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Tennessee officials to pay $125K to settle claim they arrested a man for meme about fallen officer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities in Tennessee have settled a First Amendment lawsuit for $125,000, the plaintiff’s attorneys said Monday. The suit was filed by a man who said he was arrested over a disparaging social media post about a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty. Joshua Andrew Garton was arrested in January 2021 after posting a meme depicting two people urinating on a gravestone with a photo of a Dickson County sheriff’s officer who was fatally shot in 2018 pasted into the image. Garton’s attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in Nashville, saying their client’s First Amendment right to free speech was violated.Garton’s post was captioned, “Just showing my respect to deputy Daniel Baker from the #dicksoncountypolicedepartment.”The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called in at the request of District Attorney Ray Crouch. Investigators determined the photo was taken from an album cover with a copy of Baker’s official work portrait “cr...

Eby says B.C. deserves heating bill relief too, after federal tax on fuel oil paused

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia Premier David Eby says it’s unfair that Atlantic Canada is being targeted for federal relief on heating bills that won’t apply to B.C., after Ottawa announced a three-year pause on carbon pricing for home fuel oil.  The pause announced last week applies to the 10 provinces and territories where the federal fuel charge applies, although fuel oil usage is more prevalent in Atlantic Canada.British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories are excluded because they collect their own fuel tax.Eby, who is facing calls from Opposition politicians to cut the province’s carbon taxes, says people in Atlantic Canada are struggling to make ends meet, but so are residents of B.C.He told an unrelated news conference in Victoria on Monday that a proposed heat-pump rebate that is being piloted in Atlantic Canada should also be made available in B.C.B.C. introduced its own carbon tax in 2008, which now amounts to almost 17 cents per litre on light f...

US regulators sue SolarWinds and its security chief for alleged cyber neglect ahead of Russian hack

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

U.S. regulators on Monday sued SolarWinds, a Texas-based technology company whose software was breached in a massive 2020 Russian cyberespionage campaign, for fraud for failing to disclose security deficiencies ahead of the stunning hack.The company’s top security executive was also named in the complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking unspecified civil penalties, reimbursement of “ill-gotten gains” and the executive’s removal. Detected in December 2020, the SolarWinds hack penetrated U.S. government agencies including the Justice and Homeland Security departments, and more than 100 private companies and think tanks. It was a rude wake-up call on the perils of neglecting cybersecurity.In the 68-page complaint filed in New York federal court, the SEC says SolarWinds and its then vice president of security, Tim Brown, defrauded investors and customers “through misstatements, omissions and schemes” that concealed both the company’s “poor cybersecuri...

Family sues Colorado funeral home where 189 decaying bodies were found over alleged fake ashes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A family filed a lawsuit Monday against a Colorado funeral home where 189 decaying bodies were found, alleging the owners allowed the remains of their loved ones and to “rot” away while they sent families fake ashes.The gruesome discovery at Return to Nature Funeral Home occurred earlier in October after reports of an “abhorrent smell” emanating from a building about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Denver.Law enforcement has started identifying the the remains and began notifying families that there loved ones were among the bodies— sometimes years after they were allegedly cremated and given as ashes to grieving relatives.The lawsuit accuses Return to Nature and it’s owners Jon and Carie Hallford of intentionally inflicting emotional distress, negligence, fraud and violating a number of Colorado laws among other claims. Calls and texts sent to numbers listed for Return to Nature and owners have gone unanswered since the discovery of the decaying bodies. No a...

Tarantula crossing the road blamed for crash that sent a Canadian motorcyclist to the hospital

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — A tarantula crossing the road in Death Valley National Park caused a traffic crash that sent a Canadian motorcyclist to the hospital, the National Park Service said.Swiss travelers, driving a rented camper van, braked suddenly to avoid hitting the tarantula as it crossed State Route 190 on Saturday, the park service said. The 24-year-old motorcyclist then struck the back of the camper van. The motorcyclist’s condition was not immediately available Monday.Death Valley’s desert landscape runs along part of central California’s border with Nevada and is known as the hottest place on Earth. Much of the national park’s roads remain closed following flash floods that occurred when the remnants of Tropical Storm Hilary swept through the region in August.“The spider walked away unscathed,” the park service wrote in a statement.While tarantulas spend most of their lives in underground burrows, 8- to 10-year-old males go aboveground in the fall to search for a mate...

Colombian police comb through cloud forest searching for soccer star’s abducted father

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Police air and land patrols searched a cloud forest in northern Colombia on Monday for soccer star Luis Díaz’s father, who was kidnapped over the weekend along with the player’s mother.The couple were at a gas station in the small town of Barrancas on Saturday when they were abducted by armed men on motorcycles. Diaz’s mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was rescued within hours by police that set up roadblocks around the town of 40,000 people, which is near Colombia’s border with Venezuela.But his father, Luis Manuel Díaz, remained missing. On Monday, special forces searched a mountain range that straddles both countries and is covered by cloud forest. Police also offered a $48,0000 reward for information leading to Diaz’s father.Officials said they did not rule out the possibility that the elder Díaz could have been smuggled into Venezuela, where he would be beyond the reach of Colombian police.Díaz is one of the most talented players on Colombia’s natio...

Biden and Jill Biden hand out books and candy while hosting thousands for rainy trick or treating

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gray skies and drizzle added a spooky element and books were as abundant as candy at Halloween eve trick-or-treating that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden hosted at the White House.Monday’s “Hallo-READ!” event featured book giveaways and story readings by the first lady, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and authors. The first lady showed her spirit by sporting feline ears, a tail and a black nose. She said she dressed as her cat, Willow. “Go have fun and eat lots of candy,” she told a group of costumed children after she read “Ten Spooky Pumpkins,” a counting book.Jean-Pierre donned a halo and angel wings, saying she chose that over a devil costume. After she finished reading, the president and first lady spent about 90 minutes welcoming children from local public schools and from military families, who were invited. As the costume-clad kids walked up along the driveway, Biden dropped M&...

Man charged with assault told Toronto parking enforcement officer ‘Let’s fight’: TPS

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

A 25-year-old man has been charged in the alleged assault of a Toronto parking enforcement officer that occurred last month.Police were called to the Danforth Avenue and Logan Avenue area in Riverdale at around 7 p.m. on September 22, 2023, for reports of an assault.Toronto police said a Parking Enforcement Officer (PEO) was conducting enforcement in the area, and when the PEO was in the process of issuing a violation notice to an illegally parked vehicle, a man attempted to grab the officer’s handheld device.It’s alleged the accused grabbed the officer’s right forearm saying “Let’s fight” and attempted to prevent the officer from issuing the violation. The man entered the vehicle and fled the area.On Monday, police said 25-year-old Halefom Belay was arrested and charged with assaulting a peace officer.He’s scheduled to appear in court on December 5, 2023.

'They’ve done a complete 180:' City to use shuttered Kmart as migrant shelter after reversing course

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

CHICAGO — An old department store near Ford City Mall on the Southwest Side could soon become a shelter as the city works to accommodate the recent influx of migrants who are being bused to Chicago, changing course on earlier opposition to the plan.In a letter sent out to 23rd Ward residents, Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd) said the city has notified her office about plans to use the location as it works to move migrants out of Chicago police stations. City council committee advances plan for migrant camp at vacant South Side lot According to Tabares, the plans for the facility were initially proposed by the governor’s office back in February, but the city had opposed the facility, deeming it unsafe. Tabares said the city has since reversed course on the decision and notified her office that it now intends to use the long-shuttered K-Mart as a migrant shelter.The new shelter would utilize the vacant building and parking lot in the 7000 block of South Pulaski Road, in West Lawn, to hou...

'Friends' cast reacts to Matthew Perry's death: 'We are all so utterly devastated'

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:00 GMT

(AP) -- The stars of “Friends” say they are mourning the “unfathomable” death of Matthew Perry.“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew,” Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer said in a joint statement to People on Monday. “We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.”From 1994 to 2004, each of the five actors appeared in every episode of all 10 seasons of the NBC sitcom along with Perry, who was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Saturday at age 54. ‘Friends’ casting director: ‘I know a different side of Matthew’ “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss," the statement said. “In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”It was the first public statement on Perry's death from Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc ...