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Failed lawsuits could cost Madison County taxpayers $250K in legal fees

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Madison County taxpayers might be forced to expend more than a quarter of a million dollars following more than a dozen failed lawsuits filed by only two former county employees.According to a news release from the Madison County State's Attorney's Office, the county's legal fees over litigation brought by former county administrator Doug Hulme and former information technology director Robert Dorman stood at roughly $272,000. “It’s a sadly typical case of frivolous lawsuits driving up costs for taxpayers,” said Madison County State's Attorney Tom Haine. “I hope it stops soon, so local taxpayers don’t continue to suffer this waste of resources merely to ward off meritless lawsuits by just two individuals.”After an investigation into acts of malfeasance, Hulme and Dorman were terminated from their county jobs in 2020. Since then, Dorman, Hulme or both are plaintiffs in 18 separate cases in which the defendant isMadison County or a county office. Some cases have i...

Denver has two of the 50 best restaurants in America, according to The New York Times

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

The Denver restaurant accolades just keep piling up. After a thrilling week of Michelin awards, The New York Times just included two Denver restaurants in its 2023 best restaurant list.La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal, owned by Jose Avila, and Molotov Kitschen + Cocktails, owned by Bo Porytko, were among the “50 places in the United States that we’re most excited about right now,” the newspaper wrote.AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver PostOwner Jose Avila greets passersby as cook Chuy Garcia mans the meat for tacos al pastor at La Diabla Pozolería y Mezcalería on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)Both restaurants are newcomers to the Times’ third annual list. Although, since chef Avila opened La Diabla in 2021, he’s been no stranger to awards. Bon Appetit named La Diabla Denver’s best new restaurant of 2022, and he was nominated for a James Beard Award the past two years. Most recently, Michelin awarded La Diabla Bib Gourmand recogniti...

L.A. Superior Courthouse in Compton closed amid power outage

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

The Los Angeles County Superior courthouse in Compton is closed Tuesday amid a power outage in the building, officials said.“Imperative cases will be transferred and all other matters will be continued,” the court system said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Parties in all cases will be notified of any transfers or continuances.”The courthouse is located at 200 W. Compton Blvd.Officials did not offer any additional information about what time the outage began or what may have caused it.

One LAUSD school named on Department of Education's ‘Blue Ribbon Schools’ list

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

One school from the Los Angeles Unified School District was recognized Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School for its overall academic performance.Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles received the recognition, the only school from LAUSD to receive the honor, according to a press release. California lawmakers pass bill barring school book bans  A total of 33 schools from California were named on the list, out of the total 353 schools that recieved the honor. The list comes out every year and “recognizes public and private elementary, middle, and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups,” according to the National Blue Ribbon Schools website.Schools from Rancho Cucamonga, Irvine, Santa Barbara and San Diego were also named on the list, which can be viewed here.“The honorees for our 2023 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award have set a national example for wh...

Conspiracy figure Epps charged with Jan. 6 misdmeanor

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

By Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Kunzelman and Lindsay Whitehurst | Associated PressWASHINGTON — Ray Epps, a former Marine who became the center of a Jan. 6, 2021, conspiracy theory, has been charged with a misdemeanor offense in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot and is expected to plead guilty, according to court papers filed Tuesday.Epps, who claimed in a lawsuit filed this year that Fox News Channel made him a scapegoat for the Capitol riot, is charged with disorderly or disruptive conduct on restricted grounds, court records show.Epps’ attorney, Edward J. Ungvarsky, said in an email that the case was filed with an anticipation that Epps would plead guilty to the charge. The judge has scheduled a plea agreement hearing for Wednesday.Epps, a one-time supporter of President Donald Trump who has said he went to Washington to protest the 2020 election Trump lost to Joe Biden, was falsely accused by Fox of being a government agent who was whipping up trouble that would be bl...

Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

By Tran Nguyen | Associated PressSACRAMENTO — A Sacramento prosecutor is suing California’s capital city over failure to clean up homeless encampments.Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho says his office asked the city to enforce laws around sidewalk obstruction and to create additional professionally operated camping sites.He announced the suit Tuesday during a news conference in Sacramento.Ho said the city is seeing a “collapse into chaos” and an “erosion of every day life.”Sacramento County had nearly 9,300 homeless people in 2022, based on data from the annual Point in Time count. That was up 67% from 2019. Roughly three-quarters of the county’s homeless population is unsheltered.Homeless tent encampments have grown visibly in cities across the U.S. but especially in California, which is home to nearly one-third of unhoused people in the country.The prosecutor had threatened in August to file charges against city officials if they didn’...

‘The crime killed us’: Oakland’s Le Cheval restaurant closing after 38 years

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

Oakland’s legendary Le Cheval, a Vietnamese fine-dining institution for 38 years, will be shutting its doors at the end of the month.Business is down sharply at the family-run restaurant at Tenth and Clay streets, according to Son Tran, and it’s not a post-pandemic problem of too many local employees still working from home.“The lack of office workers did not kill us,” Tran told KPIX. “The crime, the criminals killed us.”The restaurant has been hit by burglars, he said, but the impact on customers has been worse.“Even right in front of the restaurant, their car is still broken into. And they’re really mad.  And they told me, ‘Son, I love your restaurant. I love your food. I love your family, but I cannot come back to Oakland. A $30 meal becomes $500 something.’ ”According to Bay Area News Group archives, Le Cheval first opened in 1985 on Jefferson Street. The family had arrived in 1975 via an airlift from Vietnam, Son...

Suspect in 22 deaths in Texas found dead in his prison cell

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

By Jamie Stengle | Associated PressDALLAS — A man accused of killing nearly two dozen older women and who was convicted last year in the slayings of two was killed Tuesday morning by his cellmate at a Texas prison, an official said.Billy Chemirmir, 50, was found dead in his cell, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Hannah Haney. She said that Chemirmir’s cellmate, who is serving a sentence for murder, was identified as the assailant, but said she couldn’t release the cellmate’s identity or how Chemirmir was killed.Authorities said Chemirmir preyed on older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span, killing them and stealing their valuables. Time after time, their deaths were initially determined to be from natural causes, even as family members raised alarm bells about missing jewelry.He was caught after a 91-year-old woman survived an attack in 2018 and told police Chemirmir had forced his way into her apartment at an independent living commu...

Covid-19 vaccination rates lag behind flu’s, but getting shots together may help

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

By Meg Tirrell | CNNEvery year since 2010, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that everyone in the country ages 6 months and older receive a flu vaccine.But that has resulted in just fewer than half of all adults and about 58% of kids getting the shot each year, according to CDC data.Covid-19 vaccines have a ways to go to catch up. Just 21% of US adults received a bivalent booster, the last version available before the US Food and Drug Administration authorized an updated Covid vaccine this month. Among kids, the numbers are much lower: less than 8% of everyone under 18.“There was this very, very strong message that children were less affected than older persons,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University. That idea, and the newness of the vaccines, “along with, I’m afraid, the political veneer that Covid vaccination acquired, resulted in much less acceptance of Covid vaccination in children.”Even among older...

The iPhone’s new Action Button is more than a one-trick pony

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:14:05 GMT

By Samantha Murphy Kelly | CNNThe new iPhone 15 Pro lineup offers the typical slate of new features designed to persuade customers to upgrade: They’re slimmer and thinner than last year’s crop. The new cameras are professional-grade and the switch to USB-C charging will make your life easier.But one new feature easily stands out: The Action Button.Apple has repurposed its physical mute button on the side of its high-end models into a more customizable tool, allowing users to carry out a handful of commands, from recording a voice memo and taking a picture to turning on the flashlight. The button can also be programmed to launch any app or shortcut, essentially turning it into a remote control or launching pad to gain quick access to something you want on demand.In the days since Apple’s iPhone 15 event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters, I’ve used it to load a variety of apps in a single press, including CNN, Amazon and Instagram. It’s certain the Action Button will become a...