s by design.Because things aren’t what they seem in “Hypnotic,” as Detective Danny Rourke (Affleck) discovers when he descends down the rabbit hole of this inexplicable bank robbery, one that ends in him finding a Polaroid of his missing daughter in a safe deposit box. He follows the signs to a local psychic, Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), who unloads a baffling spiel about the “hypnotic constructs” that have been weaponized by a mysterious man at...

Safe, comfy ‘Book Club: The Next Chapter’ offers more of the golden girls together, this time in Italy | Movie review

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

The makers of “Book Club: The Next Chapter” know what their audience wants.Director Bill Holderman and his co-writer, Erin Simms, got all the proof they needed when their 2018 comedy, “Book Club” — starring four beloved actresses over 65 as friends who read “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which unearths some desires in them — earned more than $100 million at the box office.Thus, it’s understandable that Holderman and Simms stick to the formula with “Book Club: The Next Chapter,” which arrives in theaters this week and takes the mostly fearless foursome of Jane Fonda’s Vivian, Diane Keaton’s Diane, Candice Bergen’s Sharon and Mary Steenburgen’s Carole to Italy.“The Next Chapter” is a second serving of broad, frequently sexually charged humor and low-stakes drama. Most important the aforementioned formula is the deep female friendship that keeps the group together and on the move — it’s tons of hugs and a bit of tough love.And we get it.Sure, we’d have liked some zippier dialogue and a more i...