Pennsylvania
Man accused of picking up teen fugitive following escape now facing charges, authorities say
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man who authorities say picked up a teenager awaiting trial in a homicide case after the youth escaped outside a Philadelphia hospital this week is now facing charges while the search for the teen continues.
Michael Diggs, 18, is accused of hindering apprehension, escape, criminal conspiracy and use of a communication facility, city police announced Friday. Court records were unavailable for these charges early Friday, and the city public defender’s office said it has not been assigned to the case.
Authorities said Diggs was driving the vehicle that 17-year-old Shane Pryor was seen getting into less than an hour after he escaped Wednesday from a vehicle in the driveway of the emergency room at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he had been taken with a hand injury.
Security video shows Pryor was able to go in and out of a few buildings in the area after his escape, said Deputy Commissioner of Investigations Frank Vanore. He also was seen talking to people, “asking for a phone ... whatever he could do to leave the area,” he said.
Investigators believe he called Diggs, who then picked him up in a car. Police stopped the vehicle in the city on Wednesday night, Vanore said, but Pryor was not in the car. Diggs and another person who was in the vehicle were questioned by police, but no charges have been filed against the other person.
Police had searched the buildings Wednesday and used dogs to search large parking garages, but no lockdowns were imposed, he said. Officers also checked the homes of his relatives in other parts of the city, Vanore said.
Pryor was 14 when he was charged in an October 2020 homicide and has been in a juvenile facility ever since. He faces charges including murder, conspiracy and firearms crimes. He was described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and 180 pounds and was wearing a blue sweatsuit and sandal-type footwear with socks.
Pryor’s mother has urged her son to turn himself in. She has said the teen fled custody because he turns 18 in two weeks, opening him to being transferred to an adult prison.
California
George Carlin estate sues over fake comedy special purportedly generated by AI
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The estate of George Carlin is suing the media company behind a fake hourlong comedy special that purportedly uses artificial intelligence to recreate the late standup comic’s style and material.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday asks that a judge order the podcast outlet Dudesy to immediately take down the audio special, “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” in which a synthesis of Carlin delivers commentary on current events. Carlin died in 2008.
Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin, said in a statement that the work is “a poorly-executed facsimile cobbled together by unscrupulous individuals to capitalize on the extraordinary goodwill my father established with his adoring fanbase.”
The Carlin estate and its executor, Jerold Hamza, are named as plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges violations of Carlin’s right of publicity and copyright. The named defendants are Dudesy and podcast hosts Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen.
“None of the Defendants had permission to use Carlin’s likeness for the AI-generated ‘George Carlin Special,’ nor did they have a license to use any of the late comedian’s copyrighted materials,” the lawsuit says.
The defendants have not filed a response to the lawsuit and it was not clear whether they have retained an attorney. They could not immediately be reached for comment.
At the beginning of the special posted on YouTube on Jan. 9, a voiceover identifying itself as the AI engine used by Dudesy says it listened to the comic’s 50 years of material and “did my best to imitate his voice, cadence and attitude as well as the subject matter I think would have interested him today.”
The plaintiffs say if that was in fact how it was created — and some listeners have doubted its stated origins — it means Carlin’s copyright was violated.
The company, as it often does on similar projects, also released a podcast episode with Sasso and Kultgen introducing and commenting on the mock Carlin.
“What we just listened to, was that passable?” Kultgen says in a section of the episode cited in the lawsuit.
“Yeah, that sounded exactly like George Carlin,” Sasso responds.
The lawsuit is among the first in what is likely to be an increasing number of major legal moves made to fight the regenerated use of celebrity images and likenesses.
The AI issue was a major sticking point in the resolution of last year’s Hollywood writers and actors strikes.
Josh Schiller, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the “case is not just about AI, it’s about the humans that use AI to violate the law, infringe on intellectual property rights, and flout common decency.”
New Jersey
Supreme Court rules against Ocean casino in COVID business interruption case
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an Atlantic City casino is not entitled to payouts from business interruption insurance for losses during the COVID-19 outbreak, determining that the presence of the virus did not constitute the kind of “direct physical loss or damage” required for such a payout.
The case involved the Ocean Casino Resort’s claims against three insurance companies — AIG Specialty Insurance Co., American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co. and Interstate Fire & Casualty Co. Those insurers largely denied payouts to the casino, saying it did not suffer direct physical loss or damage because of the virus.
The casino sued and defeated an attempt by the insurers to dismiss the case. But that decision was reversed by an appellate court.
The high court agreed to take the case in order to resolve the legal question of what constituted loss or damage.
“Based on the plain terms of the policies, we conclude that in order to show a ‘direct physical loss’ of its property or ‘direct physical . . . damage’ to its property under the policy language at issue, (parent company AC Ocean Walk LLC) was required to demonstrate that its property was destroyed or altered in a manner that rendered it unusable or uninhabitable,” the court wrote in a unanimous decision.
“At most, it has alleged that it sustained a loss of business during the COVID-19 government-mandated suspension of business operations because it was not permitted to use its property as it would otherwise have done,” the opinion read.
It concluded that the casino’s pleadings “do not support a finding that it is entitled to insurance coverage.”
The casino declined comment Wednesday.
The ruling is similar to others reached in state and federal courts around the country, including cases where payouts were denied involving a chain of California movie theaters; a Los Angeles real estate firm; a group of hotels in Pennsylvania; and a group of hotels and a law firm in New Jersey.
During arguments in September before the Supreme Court, Stephen Orlofsky, a lawyer for Ocean, said the casino took several steps to respond to the virus, including employing air filtration systems and using “industrial-strength” cleaning supplies.
But David Roth, a lawyer for American Guarantee, said the policies require there to be physical damage to the property, which he said did not occur at the casino. He said 14 state Supreme Courts around the nation have held that the mere interruption of business activity during the pandemic does not constitute physical losses.
Ocean maintained that in addition to an order by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy closing the casinos for 3 1/2 months in 2020, it also shut down because of “the concern that the virus was having on the physical surfaces and the air” inside the casino.
Mississippi
Lawsuit seeks to protect dolphins if flood-control spillway is used near New Orleans
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Opening a spillway as a flood-control measure in 2019 sent polluted fresh water from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico and killed bottlenose dolphins that live in saltwater, according to a new lawsuit.
Several local governments and business groups on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, calling themselves the Mississippi Sound Coalition, filed the federal lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The lawsuit argues that the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires federal agencies, including the Corps of Engineers, to obtain a U.S. Department of Commerce permit when their actions may disrupt the behavioral patterns of an animal such as the bottlenose dolphin.
“The massive volumes of polluted fresh water diverted through the Bonnet Carré Spillway and into the Mississippi Sound caused direct and indirect mortality of resident bottlenose dolphins,” the lawsuit says. “Many of the dolphins that did survive developed extremely painful and debilitating skin lesions.”
The lawsuit seeks a court order that would require the Corps of Engineers to comply with any obligation to obtain a permit before any further opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway.
The Associated Press sent an email Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Justice, which represents the Corps of Engineers, seeking a response to the lawsuit. A spokesperson said the department declined to comment.
The Bonnet Carré Spillway is upriver from New Orleans. Opening the spillway diverts Mississippi River water to Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, after which it flows to the Mississippi Sound in the Gulf of Mexico.
When the river is high, opening the spillway eases pressure on the levees that protect New Orleans.
However, opening the spillway also carries pollutants and nutrients into the Mississippi Sound and reduces salinity. The result can be damage to oyster, fish and crab habitats, and algae blooms that affect marine life and beaches.
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has said the Corps of Engineers ignored its own procedures in opening Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2019, causing an environmental and economic disaster.
Robert Wiygul, one of the attorneys representing the Mississippi Sound Coalition, said the group and Mississippi leaders have no conflict with protecting New Orleans.
“We do have a conflict with the Corps of Engineers and the Corps’ position that the Mississippi Sound and our dolphins have to be sacrificed to prevent flooding,” Wiygul said in a statement Wednesday. “We need to look for alternatives that can protect everyone’s interests, but the Corps refuses to even discuss them. The Mississippi Sound Coalition is working on win-win solutions that protect everyone.”
The new lawsuit is similar to one that some of the same coastal Mississippi governments and business groups filed in 2019 against the Corps of Engineers. The earlier lawsuit said the corps was required to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service before opening the spillway.
In January 2023, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of Gulfport, Mississippi, ruled in favor of those who sued. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling in June.
Man accused of picking up teen fugitive following escape now facing charges, authorities say
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man who authorities say picked up a teenager awaiting trial in a homicide case after the youth escaped outside a Philadelphia hospital this week is now facing charges while the search for the teen continues.
Michael Diggs, 18, is accused of hindering apprehension, escape, criminal conspiracy and use of a communication facility, city police announced Friday. Court records were unavailable for these charges early Friday, and the city public defender’s office said it has not been assigned to the case.
Authorities said Diggs was driving the vehicle that 17-year-old Shane Pryor was seen getting into less than an hour after he escaped Wednesday from a vehicle in the driveway of the emergency room at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he had been taken with a hand injury.
Security video shows Pryor was able to go in and out of a few buildings in the area after his escape, said Deputy Commissioner of Investigations Frank Vanore. He also was seen talking to people, “asking for a phone ... whatever he could do to leave the area,” he said.
Investigators believe he called Diggs, who then picked him up in a car. Police stopped the vehicle in the city on Wednesday night, Vanore said, but Pryor was not in the car. Diggs and another person who was in the vehicle were questioned by police, but no charges have been filed against the other person.
Police had searched the buildings Wednesday and used dogs to search large parking garages, but no lockdowns were imposed, he said. Officers also checked the homes of his relatives in other parts of the city, Vanore said.
Pryor was 14 when he was charged in an October 2020 homicide and has been in a juvenile facility ever since. He faces charges including murder, conspiracy and firearms crimes. He was described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and 180 pounds and was wearing a blue sweatsuit and sandal-type footwear with socks.
Pryor’s mother has urged her son to turn himself in. She has said the teen fled custody because he turns 18 in two weeks, opening him to being transferred to an adult prison.
California
George Carlin estate sues over fake comedy special purportedly generated by AI
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The estate of George Carlin is suing the media company behind a fake hourlong comedy special that purportedly uses artificial intelligence to recreate the late standup comic’s style and material.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday asks that a judge order the podcast outlet Dudesy to immediately take down the audio special, “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” in which a synthesis of Carlin delivers commentary on current events. Carlin died in 2008.
Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin, said in a statement that the work is “a poorly-executed facsimile cobbled together by unscrupulous individuals to capitalize on the extraordinary goodwill my father established with his adoring fanbase.”
The Carlin estate and its executor, Jerold Hamza, are named as plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges violations of Carlin’s right of publicity and copyright. The named defendants are Dudesy and podcast hosts Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen.
“None of the Defendants had permission to use Carlin’s likeness for the AI-generated ‘George Carlin Special,’ nor did they have a license to use any of the late comedian’s copyrighted materials,” the lawsuit says.
The defendants have not filed a response to the lawsuit and it was not clear whether they have retained an attorney. They could not immediately be reached for comment.
At the beginning of the special posted on YouTube on Jan. 9, a voiceover identifying itself as the AI engine used by Dudesy says it listened to the comic’s 50 years of material and “did my best to imitate his voice, cadence and attitude as well as the subject matter I think would have interested him today.”
The plaintiffs say if that was in fact how it was created — and some listeners have doubted its stated origins — it means Carlin’s copyright was violated.
The company, as it often does on similar projects, also released a podcast episode with Sasso and Kultgen introducing and commenting on the mock Carlin.
“What we just listened to, was that passable?” Kultgen says in a section of the episode cited in the lawsuit.
“Yeah, that sounded exactly like George Carlin,” Sasso responds.
The lawsuit is among the first in what is likely to be an increasing number of major legal moves made to fight the regenerated use of celebrity images and likenesses.
The AI issue was a major sticking point in the resolution of last year’s Hollywood writers and actors strikes.
Josh Schiller, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the “case is not just about AI, it’s about the humans that use AI to violate the law, infringe on intellectual property rights, and flout common decency.”
New Jersey
Supreme Court rules against Ocean casino in COVID business interruption case
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an Atlantic City casino is not entitled to payouts from business interruption insurance for losses during the COVID-19 outbreak, determining that the presence of the virus did not constitute the kind of “direct physical loss or damage” required for such a payout.
The case involved the Ocean Casino Resort’s claims against three insurance companies — AIG Specialty Insurance Co., American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co. and Interstate Fire & Casualty Co. Those insurers largely denied payouts to the casino, saying it did not suffer direct physical loss or damage because of the virus.
The casino sued and defeated an attempt by the insurers to dismiss the case. But that decision was reversed by an appellate court.
The high court agreed to take the case in order to resolve the legal question of what constituted loss or damage.
“Based on the plain terms of the policies, we conclude that in order to show a ‘direct physical loss’ of its property or ‘direct physical . . . damage’ to its property under the policy language at issue, (parent company AC Ocean Walk LLC) was required to demonstrate that its property was destroyed or altered in a manner that rendered it unusable or uninhabitable,” the court wrote in a unanimous decision.
“At most, it has alleged that it sustained a loss of business during the COVID-19 government-mandated suspension of business operations because it was not permitted to use its property as it would otherwise have done,” the opinion read.
It concluded that the casino’s pleadings “do not support a finding that it is entitled to insurance coverage.”
The casino declined comment Wednesday.
The ruling is similar to others reached in state and federal courts around the country, including cases where payouts were denied involving a chain of California movie theaters; a Los Angeles real estate firm; a group of hotels in Pennsylvania; and a group of hotels and a law firm in New Jersey.
During arguments in September before the Supreme Court, Stephen Orlofsky, a lawyer for Ocean, said the casino took several steps to respond to the virus, including employing air filtration systems and using “industrial-strength” cleaning supplies.
But David Roth, a lawyer for American Guarantee, said the policies require there to be physical damage to the property, which he said did not occur at the casino. He said 14 state Supreme Courts around the nation have held that the mere interruption of business activity during the pandemic does not constitute physical losses.
Ocean maintained that in addition to an order by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy closing the casinos for 3 1/2 months in 2020, it also shut down because of “the concern that the virus was having on the physical surfaces and the air” inside the casino.
Mississippi
Lawsuit seeks to protect dolphins if flood-control spillway is used near New Orleans
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Opening a spillway as a flood-control measure in 2019 sent polluted fresh water from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico and killed bottlenose dolphins that live in saltwater, according to a new lawsuit.
Several local governments and business groups on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, calling themselves the Mississippi Sound Coalition, filed the federal lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The lawsuit argues that the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires federal agencies, including the Corps of Engineers, to obtain a U.S. Department of Commerce permit when their actions may disrupt the behavioral patterns of an animal such as the bottlenose dolphin.
“The massive volumes of polluted fresh water diverted through the Bonnet Carré Spillway and into the Mississippi Sound caused direct and indirect mortality of resident bottlenose dolphins,” the lawsuit says. “Many of the dolphins that did survive developed extremely painful and debilitating skin lesions.”
The lawsuit seeks a court order that would require the Corps of Engineers to comply with any obligation to obtain a permit before any further opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway.
The Associated Press sent an email Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Justice, which represents the Corps of Engineers, seeking a response to the lawsuit. A spokesperson said the department declined to comment.
The Bonnet Carré Spillway is upriver from New Orleans. Opening the spillway diverts Mississippi River water to Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, after which it flows to the Mississippi Sound in the Gulf of Mexico.
When the river is high, opening the spillway eases pressure on the levees that protect New Orleans.
However, opening the spillway also carries pollutants and nutrients into the Mississippi Sound and reduces salinity. The result can be damage to oyster, fish and crab habitats, and algae blooms that affect marine life and beaches.
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has said the Corps of Engineers ignored its own procedures in opening Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2019, causing an environmental and economic disaster.
Robert Wiygul, one of the attorneys representing the Mississippi Sound Coalition, said the group and Mississippi leaders have no conflict with protecting New Orleans.
“We do have a conflict with the Corps of Engineers and the Corps’ position that the Mississippi Sound and our dolphins have to be sacrificed to prevent flooding,” Wiygul said in a statement Wednesday. “We need to look for alternatives that can protect everyone’s interests, but the Corps refuses to even discuss them. The Mississippi Sound Coalition is working on win-win solutions that protect everyone.”
The new lawsuit is similar to one that some of the same coastal Mississippi governments and business groups filed in 2019 against the Corps of Engineers. The earlier lawsuit said the corps was required to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service before opening the spillway.
In January 2023, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of Gulfport, Mississippi, ruled in favor of those who sued. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling in June.
