Arizona
Secretary of state overstepped his authority on elections manual, judge rules
PHOENIX (AP) — A ruling by a Maricopa County judge has invalidated provisions of Arizona’s elections manual, including one that said the secretary of state must canvass election results even if a county has not certified its ballots.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled this week that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes exceeded his authority when he created the rule in the 2023 Elections Procedures Manual. It required the statewide certification of elections results to move forward even if the vote tallies from every county in the state have not been submitted.
A spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office said they were evaluating the ruling.
County officials in Arizona have refused to certify votes in the past, leading to delays and disruption to the election process. In October, a Cochise County official pled guilty to a misdemeanor related to her refusal to certify results in the 2022 midterm election.
Fontes had argued that the strict deadline he must follow to submit the state’s election results justified the rule. Blaney agreed a tight deadline must be adhered to but said doing so doesn’t justify excluding a county’s election results.
“Nothing in the statutes permits the Secretary to exclude a particular county’s canvass and/or, by extension, disenfranchise the entirety of the county’s voters,” Blaney wrote. “The Secretary does not have the authority to read such a drastic course of action into the governing statutes.”
In the lawsuit they filed on behalf of the Legislature, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma, both Republicans, accused Fontes, a Democrat, of overstepping his authority by updating rules in the manual. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes, both Democrats, had approved the manual update issued in December 2023.
Arizona Republicans celebrated the decision as a win for the rule of law and election integrity.
“Secretary Fontes attempted to overstep his authority, but the court recognized these actions for what they were — unlawful and unenforceable,” Toma said in a statement.
California
Environmental groups sue over state support for polluting biofuels
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Several environmental groups are suing California air regulators over their recent update of a contentious climate program, saying they failed to address the pollution impacts of biofuels.
The lawsuits target the low-carbon fuel standard, which requires California to reduce the environmental impact of transportation fuels by incentivizing producers to cut emissions. The California Air Resources Board voted last month to increase the state’s emission reduction targets, fund charging infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles, and phase out incentives for capturing methane emissions from dairy farms to turn into fuel.
California, which often leads the nation on climate policy, plans to achieve so-called carbon neutrality by 2045, meaning the state will remove as many carbon emissions from the atmosphere as it emits. The state has passed policies in recent years to phase out the sale of new fossil-fuel powered cars, trucks, trains and lawn mowers.
One of the lawsuits filed this week, by the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment, accuses the board of failing to thoroughly analyze the climate impacts of burning biofuels derived from plants and animal waste. Another, filed by Food and Water Watch, Central Valley Defenders of Clean Air and Water, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, focuses on the impact of pollution often impacting low-income and Latino communities from the capture of methane from cow manure to turn into fuel.
“People who live near refineries in California are harmed by the spiraling expansion of polluting biofuels,” but CARB failed to analyze the resulting harm to these communities, said a statement by Katherine Ramos, a program director at Communities for a Better Environment.
Environmentalists say the LCFS program has stimulated the production of polluting biofuels, competing with food production and contributing to deforestation. They want California to focus more on expanding the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
The agency declined to comment on the lawsuits but said the program plays an important role in combating climate change and improving air quality.
“The amendments channel global, national and local private sector investment towards increasing cleaner fuel and transportation options for consumers, accelerating the deployment of zero-emission infrastructure, and keeping the state on track to meet legislatively mandated air quality and climate targets,” Dave Clegern, a spokesperson for the board, said in an email.
Missouri
Family of painter Thomas Hart Benton alleges bank undersold artwork; judge disagrees
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has rejected arguments that a bank mismanaged American painter Thomas Hart Benton’s estate by selling his artwork for less than what it was worth and losing more than 100 pieces.
Judge Mark Styles ruled there were only five Benton pieces that UMB Bank could not account for during its administration of the Benton Trust. They were not paintings, but were likely sketches or studies, KCUR-FM reports.
The Jackson County Circuit Court judge awarded Benton’s heirs $35,000 on Dec. 13, just a fraction of the $85 million that the family sought in a 2019 lawsuit. The bank said in a statement that it is thrilled, but the family’s lawyers said they are considering an appeal.
“Despite the decision from this trial, we still strongly believe in the merits of the case for the Benton family,” said Kent Emison of the Langdon & Emison law firm, which brought the suit on the Bentons’ behalf.
Benton, who died in Kansas City, Missouri, on Jan. 19, 1975, is known for his portrayals of Midwestern life in the 20th century. His paintings and murals are in museums across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the National Gallery in Washington.
One deal that was questioned was the 1986 sale of “Persephone,” which depicts the Greek goddess resting nude as a farmer gawks, to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for $2.5 million. At issue was the fact that a former chairman and board member for UMB served on the Kansas City museum’s board at the time of the sale. But the judge found no evidence of anything inappropriate.
“The notion that UMB undersold Benton’s artwork while serving as trustee of the Benton Trust is ultimately unfounded,” Styles wrote.
Connecticut
Aaron Hernandez’s brother pleads guilty to threatening a shooting at UConn
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Dennis Hernandez, the troubled brother of the late New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, pleaded guilty Wednesday to threatening to carry out a shooting at the University of Connecticut and to kill three people outside of the state, including a judge, in 2023, federal prosecutors said.
Hernandez, 38, who went by “DJ” while playing football for UConn in the mid-2000s, appeared in federal court in Hartford and pleaded guilty to transmitting interstate communications containing a threat to injure, which carries up to five years in prison.
Sentencing was set for Feb. 6.
His public defender did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday. A woman who answered a phone number for his mother, Terri Hernandez, declined to comment.
Terri Hernandez told police around the time of his arrest in Bristol last year that he had deteriorating mental health problems including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Dennis Hernandez was shocked with a stun gun and taken into custody after he came out of his sister’s house with his arms raised, yelling “shoot me” and threatening to harm officers, police said.
Federal prosecutors said Hernandez threatened a shooting at UConn’s main campus in Storrs in July 2023 while messaging another person on Facebook.
“I would recommend remaining away from there because when I go I’m taking down everything,” Hernandez wrote, according to court documents. “And don’t give a (expletive) who gets caught in the crossfire. I’ve died for years now and now it’s others people turn. I’m prepared to give my life. ... Not all shootings are bad I’m realizing. Some are necessary for change to happen.”
Court filings said Hernandez was struggling financially, was frustrated at seeing other people get hired as football coaches and felt owed by UConn. He played quarterback and wide receiver for the Huskies.
Police said Hernandez had driven to the UConn campus and to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he once served as quarterbacks coach, to “map the schools out” for a shooting.
Also in July 2023, prosecutors said Hernandez made multiple Facebook posts threatening to harm or kill three people who live out of Connecticut, including a state court judge.
Hernandez has pending charges in state court in Connecticut in connection with an incident outside ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol. He was arrested in March 2023 on misdemeanor breach of peace charges after police say he threw a bag containing a brick and a note over a fence and onto ESPN’s property before leaving.
“To all media outlets, It’s about time you all realeyes the affect media has on all family members. Since you’re a world wide leader maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up! Yours truly, Dennis J. Hernandez,” the note said, according to police.
Authorities said Hernandez was angry with people he believed were profiting from the death of his younger brother. Aaron Hernandez killed himself in 2017 while serving a murder sentence.
Mississippi
Woman accused of fatally shooting husband outside courthouse after divorce case
POPLARVILLE, Miss. (AP) — The estranged wife of a Mississippi man is in custody after she allegedly shot and killed him outside a courthouse following the conclusion of divorce proceedings between the two, authorities said.
The shooting happened last Tuesday just before 1 p.m. in the entryway of the Pearl River County Chancery Court in Poplarville, the sheriff’s office said. The victim was identified as James Ray Saucier, 62. His wife, Tanya Saucier, 49, was apprehended after the shooting and is being held at the Lenoir Rowell Criminal Justice Center in Poplarville on a charge of murder.
James Saucier’s attorney, Don Rafferty, said the couple’s divorce proceedings had just ended when gunfire broke out.
Tanya Saucier’s attorney, state Rep. Jansen Owen, a Republican from Hattiesburg, said he was walking out of the building when his client opened fire.
“Basically, I left the courthouse and she opened fire. I did ultimately subdue her at which point she made threats against me,” Owen said. “I administered first aid as best I could to Mr. Saucier.”
Family member Johanna Peterson told WVUE-TV the family is distraught by what happened.
“It’s confusing for us, tragic,” Peterson said. “The family is in shock, as well as frustrated and enraged.”
Court documents show James Saucier was indicted in August on charges of aggravated assault and domestic violence with a deadly weapon. He was accused of shooting Tanya Saucier five times, including once in the face, a year ago.
“My client said he was defending himself,” said Rafferty.
Secretary of state overstepped his authority on elections manual, judge rules
PHOENIX (AP) — A ruling by a Maricopa County judge has invalidated provisions of Arizona’s elections manual, including one that said the secretary of state must canvass election results even if a county has not certified its ballots.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled this week that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes exceeded his authority when he created the rule in the 2023 Elections Procedures Manual. It required the statewide certification of elections results to move forward even if the vote tallies from every county in the state have not been submitted.
A spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office said they were evaluating the ruling.
County officials in Arizona have refused to certify votes in the past, leading to delays and disruption to the election process. In October, a Cochise County official pled guilty to a misdemeanor related to her refusal to certify results in the 2022 midterm election.
Fontes had argued that the strict deadline he must follow to submit the state’s election results justified the rule. Blaney agreed a tight deadline must be adhered to but said doing so doesn’t justify excluding a county’s election results.
“Nothing in the statutes permits the Secretary to exclude a particular county’s canvass and/or, by extension, disenfranchise the entirety of the county’s voters,” Blaney wrote. “The Secretary does not have the authority to read such a drastic course of action into the governing statutes.”
In the lawsuit they filed on behalf of the Legislature, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma, both Republicans, accused Fontes, a Democrat, of overstepping his authority by updating rules in the manual. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes, both Democrats, had approved the manual update issued in December 2023.
Arizona Republicans celebrated the decision as a win for the rule of law and election integrity.
“Secretary Fontes attempted to overstep his authority, but the court recognized these actions for what they were — unlawful and unenforceable,” Toma said in a statement.
California
Environmental groups sue over state support for polluting biofuels
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Several environmental groups are suing California air regulators over their recent update of a contentious climate program, saying they failed to address the pollution impacts of biofuels.
The lawsuits target the low-carbon fuel standard, which requires California to reduce the environmental impact of transportation fuels by incentivizing producers to cut emissions. The California Air Resources Board voted last month to increase the state’s emission reduction targets, fund charging infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles, and phase out incentives for capturing methane emissions from dairy farms to turn into fuel.
California, which often leads the nation on climate policy, plans to achieve so-called carbon neutrality by 2045, meaning the state will remove as many carbon emissions from the atmosphere as it emits. The state has passed policies in recent years to phase out the sale of new fossil-fuel powered cars, trucks, trains and lawn mowers.
One of the lawsuits filed this week, by the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment, accuses the board of failing to thoroughly analyze the climate impacts of burning biofuels derived from plants and animal waste. Another, filed by Food and Water Watch, Central Valley Defenders of Clean Air and Water, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, focuses on the impact of pollution often impacting low-income and Latino communities from the capture of methane from cow manure to turn into fuel.
“People who live near refineries in California are harmed by the spiraling expansion of polluting biofuels,” but CARB failed to analyze the resulting harm to these communities, said a statement by Katherine Ramos, a program director at Communities for a Better Environment.
Environmentalists say the LCFS program has stimulated the production of polluting biofuels, competing with food production and contributing to deforestation. They want California to focus more on expanding the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
The agency declined to comment on the lawsuits but said the program plays an important role in combating climate change and improving air quality.
“The amendments channel global, national and local private sector investment towards increasing cleaner fuel and transportation options for consumers, accelerating the deployment of zero-emission infrastructure, and keeping the state on track to meet legislatively mandated air quality and climate targets,” Dave Clegern, a spokesperson for the board, said in an email.
Missouri
Family of painter Thomas Hart Benton alleges bank undersold artwork; judge disagrees
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has rejected arguments that a bank mismanaged American painter Thomas Hart Benton’s estate by selling his artwork for less than what it was worth and losing more than 100 pieces.
Judge Mark Styles ruled there were only five Benton pieces that UMB Bank could not account for during its administration of the Benton Trust. They were not paintings, but were likely sketches or studies, KCUR-FM reports.
The Jackson County Circuit Court judge awarded Benton’s heirs $35,000 on Dec. 13, just a fraction of the $85 million that the family sought in a 2019 lawsuit. The bank said in a statement that it is thrilled, but the family’s lawyers said they are considering an appeal.
“Despite the decision from this trial, we still strongly believe in the merits of the case for the Benton family,” said Kent Emison of the Langdon & Emison law firm, which brought the suit on the Bentons’ behalf.
Benton, who died in Kansas City, Missouri, on Jan. 19, 1975, is known for his portrayals of Midwestern life in the 20th century. His paintings and murals are in museums across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the National Gallery in Washington.
One deal that was questioned was the 1986 sale of “Persephone,” which depicts the Greek goddess resting nude as a farmer gawks, to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for $2.5 million. At issue was the fact that a former chairman and board member for UMB served on the Kansas City museum’s board at the time of the sale. But the judge found no evidence of anything inappropriate.
“The notion that UMB undersold Benton’s artwork while serving as trustee of the Benton Trust is ultimately unfounded,” Styles wrote.
Connecticut
Aaron Hernandez’s brother pleads guilty to threatening a shooting at UConn
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Dennis Hernandez, the troubled brother of the late New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, pleaded guilty Wednesday to threatening to carry out a shooting at the University of Connecticut and to kill three people outside of the state, including a judge, in 2023, federal prosecutors said.
Hernandez, 38, who went by “DJ” while playing football for UConn in the mid-2000s, appeared in federal court in Hartford and pleaded guilty to transmitting interstate communications containing a threat to injure, which carries up to five years in prison.
Sentencing was set for Feb. 6.
His public defender did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday. A woman who answered a phone number for his mother, Terri Hernandez, declined to comment.
Terri Hernandez told police around the time of his arrest in Bristol last year that he had deteriorating mental health problems including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Dennis Hernandez was shocked with a stun gun and taken into custody after he came out of his sister’s house with his arms raised, yelling “shoot me” and threatening to harm officers, police said.
Federal prosecutors said Hernandez threatened a shooting at UConn’s main campus in Storrs in July 2023 while messaging another person on Facebook.
“I would recommend remaining away from there because when I go I’m taking down everything,” Hernandez wrote, according to court documents. “And don’t give a (expletive) who gets caught in the crossfire. I’ve died for years now and now it’s others people turn. I’m prepared to give my life. ... Not all shootings are bad I’m realizing. Some are necessary for change to happen.”
Court filings said Hernandez was struggling financially, was frustrated at seeing other people get hired as football coaches and felt owed by UConn. He played quarterback and wide receiver for the Huskies.
Police said Hernandez had driven to the UConn campus and to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he once served as quarterbacks coach, to “map the schools out” for a shooting.
Also in July 2023, prosecutors said Hernandez made multiple Facebook posts threatening to harm or kill three people who live out of Connecticut, including a state court judge.
Hernandez has pending charges in state court in Connecticut in connection with an incident outside ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol. He was arrested in March 2023 on misdemeanor breach of peace charges after police say he threw a bag containing a brick and a note over a fence and onto ESPN’s property before leaving.
“To all media outlets, It’s about time you all realeyes the affect media has on all family members. Since you’re a world wide leader maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up! Yours truly, Dennis J. Hernandez,” the note said, according to police.
Authorities said Hernandez was angry with people he believed were profiting from the death of his younger brother. Aaron Hernandez killed himself in 2017 while serving a murder sentence.
Mississippi
Woman accused of fatally shooting husband outside courthouse after divorce case
POPLARVILLE, Miss. (AP) — The estranged wife of a Mississippi man is in custody after she allegedly shot and killed him outside a courthouse following the conclusion of divorce proceedings between the two, authorities said.
The shooting happened last Tuesday just before 1 p.m. in the entryway of the Pearl River County Chancery Court in Poplarville, the sheriff’s office said. The victim was identified as James Ray Saucier, 62. His wife, Tanya Saucier, 49, was apprehended after the shooting and is being held at the Lenoir Rowell Criminal Justice Center in Poplarville on a charge of murder.
James Saucier’s attorney, Don Rafferty, said the couple’s divorce proceedings had just ended when gunfire broke out.
Tanya Saucier’s attorney, state Rep. Jansen Owen, a Republican from Hattiesburg, said he was walking out of the building when his client opened fire.
“Basically, I left the courthouse and she opened fire. I did ultimately subdue her at which point she made threats against me,” Owen said. “I administered first aid as best I could to Mr. Saucier.”
Family member Johanna Peterson told WVUE-TV the family is distraught by what happened.
“It’s confusing for us, tragic,” Peterson said. “The family is in shock, as well as frustrated and enraged.”
Court documents show James Saucier was indicted in August on charges of aggravated assault and domestic violence with a deadly weapon. He was accused of shooting Tanya Saucier five times, including once in the face, a year ago.
“My client said he was defending himself,” said Rafferty.
