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Cooperating ex-guard gets 6 years in Illinois inmate’s death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A contrite Willie Hedden, the last of three ex-correctional officers convicted in the beating death of an Illinois prison inmate, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to civil rights violations and obstruction and testifying against his codefendants. U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough gave Hedden, 44, a sentence nearly one-quarter the length of the 20 years she handed 31-year-old Alex Banta and Todd Sheffler, 54, for a violent attack on Larry Earvin, an inmate at Western Illinois Correctional Center, in 2018. Hedden, an 18-year Department of Corrections veteran, admitted punching, stomping and kicking the 65-year-old Earvin, who was handcuffed behind his back, in the entryway to a segregation unit where there are no surveillance cameras. Speaking to the court before sentencing, Hedden turned to Earvin’s son, Larry Pippion, 51, and apologized.“What I brought upon them is a horrible tragedy that did not need to hap...

Canada extends emergency visa applications for Ukrainians fleeing war until July

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

OTTAWA — Ukrainians seeking refuge in Canada from war will have another few months to apply for temporary safe haven, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced Wednesday. The deadline to apply for a three-year emergency visa was originally March 31, but people will now be able to apply until July 15. After that date, Ukrainians will still be able to apply for traditional work, study and visitor permits to come to Canada, but they will be charged the usual fees associated with those applications.“I would encourage people who are thinking of coming to Canada to apply to come, and if you need Canada’s protection, to come,” Fraser said at a press conference at Café Ukraine in Ottawa, a volunteer-based drop-in centre for displaced Ukrainians. Ukrainians who have received an emergency visa will have until March 31 next year to make the journey to Canada, where the federal government will offer them a one-time income support payment and two weeks of hotel accommodations....

Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree calls Sri Lanka a ‘failed and bankrupt state’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

OTTAWA — A government MP and parliamentary secretary to a cabinet minister is calling Sri Lanka “a failed and bankrupt state” as the country receives another international bailout.Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree called a press conference Tuesday to argue that the International Monetary Fund should have called for more autonomy for that country’s Tamil minority.Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly refused to say Wednesday whether his comments reflect Canadian policy.“By any standard of measurement, Sri Lanka is a failed and bankrupt state, devoid of the political and economic leadership to support its most vulnerable and ensure long-term political and economic sustainability,” said Anandasangaree, who is Tamil.He said the IMF should have had a “focus on gross and serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian law” in Sri Lanka, and pressed for the Tamil region’s “right to self-determination and the ability to cha...

Liberals introduce legislation to create a corporate ownership registry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals are moving ahead with plans to create an ownership registry after promising to increase transparency about who owns and controls corporations.Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne has tabled legislation that would create a corporate beneficial ownership registry. The prospective registry is expected to have the goal of making it easier to identify owners of corporations who launder money, commit financial crimes or evade taxes. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letter to Champagne after the last federal election included instructions to create such a registry.The Liberals’ 2021 budget dedicated $2.1 million over two years “to support the implementation of a publicly accessible corporate beneficial ownership registry by 2025.”But the Liberals’ supply-and-confidence agreement with New Democrats, signed a year ago, required a quicker timeline. In that deal, which sees the NDP supporting the government on key vote...

2 employees of town near planned Ford truck plant indicted

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two employees of a rural Tennessee town that resisted a takeover attempt by the state after Ford Motor Co. announced plans to build an electric truck plant nearby have been charged with the theft of town funds and official misconduct, officials said Wednesday.Reva Marshall, the former finance officer for the town of Mason, and Michele Scott, Mason’s human resources manager, have been indicted by grand juries in two counties, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office said in a news release and an investigative report.Both Marshall and Scott were charged with receiving tens of thousands of dollars in improper wages, benefits and reimbursements from Mason by submitting timesheets for many more hours than they actually worked, officials said. They also worked full-time for the Memphis-Shelby County Schools system while also employed by Mason, receiving compensation from both entities for the same hours of work, officials said.In a report released Wednesday, in...

Ex-women’s prison warden gets 6 years for inmate sex abuse

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The former warden of an abuse-plagued federal women’s prison in the San Francisco Bay Area was sentenced Wednesday to nearly six years in prison for sexually abusing incarcerated women.A judge sentenced Ray J. Garcia to 70 months in prison for sexually abusing three female inmates and forcing them to pose naked for photos in their cells at the Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin, about 21 miles (34 kilometers) east of Oakland. He must also register as a sex offender with the state of California. A jury in December found Garcia guilty of eight counts of sexual abuse and one count of lying to the FBI. He was among five workers charged with abusing inmates at the federal correctional institution and the first to go to trial.Garcia, 55, retired from his post in 2021 after the FBI found nude photos of inmates on his government-issued phone. Garcia was charged with abusing three inmates between December 2019 and July 2021. Two of the three women Garcia was conv...

Oil exec held for 5 years in Venezuela sues Citgo for $100M

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — One of the Citgo oil executives who was held for nearly five years in Venezuela has sued his company for $100 million, alleging it conspired in his detention and then abandoned him and his family as he wasted away in horrific prison conditions for a crime he didn’t commit.Tomeu Vadell was one of six executives who worked for Houston-based Citgo when they were lured to Venezuela right before Thanksgiving in 2017 to attend a meeting at the headquarters of the company’s parent, the Venezuelan-run-oil giant known as PDVSA. Once there, they were hauled from a Caracas conference room by masked security agents.A Venezuelan judge later convicted the six executives of embezzlement and sentenced them to between eight years and 13 years in prison in a trial marred by delays and irregularities. In his lawsuit, Vadell’s lawyers allege Citgo lured him and the other executives, who became known as the Citgo 6, as part of a scheme to be used as “political pawns.” The lawsuit alleges ...

Police-reported hate crimes rise again, as pandemic worsens discrimination: StatCan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

OTTAWA — New figures released by Statistics Canada show hate crimes reported to police continued to spike across the country in the second year of the pandemic as people were targeted by race, religion and sexual orientation.The agency says in a news release that all provinces and territories experienced increases in hate crime reports in 2021 except Yukon, where they were unchanged.Incidents motivated by religion were up 67 per cent across Canada, while reports to police involving sexual orientation rose by 63 per cent, and race-related incidents were up six per cent.The statistics agency says the pandemic “exacerbated experiences of discrimination,” including hate crimes, and “underscored an increase in discourse” about the issue.Overall, there were 3,360 hate crimes of all motivations reported to police in 2021, up by 27 per cent, after a 35 per cent increase in 2020.Reports of hate crime targeting East or Southeast Asians rose 16 per cent to 305 incidents...

Alberta information commissioner to investigate Kearl tailings leak notifications

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

EDMONTON — Alberta’s information commissioner has started an investigation into how the province’s energy regulator notified the public about tailings pond releases at Imperial Oil’s Kearl mine.“Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod has launched an investigation into the Alberta Energy Regulator concerning AER’s consideration of the public interest override,” said a news release Wednesday from the commissioner.In the release, McLeod said the probe is to examine whether the regulator had a duty to release information about risks to the environment, public health or a group of people.“Did AER have a duty … to disclose information that is clearly in the public interest?” the release asks. The investigation could also be expanded to include “any other implicated public body,” it says. The probe stems from two releases of toxic oilsands tailings water from the Kearl mine north of Fort McMurray, Alta.The first release was s...

Johnson, Vallas return to campaign trail after WGN debate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:48 GMT

CHICAGO, Ill. --- No break for the Chicago mayoral candidates after Tuesday's debate. Following the WGN debate, they left early last night and got right back to work.Fresh off the WGN-TV debate, the candidates for mayor returned to the campaign trail with Election Day only 13 days away.  Full recap on the WGN-TV Chicago Mayoral Debate In Pilsen, Paul Vallas scored an endorsement from former Governor Pat Quinn."It’s important that we have a good mayor, a mayor who stands up for everyday people, and that’s Paul Vallas," Quinn said. "We need a mayor who’s going to put that office back into city hall to fight for people paying unfair property taxes. We’ve gotta have a fighter."Vallas ran as Quinn’s Lieutenant Governor candidate in 2014."The older you get, the circle reconnects again," Vallas said. "I’m so pleased and so proud to have this endorsement, from my friend."Vallas also addressed transportation with leaders in Chicago’s Polish National Alliance."When you talk about to improve...