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St. Louis County man found not guilty in deaths of 5 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis County man has been found not guilty in the deaths of five people who were shot at an apartment complex in 2019.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a jury deliberated less than two hours Wednesday before acquitting 33-year-old Anthony Watkins of five counts of first-degree murder and five weapons charges.Prosecutors said Watkins and another man, Terrance Wesley, were seeking missing drugs before they killed five men in a partially boarded-up apartment known for drug deals on July 6, 2019. But Watkins' attorney, Robert Taaffe, said Wesley was behind the killings and tried to implicate Watkins in an effort to get leniency.Wesley reached a plea deal in July in exchange for his cooperation and testimony during the trial. He pleaded guilty to five counts of second-degree murder and weapons offenses and is awaiting sentencing.St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said in a statement that prosecutors struggled with witness availabi...

TikTok ban pushed by Missouri's Hawley blocked in Senate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley tried to force a Senate vote Wednesday on legislation that would ban TikTok from operating in the United States, but he was blocked by a fellow Republican as lawmakers in both chambers are still trying to figure out what action, if any, is appropriate against the social media app.In trying to force a vote — a move that rarely works in the Senate, since one senator’s objection can block it — Hawley called TikTok “digital fentanyl” and argued it could give the Chinese government access to data from 150 million American users. His bill would block and prohibit U.S. transactions with TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., within 30 days.The bill “sends the message to Communist China that you cannot buy us,” Hawley said. Top Stories: Man accused of plowing into officers should not have been driving Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky objected to Hawley’s motion, arguing that trying to ban an app would violate the Constitutio...

March Madness: South Carolina favored against Clark’s Iowa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

By The Associated PressMarch Madness is down to the Women’s Final Four. Defending champion South Carolina remains on track to repeat and complete the 10th undefeated season in the women’s game after its 86-75 win over Maryland. Virginia Tech became the second top seed to make it to Dallas with its 84-74 victory over Ohio State to round out the regional finals. With the Hokies advancing, it is the seventh time in the last 10 years there will be a first-time participant in the Final Four. LSU and Iowa won on Sunday to break long droughts. Here is what to know:GAMES TO WATCHNo. 3 LSU (33-2) vs. No. 1 Virginia Tech (31-4), Friday, 7 p.m. EDT, ESPNLSU has completed its rapid rise with Kim Mulkey, reaching the Final Four in its second season under the former Baylor coach. The Tigers are in the Final Four for the first time in 15 years after beating Miami 54-42. The Hokies have won 15 straight games and are in the Final Four for the first time in school history. Elizabeth Kitle...

DPS failed to provide speech therapy to more than 1,000 young students due to staff shortages, state says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

More than 1,000 young Denver students with disabilities missed all or some of their legally required speech therapy recently due to staffing shortages, according to a state decision that found Denver Public Schools in violation of federal requirements.The March 18 decision was in response to a complaint filed with the Colorado Department of Education by the unnamed family of a 6-year-old boy.The boy, who is in kindergarten, has a developmental delay and is nonverbal, the decision says. He uses an augmentative and alternative communication device, or AAC, to communicate by pushing buttons that convey words or phrases.The boy’s special education plan required he receive 24 hours of therapy from a speech language pathologist between August and February: 12 hours inside the classroom and 12 hours outside the classroom, where there are fewer distractions.Related ArticlesEducation | Colorado delays free preschool program matching date to April 26 Education | May...

Lawsuit: Celebrity-friendly church attended by Russell Wilson required workers to tithe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle-area megachurch that counts celebrities such as Russell Wilson and Justin Bieber among its thousands of members has been accused in a lawsuit of requiring employees to donate some of their earnings back to the religious organization or risk being fired.Employee Rachel Kellogg alleges Churchome and its leaders “engaged in a systemic scheme of wage and hour abuse against their employees,” including the requirement that all employees tithe 10% of their gross earned wages per month, according to the lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court last week.If they didn’t, the lawsuit says, they would face pressure, discipline or termination, The Seattle Times reported.Kellogg, who worked in video and production for Churchome, says she wasn’t informed of the policy until after her hiring in 2019. The lawsuit argues the practice violates the state’s Consumer Protection Act, as well as hour and wage laws.“Regardless of whether this is a church, or not a church, or a no...

Dionisio Roxas Molina Jr. Killed in Pedestrian Crash on Alvarado Niles Road [Union City, CA]

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

51-Year-Old Alameda Man Killed in Pedestrian-Auto Collision near Dowe AvenueUNION CITY, CA (March 30, 2023) – Friday evening, a pedestrian accident on Alvarado Niles Road claimed the life of Dionisio Roxas Molina Jr.Officers responded to the deadly collision on March 24, 2023, just after 9:30 p.m. near Dowe Avenue in Union City.Upon arrival, they located an unresponsive man lying on the roadway with injuries related to the incident. Tragically, medical personnel declared the pedestrian dead at the scene despite their life-saving efforts.Later, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office coroner identified the deceased victim as 51-year-old Dionisio Roxas Molina Jr from Alameda.The responding officers also located the suspect’s vehicle parked in a nearby residential neighborhood. The suspect was eventually contacted, however, police said the driver did not appear to be intoxicated.In the end, authorities arrested the man for an unrelated crime. He was not charged for the fatal pedestri...

Berkeley woman, 78, fends off teen armed robber with stick; suspect later arrested

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

BERKELEY — A 78-year-old woman out walking her dog Friday night used a stick she was carrying to knock away what turned out to be a BB gun from a 16-year-old boy trying to rob her, authorities said.The woman was not hurt and the boy was later arrested and the gun recovered, authorities said.A 13-year-old boy who was with the suspect was released after it was determined he was not involved in the crime, police said. Both boys are from Berkeley, authorities said.Police said the attempted robbery happened about 9:07 p.m. Friday on Hopkins Street near Carlotta Avenue.The woman was walking her dog when two youths approached her from behind.The 16-year-old, who police said was wearing a black mask, pointed what turned out to be a BB gun at the woman and demanded her property, police said.The woman refused; when the suspect asked her again, she again said no, and he grabbed at her pocket, police said.That prompted the woman to use a stick she was carrying to knock the BB gun out of t...

Russia jails Wall Street Journal reporter on spying charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

Associated PressRussia’s security service arrested an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal on espionage charges, the first time a U.S. correspondent has been detained on spying accusations since the Cold War. The newspaper denied the allegations and demanded his release.Evan Gershkovich was detained in the city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information, the Federal Security Service, known by the acronym FSB, said Thursday.The service, which is the top domestic security agency and main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, alleged that Gershkovich “was acting on instructions from the American side to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret.”The Journal “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich,” the newspaper said. “We st...

Harry and Meghan relied on Silicon Valley nonprofit’s mystery donor to fund good works

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

When Prince Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation released its annual report earlier this year, it made some amazing claims about the couple’s “impact,” linking their philanthropy to the delivery of more than 12 million COVID-19 vaccines globally and the resettlement of more than 174,000 Afghan and Ukrainian refugees in the United States.While some of these claims may be difficult to verify and could be the product of a carefully worded PR spin, newly obtained IRS documents confirm that Harry and Meghan’s nonprofit still donated generously to a number of causes in 2021 — to the tune of more than $3 million.The documents also show that Harry and Meghan’s largesse is largely connected to the Bay Area. The more than $13 million they reported in total revenue for 2021 comes from two mystery donors. The substantively larger donation of $10 million came to Archewell via the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), according to SVCF’s 2021 IRS documents, otherwise known as...

Southern California police pursuit of East Bay man ends in crash, 1 killed and 7 others injured

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:22 GMT

A 74-year-old woman was killed and seven other people injured when a Seal Beach police pursuit ended with a multi-vehicle crash in Long Beach on Tuesday night, March 28, authorities said.The incident began at around 8 p.m. when a Seal Beach officer stopped a car for a Vehicle Code violation, which the department declined to reveal.The 2006 Lexus sedan was occupied by a woman driver, an infant, and a 39-year-old man who was a passenger.After an officer started talking with the driver, at some point, the passenger slid into the driver’s seat and sped away with all three occupants still inside, police said.The Lexus took off northbound on Pacific Coast Highway, with police in pursuit. The chase went through the Old Towne neighborhood in Seal Beach, with the suspect veering in and out of the southbound lanes, Seal Beach Police spokeswoman and Lt. Julia Clasby said.Five minutes later, the Lexus collided — with eight other vehicles getting entangled as well at Pacific Coast Highway and Se...