Florida
Disney updates lawsuit against DeSantis to add new events
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney on Monday amended its free speech lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis to add recent developments in the tit-for-tat fight between the entertainment giant and the Florida governor, such as a new law granting the state unprecedented authority to inspect a monorail system at Disney World.
Disney’s amended complaint filed in federal court in Tallahassee is updated with developments since the entertainment giant almost two weeks ago sued DeSantis and an oversight board for the Disney World governing district that is made up of members newly appointed by the governor.
The new complaint references legislation passed last week by Florida lawmakers that rescinds agreements that Disney and a previous oversight board consisting of Disney supporters made earlier this year, giving the entertainment giant control over design and construction at Disney World. The amended lawsuit also includes the new measure passed last week by Florida lawmakers giving the state authority to inspect Disney World’s monorail system, which previously had been conducted in-house.
Disney is the only company impacted by the new measure and it “was precision-engineered to target Disney alone, just as Governor DeSantis intended and previewed,” said the amended lawsuit.
The Disney lawsuit asks a federal judge to void the governor’s takeover of the theme park district, as well as the oversight board’s actions, on the grounds that they were violations of company’s free speech rights.
Almost a week after Disney filed its lawsuit, members of the oversight board sued Disney last week in state court in an effort to maintain its control of construction and design at Disney World. It claimed the agreements between the company and previous board members “reek of a backroom deal.”
Disney and DeSantis have been engaged in a tug-of-war for more than a year that has engulfed the governor in criticism as he prepares to launch an expected presidential bid in the coming weeks.
The fight began last year after Disney, beset by significant pressure both internally and externally, publicly opposed a state law that bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, a policy critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”
As punishment, DeSantis took over Disney World’s self-governing district through legislation passed by Florida lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors that would oversee municipal services for the sprawling theme parks and hotels. But before the new board came in, the company made agreements with members of the previous oversight board that stripped the new supervisors of their authority when it comes to design and construction.
The creation of Disney’s self-governing district by the Florida Legislature was instrumental in the company’s decision in the 1960s to build near Orlando. The company had told the state at the time that it planned to build a futuristic city that would include a transit system and urban planning innovations, so the company needed autonomy in building and deciding how to use the land. The futuristic city never materialized and instead morphed into a second theme park that opened in 1982.
Kansas
Forensic genealogy leads to arrest in 2007 rape case
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Kansas have arrested and charged a man in a 2007 sexual assault by matching a DNA sample to data submitted to genealogy websites.
Ted Foy, 52, of Augusta, is jailed on $500,000 bond after he was charged last week with rape, aggravated sexual battery and aggravated criminal sodomy. His attorney, public defender Sonya Strickland, didn’t respond to an Associated Press email seeking comment Monday.
The Wichita Eagle reports that it was the Wichita police department’s first arrest using investigative genetic genealogy. The process received widespread attention after it was used in 2018 to track down a California serial killer who was responsible for at least 13 killings and dozens of rapes in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, the method has led to the identification of dozens of suspects in cold cases, though some critics have voiced privacy concerns.
“With these sorts of dragnets, you are using probable cause against one person to invade the privacy of millions,” said Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a privacy and civil rights organization.
Investigators reopened the Nov. 13, 2007, case in 2020 and spent well over 100 hours on it, said Capt. Christian Cory.
The assault happened less than 5 miles (8 kilometers) from McConnell Air Force Base and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Cold Case Team was involved. Cory declined to explain how the base was involved, saying only that the team had a special interest in the case.
More details could emerge if a judge releases the probable cause affidavit.
Cory said, in general, that connection to a distant relative is only the start of the investigation, which would often require getting DNA from closer family members, and hopefully the suspect, and creating a case that shows the person could have committed the crime.
The police department is using genealogy to investigate five other cold cases, all murders and sexual assaults, he said. Cory expects some of the other cold cases will be solved.
“I’m very happy that there’s another tool that we can use to bring justice to the victims in these cold cases,” he said.
Utah
Author of book on grieving death charged with murder
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — After her husband died last year, she wrote a children’s book on grief. Now she’s charged with his murder.
Kouri Richins was arrested on Monday in Utah and is accused in charging documents of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in Kamas, a small mountain town near Park City.
Prosecutors allege that Richins called authorities in the middle of the night in March 2022 to report that her husband, Eric Richins, was “cold to the touch.” The mother of three told officers that she had made her husband a mixed vodka drink to celebrate him selling a home and then went to soothe one of their children to sleep in their bedroom. She later returned and upon finding her husband unresponsive, called 911.
A medical examiner later found five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system.
In addition to the murder charge, Richins also faces charges involving the alleged possession of GHB — a narcolepsy drug frequently used in recreational settings, including at dance clubs.
The charges — which are based on officers’ interactions with Richins that night and the account of an “unnamed acquaintance” who claims to have sold her the fentanyl — come two months after Richins appeared on local television to promote “Are you with me?” a picture book she wrote to help children cope after the death of a loved one.
For a segment entitled “Good Things Utah,” Richins called her husband’s death unexpected and described how it sent her and her three boys reeling. For children, she said, grieving was about “making sure that their spirit is always alive in your home.”
“It’s — you know — explaining to my kid just because he’s not present here with us physically, doesn’t mean his presence isn’t here with us,” she told the anchors, who commended her for being an amazing mother.
Richins’ attorney, Skye Lazaro, declined to comment on the charges.
