Former U.S. State Department budget analyst Levita Almuete Ferrer has pleaded guilty to
Brickbat: Cooking the Books
(Pictac | Dreamstime.com)
Brickbat: Texas Injustice
(Simon Campbell | Dreamstime.com)
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.
Brickbat: Collegial Atmosphere
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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."
Brickbat: Hide and Seek Champion
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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.
Brickbat: Stop and Go
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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
Brickbat: Toxic Trio
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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.
Brickbat: License To Break and Enter
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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."
Brickbat: What'd I Say?
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Police in the United Kingdom are arresting about 33 people per day for
Brickbats: May 2025
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
(Illustration: Peter Bagge)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Brickbat: True Colors
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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.
Brickbat: Red Card Penalty
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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.
Brickbat: Stealing My Own Stuff
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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.
Brickbat: Come at the King
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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.
Brickbat: Locked in Here With Me
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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.
Brickbat: Forget It, Jake…
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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.
Brickbat: Handholding on Homelessness
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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.
Brickbat: Betraying Secrets
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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.
Brickbat: No Vacancies
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Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, said he plans to introduce national rent control if the NDP is in the majority of the next parliament. Singh's proposal includes a renter's bill of rights to tie federal housing funds to local rent control measures, banning practices such as "renovictions" and fixed-term leases that don't automatically renew, and stopping landlords from using AI to coordinate price hikes.
Brickbat: Up, Up, and Away
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George Freeman, a Conservative Party member of the British Parliament, says the United Kingdom should become a global leader in regulating space activities, acting like a "watchdog" for satellite launches, space debris, and even lunar mining. Freeman says space is becoming a chaotic "wild west." He wants the United Kingdom to create rules to make space safer and more sustainable, like requiring satellites to be recyclable for easier access to licenses and financing.
Brickbat: Bus Stop and Go
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Lino Monteleone, a Montreal resident, is fighting a $186 ($134 U.S.) parking ticket after a bus stop sign was installed overnight in front of his house, replacing a legal parking spot where his daughter's car was parked. On April 1, 2025, Monteleone's doorbell camera showed city workers setting up the sign just before 8 a.m. A parking agent issued the ticket just minutes later at 8:05 a.m. The Société de transport de Montréal said the sign was added due to nearby construction and that it doesn't notify residents about new bus stops because there are 10,000 in the city. Monteleone, frustrated by the lack of warning, says he has seen no buses on his street and plans to contest the ticket in court. He is supported by lawyer Thierry Rassam, who argues it's unfair since there was no way to prevent the violation.
Brickbat: Needing a Boost
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The California Assembly Transportation Committee has approved A.B. 435, which would require all children younger than 10 years old and shorter kids under 13 to sit on a booster seat. All children under 13 would be prohibited from sitting in the front seat, and teens up to 16 years old would also be banned from riding shotgun unless they meet the height requirements. Currently, children at least 8 years old or 4 feet 9 inches tall do not have to use a booster seat. Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D–Suisun City), the bill's author, cited national statistics that show child injuries and fatalities in crashes have increased since the pandemic. "God forbid something happens; we want our children to be safe," said Wilson.
Brickbat: Getting Charged Up
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New York state Sen. Patricia Fahy (D–Albany) has introduced a bill to strip Tesla Motors of its permits for in-person sales in the state over CEO Elon Musk's actions in the Trump administration. "The bottom line is, Tesla has lost their right to promote these when they're part of an administration that wants to go backwards," said Fahy, who has previously been a supporter of electric vehicles. "Elon Musk was handed a privilege here." Tesla is the only dealer allowed direct in-person sales in the state. Meanwhile, Assemblymember Bobby Carroll (D–Brooklyn) said he wants to end all direct sales, forcing manufacturers to sell through franchises. "It allows for small businesspeople to be actors in this market," Carroll said. "They're not perfect, but they are clearly significantly better than the alternative. If we allowed the expansion of direct sales, what would happen is two or three people would control so much."
Brickbat: Unfree Speech Zone
(Andrii Yalanskyi | Dreamstime.com)
In England, anti-abortion activist Livia Tossici-Bolt has been found guilty of breaking a law banning protests near an abortion clinic in Bournemouth. She stood outside the clinic on two days in March 2023,
Brickbat: Flipping Out
(Calvin L. Leake | Dreamstime.com)
José Felipe Alvergue, chairman of the English Department at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, was suspended after
Brickbat: Like Being Back in School
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Six U.K. police officers arrested Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine at their home in Hertfordshire after they complained about their disabled daughter's primary school in a WhatsApp group and through emails. The couple, upset over the school's headteacher recruitment process and their ban from the premises, were detained for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications, leaving their 3-year-old daughter crying as they were taken away. The school had reported their actions to the police, claiming the messages and emails were upsetting to staff, but after a 5-week investigation, Hertfordshire Police found insufficient evidence and took no further action.
Brickbat: To Observe, not Report
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A police officer in Miami, Florida has been suspended pending an investigation into an incident in which she sat in her patrol car while numerous bikers assaulted a man in front of her. Video shows the bikers not only beating the man but jumping on the hood and roof of his car and breaking his windshield, during which time the officer never left her car.
Brickbat: Unforeseen Effects
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In 2023, Maryland lawmakers eliminated time limits on filing lawsuits against organizations for child sexual abuse. The change followed an investigation that detailed decades of sexual abuse against children in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. But now, the state finds itself facing around 6,000 claims under that law, with more expected. The claims are from people who say they were sexually abused in the state's youth detention centers. State leaders say they did not anticipate they'd be facing complaints under the law, and they are looking at changes to protect the government financially.
Brickbat: Never Forget a Face
(Lex Villena; Midjourney)
In England, London's Metropolitan Police is setting up its first permanent facial recognition cameras in Croydon, a suburb in South London, starting this summer to help fight crime. These cameras will be placed on buildings and lamp posts along North End and London Road. Privacy rights groups oppose the move. But the Labour Party government hopes to expand the use of facial recognition and is seeking bids to supply police departments with the cameras.
Brickbat: Injustice Is Blind
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Officers Jorge Acosta, Benjamin Harris, and Kyle Sue from the Phoenix Police Department were suspended for 24 hours without pay, and two of them were also required to take de-escalation training, after violently arresting Tyron McAlpin. The officers were responding to a call that a white man allegedly assaulted a convenience store employee and was still inside the store. McAlpin—who is black, deaf, and has cerebral palsy—was outside the store. The incident, caught on body camera video, showed the officers punching and tasing McAlpin almost immediately after arriving. The district attorney dropped all charges against McAlpin, including assault and resisting arrest, citing lack of evidence.
Brickbat: Back End Costs
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According to a report by local news outlet Crosstown LA, the city of Los Angeles lost about $66 million in parking enforcement in the last fiscal year. The city handed out 2 million parking tickets and collected $110 million in fines in the fiscal year ending in June 2024, while it spent $88 million on direct parking enforcement expenses such as salaries and equipment. But pensions and other expenses brought the total cost of parking enforcement to more than $176 million.
Brickbat: From Officer to Inmate
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Avery Richard Smith, a former corrections officer in Berkeley County, South Carolina, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison—the maximum—after pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree assault and battery, five counts of third-degree assault and battery, and two counts of misconduct in office. His victims included at least nine inmates under his supervision and at least one subordinate.
Brickbat: No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
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California's decision to expand Medi-Cal, its Medicaid program, to cover undocumented migrants has led to
Brickbat: Uncollegial Behavior
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Ricardo Garcia, a former deputy with Arizona's Pima County Sheriff's Department, was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of probation after being found guilty of two counts of attempted sexual assault and two counts of sexual abuse for trying to sexually assault a fellow deputy who was also his subordinate. The case was controversial because Sheriff Chris Nanos, who was close to Garcia, kept the investigation within the department, making some people question if he was protecting his friend. The Arizona Attorney General's office found no crimes in how Nanos handled it but noted the sheriff's team might have broken some internal rules.
Brickbat: Lawn Sign Litigation
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Marvin Peavy, a homeowner in Walton County, Florida, won a lawsuit against the county after officials tried to fine him for hanging giant political banners on his house along Scenic Highway 30A. Peavy first put up signs in 2020 to support Donald Trump's first presidential reelection campaign, but the county said they violated property maintenance rules and started charging him $50 a day, totaling over $63,000 in fines. Peavy fought back, saying his right to free speech under the First Amendment allowed it, and after years of legal battles, a judge agreed, ruling that the county was infringing on his free speech. The judge also ordered the county to pay Peavy $42,000 to cover his legal fees.
Brickbat: Unsportsmanlike Conduct
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New York's Northville Central School District has fired high school basketball coach Jim Zullo after video showed him yanking his star player's ponytail. The incident happened after the Northville girls' team lost the Class D state championship game. Hailey Monroe, Northville's all-time leading scorer, had already fouled out and was crying when Zullo grabbed her hair and yelled at her before a teammate stepped between them. Zullo, an 81-year-old Hall of Fame coach, claimed Monroe had cursed at him earlier.
Brickbats: April 2025
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
(Illustration: Peter Bagge)
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Joseph Benza III faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law for beating a man who gave him the finger. Benza abandoned a domestic disturbance call when he saw Emmett Brock flip him off while driving by. He followed Brock for nearly two miles without ever attempting to stop him. When Brock stopped, Benza threw him to the ground and repeatedly punched him. Brock was charged with three felonies and, as a result, he lost his job as a teacher; the charges were later dropped when video of the encounter was made public. Several sergeants directed Benza not to include the real reason he stopped Brock in his incident report.
When Courtney Teague called Atlanta 311, a number for nonemergency city services, she did not know the person answering the call was working from home and livestreaming the call. She later got a call from a woman in Chicago who'd been watching the livestream and heard all of the personal information Teague provided to the city employee. A city spokesman said that the employee was removed from answering calls and no longer works for the city.
Natalie Walton got a ticket in the mail at her parents' home in Kent, England. The ticket assessed a 75 pound fine ($94) for littering after an officer saw her drop a cigarette in nearby Swanscombe. But Walton says she doesn't smoke, has never visited Swanscombe, and hasn't lived in Kent for three years. She appealed the ticket, producing bank records of the shopping she did that day in Staffordshire, over 150 miles away. On further review, officials said the woman who dropped the cigarette didn't look like Walton after all.
Kevin O'Rourke, a 64-year-old Canadian man, was sentenced to life in prison in the United Arab Emirates for possession of cannabis products. Authorities detained O'Rourke in Dubai International Airport after finding 118 grams of cannabis, CBD, and CBD oil. His wife says he suffers from Addison's disease and the products are prescribed by a doctor for controlling his pain.
St. Louis residents say the city billed them for home repairs that they did not agree to and that, in many cases, don't appear to have been performed. One owner said he was billed for repairs to the second floor of a single-story commercial property he bought, plus a new roof that wasn't completely nailed down. The repairs are part of a federally funded effort to stabilize and rehabilitate privately owned buildings.
Emergency dispatchers in parts of England were told to ask some people requesting ambulance service to come to the hospital on their own. An internal memo from the West Midlands Ambulance Service directed dispatchers to ask callers with severe abdominal pain, who have fallen, or who are vomiting to bring themselves to the emergency room; during periods of high demand, they should also ask those who may be having a stroke or heart attack, or those with major burns, to get to the hospital on their own.
BeTreylin Elder, a teacher at Georgia's DeRenne Middle School, resigned after being caught on video tossing an 11-year-old student across the classroom. The boy reportedly confronted Elder after the teacher made sexual remarks about the student's mother.
Brickbat: Sic Behavior
(Jaroslav Moravcik | Dreamstime.com)
Sacramento County officials have agreed to pay $755,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Salvador Garcia Jr., who was severely injured by a sheriff's office canine in September 2022. Garcia was riding his bike when Deputy Dylan Black stopped him, suspecting him of breaking his ex-girlfriend's window earlier that day. According to the lawsuit, Black ordered the dog to attack Garcia, and the dog bit his arm so badly that it tore muscles and tendons, requiring multiple surgeries and leaving permanent damage. The lawsuit says Garcia wasn't resisting when the deputy set the dog on him and that deputies allowed the dog to continue biting Garcia as they handcuffed him.
Brickbat: Gunned Down
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The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that Measure 114, a gun control law approved by voters in November 2022, does not violate the state constitution, overturning a lower court's decision that had blocked it. This law aims to reduce gun violence by requiring permits to buy guns and banning magazines holding more than 10 rounds. The appeals court said it fits with Oregon's history of reasonable gun rules. Plaintiffs vowed to appeal the decision to the Oregon Supreme Court. In a separate federal case, a judge also upheld the law, saying it does not violate the Second Amendment. The plaintiffs in that case also plan to appeal.
Brickbat: Dragged Through the Mud
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Atlanta, Georgia resident Elisabeth Porter received a water bill for $20,545.27, even though she'd been telling the city's Department of Watershed Management (DWM) about a leak outside her home for months. The city did not respond to her complaints until a local TV station got involved. At that point, the DWM found and repaired a leak in the meter box and said it would review her bill for adjustments. But muddy water has since resumed flowing from the lines, which the DWM said it would return to fix.
Brickbat: Up in Smoke
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been deleting her text messages, including those from Jan. 7-8, 2025, when she was flying back from a trip to Ghana while wildfires burned in Los Angeles. City policy says records should be kept for at least two years. And state law considers texts about government business as public records that must be saved. But a lawyer for the city says the rules don't apply to text messages, and Bass' phone is set to automatically delete them.
Brickbat: Permanent Record
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Tennessee Rep. John Crawford (R–Bristol) has introduced a bill that would require law enforcement to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony. Under the proposed law, the state must dispose of those samples if the defendant is acquitted or the charges are dropped as long as that person has no other charges pending. Crawford argues the law will make it easier to catch dangerous criminals and help solve cold cases.
Brickbat: To Insure Prompt Service?
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Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has suggested adding a 20 percent service charge to restaurant bills to help struggling eateries cover rising costs like wages and rent, after more than 200 Colorado restaurants closed last year. The idea was to let restaurants keep the extra cash instead of raising prices, though Johnston admitted the service charge would be taxed. But critics, including restaurant owners and groups such as the Colorado Restaurant Association, say the end effect would still be increased costs to diners, which could drive customers away, hurt businesses even more, and confuse people about tipping.
Brickbat: Burn, Baby, Burn
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During the Palisades fires earlier this year, private firefighting companies were credited with saving several structures. But some state lawmakers want to make it more difficult for them to do that in the future. The idea comes from California Assemblymembers Isaac Bryan (D–Culver City) and Tina McKinnor (D–Inglewood) and is supported by the California Professional Firefighters union, which says private crews aren't trained or equipped as well as public firefighters and shouldn't use public water. Businessman Rick Caruso used private firefighters to protect his shopping center while nearby areas burned, but his team says they didn't tap into city water.
Brickbat: Run for Your Life
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California Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur (D–Los Angeles) has introduced a bill that would change the state's self-defense laws to require people outside their homes to try escaping safely before using deadly force, even if they're in danger. The bill also says people can't use lethal force just to protect property or homes and limits self-defense claims if someone starts a fight or uses too much force. Critics say the bill is an attack on people's right to protect themselves. Zbur says it's about deterring vigilantes.
Brickbat: Masshole Mayor's Money
(Radomír Režný | Dreamstime.com)
The Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General says the city of Everett wrongly paid Mayor Carlo DeMaria $180,000 in bonuses between 2016 and 2021, claiming DeMaria and his team twisted a city rule to get the money and then kept it secret from the public and city council. The rule was meant to give the mayor $10,000 after each term, but a word change before it passed in 2016 instead gave mayors $10,000 for each term. The change allowed DeMaria—then in his fourth term—to pocket $40,000 every year instead of $10,000 every four years. After the council found out in 2022 and cut the payments to $1,700, the inspector general demanded the money back, saying no other elected official gets such huge bonuses. DeMaria's team calls the report unfair and defends his honesty.
Brickbat: Let's See Some ID
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The Colorado House of Representatives has passed a bill to raise the minimum age to buy ammunition to 21 from 18. It now moves to the state Senate, which is expected to pass it. Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign the bill into law. The bill would require stores to stock ammunition so customers cannot access it without the help of employees. The Colorado State Shooting Association says it will challenge the bill in court if it becomes law.
Brickbat: First Do No Harm
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Rajesh Motibhai Patel, a physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Decatur, Georgia, has been sentenced to two years in prison followed by 15 years probation after being convicted of violating a patient's constitutional right to bodily integrity while acting under color of law and of abusive sexual contact. Prosecutors said that during a routine medical exam, Patel touched a patient's breasts and genitals without her consent and for no medical reason. Patel will be barred from practicing medicine while he is on probation.
Brickbat: Double Time
(Alexey Stiop | Dreamstime.com)
Former New Orleans Police Department Sergeant Todd Morrell was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to
