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President Biden pardons thousands convicted of marijuana charges on federal lands and in Washington DC

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

By ZEKE MLLER | Associated PressWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, the White House said Friday, in his latest round of executive clemencies meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice system.Biden is also granting clemency to 11 people serving what the White House called “disproportionately long” sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.Biden said his actions would help make the “promise of equal justice a reality.”“Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities,” Biden said. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs.”The categorical pardon issued Friday builds on his categorical pardon issued just before the 2022 midterm elections that made thousands convicted of simple possessi...

Monterey County youth softball coach sentenced to prison for sex acts with minor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

SALINAS – Richard Douglas Aldrete, a man who was once a San Francisco Giants minor league player turned revered youth softball coach, was taken into custody on Wednesday after being sentenced to two years in the California Department of Corrections and ordered to register as a sex offender for engaging in sex acts with a minor.Aldrete Aldrete, 58 of Monterey, ran a private coaching business where he met Jane Doe when she was 14 years old and he began coaching her in softball, according to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. He continued as her coach for several years and when she was 17, he began making sexual advances toward her and offering her drugs and alchohol. After a time of resisting his pressure, Doe did give in to his requests.Judge Stephanie Hulsey noted that Aldrete had established a position as a mentor and role model in the community for young softball players during her sentencing of Aldrete, and that he used his position to have sex with Doe when she...

Review: ‘Migration’ is a pretty wild goose chase

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

By Jake Coyle | Associated PressIllumination, maker of “Despicable Me,” “Sing” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” has built its animation empire by mostly staying close to a child-like outlook. Illumination’s in-house mascots, the Minions, are basically themselves careening toddlers.But the studio’s latest, “Migration,” carries a faintly more parental perspective. Its central character is a father duck, Mack Mallard (Kumail Nanjiani), whose fears and paranoia have kept his feathered family rooted to a small New England pond. But after much cajoling from his wife (Elizabeth Banks) and two ducklings (Caspar Jennings, Tresi Gazal), Mack and company take flight for their first winter migration south to Jamaica.Related ArticlesEntertainment | ‘All of Us Strangers’ is devastating and compelling Entertainment | ‘Iron Claw’ is great, misses a chance to point fingers Entertainm...

Abcarian: Believe Trump when he vows revenge on the news media

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

Was it just a little joke when Orange Jesus declared to Sean Hannity that, in the event of his political resurrection, he would be a dictator on “Day One”? I didn’t take it that way. You shouldn’t either.Former President Donald Trump’s MAGA shock troops have been announcing all over the place that a second Trump term would be dedicated to punishing enemies real and imagined, especially journalists who have dared speculate about how he would set about torching the Constitution.In the dictator’s playbook, demonizing the press is Job No. 1, and it’s something Trump is long familiar with: He not only calls news he doesn’t like “fake,” he claims he invented the term “fake news.” (No hat tip to the Nazis, I guess.) Mainstream news outlets, he’s often said, are “truly the enemy of the people.” Reporters are “scum,” “the absolute worst.”For years, Trump has said he wants to weak...

San Mateo County supervisors approve incentive funds for sheriff's deputies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

(BCN) -- The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors earlier this month approved the financial incentives for the county's deputies amid efforts to maintain staffing levels in the Sheriff's Office.The Board on Dec. 12 voted unanimously to pass a six-month temporary funding agreement to financially support the deputies this holiday season, Supervisor Ray Mueller's office said Monday.For the next six months, San Mateo County will be paying double time to officers who are working over 9 hours of overtime a week. According to Mueller's office, San Mateo County deputies have been working long periods of mandatory overtime. "While help is on the way, as new hire and lateral candidates are currently moving through the hiring process, ensuring public safety is maintained is a first priority. This investment is a message to our Sheriff's deputies that our community values them and honors their personal sacrifice, as they work long hours away from their families, to protect the community," Mue...

A Top U.K. Official Displayed the Terrifying Ignorance of the World’s Leaders on Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, left, and the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, right, greet people as they attend an event held to mark the 30th anniversary of Hamas, at Al-Katiba Square on December 14, 2017 in Gaza City, Gaza.Photo: Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesDo the people who run the world know the most basic facts about the world? This urgent question is raised by a recent column on the Israeli attack on Gaza by the British politician Ben Wallace, who, until a few months ago, was the United Kingdom’s defense minister. Terrifyingly enough, the answer appears to be no.The problem is that Wallace places great significance on Hamas’s original 1988 charter, which is explicitly antisemitic and rejects any coexistence with Israel. But he doesn’t appear to know Hamas issued a new charter in 2017. In it, Hamas affirms that its “conflict is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion.” And, while the rev...

‘It’s Columbine all over again’: WTOP’s Lauryn Ricketts describes Prague after university shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

A student opened fire at a university in the Czech capital, Prague, shooting dead 14 people before killing himself, authorities said Friday. It was the worst mass shooting in Czech history.Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said police in Prague all the 14 who died in Thursday’s attack have been identified. The Institute of Music Sciences confirmed that its head, Lenka Hlávková, was among the dead.The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed that three of those wounded were foreigners — two from United Arab Emirates and one from the Netherlands.WTOP meteorologist Lauryn Ricketts, who lives in Prague, joined John Aaron and Michelle Basch and described the scene before and after the shooting. toggle audio on and off change volume download audio ...

Fed’s favored inflation gauge tumbles in November as price pressures continue to ease

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fed’s favored inflation gauge tumbles in November as price pressures continue to ease.Source

Florida man steals tarp from Bass Pro Shops indoor pond

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WSVN) — A peculiar incident unfolded at a Bass Pro Shops in Southwest Florida as Lee County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) deputies launched an investigation into the theft of a live 50-pound tarpon from the store’s fish pond. A cellphone video captured the suspect, sporting dark pants, a navy blue T-shirt, and a distinctive fishing hat, making off with the prized fish.The suspect’s getaway, documented in a Snapchat video shared with authorities, revealed his exit from the Gulf Coast Town Center store, leaving investigators to fish for leads on the unknown direction of his escape.“LSCO is attempting to locate retail theft suspect. But not just your ‘normal retail theft,” said deputies on Facebook. “We guess you could say THIS one will o-fish-ially catch your eye.”The LCSO, collaborating with the Animal Cruelty Task Force, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers, is intens...

Taraji P. Henson explains why she’s considered quitting acting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

(CNN) — Taraji P. Henson is letting her reality as a working actor be known.In a recent interview with Gayle King on SiriusXM radio to promote the film version of the musical “The Color Purple” in which Henson stars, she broke down in tears talking about her career.Henson, who was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for her role “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” said people have told her, “You work a lot.”“I have to,” Henson explained.“The math ain’t mathing,” she said. “And when you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone.”“When you hear someone go, ‘Such and such made $10 million,’ that didn’t make it to their account,” she continued.“Off the top, Uncle Sam is getting 50 percent. Now (I) have $5 million,” she said. “Your team is getting 30 percent off what you gross, not after what Uncle Sam took. Now do the math.”It all made her emotional.“I’m only human and it seems every time I do something and I break another ...