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An accomplice to convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh’s financial misdeeds gets seven years in prison

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

The man who once headed a highly respected bank in the South Carolina Lowcountry will spend seven years in federal prison for helping convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh steal nearly $2 million from clients’ legal settlements.Russell Laffitte was sentenced Tuesday after a jury found him guilty of six charges related to wire and bank fraud back in November. The ex-CEO of Palmetto State Bank became the first of the disgraced former attorney’s accomplices to face prison time following the June 2021 shooting deaths that stemmed from sprawling investigations into the Murdaugh family finances.The prosecution and defense also agreed that Laffitte will forfeit more than $85,000, local media reported. The former banker has said he will appeal the decision.Murdaugh is serving life without parole for killing his wife, Maggie, and their son, Paul, at the kennels on their 1,700-acre rural estate. Still outstanding are more than 100 other charges encompassing alleged financial crimes fro...

Tenants rally as eviction notices sent to Thorncliffe Park residents on 4-month rent strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

Tenants at three East York buildings are rallying at their landlord’s office, Starlight Investments, demanding fair treatment and affordable housing as they begin the fourth month of their rent strike.Over 100 tenants at 71, 75 and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive stopped paying rent on May 1 to protest an above-guideline rent increase at the buildings owned by PSP Investments and run by Starlight Investments.Their landlord had request a 10 per cent rent increase over the last two years to the Landlord and Tenant Board of Ontario, 4.2 per cent in 2022 and 5.5 per cent in 2023. The maximum rent increase for 2023 and 2024 was set at 2.5 per cent, but landlords can apply for an above guideline increase (AGI).On Tuesday, dozens of tenants stormed the Starlight offices in the middle of the work day demanding they stop the rent increase that tenants cannot afford.“[We’re] extremely struggling. We understand everything is expensive but we don’t ask them to make it low, we ...

Texas judicial candidate gets her day in court, one of almost 2 dozen cases contesting elections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Lawyers in a Houston courtroom Tuesday said various problems in last November’s midterm elections cost their Republican client her chance at becoming a district court judge, the first of almost two dozen lawsuits seeking to toss out election results in Texas’ most populous county.Former GOP judicial candidate Erin Lunceford is suing in civil court to throw out the election results and have the court order a do over. The case, which is being live streamed, comes as the Democratic stronghold of Harris County faces unprecedented electoral intervention from the state’s GOP-led Legislature.Andy Taylor, one of Lunceford’s attorneys, used his opening statement to list multiple mistakes by local election officials that he said contributed to his client’s loss or cast doubt over the election’s outcome. He cited paper ballot shortages that he said targeted Republican voting locations and hundreds of other mistakes, including in ballot scanning and with reviewi...

S&P/TSX composite falling, U.S. stocks mixed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index fell almost 100 points with weakness in financials, base metals and utilities helping drag the index lower, while U.S. markets were mixed. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 93.71 points at 20,532.93.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 71.15 points at 35,630.68. The S&P 500 index was down 12.23 points at 4,576.73, while the Nasdaq composite was down 62.11 points at 14,283.91.The Canadian dollar traded for 75.24 cents US compared with 75.89 cents US on Monday.The September crude oil contract was down 43 cents at US$81.37 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was down seven cents at US$2.56 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was down US$30.40 at US$1978.80 an ounce and the September copper contract was down 10 cents at US$3.91 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian PressNote to readers: This is a corre...

Henrietta Lacks’ family reach a settlement with biotech company that used her cells without consent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells without her knowledge, a lawyer for her descendants said they have reached a settlement with a biotechnology company that they accused of reaping billions of dollars from a racist medical system.Tissue taken from the Black woman’s tumor before she died of cervical cancer became the first human cells to continuously grow and reproduce in lab dishes. HeLa cells went on to become a cornerstone of modern medicine, enabling countless scientific and medical innovations, including the development of the polio vaccine, genetic mapping and even COVID-19 vaccines.Despite that incalculable impact, the Lacks family had never been compensated.Lacks’ cells were harvested in 1951, when it was not illegal to do so without a patient’s permission. But lawyers for her family argued that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts, continued to commercialize the results long aft...

El Salvador sends 8,000 troops and police officers to comb rural province in massive anti-gang raid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — El Salvador sent about 8,000 soldiers and police officers to comb the rural province of Cabañas for street gang members Tuesday, in one of the most massive raids since President Nayib Bukele declared a crackdown on the gangs in March 2022. About 1,000 police and 7,000 soldiers fanned out across Cabañas province to set up checkpoints on all roads leading in or out. The raid followed a weekend shooting attack on a police patrol vehicle that wounded two officers. Bukele claims members of the country’s notorious MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs have fled to the province to avoid the crackdown. He refers to the gang members as “terrorists.”“Cabañas has become the place with the largest number of terrorists, who came seeking to use the rural areas to hide,” Bukele wrote in a tweet. “This massive operation will guarantee greater security for the area, and we will not end it until we find all the criminals.”Police dismantled several camps they described as gang hideouts in Caba...

Lawsuit by former dancers accuses Lizzo of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lizzo has been sued by three former dancers who accuse the Grammy winner of sexual harassment and allege the singer and her production company created a hostile work environment. The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court claims Lizzo pressured one of the dancers to engage with nude performers at a club in Amsterdam and shamed another dancer for her weight gain before firing her. Plaintiffs Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez make numerous charges including sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment. The legal complaint seeks unspecified damages and names Melissa Viviane Jefferson, known professionally as Lizzo, her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc., and Shirlene Quigley, captain of the performer’s dance team.Representatives for Lizzo didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit. The court filing claims that after performing ...

'That's unacceptable': Lawmakers call out State Department for persistent passport problems 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Passport problems have lawmakers increasingly frustrated as their offices are inundated with travelers pleading for help. The State Department says they're surging resources to deal with the backlog, but so far they haven't made much progress. Right now, the State Department says the wait time for a passport is 10 to 13 weeks, or seven to nine weeks to have it expedited for a fee. Senator Eric Schmitt is among the lawmakers who have slammed the State Department for the backlog.  "That's unacceptable," Schmitt said.  Long wait for US passports snarling summer plans Senator Rick Scott echoed the criticism, adding that the agency didn't prepare enough for this post pandemic rush. "If you have more demand, you hire more people. Shocking. How hard is that?" Scott said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they are surging resources, including hiring extra workers and approving extra hours. "People working overtime, double...

Zendaya remembers co-star Angus Cloud in emotional social post

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

(KRON) -- "Euphoria" star Zendaya remembered the "boundless light" of her late co-star Angus Cloud in an emotional tribute Tuesday. Cloud was found dead in his Oakland, California, home on Monday, and his cause of death has not yet been released. He was 25 years old. On Tuesday, Zendaya posted a photo of Cloud on Instagram, along with a note about his life. "Words are not enough to describe the infinite beauty that is Angus (Conor)," she wrote. "I’m so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear his infectious cackle of a laugh (I’m smiling now just thinking of it)." Both Cloud and Zendaya are Oakland natives. The two actors attended the Oakland School for the Performing Arts. Lizzo sued by trio of dancers who allege ‘hostile, abusive work environment’ Cloud later moved to New York City, where he was discovered by a casting director. Not long after, "Euphoria" fans fell in love with his character Fe...

New York man rescued after treading water in Atlantic Ocean for over 5 hours: police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:57 GMT

BABYLON, N.Y. (WPIX) — A 63-year-old man was rescued from the open ocean off of a Long Island, New York beach on Monday after he treaded water for more than five hours, according to officials.Dan Ho, of Copiague, was swimming at Cedar Beach on around 5 a.m. when the current pulled him out to sea around 2.5 miles south from where he entered the ocean, according to authorities. Ho didn't have a floatation device. He found a broken fishing pole in the water and tied his shirt to the pole to wave at passing boats, according to officials. He found a broken fishing pole in the water and tied his shirt to the pole to wave at passing boats in an attempt to be rescued, according to officials. Two men, Jim Hohorst and Michael Ross, eventually spotted Ho in the water and pulled him aboard their boat, authorities said. Hohorst called authorities and met Coast Guard officials to take Ho back to land.Ho was conscious and alert but unable to stand, according to authorities. Ho was treated for hy...