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‘Greed and corruption’: Federal jury convicts veteran DEA agents in bribery conspiracy

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal jury convicted two longtime U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration supervisors Wednesday of leaking confidential information to defense attorneys as part of a bribery conspiracy that prosecutors say imperiled high-profile cases and the lives of overseas drug informants. The Manhattan jury found John Costanzo Jr. and Manny Recio guilty of bribery and wire fraud after a two-week trial that cast a harsh light on DEA’s handling of government secrets, including testimony about one breach so sensitive the judge closed the courtroom to avoid what he called “serious diplomatic repercussions.” “It’s about greed and corruption,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Deininger said in her closing argument. “What they were doing was wrong, and they knew it.”Recio and Costanzo join a growing list of more than a dozen DEA agents convicted of federal charges in recent years, including one who laundered money money for Colombian cartels. Another is scheduled...

Police release image of St. Catharines stabbing suspect

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

Investigators with Niagara Regional Police Service have released an image of a suspect after a man was stabbed in St. Catharines during a robbery attempt.Police say it happened on September 4 at around 10:35 p.m. in the Riordon Street and Gale Crescent area when the victim, a 46-year-old man, was walking with a friend.Investigators said two suspects approached the duo and demanded property from the victim’s friend.That led to an altercation that resulted in the victim being stabbed.He was taken to a trauma centre with non-life-threatening injuries and is now recovering at home, police added.A photo of one of the suspects has been released. He’s described as a Black male in his late 20s with a medium build. He was wearing black pants, a black hooded sweatshirt with a T-shirt visible underneath and black running shoes with white sole at heel.The second suspect is a Black male, 15-16 years old with a thin build. He was wearing grey pants and a white T-shirt with black runni...

Democratic governors want more funding for security at places of worship in wake of threats

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Democratic group of governors led by Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer have joined national leaders in calling for an increase in funding for security at places of worship as concerns grow over threats against Jewish and Muslim communities sparked by the Israel-Hamas war. Governors of 10 states and the territory of Puerto Rico sent a letter Wednesday, first obtained by The Associated Press, that was addressed to leaders in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. It calls for an increase in funding to the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which is set to give $305 million this year to nonprofits to help secure their facilities against potential attacks. “My fellow governors and I are calling for an increase to the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program so we can help keep people safe amid rising threats and violence targeted towards Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities and houses of worship,” Whitmer said in a statement.The letter echoes calls from other...

Liberal and moderate candidates take control of school boards in contentious races across US

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — On Tuesday, voters across the U.S. largely rebuked conservative candidates in local school board elections who want to ban books and restrict classroom conversations on race and gender.In recent years, down-ballot elections have become proxy votes for polarizing national issues. This time, liberal and moderate candidates took control in high-profile races in conservative Iowa, and the swing states of Pennsylvania and Virginia.The American Federation of Teachers said that candidates endorsed by conservative groups such as Moms For Liberty and the 1776 Project, lost about 80% of their races nationally on Tuesday.“They don’t want to engage in this banning of books or censoring of honest history or undermining who kids are,” Randi Weingarten, the teachers union president told The Associated Press on Wednesday, characterizing the candidates who won as “pro-public school.”Conservative groups weren’t totally shut out though. In Pennsylvania’s York County, for i...

Oklahoma board recommends the governor spare the life of a death row inmate who argued self-defense

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board narrowly voted Wednesday to recommend sparing the life of a man set to be executed later this month for what he claims were the self-defense killings of two men in Oklahoma City in 2001.The board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for Phillip Dean Hancock, who has long maintained he shot and killed Robert Jett Jr., 37, and James Lynch, 58, in self-defense after the two men attacked him. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt must now decide whether to grant clemency to Hancock, who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Nov. 30.The board’s decision came after it heard from Hancock, 59, his attorneys, lawyers from the state and members of Jett and Lynch’s families. Two Republican state legislators who say they strongly support the death penalty, Reps. Kevin McDugle and Justin Humphrey, also testified on Hancock’s behalf.“If any one of us were in that same exact situation … we would have fought for our lives,” ...

The Organization of American States warns Nicaragua it will keep watching even as the country exits

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Organization of American States said Wednesday that it will continue closely monitoring Nicaragua’s democracy and human rights record even after the country’s imminent exit from the regional body later this month.OAS members made clear that Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s withdrawal from the organization his country has belonged to since 1950 would not mean losing a persistent critic of his administration.The OAS “will continue paying special attention to the situation in Nicaragua” and will try to promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms there, according to a resolution approved by members of the permanent council.“This is a clear message that we want to send to the Nicaraguan people, so that they know they are not alone,” said council President Ronald Sanders, the representative for Antigua and Barbuda, adding, “We are not going to abandon them.”Arturo McFields, Nicaragua’s representative at the OAS until he publicly denounce...

Maryland officials approve settlement to reform autopsy process after teen’s 2018 in-custody death

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland officials approved a settlement Wednesday that reforms the process for conducting autopsies on people killed in police custody, a move that follows the 2018 death of a Black man who died after a struggle with an officer.The settlement ends litigation relating to how the medical examiner’s office performed an autopsy for Anton Black, a 19-year-old who died in police custody on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.The state has agreed to adopt a policy that explicitly addresses how medical examiners handle in-custody deaths, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland announced in a news release. It would apply to all deaths involving law enforcement restraint, including those that occur in jails, prisons and juvenile facilities.“This landmark settlement with the Maryland Medical Examiner – the first of its kind ever in Maryland – will bring concrete changes to ensure that deaths in law enforcement custody are not given special treatment that too often favo...

Brazil police say they foiled a terrorist plot and arrested two suspects

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Authorities in Brazil foiled terrorist plans Wednesday when they arrested two people in Sao Paulo state, the Federal Police said in a statement.The two suspects were recruited and financed by the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and planned to target buildings tied to the Jewish community, according to an official with information about the plans but who was not authorized to speak publicly. The police statement did not give details about the suspects. It said police also executed 11 search warrants in Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and the Federal District that were aimed at obtaining proof of possible recruitment of Brazilians for carrying out extremist acts in the country, adding that it was targeting both recruits and recruiters.Local paper O Globo reported that police arrested one of the two suspects when they returned to the international airport in Sao Paulo, with information in hand to carry out the attack. There are two additional targets for arrest in Lebanon, the...

Former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz wins National Business Book Award

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

TORONTO — Former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz has won the National Business Book Award this year.Poloz was nominated for a book called “The Next Age of Uncertainty: How the World Can Adapt to a Riskier Future.’The book talks about how the Bank of Canada works and why it does what it does. He takes home a $30,000 prize with the award.Poloz served as governor of the Canadian central bank from 2013 to 2020.The other finalists for the award were a memoir by Wes Hall, who is the founder of BlackNorth Initiative, and a compilation of first-person essays on leadership during the pandemic that was edited by Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Willis and Greenhill Canada investment banker Steve Mayer.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2023.The Canadian Press

Minnesota agency had data on iron foundry’s pollution violations but failed to act, report says

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:37:00 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota iron foundry has been violating air emissions laws for at least five years, but the state agency responsible for enforcing air permits didn’t take action against the company, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday.The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency tested the air along the perimeter of Smith Foundry in Minneapolis in October 2022 and in April, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA said that both times, the state recorded high levels of particulate matter, which can cause heart attacks, asthmas and chronic health conditions.But it wasn’t until a surprise EPA inspection in May that federal regulators made demands that the company comply with air pollution laws.“It’s such a breach of trust,” said Joe Vital, who lives near the foundry. “The community has met for years with the MPCA asking them to inspect this facility. It’s just regulatory neglect.”MPCA officials said they are reviewing the EPA’s findings.“...