National Roundup

Ohio
Former Cincinnati councilman sentenced to 16 months in federal corruption case
CINCINNATI (AP) — A former Cincinnati City Council member has been sentenced to 16 months in federal prison on bribery and attempted extortion convictions.

U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Cole imposed the sentence Tuesday on 37-year-old P.G. Sittenfeld, who had been considered a top contender for the mayor’s office before he was indicted in November 2020.

Sittenfeld was convicted of the two charges but acquitted of four other counts by a jury that deliberated for more than 12 hours last year. He maintained his innocence after he was accused of accepting $40,000 in payments to his political action committee to “deliver the votes” in the council for a proposed downtown real estate development.

Prosecutors sought a 33-month to 41-month term while Sittenfeld asked for house arrest or community service.

Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Sittenfeld tried ‘to extract financial contributions out of individuals who regularly conducted city business,” making it clear that his support for their business “was tied directly to their contributions to him.”

“This is not faithful public service or even ‘politics as usual’ − this is corruption,” prosecutors said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Sittenfeld’s attorneys said the prosecution’s theory of the case “erased the clear line between everyday campaign contributions and felony corruption.”

Utah
State sues TikTok, alleging it lures children into addictive and destructive social media habits
Utah became the latest state Tuesday to file a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging the company is “baiting” children into addictive and unhealthy social media habits.

TikTok lures children into hours of social media use, misrepresents the app’s safety and deceptively portrays itself as independent of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, Utah claims in the lawsuit.

“We will not stand by while these companies fail to take adequate, meaningful action to protect our children. We will prevail in holding social media companies accountable by any means necessary,” Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Salt Lake City.

Arkansas and Indiana have filed similar lawsuits while the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to decide whether state attempts to regulate social media platforms such as Facebook, X and TikTok violate the Constitution.

Public health concerns are cited in the Utah lawsuit. Research has shown that children who spend more than three hours a day on social media double their risk of poor mental health, including anxiety and depression, the lawsuit alleges.

“TikTok designed and employs algorithm features that spoon-feed kids endless, highly curated content from which our children struggle to disengage. TikTok designed these features to mimic a cruel slot machine that hooks kids’ attention and does not let them go,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said at the news conference.

The lawsuit seeks to force TikTok to change its “destructive behavior” while imposing fines and penalties to fund education efforts and otherwise address damage done to Utah children, Reyes said.

“TikTok has industry-leading safeguards for young people, including an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18 and parental controls for teen accounts. We will continue to work to keep our community safe by tackling industry-wide challenges,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in an emailed statement.

Utah earlier this year became the first state to pass laws that aim to limit children and teen use of social media apps such as TikTok. The laws are set to take effect next year.

They will impose a digital curfew on people under 18, which will require minors to get parental consent to sign up for social media apps and force companies to verify the ages of all their Utah users.

They also require tech companies to give parents access to their kids’ accounts and private messages, raising concern among some child advocates about further harming children’s mental health.
Depriving children of privacy, they say, could be detrimental for LGBTQ+ kids whose parents are not accepting of their identity.

Florida
Former Haitian senator pleads guilty in U.S. court to charges related to Haiti president’s killing
MIAMI (AP) — A former Haitian senator pleaded guilty on Tuesday in the United States to charges related to the 2021 assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse.

John Joel Joseph made his appearance at a Miami federal court and changed his plea after reaching an agreement with the government.

Federal judge Jose Martinez set his sentencing for Dec. 19. Joseph faces a possible life sentence, but the U.S. government would recommend reducing it if he cooperates with the investigation, according to the 11th page plea agreement.

The former senator was extradited from Jamaica to the U.S. in June to face charges of conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap.

Joseph, a very well known politician and opponent of the slain president’s Tet Kale party, is one of the 11 people facing charges related to the killing in South Florida. Another two people also pleaded guilty and one of them, Haitian-Chilean businessman Rodolphe Jaar, was sentenced in June to life in prison. The sentencing for former Colombian soldier German Alejandro Rivera Garcia is set for Oct. 27.

Eight more defendants are waiting trial in the United States.

According to the charges, Joseph and others, including about 20 Colombian citizens and several dual Haitian-American citizens, participated in a plot to kidnap or kill Haiti’s president, who was slain at his home in Haiti on July 7, 2021.

President Moïse was killed when assailants broke into his private home in Port-au-Prince. He was 53 years old.

The former senator was arrested in Jamaica in January, and in March he agreed to be extradited to the U.S.

The Haitian government also arrested more than 40 people for their alleged roles in the murder.