Prison

Along the riverbanks of Eastern Kentucky, the redbud trees are just starting to bloom, their branches still lumbering under the weight of last summer’s catastrophic flood: Lawn chairs, trampolines, twisted gutters and school backpacks remain high in the treetops, each item a persistent and disorienting sign of how life here was turned upside down last July when shallow streams surged more than 18 feet in 10 hours in parts of the state, killing more than 40 people and leaving hundreds homeless . Yet while residents reach for the possibility of renewal, the largest regional investment being offered is a federal prison proposed for Letcher County, the heart of the flood zone. The possible federal correctional institution adds insult to an already injured region. In 2019 activists defeated the proposal, demanding that the funds be used for more forward-thinking purposes, including safe and affordable housing — all the more needed since the flood. The Trump and Biden … [Read more...] about Eastern Kentucky Needs Flood Relief, Not Another Federal Prison

close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for March 29 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. South African police have launched a manhunt for convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester who escaped from a privately-run maximum security prison in the Free State province under bizarre circumstances. Bester, known as the "Facebook rapist," was found guilty in 2012 of raping two women and killing one after luring them with the social media platform. In March last year officials reported that he had died in a fire in his cell at the Mangaung Correctional Center, near Bloemfontein. But now it appears Bester escaped from his cell amid the fire and has been living lavishly in Johannesburg's posh Hyde Park suburb. SOUTH AFRICAN PROTESTS CONTINUE AS DEMONSTRATORS CALL FOR THE PRESIDENT TO RESIGN According to information first revealed by the South African news outlet GroundUp and confirmed by the … [Read more...] about South African police launch manhunt for convicted rapist, murder who escaped from prison

Former President Donald Trump is facing a possible indictment in connection with his involvement in an alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. Close attention is on the Manhattan grand jury's schedule in the case, with speculation growing that an indictment could come this week. However, in Florida the Palm Beach County state attorney said that people are reading too much into the grand jury's schedule. A Manhattan grand jury considering evidence related to Donald Trump 's alleged hush money payment to an adult film star won't meet Wednesday , which has generated online speculation about when a possible indictment could be issued. The former president has been investigated by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in the case, which concerns a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels of $130,000 during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has denied all the allegations, including Daniels' claim that they had an … [Read more...] about Grand jury schedule sparks new speculation about Trump indictment

The Adnan Syed case, popularized by the podcast Serial , has been forever changed thanks to an appeal launched by the victim's brother. Syed was convicted of the murder of his then-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, who died in January 1999. He was found guilty of a number of charges in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, though he always maintained his innocence. In 2014, the murder of Min Lee and Syed's trial was the subject of the first season of the podcast Serial . Eventually, new evidence in the case was unearthed and by September 2022 all charges against Syed had been dropped . A court in Maryland recently reinstated the murder conviction of Syed, but the ruling suggests Syed will not remain convicted for long, as another hearing is needed to remove the reinstatement. The conviction was reinstated after the victim's brother, Young Lee, filed an appeal in December 2022, arguing that prosecutors violated a state law requiring them to give sufficient notice of … [Read more...] about How victim’s brother in Adnan Syed case turned trial upside down

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s highest court on Wednesday turned away the latest attempt to get a sentence reduction for Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for plotting with her teenage lover to have her husband killed in 1990. Smart, 55, was 22 and working as a high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old student who later shot and killed her husband, Gregory Smart. Though she denied knowledge of the plot, she was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes and sentenced to life without parole. Having exhausted her judicial appeal options, Smart asked a state council for a sentence reduction hearing last year. The five-member Executive Council, which approves state contracts and appointees to the courts and state agencies, rejected her request in less than three minutes, prompting the appeal to state Supreme Court. But the court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction on Wednesday, saying that ordering the … [Read more...] about New Hampshire court dismisses latest Pamela Smart petition

Health officials sit at an empty government-run Covid-19 screening clinic in Jung District, central Seoul, on Wednesday. [YONHAP] Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 will have to quarantine for five days, not seven, from early May. The mandate could be entirely lifted in July, meaning that people won't have to isolate even if they come down with the virus. Under the current system, patients must report their infection to local health authorities and quarantine for a week. If they refuse to isolate, they face up to a year in prison or 10 million won ($7,700) in fines. The mask mandate for high-risk facilities could also be lifted in July. Since March 20, the Korean government has allowed people to unmask on public transportation, but masks are still required at hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes, welfare centers for the disabled and mental health centers. Visitors to pharmacies in large supermarkets or subway stations, however, do not have to wear masks. If the … [Read more...] about Mandatory quarantine to be cut to five days from May

BRISTOL, Conn. — The brother of the late New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez is facing criminal and motor vehicle charges in Connecticut, accused of throwing a brick onto the ESPN headquarters campus and eluding police during brief pursuits in other towns. Dennis John Hernandez, 36, who also has been known as D.J. and Jonathan, was given a misdemeanor summons for breach of peace Thursday by Bristol police in connection with the ESPN incident, according to a police report. Hernandez, who played quarterback and wide receiver at UConn in the mid-2000s, went to ESPN in a car, possibly an Uber, and threw a bag containing a brick and a note onto the property, police said. He then left. The note said: “To all media outlets, It’s about time you all realeyes the affect media has on all family members. Since you’re a world wide leader maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up! Yours truly, Dennis J. Hernandez,” according to police. … [Read more...] about Aaron Hernandez’s brother threw a brick with a signed note at ESPN headquarters

A former CIA officer who was charged Tuesday with unlawful possession of secrets is suspected of a much worse crime: betraying U.S. informants in China, sources familiar with the case told NBC News. The former officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, was arrested Monday after flying into New York on a Cathay Pacific flight from his home in Hong Kong, federal authorities announced. Lee, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was charged with a single count of unlawfully possessing national defense information, based on a 2012 search that found him to be in possession of two notebooks containing the true names of CIA assets and covert facilities, which are some of the agency's most closely guarded secrets. Ex-CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee suspected of spying for China Jan. 17, 2018 01:55 But sources familiar with the case say he is suspected of funneling information to China that caused the deaths or imprisonment of approximately 20 American … [Read more...] about Ex-CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee suspected of spying for China

With just weeks to go before President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold their first-ever summit , Pyongyang on Sunday criticized what it called “misleading” claims that Trump’s policy of maximum political pressure and sanctions are what drove the North to the negotiating table. The North’s official news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman warning the claims are a “dangerous attempt” to ruin a budding detente on the Korean Peninsula after Kim’s summit late last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in . At the summit, Kim agreed to a number of measures aimed at improving North-South ties and indicated he is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the peninsula, though exactly what that would entail and what conditions the North might require have not yet been explained. Trump and senior U.S. officials have suggested repeatedly that Washington’s tough policy toward North Korea, along with pressure on its main trading … [Read more...] about North Korea says U.S. ruining mood of detente ahead of Trump-Kim summit

The government benefits began their existence as objects of partisan rancor and harsh criticism. Eventually, though, they became so popular that politicians of both parties promised to protect them. It was true of Social Security and Medicare. And now the pattern seems to be repeating itself with Obamacare. Consider what has happened recently in North Carolina: Only a decade after the state’s Republican politicians described the law as dangerous and refused to sign up for its expansion of Medicaid, Republicans and Democrats came together to pass such an expansion . The Republican-controlled House in North Carolina passed the bill 87 to 24, while the Republican-controlled Senate passed it 44 to 2. “Wow, have things changed,” Jonathan Cohn wrote in a HuffPost piece explaining how the turnabout happened . Obamacare — the country’s largest expansion of health insurance since Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 — is still not as widely accepted as those programs. North Carolina … [Read more...] about Obamacare Keeps Winning