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Denver to pay $350,000 for violent police arrest during protest of homeless sweep

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

Denver will pay $350,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a man who said he was needlessly tackled, punched and beaten in the genitals by police officers while protesting the sweep of a homeless encampment three years ago.The City Council, during its meeting on Monday afternoon, approved the settlement in a unanimous vote.The payout stems from a lawsuit brought last year by Michael Jacobs against more than a dozen Denver police officers.Jacobs was attending a protest in Civic Center on July 29, 2020, related to the city clearing out an encampment of people experiencing homelessness. He was standing beside, and rattling, a chain-link fence when officers, without any verbal commands, pulled him to the ground, according to the lawsuit and body-camera footage.One officer punched Jacobs in the head multiple times, while another used a baton to ram Jacobs in the genitals as other officers held him down, the lawsuit alleged.Jacobs repeatedly asked what he was being arrested for. Officers tol...

Torrance police officers charged in fatal shooting that was originally deemed 'lawful'

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

The Torrance Police Department is expressing “shock” over the indictment of two officers in a 2018 fatal shooting that was originally deemed to be legally justified.On Monday, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that officers Anthony Chavez and Matthew Concannon each face one count of voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Christopher De’Andre Mitchell, 22.Both have pleaded not guilty.On Dec. 9, 2018, the officers were responding to a report of a stolen vehicle when they approached Mitchell who was in the driver’s seat of a Honda Civic in a supermarket parking lot.Body camera video shows Mitchell refused orders to get out of the car. The officers opened fire when they saw Mitchell appear to move his hands toward a gun in his lap, which turned out to be an air rifle, authorities said.In 2019, then-L.A. County D.A. Jackie Lacey concluded that both officers acted in “lawful self-defense.”The officers opened fire after Christopher De’Andre Mitchell appe...

1 Killed in Rollover Crash on Goetz Road [Menifee, CA]

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

Single-Vehicle Accident on Goldenrod Avenue Left One FatalityMENIFEE, CA (April 17, 2023) – Early Saturday morning, a rollover crash on Goetz Road left one person killed, police said.On April 8th, the police received a report about a single-vehicle crash just after 1:00 a.m.According to the Riverside County Fire Department, they arrived at the scene and found a vehicle that overturned.Furthermore, one person was pronounced dead at the scene upon arrival.Meanwhile, two other occupants of the vehicle obtained injuries and were transported to the hospital.Following the crash, the police were not yet able to determine what caused the rollover crash. Further investigation is still underway.No other details are public at this time; however, more information will be provided once made available.Those with additional information regarding the accident are encouraged to contact local authorities as soon as possible.No words can mend the broken hearts and sorrow felt during this delicat...

DeSantis’ latest salvo against Disney: State oversight of park ride inspections

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

By Mike Schneider | Associated PressORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers ratcheted up pressure on Walt Disney World on Monday by announcing legislation that will use the regulatory powers of Florida government to exert unprecedented oversight on the park resort’s rides and monorail.Lawmakers will introduce a bill in coming weeks that would end an exemption for Disney parks when it comes to ride inspections by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, DeSantis said at a news conference near Disney World.The agriculture agency is responsible for inspecting amusement rides in Florida, but an exception was carved out for the state’s largest theme park operators, such as Disney and Universal Destinations & Experiences, which do their own safety inspections. Under the proposal, the exemption would end for rides in special governmental districts, which basically targets just Disney World.Disney said in a statement on Monday that its inspectors have...

Letters: Recall DA | Feinstein’s job | Tax-free retirement | IRA funds | Gun control | US oil

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.DA dropped the ballon shooting chargesRe: “3 charged in fatal freeway shooting” (Page A1, April 15).Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price will not charge three men with enhancement clauses who have been charged with the murder of Eliyanah Crisostomo, the 5-year-old caught in a crossfire on Interstate 880.When booked for murder by the CHP, they filed enhancement causes, which would potentially lengthen their prison sentences. We know Price will not charge enhancement or special circumstances in cases. She has indicated she would weigh enhancements in a crime that caused “extensive” physical injury. What could be more extensive than death?Whether or not those longer sentences deter others from using a firearm, there can be no doubt that a perpetrator who uses a firearm and is incarcerated for decades will not be injuring or killing other innocent victims during that incarceration.Unless...

49ers QB Brock Purdy ‘not really sure’ if he will be able to play 2023 season. What else is new?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

Brock Purdy admitted last week to Yahoo Sports that he is “not really sure” if he’ll play during the 2023 season.That may feel like a shocking pronouncement from the 49ers’ quarterback, but he was just saying what many have known since his ulnar collateral ligament was torn in the NFC Championship Game: There’s a long way to go before he can throw in an NFL game.Purdy, who said he would be at Monday’s opening of the 49ers’ offseason program, had an internal brace inserted into his right elbow during an operation last month. That procedure leaves his prospects of playing this fall in a much better place than a full replacement of the UCL, also known as Tommy John surgery, but there is still so much up in the air.Former 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens is the only NFL signal-caller known to have had such a surgery, as this news organization has reported.Mullens tore his UCL in December 2020 and was throwing by March 2021. He participated in the ...

Tax deadline for Bay Area residents, businesses is in October, not on usual ‘tax day’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

Preparing for some serious caffeinating and the usual tax-day sprint to file your returns? Relax — in 2023 you get six more months to procrastinate.That’s right: Residents and businesses throughout the Bay Area have until October 16 to file their 2022 state and federal individual and business tax returns.For most of the rest of the country, Tax Day is April 18. But in response to devastating storms this winter, the Internal Revenue Service and California’s Franchise Tax Board pushed back the deadline for filing returns — and making certain payments — for all nine Bay Area counties and most of the rest of the Golden State.And the extension applies to all residents and businesses in those eligible counties, not just those who were affected by the storms.

Former Stanford University employee arraigned on charges of lying about rapes that shook campus

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

A former Stanford University employee was arraigned Monday on charges that she repeatedly lied about being viciously raped as part of a revenge plot against a co-worker — fabricated claims that sparked widespread panic about a sexual predator stalking women across the campus.Jennifer Ann Gries, of Santa Clara, appeared solemn and did not speak Monday while making her first appearance in court on two felony counts of perjury and two misdemeanor counts of making a false crime report. She was ordered to return to enter a plea on June 21; in the meantime, she allowed to remain free on supervised release.Prosecutors say Gries, who works for housing services at the university, lied about being raped to in a vendetta against a co-worker, whom she felt had romantically spurned her.The first report came on Aug. 9, when Gries claimed she was in a parking lot near the Munger Residence Hall when an unknown man grabbed her, took her into a bathroom and raped her. She made the report at Val...

Jackson Jr. wins defensive player of year over Lopez, Mobley

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

Nobody blocked more shots per game, nor had better defensive numbers at the rim this season, than Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr.And voters noticed.The Memphis big man was announced Monday night as the NBA’s defensive player of the year, becoming the second player to win the award while wearing a Grizzlies’ uniform. He joins Marc Gasol in that club, after the Spaniard did it a decade ago.Jackson led the league with 3.0 blocks per game this season, after finishing fifth in the defensive player of the year voting last season. He got 56 first-place votes and 391 voting points to finish ahead of runner-up Brook Lopez of the Milwaukee Bucks, who got 31 first-place votes and 309 points. Cleveland’s Evan Mobley — in just his second NBA season — was third with eight first-place votes and 101 points.“Team defense really helps us. It goes a long way,” Jackson said on the TNT broadcast that announced the award.The shooting percentage that Jackson allowed at the rim — 46.9% — was the best in t...

Speaker McCarthy vows to pass debt bill — but can he do it?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledged on Monday to pass legislation to raise the nation’s debt ceiling — but only on condition of capping future federal spending increases at 1% — as he lashed out at President Joe Biden for refusing to engage in budget-cutting negotiations to prevent a debt crisis.In a high-profile speech at the New York Stock Exchange, McCarthy, the Republican leader who was marking his 100th day as speaker, said the nation’s debt load is a “ticking time bomb” and Biden is “missing in action” as the deadline nears to raise the debt limit. But McCarthy’s own ability to bring his plan to passage in coming weeks as promised is highly uncertain. “Since the president continues to hide, House Republicans will take action,” McCarthy vowed.The White House hit back quickly, accusing McCarthy of “dangerous economic hostage taking.” And administration officials reupped Biden’s pressure on the Republican leader to approve a debt c...