Washington
USPS honoring late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with stamp
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as “an icon of American culture” with a stamp in the new year.
The design, unveiled on Monday, is a painted portrait based on a photo of Ginsburg in a black robe with an intricate white collar, which became her trademark.
“After beginning her career as an activist lawyer fighting gender discrimination, Justice Ginsburg became a respected jurist whose important majority opinions advancing equality and strong dissents on socially controversial rulings made her a passionate proponent of equal justice,” the agency said in its announcement.
Ginsburg died in 2020 at the age of 87. The newly unveiled first-class “forever” stamp of the liberal icon will be available for purchase in 2023, although officials did not mention a specific date. A first-class stamp currently costs 60 cents, a price that will rise to 63 cents on Jan. 22, 2023.
California
Scott Peterson finally moved off death row
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Scott Peterson has been moved off death row more than two years after the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence for killing his pregnant wife two decades ago, corrections officials said Monday.
Peterson was moved last week from San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco to Mule Creek State Prison east of Sacramento. A new mug shot taken Friday shows Peterson, 50, with salt-and-pepper stubble compared to his previous clean-shaven look.
Jurors imposed the death penalty after convicting Peterson of the first-degree murder of Laci Peterson, 27, and second-degree murder of the unborn son they were going to name Conner, dumping them into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002.
The state’s high court overturned that sentence in August 2020 after finding that potential jurors were improperly dismissed for saying they personally disagreed with the death penalty but would be willing to follow the law and impose it.
A state judge is now considering if Peterson deserves a new trial after the justices separately said his jury may have been tainted by a biased juror.
Peterson was mainly kept at San Quentin during that monthslong hearing process in part so he would have better access to his attorneys.
Washington
Man who stormed Capitol with dad gets 2 years in prison
WASHINGTON (AP) — A WASHINGTON (AP) — A Delaware man who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with his Confederate flag-toting father was sentenced on Monday to two years behind bars.
Hunter Seefried, 24, was convicted alongside his father of felony and misdemeanor charges by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in June. Hunter and Kevin Seefried opted for a bench trial, which is decided by a judge, rather than have their case be heard by a jury.
The father and son traveled to Washington from their home in Laurel, Delaware, to hear Trump’s speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. They were among the first rioters to approach the building near the Senate Wing Door, according to prosecutors.
After watching other rioters use a police shield and a wooden plank to break a window, Hunter Seefried used a gloved fist to clear a large shard of glass in one of the broken windowpanes, prosecutors said. The judge found that two other rioters had destroyed the window before Seefried cleared the piece of glass.
Widely published photographs showed Kevin Seefried carrying a Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol after he and Hunter, then 22, entered the building through a broken window.
An attorney for Hunter Seefried had asked for probation and home detention instead of prison time. He said in court papers that his client only went to the Capitol that day because his father pushed him to join. And he noted that the son never hurt or threatened anyone at the Capitol.
“Hunter is a decent, hardworking and caring young man, who was misled and got caught up in the unfortunate events of January 6, 2021,” attorney Edson Bostic said in an email. “He is very remorseful and wished he could relive and change his behavior that day.”
Kevin Seefried is scheduled to be sentenced in January.
Both men were convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding, the joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College that day.
The judge also convicted the Seefrieds of misdemeanor charges that they engaged in disorderly conduct and illegally demonstrated inside the building. But he acquitted Hunter Seefried of other misdemeanor charges.
They are among about 900 people who have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack. More than 420 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses.
Roughly 300 Capitol riot defendants have been sentenced, with sentences ranging from probation to 10 years behind bars.
Florida
Ian’s damage to Florida agriculture as high as $1.8 billion
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Ian caused as much as $1.8 billion in damages to Florida agriculture last month, state agriculture officials said.
The Category 4 storm caused between $1.1 billion and $1.8 billion in losses to the state’s crops and agriculture infrastructure when it tore through the peninsula after landing in southwest Florida, according to a preliminary estimate released Monday by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
The agency’s estimate was in the same range as a University of Florida preliminary estimate released last week that put Florida’s agriculture loss as high as $1.5 billion.
Crop damage ranged from $686 million to $1.2 billion. The biggest losses came from citrus which had damages between $416 million and $675 million, the Department of Agriculture report said. The hurricane hit almost at the start of the citrus growing season in Florida, which produces about 60% of all the citrus consumed in the U.S.
Not only did citrus growers lose fruit that was blown off trees, but they now face the prospect of damaged trees from flooding. The loss could amount to as much as 11% of citrus trees, the report said. Even before the hurricane, Florida’s orange production was predicted to be down by almost a third this season because of the deadly citrus greening disease.
When it comes to non-citrus fruits and vegetables, Florida lost an estimated $153.7 million to $230.5 million, or around 10% to 15% of crops, just as the planting season was getting into full gear. Many fields lost plastic and drip-tape irrigation and other infrastructure, the report said.
