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Tag: Courts

  • Municipal courts can’t issue harsher punishment than state court for same offenses, Colorado Supreme Court rules

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    The Colorado Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that cities cannot punish lawbreakers beyond what state courts would allow for the same offense, a decision that could set precedent for hundreds of municipal courts around the state.

    The justices ruled that when a municipal ordinance and a state statute prohibit identical conduct, the municipal penalties for such conduct “may not exceed the corresponding state penalties for that conduct.”

    By imposing more stringent penalties for the same crimes, these cities “materially impede the state’s interest in ensuring that maximum penalties for non-felony offenses are consistent and uniform across Colorado,” the opinion stated.

    In 2021, on the heels of nationwide protests for racial justice, Colorado lawmakers enacted sweeping state-level reforms that significantly lowered the potential penalties for misdemeanor and petty offenses in Colorado’s state courts. But those reforms didn’t impact municipal courts, which are not part of the state judicial system.

    As a result, the potential jail sentences for minor crimes in city courts now often far outpace the state’s limits, The Denver Post reported last year. The newspaper found defendants across 10 of Colorado’s largest cities served, on average, five times more jail time in municipal court — though the difference was just a matter of days.

    Officers have wide leeway to choose which box to check on their summons forms, The Post found. Police departments said they didn’t have specific policies outlining how arresting officers are supposed to decide between arresting someone on municipal or state charges.

    Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez delivered the opinion, and was joined by Justices Brian D. Boatright, William W. Hood III, Richard L. Gabriel, Carlos A. Samour Jr. and Maria E. Berkenkotter. Justice Melissa Hart, who announced her retirement last week after being on leave since October, did not participate.

    The ruling centered on two cases involving low-level prosecutions in Westminster and Aurora municipal courts in which the alleged offenders faced significantly more jail time after being charged in city court than they would have if charged in state court.

    In 2022, Aleah Camp was charged with stealing less than $300 worth of goods from a Westminster store. The officer, by checking a single box on a criminal summons, sent the case to municipal court — where Camp faced a potential jail sentence 36 times longer and a fine almost nine times higher — 364 days and $2,650 vs. 10 days and $300 — than what would be allowed under state law.

    In the other case, Danielle Simons was charged in 2023 with motor vehicle trespass in Aurora Municipal Court. As a result of the officer’s decision to pursue municipal rather than state charges, Simons similarly faced up to 364 days in jail and a $2,650 fine. If she had been charged with the same offense in state court, the maximum penalty would have been 120 days in jail and a $750 fine.

    Simons’ and Camp’s attorneys argued the significant sentencing discrepancies in their cases violated their clients’ rights of equal protection under the Colorado Constitution.

    The Supreme Court did not address the equal protection argument, instead ruling that the city ordinances are preempted by state law. The cities argued that, under home-rule provisions, they are allowed to create their own sentencing policies.

    But the justices wrote that the court has consistently held that the regulation of non-felony criminal offenses is a matter of mixed local and statewide concern.

    Municipalities can still punish offenders beyond the state’s sentencing caps when there is no identical state offense, the court ruled. However, when cities regulate conduct for which there exists an identical state offense, they cannot exceed the state’s cap.

    Ashley Cordero, Simons’ attorney, said her client “feels relieved” with Monday’s ruling.

    Rebecca Wallace, policy director at the Colorado Freedom Fund, an organization that helps people pay bail, called the decision a “victory for impoverished Coloradans.”

    “We have long said that it defies logic, fairness and the law that municipal courts can send people to jail for poverty offenses with 30 times longer sentences than they could get in state court,” she said. “Today, the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously agreed.”

    Aurora’s city attorney, Pete Schulte, fired back in a statement Monday, saying the Supreme Court’s decision “begs the question of whether Colorado municipalities should continue to prosecute criminal offenses in their municipal courts when they become de facto extensions of state and county courts at a cost to municipal taxpayers without reimbursement.”

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  • Violence, 16-hour days and no support: Why staff say they’re fleeing Colorado’s juvenile detention centers

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    Carissa Wallace started working at the Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center in Golden two years ago because she felt strongly about helping rehabilitate young people convicted of crimes.

    She loved the teens and loved the work.

    But staffing shortages began to take a toll. Management routinely mandated employees pull 16-hour shifts multiple days a week because they were so short-staffed. Fewer workers meant there was nobody to respond to crises or adequately monitor the young people in their care, she said. Safety concerns mounted.

    Wallace said she came home every day and cried. She went to the doctor for medication to help deal with all the anxiety the job brought.

    “After two years, I was mentally broken from that place,” she said in an interview. “When I had to think about my safety every second of the day, I could no longer make a difference. I could no longer help the kids.”

    Colorado’s youth detention centers are facing a staffing crisis, leading to serious safety concerns for employees and youth and low worker morale, current and former staffers told The Denver Post. The Division of Youth Services, which oversees the state’s 12 detention and commitment facilities, employs more than 1,000 employees, according to state data. Nearly 500 additional jobs remain vacant.

    Some facilities, such as the Mount View Youth Services Center in Lakewood, reported a 57% staff vacancy rate, according to June figures compiled by the state. At the Spring Creek Youth Services Center in Colorado Springs, nearly 10% of its staff at one point in November were out due to injuries sustained on the job.

    Current and former staff say leadership deserves a large chunk of the blame. Employees say they don’t feel management supports them or listens to their concerns. Higher-ups aren’t on the floor dealing with riots, they say, or leading programs. When situations do get out of control, staff say the brass simply looks for someone to blame.

    “The administration says they care,” said Kim Espinoza, a former Lookout Mountain staffer, “but their actions say otherwise.”

    Alex Stojsavljevic, the Division of Youth Services’ new director, acknowledged in an interview that working in youth detention is difficult. Retaining staff is a big priority with ample opportunities for improvement, he said. The division plans to be intentional about the people it hires into these roles, making sure that candidates know what they’re signing up for.

    He hopes to sell a vision that one can make youth corrections a long, fulfilling career.

    “Change is afoot in our department,” said Stojsavljevic, who took the mantle in October. “Just because we’ve done something for 20 or 30 years doesn’t mean we have to continue to do it that way.”

    Critical staffing levels

    Staffing shortages at Colorado prisons and youth centers have remained a persistent problem in recent years, though vacancy rates at the DYS facilities far outpace those at the state’s adult prisons.

    A lack of adequate employees means adult inmates can’t access essential services like medical, dental and mental health care, according to a 2024 report from the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. Education, employment and treatment programs lag.

    “Simply put, because of the staff shortage, the (Department of Corrections) is not able to fulfill its organizational mission, responsibilities and constitutional mandates,” the report’s authors wrote.

    Studies point to a litany of physical and mental health issues facing corrections workers.

    Custody staff have a post-traumatic stress disorder rate of 34%, 10 times higher than the national average, according to One Voice United, a national organization of corrections officers. The average life expectancy for a corrections worker is 60, compared to 75 for the general population. Divorce and substance abuse rates are higher than in any other public safety profession, the organization noted, while suicide rates are double that of police officers.

    The Colorado Department of Corrections has a 12.6% overall department vacancy rate, according to state figures. Correctional officer vacancies sit at 11%, while clinical and medical staff openings are nearly 20%.

    Meanwhile, nearly one in three DYS positions is vacant.

    The most common open positions are for the lowest level correctional workers, called youth services specialists. The Betty. K. Marler Youth Services Center in Lakewood currently has 23 vacant positions for this classification of employee out of 63 total slots. The facility is also short 10 teachers. Platte Valley Youth Services Center in Greeley has 21 open positions for the lowest-tier youth services specialist role out of 71 total jobs.

    The same candidates who might work at DYS are also being recruited by adult corrections, public safety departments and behavioral health employers, Stojsavljevic said, leading to fierce competition for these applicants.

    Current and former DYS workers say the staffing issues serve as a vicious cycle: The fewer employees there are, the more mandated overtime and extra shifts that the current staff are forced to take on. Those people, then, quickly burn out from the long hours and dangerous working conditions, they say.

    Wallace, the former Lookout Mountain worker, said almost every day for the past year, leadership mandated staff stay late or work double shifts. This routinely meant working 16-hour days.

    “It got to the point where people weren’t answering their phones,” she said. “People were calling out sick because they were overworked and exhausted.”

    Wallace estimated that 80% of the time, the facility operated at critical staffing levels or below. State law requires juvenile detention facilities to have one staff member for every eight teens, but workers say that wasn’t always the case.

    Many days, staffers said, there weren’t enough employees to respond to emergencies. In some cases, that meant the young men themselves assisted staff in breaking up fights with their peers.

    One night, some of the teens set off the fire alarm at Lookout Mountain, which unlocked the doors and allowed the young people to run around campus, climb on buildings and break windows, workers said. Without enough staff to rein in the chaos, employees wanted to call 911.

    But they said they were told they would be fired if they did. Leadership, they learned, didn’t want it covered by the press.

    “Our jobs, our lives were threatened because they didn’t want media coverage,” Espinoza said.

    Stojsavljevic said the department is “acutely aware” of the mandated work problem, though he admitted that in 24-hour facilities, staff will occasionally be told to work certain shifts.

    The division has implemented a volunteer sign-up list, where staff can earn additional incentives for working these extra shifts.

    Since he’s been in the job, the state’s juvenile facilities have never dropped below minimum staffing standards, Stojsavljevic said.

    Routine violence in DYS facilities

    Staff say violence is an almost daily occurrence inside DYS facilities, which contributes to poor staff retention.

    The division, since Jan. 1, recorded 35 fights and 94 assaults at the Lookout Mountain complex, The Post reported in September. Since March 1, police officers have responded 77 times to the Golden campus for a variety of calls, including assaults on youth and staff, sexual assault, riots, criminal mischief and contraband, Golden Police Department records show.

    Twenty of these cases concerned assaults on staff by youth in their care.

    Multiple employees suffered concussions after being punched repeatedly in the head, the reports detailed. Others were spit on, bitten, placed in headlocks and verbally threatened with violence.

    Chaz Chapman, a former Lookout Mountain worker, previously told The Post that he reported three or four assaults to police during his tenure, adding, “I was expecting to get jumped every day.”

    “We were basically never able to handle situations physically, and the kids knew that; they were stronger than 90% of their staff,” Chapman told The Post in September. “The ones who stood in their way would get assaulted, such as myself.”

    Staff said leadership still expected them to show up to work, even while injured.

    Espinoza said she injured her knee during a restraint, requiring crutches. DYS continued to put her on the schedule, she said. So the staffer hobbled around the large Golden campus through the snow and ice.

    One supervisor had his head cracked open at work this year, Espinoza said. He went to the hospital and returned to Lookout. Wallace said she’s been to the doctor 20 times since she started the job due to injuries sustained at work. She said she still has long-lasting shoulder pain.

    “If they’re gonna keep hiring women who can’t restrain teenage boys, people are going to get hurt,” she said. “That was an everyday thing.”

    In November, 28 DYS employees were out of work on injury leave, according to data provided by the state. Spring Creek Youth Services Center in Colorado Springs had nine workers injured out of 91 total staff. The state did not divulge how these people were hurt.

    Stojsavljevic said safety is the division’s No. 1 focus area. If staff are injured on the job, he said, it’s important that they’re supported.

    “Staff have to be both physically healthy and emotionally healthy to do this work,” the director said.

    Division policies allow injured employees to take leave if they need it. Depending on the level of injury, some staff can return to work without having youth contact, Stojsavljevic said.

    ‘That place takes your soul’

    But workers interviewed by The Post overwhelmingly blamed management for the division’s poor staffing levels.

    As staff worked 16-hour days and were mandated to come in on their days off, they said administrators wouldn’t pitch in.

    “A lot of people felt it’s unfair,” Wallace said. “The people making a good amount of money weren’t truly being leaders. They were forcing us to pick up the slack, but they didn’t want to deal with youth. They wanted to sit at a desk, collect their check, and go home for the day.”

    New recruits were thrown into the deep end with barely any training or support, employees said. Those new staffers quickly saw the grueling hours and how tired their coworkers were all the time. Many left within weeks of starting the gig.

    “I could see their souls were literally gone,” Wallace said. “That place takes your soul.”

    After safety, Stojsavljevic said the department is prioritizing quality and innovation. Leadership wants to make sure that programs and policies are actually getting better results.

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  • Attorneys Urge Judge to Visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to Assess Detainees’ Access to Lawyers

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    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for detainees at an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” want a federal judge to make an unscheduled, in-person visit to the facility to see firsthand if they are getting sufficient access to their lawyers.

    Attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on Friday to make the visit within the next two months to help assess whether detainees are allowed to meet with their attorneys in a confidential and regular manner. The facility was built this summer at a remote airstrip in the Florida Everglades by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.

    The detainees’ federal lawsuit claims that their attorneys have to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike at other immigration detention facilities where lawyers can just show up during visiting hours; that detainees often are transferred to other facilities after their attorneys had made an appointment to see them; and that scheduling delays have been so lengthy that detainees were unable to meet with attorneys before key deadlines.

    “Federal courts routinely conduct site visits as a valid fact-finding tool, especially in cases involving conditions of confinement,” the detainees’ attorneys wrote in their request.

    But attorneys for the state of Florida “strenuously” objected to a visit, saying a federal judge doesn’t have authority to inspect a state facility and a visit would pose significant security risks.

    “It would also impose a large burden on facility staff and significantly interrupt the facility’s operations,” attorneys for the state of Florida said.

    As of Monday, the judge hadn’t ruled on the request.

    The judge, who is based in Fort Myers, Florida, ordered the detainees’ lawyers and attorneys for the state and federal government to meet last week in an effort to resolve the case. But they were unable to reach a resolution despite nine hours of talks.

    The case over access to the legal system is one of three federal lawsuits challenging practices at the immigration detention center. Another lawsuit brought by detainees in federal court in Fort Myers argues that immigration is a federal issue, and Florida agencies and private contractors hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility under federal law. A judge last week denied a request by the detainees for a preliminary injunction to close the facility.

    In the third lawsuit, a federal judge in Miami last summer ordered the facility to wind down operations over two months because officials had failed to do a review of the detention center’s environmental impact. But an appellate court panel put that decision on hold for the time being, allowing the facility to stay open.

    Detainees at the facility have complained about toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects that are everywhere. President Donald Trump toured the detention center last summer, suggesting it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • WSJ’s parent firm on trial in Hong Kong, accused of dismissing reporter over union role

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    HONG KONG — A former Hong Kong reporter at the Wall Street Journal began testifying Monday against the newspaper she accuses of terminating her due to her union activities in a trial — a closely watched case that has raised concerns about press freedom in the city.

    Former WSJ reporter Selina Cheng, also chairperson of the trade union Hong Kong Journalists Association, launched a private prosecution against her ex-employer, Dow Jones Publishing Co. (Asia) Inc., the parent company of the Journal, after losing her job in July 2024.

    At that time, Cheng said she believed that the termination was linked to her refusal to comply with her former supervisor’s request to withdraw from the election for the union role, instead of the news outlet’s restructuring, as she was told.

    In the witness box, Cheng said her supervisor took issue with her running in the election.

    “She said my participation in the union election was problematic and she said she needed to discuss this with Wall Street Journal management in New York and also with legal,” Cheng said, referring to in-house lawyers at Dow Jones.

    Dow Jones faces two charges under the city’s Employment Ordinance. The company pleaded not guilty to both charges, each of which carries a maximum fine of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $12,850).

    The first charge alleges the company had prevented or deterred an employee from exercising union participation rights. The second alleges the company had terminated employment, penalized, or discriminated against an employee for exercising those rights.

    Before Cheng’s testimony, Dow Jones representative Benson Tsoi last week accused her of abusing the criminal process and acting in bad faith when seeking to get the court to admit certain email exchanges. Tsoi highlighted emails showing Cheng had demanded 3 million Hong Kong dollars ($385,500) as settlement or reinstatement with a formal apology.

    Tsoi said while Cheng had told the Labor Tribunal she didn’t intend to settle out of court, the emails showed she had pressed for mediation with the company.

    Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 after some 150 years under British control, was once considered a bastion of press freedom in Asia. Yet despite the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution which guarantees its Western-style civil liberties to be kept intact under a “one country, two systems” approach, the ability of the media to operate there has seen drastic changes.

    After Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, two local news outlets known for critical coverage of the government, Apple Daily and Stand News, were forced to shut down following the arrest of their senior management, including Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai.

    Lai was convicted under the security law last Monday, facing up to life in prison. While the government insists his case has nothing to do with press freedom, rights groups expressed concerns. Amnesty International said the conviction “feels like the death knell for press freedom in Hong Kong.”

    Two former editors at Stand News were also convicted in August 2024, the first journalists found guilty of sedition under a separate law since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule.

    Cheng’s termination alarmed many journalists who are already operating in an increasingly restricted media environment in the city, where foreign outlets have traditionally faced less pressure than local news outlets.

    Hong Kong ranked 140th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, down from 80 in 2021.

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  • WSJ’s Parent Firm on Trial in Hong Kong, Accused of Dismissing Reporter Over Union Role

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    HONG KONG (AP) — A former Hong Kong reporter at the Wall Street Journal began testifying Monday against the newspaper she accused of terminating her due to her union activities in a trial — a closely watched case that has raised concerns about press freedom in the city.

    Former WSJ reporter Selina Cheng, also chairperson of the trade union Hong Kong Journalists Association, launched a private prosecution against her ex-employer, Dow Jones Publishing Co. (Asia) Inc., the parent company of the Journal, after losing her job in July 2024.

    At that time, Cheng said she believed that the termination was linked to her refusal to comply with her former supervisor’s request to withdraw from the election for the union role, instead of the news outlet’s restructuring, as she was told.

    Dow Jones faces two charges under the city’s Employment Ordinance. The company pleaded not guilty to both charges, each of which carries a maximum fine of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $12,850).


    Two charges faced by newspaper

    The first charge alleges the company had prevented or deterred an employee from exercising union participation rights. The second alleges the company had terminated employment, penalized, or discriminated against an employee for exercising those rights.

    Before Cheng’s testimony, Dow Jones representative Benson Tsoi last week accused her of abusing the criminal process and acting in bad faith when seeking to get the court to admit certain email exchanges. Tsoi highlighted emails showing Cheng had demanded 3 million Hong Kong dollars ($385,500) as settlement or reinstatement with a formal apology.

    Tsoi said while Cheng had told the Labor Tribunal she didn’t intend to settle out of court, the emails showed she had pressed for mediation with the company.

    Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 after some 150 years under British control, was once considered a bastion of press freedom in Asia. Yet despite the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution which guarantees its Western-style civil liberties to be kept intact under a “one country, two systems” approach, the ability of the media to operate there has seen drastic changes.


    Media environment in Hong Kong has faltered

    Lai was convicted under the security law last Monday, facing up to life in prison. While the government insists his case has nothing to do with press freedom, rights groups expressed concerns. Amnesty International said the conviction “feels like the death knell for press freedom in Hong Kong.”

    Two former editors at Stand News were also convicted in August 2024, the first journalists found guilty of sedition under a separate law since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule.

    Cheng’s termination alarmed many journalists who are already operating in an increasingly restricted media environment in the city, where foreign outlets have traditionally faced less pressure than local news outlets.

    Hong Kong ranked 140th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, down from 80 in 2021.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Police Allege Suspected Gunman in Bondi Beach Shooting Trained With Father, Australian Media Reports

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    MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A suspected gunman accused of killing 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach conducted “firearms training” in an area of New South Wales outside of Sydney with his father and recorded a video about their “justification” for the attack, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday, citing police documents.

    The police statement of facts was made public following Naveed Akram’s video court appearance Monday from a Sydney hospital.

    The statement alleges the 24-year-old and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, threw four improvised explosive devices toward at crowd involved in a Jewish event at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, but they didn’t explode, ABC reported.

    The New South Wales court media unit could not immediately provide a copy of the statement.

    Police shot the father dead at the scene and wounded the son.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Tesla CEO Elon Musk recovers $55 billion pay package in Delaware court ruling

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    Elon Musk, already the world’s richest man, scored another huge windfall Friday when the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a decision that deprived him of a $55 billion pay package that Tesla doled out in 2018 as an incentive for its CEO to steer the aut…

    Elon Musk, already the world’s richest man, scored another huge windfall Friday when the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a decision that deprived him of a $55 billion pay package that Tesla doled out in 2018 as an incentive for its CEO to steer the automaker to new heights.

    Besides padding Musk’s current fortune of $679 billion, the restoration of the 2018 pay package vindicates his long-held belief that the Delaware legal system had overstepped its bounds in January 2024 when Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick rescinded the compensation in a case brought by a disgruntled Tesla shareholder.

    Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.

    McCormick’s ruling so incensed Musk that it spurred him to spurn Delaware and reincorporate Tesla in Texas. That decision also caused Tesla’s board to scramble for ways to keep its CEO happy, including a successful effort to persuade the company’s shareholders to reaffirm the pay package, which was valued at $44.9 billion at the time of the second vote 18 months ago.

    With Musk still signaling discontent, Tesla upped the ante again this year by crafting another pay package that could pay him $1 trillion if he can lead the automaker down a road during the next decade that lifts the company’s market value from its current $1.6 trillion to $8.5 trillion. Shareholders approved that pay package last month, to Musk’s delight.

    That may sound like a difficult task, but it also appeared like a long shot for Musk to hit all the targets to qualify for the payout that was dangled in the 2018 package. At that time, Tesla was still struggling to expand its production of electric vehicles and burning through cash.

    At the time the 2018 pay package was drawn up, Tesla’s market value was hovering in the $50 billion to $75 billion range. But then the company’s manufacturing problems eased, enabling it to start meeting hot demand for its vehicles, which in turn pumped up its sales and stock price to a level that qualified Musk for the big payout that had been promised him.

    But based on evidence that included Musk’s testimony during a 2022 trial, McCormick ruled the pay package had been crafted by a board that was too cozy and beholden to the hard-charging Musk.

    In its 49-page ruling, the Delaware Supreme Court cited a variety of errors in McCormick’s 2024 decision and declared the 2018 pay package should be restored. It also awarded Tesla $1 in nominal damages.

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  • Harvard morgue manager who sold body parts gets 8-year prison term

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    A former manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts “as if they were baubles.”

    Authorities said Cedric Lodge was at the center of a ghoulish scheme in which he shipped brains, skin, hands and faces to buyers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere after cadavers donated to Harvard were no longer needed for research.

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    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • US rapper Wiz Khalifa sentenced by Romanian court to 9 months for drug possession

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    BUCHAREST, Romania — American rapper Wiz Khalifa was sentenced by a court in Romania on Thursday to nine months in jail for drug possession, more than a year after he took part in a music festival in the Eastern European country.

    Khalifa was stopped by Romanian police in July 2024 after allegedly smoking cannabis on stage at the Beach, Please! Festival in Costinesti, a coastal resort in Constanta County. Prosecutors said the rapper, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, was found in possession of more than 18 grams of cannabis, and that he consumed some on stage.

    The Constanta Court of Appeal handed down the sentence after Khalifa was convicted of “possession of dangerous drugs, without right, for personal consumption,” according to Romania’s national news agency, Agerpres. The decision is final.

    The decision came after a lower court in Constanta County in April issued Khalifa a criminal fine of 3,600 lei ($830) for “illegal possession of dangerous drugs,” but prosecutors appealed the court’s decision and sought a higher sentence.

    Romania has some of the harsher drugs laws in Europe. Possession of cannabis for personal use is criminalized and can result in a prison sentence of between three months and two years, or a fine.

    It isn’t clear whether Romanian authorities will seek to file an extradition request, since Khalifa is a U.S. citizen and doesn’t reside in Romania.

    The 38-year-old Pittsburgh rapper rose to prominence with his breakout mixtape “Kush + Orange Juice.” On stage in Romania last summer, the popular rapper smoked a large, hand-rolled cigarette while singing his hit “Young, Wild & Free.”

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  • Key Findings of an AP Analysis Examining Federal Prosecutions of Protesters

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    In a review of scores of criminal prosecutions brought by federal prosecutors, The Associated Press found that the Justice Department has struggled to deliver on Bondi’s pledge.

    An analysis of 166 federal criminal cases brought since May against people in four Democratic-led cities at the epicenter of demonstrations found that aggressive charging decisions and rhetoric painting defendants as domestic terrorists have frequently failed to hold up in court.

    “It’s clear from this data that the government is being extremely aggressive and charging for things that ordinarily wouldn’t be charged at all,” said Mary McCord, a former federal prosecutor who is the director of Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy. “They appear to want to chill people from protesting against the administration’s mass deportation plans.”

    Here are some key findings from the AP’s analysis:


    Dozens of felonies evaporated

    Of 100 people initially charged with felony assaults on federal agents, 55 saw their charges reduced to misdemeanors, or dismissed.

    Sometimes prosecutors failed to win grand jury indictments required to prosecute someone on a felony, the AP found. Videos and testimony called into question some of the initial allegations, resulting in prosecutors downgrading offenses.

    In dozens of cases, officers suffered minor or no injuries, undercutting a key component of the felony assault charge that requires the potential for serious bodily harm.

    One of the cases was against Dana Briggs, a 70-year-old Air Force veteran charged in September with assault after a protest in Chicago. After video footage emerged of federal agents knocking Briggs to the ground, prosecutors dropped a case they had already reduced to a misdemeanor.

    Another case dropped by prosecutors was against 28-year-old Lucy Shepherd, who was charged with felony assault after she batted away the arm of a federal officer who was attempting to clear a crowd outside Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Her lawyers argued a video of her arrest showed she brushed aside an officer with “too little force to have been intended to inflict any kind of injury.”

    A Justice Department spokesperson said it will continue to seek the most serious available charges against those alleged to have put federal agents in harm’s way.

    “We will not tolerate any violence directed toward our brave law enforcement officials who are working tirelessly to keep Americans safe,” said Natalie Baldassarre, a DOJ spokesperson.


    Despite rhetoric, antifa rarely mentioned in court

    The administration has deployed — or sought to deploy — troops to the four cities where AP examined the criminal cases: Washington, D.C, Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago. Trump and his administration have sought to justify the military deployments, in part, by painting immigration protesters as “antifa,” which the president has sought to designate as a “domestic terrorist organization.”

    Short for “anti-fascists,” antifa is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning protesters who confront or resist white supremacists, sometimes clashing with law enforcement.

    The AP’s review found a handful of references to “antifa” in court records in the cases it reviewed. The review found no case in which federal authorities officially accused a protester of being a “domestic terrorist” or part of an organized effort to attack federal agents.


    Prosecutors have lost every trial

    Experts said they were surprised the Justice Department took five misdemeanor cases to trial, given that such trials eat up resources. They were further shocked that DOJ lost all those trials.

    “When the DOJ tries to take a swing at someone, they should hit 99.9% of the time. And that’s not happening,” said Ronald Chapman II, a defense attorney who practices extensively in federal court.

    The highest-profile loss involved Sean Charles Dunn, a Washington, D.C., man who tossed a Subway-style sandwich at a Border Patrol agent he had berated as a “fascist.” Dunn was acquitted Nov. 6 after a two-day trial.

    In Los Angeles, 32-year-old Katherine Carreño was acquitted on a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from an August protest outside a federal building.

    Prosecutors had alleged she ignored an officer’s commands to move out of the way of a government vehicle and “raised her hand and brought it down in a slapping/chopping motion” onto the officer’s arm.

    Social media video shown to jurors raised doubts about that narrative, showing an officer striding toward Carreño and pushing her back.


    More than 50 cases are pending

    Prosecutors have secured felony indictments against 58 people, some of whom were initially charged with misdemeanors. They are accused of assaulting federal officers in several ways, including by hurling rocks and projectiles, punching or kicking them and shooting them with paintballs. None have yet to go to trial.

    From the start of Trump’s second term through Nov. 24, the Department of Homeland Security says there have been 238 assaults on ICE personnel nationwide. The agency declined to provide its list or details about how it defines assaults.

    “Rioters and other violent criminals have threatened our law enforcement officers, thrown rocks, bottles, and fireworks at them, slashed the tires of their vehicles, rammed them, ambushed them, and even shot at them,” said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

    Ding reported from Los Angeles, Fernando from Chicago, Rush from Portland, Oregon, and Foley from Iowa City, Iowa.

    Contact the AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Detained immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra must get bail hearing before Christmas, judge rules

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    Immigration authorities must provide detained activist Jeanette Vizguerra with a bail hearing in the next week, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in Denver.

    The order offers an avenue for potential temporary release for Vizguerra, an immigrant without proper legal status who has spent nine months in federal immigration detention.

    The activist was arrested in March and has been fighting efforts by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and deport her ever since. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Nina Wang requires that authorities give Vizguerra the opportunity to seek a temporary release before an immigration judge in Aurora’s detention center by Christmas Eve.

    Her hearing is currently set for Friday morning, according to one of her attorneys, Laura Lichter.

    If granted bail, Vizguerra would be released from detention while her immigration case continues to wind its way through the courts. Because Vizguerra is fighting her deportation both in federal court and in immigration court, it will likely be “many months or even years” before her case is fully resolved, Wang said.

    The Mexico-born activist has lived in the United States for more than 30 years and has repeatedly fought attempts to deport her, though she accepted a voluntary departure in 2011. During the first Trump administration, she sought shelter in a Denver church and was named by TIME as one of the most influential people of 2017. She left the church’s sanctuary and was given reprieves by ICE.

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  • Police rush to busy city retail park to detain man with knife

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    A man has been charged following the alleged incident at a retail park in Leckwith, Cardiff

    17:02, 17 Dec 2025Updated 17:21, 17 Dec 2025

    Police rushed to a busy retail park in Cardiff to detain a man who was seen with a knife. The incident happened at the Capital retail park at Leckwith beside the Cardiff City Stadium while the shopping area was busy with families days before Christmas.

    Officers from South Wales Police rushed to the scene after calls were made and the man with the knife was detained by midday on Tuesday, the force said on Wednesday afternoon.

    When officers arrived a suspect had left the scene but a man was arrested within 45 minutes and a knife was recovered. Jay Robert, from Canton, was later charged with being in possession of a pointed or bladed article in a public place.

    The 31-year-old appeared at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, December 17, where he pleaded guilty to the offence.

    He has been remanded into custody until a further hearing at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on January 6 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

    Inspector Richard Lloyd from Fairwater Police Station said: “We hope this update provides some reassurance to the public who witnessed yesterday’s incident.

    “South Wales Police takes all reports of knives or weapons in public seriously and will always respond to concerns and reports.”

    Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice

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  • Founder of bankrupt subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings is charged with fraud

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    NEW YORK — The founder of Tricolor Holdings and other executives of the subprime auto lender were charged Wednesday with what federal authorities say was a massive fraud that led the company into bankruptcy.

    Daniel Chu, the company’s founder and chief executive, was charged in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court with directing multiple executives since 2018 to defraud investors and lending institutions through multiple fraudulent schemes.

    A defense lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

    According to the indictment, the scope of the fraud was revealed in late August when lenders confronted Chu and other executives about Tricolor’s collateral.

    Chu and others accused of carrying out the fraud initially tried to conceal it, saying the collateral issues were due to an administrative error, the indictment said.

    After those efforts failed, Chu extracted over $6 million from the company, the indictment said.

    On Sept. 10, Tricolor filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy because it owed over $900 million to the company’s largest lenders, the indictment said.

    More information was expected to be released at a morning news conference.

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  • Hunter Biden disbarred in Connecticut after complaints about gun, tax convictions

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    WATERBURY, Conn. — A judge on Monday disbarred Hunter Biden in Connecticut for violating the state’s attorney conduct rules, a decision that comes after complaints were made about the federal gun and tax charges Biden was convicted of before being pardoned last year by his father, former President Joe Biden.

    In an agreement with the state office that disciplines lawyers, Hunter Biden consented to being disbarred and admitted to attorney misconduct, but he did not admit to any criminal wrongdoing. He was disbarred in Washington, D.C., in May.

    Hunter Biden did not speak as he and his lawyer, Ross Garber, appeared via video at a virtual court hearing before Judge Trial Referee Patrick L. Carroll III in Waterbury.

    Hunter Biden was convicted last year in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

    He had been set to stand trial in September 2024 in a California case in which prosecutors accused him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. He agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges hours after jury selection was set to begin.

    The Connecticut judge found that Hunter Biden violated several ethical rules for lawyers, including engaging in conduct “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” In a court document, Hunter Biden admitted to some but not all of the misconduct allegations. The judge also cited the Washington disbarment.

    Paul Dorsey, one of the two people who filed the complaints about the former president’s son, told the judge during Monday’s hearing that he objected to the agreement because Hunter Biden did not admit to committing crimes. But Leanne Larson, an attorney with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, cited the pardon.

    Hunter Biden was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1997, a year after graduating from Yale Law School.

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  • Punk protest group Pussy Riot declared ‘extremist organization’ by a Russian court

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    Punk group Pussy Riot was declared an “extremist organization” by a Russian court on Monday.

    The ruling, which was made by Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court, effectively outlaws the group from operating in Russia and puts anyone linked with the group at risk of criminal prosecution.

    The feminist protest group first catapulted to notoriety in 2012, when its members performed a provocative “punk prayer” against President Vladimir Putin from the pulpit of Russia’s largest cathedral.

    Today, members of the group remain part of Russia’s opposition, largely working in exile.

    In September, five people linked with Pussy Riot — Maria Alyokhina, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova, Diana Burkot and Alina Petrova — were handed jail terms by a Russian court after being found guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian military, news outlet Mediazona reported. Mediazona was founded by Alyokhina alongside another Pussy Riot member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.

    The case was linked to an anti-war music video made by the group, as well as an art performance in Germany that saw Pletner urinate on a portrait of Putin.

    Alyokhina received a 13-year prison sentence, while Pletner was given 11 years. Burkot, Petrova, and Borisova were given eight years’ imprisonment. All have rejected the charges as politically motivated.

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  • Jimmy Lai, Former Pro-Democracy Newspaper Founder, to Hear Verdict in National Security Case

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    HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court will deliver its verdict on Monday in the trial of former pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, who’s charged with conspiracies to commit sedition and collusion with foreign forces in a case that marks how much the semi-autonomous Chinese city has changed since Beijing began a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent five years ago.

    Lai, 78, was arrested in 2020 under a national security law imposed by Chinese authorities to quell the massive anti-government protests that rocked the city in 2019.

    Lai’s 156-day trial is being closely watched by foreign governments and political observers as a test of the judicial independence and media freedom in the former British colony, which was promised it could maintain its Western-style civil liberties for 50 years after returning to Chinese rule in 1997.

    Here’s what to know about the landmark trial:


    Lai was arrested as China tightened its grip on Hong Kong

    Hong Kong was long known for its vibrant press scene and protest culture in Asia. But following months of anti-government protests that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets, Beijing began a sweeping crackdown that has chilled most open dissent in the city.

    Lai was one of the first prominent figures charged under the National Security Law, which has also been used to prosecute other leading activists and opposition politicians. Beijing deemed the law crucial for the city’s stability.

    Dozens of civil society groups have closed, as tens of thousands of young professionals and middle-class families emigrated to destinations like Britain, Canada, Taiwan, Australia and the United States.


    Lai’s newspaper was known for its fierce pro-democracy stand

    Lai, a rags-to-riches tycoon who formerly owned clothing chain Giordano, entered the media world after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

    He described himself as driven by the belief that delivering information is equal to delivering freedom. His newspaper drew a strong following with tabloid-style coverage of politics and celebrities, as well as a strong pro-democracy stance. It often urged its readers to join protests.

    Lai took to the streets himself, too, including in the 2019 protests.

    Lai was arrested under the security law in August 2020 as about 200 police officers raided Apple Daily’s building. He has been in custody since December 2020.

    Within a year, authorities used the same law to arrest senior executives of Apple Daily, raided its offices again and froze $2.3 million of its assets, effectively forcing the newspaper to shut down. The paper’s final edition sold out in hours, with readers scooping up all 1 million copies.


    Authorities accused Lai of seeking to get sanctions imposed on China

    The most serious accusation against Lai was that he and other people had invited the U.S. and other foreign powers to act against China with sanctions or other measures “under the guise of fighting for freedom and democracy.”

    One major issue was whether Lai made such calls after the security law went into effect. Lai did not deny that he’d called for sanctions earlier, but insisted that he stopped once the law came in.

    Prosecutors argued that even though Lai didn’t make direct requests for sanctions after the law took effect, he had tried to “create a false impression” of China to justify foreign countries to impose punishment, pointing to articles and his comments in online broadcasts critical of Hong Kong and China.

    Lai’s lawyer Robert Pang said his remarks were just armchair punditry, akin to chatter “over the dim sum table.”

    Lai said he wrote “without any sense of hostility or intention to be seditious.” Pang also pressed the court to consider freedom of expression and accused the prosecution of treating human rights as a foreign concept, leading to testy exchanges.

    “It’s not wrong to support freedom of expression. It’s not wrong to support human rights,” he said. “Nor is it wrong not to love a particular administration or even the country.”

    Judge Esther Toh responded that “It’s not wrong not to love the government, but if you do that by certain nefarious means, then it’s wrong.”


    Lai’s foreign contacts came under attack

    Prosecutors also dwelled on Lai’s foreign contacts, including meetings he had with former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then-Vice President Mike Pence at the height of the 2019 protests.

    Prosecutor Anthony Chau said Lai’s foreign connections showed his “unwavering intent to solicit” sanctions, blockades or other hostile activities against China and Hong Kong.

    The prosecution also alleged Lai had conspired with fellow Apple Daily senior executives, members of an advocacy group called “Fight for Freedom Stand with Hong Kong” and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China to call for foreign actions.

    Six Apple Daily senior executives involved in the case pleaded guilty in 2022 and some of them served as prosecution witnesses.

    Two other alleged co-conspirators linked to “Stand with Hong Kong” group also testified against Lai, but legal team called one of them “a serial liar” and argued that even if accepted his testimony didn’t show that Lai had agreed to work with them as alleged.

    Outside the courtroom, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international political group critical of China, said in a statement that it rejected “false claims” regarding Lai’s involvement with its network.


    Foreign governments are watching the case

    Lai, a British citizen, has drawn concerns from foreign governments, including the U.S. and the U.K. — both have called for his release. U.S. President Donald Trump said he has raised the case with China, and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said his government has made it a priority to secure the release of Lai.

    But Beijing has called Lai “an agent and pawn of anti-China foreign forces,” describing him as the main planner behind disruptive activities in the city.

    Controversy arose even before his trial started. Lai’s trial, originally scheduled to start in December 2022, was postponed to 2023 as authorities barred a British lawyer from representing Lai, citing that it would likely pose national security risks.


    Lai says his health is deteriorating, but he could face life in prison

    In August, Pang said Lai had experienced heart palpitations and was given a heart monitor. His children raised concerns over his deteriorating health. The government said a medical examination of Lai found no abnormalities following his heart problems and that the medical care he received in custody was adequate.

    The security law authorizes a range of sentences depending on the seriousness of the offense and the defendant’s role in it, from three years for the less serious to 10 years to life for people convicted of “grave” offenses.

    If Lai is convicted, sentencing is expected on a later day. He can appeal the outcome.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • What to know about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release from immigration custody

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    BALTIMORE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation helped galvanize opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, was released from immigration detention on Thursday, and a judge has temporarily blocked any further efforts to detain him.

    Abrego Garcia currently can’t be deported to his home country of El Salvador thanks to a 2019 immigration court order that found he had a “well founded fear” of danger there. However, the Trump administration has said he cannot stay in the U.S. Over the past few months, government officials have said they would deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and, most recently, Liberia.

    Abrego Garcia is fighting his deportation in federal court in Maryland, where his attorneys claim the administration is manipulating the immigration system to punish him for successfully challenging his earlier deportation.

    Here’s what to know about the latest developments in the case:

    Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager to join his brother, who had become a U.S. citizen. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to his home country.

    While he was allowed to live and work in the U.S. under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision, he was not given residency status. Earlier this year, he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, despite the earlier court ruling.

    When Abrego Garcia was deported in March, he was held in a notoriously brutal Salvadoran prison despite having no criminal record.

    The Trump administration initially fought efforts to bring him back to the U.S. but eventually complied after the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in. He returned to the U.S. in June, only to face an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. Abrego Garcia was held in a Tennessee jail for more than two months before he was released on Friday, Aug. 22, to await trial in Maryland under home detention.

    His freedom lasted a weekend. On the following Monday, he reported to the Baltimore immigration office for a check-in and was immediately taken into immigration custody. Officials announced plans to deport him to a series of African countries, but they were blocked by an order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland.

    On Thursday, after months of legal filings and hearings, Xinis ruled that Abrego Garcia should be released immediately. Her ruling hinged on what was likely a procedural error by the immigration judge who heard his case in 2019.

    Normally, in a case like this, an immigration judge will first issue an order of removal. Then the judge will essentially freeze that order by issuing a “withholding of removal” order, according to Memphis immigration attorney Andrew Rankin.

    In Abrego Garcia’s case, the judge granted withholding of removal to El Salvador because he found Abrego Garcia’s life could be in danger there. However, the judge never took the first step of issuing the order of removal. The government argued in Xinis’ court that the order of removal could be inferred, but the judge disagreed.

    Without a final order of removal, Abrego Garcia can’t be deported, Xinis ruled.

    The only way to get an order of removal is to go back to immigration court and ask for one, Rankin said. But reopening the immigration case is a gamble because Abrego Garcia’s attorneys would likely seek protection from deportation in the form of asylum or some other type of relief.

    One wrinkle is that immigration courts are officially part of the executive branch, and the judges there are not generally viewed as being as independent as federal judges.

    “There might be independence in some areas, but if the administration wants a certain result, by all accounts it seems they’re going to exert the pressure on the individuals to get that result,” Rankin said. “I hope he gets a fair shake, and two lawyers make arguments — somebody wins, somebody loses — instead of giving it to an immigration judge with a 95% denial rate, where everybody in the world knows how it’s gonna go down.”

    Alternatively, the government could appeal Xinis’ order to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and try to get her ruling overturned, Rankin said. If the appeals court agreed with the government that the final order of removal was implied, there could be no need to reopen the immigration case.

    In compliance with Xinis’ order, Abrego Garcia was released from immigration detention in Pennsylvania on Thursday evening and allowed to return home for the first time in months. However, he was also told to report to an immigration officer in Baltimore early the next morning.

    Fearing that he would be detained again, his attorneys asked Xinis for a temporary restraining order. Xinis filed that order early Friday morning. It prohibits immigration officials from taking Abrego Garcia back into custody, at least for the time being. A hearing on the issue could happen as early as next week.

    Meanwhile, in Tennessee, Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case where he is charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling.

    Prosecutors claim he accepted money to transport, within the United States, people who were in the country illegally. The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

    Abrego Garcia has asked U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw to dismiss the smuggling charges on the grounds of “selective or vindictive prosecution.”

    Crenshaw earlier found “some evidence that the prosecution against him may be vindictive” and said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.” Crenshaw specifically cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on a Fox News Channel program that seemed to suggest the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful-deportation case.

    The two sides have been sparring over whether senior Justice Department officials, including Blanche, can be required to testify in the case.

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  • Russian Cargo Jet Grounded 16 Years in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula May Soon Fly Again

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    One of Michigan‘s most enduring sagas in the Upper Peninsula — the grounding of a Russian cargo jet marooned near Marquette for 16 years — may soon come to an end after years of lawsuits, police investigations and feuding over ownership.

    The tale that touches Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Pakistan and Texas and involves expired visas, an unpaid mechanic, multiple financiers, the local sheriff and the FBI may soon end with the plane flying again.

    All thanks to wars in Gaza and Ukraine that a representative of the plane’s owner says have dramatically boosted the aircraft’s value to $50 million from $12 million.

    “There’s been an uptick in activity, simply because of the ongoing things in the Gaza Strip and likewise with the war in Ukraine and Russia, so there’s companies out there that are investing and purchasing all kinds of air cargo airplanes,” Dwight Barnell, a broker who has maintained the plane through its multiple owners over the years, told Bridge Michigan.

    It never took off. Half of its crew was detained by immigration officials that night, including the pilot, and the local court ordered the plane grounded while at least six creditors both foreign and domestic fought over who should control the aircraft.

    Barnell said the plane’s owners have for years spent about $1,000 a month storing the plane in Gwinn amid an ownership struggle.

    Now, the plane has a clean title and its current owner, Philadelphia consulting firm Meridican Inc., is readying it for sale. He said two to three entities have expressed interest in the aircraft.

    The Ukrainian engineers needed to inspect the plane have been caught in the backlog of visa applicants since the weeks-long government shutdown that ended in mid-November.

    Once those engineers inspect the plane, a sale can be finalized, and then it’ll take three to four months to get it ready for flight, Barnell said.

    “It’s been a long time coming,” Barnell said. “We’re excited to get it off to its next chapter of life.”

    “It’s something that’s well-known about … so I’m sure it’s something that people will know that it’s gone,” David Erhart, manager of the Marquette airport, told Bridge Michigan.

    “To see it have new life is what we’d hope for for the aircraft owner.”


    ‘Cop cars coming out of everywhere’

    The messy affair came to the Upper Peninsula when the phone rang at the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office at 11 a.m. July 17, 2009.

    An attorney representing a Texas mechanic told a Marquette County deputy that a Russian plane had landed despite a Grayson County, Texas, judge’s order that the plane stay in Texas. The Texas mechanic had sued the plane’s owners over unpaid bills, according to police records Bridge Michigan obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

    As well, the caller said, some of the plane’s crew were Ukrainians in the country on expired visas.

    Barnell said that, when he and his crew disembarked in Gwinn, “all of a sudden, the whole airport lit up, cop cars coming out of everywhere.”

    When police interviewed the pilot, he told them the crew had stopped in Marquette to refuel and was enroute to Iceland and eventually Pakistan.

    Barnell told Bridge he had a lease on the plane at the time and was rightfully headed to Pakistan, where it would be used in military training. He said nobody told him the mechanic hadn’t been paid. They’d landed in Gwinn to buy $100,000 worth of fuel and to hand paperwork to US Customs that would allow the plane to leave the country.

    Later that day, a lawyer for the plane’s owner, a Delaware outfit called Air Support Systems, called police to say the plane had been stolen and its owners “had no idea who was even flying the cargo jet,” according to the police reports.

    Police initially determined they had no jurisdiction because the Texas court case was a civil matter. When calls kept coming in from Texas, however, the Sheriff’s Office decided to call the FBI.

    The FBI interviewed the crew and then called US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who detained five of the nine-member crew — including the pilot — for expired paperwork and took them to Sault Ste. Marie for processing. The plane couldn’t go anywhere.

    Barnell said the crewmembers had overstayed their visas by a few days and they turned in the proper paperwork in Gwinn.

    “We did everything absolutely, positively correctly,” he told Bridge.

    Meanwhile, the Texas mechanic hired a Marquette lawyer who obtained a restraining order from a Marquette County judge saying the plane had to stay put.

    Police called the airport manager, who provided two sander trucks and a runway snowplow to box the plane in.

    Police pinned a notice of the restraining order to the door of the plane.

    The fight was just beginning.


    Heavy debt and a battle for control

    By the time the plane landed in the UP, the drama was already four years old.

    North American Tactical Aviation, a Delaware company headed by Barnell, bought the plane for about $4 million from Tashkent Aircraft Production Corp., a Ukrainian company, in July 2005, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

    The plane — with a 165-foot wingspan, 152 feet long and 48 feet tall, weighing capable of hauling nearly 375,000 pounds — is designed for mid-air refueling but, when the big fuel tanks are removed, it becomes a large, versatile cargo plane capable of hauling large vehicles.

    Barnell told Bridge Michigan he couldn’t find work for the plane. He explored using the plane for firefighting, but “the last thing that would ever happen is allowing a Russian tanker to come in and take away business from existing companies that utilize 100% American airplanes,” so he abandoned that idea and decided to sell the plane.

    Air Support Systems bought the plane in 2005.

    In September 2008, Air Support Systems took out a $1 million loan from Headlands Limited, a Gibraltar company that has business in everything from tech to restaurants, and put the plane up as collateral, according to the FAA records.

    But Headlands was just one of several companies who said Air Support Systems owed them money. By the time the case landed in Marquette County courts in 2009, a half-dozen outfits were clamoring for control of the plane.

    It would take eight years to sort it all out and for a judge to give Headlands the right to sell the aircraft. Meridican bought it in 2019.

    Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, air cargo business dried up again, and Meridican sat on the plane for several more years.

    Then Russia invaded Ukraine.

    Then Hamas attacked Israel, and Israel reciprocated.

    “The value has skyrocketed in the last, I would say, 2 ½ years,” Barnell said.

    In the interim, Meridican hired Barnell to look after the plane.

    It’s regularly inspected, powered up to make sure the systems work, the engines “cold turned” with a wrench to make sure they aren’t seized up. Still, it’ll take about $500,000 to run through all the factory inspections to make sure the thing can fly again.

    “It’s in long-term preservation storage, and, even though it looks like crap on the outside, there is no major corrosion of any kind, whatsoever,” Barnell said. “We’re flying a very safe airplane, doing everything in accordance with the manufacturer.”

    When he bought the plane 20 years ago, it had been sitting for 10 years, Barnell said. He went through the same exercise then to get it from Ukraine, and he had no doubts the plane would someday soon take to the skies.

    “I would not use the word ‘might,’” Barnell said. “It will take off.”

    This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Woman charged in unprovoked stabbing of tourist changing baby’s diaper in store

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    NEW YORK — A California woman changing her infant daughter’s diaper in the bathroom of the Macy’s Herald Square store in New York City was stabbed and injured by another woman in an unprovoked attack, police said.

    The attack occurred Thursday afternoon at the store in Manhattan. The 38-year-old victim was stabbed in the back and arm and was being treated at a hospital for cuts and lacerations. She was expected to fully recover. Her 10-month-old baby was not injured.

    A 43-year-old Tewksbury, Massachusetts woman was charged with attempted murder in connection with the attack and was due to make her initial court appearance on Friday. It was not known Friday if she had retained a lawyer.

    Macy’s issued a statement saying it was “deeply saddened” by the attack.

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  • Crypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison for $40 billion stablecoin fraud

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Onetime cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison after a $40 billion crash revealed his crypto ecosystem to be a fraud. Victims said the 34-year-old financial technology whiz weaponized their trust to convince them that the investment — secretly propped up by cash infusions — was safe.

    Kwon, a Stanford graduate known by some as “the cryptocurrency king,” apologized after listening as victims — one in court and others by telephone — described the scam’s toll: wiping out nest eggs, depleting charities and wrecking lives. One told the judge in a letter that he contemplated suicide after his father lost his retirement money in the scheme.

    Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said at a daylong sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court that the government’s recommendation of 12 years in prison was “unreasonably lenient” and that the defense’s request for five years was “utterly unthinkable and wildly unreasonable.” Kwon faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

    “Your offense caused real people to lose $40 billion in real money, not some paper loss,” Engelmayer told Kwon, who sat at the defense table in a yellow jail suit. The judge called it “a fraud on an epic, generational scale” and said Kwon had an “almost mystical hold” on investors and caused incalculable “human wreckage.”

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    More than the combined losses in FTX and OneCoin cases

    Kwon pleaded guilty in August to fraud charges stemming from the collapse of Terraform Labs, the Singapore-based firm he co-founded in 2018. The loss exceeded the combined losses from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood’s frauds, prosecutors said. Engelmayer estimated there may have been a million victims.

    Terraform Labs had touted its TerraUSD as a reliable “stablecoin” — a kind of currency typically pegged to stable assets to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices. But prosecutors say it was an illusion backed by outside cash infusions that came crumbling down after it plunged far below its $1 peg. The crash devastated investors in TerraUSD and its floating sister currency, Luna, triggering “a cascade of crises that swept through cryptocurrency markets.”

    Kwon tried to rebuild Terraform Labs in Singapore before fleeing to the Balkans on a false passport, prosecutors said. He’s been locked up since his March 2023 arrest in Montenegro. He was credited for 17 months he spent in jail there before being extradited to the U.S.

    Kwon agreed to forfeit over $19 million as part of his plea deal. His lawyers argued his conduct stemmed not from greed, but hubris and desperation. Engelmayer rejected his request to serve his sentence in his native South Korea, where he also faces prosecution and where his wife and 4-year-old daughter live.

    “I have spent almost every waking moment of the last few years thinking of what I could have done different and what I can do now to make things right,” Kwon told Engelmayer. Hearing from victims, he said, was “harrowing and reminded me again of the great losses that I have caused.”

    Victims say losses ruined their lives, harmed charities

    One victim, speaking by telephone, said his wife divorced him, his sons had to skip college, and he had to move back to Croatia to live with his parents after TerraUSD’s crash evaporated his family’s life savings. Another said he has to “live with the guilt” of persuading his in-laws and hundreds of nonprofit organizations to invest.

    Stanislav Trofimchuk said his family’s investment plummeted from $190,000 to $13,000 — “17 years of our life, gone” during what he described as “two weeks of sheer terror.”

    Chauncey St. John, speaking in court, said some nonprofits he worked with lost more than $2 million and a church group lost about $900,000. He and his wife are saddled with debt and his in-laws have been forced to work well past their planned retirement, he said.

    Nevertheless, St. John said, he forgives Kwon and “I pray to God to have mercy on his soul.”

    A prosecutor read excerpts from some of more than 300 letters submitted by victims, including a person identified only by initials who lost nearly $11,400 while juggling bills and trying to complete college. Kwon had made Terra seem like a safe place to stash savings, the person said.

    “To some that is just a number on a page, but to me it was years of effort,” the person wrote. “Watching it evaporate, literally overnight, was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.”

    “What happened was not an accident. It was not a market event. It was deception,” the person added, imploring the judge to “consider the human cost of this tragedy.”

    Kwon created an “illusion of resilience while covering up systemic failure,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mortazavi told Engelmayer. “This was fraud executed with arrogance, manipulation and total disregard for people.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report.

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