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Asset freeze sought in proposed suit alleging Quebec billionaire paid minors for sex

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

MONTREAL — A lawyer representing dozens of women who say a Montreal billionaire paid them for sex while they were minors wants to freeze millions of dollars of the businessman’s assets.Jeff Orenstein, who is representing the women in a proposed class-action lawsuit, told a Quebec Superior Court judge he worries Robert Miller will hide the proceeds from the coming $5.2-billion sale of his company, Future Electronics.Orenstein says he wants Miller and Future Electronics to deposit a total of $200 million with the court for safekeeping, and if that isn’t done for their assets — as well as the assets of a number of related companies and individuals — to be frozen.Miller has denied the allegations, and his lawyer, Karim Renno, told the court there’s no evidence his client will try to hide his assets.He says the court order Orenstein is seeking would target people who are not defendants in the proposed class action and is so broad it would prevent Miller from even buying...

Citing ongoing criminal case, UVA further delays release of campus shooting findings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — University of Virginia officials said Friday they were further delaying the public release of the findings of an investigation into the events surrounding a 2022 campus shooting that killed three student-athletes and wounded two other students. Citing concern about the impact the findings could have on the suspect’s pending trial, UVA said in a news release that it would not make a “redacted” version of the final report public until “after the criminal proceedings.”“Making the report public at this time, or even releasing a summary of their findings and recommendations, could have an impact on the criminal trial of the accused, either by disrupting the case being prepared by the Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney, or by interfering with the defendant’s right to a fair trial before an impartial jury,” UVA President Jim Ryan said in a statement. Ryan said the university had consulted with Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingeley in reachin...

Despite loss of 2 major projects, New Jersey is moving forward with its offshore wind power goals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Despite the loss of two major offshore wind farm projects when Danish developer Orsted pulled out of New Jersey, the state is moving forward with its plans to support and grow the nascent industry.The state Board of Public Utilities on Friday voted to seek bids for a transmission facility into which several offshore wind projects can plug, an important part of getting the power from ocean-based wind turbines into the onshore electrical grid.But on a more elemental level, Friday’s vote represented a vote of confidence in offshore wind from a state that wants to be the East Coast leader in the industry.“Recent setbacks will not prevent us from moving forward with our commitment to offshore wind,” said Christine Guhl-Sadovy, the board’s president. “Offshore wind is and continues to be the economic development opportunity of a generation, and remains a key tool in climate change mitigation.”The board authorized a solicitation of proposals for an en...

Ruling by Senegal’s highest court blocks jailed opposition leader Sonko from running for president

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s highest court on Friday effectively barred detained opposition leader Ousmane Sonko from running for president early next year by overturning a decision that would have reinstated him to the West African country’s voter rolls. The legal setback for the embattled politician came the same day that a West African regional court dismissed his case seeking his reinstatement. Sonko was recently returned to a Dakar jail after being hospitalized for several weeks amid a hunger strike.Senegal’s government formally dissolved Sonko’s political party earlier this year and canceled his voter registration after he was convicted of corrupting youth. His followers maintain the charge and prosecution were politically motivated and aimed at derailing his candidacy in the February election.A court in the southern city of Ziguinchor, where Sonko serves as mayor, ruled in favor of restoring him to the voter rolls but the Supreme Court “quashed and ...

Man convicted in death of woman whose body was found in duffel bag along rural road

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — A man has been found guilty in the death of a woman whose remains were found inside a duffel bag along a rural northwest Missouri road almost two weeks after she was killed at a Kansas City hotel.Marcus Brooks was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Ariel Starcher, a mother of two from Independence, The St. Joseph News-Press reports. A Missouri Transportation Department worker found the bag with Starcher’s body inside it in February 2020 around 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Kansas City. She had died of suffocation, and also suffered a broken neck. Key testimony against him came from Taylor Stoughton, who pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder, as Brooks’ accomplice. She and Brooks were arrested a year after the killing. At the time, Starcher’s grandfather, Jim Starcher, told WDAF-TV that his granddaughter knew Brooks and sometimes called him for rides. Her friends had made the family nervous, he told The Ka...

Former RCMP official’s rationale for disclosing secrets can’t be believed: Crown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

OTTAWA — A Crown prosecutor says a former RCMP official’s excuse for leaking secret information is flawed and should not be believed.In closing arguments today, federal lawyer Judy Kliewer told a jury in Ontario Superior Court that Cameron Jay Ortis was not acting for the benefit of the RCMP when he disclosed classified information to investigative targets.Ortis, 51, has testified that he offered secret material to individuals of interest in a bid to get them to use an online encryption service set up by an allied intelligence agency to spy on adversaries.He has pleaded not guilty to violating the Security of Information Act by revealing secrets to three individuals in 2015 and trying to do so in a fourth instance, as well as breach of trust and a computer-related offence. The Crown argues Ortis lacked authority to disclose classified material and that he was not doing so as part of some sort of undercover operation.Kliewer said today the jury should be satisfied that Ortis co...

The FDA is screening US cinnamon imports after more kids are sickened by lead-tainted applesauce

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is screening imports of cinnamon from multiple countries for toxic lead contamination after growing reports of children who were sickened after eating pouches of applesauce and apple puree. Cinnamon from a manufacturer in Ecuador is the “likely source” of high levels of lead found in recalled pouches of applesauce puree linked to illnesses in at least 34 children in 22 states, the FDA said Friday. But the agency noted there have not been other reports of illness or elevated blood lead levels tied to the spice that’s popular in holiday baking. The agency has not yet been able to collect and directly test samples of the cinnamon in the product. Import records show that WanaBana LLC of Coral Gables, Florida, received shipments of cinnamon apple fruit puree from Austrofood, a manufacturer in Ecuador.One pouch of recalled WanaBana apple cinnamon puree collected from a Dollar Tree store was found to have lead levels more than 200 times higher th...

Lawsuit accuses Concordia, student union of failing to address antisemitism on campus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

MONTREAL — A proposed class-action lawsuit accuses Concordia University in Montreal and its student union of failing to meaningfully address antisemitism on campus.The lawsuit application seeks $15 million in damages for members of the proposed class, which includes Jewish students, faculty and staff currently at the school or who attended or worked there in the last three years.Two Concordia students and one professor are leading the application, filed in Quebec Superior Court Thursday, and requesting anonymity in legal proceedings because they fear retaliation.Examples of antisemitism on campus they cite in the lawsuit include an altercation last week between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students that led to one arrest.The application says Concordia failed to investigate incidents of antisemitism and didn’t offer support to Jewish students targeted by those hateful acts, among other accusations.Concordia says it does not comment on pending legal proceedings and the Concord...

Las Vegas high schoolers facing murder charges in their classmate’s death due in court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Four Las Vegas high school students who are facing murder charges in the fatal beating of their classmate are due in court Friday for their first appearances in the adult court system.The students each face one count of murder but have not been formally charged, court records show. The Associated Press is not naming them because they are juveniles.Earlier this week, Las Vegas police announced the arrests of eight students, between the ages of 13 and 17, in connection with the Nov. 1 brawl that left 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis Jr. dead.Authorities have said students at Rancho High School in eastern Las Vegas had agreed to meet after school let out that day in an alleyway around the corner from campus to fight over a pair of wireless headphones and a vape pen.The fight was captured on cellphone video and widely shared across social media. Las Vegas police said they are still working to identify and locate two more students seen in the footage taking part in the beating...

NTSB investigating CTA crash that injured 38

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:54 GMT

CHICAGO — A federal investigation is underway after a CTA train crash on the city's North Side left 38 people injured.According to police, a Yellow Line train was traveling south around 10:35 a.m. near the 7500 block of North Paulina Street when it collided with a rail-mounted snow-removal equipment in the Howard Rail Yard.The Chicago Fire Department reports 38 people were injured and at least 23 were taken to local hospitals — including four children and seven CTA employees. The train operator was among three people who suffered critical injuries. Fifteen people refused treatment at the scene. Why was the train and the snow plow on the same tracks? That is the question the National Transportation Safety Board will try to answer. A team of NTSB investigators will begin their on-scene investigation Friday and ultimately determine who was at fault. The final report may not come out for several months.Just hours after the crash, a man who was onboard the second train filed th...