Renaldo Norman said he was shocked to find that the Atlanta Department of City Planning had mistakenly started demolishing a house he was building on Highview Road, knocking down one wall. Norman, who had invested over $200,000 in building the house, said the workers thought his building permit had expired. In fact, he had already applied for and been granted a six-month extension. Norman is now considering whether he will have to rebuild from scratch due to the damage.
A federal appeals court ruled that San Diego's ban on yoga classes in public parks and beaches is unconstitutional because teaching yoga is a form of free speech. The 2024 ordinance had prohibited yoga groups of four or more people on shorelines, allegedly to protect public safety. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the ban unfairly targeted instructors like Steve Hubbard and Amy Baack, who sued to challenge it. The court restored their right to lead outdoor, donation-based classes—some of which drew up to 100 participants—and stressed that public spaces must stay open and accessible to everyone.
A Brazilian court has sentenced comedian Leo Lins to more than eight years in prison for making what it called racist, discriminatory, and hateful jokes during a 2022 stand-up routine. Lins' jokes made fun of black, indigenous, gay, Jewish, and disabled people. It has over 3 million views online. The court said freedom of speech does not override human dignity and equality. Lins plans to appeal and defends his act as artistic, while critics warn the verdict threatens comic expression.
A new border reform bill proposed by Canada's Liberal Party government would ban cash transactions of $10,000 (U.S. $7,383) or more and restrict large cash deposits from one person to another. Introduced by Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, the legislation—called the "Strong Borders Act"—also gives officials broader powers to search mail and physical locations without warrants in what are deemed "urgent, time-sensitive circumstances."
In Riverview, Missouri, James Carroll faces a city-issued subpoena, signed by Mayor Michael Cornell, after posting an online joke implying the mayor was involved in a 15-year-old boy's disappearance. The incident began when Carroll shared a photo of the missing boy on a local Nextdoor group, humorously suggesting, "Someone check Riverview's mayor's basement!" Days later, he found the subpoena at his condo, demanding he appear at city hall to discuss his social media posts and threatening "severe penalties" if he did not. The Institute for Justice says the subpoena violates Carroll's free speech rights, as his joke was protected speech and not a call to violence.
Seven police officers in West Palm Beach, Florida, face charges related to an unauthorized high-speed chase that ended in a fatal crash in Boynton Beach, killing Marcia Pochette and her pregnant daughter, Jenice Woods. The officers pursued suspect Neoni Copeland at speeds up to 119 mph, despite it being against department policy because they only wanted to conduct a routine interview. Copeland crashed into the victims' car, but the officers did not aid or even check on the victims, and they left without notifying authorities in Boynton Beach. The officers also failed to activate their body cameras, notify supervisors, or file paperwork. Three of the officers face two counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving death—a first-degree felony—while all seven face one count of official misconduct, a third-degree felony.
A federal judge sentenced Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Douglas Kirk to four months in prison after he was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of excessive force despite being previously convicted of a felony. In February 2025, a federal jury convicted Kirk of the felony, which carried a potential 10-year sentence, for his actions during a June 2023 arrest in a Lancaster, California, grocery store parking lot, where he used excessive force on a couple. But after the new Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli took office, prosecutors offered Kirk a deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor.
The monks of St. Catherine's Monastery, a 1,600-year-old Greek Orthodox site in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, closed its doors to visitors in protest after an Egyptian court ruled that the monastery's land belongs to the government. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery, St. Catherine's faces uncertainty as the ruling strips the monks of property ownership, prompting fears of eviction or conversion into a museum. The decision sparked outrage among global Christian leaders, with the Greek Orthodox Church and Greece's foreign minister engaging in diplomatic talks with Egypt to protect the monastery's status. Egyptian officials, including President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, insist the ruling preserves the monastery's spiritual value and ensures the monks' access, but the monks, led by 91-year-old Archbishop Damianos I, call it a de facto expulsion. Greek and Egyptian officials later announced the site would be safe but provided no further details.
Home security video revealed a babysitter funded by the New York City Administration for Children's Services abusing three young boys in her care. The video shows La'keysha Jackson beating the boys—brothers aged 2, 4, and 6 years—nearly 60 times with belts and hangers, throwing the youngest, and using a Halloween mask and a Santa Claus costume to scare them, prompting the family to demand answers. The New YorkPost reports Jackson has been fired and the police are investigating but no arrest has yet been made. Jackson was apparently the family's second city-funded sitter; the first was fired after she was found to be drinking and smoking at the playground while watching the kids.
Peng Yujiang, a Chinese paraglider, survived an incident when a powerful updraft known as "cloud suck" lifted him from 9,842 feet to 28,209 feet above the Qilian Mountains in Gansu Province, exposing him to low oxygen levels and temperatures 40 degrees below zero, leaving his face and body covered in ice. Peng landed safely after regaining consciousness and navigating the harsh conditions, but local officials banned him from paragliding for six months for violating airspace rules. His flying companion, Gu Zhimin, was also banned for six months for publishing the video of the incident.
Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio reports that Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, mishandled the state's emergency shelter system by approving "improper and unlawful" no-bid contracts for food and transportation services, costing taxpayers millions. Some of the contracts went to Healey's campaign donors. DiZoglio's audit criticizes Healey for not using competitive bidding, leading to overpayments, while highlighting a lack of transparency and oversight in the program. Healey's team says the contracts were necessary due to an unexpected surge in migrant and homeless families.
Christina Broadway of Marietta, Georgia, says she doesn't feel safe after her security cameras caught a city employee entering her home without her permission while she was at a funeral. City officials say the man was a code enforcement officer who had a right to enter the home because he thought he saw construction without the proper permits taking place at the residence.
Oakland residents, fed up with dangerous late-night sideshows where cars do stunts, built their own speed bumps on East 21st Street and 19th Avenue after the city ignored four years of pleas for help. Costing $3,000, these homemade speed bumps stopped the sideshows for eight months, but the city's Department of Transportation removed them for lacking official approval, angering locals who say the city doesn't care about their safety. Previously, the city also removed tire barriers that residents set up to deter sideshows, and though officials say they're working on traffic-calming solutions, residents argue the city's slow response has allowed the dangerous stunts to return, leaving the community frustrated and unsafe.
Kenneth and Mildred Bordeaux, an octogenarian couple in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, are facing $366,000 in fines for six minor code violations on their duplex. The fines stem from issues like a broken window handle and cracked outlet covers, which they quickly repaired after city inspections began in March 2024. Despite their prompt fixes, the city took over 220 days to verify the repairs, causing daily fines to pile up to an amount the couple say they can't afford. Their lawyer argues that these excessive fines are illegal, and they applied for a lien reduction, but the city only offered a 10-percent cut, leaving them with over $300,000 to pay. CBS News Miami found the city's inspection delays are part of a broader issue, with Lauderdale Lakes planning to increase revenue through code enforcement, affecting other property owners, too.
Two police officers in East Sussex, England, are accused of using excessive force against 93-year-old Donald Burgess, a wheelchair-bound amputee with dementia, after he threatened care home staff with a small knife. Within 83 seconds of entering his room, Officers Stephen Smith and Rachel Comotto allegedly pepper-sprayed Burgess in the face, struck him with a baton, and tased him. Both have been charged with assault. Prosecutors argue the force was "unjustified and unlawful," while the officers claim their actions aligned with their training to disarm him quickly.
Mark Brave, formerly the sheriff of Strafford County, New Hampshire, received a prison sentence of three-and-a-half to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to perjury, theft, and falsifying evidence. Brave spent $19,000 in county funds on travel and accommodations, to conduct extramarital affairs. He will have to pay the money back as part of his sentence.
Justin Gaither, a former police officer in Venice, Illinois, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law. Gaither struck a handcuffed man twice in the face, without provocation, leaving the suspect with a broken nose.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad, head of the political science department at Ashoka University in India, was arrested for a Facebook post about Operation Sindoor, India's military response against Pakistan to the Pahalgam terrorist attacks, after a complaint by a member of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party's youth organization. Mahmudabad wrote in his post he was "very happy to see so many right-wing commentators applauding" the effort but added that "perhaps they could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the BJP's hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens." He faces charges of endangering India's sovereignty, promoting enmity between groups, assertions prejudicial to national integration, and insulting religious beliefs.
According to a federal complaint, New York City bars and nightclubs paid protection money to James Caban, and in return, Caban got police to go easy on them. He did this by impersonating his twin brother—a police commissioner at the time—at the 34th Precinct in Washington Heights to stop raids on those businesses for breaking the law.
Two police officers in England waited outside a woman's house while her husband killed her. The same officers had come to the house the day before and arrested him for assault, but he was let out on bail that night. The next day, when the officers came back to take the woman's statement, they heard an assault taking place inside but spent 35 minutes talking to their supervisor about whether they could go in. By the time they finally entered, the woman was dead. One officer and the supervisor face an investigation for incompetence, while the other officer has left the force.
The Los Angeles Times discovered that the office of Mayor Karen Bass was editing Q&A sessions from news conference videos posted to her Facebook page—specifically, cutting out parts where reporters pressed her about her handling of wildfires earlier in the year. Bass' office did not respond when the paper asked why the videos were being edited.
In England, former West Mercia Police Constable Mark Cranfield received eight months in jail after being convicted of misconduct in public office and accessing computer records without authorization. Cranfield reportedly saved intimate videos and nude photos submitted as evidence in a revenge porn case, which he not only kept on his phone but forwarded to another person. Prosecutors also said he repeatedly contacted the victim in the case, discussing his sex life and seeking a relationship with her.
Illustration: Peter Bagge
Police in India questioned Ranveer Allahbadia after a crass joke on his YouTube show sparked a public backlash. Allahbadia asked a guest if he would rather watch his parents have sex every day for the rest of his life or join in once. The Supreme Court of India granted Allahbadia protection from arrest but barred him from leaving the country and ordered him to surrender his passport, saying his conduct was "condemnable" and showed a "lack of responsibility."
Illustration: Peter Bagge
Former New Orleans Police Sergeant Todd Morrell pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud and was sentenced to five years of probation, with eight months on home confinement. Morrell admitted he got paid for hours he didn't work by submitting fake time sheets to both the police department and an off-duty job at the local fairgrounds. Sometimes, he billed both places for the same time, and in one case, he was racing cars while claiming to be on duty.
Nakedra Shannon, a former postal employee in Charlotte, North Carolina, received five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud and to theft of government property. Prosecutors said that between April and July 2023, Shannon and two accomplices stole $24 million in checks from the mail, which they then sold.
An Alabama grand jury indicted Hanceville Police Chief Jason Marlin and four officers, plus one officer's wife, on charges including tampering with evidence, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, and use of office for personal gain. The report recommended the department be immediately disbanded, calling it "more of a criminal organization than a law enforcement agency."
Michel Dupont, a farmer from France's Auvergne region, discovered a massive gold deposit worth about £3 billion ($3.41 billion) in a stream on his farm while out for a walk, but he won't receive any money from it because French law says underground resources belong to the state, not the landowner. The gold, found in an area historically known for mining, was reported to authorities, and a state-owned company is now set to mine it, leaving Dupont with nothing—despite the find being on his property.
Steven Nicholas Wimmer, a former corrections officer at Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia, received a sentence of nine years in prison followed by three years of probation for his role in the 2022 death of an inmate. Wimmer and fellow officer Andrew Fleshman pleaded guilty in November 2023, admitting they conspired with others to use excessive force against an inmate—identified in court documents only as Q.B.—after he tried to push past another officer. They restrained, handcuffed, and escorted Q.B. to an interview room, where they and other officers struck and injured him, causing his death. Three other officers, Mark Holdren, Corey Snyder, and Johnathan Walters, pleaded guilty in November 2024 for using unreasonable force, while two others admitted to failing to intervene.
A Connecticut judge has dismissed three breach-of-peace charges against Lauren Noble, founder and executive director of Yale University's conservative Buckley Institute, after parking attendant Gerno Allen falsely accused her of using racial slurs against him on three occasions in July 2023 at a New Haven parking lot. Noble endured nearly a year of legal battles, spending tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Prosecutors dropped the charges on March 27, 2025, when video evidence contradicted Allen's claims and revealed inconsistencies in his story. That video was available to police since July 2023 but not reviewed for months. "Video evidence that existed from day one fully exonerated me, just as I said from the very beginning," Noble said in a statement. "The fact that it took nearly a year and exorbitant legal fees to get to this outcome is inexcusable."
Authorities in Illinois have charged former Rock Island County Court Services administrative assistant Leisa Streeter with theft, theft of government property, forgery, money laundering, and three counts of official misconduct. After she retired in June 2024, the county's Probation and Treasurer's Departments noticed financial irregularities in her department. Authorities claim she opened a fraudulent bank account in 2003 under "Rock Island County VIP" to siphon funds, which she spent on food, entertainment, travel, and loan payments, averaging about $43,000 annually. She reportedly stole about $900,000 over 21 years.
Curtis Doughty, a former corrections officer at Henry County Jail in Indiana, pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law and received a two-year probation sentence for shooting an inmate in the back with a pepper ball. During a cell pod search, inmates were moved into a holding area in the recreation yard and ordered to sit on the floor facing the wall. Doughty, a member of the Sheriff's Emergency Response Team, was tasked with watching over the inmates. When one inmate turned his head away from the wall, Doughty, without warning, shot his pepper ball gun at point blank range into the inmate's spine, injuring him. "Congratulations, you all inhale that now," Doughty then told the other inmates, referencing the pepper ball gas.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks charged three members of the state National Guard with criminal trespassing. The guardsmen landed a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in a pasture on private ranch land in Sweet Grass County's Crazy Mountain foothills without permission and reportedly stole elk antlers, including two sheds and a skeletonized head with antlers, valued at $300 to $400. J. Peter Hronek, the Montana National Guard's adjutant general, acknowledged the unauthorized landing and promised accountability.
Police officer Gerald Richardson has been charged with third-degree assault and battery for knocking down a 17-year-old high school student in Sumter, South Carolina. According to arrest warrants, Richardson confronted the student for cursing in a school hallway, and after he cursed again, Richardson shoved him to the ground, causing minor injuries to the student's head and arm. The incident was reported to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which investigated due to the involvement of a police officer. Richardson was released on $1,000 bond, and the Sumter Police Department placed him on administrative leave without pay pending further investigation.
In England, the Sussex Police Department has fired Seren Sriganesh after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and several fraud-related offenses. Sriganesh falsely blamed his parents for three driving offenses he committed and accessed police databases to view details of one of the cases.
The Oregon Senate Rules Committee voted 3–2 to advance a bill that would require big tech companies like Google and Meta to pay at least $104 million and $18 million annually, respectively, to Oregon newspapers and journalism programs for linking to their content, despite opposition from tech industry groups. Supporters, including some Oregon publishers, argue the bill is a lifeline for struggling local newsrooms, compensating them for content that tech giants profit from. Critics, including tech lobbyists and Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham, warn that companies might restrict Oregon news on their platforms, reducing traffic to news sites, and claim the bill could face legal challenges for violating constitutional laws. The bill now heads to the full Oregon Senate for a vote, with Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek indicating her support.
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) suspended three top officers of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC), the city fire department's labor union, after an audit revealed $800,000 in undocumented credit card spending. The union's president, Freddy Escobar, was implicated, as were former Secretary Adam Walker and former Treasurer Domingo Albarran Jr. The audit found Escobar alone made 1,957 transactions totaling $311,498 from July 2018 to November 2024, with over 70 percent lacking receipts. Walker and Albarran had over $530,000 in transactions without documentation, and Walker faced additional scrutiny for transferring $83,414 from a union charity to his personal accounts. The IAFF placed UFLAC under conservatorship to restore financial oversight.
Julian Foulkes, a 71-year-old retired special constable in the U.K., says he is suing the Kent Police Department for wrongful arrest. Foulkes was arrested and handcuffed at his home by six police officers after he tweeted a warning about the rise of antisemitism in a reply to a pro-Palestinian activist. The tweet was flagged by the Metropolitan Police Intelligence Command despite only having 26 views at the time. He was detained for eight hours, booked, fingerprinted, photographed, and swabbed for DNA on suspicion of malicious communication. He accepted a warning out of fear it might affect visits to his daughter in Australia, though Kent Police later admitted it was a mistake and removed the warning from his record.
In Mississippi, Sinatra Jordan spent 940 days in jail without a trial after being accused of shooting at Capitol Police officers Michael Rhinewalt and Jeffery Walker during a 2022 car chase in Jackson. The officers were indicted for aggravated assault for the incident in December. Despite the indictments, Jordan remained in jail until March 11, when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to stop for officers and a prior 2020 charge of receiving stolen property. He was sentenced to time served and more than two years of supervised release. Jordan maintained he never had a gun, and during the chase, the officers shot his passenger in the head, leaving her with a partially paralyzed face, permanent memory loss, and impaired sight and hearing.
Former U.S. State Department budget analyst Levita Almuete Ferrer has pleaded guilty to embezzling $657,347.50 by abusing her authority over a department checking account. Ferrer wrote 60 checks to herself and three to someone she knew personally, depositing them into her own accounts. She tried to cover her tracks by altering records in QuickBooks to make it look like payments went to legitimate State Department vendors. Ferrer admitted to theft of government property and faces up to 10 years in prison.
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office in Texas charged former deputy Clemente Lopez Jr. with murder after he admitted to allowing inmates to violently assault and kill inmate Francisco Bazan in his cell at the Bexar County Jail. According to an arrest affidavit, Lopez opened Bazan's cell door, allowing three inmates to enter and attack him by kicking his face and smashing his head against the concrete. Lopez reportedly told the inmates, "Don't make it bad," and watched the assault without intervening. Lopez, who resigned after speaking with investigators, reportedly admitted to allowing inmates to assault other inmates on at least three other occasions.
Washington State University has terminated a staff member and relieved a graduate student of teaching responsibilities after they were charged with misdemeanor assault. Jay Sani, an engineering student who is also president of the university's chapter of the College Republicans, was wearing a "Trump 2024: Take America Back" hat when grad student Patrick Mahoney grabbed it off his head and tossed it into the street. When Sani fought back, Gerald Hoff, a university staff member, joined Mahoney in taking Sani to the ground, leaving him with scrapes and bruises. Footage from surveillance and body cameras captured the assault. Both men admitted to police they were involved but downplayed it, with Mahoney saying Sani started the fight and "got what was coming to him."
In Clayton County, Georgia, the sheriff's office placed the jail on lockdown when deputies couldn't find convicted murderer Julian Brooks Deloach. The next morning, officials found he had been accidentally left overnight in a courthouse holding cell due to a miscommunication between officers. Sheriff Levon Allen explained that the mistake happened because of confusion over who was supposed to transport Deloach back to the jail, and since the courthouse is connected to the jail, he was never at risk of escaping. Allen has proposed two sergeants be demoted and two deputies be suspended. This incident is one of several recent issues at the jail, including another case where a convicted killer was mistakenly released.
In Auckland, New Zealand, police officer Morne de Lange was convicted for carelessly driving and assaulting a motorcyclist after a chaotic incident at a gas station in April 2024. De Lange, responding to a report of a helmetless rider, approached the motorcyclist without activating his patrol car's lights or siren and didn't indicate he was stopping him until after he accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, crashing into the motorbike and pinning it against a bollard. When the rider fled, de Lange unlawfully declared him under arrest, commandeered a bystander's vehicle to chase him about 1,000 feet, and used pepper spray and a Taser to subdue him. Despite his lawyer's plea for no conviction to save his job, Judge Stephen Bonnar noted that de Lange's serious misconduct would likely impact his employment regardless; he sentenced de Lange to 100 hours of community service and ordered him to pay the victim $1,000 (U.S. $596) in restitution for emotional harm.
In Ohio, three former East Cleveland Police Department officers—Detective Ian McInnes, Sergeant Anthony Holmes, and Commander Larry "Pac Man" McDonald—were sentenced to prison for their roles in five criminal incidents between 2020 and 2023. McInnes received two and a half years for kicking a 16-year-old in the groin during a 2021 arrest after a car chase, while Holmes received one year for hitting the teen's car and lying about it during the same incident. McDonald was sentenced to four years for two separate pursuits that ended in crashes—one fatal—where he failed to notify other officers or fled the scene. All three must permanently give up their police licenses.
Pennsylvania Constable Timothy Moench and his wife Tricia Moench, a Camp Hill police officer, were charged with defiant trespassing for breaking into a Perry County women's shelter in 2024, while trying to serve a warrant. They jimmied the lock with a credit card to enter the building. The property manager confronted them, noting they didn't identify themselves and weren't allowed inside without a key fob. The woman they were looking for had not lived in the shelter for a month. Timothy Moench also reportedly told officers investigating the case, "If you are holding a warrant and the address is on the warrant, you may use any force necessary to enter that property. You could break windows, break doors, enter property, and search for the individual on that warrant."
Police in the United Kingdom are arresting about 33 people per day for posting offensive messages online under laws like the Communications Act 2003 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988, which target messages causing distress or deemed "grossly offensive." In 2023, the latest year for which data are available, police arrested 12,183 people for posting offensive messages—up 58 percent from 2019. Despite the high arrest numbers, convictions have dropped by nearly half since 2015, with only 1,119 sentenced in 2023, often due to lack of cooperation from the victim or issues with evidence. Critics, including the Free Speech Union, highlight cases like a couple detained for school-related emails and a man convicted for an offensive Halloween costume, warning that such arrests waste resources and could harm free expression. Police defend their actions as lawful but sometimes admit to heavy-handed approaches.
A TikTok video shows a man in Port Arthur, Texas, laughing and smiling as he cleans snow off his car by wiping a child across the windshield and hood. The child, reportedly three months old, is heavily bundled up. Child Protective Services conducted a welfare check and found the child unharmed, but the local police chief says he still plans to pursue child endangerment charges.
Illustration: Peter Bagge
Mississippi state Sen. Bradford Blackmon (D–Attala) introduced a bill to make it "unlawful for a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo." The bill, which Blackmon calls the "Contraception Begins at Erection Act," would impose fines on violators, including $10,000 for a third offense.
Former Lake County, Florida, Sheriff's Deputy Tristan Macomber resigned after rear-ending another car while on duty. An Internal Affairs investigation found Macomber was looking at something on his phone before the crash happened. Macomber at first said he was scrolling through a group chat with other deputies on his phone before admitting he was looking at pornography.
Illustration: Peter Bagge
Former Shreveport Police Officer Christopher McConnell received a suspended prison sentence of three years, followed by two years of probation, after being convicted of malfeasance in office. When he pulled a woman over for a nonworking license plate light, McConnell got out of his car with his weapon drawn and shouted, "License, registration, shut your mouth." He pulled the woman from her vehicle and tried to handcuff her. Two other officers arrived to help him, and when the woman allegedly pulled away from them, another officer used a Taser on her. McConnell later struck her in the face even as she was compliant.
Two St. Louis police officers refused to aid a dying man because their shift was almost over. Officers Austin Fraser and Ty Warren, who have since left the department, found Urayoan Rodriguez-Rivera in a park, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head but still alive. As seen on body camera video, when Warren suggests they bring him somewhere for help, Fraser declines, saying, "I get off in 30 minutes." He then suggests, "Let's cruise around and come back," which they do. They returned 10 minutes later to find other officers on the scene, who called emergency services. Rodriguez-Rivera later died at the hospital.
Illustration: Peter Bagge
Federal prosecutors charged Nicholas Kindle and David Cole, two U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents, with felony drug distribution conspiracy. Prosecutors say the two stole thousands of dollars in cash and valuables, plus drugs known as bath salts, from evidence, which they gave to a department "source of information" to sell. The FBI says the scheme netted the pair as much as $300,000.
Under reforms announced by the United Kingdom's Labour Party government, the National Health Service would delay some surgeries for smokers and for obese patients. The reforms would require obese patients to undergo a 12-week weight loss plan before being scheduled for hip and knee replacements, while smokers must stop smoking and be "confirmed…as fit to proceed" before receiving any noncancer surgeries. Those who do not comply will be put on waitlists, with fitter patients getting priority slots for surgery.
Residents and city council members in South Fulton, Georgia, are questioning thousands of dollars in unapproved purchases made with city funds by Mayor Khalid Kamau. From October through December 2024, Kamau made $26,000 in unauthorized purchases with his city-issued credit card, including more than $5,000 on plane tickets and $1,300 for a drone. He has not submitted receipts for 112 purchases. Kamau says the criticism is all political.
County Attorney Mary Moriarty of Hennepin County, Minnesota now requires prosecutors to consider a defendant's race when offering plea deals. She says the policy will address racial disparities in the justice system. Critics say the policy is vaguely written—likely to avoid being clearly unconstitutional—but could still be overturned if challenged.
A federal judge in New Hampshire ruled against a group of parents who wanted to wear pink wristbands with "XX" (symbolizing female chromosomes) at Bow High School soccer games to protest a transgender girl playing on an opposing girls' team, denying their request to override the school district's ban on such displays. The parents sued after receiving no-trespass orders for wearing the armbands at a September 2024 game. They claimed the order violated their First Amendment rights and the wristbands were a "passive statement" supporting women's sports. But U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe sided with the school, saying the wristbands could be seen as harassment targeting the transgender student, as they were only worn at the game in which she was playing. The ruling allows parents to attend games but bans the wristbands.
In England, Surrey police arrested Vanessa Brown and held her in a cell for over seven hours on suspicion of theft after she took away her daughters' iPads to help them focus on schoolwork. She took the devices to her mother's house, where police tracked them following a report of concern for safety, treating the situation as a potential crime and even pulling one of Brown's daughters out of school for questioning. Brown described the ordeal as traumatic, criticizing the police for overreacting and treating her and her elderly mother like criminals. The next day, police confirmed the iPads belonged to Brown's daughters, dropped all charges, and lifted her bail conditions, admitting she had the right to take the devices.
Paul Chambers, an American academic, faces up to 15 years in prison for insulting Thailand's monarchy under the country's strict lèse-majesté laws. Chambers was detained and charged under Section 112 of the Thai criminal code and the Computer Crimes Act after a complaint from the Thai army. The complaint stemmed from Chambers' participation in a webinar—"Thailand's 2024 Military and Police Reshuffles: What Do They Mean?"—sponsored by a think tank based in Singapore. Authorities say an invitation to the webinar falsely claimed the king of Thailand has the authority to restructure the military or change its leadership; his attorneys say Chambers did not write the description, which has since been changed. Chambers was originally denied bail; an appeals court later reversed that decision, though his visa was revoked.
A federal jury has found Ivory Cousins guilty of three counts of depriving an inmate of his civil rights under color of law and one count of filing a false incident report. Cousins worked at Philadelphia's Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. Cousins failed to get medical help for an inmate assaulted by other inmates, used pepper spray on him without reason, and helped another inmate steal from the victim's cell. She also lied in her report, falsely claiming the inmate was combative and had a weapon. Cousins faces up to 41 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for August.
In Oakland, California's Chinatown neighborhood, business owners are facing thousands of dollars in fines from the city for graffiti on their properties. Shirley Luo, manager of Won Kee Supermarket, owes $3,000—including late fees—for not cleaning up graffiti fast enough. Despite efforts to paint over the tags, taggers keep returning, leaving merchants feeling unfairly penalized as victims of vandalism they can't control. The city requires property owners to remove graffiti quickly, calling it a public nuisance, but offers no financial help. Local leaders, including the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council, are pushing the city to focus on catching taggers instead of fining businesses.
U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter sharply criticized Los Angeles city officials for mismanaging billions of dollars spent on homelessness, calling it a "slow train wreck" during a hearing with top leaders like Mayor Karen Bass and City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson. Carter pointed to a recent audit showing the city couldn't track over $2 billion because the Los Angeles Homeless Services Agency failed to collect accurate data or hold contractors accountable, a problem consistently seen in audits of the agency. Carter demanded a new forensic audit to check for fraud and waste, giving officials until May to fix the issues, and warned he might appoint an outside receiver to take control of the city's homelessness funds if they don't improve transparency and accountability.
Samantha Hill, a former Devon and Cornwall Police officer, received a 20-month suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to 18 counts of misconduct for leaking sensitive information. Between January and November 2021, while working as a probationary officer, Hill shared confidential details with her friends and family, including information about a man's suicide, photos of a victim's injuries, and details of high-profile cases such as a shooting that left five people dead. The leaks were uncovered by the Devon and Cornwall Counter Corruption Unit, which later arrested her and seized her phone.
