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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri appeals court judge was appointed Monday to take over Ferguson's municipal court and make "needed reforms" after a highly critical U.S. Department of Justice report that was prompted by the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown.

 The Missouri Supreme Court said it is assigning state appeals Judge Roy L. Richter to hear all of Ferguson's pending and future municipal court cases. The high court said Richter also will have the authority to overhaul court policies to ensure defendants' rights are respected and to "restore the integrity of the system."

 Ferguson Municipal Judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer resigned Monday, saying through a spokesman that he was stepping down to promote public confidence in the court and help Ferguson "begin its healing process."

 The Ferguson City Council met in closed session Monday evening, but members left without taking questions and a city spokesman didn't disclose the purpose of the meeting. Ferguson City Manager John Shaw was escorted to his vehicle by a police officer without fielding questions, and Mayor James Knowles III declined comment to The Associated Press afterward except to say that the city on Tuesday would begin seeking Brockmeyer's permanent successor.

 Richter will take charge of the court on March 16. The Supreme Court said it also is assigning staff from the state court administrator's office to aid Richter in reviewing Ferguson's municipal court practices.

 "Judge Richter will bring a fresh, disinterested perspective to this court's practices, and he is able and willing to implement needed reforms," Chief Justice Mary Russell said in a written statement.

 "Extraordinary action is warranted in Ferguson, but the Court also is examining reforms that are needed on a statewide basis," Russell added.

 The change comes after the Justice Department released a report last week that cited cases of racial profiling and bigotry by police and chided what it described as a profit-driven municipal court system in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb where Brown, 18, was shot by a white Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9. The shooting prompted protests in the St. Louis area and across the nation.

 A St. Louis County grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department both declined to bring charges against Officer Darren Wilson, who resigned from the department. The Justice Department report said Wilson acted in self-defense when he shot Brown.

 But the Justice Department said Ferguson's police and court systems functioned as a money-making enterprise that heightened tensions among residents.

 The federal report noted that Ferguson was counting on revenues from fines and fees to generate $3.1 million, or nearly one-quarter of its total $13.3 million budget for the 2015 fiscal year.

 Although it was rare for the court to sentence people to jail as a penalty for city code violations, the Justice Department report said the city's court almost always imposes monetary penalties and then issues arrest warrants when people fail to pay on time or miss a court date. As a result, relatively minor violations can — and frequently do — lead to arrests and jail time, the report said.

 The federal report also cited several instances in which Ferguson's municipal judge, court clerk or city prosecutor helped "fix" tickets for colleagues and friends.

 The report cited the forgiven tickets for Ferguson officials as evidence of "a double standard grounded in racial stereotyping." It said Ferguson officials displayed "a striking lack of personal responsibility among themselves" while some nonetheless asserted to federal investigators that the city's African-American residents lacked "personal responsibility."

 Attorney Bert Fulk said in a statement announcing Brockmeyer's resignation that Brockmeyer had been "fair and impartial" as a part-time judge and that the court clerk bore the primary responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the court.

 The city fired court clerk Mary Ann Twitty last week.

 Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon released a written statement Monday praising the "strong and appropriate actions by the Missouri Supreme Court" to overhaul the Ferguson municipal court.

 Monday's appointment of a new Ferguson judge drew mixed reviews among a dozen onlookers at that night's council meeting. Derrick Robinson, a protest organizer, said the move was "letting us know they're hearing our cry, and I think it's a good step in reconstructing Ferguson." Meldon Moffitt, of St. Louis, countered that it wouldn't make anything better, adding "the only way we can clean up Ferguson is to wipe out the police force, wipe out the courts and wipe out the judges."

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 Associated Press writers Jim Suhr and Jim Salter contributed to this report from Ferguson. ||||| In the first session since the Missouri Supreme Court took over Ferguson's municipal court, Judge Roy L. Richter began with a detailed overview of the state's court system, and then announced he was lowering some of the fines. |||||

– The Missouri Supreme Court is helping with the housecleaning in Ferguson: The court says that to "restore public trust and confidence" in the municipal court division, it's taking the "extraordinary action" of reassigning all municipal court cases to a state appeals court judge, reports the New York Times. Ronald Brockmeyer, the Ferguson judge who doubles up as a prosecutor, resigned from both roles yesterday. The 70-year-old tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he doesn't agree with a Justice Dept. report on the biased and "abusive" practices he allegedly played a key role in, including the "creative" use of fines and fees to raise money for the city, "but it's not worth fighting." The top Missouri court says it's assigning Judge Roy L. Richter to hear pending and future cases in Ferguson, and the appeals court judge will also have the power to "restore the integrity of the system" with a revamp of municipal policies, reports the AP. The court says it is also looking at statewide reforms. St. Louis University law professor Brendan Roediger tells the Times that this is the first case he knows of where a state court has taken over an entire municipal docket. "It's a very big deal because it actually is the solution," he says. "It puts the cases in front of full-time professional courts with no conflicts of interest."


News article:

/ Updated By Daniela Franco

 The wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, Emma Coronel Aispuro, said in her first-ever interview that she fears for the life of her husband and has not seen him since he was recaptured on January 8.

 The exclusive Telemundo interview between Coronel Aispuro and Mexican journalist Anabel Hernández aired on Sunday, in a news special titled “The Queen of El Chapo.”

 Coronel Aispuro is a former beauty queen who was born in California and holds dual citizenship. El Chapo reportedly met her in 2006, when he was around 50 years old and she was 17. They married in 2007 on her 18th birthday.

 Coronel Aispuro questioned the conditions her husband is living in at the Antiplano prison, claiming the Mexican government is responsible for El Chapo's health.

 A Telemundo promotional photo for its interview with Emma Coronel Aispuro. Telemundo News

 “I fear for his life [El Chapo’s]. We don’t know if he is eating well. We don’t know what his situation is because we haven’t seen him,” she said.

 Telemundo Video: La Esposa del Chapo Habla Por Primera Vez En Exclusiva

 “They want to make him pay for his escape. They say that they are not punishing him. Of course they are. They are there with him, watching him in his cell,” she said in the interview, which was produced in association with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley (IRP).

 “Not everything people say is true... I think that all human beings have the right to have at least the basic things — they are not giving that to him,” she said.

 A Telemundo promotional photo for its interview with Emma Coronel Aispuro. Telemundo News

 Coronel Aispuro also spoke about Kate del Castillo and her relationship with El Chapo, as well as about her family life and El Chapo's relationship with his twin daughters.

 Related Article: El Chapo's Wife Gives Birth in California Hospital

 On Friday, journalist Anabel Hernández appeared on Telemundo's "Al Rojo Vivo con María Celeste" to talk about the Telemundo News exclusive. She revealed that the interview took place February 12th in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico.

 "This is an interview that I have been going after for a very long time; I’ve been investigating the life of 'El Chapo' for 15 years,” she told host María Celeste Arrarás. "Emma [Coronel Aispuro] thanked me for the interview but I also thanked her because this is an interview to understand the circumstances around this whole ordeal."

 Hernández says that Coronel Aispuro willingly answered all the questions she had. "I asked her what she says to people that consider that 'El Chapo' Guzmán is a dangerous criminal, and she says that to her, Joaquín Guzmán is just her husband, not 'El Chapo'," she said.

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 "When one has children, the way we think and see life changes," she says. "For me it was then when I started thinking about the situation, that everything was kind of complicated."

 She began wondering if her daughters, now 4 years old, would spend their lives paying the price for all that has happened. "It makes me deeply sad to think that in these moments they can't see their father, that when they're older they can be judged, that someone might single them out for things they have no idea about."

 As for her husband, she says she has never seen him fearful or agitated, not even in moments of great stress.

 "He doesn't show at any moment he is worried about something," she says, describing him as "very intelligent," though he lacks formal education.

 What did trouble him, she said, was his growing status as a narco-legend and his inability to control his own story.

 Guzman had long wanted to collaborate on a film about his life, in part to counter what he viewed as untruths and sensationalism. "To put exactly how things are and everything that has happened until now, told by him," she explains.

 The Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, known for her role as a female drug kingpin in a popular telenovela, was exploring such a film project after Guzman, an admirer, reached out to her. It was Del Castillo who teamed up with Sean Penn, the Hollywood actor and director, on a clandestine visit to Guzman last year while the drug trafficker was still on the run. Penn wrote a colorful story for Rolling Stone about the encounter.

 What drew Coronel's wrath — and that of her husband, she believes — is a video posted with the article in which Guzman, sitting in front of a fence in a country setting, acknowledges he has worked in the drug trade since he was 15 — drawn to it because of the poverty in the rural mountains.

 Coronel said that publishing the video, whose rights were granted not by Penn but by Del Castillo's company, was a "betrayal." Her husband, she said, believed that the footage would be used only as background information for a text article.

 Del Castillo's lawyer, Los Angeles attorney Harland Braun, said the drug lord clearly understood that the actress was there to talk about a movie — a project he said she is still pursuing. "He's admitting [in the video] to being a drug trafficker. And the point that he's in the drug business, that embarrasses him? The whole point of the movie is that he's in the drug business. What she's saying doesn't make any sense."

 Then there was the affectionate exchange of messages between her husband and Del Castillo, leaked to the Mexican publication Milenio after his latest arrest. "You are so beautiful, my friend, in every way," Guzman told the actress in one of them. "I will take care of you more than I do my own eyes."

 Coronel said she did not find the exchanges troubling. "I think it was the first time they met. How could it be a personal relationship?" she said. "At no time did I feel jealous of Kate." |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– It's no surprise that Mexico is keeping a very close eye on drug lord Joaquin Guzman after recapturing him for the second time—but that doesn't mean his wife has to like it. In her first public comments about "El Chapo," beauty queen Emma Coronel says she fears he may not survive the "slow torture" of solitary confinement at El Altiplano, the prison he left through a mile-long tunnel last year. "They want to make him pay for his escape. They say that they are not punishing him. Of course they are. They are there with him, watching him in his cell," Coronel says, per the Los Angeles Times. "They don't let him sleep. He has no privacy, not even to go to the restroom." The Telemundo interview with Coronel was recorded in Mexico in mid-February and aired Sunday night, NBC News reports. Coronel—who married Guzman on her 18th birthday eight years ago, when he was 50—has dual American-Mexican citizenship and gave birth to his twin girls in California in 2011. He is believed to have at least 17 other children. Coronel says she only saw her husband twice during his months as a fugitive last year. "He just wanted to have a nice time with his daughters," she says. "To be in peace." She claims to know little of Guzman's drug empire and says she has never seen him use drugs or violence. "He is like any other man—of course he is not violent, not rude," she says. "I have never heard him say a bad word. I have never seen him get excited or be upset at anyone." (When authorities closed in, Guzman temporarily escaped through a door hidden behind a mirror.)


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Nancy Reed died Sept. 15 of necrotizing fasciitis, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science, which reported that the dangerous skin condition resulted in complications related to "blunt trauma of an upper extremity."

 The death is the county's 36th Harvey-related fatality.

 Reed was a widowed community volunteer who lived in Kingwood, a northern suburb of Houston, according to the Houston Chronicle.

 At least one rescuer was also infected with the condition during the hurricane and its aftermath, the newspaper said.

 Former firefighter and medic J.R. Atkins survived his bout with the bacteria, caused by an insect bite while he was assisting flood-ravaged victims in suburban Missouri City. ||||| Kingwood woman confirmed as Harvey death from flesh-eating bacteria Woman infected in flood-ravaged home

 >>Remembering those we lost during Hurricane Harvey. less Nancy Reed, 77, died on Sept. 15 of “flood-necrotizing fasciitis” complicating blunt trauma of an upper extremity via an accident, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. She is the county’s 36th official Harvey-related death. The Kingwood woman fell in her flooded home and died from flesh-eating bacteria acquired through the injury. Her death was added on Sept. 25 to Harris County’s official list of storm fatalities. Nancy Reed, 77, died on Sept. 15 of “flood-necrotizing fasciitis” complicating blunt trauma of an upper extremity via an accident, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. She is the ... more Photo: Courtesy Of Family Photo: Courtesy Of Family Image 1 of / 60 Caption Close Kingwood woman confirmed as Harvey death from flesh-eating bacteria 1 / 60 Back to Gallery

 A Kingwood woman who became ill after falling into Harvey floodwaters at home died from flesh-eating bacteria, the Harris County medical examiner's office ruled.

 Nancy Reed, 77, died on Sept. 15 of flood-related necrotizing fasciitis, an infection that spreads quickly through muscle tissue and can cause organ failure.

 Reed was the second known case of the bacteria related to the floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey. Rescuer J.R. Atkins, a former firefighter and medic, was contaminated through an insect bite on his arm while helping Missouri City neighbors. He survived.

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 "It's tragic," said Dr. David Persse, director of the city's emergency medical services. "This is one of the things we'd been worrying about once the flooding began, that something like this might occur. My heart goes out to the family."

 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, necrotizing fasciitis is a serious bacterial skin infection that kills the body's soft tissue, spreads quickly and can be fatal in a short time. Prompt diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics can prevent death.

 The infection is not considered a reportable disease in Texas, meaning doctors or laboratories who diagnose it are not required to alert health authorities. But they are required to report many of the organisms that cause the disease — streptococcus, E. coli, vibrio vulnificus and certain types of drug-resistant staphylococcus.

 Strep is the most common cause of flesh-eating bacteria. Vibrio is the most common in salt water.

 Since 2010, the CDC has documented 700 to 1,100 cases of necrotizing fasciitis annually caused by group A strep, but details were not immediately available how many deaths were caused by the infection.

 Reed fell at her son's home in Kingwood, breaking and cutting her arm, according to a family friend. After the injury became infected, she was treated at Memorial Hermann Hospital - The Woodlands and then taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital - Texas Medical Center, where she died.

 The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences concluded that the infection complicated the blunt trauma to her arm. Reed is the county's 36th death to be officially linked to Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, which contributed to more than 75 deaths statewide.

 Reed was remembered during a memorial service on Friday at First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood.

 According to her obituary, Reed was a community volunteer and chief executive of the LivingTributes.com website of online memorials to the deceased. She was widowed with one son, John Reed.

 Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Jan. 4, 1940, she was a former elementary school teacher and worked at The Reed Agency with her husband, Gary, until he died in 1999. She was also president of the Reed Foundation.

 "Nancy was a kind, caring member of the Kingwood community and gave of her time and many talents generously," her obituary said.

 She was active in her church, serving on multiple committees, and worked with the Village Learning and Achievement Center and the Upbring Krause Children's Center.

 Her relatives could not be reached for comment. ||||| EMBED More News Videos J.R. Atkins tells reporter Kevin Quinn about his battle with a rare bout of flesh-eating bacteria after Harvey.

 EMBED More News Videos Doctors in Houston are working on a vaccine they hope will fight off flesh-eating bacteria.

 A Missouri City man says he contracted flesh-eating bacteria right in his own neighborhood as he was trying to help his neighbors during Hurricane Harvey.With flood waters still rising and a mandatory evacuation in effect, J.R. Atkins hopped into a kayak to check on elderly neighbors who were staying behind during the emergency."A day or two before, it was going to be at critical mass," Atkins said.Only later did he realize his arm was swelling up."That's not good," he said.What started as a mosquito bite on his arm during the flood landed him in the ER before a stay in intensive care.When he got there, he was quickly diagnosed with flesh-eating bacteria, and it was advancing so rapidly his heart rate was quickly dropping to critical levels."That was when I got concerned," Atkins said.Doctors stabilized Atkins and put him on at least four antibiotics, but he had to endure three surgeries to relieve pressure in his arm and debride the wound.Atkins, a former paramedic, has medical knowledge which led to both calm and concern."Once I got past the 'imminent death,' that wasn't...it wasn't as scary after that," he said.Harris County Public Health officials said this sort of infection is rare, typically only seen in those with compromised immune systems. But they have seen an uptick since the flood in people with skin gastro-intestinal and respiratory infections.Just because the water is gone doesn't mean the threat is completely, says Dr. Umair Shah."I think that's the big misnomer," Dr. Shah said. "People think, 'Oh, I don't have water anymore, I'm not at risk."The bacteria can still be present on anything the floodwaters touched, Shah said.Meantime, researchers with the Houston Methodist Research Institute are studying group A strep infections that can lead to this flesh-eating disease.They've identified a critical target which they hope can help reduce the severity of infections or clear them up more quickly.That development could save countless lives and decrease the amount of suffering for so many who otherwise must deal with this silent disease.One thing public health officials said should be clear: You should throw out anything that can't be disinfected. It's not worth the risk of infection, which apparently can still occur even though the waters are gone.By the way, Atkins says if there is another flood, he would go back out and try to help his neighbors again, even though he knows he could put himself at risk. |||||

– A Texas woman fell into Hurricane Harvey floodwaters at her son's home and ended up dead from flesh-eating bacteria. Nancy Reed, 77, is the second known person to contract flood-related necrotizing fasciitis after Harvey, the Houston Chronicle reports. She died Sept. 15, but the Harris County medical examiner's office just ruled on her cause of death. The quick-spreading infection, which can cause organ failure and death in a short amount of time, also hit rescuer JR Atkins while he was helping his neighbors; he contracted it through an insect bite but survived. "This is one of the things we'd been worrying about once the flooding began, that something like this might occur," says the director of the city's emergency medical services. "It's tragic." When Reed fell, she broke and cut her arm, and the injury got infected, a family friend says. The medical examiner's office concluded the infection caused complications related to "blunt trauma of an upper extremity," the Dallas News reports. A doctor warns KTRK that even after floodwaters recede, the dangerous bacteria can remain on anything floodwaters touched.


Dennis Oland's defence team abruptly closed its case on Thursday at his second-degree murder trial in the 2011 bludgeoning death of his father, prominent New Brunswick businessman Richard Oland.

 The accused's fate could be in the jury's hands as early as Dec. 16.

 The defence sees "no need to call any other evidence," lawyer Gary Miller announced to the Saint John Court of Queen's Bench.

 The surprise decision follows Oland's testimony in his own defence on Tuesday and Wednesday. He told the packed courtroom he did not kill his father, and that he loved him.

 Richard Oland, 69, was found dead in his Saint John office on July 7, 2011. (Canadian Yachting Association)

 Oland's mother, Connie, sister, Jacqueline Walsh, wife, Lisa Andrik-Oland, uncle, Jack Connell, and friend Mary Beth Watt were all expected to testify on his behalf.

 The body of Richard Oland, 69, was discovered in his uptown Saint John office on July 7, 2011, lying face down in a pool of blood. The multimillionaire had suffered 45 sharp and blunt force injuries to his head, neck and hands. No weapon was ever found.

 Dennis Oland, 47, who was the last known person to see his father alive, during a meeting at his investment firm office the night before, has been standing trial before a judge and jury since Sept. 16.

 The defence ended up calling only two other witnesses — a bloodstain analyst and a forensic computer expert.

 Jurors face 'tough task'

 Judge John Walsh dismissed the jurors until Dec. 14 at 9:30 a.m. AT.

 He said the lawyers need time to prepare their closing arguments in the high-profile case and he needs time to prepare his instructions to the jury.

 It's been a "very long" trial, with a "mass of evidentiary detail," during the past 47 days, including testimony from nearly 50 witnesses, said Walsh.

 "I told you at the outset, I don't blow smoke. I don't gild the lily, so to speak," he said. "My charge will be long," possibly up to two days.

 'With the holiday season coming, if you have any decorating to do, or Christmas baking, or other arrangements, get all of that done.' –Judge John Walsh

 Walsh said he also has some legal decisions to make in the interim, which will guide the lawyers on what they can and can't say during their closing arguments.

 The judge urged the jurors to make good use of their week off.

 "With the holiday season coming, if you have any decorating to do, or Christmas baking, or other arrangements, get all of that done," he said.

 They should also get some rest before deliberations begin, he advised.

 "You will find it will be tough duty. It's a tough task," said Walsh.

 It will be "mentally exhausting" and "emotionally draining," he said.

 1 juror will be dismissed

 Once deliberations begin, the jurors will be sequestered, "cut off from the world," until they reach a unanimous verdict.

 Court of Queen's Bench Judge John Walsh warned the jurors deliberations will be 'mentally exhausting' and 'emotionally draining.' (Andrew Robson)

 Only 12 of the 13 jurors will deliberate. One of them will be eliminated by a random draw, Walsh has said.

 The extra juror was in place as a precaution, given the length of the trial, in case anyone got sick or had some other emergency that would prevent them from being able to serve.

 The judge reminded the jurors as they left the courtroom on Thursday to avoid all media reports.

 'Mistaken' about jacket

 Oland testified on Wednesday that he "absolutely" loved his father and fought back tears when he said he misses him.

 Dennis Oland fought back tears as he testified on Wednesday about how he loved his father and misses him. (Andrew Robson)

 He also acknowledged there are inconsistencies between his testimony and what he told Saint John police in a statement on July 7, 2011.

 Oland said he was "nervous, in shock and sad" at the time of the statement, having just learned of his father's death, and remembers his comings and goings more clearly now.

 Among those inconsistencies, Oland told police he was wearing a navy blazer when he visited his father on the night in question, but video surveillance and witness testimony showed he was actually wearing a brown sports jacket.

 A brown sports jacket seized from Dennis Oland's bedroom closet had three bloodstains on it. The DNA extracted from those areas matched his father's. (Court exhibit)

 Oland testified he was "mistaken" about what clothes he was wearing.

 The brown Hugo Boss jacket, which was taken to the dry cleaners the day after police told Oland he was a suspect in his father's death, and was subsequently seized from his bedroom closet, had three small bloodstains on it — on the right sleeve, upper left chest and on the back.

 The DNA extracted from those stains matched his father's DNA profile, the trial has heard.

 Oland also told police he went to his father's office twice on the night in question to discuss family genealogy, but said during his testimony he actually went there three times. The third trip was to retrieve a camp logbook he was supposed to return to his uncle, he said.

 The Crown has suggested Oland's financial problems and his father's extramarital affair were possible motives in the slaying.

 Under questioning by his lawyer, Oland said he didn't discuss either of those issues with his father during their meeting.

 The trial, which was originally scheduled to run until Dec. 18, is one of the longest criminal trials in New Brunswick history. ||||| The only son of a Canadian beer magnate choked down tears before a packed court in Saint John, New Brunswick on Wednesday. It was the second day Dennis Oland testified in his own defense. Wiping his eyes, he reiterated what he'd been saying for the past four years: that he had nothing to do with the "rage killing" of his father.

 Richard Oland, 69, was found beaten to death on the floor of his office back on July 7, 2011.

 Richard Oland, from the sixth-generation of the Oland beer dynasty, died of dozens of slashes and blunt-force wounds. The attacker used something like a drywall hammer to break apart the bones in his face. Wounds to his hands showed he tried, vainly, to fight back. The blood soaked through three layers of flooring into the ceiling of the office below.

 Richard Oland died, as he lived, in a public, sordid fashion. While he lost control of Moosehead, Canada's oldest independent brewery, in a public fraternal feud, his own professional successes netted him a cool $37 million by the time he died. His main joys appear to have been arguing with people, winning sailing competitions, and carrying on an eight-year affair (which was increasingly public knowledge.) While his wife described him as emotionally abusive, his funeral was a who's-who of the local business and political establishment, attended by hundreds including the premier, mayor, and lieutenant-governor of the east coast province.

 Murders are relatively rare in the industrial hub of Saint John. With a landscape of oil refineries, 19th-century bricks, and wild, foggy ocean vistas, Canada's oldest incorporated city prides itself on old-school loyalty. Especially close-knit: the billionaire Irvings and millionaire Olands, who pump gas, brew beer, and sign cheques for most of Saint John's 70,000 residents. Richard Oland's murder offered a rare glimpse into the dysfunctional private lives of the region's wealthiest elites.

 Related: Blood, Beer, and the Maritime Rumour Mill: The Dennis Oland Murder Trial

 The investigation rapidly zeroed in on Richard's only son, Dennis. The last person to see his father alive, Dennis was also hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and spending around $14,000 per month more than he earned. The 46-year-old financial advisor, who also owed his father over $500,000, became with Richard's death either co-director or president of three companies, and received a payout of $150,000. Some saw all this as a potential financial motive.

 But any appearance of an open-and-shut case proved deceiving. Searches of Dennis' home, Volkswagon, and boat turned up nothing. No other suspect was advanced, and for two years, the case appeared to go cold. Police attributed the silence to backlogs at the forensic lab. When a second degree murder charge was laid against Oland in 2013, he was bailed out by his uncle, Derek, who joined the rest of the family in publicly defending Dennis' innocence. Ever since, he's been trapped by court-ordered conditions to stay at his estate in Rothesay, a tony suburb with an average household net worth of $2.29 million, surrender his passport, and advise police of travel outside New Brunswick.

 But small towns love gossip — especially about the rich and powerful. Thus, the tiniest details have become grist for the rumor mill: a newspaper photo that appeared to show Dennis smiling while leaving Richard's funeral; that he changed his Facebook profile pic to a still from The Fugitive; that he capped off his 37-day preliminary hearing by rocking out at a Bob Seger show. All these, and juicier details, have turned Saint Johners into a community of armchair private eyes.

 Related: A Cop on Trial for Murder in Toronto Breaks His Silence

 Much was also made of discrepancies between the video witness statement Dennis Oland gave to police the day the body was found, and his testimony this week under direct examination. In the former, Dennis described his father a "a really difficult" person with whom he shared only a crisp, business relationship. But in the witness box, he became emotional when defense lawyer Gary Miller asked if he loved and missed his father. He told the court he'd visited his father's office three times the day of the murder; previously, on the video, he told police he'd gone to Far End Corp only twice.

 "I was nervous, I was in shock, and I was sad," Oland said, by way of explaining the incongruities.

 But in both 2011, and this week, he reiterated one thing: he didn't kill Dick.

 The trial, which started in mid September, is likely to wrap up earlier than expected — possibly as soon as Friday. After that, it's in the hands of the jury, which will also consider allegations of police corruption and incompetence, the two-year delay in laying charges, that no murder weapon was ever found, and innumerable other factors. If Oland is found guilty, there's little question his world-class legal team will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.

 Whatever the outcome, the Oland dynasty — once synonymous with ice-cold beer — is now brewing some of the hottest gossip Atlantic Canada has ever known.

 Follow Julia Wright on Twitter. |||||

Write a summary.

– The body of Richard Oland—the sixth generation of Canada's oldest beer dynasty—was found on the floor of his office with nearly four dozen wounds in 2011, the CBC reports. According to Vice, it appeared someone had used a hammer to "break apart the bones in his face," and there was so much blood it seeped through three layers of flooring into an office below. The defense for the beer magnate's 47-year-old son Dennis—who has been charged with his murder—rested its case this week, the CBC reports. Money is suspected to have played a part in the killing. According to Vice, Dennis was hundreds of thousands in debt and owed more than $500,000 to his millionaire father alone. After Richard's death, Dennis inherited leadership positions in three companies and a $150,000 payout. The CBC reports Dennis continued to maintain his innocence during testimony this week while acknowledging discrepancies between his testimony and a 2011 police statement. For example, Dennis—who was the last person to see his father alive—originally told police he was wearing a different jacket than he was when he saw Richard the day before his body was found. The jacket he was actually wearing had three bloodstains on it matching Richard's DNA. He blames the differences on shock and nerves during his interview with police. The Oland family, which founded Moosehead Breweries, has rallied around Dennis and says he is innocent. Jurors are scheduled to reconvene on Dec. 14 to decide that for themselves. (Money was also suspected when this US man was charged with murdering his missing parents.)


Here is a news article: US Airways said late Wednesday that it is working with federal officials to investigate a newspaper report that three commuter jets narrowly averted a midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside the nation's capital.

 The Washington Post is reporting ( http://wapo.st/M4SGOO) that three US Airways jets carrying 192 passengers and crew members came within seconds of a midair collision on Tuesday afternoon. The newspaper cites federal officials with direct knowledge of the incident.

 The newspaper reported that air traffic controllers cleared two outbound flights to head in the direction of an incoming plane. Controllers were reversing the path of planes coming into the airport in response to an approaching storm, but the paper reports that the information wasn't fully relayed. The planes all reached their destinations safely.

 The Post reports that the FAA issued a statement saying it is investigating the matter and would address the communication lapse.

 An FAA representative couldn't immediately be reached for comment late Wednesday night by The Associated Press.

 USAirways spokesman Todd Lehmacher said in an email that the airline is "currently investigating and working with the FAA to determine what occurred. The safety of our customers and employees is always our top priority." He had no other details. ||||| Three commuter jets came within seconds of a midair collision at Reagan National Airport on Tuesday after confused air traffic controllers launched two outbound flights directly at another plane coming in to land, according to federal officials with direct knowledge of the incident.

 The three planes, all operated by US Airways, carried 192 passengers and crew members, the airline said. All of the flights reached their destinations without mishap, but the near-collision was another among several thousand recorded errors by air traffic controllers nationwide in recent years.

 National has been the site of some of the most notable incidents, including one revealed last year in which the lone controller supervisor on duty was asleep and didn’t respond when regional controllers sought to hand off planes to National for the final approach.

 The problem Tuesday occurred about 2 p.m. as a number of inbound planes were queued up to turn above Mount Vernon, fly north over the Potomac River and land on National’s main runway. But an approaching storm caused a significant wind shift, and the air traffic control center in Warrenton wanted to reverse the flow of planes into the airport, turning them north of Rosslyn and routing them south along the river to land from the opposite direction.

 The Warrenton controllers communicated the plan to the controller tower at National.

 “The tower agreed, but they didn’t pass it on to all the people they needed to pass it on to,” said a federal official familiar with the incident who was not authorized to speak publicly.

 As a result, an incoming flight that had been cleared to land was flying head-on at two planes that had just taken off. The inbound plane and the first of the outbound planes were closing the 1.4 miles between them at a combined speed of 436 mph, a rate that meant they were about 12 seconds from impact when the tower controller recognized her mistake.

 Hours after being alerted to the incident by The Washington Post, the FAA’s public affairs office issued a statement Wednesday night saying that it is investigating the matter and will take appropriate action to address the miscommunication.

 “Are you with me?” the tower controller asked the inbound pilot, checking to see whether he was tuned to her radio frequency. When the pilot acknowledged her, she ordered him to make an abrupt turn to the south to avoid the other two planes.

 “We were cleared [for landing] at the river there,” the pilot said after breaking off the approach northwest of the airport. “What happened?”

 After a pause, the controller said, “Stand by, we’re trying to figure this out.”

 As she directed him to make a loop around the airport for a second landing attempt the pilot cautioned: “We really don’t have enough fuel here for this. We have to get on the ground pretty quick.”

 The federal official who reviewed the incident said what appeared to be a basic failure to communicate the planned change to everyone in the National tower was compounded by sloppy procedures.

 “This is a pretty big screw-up for a major airport,” the person said.

 The official likened proper procedure to that of two flag men using radios to direct a single lane of traffic around a highway construction zone.

 “They say, ‘You’re good to go after the yellow pickup truck gets there,’ ” the official said. “When we change the direction of operation because of a wind shift, we’re supposed to give the specific call sign of the last plane. They didn’t use call signs [at National]. They didn’t do the coordination well.”

 The world governed by air traffic controllers is split into three layers. Control centers handle planes at cruising altitude, terminal radar approach control, or Tracon, facilities work with pilots at lower altitudes, and airport control towers handle final landing approaches and takeoffs.

 Commercial flight is a sequence of handoffs between controllers working the three levels. On Tuesday, Potomac Tracon in Warrenton contacted the National tower to suggest that planes land in the opposite direction to accommodate the wind shift.

 News of the sleeping controller at National last year led to the revelation that controllers on overnight shifts at several other airports were napping on the job. The FAA suspended or fired several controllers for sleeping on the job last year, and the controversy contributed to the ouster of the head of the FAA’s air traffic control organization.

 Another incident involving National Airport drew attention to errors made by controllers. In 2010, an airliner carrying Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) swerved to avoid another jet when the planes got so close that an onboard collision avoidance system was activated.

 The FAA said that it recorded 1,234 operational errors in fiscal 2009 and that the number jumped to 1,887 in 2010, although there were more than a million fewer flights that year. The overwhelming majority of those incidents in which controllers allowed planes to get to close to one another did not put passengers at risk, but there were enough more-serious events that the National Transportation Safety Board stepped in to review them.

 One that the safety agency scrutinized was a relatively minor mistake involving a plane with first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the wife of the vice president, onboard.

 Other cases the NTSB reviewed were more serious: A Boeing 737 nearly hit a helicopter while taking off from Houston; a Boeing 777 skimmed under a small plane on takeoff from San Francisco; a Boeing 737 nearly collided with a Cessna in Burbank, Calif.; an Airbus 319 passed 100 feet above the path of a Boeing 747 taking off in Anchorage; and an Embraer 135 taking off from Chicago took evasive action to avoid an in-bound twin-engine prop plane. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Federal investigators are probing a near-midair collision of three commuter jets at Washington's Reagan National Airport that was averted at the last minute. The jets were seconds away from crashing after air traffic controllers launched two outbound flights directly into the path of a third plane coming in to land on Tuesday, reports the Washington Post. The three planes, all operated by US Airways, were carrying 192 passengers and crew. No one was injured. The misdirections occurred as controllers changed flight paths to avoid an incoming storm. The planes were some 12 seconds from impact when an air traffic controller spotted the impending crash and redirected the planes. The FAA is investigating. The error was one of several thousand made by controllers across the nation in several years, notes the Post, with the National airport being the site of some of the worst.


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 June 12, 2018, 9:35 PM GMT / Source: TODAY By Gina Vivinetto

 Author and filmmaker Amy Krouse Rosenthal touched readers' hearts last year when she wrote a heartbreaking dating profile for her husband, Jason Rosenthal, just days before dying of ovarian cancer.

 Now, in a candid TED Talk, Jason Rosenthal is opening up about his late wife's final days and how he's learning to find joy again after losing his companion of more than 26 years.

 "My wife died of ovarian cancer in our bed,” Rosenthal told the audience at the recent TED 2018 conference, the video of which was released this week. “I carried her lifeless body down our stairs, through our dining room and our living room to a waiting gurney to have her body cremated. I will never get that image out of my head."

 In March 2017, 10 days before she died at 51, Amy Krouse Rosenthal published an essay titled "You May Want to Marry My Husband" in the New York Times. The tender, funny essay acted as a kind of personal ad for Jason, who, she knew, would soon be a widower.

 "He is an easy man to fall in love with. I did it in one day," Amy wrote, recalling the couple's first blind date nearly three decades before. She described Jason as thoughtful, handy and handsome. "I’m going to miss looking at that face of his," she wrote, adding that he was an “absolutely wonderful father” to their three grown children.

 Jason Rosenthal said he tries to honor his late wife, author and filmmaker Amy Krouse Rosenthal, by finding beauty and joy in simple moments. TED

 "We were in love and our love grew stronger up until her last day," Jason Rosenthal told the audience of his endlessly creative late wife, who published both best-selling children's books — including "I Wish You More" and "Uni the Unicorn" — and critically acclaimed memoirs.

 "To this day I have memories of those final weeks that haunt me," he shared. “I remember walking backwards to the bathroom, assisting Amy with each step. I felt so strong. I’m not such a big guy, but my arms looked and felt so big and healthy compared to Amy’s frail body.”

 Amy Krouse Rosenthal @missamykr/Twitter

 In January 2017, Amy had given up eating solid food, and though she'd shrunk to half her body weight, she hung on for two more months. After her death, Rosenthal experienced "despair," which was made worse four months later when his father died of complications related to a battle with Parkinson's disease.

 "I had to wonder: How much can the human condition handle?" Rosenthal asked. "What makes us capable of dealing with this intense loss and yet carry on? Was this a test? Why my family and my amazing children?"

 The key to his being able to persevere, he shared, "is Amy's expressed and very public edict that I must go on."

 Though he's "sad a lot of the time," Rosenthal said he does his best to honor Amy by seeking out joy and beauty each day.

 “Because Amy gave me very public permission to also find happiness, I now have experienced joy from time to time," he said.

 Music, nature and time with his children are precious sources of pleasure, he shared, adding that relishing simple, everyday moments was "part of Amy's DNA."

 As for his late wife's adoring essay about him, it did prompt all sorts of people, including interested women, to reach out. One potential suitor emailed him with an ultimatum.

 "I will marry you when you are ready. Provided you permanently stop drinking, no other conditions. I promise to outlive you. Thank you very much," the woman bluntly wrote.

 "I do like a good tequila," Rosenthal joked to the audience. "Yet, how could I say ‘no’ to that proposal?”

 The letter he most cherished, however, was one from a close family friend, who remembered his late wife teaching guests how to make cornbread croutons at a Shabbat dinner.

 "Only Amy," the friend wrote, "could find creativity in croutons."

 Rosenthal and his family have set up a foundation in his late wife's name to raise money for ovarian cancer research and children's literacy, causes that were near and dear to her heart. ||||| When Amy Krouse Rosenthal penned a heartbreaking dating profile for her husband, Jason Rosenthal, before her death last year, she encouraged him to start a new love story.

 It’s been 15 months since the Chicago author died from ovarian cancer on March 13, 2017. And although Jason has been able to find moments of joy again, the widower says he’s not sure if he’ll ever remarry.

 “I have no idea. I don’t know,” he said in a recent interview with Today. “When I said, ‘I live day to day,’ that’s what I’m doing right now.”

 Last March, The New York Times published the dating profile titled “You May Want to Marry My Husband” that Amy wrote for Jason. In the moving essay, Amy called Jason “an easy man to fall in love with,” described him as a “sharp dresser” and an “absolutely wonderful father” to their three children.

 RELATED: Husband of Dying Author Who Wrote Heartbreaking Dating Profile for Him Speaks Out 1 Year Later

 Courtesy Rosenthal Family

 RELATED: Chicago Author Who Wrote Heartbreaking Dating Profile for Husband Dies: Her ‘Love Letter Was the Ultimate Gift’

 Amy died 10 days after the profile was published. Jason said the months following her death were “groggy,” but he found a bit of joy in the onslaught of messages he received from female readers.

 “A group of women reached out to me and professed their commitment,” he told Today. “Some of it provided a nice bit of levity and some humor.”

 The comments come just after he opened up about his wife’s final weeks during the recent TED 2018 conference. He spoke of a particular email from a potential partner.

 The message read: “I will marry you when you are ready. Provided you permanently stop drinking, no other conditions. I promise to outlive you. Thank you very much.”

 Despite the instances of humor and joy, Jason said he is still haunted by the last moments he spent with Amy.

 “My wife died of ovarian cancer in our bed,” he said in the TED Talk. “I carried her lifeless body down our stairs, through our dining room and our living room to a waiting gurney to have her body cremated. I will never get that image out of my head.”

 RELATED: Woman with Terminal Cancer Creates Heartbreaking Dating Profile for Husband: ‘He Is an Easy Man to Fall in Love With’

 The love letter captured the world’s attention, making Jason’s grief public. Still, he said, his final weeks with his wife produced a personal pain he’ll never be able to adequately express.

 Courtesy Rosenthal Family

 “I remember walking backwards to the bathroom, assisting Amy with each step,” he said. “I felt so strong. I’m not such a big guy, but my arms looked and felt so big and healthy compared to Amy’s frail body.”

 Now, Jason is grateful for his wife’s very public edict that he “go on” after her death.

 “As I climbed out of the deep, deep darkness of grieving, I sort of had that little guardian angel on my shoulder when I went out and I found my smiling,” he told Today. “I’m laughing, ‘It’s okay, Amy said you could find happiness.’ ”

 The Rosenthal family has also relaunched the Amy Krouse Rosenthal Foundation, which now funds ovarian cancer research and childhood literacy initiatives. |||||

Write a summary.

– It's been more than a year since author Amy Krouse Rosenthal died of ovarian cancer shortly after writing a viral essay in which she encouraged readers to consider marrying husband Jason after her passing. Now Jason Rosenthal is speaking out, in a TED talk he gave at the TED 2018 conference as well as an interview with Today. Asked whether he'll remarry, he said, "I have no idea. I don’t know." But he says several women did reach out after reading his late wife's column. "A group of women reached out to me and professed their commitment," he told Today, per People. "Some of it provided a nice bit of levity and some humor." He says one of the women even promised to outlive him. As for the TED talk, Rosenthal recounted his grief and said he's learning to smile again after losing his partner of 26 years, Today reports. His father also died just four months after Amy, leading him to wonder, "How much can the human condition handle? What makes us capable of dealing with this intense loss and yet carry on? Was this a test? Why my family and my amazing children?" But Amy had made it clear to the world at large that he needed to persevere. "Because Amy gave me very public permission to also find happiness, I now have experienced joy from time to time," he said in the talk.


Article:

After a Chicago cop paid a 14-year-old girl for sex in 2015, the girl told federal investigators intimate, granular details about their encounters — including the exact types of condoms he used: LifeStyles condoms and Trojan Magnum condoms in gold wrappers, court records said.

 It may seem like a trivial detail that William Whitley, 61, used one type of condom over another. But an FBI criminal complaint against the 20-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department points to the brands’ relevance. The Trojan Magnum and LifeStyles condoms Whitley used to commit the crime came from outside Illinois, where the crime occurred — meaning his “conduct affected interstate commerce,” the complaint said.

 That interstate element (in addition to Whitley’s use of a phone and other factors) made it possible to charge him in federal court, where Whitley pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of sex trafficking a minor, according to court records.

 Had Whitley not been charged at the federal level, he may have faced a state sentence less harsh than the mandatory 10-year minimum sentence that federal sex trafficking charges carry, the Chicago Tribune reports — which could explain why prosecutors sought federal charges. Whitley’s plea deal even says that he “acknowledges that Trojan condoms and LifeStyles condoms are manufactured outside the state of Illinois.”

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 Just as out-of-state guns can justify federal rather than state charges, so, too, could out-of-state condoms, experts told the newspaper.

 “The gun traveling is analagous to the condom traveling,” Juliet Sorensen, a Northwestern University law professor, told the Tribune. “The person who pulled the trigger may not have traveled, but the gun did. This police officer may not have traveled, but an aspect that he used to commit the crime did.”

 Whitley will be sentenced on Sept. 4, the Sun-Times reports. He faces at least 10 years in prison, and could face up to life.

 Whitley said he didn’t know the girl was only 14 when he had sex with her, according to court records. The teen girl had told Whitley she was 23 during their multiple sexual encounters in 2015. Investigators suggested the braces on the 14-year-old’s teeth could have been a hint about her real age.

 Whitley maintained in court that braces “don’t dictate a person’s age,” the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

 Whitley invited the 14-year-old girl to have sex with him at his apartment from June to September 2015, court records said. During the encounters, Whitley left his Chicago Police Department uniform hanging from his bedroom door, she said — and he even bragged about being a cop. Whitley also had a loaded firearm stashed under his pillow in bed, court records said.

 SHARE COPY LINK Human trafficking is a widespread concern that advocates and law enforcement officials say is on the rise throughout Fresno. Three women tell their stories of horror, survival and healing.

 Whitley used his smartphone to take sexually-explicit photos of the girl at his apartment, she told investigators. Authorities found the photos (which Whitley had texted to to the girl) when they searched the girl’s phone. And when investigators searched Whitley’s apartment, they discovered the same type of leopard print bedding that had been visible in the naked pictures, court records said.

 The October 2015 search of Whitley’s home also revealed contacts on his phone — “Jasmine,” “Bunny,” “Brittany Aka Mocha” and “Star” — with whom Whitley was discussing prices and meeting times, suggesting he was engaged in prostitution with them, court records said. Investigators also found the kind of Trojan Magnum gold condom wrappers the girl had described.

 Beyond the 14-year-old victim, Whitley was also paying a 16-year-old runaway for sex, he admitted in his plea agreement. Whitley had originally met the 16-year-old girl at a party where older men were paying young runaways for sex, the 16-year-old told authorities.

 Later, Whitley spotted the girl walking though Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood with a friend, court records said. Whitley pulled up next to them and asked the girl if she wanted to get in the car for a ride with him and “his partner” — which she believed meant he was a police officer, the girl told investigators. The girl got in the car, where Whitley was in the driver’s seat and the “partner” was in the passenger’s seat.

 As they were driving, Whitley paid the girl $65 to perform oral sex on him, she told investigators. After that, Whitley became “one of her primary commercial sex customers,” court records said.

 When the 16-year-old had been with Whitley for some time, she began giving his phone number out to friends so they could also have sex with Whitley for money, court records said.

 Chicago police took away Whitley's police powers in September 2015, the Sun-Times reports. ||||| CPD veteran admits to paying young girls for sex, faces life in prison

 William Whitley acknowledged Tuesday he paid young girls for sex.

 The longtime veteran of the Chicago Police Department admitted he would order them up before he’d go to work — leaving his uniform hanging on the bedroom door and his gun under his pillow while they were in bed.

 But even as he prepared to admit his guilt to a federal judge Tuesday, Whitley insisted that braces on the teeth of one young girl “don’t dictate a person’s age.” He still thought she was older.

 U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall nevertheless accepted Whitley’s guilty plea to one count of sex trafficking of a minor. He now faces a minimum of 10 years in prison but could be looking at a lifetime behind bars. His sentencing is set for Sept. 4.

 CPD has previously said Whitley was stripped of his powers in September 2015. He must register within days as a sex offender. Court personnel said his current residence is problematic, but Kendall gave him until Friday to find a new place to live.

 A grand jury accused Whitley last year of trafficking four teenage girls for sex, as well as producing child pornography. That followed a 2015 FBI investigation that authorities said led them to Whitley.

 When confronted, Whitley acknowledged he saw braces on the teeth of a 14-year-old girl he paid for sex, according to the criminal complaint that led to his arrest. But he said he did not know her age. She apparently told him she was 23.

 That same girl was arrested in a September 2015, but she told authorities about her “johns,” including Whitley, according to the complaint. She said she was introduced to him in June 2015 and had sex with him about five times, collecting between $60 and $150 from him each time.

 She said he also wore a gold chain with the CPD logo on it. And at times, she said, he bragged about being a cop.

 The feds said Whitley was in touch with the girl by phone “hundreds of times” between July 24, 2015 and Sept. 17, 2015. Once, after he began texting the girl, she replied, “Awww ok wassup then.” And he replied, “You already know” and added, “B4 I gotta work.”

 The girl also said Whitley took naked photographs of her inside his apartment.

 The 14-year-old girl led authorities to a 16-year-old girl who also said she had sex with Whitley for money. She said Whitley pulled up next to her and a friend once in Englewood and asked if they wanted to take a ride with him and “his partner.” They agreed, though the girl said she suspected Whitley might be a cop based on the way he spoke.

 The 16-year-old girl said Whitley was in the driver’s seat, and the partner was in the passenger seat. That’s when she said Whitley gave her $65 “in exchange for giving him oral sex.” She said she had oral sex with Whitley five times, each time collecting $60 to $65 from him. ||||| Plenty of crimes have a technical element that allows prosecutors to pursue charges at the federal level, from using a phone to conduct illegal business across state lines to firing a gun manufactured in a different state.

 In the case of former Chicago police Officer William Whitley, it wasn’t guns. It was condoms.

 Whitley’s use of Trojan and LifeStyles brand condoms when he paid for sex acts with a 14-year-old girl, federal prosecutors say, meant he illegally affected interstate commerce. Because the condoms are made outside Illinois, using them in the act of a potential sex crime contributed to the ability to charge Whitley in U.S. District Court instead of the state level.

 Whitley pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to one count of sex trafficking of a minor. In the plea agreement, prosecutors specifically mention the condom use, stating “Whitley used condoms during the commercial sex acts with Minor A” and he “acknowledges that Trojan condoms and LifeStyles condoms are manufactured outside the state of Illinois.”

 There were other aspects of Whitley’s actions that hit the “federal nexus,” including his use of a cellphone to take compromising pictures of two girls and using money to pay them, prosecutors said.

 Whitley was a Chicago police officer during 2015 when, he now admits, he paid between $60 to $150 for sex acts with the girl referred to as Minor A. He also admitted to engaging in commercial sex acts with three other teenage girls. He is no longer employed by the department. Whitley’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

 The mechanisms that allowed prosecutors to pursue Whitley at the federal level are often used for gun crimes. Invoking condoms as an avenue to interstate commerce is a different twist.

 “The gun traveling is analogous to the condom traveling,” said Juliet Sorensen, a Northwestern University law professor and former federal prosecutor. “The person who pulled the trigger may not have traveled, but the gun did. This police officer may not have traveled, but an aspect that he used to commit the crime did.”

 Most LifeStyles condoms are manufactured in Thailand and India. Trojan corporate parent Church & Dwight is headquartered is in Ewing, N.J., and some of its varieties are made in Thailand and Japan, according to packaging.

 A federal sex trafficking charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, a distinction that may have been important to prosecutors, Sorensen said. If Whitley would have been charged with the most serious level of sex crime in state court, a Class X felony, the minimum prison time would have been six years.

 The U.S. attorney’s office also may have been making a policy statement about the seriousness of human trafficking when it made its decision to charge Whitley, she said.

 The preface to the “Principles of Federal Prosecution” page on the U.S. Department of Justice website offers a detailed explanation on how these decision should be made. The highlight: “A determination to prosecute represents a policy judgment that the fundamental interests of society require the application of federal criminal law to a particular set of circumstances — recognizing both that serious violations of federal law must be prosecuted, and that prosecution entails profound consequences for the accused, crime victims, and their families.”

 Joseph Fitzpatrick, the spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, declined to go into the specific reasoning why Whitley was charged federally.

 Prosecutors said Whitley violated Title 18, Sections 1591(a)(1) of the United States Code, which addresses sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion. Whitley’s sex acts with Minor A meant he “knowingly recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, maintained, patronized, and solicited” a minor, prosecutors said.

 Whitley, 61, who worked for more than two decades as a Chicago police officer, paid for sex with underage teen runaways at parties, in his apartment and even in his vehicle while riding around with his partner, federal prosecutors say. Whitley also took graphic photos of many of the girls on top of his leopard-print bedspread and had their numbers stored in his phone under names such as “Bunny,” “Mocha” and “Jasmine.” He was arrested in November 2016.

 Minor A, who was 14 at the time of the sex acts, told investigators she initially lied to Whitley and told him she was 23. She wore metal braces on her teeth at the time. Data recovered from the girl’s phone showed Whitley called or texted her hundreds of times.

 Whitley told the girl he was a police officer and kept his police uniform hanging up in his apartment on his bedroom door, according to court documents, and also kept a loaded firearm under his pillow on the bed where he engaged in commercial sex acts with the girl.

 In the plea agreement, Whitley also acknowledged he paid for sex acts with three other girls during his time as a police officer between 2012 and 2015.

 Although Whitley faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, he could receive more. He also will have to register as a sex offender.

 On Friday, Whitley, out on bond pending sentencing, was ordered jailed by U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall after he failed to find a place to live that did not violate the terms of the sex offender registry. With Whitley unable to find a place to stay that met the guidelines, and with Friday as his deadline to register, Kendall ordered federal marshals to detain him.

 Whitley’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 4.

 The Tribune’s Jason Meisner contributed.

 poconnell@chicagotribune.com

 Twitter @pmocwriter

 RELATED

 Chicago cop pleads guilty to having sex with 14-year-old girl, admits similar conduct with 3 other minors » |||||
What is a summary?

– A former cop who paid underage girls for sex is facing a harsher sentence over his brand of condom, the Chicago Tribune reports. William Whitley, 61, pleaded guilty this week in federal court to sex trafficking of a minor and will likely serve 10 years to life. Prosecutors leveled federal charges partly because his condoms—LifeStyles and Trojan Magnums—were manufactured outside of Illinois, meaning he engaged in interstate commerce, the Kansas City Star reports. His use of a cellphone to snap sexually explicit photos of two girls and paying them with money also hit the "federal nexus," prosecutors say. The condom brands were included in the FBI's criminal complaint the way guns often are. "The gun traveling is analogous to the condom traveling," says a law professor and former federal prosecutor. "The person who pulled the trigger may not have traveled, but the gun did. This police officer may not have traveled, but an aspect that he used to commit the crime did." Whitley claimed he didn't know one of the girls was 14 when they had sex over a four-month period in 2015, but investigators suggested that her braces could have tipped him off. He met the other girl, a 16-year-old runaway, at a party where runaways prostituted themselves to older men. She says she gave him oral sex five times for $60 to $65 each. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Whitley, a 20-year veteran of the Chicago PD, will be sentenced in September.


Donald Trump speaks at a caucus night watch party at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

 A Jersey Shore town that’s hauling a homeowner before a judge for the offense of flying a Donald Trump “Make America Great Again” flag on his property may be in for a yuuuge legal fight.

 A civil liberties group that has successfully challenged local New Jersey laws against political signage says the West Long Branch ordinance is unconstitutional — not only because limits on political speech are unlawful, but because officials can’t discriminate between flags.

 Joe Hornick was ticketed by a police officer after officials received a complaint about a flag in his yard flying in support of the Republican presidential candidate.

 West Long Branch man says he was ticketed for flying Donald Trump flag – https://t.co/KxpU2EKYVY pic.twitter.com/Xf3jUE2YIh — News12NJ (@News12NJ) April 7, 2016

 A borough ordinance prohibits any signs being posted more than 30 days before an election.

 Hornick, in a post on the West Long Branch Residents page on Facebook, contends that his flag is no different than a for-sale sign or a flag in support of an organization.

 Borough Clerk Lori Cole told New Jersey 101.5 that “our borough attorney determined that a flag is considered a political sign.”

 But Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said the ordinance on its face sounds like it is unconstitutional.

 “Political signs cannot be time limited,” said LoCicero, whose group had successfully won similar cases against Wyckoff, Hawthorne and Franklin Lakes over ordinances that limited the amount of time a sign remains on private property.

 “Political signs are a form of political speech and residents are allowed to engage in that all year long.”

 A community can have regulations about the size of a flag, for example, but “once (a community) allows flags they have to allow all flags. They can’t prefer a message on one flag over another,” LoCicero said.

 NJ man defiant after ticket for flying Trump flag in his yard

 The borough’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

 Cole said Hornick has a Municipal Court hearing on April 20 where he could be fined anywhere between $100 and $2,000, a 90 day jail sentence or possibly both. Cole could not recall any cases in West Long Branch where someone went to jail over a political sign.

 Got a news tip for New Jersey 101.5? Call 609-438-1015 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com. ||||| A New Jersey man who's been flying Donald Trump's campaign flag in front of his home since February could face up to a $2,000 fine or jail time when he faces a judge in the case. Brian Thompson reports (Published Friday, April 8, 2016)

 New Jersey Homeowner May Face Jail for Flying Trump Campaign Flag

 A New Jersey man who's been flying Donald Trump's campaign flag in front of his home since February could face up to a $2,000 fine or jail time when he faces a judge in the case.

 Joe Hornick has been flying Trump's "Make America Great Again" flag outside his West Long Branch home on a busy corner near the Monmouth University campus for months.

 But he got a ticket recently citing him for illegally posting political signage more than 30 days before an election. The New Jersey presidential primary isn't until June 7.

 "I'm not a football fan, I'm not a sports fan, but I'm surely a Donald Trump fan," he told NBC 4 New York.

 Trump's Dramatic Reading of 'The Snake'

 At a rally on Long Island Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump staged a dramatic reading of a 1968 song called "The Snake" by Al Wilson in what he deemed an analogy to immigration. (Published Wednesday, April 6, 2016)

 Hornick actually flies two Trump flags day and night, and lights them up when it gets dark. They've been ripped down five times so far.

 "Let them come, let them rip those flags down because I have a warehouse on alert, and I'll put up a flag every time they tear one down," he said.

 Hornick is ready to face a judge. If he loses the flag fight in court. Hornick is prepared to serve the sentence.

 "I'm not taking the flag down, and if I do 90 days in jail, I'll do 90 days in jail," he said.

 Hornick says he once saw Trump at a Trump casino but didn't try to greet him.

 "To be honest with you, I didn't get up because I was at the blackjack table and I was actually trying to rob him," he joked.

 WATCH: Ted Cruz Rolls Matzo in Brooklyn

 Ted Cruz rolls matzo at the Chabat Neshama Center in Brooklyn on Thursday, April 7. (Published Friday, April 8, 2016)

 But that was then, he says, and this is now. And if Trump loses, Hornick says he'll shred his voter registration card and never vote again.

 And he'll keep flying that flag. ||||| News12.com reports on this:

 Joe Hornick [of West Long Branch, N.J.,] tells News 12 New Jersey that a police officer who drove by his house last month stopped and issued him a ticket for displaying a political sign more than 30 days before an election.

 A borough ordinance does restrict the display of any “[p]olitical sign,” defined to “mean a sign which directs attention to an issue, issues, candidate or candidates for public consideration in an election, including the name of a political party”:

 No political sign shall be displayed sooner than thirty (30) days prior to the date of the election or the decision of the issue is scheduled. Signs shall be removed within five (5) days following said election or date of decision.

 But that violates the First Amendment; as Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) makes clear, sign laws (and other speech restrictions) that discriminate based on the content of signs — such as by distinguishing signs about ballot issues or candidates from signs about other subjects — are generally unconstitutional. The city may impose some content-neutral speech restrictions that apply equally to all signs (though some such signs have to be allowed, see City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994)). But it may not impose content-based restrictions such as this.

 Thanks to Keith Kaplan for the pointer. |||||
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– "I'm not a football fan, I'm not a sports fan, but I'm surely a Donald Trump fan," Joe Hornick tells NBC 4. The New Jersey man has been flying a Trump flag outside his home for months and he says he will go to jail rather than obey an ordinance in the town of West Long Branch against flying political flags more than 30 days before an election. New Jersey holds its primary on June 7, meaning it will be weeks before Hornick can legally fly the "Make America Great Again" banner. He has already been ticketed, and people have ripped down his flag at least five times. "I have a warehouse on alert, and I'll put up a flag every time they tear one down," Hornick says. Hornick—who says that if Trump loses, he'll rip up his registration card and never vote again—could get 90 days' jail time or a $2,000 fine if he doesn't take down the flag. Hornick says that he has a constitutional right to fly the flag, and the American Civil Liberties Union is supporting him, reports NY 101.5. According to Eugene Volokh at the Washington Post, Hornick is right: Banning political signs or placing similar restrictions on the content of signs violates the First Amendment, Volokh writes, though the city would be within its rights to apply content-neutral restrictions that applied to all signs. (Trump had a rough night Saturday.)


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Violent crime in the United States increased in 2015 but remained far below peak levels of the 1990s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump prepared for a debate that is likely to focus on public safety.

 Phone banks dedicated to the Federal Bureau of Investigation are shown during a tour of the Multi-Agency Communications Center (MACC) at an undisclosed location in the Chicago suburbs May 17, 2012. REUTERS/Frank Polich

 While murder, rape and assault remained far below the peak levels of the 1990s, last year’s increase in the violent crime rate could provide fodder for Trump, a Republican who has portrayed himself as a “law and order” candidate willing to support aggressive policing tactics. Clinton, a Democrat, has said many of his crime-fighting proposals amount to unconstitutional attacks on American freedoms.

 The FBI report could “be turned into political football,” said Harvard Law School research fellow Robert Smith.

 At 372.6 incidents per 100,000 people, the 2015 violent-crime rate is higher than the 2014 rate of 361.6 but still well below the 1996 level of 636.6. The increase was most pronounced in big cities, the report found.

 On the campaign trail, Trump frequently points to rising crime rates as a reason to support “stop-and-frisk” tactics and other police methods that critics say unfairly target minorities.

 Clinton has pushed for stricter gun control to help curb violence and has called for national guidelines on the use of force by police officers.

 In 2015, there were an estimated 15,696 murders in the United States, compared with an estimated 14,164 the prior year, according to the report. Last year’s crime rate was still lower than in 2012 and earlier years, the FBI found.

 Crime was highest in the southern United States, the report found. At 45.9 per 100,000 people, the murder and manslaughter rate in the region was more than twice as high as in the West, the Midwest and the Northeast, according to the FBI. Rates of rape, assault and property crime were dramatically higher as well.

 FBI Director James Comey warned last year that violent crime in the United States might rise because increased scrutiny of policing tactics had created a “chill wind” that discouraged officers from using aggressive tactics.

 The rise in crime has been concentrated in big cities’ segregated and impoverished neighborhoods. Experts said crime there can best be fought through better community policing and alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent crime.

 “We’re just beginning to see a shift in mentality in law enforcement from a warrior mentality... to a guardian mentality,” Carter Stewart, a former prosecutor for the Southern District of Ohio, said on the teleconference. “I don’t want us as a country to go backwards.”

 In Chicago, 54 more people were murdered in 2015 than in the previous year, a 13 percent jump in the city’s murder rate, according to an April study by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. ||||| Today, the FBI released its annual compilation of crimes reported to its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program by law enforcement agencies from around the nation. Crime in the United States, 2015 reveals a 3.9 percent increase in the estimated number of violent crimes and a 2.6 percent decrease in the estimated number of property crimes last year when compared to 2014 data.

 According to the report, there were an estimated 1,197,704 violent crimes committed around the nation. While that was an increase from 2014 figures, the 2015 violent crime total was 0.7 percent lower than the 2011 level and 16.5 percent below the 2006 level.

 Among some of the other statistics contained in Crime in the United States, 2015: |||||

– The number of murders in the US rose 11% last year from 2014, while the number of violent crimes saw a modest increase of 4% after two years of decline, per an FBI press release. Rapes rose 6.3%, aggravated assaults increased 4.6%, and robberies rose by 1.4% during the same period. These stats come from the FBI's latest crime report, though NPR notes it's important to put the figures in context: These violent crimes were still way down compared to other recent years, and especially more than 20 years ago, when figures spiked. For instance, despite its 11% increase this year, the number of murders dropped 9.3% from 2006. "The number of rapes is less than in 2009, the number of robberies less than in … 2013, and assaults less than in 2010. Still quite safe," a Fordham law professor and crime expert notes on Twitter. Not that it's all smooth sailing. US Attorney General Loretta Lynch addressed the increase Monday, noting that violence "tears at the fabric of our common life" and that "we still have so much work to do," per the Washington Post. And FBI Director James Comey said in May it doesn't make him feel better that violent crime has risen over the past year, even if it hasn't reached historic low points. In terms of last year's murders, firearms were involved in about 72% of the cases, and seven cities or regions—Chicago, Baltimore, Houston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and DC—accounted for much of 2015's spurt. Don't be surprised if the crime report comes up in Monday night's debate between Clinton and Trump: A Harvard Law School research fellow said Friday the stats could be turned into a "political football" during their faceoff, per Reuters. (Our most violent states.)


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(FILES)Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during an interview session with The Atlantic at the Newseum in Washington, DC, in this September 18, 2013 file photo. Zuckerberg will sell 41.35 million 'B' shares in the company, worth about $2.3 billion, for tax purposes, a filing with US stock market regulators said December 19, 2013. These shares will allow Zuckerberg to retain power over Facebook because each has 10 voting rights. Proceeds from the sale will allow the young billionaire to pay taxes due on the exercise of an option enabling him to obtain 60 million additional 'B' Facebook shares. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

 Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is donating another $1 billion worth of stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, in the latest installment of the 29-year-old Internet mogul's pledge to spend more than half his wealth on philanthropy.

 The donation is "by far the largest gift in our history," said Emmett Carson, CEO of the Mountain View-based foundation, which will help Zuckerberg allocate the donated assets in coming years. Carson declined to say how the money will be used, but added: "We believe this gift will immensely improve the lives of people here and elsewhere."

 Facebook announced the gift while disclosing plans for a sizable stock offering in which the company will raise almost $1.5 billion in cash, taking advantage of the stock's current high trading price by selling 27 million new shares. Zuckerberg is also selling about $2.3 billion worth of his own shares, which the company said he'll use to cover taxes he'll owe after exercising an option to buy more Facebook stock.

 When the dust settles, the youthful CEO will have reduced his stake in the high-flying social networking company -- but only slightly. Zuckerberg will control about 62.8 percent of voting power wielded by Facebook shareholders, down from 65.2 percent. He will still own about 444.2 million shares, which were worth more than $24 billion on Thursday.

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 Zuckerberg has made headline-grabbing gifts to charitable works before. He gave a similar-sized block of stock to the foundation last year, although the shares were worth only about $500 million at the time, because Wall Street was less enthusiastic about the company then. The value of that donation has more than doubled, as Facebook's booming advertising business has caused its stock to soar.

 Along with receiving donations and making direct grants to charities, the community foundation advises a number of wealthy individuals on philanthropic giving. It offers a variety of custom services, such as administering charitable funds on an individual's behalf.

 As part of its work with Zuckerberg, the foundation helped oversee his pledge of $100 million to improve public schools in Newark, N.J., which he announced in 2010. It also channeled his contribution to the multi-million-dollar series of "Breakthrough Prize" awards for math and science research, which Zuckerberg has funded jointly with other tech luminaries including Sergey Brin, Yuri Milner and Jack Ma.

 Zuckerberg signed on three years ago to the "Giving Pledge" campaign, promoted by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, in which wealthy individuals vow to give at least half their assets to philanthropy over the course of their lives.

 The Facebook CEO and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, have said they are interested in causes related to education and health. Zuckerberg has avoided discussing their charitable goals in detail, however. Carson declined to answer questions about how the foundation will manage or distribute the donated stock.

 Facebook, meanwhile, said it has no specific plans for the money raised from its new stock offering, which will be the company's first since its trouble-plagued initial public offering in May 2012. Facebook is already flush with cash; it ended the last quarter with more than $9 billion on hand.

 But there have been reports Facebook recently offered to pay an astonishing $3 billion to buy the messaging service Snapchat, which has become a popular rival for younger Internet users' attention. While the offer was rebuffed, word of the new stock offering prompted speculation Facebook may have other big acquisitions in mind.

 Facebook's stock has surged over the last year, as the company overcame early criticism that it was slow to catch on to the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets. At the time of its IPO, Facebook had no way of selling advertising for the smaller screens of mobile devices.

 But it has subsequently built a thriving mobile ad business, which will bring the company $3 billion in revenue this year, according to eMarketer. The research firm projects those sales will help make Facebook the second-biggest seller of online advertising in the United States, behind only Google (GOOG). Facebook shares closed Thursday at $55.05.

 In a related move, Facebook said Zuckerberg will exercise a long-standing option to buy 60 million new shares, at a price that is likely much lower than the public trading price. He will sell 41.35 million shares, primarily to cover tax obligations, and donate 18 million shares.

 Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, an early Facebook investor, will also sell 1.6 million shares, worth about $87 million.

 Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey ||||| wealth Facebook CEO Zuckerberg expects staggering tax payments Dec. 19, 2013 at 3:24 PM ET

 ROBERT GALBRAITH / Reuters

 Last year Mark Zuckerberg paid an estimated $1 billion in taxes, which was considered one of the biggest payments ever.

 Until now.

 According to company filings, the Facebook chief executive officer is selling 41.4 million shares of Facebook worth around $2.3 billion. The company said "most" of the net proceeds will go to pay taxes, which means that over a two-year period, Zuckerberg may be paying between $2 billion and $3 billion in federal and state taxes.

 A $2 billion payment this year would be around 4 percent of the total income taxes that were collected in California in 2012.

 It's hard to say whether his tax bill is the biggest this year — or ever — because the IRS doesn't rank the top taxpayers. And while Forbes, Bloomberg and others track the wealth gains of the rich, no one tracks the top taxpayers among the rich.

 The IRS does crunch data on the top 400 earners each year. For 2009, the most recent period available, the top 400 earners paid a total of $16 billion in taxes, with an average tax bill of $40 million each.

 Zuckerberg's tax bill could be more than 50 times that amount.

 Of course, his tax bill is so high because his income (at least on paper) is even more massive. And with a net worth of more than $27 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, it won't exactly cramp his lifestyle. What's more, Zuckerberg has charitable deductions and trust structures that help reduce his effective tax rate.

 But Zuckerberg is an extreme example of a dangerous phenomenon: the stock sales of the wealthy account for an outsized share of America's income taxes. And that dependence is growing with a rising stock market and a growing income gap.

 In California, the top 1 percent pay more than 40 percent of the state's income taxes. The stock-selling, super rich like Zuckerberg account for a large share of that 40 percent.

 Facebook's initial public offering was so important to the state government's tax collections that it had to lower its budget projections by more than $600 million because of the company's weak IPO. Now that Facebook's shares are soaring, the budget probably needs to be updated with higher revenue numbers.

 For now, Washington and Sacramento are cheering the soaring stock market, and sellers like Zuckerberg. They won't be as happy when the trend reverses.

 —By CNBC's Robert Frank. Follow him on Twitter @robtfrank.

 Related stories:

 Zuckerberg to sell $2.3 billion worth of Facebook shares

 Just how fast are the rich becoming richer?

 Buffett's wealth: Up $37 million a day

 © 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved |||||

– It may be true that people are a bit more generous around the holidays, but Mark Zuckerberg is taking that to a whole new level. Facebook's founder is once again making a hefty donation to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation: a block of Facebook stock worth $1 billion. He gave the foundation roughly the same amount of stock last year, but it was worth only half as much at the time. It's "by far the largest gift in our history," the foundation's CEO told the San Jose Mercury News, without providing any specifics on how the donation will be used. But it won't be the only stock to soon escape Zuckerberg's hands. CNBC reports he's selling off 41.4 million Facebook shares worth $2.3 billion ... to pay his taxes. Last year Zuckerberg's tax bill rang in at $1 billion, but this year's tab could be closer to $2 billion, an astounding sum considering that the top 400 earners in 2009 paid a total of $16 billion. Still, even after the tax man takes his due, Zuckerberg will have plenty of cash left to roll around in. He'll still have 444.2 million Facebook shares, worth around $24 billion, which give him about 62.8% of the voting power of Facebook shareholders, down from 65.2% before the sale and donation.