I solved the January 15, 2024 Wordle in just two guesses!
I solved the January 15, 2024 Wordle in just two guesses!
My guesses were STRAP and LUNCH.
Here’s a screenshot:
A library in California is closing because the government doesn’t lock up criminals
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/coco-county-closes-antioch-library-concern-over-crime/
CoCo County closes Antioch library due to concern over crime
February 16, 2024
ANTIOCH — The Antioch Community Library is being closed because crime has made it too dangerous for users and staff, the Contra Costa County Library announced Friday.
The county library said it “has made this difficult decision after repeated dangerous incidents in the last few months that have threatened the safety and security of patrons and staff,” according to a Facebook post.
“Beginning Saturday, February 17, 2024, the Antioch Library will be closed until further notice,” the post said.
The library apologized for the lack of notice on the closure, “but the safety of our patrons and staff is a top priority.”
The library said it is working on new security measures that will allow it to reopen as soon as possible.
“These will take some time to complete, and we do not have an estimated date for reopening,” the library said.
People with books to return are asked to take them to the Prewett Library in the Antioch Community Center, Pittsburg Library or any other Contra Costa County Library.
“You may also hold onto your returns until after the Antioch Library reopens,” the library said. “The Library will automatically extend the due dates on your materials.”
Genesse Ivonne Moreno was a serial criminal who should have already been in prison, instead of being allowed to commit the Lakewood Church shooting. Why did the soft on crime people allow Moreno to walk free, instead of keeping her locked up?
Genesse Ivonne Moreno was a serial criminal who should have already been in prison, instead of being allowed to commit the Lakewood Church shooting.
Why did the soft on crime people allow Moreno to walk free, instead of keeping her locked up?
Instead of passing new laws, why not enforce the laws that are already on the books?
This incident was completely predicable and preventable. They should have locked her up for pointing guns at children. Why didn’t they? Why are some people so soft on crime?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/lakewood-church-shooter-would-aim-32120379
Lakewood Church shooter would aim guns at kids as police ‘ignored’ neighbour outcries
February 14, 2024
The megachurch shooter who left a 7-year-old boy in critical condition had previously aimed guns at children – as police “ignored” neighbours’ outcries.
… questions are being asked of police after five women who lived near the shooter in Conroe, Texas, 50 miles north of the Houston megachurch, said the shooter tormented the neighbourhood over the last four years.
“Four years I’ve been through hell. I have reported this, reported this, reported this, and it’s gone on deaf ears,” next-door neighbour Jill told Fox 26 Houston. “I’ve had psychological officers up here. Since they won’t answer their door, they won’t do anything: ‘Until she hurts you, there’s nothing we can do.’ So, everybody keeps saying on all these big news stations, ‘If you see something, say something.’ That’s bulls—. Because I’ve been through it. I’ve talked to everybody. I’ve probably called every one of your news stations trying to get someone to take this on.”
“No one would do anything. Nobody would call me back. And yet everyone’s still on these stations saying, ‘See something, say something.’ Nobody should have died. Nobody should have been hurt. This should have been handled years ago. And here we are again,” Jill added.
“I knew it was only a matter of time before she did something,” said another neighbour, Linda Giutta. “We did something, we said something.”
Walli Carranza, Moreno’s former mother-in-law, said in court filings that she long tried to alert authorities about the danger her ex-daughter-in-law posed but that authorities failed to take action.
Moreno’s rap sheet included charges for forging an £80 bill, a 2009 assault conviction for kicking a detention officer — which resulted in a 180-day county jail sentence — and a 2022 misdemeanour count for unlawfully carrying a weapon.
In a guilty plea to the 2022 misdemeanour count in nearby Fort Bend County, Moreno surrendered a pistol and a rifle that was found during a traffic stop. The weapons were destroyed as part of the plea agreement.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/neighbors-lakewood-church-shooter-detail-165422261.html
Neighbors of Lakewood Church shooter detail years of ‘hell,’ police inaction: ‘Only a matter of time’
February 13, 2024
The neighbors of the shooter who opened fire at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church before being fatally shot by police detailed years of harassment and threats their small, two-street community faced from her, saying law enforcement and elected officials failed to adequately respond to their near-constant outcry.
Moreno… had a lengthy criminal record
Chicago scraps gunshot detection system accused of racial bias
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/14/chicago-shotspotter-contract
Chicago scraps gunshot detection system accused of racial bias
February 14, 2024
Community groups say ShotSpotter system sends police to Black and Latino neighborhoods for unnecessary and hostile encounters
Chicago will not renew its ShotSpotter contract and plans to stop using the controversial gunshot detection system later this year, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office announced on Tuesday.
The system, which relies on an artificial intelligence algorithm and network of microphones to identify gunshots, has been criticized for inaccuracy, racial bias and law enforcement misuse. An Associated Press investigation of the technology detailed how police and prosecutors used ShotSpotter data as evidence in charging a Chicago grandfather with murder before a judge dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence.
Chicago’s contract with SoundThinking, a public safety technology company that says its ShotSpotter tool is used in roughly 150 cities, expires on Friday. The city plans to wind down use of ShotSpotter technology by late September, according to city officials. Since 2018, the city has spent $49m on ShotSpotter.
Johnson, a first-term mayor, campaigned on a promise to end the use of ShotSpotter, putting him at odds with police leaders who have praised the system.
They argue that crime rates – not residents’ race – determine where the technology is deployed.
“Technology is where policing is going as a whole. If we’re not utilizing technology, then we fall behind in crime fighting,” Superintendent Larry Snelling of Chicago police told the AP in an October interview. “There are always going to be issues. Nothing is 100% and nothing’s going to be perfect.”
The only people who are surprised by this are the ones who don’t understand Economics 101
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/seattles-minimum-pay-ordinance-hurting-140001012.html
Seattle’s minimum pay ordinance hurting delivery drivers it meant to help
February 14, 2024
The Seattle City Council’s recently implemented minimum payment ordinance for app-based workers like those who work handling deliveries through apps such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Instacart is hurting the workers it intended to help.
In 2022, the Seattle City Council enacted a first-of-its-kind ordinance that aimed to help ensure that app-based delivery drivers earn a minimum wage plus tips and compensation for expenses. That law took effect last month and effectively requires companies to pay the greater of a minimum per-minute amount of $0.44 and a minimum per-mile amount of $0.74, or a minimum per-offer amount of $5.
In practice, this has prompted companies like DoorDash and Instacart to pay their independent contractor delivery drivers $26 or more per hour to comply with the regulation and cover their costs. That amount is well above the city of Seattle’s regular minimum wage of $19.97 per hour and has forced those companies to pass some of those costs on to consumers placing orders.
Gary Lardizabal, who lives in Seattle and has made deliveries through Uber since 2016, told FOX Business that the delivery business has fallen off dramatically since the first week of the ordinance’s implementation as consumers balk at higher prices for orders.
“My experience in downtown Seattle, which is booming with Amazon and other tech workers, wait times are half the day,” Lardizabal said in an interview. “There’s reduced orders for drivers and couriers… and there’s definitely reduced business for restaurants.”
“All of them you can see there’s just less bags on the delivery trays, the racks. Chipotle used to just have bags upon bags — that’s gone down,” Lardizabal said. He said one restaurant told him they had averaged 170 orders per day through gig companies before the ordinance, and that last Thursday at 6 p.m. they only had 16 orders placed that day.
Fact check: Biden makes three false claims about his handling of classified information
Fact check: Biden makes three false claims about his handling of classified information
By Daniel Dale
February 9, 2024
President Joe Biden gave a press conference Thursday night after the release of a report from special counsel Robert Hur, who announced that Biden would not face charges over his handling of classified information from prior to his presidency.
Biden was combative, forcefully rejecting Hur’s claims that he has a poor memory. But the president was also repeatedly inaccurate, making three claims that were clearly contradicted by Hur’s report.
Here is a fact check.
Where the classified material was stored
Biden sought to contrast his handling of classified material with that of former President Donald Trump, who faces felony charges for willfully retaining classified documents. (Hur agreed that there were major distinctions between the two cases.) But while Biden correctly noted that the documents were in a private home that is very different from the Mar-a-Lago social club where Trump lives, Biden embellished his argument with a false claim.
Biden said: “All the stuff that was in my home was in filing cabinets that were either locked or able to be locked.”
Facts First: Biden’s claim is not true. The special counsel’s report says that while some of the classified documents were found in cabinet drawers in Biden’s Delaware home, other classified documents, about Afghanistan, were found in an “unsealed” and “badly damaged” box sitting in his garage alongside an assortment of other items the special counsel described as “household detritus.” The report includes a photo of the box.
Hur wrote that investigators looked into the possibility that the Afghanistan-related documents found in the box were previously stored in a filing cabinet when Biden lived in a rented home in Virginia before moving out in 2019. Hur called that line of inquiry “inconclusive.” Regardless, Biden’s Thursday claim that “all” of the documents in his home were in locked or lockable filing cabinets is not true of his current home.
According to the special counsel, even classified documents Biden was storing elsewhere in his home were insufficiently secure. Hur wrote that Biden notebooks containing classified information from his vice presidency were found by investigators in “unlocked drawers in the office and basement den” of the home. Hur wrote that Biden “should have known” that as a private citizen as of 2017, “he was not permitted to keep handwritten notes about the President’s Daily Brief and other classified information in unlocked drawers in his home.”
At a White House briefing on Friday, Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s Office, would not directly answer when asked about Biden’s claims about the security of the documents held at his home.
“Look, I think the president was trying to address a number of inaccurate allegations in this … report,” Sams told CNN’s MJ Lee. “I don’t have anything … to add on what he said last night.”
Asked later whether he was saying the special counsel’s report was inaccurate about the storage of documents, Sams again avoided responding directly.
“The report lays out in 400 pages of detail all of the evidence and all of the review that they conducted in looking into this matter,” he said. “The president made sure that all of the classified documents that were found were returned promptly to the government, which is what you’re supposed to do, which is why this is the inevitable conclusion that there is no case here.”
When the reporter pressed Sams, saying that wasn’t a response to his question, Sams replied: “I understand what you’re trying to ask.” He did not respond further to the question.
The classification level of the documents Biden had in his possession
Biden claimed of the documents he possessed: “None of it was high classified. It didn’t have any of that red stuff on it, you know what I mean, around the corners? None of that.”
Facts First: Biden’s claim that none of the classified material found in his possession was highly classified is false, according to details provided by the special counsel. Hur reported the discovery of documents in Biden’s possession that had markings identifying them as “Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information,” a very high level of classification – plus handwritten notebooks from Biden’s time as vice president that weren’t marked as classified but that “contain information that remains classified up to the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information level.”
It’s not clear whether any of the marked classified documents found in Biden’s possession had the colored borders seen on some of the marked classified documents found in Trump’s possession, which is what Biden appeared to be referring to when he spoke about “that red stuff…around the corners.” Regardless, Hur explained at length that some of the documents were marked as Top Secretand some with other notations identifying them as highly classified.
For example, Hur wrote, the open box in Biden’s garage contained an Afghanistan-related memo from the National Security Adviser to President Barack Obama in 2009 marked “TOP SECRET/SCI” (Sensitive Compartmented Information). Hur wrote that experts in the intelligence community said the document contains “highly sensitive information about the military programs of the United States and a foreign government. The unauthorized disclosure of this information, both today and in 2017 when Mr. Biden was no longer vice president, reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.”
Hur wrote that the box in the garage contained another 2009 memo from the National Security Adviser to Obama marked “TOP SECRET WITH TOP SECRET/NOFORN/CODEWORD ATTACHMENTS” with attachments, one of which was marked “TOP SECRET//HUMINT/COMINT//ORCON/NOFORN//FISA.”Hur wrote that experts said “portions of this document contain national defense information about sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”
In addition, Hur wrote that notebooks with handwritten notes Biden took during his vice presidency contained information on “U.S. intelligence sources, methods, and capabilities,” “U.S. intelligence activities” and “the activities of foreign intelligence services,” among other things. Hur wrote that when investigators looked into a sampling of 37 excerpts from Biden’s handwritten materials that appeared to be classified, they found that “eight are Top Secret with Sensitive Compartmented Information, seven of which include information concerning human intelligence sources,” while six are Top Secret alone, 21 Secret and two Confidential.
“Mr. Biden wrote down obviously sensitive information discussed during intelligence briefings with then President Obama and meetings in the White House Situation Room about matters of national security and military and foreign policy,” Hur wrote.
What Hur said Biden said to his ghostwriter
Hur said in the report that Biden disclosed classified material from his notebooks to the ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with him on a 2017 memoir called “Promise Me, Dad.” But Biden categorically denied that he had shared classified information with the ghostwriter, saying he can “guarantee” he didn’t.
When a reporter responded that the special counsel said he did, Biden responded, “No, they did not say that. He did not say that.”
Facts First: Biden’s claim is false. Hur did say that, writing explicitly that “Mr. Biden shared information, including some classified information, from those notebooks with his ghostwriter.” He elaborated that Biden shared classified information with his ghostwriter by reading “nearly verbatim” from his notebooks “on at least three occasions,” including his “notes from meetings in the Situation Room.”
Hur did find, however, that Biden “at times” tried to avoid sharing classified information, by stopping at or skipping over certain material from the notebooks. And he wrote that “the evidence does not show that when Mr. Biden shared the specific passages with his ghostwriter, Mr. Biden knew the passages were classified and intended to share classified information.”
Hur wrote that in one recorded conversation with the ghostwriter in 2017, at the Virginia home where Biden then lived, Biden read from his notebook about a National Security Council meeting about Iraq in 2015, then told the ghostwriter about a 2009 memo he had written to Obama arguing against the deployment of more troops to Afghanistan – and then said, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.” Hur noted that more than five years later, investigators found classified documents about the Afghanistan troop surge in Biden’s Delaware garage.
Hur wrote that he has not heard of any allegations that classified material actually appeared in Biden’s 2017 memoir.
A decade ago, the San Francisco public schools stopped teaching algebra to 8th grade students
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-algebra-middle-school-18645514.php
Algebra would return to middle schools under plan before SFUSD board
By Jill Tucker
February 2, 2024
San Francisco middle schools would once again offer Algebra 1 to eighth-grade students starting in the fall under a proposal heading to the school board for a vote later this month.
The battle over whether to return the course offering to middle school students has lasted years, with parent protests, a lawsuit and an upcoming ballot measure in March. The measure urges the district to give students the opportunity to speed up the math sequence, allowing them to take calculus as high school seniors without having to take summer school or double up on math courses.
“SFUSD’s vision for math is to prepare all middle school students for Algebra 1 in eighth grade and increase the number of underrepresented students in higher level math,” said Superintendent Matt Wayne in a statement.
District officials pulled the course out of middle school 10 years ago, saying they wanted to delay tracking students into separate math sequences until high school, an effort they hoped would push more disadvantaged students into higher math courses.
The results were disappointing, district officials said. Parents argued the move only held back high-achieving students.
The plan, however, would take some time to phase in. About a third of the district’s 13 middle schools and six K-8 schools would offer the course during the school day in the upcoming school year through a pilot program. The rest would add it to math class offerings over the following two years.
In the meantime, those enrolled in sites not selected for a pilot program would be able to take Algebra 1 through a staff-supported online program or summer school.
“Change is long overdue,” said school board President Lainie Motamedi. “The Board of Education is committed to seeing this through. Our deliberate approach to implementing Algebra I to all eighth-grade students underscores our dedication to ensuring every student has access to the opportunities that higher-level math and educational excellence brings.”
The pilot programs would test out three versions of school-day Algebra 1 if the proposal is passed, including enrolling all eighth graders in Algebra 1, enrolling students based on interest or readiness and giving students the opportunity to have both eighth-grade math and Algebra I on their schedule.
“We will evaluate these approaches while remaining focused on our goal of increasing students’ math achievement, particularly our students who SFUSD has historically underserved,” Wayne said. “Ultimately, SFUSD is working towards offering Algebra 1 in eighth grade during the school day at all middle and K-8 schools by the 2026-27 school year.”
Wayne’s final proposal posted on the agenda late Friday varies slightly from a previous plan vetted at a town hall in January that included before- or after-school Algebra 1 courses. That option is no longer in the plan heading to the school board.
Biden won’t be charged in classified docs case; special counsel cites instances of ‘poor memory’
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna96666
Biden won’t be charged in classified docs case; special counsel cites instances of ‘poor memory’
The decision caps off a yearlong saga and means Donald Trump remains the only president in history to face criminal charges.
By Ryan J. Reilly, Ken Dilanian, and Megan Lebowitz
February 8, 2024
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Hur has declined to prosecute President Joe Biden for his handling of classified documents but said in a report released Thursday that Biden’s practices “present serious risks to national security” and added that part of the reason he wouldn’t charge Biden was that the president could portray himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory” who would be sympathetic to a jury.
“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” the report said, but added that the evidence “does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The report from Hur — who previously appointed by former President Donald Trump as one of the country’s top federal prosecutors — also made clear the “material distinctions” between a theoretical case against Biden and the pending case against Trump for his handling of classified documents, noting the “serious aggravating facts” in Trump’s case.
Biden said in remarks from the White House after the report was made public that he was pleased that the report cleared him.
“The decision to decline criminal charges was straightforward,” Biden said.
He also said: “My memory’s fine.”
Hur’s report included several shocking lines about Biden’s memory, which the report said “was significantly limited” during his 2023 interviews with the special counsel. Biden’s age and presentation would make it more difficult to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the now-81-year-old was guilty of willfully committing a crime.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” it said. “Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
Later in the report, the special counsel said that the president’s memory was “worse” during an interview with him than it was in recorded conversations from 2017.
In a Monday letter to Hur and his deputy special counsel, Richard Sauber and Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal counsel, disputed how the report characterized the president’s memory.
“We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate,” Sauber and Bauer wrote in the letter, which was also released on Thursday. “The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events.”
“He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’),” the report said.
Biden also had difficulty remembering the timing of his son Beau’s death, as well as a debate about Afghanistan, the report said.
“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died,” the report said.
Defenders of the president quickly pointed out that he sat for the interview in the days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Biden, giving previously scheduled remarks on Thursday, appeared to nod to that, saying, “I was in the middle of handling an international crisis.”
He also added that he was “especially pleased” that the special counsel “made clear the stark differences between this case and Donald Trump.”
Andrew Weissman, who served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, said on MSNBC on Thursday that Hur’s decision to lodge criticisms of Biden’s memory problems was “gratuitous” and reminded him of when former FBI Director James Comey held a press conference criticizing Hillary Clinton in the months before the 2016 election.
“This is not being charged. And yet a person goes out and gives their opinion with adjectives and adverbs about what they think, entirely inappropriate,” he said. “I think a really fair criticism of this is unfortunately, we’re seeing a redux of what we saw with respect to James Comey at the FBI with respect to Hillary Clinton in terms of really not adhering to what I think are the highest ideals of the Department of Justice.”
Separately, Sauber responded to the report by saying the White House is “pleased” it has concluded and that there were no criminal charges.
“As the Special Counsel report recognizes, the President fully cooperated from day one,” he said in a statement. “His team promptly self-reported the classified documents that were found to ensure that these documents were immediately returned to the government because the President knows that’s where they belong.”
Sauber went on to appear to criticize the report but raised no specific points.
“We disagree with a number of inaccurate and inappropriate comments in the Special Counsel’s report,” Sauber said in his statement. “Nonetheless, the most important decision the Special Counsel made — that no charges are warranted — is firmly based on the facts and evidence.”
Hur’s report said there were “clear” material distinctions between a potential case against Biden and the pending case against Trump, noting that unlike “the evidence involving Mr. Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if proven, would present serious aggravating facts.”
Most notably, the report said, “after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite.” In contrast, it said, “Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview, and in other ways cooperated with the investigation.”
Some of the report focuses on documents about Afghanistan, from early in Barack Obama’s presidency. About a month after Biden left office as vice president, in a recorded conversation with his ghostwriter in February 2017, Biden remarked that he “just found all this classified stuff downstairs,” the report said. He told him, “Some of this may be classified, so be careful,” in one recording. Biden was believed to have been referring to classified documents about the Afghanistan troop surge in 2009, which Biden opposed.
The announcement tops off a lengthy saga that began in November 2022, after one of Biden’s personal attorneys found classified documents that appeared to be from the Obama administration at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, which Biden had used as a personal office after his vice presidential term concluded. Classified documents were later also found at Biden’s Delaware home.
The existence of classified documents at Biden’s home and former office were first reported in January 2023. CBS News first reported the existence of the documents at the Penn Biden Center.
Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2023 announced that he would appoint Hur as special counsel to oversee the investigation into Biden, saying the appointment authorized him “to investigate whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter.”
Biden was interviewed in October as part of the investigation, the White House said. The interview was voluntary, according to White House spokesman Ian Sams.
“As we have said from the beginning, the President and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,” Sams said at the time.
NBC News has also previously reported that the special counsel had interviewed Hunter Biden as well, according to a source familiar with the matter.
With Hur’s announcement, Donald Trump remains the only president in history to face criminal charges, which include seven criminal charges in connection with mishandling classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. According to the indictment in that case, Trump had more than 100 classified documents at his Florida home, including documents with “Top Secret” classification markings.
Man charged with ‘brutal attack’ at Chicago Union Station after being released on similar charges thanks to cashless bail law
Man charged with ‘brutal attack’ at Chicago Union Station after being released on similar charges thanks to cashless bail law
February 7, 2024
CHICAGO — After prosecutors charged Diashun Dixson with randomly attacking two men, including a 64-year-old, at the Chicago French Market in May, a judge ordered him to pay a $10,000 bail deposit to be released on electronic monitoring.
Unable to post bail, he stayed in jail until December. That’s when his attorney, citing the September 18 elimination of cash bail in Illinois, filed a motion and won his release.
Barely a month later, Dixson walked up to a 19-year-old female college student at the Union Station food court and punched her in the face so hard that the impact fractured her nose and caused immediate swelling to her face, prosecutors allege.
He’s back in jail now.
Dixson, 20, was arrested for assault at the Harold Washington Library in the Loop on May 4 and was released from the police station on his own recognizance the next day.
What Chicago cops didn’t know at the time is that, according to prosecutors, Dixson randomly attacked two men at Metra’s Chicago French Market, 117 North Clinton, two days earlier. But he hadn’t been arrested for those attacks yet.
When Metra Police did catch up with Dixson, prosecutors charged him with three felonies: two counts of aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated battery of a victim older than 60.
They said he struck a 44-year-old man in the back of the head at the market on May 2. Also at the market that day, Dixson allegedly struck a 64-year-old man in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. Once the man was down, Dixson kicked him in the head, prosecutors said.
A judge set bail at $100,000, meaning Dixson would have to pay $10,000 to get out on an ankle monitor.
He stayed in jail until December 19. That’s when his public defender filed a motion for release under the new Pretrial Fairness Act. The lawyer argued that Dixson was being jailed on charges not considered detainable offenses in Illinois’ new era of cashless bail.
The attorney also argued that the state had not filed a petition for detention since cash bail was eliminated, something they were required to do.
And the lawyer wrote, “Upon information and belief, Mr. Dixson has no misdemeanor or felony convictions.”
That’s not true. Cook County court records show he pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor battery and four counts of aggravated assault on November 16, 2022, in exchange for a six-day jail sentence. Records show those allegations involved his behavior at the Roosevelt CTA station in the Loop.
Regardless, Judge Ursula Walowski agreed with Dixson’s lawyer and released him from jail.
Back on the streets, Dixson made his way to Union Station on the evening of January 28. A 19-year-old college student was sitting in the food court, doing homework, talking to her dad on the phone, and waiting for a bus to take her back to Madison, prosecutors say.
Without any provocation or warning, Dixson walked up to the woman and plowed his fist into her face, fracturing her nose and causing her to bleed profusely, according to prosecutors. He turned and ran away after the attack. But a Metra police officer saw it happen and chased him down, prosecutors said.
The woman was taken to Rush University Medical Center for treatment.
In a detention petition, prosecutors called it a “brutal attack”. They asked Judge William Fahy to keep Dixson in jail on charges of aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm Fahy agreed.
Dixson is due in court again on February 20.
This quote is from John Miller, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. It shows just how much New York City is pro-crime. These are the criminals that New York City released without bail, after they assaulted police officers. These are some of the crimes that they committed before they assaulted the police.
This quote is from John Miller, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.
It shows just how much New York City is pro-crime.
These are the criminals that New York City released without bail, after they assaulted police officers. These are some of the crimes that they committed before they assaulted the police.
John Miller, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, said:
“These individuals, I went over their rap sheets yesterday, multiple charges, grand larceny, robbery, attempted robbery, grand larceny, grand larceny.”
“This particular crew operated on mopeds and scooters. They were doing organized retail theft. They were doing snatches on the street, iPhones, iPads, clothing, so on and so forth. One of them that they are still seeking has ten charges on one day because he’s part of a pattern that’s been going on.”
“And I’m looking at the dates that their arrest started, which is probably close to when they got here. They’ve only been here a couple of months. So, what the detectives are telling me is they have crews here that operate in New York, do all their stealing, then go to Florida to spend the money and then come back. And I’m like, well, why don’t they just stay and steal in Florida? And they said, because there, you go to jail.”
Source: https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/ctmo/date/2024-02-02/segment/03
Here’s video of Miller saying those words:
https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1753459401501954340
And here’s the video of those serial criminals assaulting New York City police officers, before the city of New York arrested them, and then let out without having to pay any bail.
https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1752486216573038857
Every city has exactly as much crime as its voters are willing to tolerate.
And the voters of New York City are willing to tolerate a lot of it.
BLM protestors try to prevent prevent a black guy from driving to work to feed his six children.
https://twitter.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1754256180992454720
Eight “gifted and talented” students from the New York City public school system have just been arrested after this viral video showed them brutally beating and assaulting a student on a bus
Eight “gifted and talented” students from the New York City public school system have just been arrested after this viral video showed them brutally beating and assaulting a student on a bus.
Here’s the video:
https://twitter.com/NYCSchoolSafety/status/1752397170857144769
Here are links to two news article about this incident:
https://nypost.com/2024/02/03/metro/nyc-school-kids-arrested-over-caught-on-video-bus-beatdown/
If a person can’t pay back a $12,000 loan in 10 years, they’re not responsible enough to be borrowing money in the first place
https://www.yahoo.com/news/type-student-loan-forgiveness-coming-095401294.html
A new type of student-loan forgiveness is coming this month
By Ayelet Sheffey
February 2, 2024
Student-debt relief through a reform to the SAVE plan is coming in February.
Those who originally borrowed $12,000 or less and made at least 10 years of payments could see relief.
Borrowers not enrolled in the SAVE plan will need to do so to make use of the benefit.
More student-loan borrowers can expect debt relief starting this month through a new repayment reform.
In early January, the Education Department announced that borrowers enrolled in the SAVE income-driven repayment plan who originally borrowed $12,000 or less would begin to see their loans forgiven in February if they made at least 10 years of qualifying payments.
The department is rolling out this relief early — when SAVE was announced over the summer, that provision of the plan wasn’t set to be implemented until summer 2024.
“Giving borrowers with smaller loans a faster path to being debt-free will help many borrowers avoid financial distress and have peace of mind,” James Kvaal, the undersecretary of education, said at the time.
It’s unclear how many borrowers will immediately qualify for relief or when those notices will start being sent out this month. Additionally, borrowers who are not enrolled in the SAVE plan will need to enroll at studentaid.gov to qualify for this benefit.
While any borrower can apply for SAVE, the monthly estimated payments will differ — a single borrower making under $32,800 or a family of four making under $67,500 would receive $0 payments under the plan. For other borrowers, SAVE will calculate the most affordable payment based on income.
The Education Department said that borrowers who originally borrowed over $12,000 could still see quicker relief — for every $1,000 above the $12,000 threshold, the borrower is set to get relief after an additional year of payments.
The department said it would continue evaluating borrowers’ accounts on “a regular basis” to identify those who qualify for relief through this SAVE provision.
Other forms of ongoing relief
The new SAVE provision is just one of the Education Department’s relief efforts for targeted groups of borrowers. Over the past year, the department has been implementing account adjustments for borrowers on income-driven repayment plans and in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program who have made their qualifying payments but have yet to see relief.
Most recently, in January, the department announced 74,000 additional borrowers were getting $5 billion in debt relief — of which 44,000 were public servants, and 30,000 of them were in repayment for at least 20 years but still waiting for loan forgiveness.
Biden touted the account adjustments during a campaign speech in South Carolina last month, saying: “I found another way to help more than 3.7 million people — teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters — with $130 billion in relief and causing the economy to grow faster as a consequence of that.”
Along with the adjustments, the department is working through a new process to get broader relief to borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s first attempt. Using the Higher Education Act of 1965, the department has held three negotiation sessions with stakeholders to help craft this second attempt at relief.
On Thursday, it announced it would be holding a fourth session — following pressure from some advocates, Democratic lawmakers, and even some of the negotiators themselves — to discuss relief for borrowers experiencing hardship. At the end of the third session, the department proposed five categories of borrowers to be included in the relief, but a hardship category was left out.
“We look forward to discussing another avenue for borrower relief related to hardship at our next negotiation session,” Kvaal said.
It’s unclear when exactly borrowers can expect this broader form of relief. Following the fourth negotiation session on February 22 and 23, the department plans to publish the proposed text of the rule to the Public Register to allow an opportunity for public comment. According to the Higher Education Act guidelines, the rule would not go into effect until 2025 unless the education secretary opted for early implementation.
CNN hosts stunned after law enforcement expert says illegal immigrants steal in New York, not Florida, because in Florida ‘you go to jail’
CNN hosts stunned after law enforcement expert says illegal immigrants steal in New York, not Florida, because in Florida ‘you go to jail’
“There you go to jail.”
https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1753459401501954340
https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1752486216573038857
A law enforcement officer told CNN that illegal immigrants are deterred by Florida’s laws and do not look upon the state as a safe haven in which to commit crime sprees.
John Miller, Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, told CNN that among the 175,000 illegal immigrants that have flooded into New York City in recent months, there is a “criminal element that looks at a different opportunity here. These individuals—I went over their rap sheets yesterday—multiple charges: grand larceny, robbery, attempted robbery, grand larceny, grand larceny.”
These are the men Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg sought fit to release without bail.
“This particular crew,” Miller said, “operated on mopeds and scooters. They were doing organized retail theft, they were doing snatches on the street: iPhones, iPads, clothing, so on and so forth. One of them that they are still seeking has 10 charges on one day because he’s part of a pattern that’s been going on.”
“I’m looking at the dates when their arrests started,” Miller continued, “which is probably close to when they got here, they’ve only been here a couple of months. So, what the detectives are telling me is, they have crews here that are operating in New York, do all their stealing, then go to Florida to spend the money then come back.”
As to why “they don’t stay in Florida and and steal there,” Miller said officers told him it’s because “there you go to jail.”
The CNN host Erica Hill had nothing to say to that.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared that the illegal immigrants who beat up NYPD officers, were released without bail due to New York City’s soft-on-crime policies, then absconded to California using fake names, should be deported. In 2021, she spoke with compassionate glee about how welcoming the US, and New york, should be to illegal immigrants who flood the city.
Hochul announced $2.4 billion in the state’s new budget to provide more resources to illegal immigrants.
“Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is drawing new criticism over her plans not to pursue jail time for those who commit violent crimes against the Asian American community.”
“Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is drawing new criticism over her plans not to pursue jail time for those who commit violent crimes against the Asian American community.”
Artell Cunningham, the DC carjacking suspect who shot Trump official and others in 11-hour crime spree, had previous felony charges dropped
DC carjacking suspect who shot Trump official and others in 11-hour crime spree had previous felony charges dropped
By Rachel Schilke
February 1, 2024
The man who was accused of being involved in eight dangerous crimes across an 11-hour period in Washington, D.C., had been arrested on felony charges almost two years ago to the day — but they were ultimately dropped by the U.S. attorney’s office.
Police fatally shot and killed Artell Cunningham, 28, of Suitland, Maryland, on Tuesday following a string of carjackings and shootings on Monday that hospitalized a former Donald Trump administration official, who is still in critical condition, and led to the theft of several vehicles.
Court documents from Jan. 23, 2021, show that Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to calls of a shooting at an apartment building near Anacostia and Fairlawn and located Cunningham attempting to gain access to the apartment his siblings were inside. He became “physically aggressive with officers” when officers stopped him from entering the apartment, so they detained him.
“While he was detained Defendant Cunningham advised Officers that if he wasn’t released he was going to shoot them all,” MPD Officer Erica Cephus wrote in the arrest report. “Defendant Cunningham then advised ‘I swear all I need to do is make one phone call and you all will be dead’ ‘I will kill each and every one of you.'”
Cunningham was arrested on felony threats. His charges were quickly downgraded to misdemeanor threats to do bodily harm, on the same day of his arrest, per court records. In February, the United States Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia dropped the charges against Cunningham, and the case was closed. The U.S. attorney for D.C. at the time was interim U.S. attorney Michael R. Sherwin, who served until March 2021.
A little over two years later, on Monday, Cunningham engaged in eight dangerous criminal activities across Washington, D.C. before being fatally shot by officers in New Carrollton.
The first attack occurred around 5:45 p.m. on Monday when officers located a man shot in the head after being carjacked while sitting in his vehicle on K Street NW. The man was later identified as Mike Gill, the former chairman of D.C.’s Board of Elections and previous employee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the Trump administration. Gill was transported to the hospital with “life-threatening injuries,” according to D.C. police.
Police say Cunningham then fled on foot and attempted a carjacking less than 90 minutes later at 5th Street and K Street at 7:05 p.m. Ten minutes later, Cunningham carjacked someone different on the 300 block of N Street NE near the NoMa Metro Station. He shot 35-year-old Alberto Vasquez Jr., who later died at a hospital from his injuries, and took his 2016 Chrysler 200.
Cunningham abandoned Vasquez’s vehicle in Takoma Park before carjacking the driver of a Toyota Camry in a rideshare in Montgomery County. Shortly before 3 a.m., Cunningham carjacked a Nissan and shot at a Maryland State Police cruiser, hitting the car but not injuring the officer. Approximately 30 minutes later, Cunningham targeted a D.C. police cruiser on D.C. I295, with police reporting no injuries.
Maryland Office of the Attorney General identified Cunningham as the suspect in a release on Tuesday, as well as released the names of the officers involved in fatally shooting Cunningham: New Carrollton Police Sergeant Byron Purnell, a six-year veteran of the department, and Corporal Carlos Batenga, who has five years of law enforcement experience.
The dropping of Cunningham’s charges follows a trend of prosecutors under both the U.S. attorney and D.C. attorney general’s offices declining to prosecute cases, often leading to criminals becoming repeat offenders or escalating to more dangerous crimes. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, who took over the position in November 2021, declined to prosecute nearly 70% of people arrested by police officers in 2022, almost doubling the declination rate within the last seven years.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has come under fire for similar prosecutorial tactics, receiving heavy criticism for declining to prosecute several juvenile cases. For example, Schwalb dropped charges against an 11-year-old boy related to assault and robbery, but the child was arrested again for armed robbery less than two weeks later.
He has actively touted programs of restorative justice and rehabilitation over incarceration, a method preferred by liberal prosecutors and officials, and pushed back against tougher detention sentences.
Hours after Cunningham had committed multiple carjackings — some fatal — on Tuesday, D.C. leaders held a panel discussion on carjacking and youth violence. Schwalb told residents who were demanding accountability for the rising juvenile crime rates that the district cannot “prosecute or arrest our way” out of the crime epidemic.
Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said the following about crime: “We cannot prosecute and arrest our way out of it”
Personally, I disagree with him.
However, I do not live in that city.
Since this is what the voters of that city have chosen, I have to respect their choice.
https://twitter.com/JCNSeverino/status/1752780344347009168
https://yahoo.com/news/dc-ag-infuriates-residents-saying-232440677.html
DC AG infuriates residents after saying city ‘cannot prosecute and arrest’ out of crime crisis: ‘Madness’
By Aubrie Spady and Cameron Cawthorne
February 1, 2024
Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb infuriated residents after claiming the city’s rampant crime crisis cannot be dealt with through law and order.
Angry residents met with community leaders in Washington, D.C., Tuesday for a panel to discuss the rise of violent crime in the city, specifically among juveniles, when Schwalb made the controversial comment.
As residents voiced their concerns and frustrations, the Democrat suggested that if district residents want to be “safer in the long run,” they must take preventative measures rather than arrest and prosecute violent criminals.
“We as a city and a community need to be much more focused on prevention and surrounding young people and their families with resources if we want to be safer in the long run,” Shwalb said in a viral clip from Fox 5. “We cannot prosecute and arrest our way out of it.”
Cancel culture goes after Dick Van Dyke. Not the man. But his name.
Oh Rob!
This article from Hollywood Reporter mentions Dick Van Dyke.
But when MSN reposted the same article, they censored out his name, and referred to him as “Dick Van D***”
Here’s a screenshot of the censored article:
Denny’s closes its 54-year-old Oakland restaurant over safety concerns, days after In-N-Out announced plans to do the same
https://www.yahoo.com/news/dennys-closes-54-old-oakland-131918096.html
Denny’s closes its 54-year-old Oakland restaurant over safety concerns, days after In-N-Out announced plans to do the same
By Grace Dean
February 1, 2024
Denny’s has closed its only diner in Oakland, California over safety concerns.
This comes hot on the heels of In-N-Out Burger’s announcement that it’s closing its Oakland restaurant.
In-N-Out had cited frequent and severe crime in the area, like car break-ins and armed robberies.
Denny’s has closed its only restaurant in Oakland, California because of concerns about customer and staff safety.
“Closing a restaurant location is never an easy decision or one taken lightly,” a spokesperson for the diner chain told Business Insider. “However, the safety and well-being of Denny’s team members and valued guests is our top priority. Weighing those factors, the decision has been made to close this location.”
The spokesperson added that team members who could relocate would be offered positions elsewhere, where available.
Denny’s didn’t respond to BI’s request for information on the measures it took to keep staff and diners safe.
Denny’s said the 24-hour diner had been open for 54 years. It was located close to Oakland International Airport and Oakland Arena.
The announcement came just over a week after cult West Coast burger chain In-N-Out Burger said that it will close its Oakland restaurant in March.
COO Denny Warnick attributed to the “frequency and severity” of crimes experienced by its customers and staff. The company said that these included car break-ins, property damage, theft, and armed robberies.
This will be the first time In-N-Out has ever had to close a restaurant.
The Denny’s and In-N-Out restaurants are located just under a mile from each other.
Data from the city’s most recent crime report shows that the number of reported robberies between January 1 and January 28 was up 10% over the three-year average.
However, the same dataset suggests that reported incidents of many other types of crime, such as burglaries, car theft, and larceny, had fallen.
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 