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Judge orders release of 3 of ‘Newburgh Four,’ assails FBI’s role in a post-9/11 terror sting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Three men ensnarled in a post-9/11 terrorism sting have been ordered freed from prison by a judge who deemed their lengthy sentences “unduly harsh and unjust” and decried the FBI’s role in radicalizing them in a plot to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes.Onta Williams, David Williams and Laguerre Payen — three of the men known as the “Newburgh Four” — were “hapless, easily manipulated and penurious petty criminals” caught up in a scheme more than a decade ago driven by overzealous FBI agents and a dodgy informant, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said in her ruling Thursday.“The real lead conspirator was the United States,” McMahon wrote in granting the men’s request for compassionate release, effective in three months. She said that it was “heinous” of the men to agree to participate in wh...

Superintendent grades herself ‘effective,’ but more needed for Boston kids

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

Following the end of her first school year on the job, BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper rated her overall job performance as “effective” and emphasized the extensive planning for the district in a self-evaluation.“I do want to be clear there’s a lot of work ahead,” Skipper said this week. “When I came into this role I knew that, and everybody that walks through the door for a job, we make sure they know that. This is about making a commitment to building this district in a sustainable way that meets the needs of our kids for now and into the future.”Skipper rated her performance in four categories: instructional leadership, management and operations, family and community engagement and professional culture. The superintendent gave herself “effective” ratings across the board, the second highest rating on a scale from “highly effective” to “ineffective.”The self-evaluation will be followed by evaluations fro...

Senate passes defense bill with bipartisan support, but clash looms with House over social issues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a massive annual defense bill that would deliver a 5.2% pay raise for service members and keep the nation’s military operating, avoiding partisan policy battles to move the bill forward with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote.Senate passage, 86-11, sets up a clash with the House, which passed its own version of the annual defense bill along party lines after repeated clashes over social issues like abortion access and diversity initiatives. The partisan debate over the House legislation veered from a bipartisan tradition of finding consensus on national defense policy.The strong bipartisan vote for the legislation in the Senate could give it momentum as the two chambers next look to settle their differences. “I don’t think either party got exactly what they wanted,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, but he said the bipartisan bill would help the military improve recruitment and ...

‘Mississippi’s Giant Houseparty’ shows sharp divide between GOP governor and Democratic challenger

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s political divide was on full display Thursday in the blazing heat as Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley spoke to a rowdy outdoor crowd at the largest political event of this election year, less than two weeks before party primaries.Spectators cheered their own candidate — “Tate! Tate! Tate!” “Bran-don! Bran-don!” — and heckled the other — “Liar! Liar!” “Later, Tater!” — at the Neshoba County Fair, a gathering known as “Mississippi’s Giant Houseparty.”For several days, groups of friends and families live in colorful cabins on the fairgrounds. Political speeches are one form of entertainment, along with concerts and horse races.While candidates spoke Thursday, more than 1,000 people stood in the sunshine or sat on long wooden benches under a tin-roofed pavilion, fanning themselves as the temperature hovered at a humid 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 degrees Celsius).Presley, a four-term state utility regulat...

Austin's 20-day streak of consecutive 100° days is the 4th-longest in recorded history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin is currently experiencing one of the longest stretches of triple-digit heat in recorded history.Camp Mabry, Austin's official weather reporting site, has reached 100° or hotter every day since July 8.That means, as of Thursday, temperatures have reached the century mark for 20 days in a row. With records dating back to the 1890s, that ties as the fourth-longest stretch of triple-digit temperatures ever recorded in Austin. MORE HEAT RECORDS: What is Austin's hottest month ever? The KXAN First Warning Weather team is currently forecasting at least seven more days at or above 100°, which would extend the streak to 27 days. That would tie with 2011 as the longest of all time. How often does Austin hit 100°? Here’s a breakdown by date, month, year and decade The record streak currently stands at 27 days, set between July 17 and Aug. 12, 2011. That summer went on to have a record-breaking 90 days of triple-digit heat.Meanwhile, Austin-Bergstrom International Air...

Opera on the Lake’s ‘Die Csárdásfürstin’ is breezy summertime fare

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

Opera on the Lake has returned to St. Paul’s Como Lakeside Pavilion for its annual summer production, this year taking on a Viennese operetta called “Die Csárdásfürstin,” or “The Csardas Princess,” by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán. The title evokes a kind of Hungarian folk dance tune, and you can hear that influence in the score. With cabaret revelry, mistaken identities, hidden pasts and helpful notaries, the piece is a treat.Kálmán was a widely popular composer based in Vienna, with “Die Csárdásfürstin” being one of his most celebrated works. He was also from a Jewish family, and was forced to flee at the start of World War II, first to Paris, and then to the United States. Bela Jenbach, who composed the libretto with Leo Stein, was not so lucky: he would spend three years hiding in a cellar beginning in 1940 before admitting to himself into a sanitarium, where he died of cancer.For Opera on the Lake’s production, founder and creative director Anne Wieben, originally fr...

Theater Mu wraps a blockbuster summer movie into its blockbuster ‘Kung Fu Zombies Saga’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

You don’t have to hit the cinema to enjoy a blast of action, adventure, romance and a dash of insight this summer. Theater Mu has just the thing.It’s currently premiering a very fun and ultimately touching theater piece quite unlike anything else seen on a local stage in recent years. “The Kung Fu Zombies Saga: Shaman Warrior & Cannibals” has everything you’d want in a summer movie, save computer-generated animation. It’s a whimsical and campy romp, sending up several cinematic genres, including martial arts movies, zombie horror and the kind of quests with spiritual undertones that used to drive the “Star Wars” movies.Yet playwright Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay has considerably more substantial things to say than most action flicks offer. She’s clearly comfortable shouldering the responsibility of being American theater’s chief spokesperson for those who immigrated to the U.S. from Laos, and she takes the opportunity to inform audiences of the traditions and traumas of her pe...

CU’s timeline in the Pac-12: From joining with high hopes, to bolting from crumbling conference back to Big 12

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

A look at the timeline of CU’s trajectory in the Pac-12 as the Buffs head back to the Big 12 Conference.June 10, 2010: CU announces the school is leaving the Big 12, a conference the Buffs had belonged to for 63 years, for the newly-expanded Pac-12. Utah is the other new member.Dec. 6, 2010: Former Buff Jon Embree is hired as head football coach by then-athletic director Mike Bohn following the firing of Dan Hawkins. Embree posts a 4-21 record in CU’s first two seasons in the Pac-12 before being fired himself and replaced by Mike MacIntyre on Dec. 10, 2012.June 30, 2011: The Buffs officially become a member of the Pac-12, and commemorate the move by having the bells of two buildings on campus ring 12 times at noon.March 2012: In their first season in the Pac-12, Tad Boyle’s men’s basketball team makes the first of three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, putting the program on the map as one of the conference’s top programs.Aug. 15, 2012: The confere...

Father and son from Highlands Ranch arrested in connection with Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

A father and son from Highlands Ranch are facing federal charges in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.David Christian Tyner and his son, Christian Peter Tyner, were arrested on June 21 on charges of knowingly entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and demonstrating in a Capitol building, according to a U.S. Department of Justice database of Capitol breach cases.The two men entered the Capitol from an east Rotunda door shortly after 3 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021 — after it was breached by rioters, according to court documents.David Tyner was wearing a red bandana wrapped around his face, goggles and a black beanie, according to an FBI document that outlines the accusations. Christian Tyner wore a Trump-branded beanie and a red bandana as a facemask, along with tinted ski goggles.David Tyner twice confronted a line of police officers that was pushing people out of the building, and th...

Lawsuit filed a year after deputy accidentally fires into vehicle during Paramount traffic stop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:51 GMT

Los Angeles County has been hit with a federal civil rights lawsuit more than a year after the controversial arrests of three black teens in Paramount was caught on video.During the traffic stop last June, three people apparently on a joyride were pulled over by two L.A. County Sheriff’s Department deputies. At one point, while their guns were drawn, the female deputy accidentally fired into the vehicle the teens were in.“Dude I totally A-D’d, Jesus Christ” the female deputy could be heard saying in the bodycam video referring to the accidental discharge.“How many people are in the car? You guys all right?” a male deputy called out.Before the teens, two of them minors, were ordered out of the vehicle, several pops are heard in the video.“Dude what the hell is going on?” the female deputy asks as sirens are heard in the background.“They’re throwing off firecrackers behind us,” another deputy responds.“All right, are we going to start extracting the driver?” the female deputy continue...