California
Judge halts state plan to monitor groundwater use
HANFORD, Calif. (AP) — A judge has temporarily blocked a plan by a California state water board to take over monitoring groundwater use in a portion of the crop-rich San Joaquin Valley, according to a copy of the decision obtained Tuesday.
Kings County Superior Court Judge Kathy Ciuffini issued a temporary restraining order halting the State Water Resources Control Board’s plan for the Tulare Lake Subbasin until an Aug. 20 hearing. The ruling came after the farm bureau in the largely agricultural county of about 150,000 people filed a lawsuit saying the plan exceeded the board’s authority.
At the heart of the fight is a law California enacted a decade ago to regulate the use of groundwater after years of overpumping and drought led to problems with water quality and land sinking. Under the landmark law, local communities must form groundwater agencies and draft plans to sustainably manage their groundwater, and those that don’t run the risk of state monitoring or intervention.
That occurred earlier this year in the case of the Tulare Lake Subbasin, which covers a stretch of Kings County. The State Water Resources Control Board placed the subbasin on so-called probationary status after state officials deemed that local communities had failed to come up with a sustainable plan — a move that put state officials, instead of local ones, in charge of tracking how much water is pumped from the ground.
Many farmers feared the prospect of pumping caps and fees could hurt business in Kings County, which is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco and a major producer of milk, pistachios and processed tomatoes.
The State Water Resources Control Board said in a statement that it disagrees with the temporary order, which suspends the requirement that groundwater pumpers report their water use in the critically overdrafted subbasin.
“This requirement is an important part of the probationary process under the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which protects groundwater resources for the benefit of all Californians,” the statement said.
Groundwater accounts for nearly 40% of California’s water supply in an average year and even more in dry years, according to the state water board.
Pennsylvania
Ex-detective convicted of perjury in case of coerced murder confession
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former Philadelphia homicide detective accused of beating a murder suspect to obtain a confession and then lying about it in court has ben convicted of obstruction and perjury charges.
Prosecutors said they would seek a prison term for James Pitts, 53, when he’s sentenced in Oct. 4, but the judge overseeing the case rejected their motion to jail Pitts until that time. Pitts, who maintains his innocence, declined comment after the verdict was handed down Tuesday after jurors had deliberated for about eight hours over two days.
Pitts has been accused of aggressive physical interrogation tactics and coercing false confessions in numerous lawsuits and complaints, and in a handful of murder cases that collapsed at trial or shortly after. The charges he faced stemmed from the case of a man exonerated in the killing of a well-known jewelry store owner after spending nearly 11 years in prison.
Obina Oniyah was convicted in 2013 for the 2010 murder of jeweler William Glatz during a robbery. Both Glatz and one of the two armed robbers were killed during the exchange of gunfire.
Prosecutors have said Oniyah was convicted largely on the strength of a confession taken by Pitts. But the man maintained before, throughout and after the trial that Pitts had beaten him and threatened him to get him to sign a false statement.
A photogrammetry expert examined video from the robbery and concluded that Onyiah was far taller than the remaining gunman in the robbery — 6-feet-3-inches compared to no taller than 5-feet-11-inches — the expert said. He was exonerated in May 2021.
“I thank the jury for rendering a fair and just verdict in this case,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said. “This is the first time in our city’s history that a Philadelphia detective has been found guilty of coercing a confession that led to the wrongful conviction of an innocent person. My administration will continue to seek evenhanded justice in all cases prosecuted by this office, regardless of the defendant, because no one is above the law.”
Nevada
Judge who once ran for state treasurer indicted on fraud charges
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada justice of the peace who ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2022 has been indicted on federal charges alleging she used money donated to memorialize slain police officers for political campaign costs, rent and her daughter’s wedding.
Michele Fiore, 53, the justice of the peace in Pahrump and a state Republican National Committee member, declined comment Wednesday about the five-count indictment filed a day earlier in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. The former Nevada state Assembly and Las Vegas City Council member said she had not yet seen the document.
Fiore is accused of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, crimes that each carry a possible penalty of 20 years in prison. Court records do not reflect when Fiore is due for an initial court appearance or whether she has an attorney representing her.
The grand jury said that when Fiore was a city council member from 2017 to 2022, she promised to use 100% of the contributions she solicited to erect a statue in a city park to honor two Las Vegas police officers who were killed on duty in June 2014.
“Fiore did not use any of the tens of thousands of dollars in charitable donations for the statue, and instead converted the money to her personal use,” prosecutors said in a news release.
The indictment refers to an unnamed co-conspirator who is related to Fiore and traces checks that prosecutors said diverted money to pay Fiore’s political fundraising bills, rent and daughter’s wedding.
Fiore served one term as a Republican in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016, where she was as an outspoken supporter of gun rights and posed with guns and her family for Christmas cards in 2015. In 2022, Fiore ran as a Republican but lost the statewide race for state treasurer to Democrat Zach Conine.
She gained national attention backing rancher Cliven Bundy and his family during armed standoffs between militiamen and federal law enforcement officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014, and at a national wildlife refuge in Malheur, Oregon, in 2016.
Fiore was appointed by Nye County lawmakers in December 2022 to serve as a local justice of the peace in rural Pahrump, an hour’s drive west of Las Vegas.
Judge halts state plan to monitor groundwater use
HANFORD, Calif. (AP) — A judge has temporarily blocked a plan by a California state water board to take over monitoring groundwater use in a portion of the crop-rich San Joaquin Valley, according to a copy of the decision obtained Tuesday.
Kings County Superior Court Judge Kathy Ciuffini issued a temporary restraining order halting the State Water Resources Control Board’s plan for the Tulare Lake Subbasin until an Aug. 20 hearing. The ruling came after the farm bureau in the largely agricultural county of about 150,000 people filed a lawsuit saying the plan exceeded the board’s authority.
At the heart of the fight is a law California enacted a decade ago to regulate the use of groundwater after years of overpumping and drought led to problems with water quality and land sinking. Under the landmark law, local communities must form groundwater agencies and draft plans to sustainably manage their groundwater, and those that don’t run the risk of state monitoring or intervention.
That occurred earlier this year in the case of the Tulare Lake Subbasin, which covers a stretch of Kings County. The State Water Resources Control Board placed the subbasin on so-called probationary status after state officials deemed that local communities had failed to come up with a sustainable plan — a move that put state officials, instead of local ones, in charge of tracking how much water is pumped from the ground.
Many farmers feared the prospect of pumping caps and fees could hurt business in Kings County, which is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco and a major producer of milk, pistachios and processed tomatoes.
The State Water Resources Control Board said in a statement that it disagrees with the temporary order, which suspends the requirement that groundwater pumpers report their water use in the critically overdrafted subbasin.
“This requirement is an important part of the probationary process under the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which protects groundwater resources for the benefit of all Californians,” the statement said.
Groundwater accounts for nearly 40% of California’s water supply in an average year and even more in dry years, according to the state water board.
Pennsylvania
Ex-detective convicted of perjury in case of coerced murder confession
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former Philadelphia homicide detective accused of beating a murder suspect to obtain a confession and then lying about it in court has ben convicted of obstruction and perjury charges.
Prosecutors said they would seek a prison term for James Pitts, 53, when he’s sentenced in Oct. 4, but the judge overseeing the case rejected their motion to jail Pitts until that time. Pitts, who maintains his innocence, declined comment after the verdict was handed down Tuesday after jurors had deliberated for about eight hours over two days.
Pitts has been accused of aggressive physical interrogation tactics and coercing false confessions in numerous lawsuits and complaints, and in a handful of murder cases that collapsed at trial or shortly after. The charges he faced stemmed from the case of a man exonerated in the killing of a well-known jewelry store owner after spending nearly 11 years in prison.
Obina Oniyah was convicted in 2013 for the 2010 murder of jeweler William Glatz during a robbery. Both Glatz and one of the two armed robbers were killed during the exchange of gunfire.
Prosecutors have said Oniyah was convicted largely on the strength of a confession taken by Pitts. But the man maintained before, throughout and after the trial that Pitts had beaten him and threatened him to get him to sign a false statement.
A photogrammetry expert examined video from the robbery and concluded that Onyiah was far taller than the remaining gunman in the robbery — 6-feet-3-inches compared to no taller than 5-feet-11-inches — the expert said. He was exonerated in May 2021.
“I thank the jury for rendering a fair and just verdict in this case,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said. “This is the first time in our city’s history that a Philadelphia detective has been found guilty of coercing a confession that led to the wrongful conviction of an innocent person. My administration will continue to seek evenhanded justice in all cases prosecuted by this office, regardless of the defendant, because no one is above the law.”
Nevada
Judge who once ran for state treasurer indicted on fraud charges
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada justice of the peace who ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2022 has been indicted on federal charges alleging she used money donated to memorialize slain police officers for political campaign costs, rent and her daughter’s wedding.
Michele Fiore, 53, the justice of the peace in Pahrump and a state Republican National Committee member, declined comment Wednesday about the five-count indictment filed a day earlier in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. The former Nevada state Assembly and Las Vegas City Council member said she had not yet seen the document.
Fiore is accused of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, crimes that each carry a possible penalty of 20 years in prison. Court records do not reflect when Fiore is due for an initial court appearance or whether she has an attorney representing her.
The grand jury said that when Fiore was a city council member from 2017 to 2022, she promised to use 100% of the contributions she solicited to erect a statue in a city park to honor two Las Vegas police officers who were killed on duty in June 2014.
“Fiore did not use any of the tens of thousands of dollars in charitable donations for the statue, and instead converted the money to her personal use,” prosecutors said in a news release.
The indictment refers to an unnamed co-conspirator who is related to Fiore and traces checks that prosecutors said diverted money to pay Fiore’s political fundraising bills, rent and daughter’s wedding.
Fiore served one term as a Republican in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016, where she was as an outspoken supporter of gun rights and posed with guns and her family for Christmas cards in 2015. In 2022, Fiore ran as a Republican but lost the statewide race for state treasurer to Democrat Zach Conine.
She gained national attention backing rancher Cliven Bundy and his family during armed standoffs between militiamen and federal law enforcement officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014, and at a national wildlife refuge in Malheur, Oregon, in 2016.
Fiore was appointed by Nye County lawmakers in December 2022 to serve as a local justice of the peace in rural Pahrump, an hour’s drive west of Las Vegas.
