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Florida woman ‘borrows’ alligator for birthday celebration, faces charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN) — In a Florida tale that’s sure to leave you saying, only in Florida, a woman in Orange County decided to tap into her wild side on her birthday by “borrowing” an alligator. The bizarre incident unfolded when Madison Stephan snuck into her former workplace, Croc Encounters, in Tampa and made off with a 2-foot alligator named Smiley.Smiley the alligator found an unusual temporary home in a hotel bathtub at the “Grove Resort and Water Park” in Winter Garden earlier this month. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Stephan claimed she brought the gator on vacation with her to take a picture for her birthday. The audacious escapade took a turn when officials crashed the party, discovering the reptile in the hotel room. Now, Madison Stephan is facing charges of unlawful possession of an alligator. Frank Robb, an alligator expert with the non-profit organization EEARSS, remarked on the situa...

Trial for man accused of involvement in 2021 banquet hall mass shooting in NW Miami-Dade enters 2nd day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

The trial for a man accused of being a lookout outside a South Florida banquet hall during a shooting continued on Friday.Twenty-four-year-old Davonte Barnes is facing three counts of first-degree murder and 20 counts of attempted murder.According to prosecutors, Barnes admitted to being a lookout during the shooting at the El Mula Banquet Hall in Northwest Miami-Dade back in 2021.Barnes’ attorneys argued that he admitted what investigators wanted him to.

Rupert Murdoch dominated UK politics. He may be the last of his kind

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

LONDON — One of the most powerful people in British politics is leaving a media vacuum.Newspaper and TV baron Rupert Murdoch struck fear and awe into the hearts of political leaders in London from the 1970s onwards. But his departure as chair of News Corporation — which owns the Times and Sun newspapers plus Times Radio and TalkTV in the U.K. — could fundamentally change the relationship between politics and the press. Some argue Murdoch was a one-off, the likes of whom will never be seen again in a changed media landscape. “If Murdoch was starting out again now, I just don’t think he would rise to the influence he was able to build then,” said Peter Mandelson, a former Cabinet minister who was instrumental to the New Labour project that courted the Australian.Others argue the change in leadership could spark major change in a media-obsessed Westminster. “When there is a handover of power, that is often the moment at which things reset,” said Craig Oliver, who h...

French far-right leader Le Pen should stand trial for alleged misuse of EU funds, say prosecutors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

The Paris prosecutor’s office on Friday called for French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her party to stand trial for the alleged misuse of EU funds.The prosecutor’s office said they are requesting a trial for the right-wing National Rally party and 27 people, including Le Pen and her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, for allegedly misappropriating EU public funds between 2004 and 2016, according to French local media.“We challenge this view, which we believe to be erroneous, of the work of opposition MPs and their assistants, which is above all political,” Le Pen told several media outlets on Friday. “We will present our arguments before the court on the merits.”The request for trial marks the latest development in a seven-year investigation into allegations that the National Rally used public funds, which were meant for EU parliamentary assistants, to pay party staff. Judges will make a decision on whether or not to accept the prosecutor’s petition for trial.Among the peo...

Top Dems Declare Deal On Tax Relief

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

Top House and Senate Democrats have reached an agreement on a tax relief bill, and plan to send it to Gov. Maura Healey next week as an opening act for their fall session.The accord, announced without details in a two-sentence statement Thursday evening, could bring to end a debate that began nearly two years ago in an effort to put a dent in the state’s high cost of living and make Massachusetts more competitive for residents and businesses.In July, legislators broke for a summer recess without a deal on tax relief, instead allotting $581 million to cover tax relief impacts in fiscal year 2024. The final package’s value could exceed $1 billion in the out years, or come in lower depending on which relief measures are swept into the consensus bill.Competing House and Senate tax relief bills died in 2022 when the Legislature was blindsided as surging revenue collections required the state to give back about $3 billion in tax collections under a decades-old voter law. The h...

‘We are deeply concerned.’ Corporate America is bracing for a lengthy government shutdown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

 (CNN) — New York (CNN Business) — Corporate America’s leaders are mentally preparing for an especially long and chaotic government shutdown.Executives worry a protracted government shutdown will only add uncertainty to an already confusing business environment. In an era of persistent inflation, labor strikes and rising borrowing costs, they argue it would be another headache – and a self-inflicted one at that.“We are deeply concerned,” Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the US Chamber of Commerce, told CNN in a phone interview. “The concern is growing – almost by the day – because once we are in a shutdown there doesn’t seem to be a clear path out.”That sentiment was echoed by other business leaders, who are watching with dismay as a narrowly-divided Congress stumbles its way toward the September 30 deadline to fund the government.“Nobody wins in a government shutdown,” said one executive at a business group who requested ...

MBTA restructured under four divisions as GM Eng makes personnel moves, all-staff email says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng announced a series of high-level personnel moves Friday that restructured the agency under four divisions — operations, safety, capital, and administration — in the first major reorganization of the agency in roughly a decade, according to an all-staff email obtained by Herald.The move takes acting titles off some top-ranking MBTA officials, a move Eng argued “will empower employees with decision making authority that I believe will foster the necessary stability and continuity our workforce is looking for,” according to the email.“To best serve the commonwealth, we need to ensure that our proud workforce is both engaged and supported with all the tools, direction, and support necessary to be safe and successful,” Eng wrote. “If we invest in our workforce, it’s a sound investment for the T and a great investment for the people we serve. I thank everyone for their unwavering efforts and commitment to public service.”MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo confirm...

NJ Sen. Menendez and his wife are indicted on bribery charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife have been indicted on charges of bribery.Federal prosecutors on Friday announced the charges against the 69-year-old Democrat nearly six years after an earlier criminal case against him ended with a deadlocked jury. They said a search of Bob Menendez’s home turned up $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in hidden cash.The latest indictment is unrelated to the earlier charges that alleged Menendez accepted lavish gifts to pressure government officials on behalf of a Florida doctor.The Senate Historical Office says Menendez appears to be the first sitting senator in U.S. history to have been indicted on two unrelated criminal allegations.Menendez faces reelection next year in a bid to extend his three-decade career in Washington, and as Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate.A lawyer for Menendez’s wife hasn’t responded to a message seeking comment. Messages were left for Menendez’s Senat...

VIDEO: 'Mesmerizing dolphin stampede' captured near Dana Point

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

DANA POINT, Calif. -- Thousands of dolphins were seen leaping through the waters off the coast of Dana Point this week.Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Safari, a whale watching tour agency in Orange County, said Thursday that passengers aboard their Manute’a catamaran were "thrilled" to experience the moment. The dolphins could be seen enthusiastically lunging from the Pacific Ocean beside and in front of the boat. World’s largest women’s surf event returns to Oceanside Officials with the tour agency said those witnessing the moment were "awestruck" to be in the middle of such a large number of free-roaming marine mammals."One of the most amazing things you can ever see on this earth is a stampede of a huge herd of common dolphins," said Capt. Dave Anderson, president of Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari. "You will never forget it."The tour agency says it's unknown for sure what causes dolphins to exhibit this stampeding behavior, which happens spontaneously. Some t...

Man killed after being ejected from bed of parked pickup truck

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:40 GMT

NATIONAL CITY, Calif. -- A man who was thrown from the bed of a parked pickup truck died when another vehicle crashed into the truck, authorities said.The collision occurred Sunday around 4:58 p.m. within a Park n Ride at 2300 Sweetwater Road in National City, according to California Highway Patrol (CHP). Cost to live in San Diego climbs as gas prices and soon, water rates, spike Gregorio Arreaga, 49, was reportedly standing in the bed of a parked pickup truck when another car struck the vehicle, ejected him from the truck bed and sent him beneath another parked vehicle, per law enforcement.Arreaga was taken to the hospital, but he died from his injuries on Tuesday, CHP said.