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Man stopped in August outside Michigan governor’s summer mansion worked for anti-Democrat PAC

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A man dressed in black who works for a group specializing in opposition research about Democrats was stopped while climbing a bluff near Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s summer residence in August, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press.The man, whose name was redacted in the document, said he worked as a “political tracker” for America Rising, a political action committee that works in support of Republicans. He said he was “climbing the hill to get a ‘view up here’ when he was stopped Aug. 26. When members of the Executive Protection Section advised there was no view to see where he was at, (the man) stated, ‘I guess I’m leaving now,’” state police said.The mansion on Mackinac Island is a summer residence for any Michigan governor in office. It’s located “on a bluff overlooking the Straits of Mackinac,” according to the island’s tourism office. Police followed up with an interview at the man’s apartment on Sept. 12.The...

Powerful Haitian gang leader charged by U.S. with ordering 2022 kidnapping of American couple that left woman dead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Powerful Haitian gang leader charged by U.S. with ordering 2022 kidnapping of American couple that left woman dead.Source

Charging papers say off-duty pilot who tried to cut engines told police he was having a breakdown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines on a regional jet midflight on Sunday told police after his arrest that he believed he was having a nervous breakdown, thought he was dreaming when he pulled fire handles in the cockpit, and that he had experimented with psychedelic mushrooms recently as his mental health worsened, according to a federal complaint made public Tuesday.It was not immediately clear from the court document if 44-year-old Joseph David Emerson was high on mushrooms when he was on the plane, but an FBI agent wrote in a probable cause affidavit that the pilot spoke with police about the use of psychedelic mushrooms and “said it was his first-time taking mushrooms.” Emerson, of Pleasant Hill, California, was initially arrested in Oregon on Sunday night on state counts of attempted murder after the flight crew reported that he attempted to shut down the engines on a Horizon Air flight from Washington state to California while...

Bob Melvin is leaving the San Diego Padres to become manager of the San Francisco Giants, AP sources say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bob Melvin is leaving the San Diego Padres to become manager of the San Francisco Giants, AP sources say.Source

Jeff Capel begins his sixth season at Pittsburgh with something unfamiliar: expectations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jeff Capel has dealt with plenty since taking over Pittsburgh’s reeling basketball program in the summer of 2018.His sixth season brings something new: expectations. Reaching the NCAA Tournament and winning a couple of games there for the first time in nearly a decade will do that.The Panthers went 24-12 a year ago, finishing a surprising third in the ACC and beating Mississippi State and Iowa State in the tournament before falling to Xavier in the round of 32.The run validated Capel’s vision of what Pitt can be. Sustaining it, however, is another matter. Particularly in an era where the transient nature of college basketball makes carryover from one season to the next so difficult.“I think our guys are up for the challenge,” Capel said. “We’ve been open and honest and transparent with our guys about (facing expectations).”Well, not from everyone. Someone in senior forward Blake Hinson’s inner circle passed along a ranking from an unnamed outlet t...

Florida State should be deeper but might need more to return to the NCAA Tournament

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida State missed the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons amid mounting injuries and a lack of depth — usually a strength under longtime coach Leonard Hamilton.The Seminoles hit rock bottom last year, dropping 10 of their final 12 games, finishing 9-23 and failing to reach double-digit wins for first time in more than two decades.Hamilton and the ‘Noles expect at least a modest rebound this season.“Our depth is back,” Hamilton said. “We now have enough depth where we can sustain the effort for long periods of time like we have in the past. Last year, obviously we were a little short on depth.”Florida State made the Elite Eight in 2018 and the Sweet 16 in 2021, but Hamilton’s squad could looking at more rebuilding after two of its top three scorers, Matthew Cleveland (Miami) and Caleb Mills (Memphis), hit the transfer portal. Hamilton has brought in three transfers: VCU forward Jamir Watkins, Georgetown guard Primo Spears and LaSalle’s J...

New men’s global rugby competition starting in 2026 hailed and assailed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

The Six Nations will lose a rest week to accommodate a new global men’s competition outside of the Rugby World Cup starting in 2026.A European conference of Six Nations sides will play the Rest of the World featuring the Rugby Championship teams and two others — tipped to be Japan and Fiji — in the July and November test windows culminating in a grand final in Europe at the end of the November window.Called the Nations Championship for now, it will be played every two years but ring-fenced to the 12 original teams until 2032 — after the next two Rugby World Cups.A second division of 12 tier two teams who have yet to be determined will start in 2026 with promotion-relegation from 2030.No contracts have been signed, everything has been agreed to in principle, but World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont hailed the vote to approve it all on Tuesday as “an historic moment for our sport that sets us up collectively for success.”But South America Rugby president Sebastian Pineyrua warned ...

Haitian gang leader charged with ordering kidnapping of US couple that left woman dead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A powerful Haitian gang leader has been charged by U.S. prosecutors with ordering the kidnapping of an American couple from their home in Haiti that left the woman dead, authorities said Tuesday.Vitel’homme Innocent — who remains at large and is believed to be living in Tabarre, Haiti — is accused of directing the Oct. 2022 kidnapping of Jean Franklin and Marie Odette Franklin for ransom.Armed gang members stormed their home, and Marie Franklin was shot and killed in the kidnapping. Her husband, Jean, was held for 21 days and released following ransom payments made to the gang on behalf of his family, authorities said.Authorities are offering a reward of $1 million for information leading to the arrest of Innocent, who runs the violent Kraze Barye gang that operates in Port-au-Prince.“When Americans are kidnapped abroad we will show there will be swift accountability for such conduct,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves.Innocent was prev...

GLX fixes could occur during overnight shutdowns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

Miles of tracks that are too narrow across the Green Line Extension could be fixed by mid-November following up to two weeks of evening closures, MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said Tuesday.Days after he revealed that most of the nearly brand-new rails on the extension need to be widened, Eng told agency overseers the contractors responsible for the project have proposed tackling the problems in 10 to 14 nights of work starting around Nov. 1.Green Line Extension Constructors, the joint venture that built the 4.4-mile expansion, suggested shutting down service on the rails from 9 p.m. each night until 5 a.m. the following morning during that span, Eng said. Regular service would resume each day following the overnight work.Eng said his team is still reviewing the proposal and has not yet committed to it.“This is not going to be something that continues on for months and months, or even longer. It is something that can be addressed in a matter of weeks,” Eng told the M...

Massachusetts GOP couple agree to state’s largest settlement after campaign finance investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office announced settlements Tuesday with a Republican couple and others after investigators found evidence of campaign finance violations.The settlements to be paid by Republican state Sen. Ryan Fattman, Worcester County Register of Probate Stephanie Fattman and others total hundreds of thousands of dollars — the largest amounts ever paid by candidate committees to the state to resolve cases after campaign finance investigations, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, a Democrat.The Office of Campaign and Political Finance investigated contributions funneled from Ryan Fattman’s senate campaign committee through state and local Republican committees to Stephanie Fattman’s register of probate committee during her 2020 reelection campaign.In 2020, Ryan Fattman’s campaign donated money to the Republican State Committee and the Sutton Republican Town Committee, which used the money to help fund more than 500,...