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Ticker: Father and son duo jailed in lottery scheme; Medicaid to audit high price drugs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

A father and son from Watertown have both been sent to prison for running an elaborate lottery fraud scheme designed to enrich themselves and help prize winners avoid paying taxes on their windfall, prosecutors said.Ali Jaafar, 63, and Yousef Jaafar, 29, both of Watertown, cashed in 14,000 winning lottery tickets over a roughly 10-year period, laundered more than $20 million in proceeds, and then lied on their tax returns to cheat the IRS out of about $6 million, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston announced Monday.The Jaafars purchased winning lottery tickets at a discount from people who wanted to avoid identification by the state lottery commission, which withholds taxes and outstanding child support payments from payouts.Medicaid to audit high price drugsThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Tuesday it is planning to conduct a yearly audit to verify the prices drug makers charge on a handful of the costliest prescriptions covered by Medicaid.Drugs that cost ...

Racial abuse against Vinícius Júnior brings arrests and partial closure of Valencia stadium

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police took action Tuesday after the latest case of abuse against Vinícius Júnior, arresting seven people accused of racially insulting the Real Madrid player.Spanish soccer officials also acted, fining Valencia 45,000 euros ($48,500) and closing part of the team’s stadium for the next five games.Three people were detained in Valencia for alleged abuse against Vinícius in Sunday’s match between Valencia and Madrid. Four were arrested in Madrid for allegedly hanging an effigy of the player off a highway bridge in January.The arrests came after an outpouring of support for Vinícius after he said he was abused in Valencia. The case prompted widespread reaction from sports figures and government officials in Spain and worldwide.The section of Mestalla Stadium that will be closed is where the insults against Vinícius came from, behind one of the goals. It’s also where the club’s more hardcore fans usually are located.The Spanish federation...

Wes Anderson on his new ’50s-set film ‘Asteroid City,’ AI and all those TikTok videos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — When Wes Anderson comes down from Paris for the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France, he and his actors don’t stay in one of Cannes’ luxury hotels but more than an hour down the coast and well outside the frenzy of the festival.“When we arrived here yesterday, we arrived at a calm, peaceful hotel,” Anderson said in a interview. “We’re one hour away, but it’s a total normal life.”Normal life can mean something different in a Wes Anderson film, and that may be doubly so in his latest, “Asteroid City.” It’s among Anderson’s most charmingly chock-full creations, a much-layered, ’50s-set fusion of science fiction, midcentury theater and about a hundred other influences ranging from Looney Tunes to “Bad Day at Black Rock.”“Asteroid City,” which Focus Features will release June 16, premiered Tuesday in Cannes. Anderson and his starry cast — including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, ...

Maine’s top gambling regulator on paid leave following tweets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s top gambling regulator has been placed on paid administrative leave following tweets posted from his personal account about women and a white nationalist group, spokesperson for the state’s Department of Public Safety said Tuesday.Milt Champion, executive director of the Gambling Control Unit, was placed on leave May 17 because of the tweets, Lt. Thomas Pickering, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.Champion’s case is “pending a review that is being conducted by the Bureau of Human Resources,” Pickering wrote. “Given that this is an ongoing, personnel-related matter, the department is unable to comment further.”Messages sent to Champion and members of the Gambling Control Unit were not immediately returned Tuesday. The tweets were sent May 6 and May 14, and had been removed by Tuesday. In one of them, Champion tweeted about being told it was inappropriate to refer to women as “lad...

Drag performers sue southern Utah city over permit denial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — A Utah-based group that organizes drag performances is suing the small, conservative city of St. George for blocking an event marketed as a show for all ages.Southern Utah Drag Stars and its CEO Mitski Avalōx accuse St. George of “flagrant and ongoing violations of their free speech, due process, and equal protection rights,” said the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court. They argue that the city invoked an ordinance that had never been enforced in a manner that was selective and discriminatory toward the LGBTQ+ community.“The City has employed its unfettered discretion under the ordinances to discriminatorily enforce them,” the performers and the ACLU argue in the complaint.Drag has been the target of new scrutiny from Republicans throughout the country, including in statehouses where lawmakers have sought bans. The city of St. George said it had not been served with the lawsuit as of Tuesday afternoon and did not have any comment.The Associated Press

Montana first to ban people dressed in drag from reading to children in schools, libraries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana has become the first state to specifically ban people dressed in drag from reading books to children at public schools and libraries, part of a host of legislation aimed at the rights the LGBTQ+ community in Montana and other states.“It’s just constitutionally suspect on all levels,” said Sasha Buchert, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a national organization that seeks to protect the civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community and those diagnosed with HIV and AIDS. Buchert said on Tuesday that the bill limits free speech and seeks to chill an effort that helps transgender youth know they are not alone. It’s the first bill the organization knows of that directly bans drag reading events.The bill, which was co-sponsored by more than half of the Republican-controlled legislature, took immediate effect after Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed it on Monday.The bill initially sought to ban minors from attending drag performances, which were defined as s...

Boycotting Oregon GOP senators vow to stay away until last day of session

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Republican senators whose walkout of the Oregon Senate has prevented a quorum for almost three weeks said Tuesday they’re not coming back until the very last day of the legislative session next month.The walkout, which began on May 3 ostensibly because bill summaries weren’t written at an eighth grade level as required by a long-forgotten law, has derailed progress on hundreds of bills, including a sweeping measure on abortion rights and gender-affirming care that the conservatives particularly object to.An email from Republican leader Sen. Tim Knopp’s office said the Republicans and Independent Sen. Brian Boquist would return on June 25, the end of the legislative session, to pass “bipartisan” budgets and bills.“We are the last line of defense to hold the majority accountable,” Knopp said.The crisis in Oregon’s statehouse is a microcosm of the deeply partisan politics playing out nationwide, including recently in Tennessee and in Montana.R...

What will Minnesota lawmakers do for an encore in 2024 after momentous 2023 legislative session?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Legislature isn’t scheduled to reconvene until Feb. 12 but with the curtain barely down on the momentous 2023 session there’s already discussion about what lawmakers might do for an encore.Democrats are proud they checked off all of the 30 biggest items on their ambitious agenda before the session adjourned Monday night. Gov. Tim Walz now has a big stack of budget bills that he plans to sign Wednesday.The accomplishments include a $3 billion tax cut bill aimed mostly at families with children that’s partly offset by higher sales and other taxes to support transportation and housing. Paid family and medical leave will make it easier for Minnesotans to take time off to care for loved ones or their own health, but employers will have to pay. State aid for public schools will be indexed to keep pace with inflation. Lawmakers enacted extensive new environmental protections. Recreational marijuana will start becoming legal for adults ...

Skilling: Mild Tuesday night as windy, sunny Wednesday arrives

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

It's been Day #10 of 2023 with a high temp at or above 80 degrees Tuesday—The high of 85 comes in 12 degrees above the normal of 73 degrees.Big changes loom—A strong cold front sweeps across the area, having traveled the length of Lake Michigan, reaching the city proper around 7 a.m. Wednesday morningFronts like this, with a sprawling Canadian high pressure behind it, develop quite a "head of steam" while racing south the length of Lake Michigan. The strong "NNE" winds behind such a front hit fast and hard and promise a Wednesday with gusty NNE winds which will churn Lake Michigan."NNE" wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph are likely Wednesday building waves of 7 to 9 feet. coming into the Chicago shoreline. Small craft advisories kick in at 7 a.m. CDT Wed and run through 7 a.m. Thursday.NNE winds travel over chilly water all 280 miles of Lake Michigan on their way southward which sets up much cooler temps along the lakeshore. While inland highs Wed are to come in 15 to 20 degrees lower than ...

'He was the best in all of us:' Family to establish foundation in memory of son who drowned in Alaska mud flats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:40 GMT

LAKE BLUFF, Ill. — A Far North Suburban family say they are going to establish a foundation to honor the memory of their son, who died Sunday from drowning after getting trapped in an Alaskan mud flat.Twenty-year-old Zachary Porter, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, was walking on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaskan estuary when he got stuck up to his waist in a quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could pull him out, authorities said."He was the best in all of us," said Elizabeth Porter, Zachary's sister.Family told WGN that Porter was a young man known for his compassionate heart and concern for others. He was a mentor to local baseball players and those learning how to sail on Lake Michigan, as well as a student enrolled at Washington University, where he majored in Economics with future goals of using his education to help better the lives of others. "Our grief is unspeakable," said Susan Rider, Zachary's mom. "The world lost an incredible hu...