ORLANDO, Fla. — An appellate court on Monday granted Disney’s request for a two-month pause in a federal lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees to Walt Disney World’s governing district after the two sides reached a settlement on separate litigation in state court. Disney’s request last Friday to the federal appellate court … Read more
NEW YORK — Actor Jonathan Majors has been ordered to complete a yearlong counseling program but avoided jail time Monday for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in a high-profile case that derailed the once-promising star’s career. The 34-year-old star of “Creed III” and other films had faced up to a year behind bars after he was convicted … Read more
LIBBY, Mont. — Paul Resch remembers playing baseball as a kid on a field constructed from asbestos-tainted vermiculite, mere yards from railroad tracks where trains kicked up clouds of dust as they hauled the contaminated material from a mountaintop mine through the northwestern Montana town of Libby. He liked to sneak into vermiculite-filled storage bins … Read more
Prosecutors and defense lawyers are exploring the possibility of a plea deal for the last of three men charged in the 2002 killing of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay, both sides said Thursday, less than six weeks after two co-defendants were convicted. The talks just began, and it’s unclear what federal prosecutors might be willing … Read more
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant, while also giving voters a chance to remove restrictions in November and restore abortion rights in most cases. The court that was reshaped by former presidential … Read more
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed a legal challenge on Friday to some of Ohio’s abortion laws, now that Ohio voters have enshrined voting rights in the state’s constitution. The lawsuit filed on behalf of abortion clinics says that since Ohioans voted overwhelmingly to protect such rights in an … Read more
The defense’s court filing was supplemented with letters from Bankman-Fried’s family members and various associates, testifying to his good character, remorse, and utilitarian ideals. “The public perception of Sam could not be further from the truth,” wrote Barbara Fried, his mother. “Being consigned to prison for decades will destroy Sam as surely as would hanging … Read more
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court will hear an appeal of actor Jussie Smollett’s disorderly conduct conviction for staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019, then lying to Chicago police about it. The court on Wednesday accepted the appeal from Smollett, formerly a cast member of the television drama “Empire.” It … Read more
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arrives for a bail hearing at Manhattan Federal Court on August 11, 2023 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images Heather Ferguson’s son lost approximately $130,000 in cash when crypto exchange FTX went bankrupt in November 2022. At the time, Ferguson traveled to where her child was … Read more
BOSTON — Two former officials of a veterans home in Massachusetts where at least 76 people died in one of the nation’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks in a long-term care facility settled their criminal case Tuesday without having to go to jail. Bennett Walsh, the former superintendent of the Veterans’ Home in Holyoke, and Dr. David … Read more
