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Tag: associated press

  • Brett Favre Insists He’s Been ‘Unjustly Smeared’ In Welfare Case

    JACKSON, Leave out. (AP) — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre says he’s being handled unfairly in information protection of a Mississippi welfare scandal, together with about bills he gained to assist fund a puppy venture of his — a volleyball enviornment on the college he attended and the place his daughter was once taking part in the game.

    “I’ve been unjustly smeared within the media,” Favre mentioned in a commentary to Fox Information Virtual, which was once printed Tuesday. “I’ve executed not anything unsuitable, and it’s previous time to set the document directly.

    “Nobody ever informed me, and I didn’t know, that budget designated for welfare recipients had been going to the College or me,” Favre mentioned. “I attempted to assist my alma mater USM, a public Mississippi state college, lift budget for a wellness middle. My purpose was once and at all times can be to strengthen the athletic amenities at my college.”

    It is among the few public statements Favre has made about Mississippi’s largest-ever public corruption case involving the misspending of tens of tens of millions of greenbacks in welfare cash that was once meant to assist probably the most poorest other folks in one of the most poorest states within the U.S.

    Favre isn’t dealing with legal fees. He’s amongst greater than 3 dozen other folks or firms being sued by means of the Mississippi Division of Human Services and products.

    Mississippi Auditor Shad White, a Republican who has investigated the welfare misspending, took exception with Favre’s new commentary. White pointed to textual content messages between Favre and folks in regards to the volleyball enviornment, not too long ago disclosed within the civil lawsuit.

    “Clearly, Mr. Favre knew that he was once being paid in executive budget, in keeping with the texts,” White informed The Related Press on Tuesday. “He knew that the ones budget had been coming from the Division of Human Services and products. He’s clearly said that he had to pay off the ones budget, too.”

    The lawsuit was once filed in Might and says the defendants “squandered” greater than $20 million from the Brief Help for Needy Households anti-poverty program.

    Favre has repaid $1.1 million he gained for talking charges from the Mississippi Group Training Middle, a nonprofit workforce that spent TANF cash with approval from the Division of Human Services and products. However, White mentioned Tuesday that Favre nonetheless owes $228,000 in passion.

    In October 2021, Favre and White engaged in a social media spat about White pronouncing Favre had accredited the $1.1 million however had failed to turn up for talking engagements.

    “In fact the cash was once returned as a result of I’d by no means knowingly take budget supposed to assist our neighbors in want, however for Shad White to proceed to push out this lie that the cash was once for no-show occasions is one thing I will not keep silent about,” Favre wrote.

    White mentioned Tuesday that Favre has many times made “complicated” statements in regards to the cost for talking.

    “The contract that justified the cost to him for $1.1 million required him to turn up and provides speeches, and he didn’t give the speeches,” White mentioned. “If he’s arguing that that contract is a sham, he can’t be paid $1.1 million on a nonexistent contract. He nonetheless has to pay the cash again.”

    The director of the nonprofit, Nancy New, pleaded accountable in April to fees of misspending welfare cash, as did her son Zachary New, who helped run the middle. They look ahead to sentencing and feature agreed to testify towards others.

    In a Sept. 12 court docket submitting within the civil lawsuit, an legal professional for the Mississippi Group Training Middle launched a number of textual content messages about $5 million in welfare cash that went towards the volleyball facility. The messages had been between Nancy New and Favre, between Favre and previous Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and between Bryant and New. The messages had been from 2017 to 2019, when the Republican Bryant was once nonetheless governor.

    That court docket submitting mentioned the nonprofit middle agreed to pay Favre $1.1 million “for a couple of radio spots” to assist fund the volleyball enviornment, which was once additionally being referred to as a campus wellness middle. Favre had agreed to steer fundraising efforts to construct the ability at the Hattiesburg campus.

    In keeping with court docket paperwork, Favre texted New on Aug. 3, 2017, in regards to the cost to him for talking: “For those who had been to pay me is there anyway the media can to find out the place it got here from and what sort of?”

    New answered: “No, we by no means have had that data publicized. I perceive you being uneasy about that although. Let’s see what occurs on Monday with the dialog with probably the most other people at Southern. Perhaps it is going to click on with them. With a bit of luck.”

    Favre spoke back: “Good enough thank you.”

    Tomorrow, New texted Favre: “Wow, simply were given off the telephone with Phil Bryant! He’s on board with us! We can get this executed!”

    Favre performed soccer on the College of Southern Mississippi prior to going to the NFL in 1991. His daughter started taking part in at the faculty’s volleyball staff in 2017.

    Favre mentioned within the commentary to Fox Information on Tuesday that state companies equipped cash to Mississippi Group Training Middle, which then gave cash to the College of Southern Mississippi “all with the whole wisdom and approval of alternative State companies,” together with the board that governs Mississippi’s 8 public universities, the governor’s place of business and the legal professional common’s place of business.

    Information shops have in the past reported involvement by means of the state school board, the governor’s place of business and the legal professional common’s place of business in approval of cash for the volleyball enviornment.

    “I used to be informed that the prison paintings to be sure that those budget may well be accredited by means of the college was once executed by means of State legal professionals and State staff,” Favre mentioned.

  • 1955 Warrant In Emmett Until Case Discovered, Circle of relatives Seeks Arrest Of Girl

    JACKSON, Leave out. (AP) — A group looking out the basement of a Mississippi courthouse for proof in regards to the lynching of Black teen Emmett Until has discovered the unserved warrant charging a white girl in his 1955 kidnapping, and kin of the sufferer who initiated the search need government to in any case arrest her just about 70 years later.

    A warrant for the arrest of Carolyn Bryant Donham — known as “Mrs. Roy Bryant” at the record — was once came upon final week within a report folder that were positioned in a field, Leflore County Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill advised The Related Press on Wednesday.

    Paperwork are saved within packing containers by way of decade, he mentioned, however there was once not anything else to suggest the place the warrant, dated Aug. 29, 1955, would possibly had been.

    “They narrowed it down between the ’50s and ’60s and were given fortunate,” mentioned Stockstill, who qualified the warrant as authentic.

    The quest was once began by way of the Emmett Until Legacy Basis and integrated two participants of Until’s circle of relatives: Cousin Deborah Watts, head of the Basis; and her daughter, Teri Watts. They would like government to make use of the warrant to arrest Donham, who on the time of the slaying was once married to certainly one of two white males attempted and acquitted simply weeks after Until was once kidnapped from a relative’s house, killed and dumped right into a river.

    “Serve it and rate her,” Teri Watts advised the AP in an interview.

    Donham prompt the case in August 1955 by way of accusing the 14-year-old Until of creating flawed advances at a circle of relatives retailer in Cash, Mississippi. A cousin of Until who was once there has mentioned Until whistled on the girl, which flew within the face of Mississippi’s racist social codes of the generation.

    Proof signifies a girl, most likely Donham, known Until to the lads who later killed him. The arrest warrant towards Donham was once publicized on the time, however the Leflore County sheriff advised journalists he didn’t need to “trouble” the girl since she had two small children to handle.

    Now in her 80s and maximum lately dwelling in North Carolina, Donham has no longer commented publicly on requires her prosecution. However Teri Watts mentioned the Until circle of relatives believes the warrant accusing Donham of kidnapping quantities to new proof.

    “That is what the state of Mississippi wishes to head forward,” she mentioned.

    District Legal professional Dewayne Richardson, whose workplace would prosecute a case, declined remark at the warrant however cited a December record in regards to the Until case from the Justice Division, which mentioned no prosecution was once conceivable.

    Contacted by way of the AP on Wednesday, Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks mentioned: “That is the primary time I’ve identified a few warrant.”

    Banks, who was once 7 years outdated when Until was once killed, mentioned “not anything was once mentioned a few warrant” when a former district lawyer investigated the case 5 – 6 years in the past.

    “I will be able to see if I will get a duplicate of the warrant and get with the DA and get their opinion on it,” Banks mentioned. If the warrant can nonetheless be served, Banks mentioned, he must communicate to regulation enforcement officials within the state the place Donham is living.

    Arrest warrants can “pass stale” because of the passage of time and converting instances, and one from 1955 virtually definitely would no longer go muster earlier than a court docket, even supposing a sheriff agreed to serve it, mentioned Ronald J. Rychlak, a regulation professor on the College of Mississippi.

    However blended with any new proof, the unique arrest warrant “completely” might be the most important stepping stone towards organising possible purpose to start up a brand new prosecution, he mentioned.

    “When you went in entrance of a pass judgement on you should say, ‘As soon as upon a time a pass judgement on made up our minds there was once possible purpose, and a lot more knowledge is to be had as of late,’” Rychlak mentioned.

    Until, who was once from Chicago, was once visiting kin in Mississippi when he entered the shop the place Donham, then 21, was once running on Aug. 24, 1955. A Until relative who was once there on the time, Wheeler Parker, advised AP that Until whistled on the girl. Donham testified in court docket that Until additionally grabbed her and made a lewd remark.

    Two nights later, Donham’s then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, confirmed up armed on the rural Leflore County house of Until’s great-uncle, Mose Wright, in search of the early life. Until’s brutalized frame, encumbered by way of a fan, was once pulled from a river days later in any other county. His mom’s choice to open the casket so mourners in Chicago may see what had came about helped impress the construction civil rights motion of the time.

    Bryant and Milam have been acquitted of homicide however later admitted the killing in {a magazine} interview. Whilst each males have been named in the similar warrant that accused Donham of kidnapping, government didn’t pursue the case following their acquittal.

    Wright testified throughout the homicide trial that an individual with a voice “lighter” than a person’s known Until from within a pickup truck and the kidnappers took him clear of the circle of relatives house. Different proof in FBI information signifies that previous that very same evening, Donham advised her husband that no less than two different Black males weren’t the precise individual.

    Reeves reported from Newnan, Georgia.

  • Marlin Briscoe, 1st Black Beginning QB In AFL, Lifeless At 76

    Marlin Briscoe, who turned into the primary Black beginning quarterback within the American Soccer League greater than 50 years in the past, died Monday.

    His daughter, Angela Marriott, instructed The Related Press that Briscoe, 76, died of pneumonia at a health facility in Norwalk, California. He were hospitalized with flow problems in his legs.

    Briscoe, an Omaha, Nebraska, local, was once a celeb quarterback for Omaha College sooner than the Denver Broncos drafted him as a cornerback within the 14th spherical in 1968. Briscoe instructed the crew he’d go back house to turn into a trainer if he couldn’t get a tryout at quarterback. Denver agreed to an audition, and the 5-foot-10 dynamo nicknamed “The Magician” just about rallied the Broncos to victory as a reserve towards the Boston Patriots on Sept. 29 sooner than incomes the ancient get started on Oct. 6.

    “He’s made an immense contribution to the game,” Marriott stated. “I’m hoping that he continues to get identified for the contributions that he made. He was once so pleased with that fulfillment.”

    Briscoe began 5 video games that season. He was once runner-up for AFL rookie of the 12 months after passing for 1,589 yards and 14 touchdowns and speeding for 308 yards and 3 ratings.

    In a get started towards the Buffalo Expenses, Briscoe handed for 335 yards and 4 touchdowns. Booker Edgerson, a Expenses cornerback on the time, remembers getting burned for a type of touchdowns. The previous AFL All-Big name and member of the Expenses’ Wall of Status believes Briscoe can have been a Corridor of Status quarterback if no longer for racism.

    “He would had been probably the most best quarterbacks that they’d be speaking about at this time,” Edgerson stated. “He would’ve been any other … he would had been in there sooner than Warren Moon.”

    Denver didn’t give Briscoe a possibility to compete for the quarterback activity in 1969, and didn’t be offering a proof. Edgerson remembers Briscoe telling him he didn’t really feel the Broncos had been able to totally decide to a Black quarterback.

    Briscoe turned into Edgerson’s teammate in Buffalo the following 12 months. James Harris was once Briscoe’s roommate with the Expenses in 1969, and Briscoe helped Harris turn into the primary Black quarterback within the AFL to open a season as a starter.

    “It was once on the time when Black quarterbacks had been being denied, so that you attempted to make sure to had been absolute best ready for the chance when it got here,” Harris stated. “I used to be so much at an advantage as a result of Briscoe was once my roommate.”

    In 1974, Harris performed for the Los Angeles Rams and turned into the primary Black quarterback to win an NFL playoff sport. He additionally was once Professional Bowl MVP that season.

    In the meantime, Briscoe earned a commute to the Professional Bowl as a receiver for Buffalo in 1970 and received two Tremendous Bowls as a receiver with the Miami Dolphins. He was once at the undefeated 1972 Dolphins crew.

    For all he completed, Briscoe by no means forgot the truth that he misplaced his beginning activity in Denver without a probability to earn it again.

    “It troubled him,” Harris stated. “Even supposing he made the transfer, he was once upset. As a way to nonetheless accomplish what he did below the ones cases — pissed off, upset — to be centered sufficient to be a prime achiever at any other place took a different make-up, a different man.”

    Briscoe was once inducted into the School Soccer Corridor of Status in 2016, and the Broncos named a variety training fellowship in his honor sooner than the 2021 season.

    Smartly after his taking part in days, Briscoe remained outspoken about racial injustice. He was once proud to have moved the needle in 1968, however he instructed The Related Press in 2018 he was once upset that many strides made in his day were misplaced.

    “I grew up within the ’50s and the ’60s, when all that stuff was once rampant, however you knew the place you stood,” Briscoe stated. “Lately, you concept that every one the ones attitudes had been nonexistent or filtered away to a point, however with the Trump-isms, his philosophy has introduced out of the woodwork that old-time concept procedure. That’s horrifying — it truly is.”

    Apply Cliff Brunt on Twitter: twitter.com/CliffBruntAP.

  • WNBA Megastar Brittney Griner Ordered To Stand Trial Friday In Russia

    MOSCOW (AP) — Shackled and having a look cautious, WNBA megastar Brittney Griner was once ordered to face trial Friday via a court docket close to Moscow on hashish ownership fees, about 4 1/2 months after her arrest at an airport whilst returning to play for a Russian staff.

    The Phoenix Mercury heart and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist additionally was once ordered to stay in custody at some point of her prison trial. Griner may face 10 years in jail if convicted on fees of large-scale transportation of gear. Fewer than 1% of defendants in Russian prison instances are acquitted, and in contrast to within the U.S., acquittals will also be overturned.

    At Monday’s closed-door initial listening to on the court docket within the Moscow suburb of Khimki, Griner’s detention was once prolonged for any other six months. Footage got via The Related Press confirmed the 31-year-old in handcuffs and having a look instantly forward, in contrast to a prior court docket look the place she saved her head down and lined with a hood.

    Her detention and trial come at a very low level in Moscow-Washington family members. She was once arrested at Sheremetyevo World Airport not up to every week sooner than Russia despatched troops into Ukraine, which irritated already-high tensions with sweeping sanctions via america and Russia’s denunciation of U.S. weapon provides to Ukraine.

    Amid the tensions, Griner’s supporters had taken a low profile in hopes of a quiet solution, till Would possibly, when the State Division reclassified her as wrongfully detained and shifted oversight of her case to its particular presidential envoy for hostage affairs — successfully the U.S. executive’s leader negotiator.

    Griner’s spouse, Cherelle, steered President Joe Biden in Would possibly to safe her free up, calling her “a political pawn.”

    Her supporters have inspired a prisoner switch like the only in April that introduced house Marine veteran Trevor Reed in change for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy.

    Russian information media have time and again raised hypothesis that she might be swapped for Russian fingers dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed “The Service provider of Dying,” who’s serving a 25-year sentence on conviction of conspiracy to kill U.S. voters and offering assist to a 15 May Organization.

    Russia has agitated for Bout’s free up for years. However the discrepancy between Griner’s case — she allegedly was once present in ownership of vape cartridges containing hashish oil — and Bout’s world dealings in fatal guns may make this type of switch unpalatable to the U.S.

    Others have advised that she might be traded in tandem with Paul Whelan, a former Marine and safety director serving a 16-year sentence on an espionage conviction that america has time and again described as a set-up.

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, requested Sunday on CNN whether or not a joint switch of Griner and Whelan for Bout was once being thought to be, sidestepped the query.

    “As a normal proposition … I’ve were given no upper precedence than ensuring that American citizens who’re being illegally detained in a method or any other world wide come house,” he mentioned. However “I will be able to’t remark in any element on what we’re doing, apart from to mention that is an absolute precedence.”

  • UPS Take a look at Drives Tiny Battery-Powered Cycles For Deliveries In Congested Towns

    NEW YORK (AP) — The smooth four-wheeled carts glance acquainted sufficient, however now not even UPS is aware of exactly the right way to describe what might be the supply massive’s newest technique to get programs for your door.

    UPS unveiled Tuesday a battery-powered, four-wheeled cycle to extra successfully haul shipment in one of the vital international’s maximum congested streets and to scale back its carbon footprint. The corporate is making an attempt to achieve carbon neutrality via 2050.

    The slimmed-down automobiles don the corporate’s gold-colored emblem and accompanying stripe on a depressing brown background. However the “eQuad” — as the corporate calls it — garnered amusement from passersby.

    Ian Lagowitz had by no means noticed one and walked over to offer it a glance.

    “It’s humorous having a look,” he mentioned, “nevertheless it’s almost certainly just right for town, proper?”

    Mohammad Islam known as the car “cool stuff,” and wanted this system neatly.

    “Giant vehicles at all times blocking off the visitors,” he mentioned, “so in the event that they do this roughly stuff, it’s 10 occasions higher for everyone.”

    The pedal-powered car was once dwarfed via one of the vital corporate’s extra conventional supply vehicles, which rumble via visitors and now and again draw the ire of motorists looking to get via parked vehicles on slender streets.

    Supply firms have attempted all forms of techniques to ship programs — from conventional vehicles to drones. The corporate now has a fleet of greater than 1,000 electrical automobiles and hundreds extra that aren’t powered via conventional fuel engines.

    UPS mentioned a tribulation run is fascinated about New York Town and in different towns in Europe.

    “New York is a sophisticated town, once we take a look at the density,” mentioned Nicole Pilet, the economic engineering director for UPS. “So if we will be able to have luck right here within the town, then we will be able to see how we put into effect in different towns all through the U.S.”

    The corporate had its get started in Seattle greater than a century in the past and the primary deliveries have been made via foot or bicycle. As the corporate grew, its motorized fleet did, too.

    “That is proper in my wheelhouse,” mentioned Dyghton Anderson, a 22-year-old UPS supply individual and an avid bicycle owner who helps pilot this system. “I trip to and from paintings — from all of the approach from the Bronx all of the technique to right here on forty third — so it’s lovely comfy for me.”

    Related Press creator Bobby Caina Calvan contributed to this tale.

  • Uvalde Police Leader Had No Radio Right through College Taking pictures: Senator

    UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The state firm investigating the mass taking pictures at an basic faculty in Uvalde has made up our minds that the commander dealing with grievance for the gradual police reaction used to be no longer wearing a radio because the bloodbath spread out, a Texas state senator stated Friday.

    Sen. Roland Gutierrez advised The Related Press in a temporary phone interview {that a} Texas Division of Public Protection respectable advised him faculty district police Leader Pete Arredondo used to be and not using a radio all through the Would possibly 24 assault through a lone gunman that left 19 scholars and two academics lifeless. Seventeen extra other folks have been injured.

    Government have no longer stated how different cops have been speaking with Arredondo at the scene. Arredondo heads the district’s small division and used to be accountable for the multi-agency reaction to the taking pictures.

    Arredondo has no longer spoke back to a couple of interview requests from AP for the reason that assault, together with a phone message left with the varsity district police Friday.

    Center of attention has became to the executive in contemporary days after Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Protection, stated Arredondo believed the energetic taking pictures had become a hostage scenario, and that he made the “fallacious choice” not to order officials to breach the school room extra temporarily to confront the gunman.

    Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, complained Thursday that Arredondo used to be no longer knowledgeable of panicked 911 calls coming from scholars trapped within a lecture room the place the gunman had holed up. The Democrat referred to as it a “device failure.”

    Police radios are a a very powerful supply of real-time verbal exchange all through an emergency and, in keeping with professionals, steadily how data from 911 calls is relayed to officials at the floor. It’s unclear who on the scene used to be acutely aware of the calls. Uvalde police didn’t reply to questions in regards to the calls Thursday.

    The Division of Public Protection on Friday referred all questions in regards to the taking pictures investigation to Uvalde-area District Lawyer Christina Mitchell Busbee, who didn’t straight away go back phone and textual content messages in quest of remark.

    The gunman in Uvalde, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, spent kind of 80 mins within the faculty, and greater than an hour handed from when the primary officials adopted him into the construction and when he used to be killed through regulation enforcement, in keeping with an respectable timeline.

    Extra at the faculty taking pictures in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting

    Coronado reported from Austin, Texas. Related Press writers Jake Bleiberg in Dallas and Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this document.

  • Former Idaho Lawmaker Convicted Of Raping 19-12 months-Previous Intern

    BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A former Idaho lawmaker was once convicted Friday of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial through which the younger girl fled the witness stand right through testimony, announcing “I will’t do that.”

    The intern advised a Statehouse manager that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his condominium after the 2 had dinner at a Boise eating place in March 2021. He stated the intercourse was once consensual.

    On the time, von Ehlinger was once a state consultant from Lewiston, however he later resigned.

    Von Ehlinger, 39, was once discovered in charge Friday of rape. He was once discovered no longer in charge of sexual penetration with a international object.

    Von Ehlinger sat flippantly as the decision was once learn, as he has all over the trial. Von Ehlinger talked quietly together with his lawyer, who got rid of pieces from Von Ehlinger’s wallet as he was once handcuffed and remanded to custody.

    In a while, 4th District Pass judgement on Michael Reardon advised the jury: “This has been an odd case attended by way of many sudden instances, however I respect your consideration … and tough paintings.”

    Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28.

    The Related Press normally does no longer establish individuals who say they’ve been sexually assaulted, and has referred to the girl on this case as “Jane Doe” at her request.

    Doe haltingly described the moments the alleged attack started, earlier than rapidly leaving the witness stand.

    “He attempted to place his palms between my legs and I closed my knees,” Doe stated.

    “I will’t do that,” she stated, temporarily strolling out of the court.

    The pass judgement on gave the prosecuting legal professionals 10 mins to seek out her to resolve if she would go back and resume her testimony.

    When she didn’t, the pass judgement on advised the jurors they needed to “strike (Doe’s testimony) out of your minds as though it by no means took place,” for the reason that protection may just no longer cross-examine her.

    All the way through his testimony Thursday, von Ehlinger regularly spoke in a transparent, loud voice immediately to jurors, announcing he and Doe determined to go back to his condominium to “hang around” after consuming at a complicated Boise eating place. Then they started making out at the sofa, he stated.

    “Issues have been going neatly, and I requested (Doe) if she want to transfer to the bed room,” von Ehlinger stated. “She stated ‘Certain.’ We were given up, held palms and walked into the bed room.”

    Deliberations stretched for seven hours till just about 8 p.m. Thursday earlier than the jury determined to damage for the night time. At one level, the pass judgement on summoned the legal professionals to his chambers for the reason that jury requested a query. No main points have been made public concerning the jury’s inquiry.

    When the allegations was public — in large part as a result of the legislative ethics investigation — Doe confronted unrelenting harassment from a few of von Ehlinger’s supporters. Her identify, photograph and private information about her lifestyles have been many times publicized in “doxxing” incidents. One of the most individuals who often stressed her was once within the courthouse to wait the trial, however legislation enforcement banned the person from the ground the place the place case was once being heard.

    All the way through final arguments, Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Lawyer Katelyn Farley advised jurors that the case was once about “energy within the improper palms” used to the “nice devastation” of Doe. Von Ehlinger had social, political and bodily energy over the petite intern, Farley stated.

    “He used that energy to rape and forcibly penetrate her,” Farley stated, pointing at von Ehlinger. Doe resisted in different tactics, she stated, highlighting the testimony of legislation enforcement investigators and a nurse sexual attack examiner who interviewed Doe after the alleged attack.

    “Phrases display loss of consent. Excuses of ‘Why this shouldn’t occur,’ display loss of consent. Yanking your head again and getting an damage displays loss of consent,” Farley stated.

    However von Ehlinger’s protection lawyer Jon Cox advised jurors the prosecution’s case was once made up of “pink herrings,” and stated von Ehlinger was once a reputable one who willingly took the stand to percentage his facet of the tale.

    Previous this week, jurors heard from investigators and a nurse who carried out a rape examination. They testified that Doe reported being pinned down whilst von Ehlinger compelled her to accomplish oral intercourse, and that she knew he often carried a handgun and had positioned it on a wardrobe close to the mattress on the time of the attack. A nurse additionally testified that Doe had a “goose egg” at the again of her head from placing the wall or a headboard whilst looking to jerk her head clear of von Ehlinger’s grip.

  • 14-Yr-Outdated Boy Falls To Demise From Florida Amusement Park Experience

    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A 14-year-old boy fell to his loss of life overdue at night time from a free-fall amusement park trip this is taller than the Statue of Liberty alongside a hectic boulevard within the center of Orlando’s vacationer district.

    Sheriff’s officers and emergency crews spoke back to a decision overdue Thursday at Icon Park, which is situated within the town’s vacationer district alongside World Force. The boy fell from the Orlando Loose Fall trip, which opened overdue remaining 12 months.

    He was once taken to a medical institution, the place he died, sheriff’s officers mentioned. No further information about the teenager or the incident have been in an instant launched.

    A video aired by way of NBC’s “Nowadays” display Friday morning seems to turn passengers at the trip discussing problems with a seat restraint Thursday night time. The trip then started its trek up the tower sooner than any person is later noticed falling from the trip.

    “We’re completely saddened and devastated by way of what took place, and our hearts pass out this younger guy’s circle of relatives,” John Stine, gross sales director with the Slingshot Team which owns the trip, advised The Related Press on Friday morning.

    The Loose Fall trip and an adjoining trip, the Sling Shot, were closed indefinitely, Stine mentioned. His corporate operates the 2 rides at Icon Park.

    “We’re cooperating with all different investigations at the moment to unravel what took place,” Stine mentioned.

    Stine mentioned there have been no problems reported prior to now with the Loose Fall trip, which opened over the vacations.

    The Florida Division of Agriculture, which oversees amusement trip inspections except the state’s greatest theme parks, has introduced an investigation and inspectors have been on the website online Friday, spokesperson Caroline Stoneciper mentioned in an e-mail.

    The trip stands 430-feet (131-meters) tall, and is billed as the sector’s tallest free-standing drop tower, in keeping with the park’s web page.

    The trip holds 30 passengers because it rises within the air, rotates across the tower after which tilts to stand the bottom sooner than loose falling at greater than 75 mph (120 kph), the web page mentioned.

    The trip has an over-the shoulder restraint harness, with two hand grips on the chest degree, that is going over the rider routinely.

  • Cashless and flightless, Russian vacationers caught in Thailand

    1000’s of Russian vacationers are stranded in Thailand’s seashore accommodations as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, many not able to pay their expenses or go back house as a result of sanctions and cancelled flights.

    The disaster in Europe additionally put a crimp in restoration plans for the Southeast Asian country’s tourism business, which has hosted extra guests from Russia than any of its neighbors earlier than the pandemic hit.

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    There are about 6,500 Russian vacationers caught in Phuket, Surat Thani, Krabi and Pattaya, 4 provinces which can be in style beach lodge locations, along with 1,000 Ukrainians, Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, advised The Related Press on Friday.

    Some 17,599 Russians accounted for the biggest bloc of arrivals in February, representing 8.6% of a complete of 203,970, in step with the Public Well being Ministry. After the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine, their numbers vastly declined.

    Yuthasak stated the Russians face two primary issues: cancellations in their flights house by means of airways that experience stopped flying to Russia, and suspension of economic products and services, specifically by means of bank card corporations that experience joined sanctions towards Moscow. There also are some preferring to extend their go back.

    “There are some airways that also fly to Russia, however travellers must transit in a foreign country. We’re seeking to coordinate and seek the flights for them,” Yuthasak stated.

    Whilst virtually all direct flights from Russia had been suspended, connections are nonetheless to be had via main carriers based totally within the Heart East.

    He stated efforts also are being made to search out selection strategies of bills for Russian vacationers.

    Siwaporn Boonruang, a volunteer translator for Russians stranded in Krabi, stated some can’t pay their expenses as a result of they may be able to now not use Visa or Mastercard bank cards.

    Many have money and the ones with UnionPay bank cards, which can be issued by means of a Chinese language monetary products and services corporate, can nonetheless use them, however cost by means of cryptocurrency isn’t allowed, she stated.

    Many resorts have helped by means of providing discounted charges, she added.

    Thailand’s executive has introduced 30-day visa extensions with out cost, and is making an attempt to search out low cost selection lodging for other people compelled to stick for a longer duration.

    The issues related to the conflict in Ukraine have compounded Thailand’s hopes for financial restoration. Officers hope to look the danger from the COVID-19 pandemic ebbing by means of July, although day-to-day instances are recently at document highs, pushed by means of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

    Thai government later this yr be expecting to drop maximum quarantine and checking out laws which were in position to battle the unfold of the virus, which might make access more uncomplicated for international travellers.

    Thailand can have to decrease its objectives for vacationer arrivals and revenues this yr as a result of the knock-on results of emerging oil costs and inflation on world go back and forth, Yuthasak was once quoted pronouncing by means of the Bangkok Publish newspaper.

    “Tourism remains to be a key engine to restore our economic system, although earnings was once stymied by means of damaging elements,” he stated.

    In keeping with the record, Thailand had projected gaining a complete of one.28 trillion baht (USD 38.4 billion) in earnings this yr from international and home vacationers.

  • Stranded Truck Drivers Pulled From Burning Greek Ferry

    CORFU, Greece (AP) — Rescue experts boarded a burning ferry in Greece to unfastened two truck drivers who have been stranded within the vessel for greater than 15 hours Friday, however hope used to be fading for 11 others have been reported lacking.

    The rescuers descended from a helicopter onto the send thru thick clouds of smoke to sooner or later find the 2 males within the Euroferry Olympia ferry who had spent hours on a parking deck looking ahead to lend a hand.

    The coast guard stated 278 passengers and staff have been rescued previous within the day from a fireplace that engulfed the Italy-bound ferry with 291 other folks on board close to the Greek island of Corfu.

    The reason for the blaze used to be unclear. The Italy-based ferry corporate stated it began in a dangle the place automobiles have been parked, whilst officers showed that nationals from Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Italy, and Lithuania have been a few of the rescued.

    “I believed dying had come from me,” Albanian truck driving force Zef Lufi instructed the Related Press after his rescue. “there used to be such a lot smoke. I believed we wouldn’t make it. it took us about an hour and a part earlier than we were given into the lifeboats and about 3 extra hours earlier than we have been picked up.”

    The rescued passengers, many wrapped in foil blankets, have been all transported to Corfu the place 10 other folks have been hospitalized. None have been in critical situation and maximum had respiring difficulties.

    It used to be the worst maritime incident in Greece because the 2014 fireplace within the Adriatic sea at the Greek-chartered passenger ferry Norman Atlantic killed no less than 10 other folks.

    Friday’s predawn fireplace broke out within the Ionian Sea at the Italy-flagged vessel 3 hours after it left the port of Igoumenitsa in northwest Greece for the Italian port of Brindisi. Greek government stated 239 passengers and 51 staff participants on board, including that the vessel used to be transporting greater than 153 vans and 32 automobiles.

    As evening fell, the send used to be surrounded by way of firefighting vessels, together with a small automotive ferry used as a floating platform for fireplace vans to lend a hand within the effort

    The 183-meter (600-foot) Euroferry Olympia, inbuilt 1995, is operated by way of the Grimaldi Workforce, founded in Naples, Italy. It used to be touring close to the small Greek island of Ereikousa, 15 kilometers north of Corfu, when the fireplace began.

    Many of the passengers have been rescued by way of an Italian customs inspection boat that used to be passing the ferry when the fireplace broke out. It used to be later joined by way of six boats from Greece’s coast guard and 4 helicopters, in addition to a coast guard vessel from within sight Albania, a number of firefighting vessels and privately-chartered boats.