After-school Satan Club; 'food truck' polls for early voting; cheating a casino
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from the West.
- Updated
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland chapter of The Satanic Temple has succeeded in their efforts to bring an after-school program to a Portland elementary school.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (https://goo.gl/MUIRrA ) the organization has been approved to begin a program on Oct. 19 at Sacramento Elementary School.
Finn Rezz, one of the group's leaders, says their program focuses "on science and rational thinking," and will promote "benevolence and empathy for everybody."
The Satanic Temple has been targeting schools that have a Good News Club.
That club is put on by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, "a Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living."
___
Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
- By MORGAN LEE Associated Press
- Updated
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge held New Mexico's top human services official in contempt Tuesday for failing to comply with court orders aimed at improving the administration of food aid and Medicaid health care benefits.
The contempt order against Human Services Department Secretary Brent Earnest by U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Gonzales upheld findings that the cabinet secretary did not diligently attempt to comply with court orders concerning the handling of Medicaid benefit renewals, eligibility for immigrants, training for agency employees and other administrative requirements.
Gonzales said objections filed by the agency were without merit. "It remains clear that HSD and its officials have failed to exercise the leadership, control and managerial oversight to effectively come into compliance with the court orders," the judge wrote.
A spokesman for the Human Services Department strongly disagreed with the judge's characterization of the agency.
Spokesman Kyler Nerison said in email that the contempt order "doesn't take into account all of our efforts to resolve long-standing issues — some of which are three decades old and occurred under several administrations."
The contempt finding accompanies the judge's earlier approval of plans for a court-appointed special master to help ensure federally funded benefits are administered properly amid internal investigations by state and federal agencies into allegations that emergency food aid applications were falsified by agency staff.
The civil contempt order carries no additional sanctions or penalties.
Sovereign Hager, an attorney at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and advocate for aid beneficiaries in the litigation, said the order sends a strong message nonetheless. "I think this is a message that if things don't work out with a special master and the state doesn't come into compliance, the court will look to harsher remedies," she said.
The contempt findings respond in part to court testimony by Human Service Department caseworkers that expedited food aid applications were falsified to meet federal deadlines — sometimes under pressure from management — likely delaying the delivery of benefits as a result.
- By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press
- Updated
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Two associations of law enforcement leaders in Oregon are recommending that possession of small amounts of drugs be downgraded to misdemeanors, saying that branding users as felons and locking them up doesn't help them or their communities.
The appeal by the Oregon State Sheriffs' Association and Oregon Association Chiefs of Police comes as sentiment grows in the U.S. about rethinking the war on drugs. Sending people to prison, including under mandatory stiff sentencing, has done little to curtail drug use in the country, which is now struggling with opioid addiction.
In southern Oregon's Josephine County, for example, 2010 saw only four heroin-related prosecutions; by 2014 there were 237, the Daily Courier newspaper reported last week.
Several efforts are underway in the county to deal with the problem, including a "sobering center" established in a former warehouse that provides a safe place for people getting off addictive substances, and a treatment center that will offer methadone and support programs.
The Oregon law enforcement groups noted in a statement that drug possession often results in felony convictions, which "include unintended and collateral consequences including barriers to housing and employment and a disparate impact on minority communities."
Convicted users should instead be given individualized, mandated treatment, the groups said.
In the statement, they said that they're committed to work with Gov. Kate Brown, lawmakers and prosecutors "to craft a more thoughtful approach to drug possession when it is the only crime committed."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon applauded the stance.
"We are encouraged that Oregon law enforcement recognize that harsh drug laws have been a failure, wasting taxpayer money and disproportionately impacting communities of color," said Kimberly McCullough, legislative director at the ACLU of Oregon.
David Rogers, executive director at the ACLU of Oregon, noted that when someone is charged with a felony drug crime it can prevent access to housing, employment, education and more.
The sheriffs' and police chiefs' associations said limited criminal justice resources should be focused on addressing violent crime and property crime.
___
Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/andrewselsky
- Updated
PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — A Coast Guard air crew was medically grounded for two hours after someone pointed a green laser light at its helicopter.
The agency says the helicopter was on its final approach to Air Station Port Angeles at 8:23 p.m. Monday when someone pointed the laser from the vicinity of 4th and Hill Street in Port Angeles.
The helicopter landed safely, but the crew had to be checked out medically because laser pointers can cause flash blindness or temporary loss of night vision. While the crew was grounded, faraway crews from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and the Coast Guard's Columbia River sector, based in Warrenton, Oregon, were on call to provide emergency rescue services.
The Coast Guard says that can delay rescue times and put mariners at risk, in addition to the danger laser strikes pose to air crews.
The agency is asking the public for help figuring out who pointed the laser. Doing so is a felony under federal law.
- Updated
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — City officials in Glendale have named a street after late country music star Marty Robbins, who was born in the Phoenix suburb in 1925.
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers (wires) helped unveil the new honorary sign near 58th Avenue on Monday, which would have been Robbins' 91st birthday.
The one-mile stretch of Glendale Avenue is now known as Marty Robbins Boulevard.
Robbins, a singer-songwriter, is known for such hits as "El Paso," ''My Woman, My Woman, My Wife," ''Don't Worry" and "Honkytonk Man."
Born Martin David Robinson, Robbins recorded more than 500 songs and 60 albums and won two Grammy Awards.
He died in December 1982 at age 57 in Nashville, Tennessee after suffering a heart attack.
Two months earlier, Robbins had been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
- Updated
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) — Family members say the victim of an apparent road-rage shooting in Federal Way was a 32-year-old father on his way to see his wife and newborn son in a hospital.
The Seattle Times reports (https://goo.gl/iTZmTj ) that Dennis Sloboda fled to his brother Anton's apartment Monday night and reported that he had cut someone off while driving. The other driver reportedly pulled out a gun, then followed him to the apartment.
Anton Sloboda said his brother asked him for a gun, which he did not provide, and then the pair waited inside until they figured the man had left. Dennis Sloboda then departed for the hospital, but his wife told Anton he never made it.
Instead, police say nearby residents reported gunshots around 10:30 p.m. and responding officers found Dennis Sloboda dead in his vehicle. Police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock says investigators believe the victim was involved in "some type of road-rage incident" but the case remains under investigation.
___
Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
- Updated
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Grab-and-run thefts, craps cheating schemes and inside jobs are ongoing headaches for casinos, according to a top Nevada scam sleuth who shared some secrets of the trade for a convention audience in Las Vegas.
Deputy state Gaming Control Board chief James Taylor told a full-house conference audience at the Global Gaming Expo on Monday that the most basic scams can be the hardest to stop.
Nevada gambling regulators made more than 600 arrests in 2015, Taylor said, and casino employees make up about 25 percent of arrests every year.
"The sad part is that even management is a large part of our arrests every year," he said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/2dx4HOb).
Some schemes are elaborate, like marking cards with an ink visible only to someone wearing special contact lenses, Taylor said.
Others are simple, like pilfering chips and bolting for the door.
Taylor said that in one case, a control board agent counted $220,000 in losses attributed to one man, now 35.
"It's easy to see but they're (immediately) out the door," Taylor said. "So, then we're backing up the video, getting their pictures, then we have to catch them when they do it again, and there are so many opportunities for them on the Strip."
Once investigators identify thieves, their names and faces can end up on the board's Excluded Person List, a published roster of people banned from entering casinos commonly referred to as the "Black Book." Taylor said that helps agents spread the word about who to look out for.
The chip thief was added to the list last year, becoming one of 48 currently on the list.
Other cheaters target craps, which Taylor said is difficult to police due to activity around the table.
An ex-Las Vegas casino craps dealer and two friends were each sentenced in April to at least four years in state prison and ordered to repay more than $1 million reaped through phantom "hop" bets placed verbally amid last-second activity before the roll of the dice.
Another former craps dealer pleaded guilty to a lesser theft charge and gave a grand jury what a prosecutor called a crucial insider's account of the scheme.
___
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
- Updated
LEMON GROVE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a federal agent accidently shot a California sheriff's deputy in the leg while unloading a handgun.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/2dd6zwn ) that Lemon Grove sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Caldwell says the injury is not life-threatening. The agent was unloading the gun Tuesday after it was seized by a joint task force.
The deputy was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
The names of the deputy and the federal agent were not released.
Caldwell says the task force found the handgun after serving a search warrant.
Sheriff's detectives are investigating the shooting.
___
Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland chapter of The Satanic Temple has succeeded in their efforts to bring an after-school program to a Portland elementary school.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (https://goo.gl/MUIRrA ) the organization has been approved to begin a program on Oct. 19 at Sacramento Elementary School.
Finn Rezz, one of the group's leaders, says their program focuses "on science and rational thinking," and will promote "benevolence and empathy for everybody."
The Satanic Temple has been targeting schools that have a Good News Club.
That club is put on by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, "a Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living."
___
Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
- By MORGAN LEE Associated Press
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge held New Mexico's top human services official in contempt Tuesday for failing to comply with court orders aimed at improving the administration of food aid and Medicaid health care benefits.
The contempt order against Human Services Department Secretary Brent Earnest by U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Gonzales upheld findings that the cabinet secretary did not diligently attempt to comply with court orders concerning the handling of Medicaid benefit renewals, eligibility for immigrants, training for agency employees and other administrative requirements.
Gonzales said objections filed by the agency were without merit. "It remains clear that HSD and its officials have failed to exercise the leadership, control and managerial oversight to effectively come into compliance with the court orders," the judge wrote.
A spokesman for the Human Services Department strongly disagreed with the judge's characterization of the agency.
Spokesman Kyler Nerison said in email that the contempt order "doesn't take into account all of our efforts to resolve long-standing issues — some of which are three decades old and occurred under several administrations."
The contempt finding accompanies the judge's earlier approval of plans for a court-appointed special master to help ensure federally funded benefits are administered properly amid internal investigations by state and federal agencies into allegations that emergency food aid applications were falsified by agency staff.
The civil contempt order carries no additional sanctions or penalties.
Sovereign Hager, an attorney at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and advocate for aid beneficiaries in the litigation, said the order sends a strong message nonetheless. "I think this is a message that if things don't work out with a special master and the state doesn't come into compliance, the court will look to harsher remedies," she said.
The contempt findings respond in part to court testimony by Human Service Department caseworkers that expedited food aid applications were falsified to meet federal deadlines — sometimes under pressure from management — likely delaying the delivery of benefits as a result.
- By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Two associations of law enforcement leaders in Oregon are recommending that possession of small amounts of drugs be downgraded to misdemeanors, saying that branding users as felons and locking them up doesn't help them or their communities.
The appeal by the Oregon State Sheriffs' Association and Oregon Association Chiefs of Police comes as sentiment grows in the U.S. about rethinking the war on drugs. Sending people to prison, including under mandatory stiff sentencing, has done little to curtail drug use in the country, which is now struggling with opioid addiction.
In southern Oregon's Josephine County, for example, 2010 saw only four heroin-related prosecutions; by 2014 there were 237, the Daily Courier newspaper reported last week.
Several efforts are underway in the county to deal with the problem, including a "sobering center" established in a former warehouse that provides a safe place for people getting off addictive substances, and a treatment center that will offer methadone and support programs.
The Oregon law enforcement groups noted in a statement that drug possession often results in felony convictions, which "include unintended and collateral consequences including barriers to housing and employment and a disparate impact on minority communities."
Convicted users should instead be given individualized, mandated treatment, the groups said.
In the statement, they said that they're committed to work with Gov. Kate Brown, lawmakers and prosecutors "to craft a more thoughtful approach to drug possession when it is the only crime committed."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon applauded the stance.
"We are encouraged that Oregon law enforcement recognize that harsh drug laws have been a failure, wasting taxpayer money and disproportionately impacting communities of color," said Kimberly McCullough, legislative director at the ACLU of Oregon.
David Rogers, executive director at the ACLU of Oregon, noted that when someone is charged with a felony drug crime it can prevent access to housing, employment, education and more.
The sheriffs' and police chiefs' associations said limited criminal justice resources should be focused on addressing violent crime and property crime.
___
Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/andrewselsky
PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — A Coast Guard air crew was medically grounded for two hours after someone pointed a green laser light at its helicopter.
The agency says the helicopter was on its final approach to Air Station Port Angeles at 8:23 p.m. Monday when someone pointed the laser from the vicinity of 4th and Hill Street in Port Angeles.
The helicopter landed safely, but the crew had to be checked out medically because laser pointers can cause flash blindness or temporary loss of night vision. While the crew was grounded, faraway crews from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and the Coast Guard's Columbia River sector, based in Warrenton, Oregon, were on call to provide emergency rescue services.
The Coast Guard says that can delay rescue times and put mariners at risk, in addition to the danger laser strikes pose to air crews.
The agency is asking the public for help figuring out who pointed the laser. Doing so is a felony under federal law.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — City officials in Glendale have named a street after late country music star Marty Robbins, who was born in the Phoenix suburb in 1925.
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers (wires) helped unveil the new honorary sign near 58th Avenue on Monday, which would have been Robbins' 91st birthday.
The one-mile stretch of Glendale Avenue is now known as Marty Robbins Boulevard.
Robbins, a singer-songwriter, is known for such hits as "El Paso," ''My Woman, My Woman, My Wife," ''Don't Worry" and "Honkytonk Man."
Born Martin David Robinson, Robbins recorded more than 500 songs and 60 albums and won two Grammy Awards.
He died in December 1982 at age 57 in Nashville, Tennessee after suffering a heart attack.
Two months earlier, Robbins had been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) — Family members say the victim of an apparent road-rage shooting in Federal Way was a 32-year-old father on his way to see his wife and newborn son in a hospital.
The Seattle Times reports (https://goo.gl/iTZmTj ) that Dennis Sloboda fled to his brother Anton's apartment Monday night and reported that he had cut someone off while driving. The other driver reportedly pulled out a gun, then followed him to the apartment.
Anton Sloboda said his brother asked him for a gun, which he did not provide, and then the pair waited inside until they figured the man had left. Dennis Sloboda then departed for the hospital, but his wife told Anton he never made it.
Instead, police say nearby residents reported gunshots around 10:30 p.m. and responding officers found Dennis Sloboda dead in his vehicle. Police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock says investigators believe the victim was involved in "some type of road-rage incident" but the case remains under investigation.
___
Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Grab-and-run thefts, craps cheating schemes and inside jobs are ongoing headaches for casinos, according to a top Nevada scam sleuth who shared some secrets of the trade for a convention audience in Las Vegas.
Deputy state Gaming Control Board chief James Taylor told a full-house conference audience at the Global Gaming Expo on Monday that the most basic scams can be the hardest to stop.
Nevada gambling regulators made more than 600 arrests in 2015, Taylor said, and casino employees make up about 25 percent of arrests every year.
"The sad part is that even management is a large part of our arrests every year," he said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/2dx4HOb).
Some schemes are elaborate, like marking cards with an ink visible only to someone wearing special contact lenses, Taylor said.
Others are simple, like pilfering chips and bolting for the door.
Taylor said that in one case, a control board agent counted $220,000 in losses attributed to one man, now 35.
"It's easy to see but they're (immediately) out the door," Taylor said. "So, then we're backing up the video, getting their pictures, then we have to catch them when they do it again, and there are so many opportunities for them on the Strip."
Once investigators identify thieves, their names and faces can end up on the board's Excluded Person List, a published roster of people banned from entering casinos commonly referred to as the "Black Book." Taylor said that helps agents spread the word about who to look out for.
The chip thief was added to the list last year, becoming one of 48 currently on the list.
Other cheaters target craps, which Taylor said is difficult to police due to activity around the table.
An ex-Las Vegas casino craps dealer and two friends were each sentenced in April to at least four years in state prison and ordered to repay more than $1 million reaped through phantom "hop" bets placed verbally amid last-second activity before the roll of the dice.
Another former craps dealer pleaded guilty to a lesser theft charge and gave a grand jury what a prosecutor called a crucial insider's account of the scheme.
___
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
LEMON GROVE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a federal agent accidently shot a California sheriff's deputy in the leg while unloading a handgun.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/2dd6zwn ) that Lemon Grove sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Caldwell says the injury is not life-threatening. The agent was unloading the gun Tuesday after it was seized by a joint task force.
The deputy was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
The names of the deputy and the federal agent were not released.
Caldwell says the task force found the handgun after serving a search warrant.
Sheriff's detectives are investigating the shooting.
___
Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com
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