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Oklahoma official who discussed killing journalists has resigned

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

By Sean Murphy | Associated PressOKLAHOMA CITY — A county commissioner in far southeast Oklahoma who was identified by a local newspaper as one of several officials caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office confirmed Wednesday.Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said the office received a handwritten resignation letter from McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings. In it, Jennings says he is resigning immediately and that he plans to release a formal statement “in the near future regarding the recent events in our county.”The threatening comments by Jennings and officials with the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office were obtained following a March 6 meeting and reported by the McCurtain Gazette-News earlier this week in its weekend edition. They have sparked outrage and protests in the city of Idabel, the county seat.In a post on the sheriff’s office Facebook page on Tuesday,...

Tyre Nichols’ family sues Memphis PD over violent death

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

By Adrian Sainz and Travis Loller | Associated PressMEMPHIS, Tenn. — The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis on Wednesday, blaming them for his death and accusing officials of allowing a special unit’s aggressive tactics to go unchecked despite warning signs.The federal suit filed by lawyers for Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, seeks a jury trial and financial damages.“It’s my turn to make sure that my son’s death does not go in vain,” Wells said at a news conference Wednesday. “This has nothing to do with the monetary value of the lawsuit, but everything to do with accountability. Those five police officers murdered my son. They beat him to death and they need to be held accountable.”The lawsuit claims that the SCORPION unit launched by Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis used “extreme intimidation, humiliation, and...

Contra Costa will not list supporters and opponents on election ballots

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

Contra Costa County will opt out of a new state law that election ballots include the names of supporters and opponents of local measures, which could have cost the county thousands.County supervisors approved the move to opt out unanimously at their Tuesday meeting, with Supervisor John Gioia absent. The vote follows the Legislature passing AB 1416 in 2022, which added a requirement that supporters and opponents of statewide measures be listed on the ballot label or that a similar description be provided.However, counties have the option of not printing the list of supporters and opponents of local measures on the ballot. The state has not offered to reimburse counties for any additional costs to provide that information since it is optional. Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder Kristin Connelly told supervisors the additional information could cost the county $174,000 or more.Contra Costa County’s decision to opt out was in part because of the extra cost and workload of adding...

Uneasy West Coast marijuana industry seeks broader trade amid vast glut

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

By GENE JOHNSON, ANDREW SELSKY and MICHAEL R. BLOOD | Associated PressTUMWATER, Wash.  — The email went out to legal cannabis growers around Washington state. Another of their colleagues had gone under.“Liquidation sale,” it said. Attached was a spreadsheet of items for sale: LED grow lights for $500 apiece. Rotary evaporators for hash oil, $10,000.Across the Columbia River in Oregon, where the state’s top marijuana regulator recently warned of an “existential crisis” in the industry, it’s an open secret some licensed growers have funneled product to the out-of-state black market just to stay afloat.California’s “Apple store of weed,” MedMen, is teetering with millions in unpaid bills, while the Canadian cannabis company Curaleaf has shuttered cultivation operations in California, Oregon and Colorado.Along the West Coast, producers face what many call the failed economics of legal pot. There is vast supply, thanks to great growing conditions and a wealth of expertise, but any surplu...

Shot for being lost? Common mistakes met with violence

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

Associated PressIn the span of six days, four young people across the U.S. have been shot — one fatally — for making one of the most ordinary and unavoidable mistakes in everyday life: showing up at the wrong place.A man shot and wounded two cheerleaders outside a Texas supermarket early Tuesday after one of them said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own.A group looking for a friend’s house in upstate New York arrived in the wrong driveway only for one of them to be shot to death Saturday night, authorities said.In Missouri last Thursday, a Kansas City teen was shot twice after going to the wrong home to pick up his younger brothers, raising questions about the state’s “stand your ground law” and heightening racial tensions.Below is a brief glance of each shooting and the ensuing criminal investigations in Missouri, New York and Texas.THE SHOOTING IN KANSAS CITYHonors student Ralph Yarl, 16, mixed up the address when he went to pick up his ...

San Jose: Three arrested in series of robberies targeting AAPI community

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

San Jose police have arrested three people for their alleged roles in a string of robberies that appeared to target the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.The three suspects are Oakland men between the ages of 19 and 21, police said in a news release. A fourth person, the 19-year-old girlfriend of one of the suspects, was arrested after she attempted to run down officers and flee during her boyfriend’s arrest, authorities said.San Jose police said that the trio were “responsible for a number of other similar robberies throughout the Bay Area,” but they did not say when or where those other alleged robberies took place. The robberies investigated by San Jose police happened between Feb. 24 and March 29 and appeared to target the AAPI community, authorities said.Police arrested two suspects, men aged 21 and 19, in Oakland on March 30 and found stolen property, $10,000 in cash, illegal firearms and equipment used to create ghost guns, privately-manufactured...

France’s Macron heckled by crowd angry over pensions

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

PARIS (AP) — In France, when presidents take strolls among the public, they’re described as “taking a crowd bath.” Emmanuel Macron took a very cold one on Wednesday.Braving hecklers who shouted for him to resign, the French leader threw himself into the uphill task of repairing damage done to his presidency by forcing through unpopular pension reforms, taking his first such “crowd bath” since he enacted the law last week. The visit to eastern France, close to the border with Germany, was part of a concerted new effort by Macron and his government to put the furor caused by the pension change behind him. Raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 has ignited a months-long firestorm of protest in France.The uproarious climate of discontent threatens Macron’s ability to get some other planned policies through in the remaining four years of his second and last term. He got to see first-hand how unhappy people still are when he mingled among a crowd in the town of Selestat.One man who shoo...

Nebraska lawmakers pass permitless concealed carry gun bill

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday to allow people to carry concealed guns in the state without a permit, just as national attention has ramped up over gun violence in the wake of several mass shootings, including the killing last month of six people at a Tennessee school.Despite opponents filibustering the bill for 14 hours over three rounds of debate this session, lawmakers voted 33-14 to pass the so-called constitutional carry bill. The bill does not usurp the federal requirement for a background check to buy a gun, and those with a history of crime or mental health issues that bar them from possessing a gun would still be barred under the Nebraska bill. But it allows eligible people to carry guns hidden in their clothing or vehicle without having to pay for a government permit or take a gun safety course, which is currently required. It also overrides stricter gun laws in the state’s cities, including in the state’s largest city of Omaha, which requi...

Common mistakes, uncommon reactions in 3 separate shootings

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

In the span of six days, four young people across the U.S. have been shot — one fatally — for making one of the most ordinary and unavoidable mistakes in everyday life: showing up at the wrong place. A man shot and wounded two cheerleaders outside a Texas supermarket early Tuesday after one of them said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own.A group looking for a friend’s house in upstate New York arrived in the wrong driveway only for one of them to be shot to death Saturday night, authorities said.In Missouri last Thursday, a Kansas City teen was shot twice after going to the wrong home to pick up his younger brothers, raising questions about the state’s “stand your ground law” and heightening racial tensions. Below is a brief glance of each shooting and the ensuing criminal investigations in Missouri, New York and Texas. THE SHOOTING IN KANSAS CITY Honors student Ralph Yarl, 16, mixed up the address when he went to pick up his twin brothers on Thursday nigh...

Sudanese army, its rivals announce another cease-fire

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:53:08 GMT

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Terrified Sudanese who have been trapped for days in their homes by fighting in the capital of Khartoum fled on Wednesday, hauling out whatever belongings they could carry and trying to get out of the city, as the military and its paramilitary rival made a new attempt at a 24-hour cease-fire after a failed truce the day before.The new cease-fire attempt came as alarm was growing that millions of Sudanese were on the brink of disaster from the past five days of warfare between the country’s two most powerful generals. Desperate residents of the capital have been running out of food and other supplies as they sheltered in their homes from the gun battles, bombardment and airstrikes on the streets outside. Hospitals have been damaged and forced to close or have been overwhelmed by wounded, with staff exhausted and medical supplies depleted. Increasingly, armed fighters have turned to looting shops and robbing anyone who dares step outside. Nearly 300 people...