Atlanta-based fraternity cooperating with investigation into Louisiana college student's death
Metro Atlanta-based fraternity Omega Psi Phi says they are supporting police's investigation into the death of one of their members.
Caleb Wilson, a 20-year-old junior at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, died earlier this week in what was described as an 'off-campus incident.'
Baton Rouge police told WBRZ-TV that Wilson was brought to the hospital unresponsive by a group of people late Wednesday night.
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Details on what led up to Wilson being brought to the hospital are unclear.
Omega Psi Phi confirmed in a statement on social media that Wilson was a member of their fraternity.
'It is with profound sorrow that we extend our condolences on the passing of Caleb Wilson. His loss is deeply felt, and our hearts go out to his family, friends, and all who were touched by him,' Grand Basileus Ricky L. Lewis wrote in a statement
Lewis went on to say that the fraternity 'fully support[s] their efforts to seek the truth.'
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Wilson was also a member of the Southern University Marching Band, also known as the Human Jukebox.'
'Our thoughts and prayers are with Caleb's family, friends, and all who knew and loved him. Caleb, we appreciate your service to the Southern University Department of Bands. We love you. We will miss you. And you will forever hold a place in our hearts as an Eternal Juke,' they wrote in a statement.
Southern University told WBRZ-TV all membership intake activities for student organizations, including fraternities and sororities, are being paused. Members can't be inducted, but if they are, organizations could face disciplinary actions.
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Chicago Tribune
33 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Troubled Cook County tech firm used insider lobbyist who was later convicted in ComEd corruption scheme
. As a fledgling tech contractor looking to build its business in the insular world of Cook County politics, Texas-based Tyler Technologies turned to one of Illinois' most well-connected lobbyists to get the job done. In 2016, Jay Doherty not only lobbied Chicago, Cook County and state agencies, he was also the longtime president of the City Club of Chicago, a popular nonprofit civic organization. The dual roles granted Doherty access to the halls of power and enabled him to easily hobnob with decision-makers such as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who regularly appeared at the club's luncheons attended by hundreds of government and business leaders. He was a useful operative in the machine of longtime Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. And he helped fundraise and organize the installation ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, the wife of his longtime friend, Chicago Ald. Edward Burke. At the time Tyler hired Doherty in 2016, there was no indication any of the Tyler executives involved knew their new man in Illinois was also corrupt. Doherty would be convicted in 2023 of conspiracy in a scandal involving one of his other clients, Commonwealth Edison. It was part of a series of linked cases that ultimately ended Madigan's decades-long run as speaker. There is no direct connection between Doherty's work for ComEd and what he did for Tyler. Unlike Tyler's efforts seeking contract opportunities, the ComEd case detailed a vast criminal scheme of bribery and influence peddling as part of the utility's efforts to get legislation passed. But interviews and records about Doherty's work for Tyler and details from his 2023 trial reveal striking parallels in how he repeatedly smoothed paths for both clients, including creating informal interactions at City Club events attended by government officials so the two sides could discuss business outside the office. Tyler executives won't say exactly when they hired Doherty, only that it was sometime in 'late 2016.' Doherty didn't formally report any lobbying activity for Tyler until March 2017. It was a pivotal time for the company. In 2015, Tyler won a $30 million contract to upgrade and digitize the county's property tax system, but in October 2016 the company blew its first major deadline. In a separate contract signed earlier that year, the Supreme Court had agreed to pay Tyler Technologies $8.4 million to digitally connect it to each of the state's 102 county clerk offices. And, despite concerns from some county commissioners regarding Tyler's problems in other localities, the company was trying to score yet a third contract worth $36.5 million to bring the Cook County Circuit Court database into the 21st century. A review of email correspondence, court and contract records and dozens of interviews by Injustice Watch and the Chicago Tribune reveals how Doherty went to work for his new client. He set up key meetings to lobby Tyler critics. He invited the county's chief technology officer — who was then hashing out final details on its second county contract — to speak at the City Club. And, at another City Club event, Tyler's vice president of sales was placed at the same table as County Commissioner John Fritchey — chair of the board's Technology and Innovation Committee and a leading Tyler skeptic. Over the next three years, Doherty lobbied for Tyler as it navigated blown deadlines and pursued new procurement opportunities even as failed rollouts had some county elected officials calling on Preckwinkle — who as board president was invited to speak 17 times at the City Club during Doherty's tenure — to fire Tyler. Tyler was not fired. Instead, what began as a series of three contracts for a total of $75 million has now ballooned to more than $250 million. A decade later, one of the projects has yet to reach its declared finish line, another is reaching completion this month after a yearslong delay, and the third is still in need of fixes — dogged by slowdowns and shortcomings. Tyler touted its Cook County contract wins to become a national powerhouse in local government technology, reporting $2.1 billion in revenues from taxpayer-financed contracts last year alone. After Doherty's three-year run shepherding Tyler through numerous controversies, the company fired him in 2019 following media reports that federal authorities raided his offices and the City Club as part of their ComEd investigation. Doherty's lobbying methods only came to light through federal trial testimony, Cook County Bureau of Technology emails obtained through the open records act, and internal City Club records obtained by the Tribune and Injustice Watch. Doherty, 71, and his attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. Tyler executives said, through a spokesperson, the company's contract with Doherty required him to comply 'with all applicable laws. Within approximately two business days of learning about the allegations against Mr. Doherty, Tyler ended its agreement with him. Tyler has had no relationship with him since that time. Tyler was not involved in any investigation or prosecution of Mr. Doherty.' The son of a small city mayor in McHenry County, Doherty in the 1980s became an important fundraiser and political consultant for Democratic candidates in Chicago, including members of the Kennedy family and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. He kept six Rolodexes on the credenza behind his office chair and would flip through the cards, cradling a phone to one ear, one former lobbying associate recalled. In 1985, Doherty began his professional relationship with ComEd, receiving a $10,000-per-year retainer to lobby Washington's City Hall, where he claimed to have saved the utility more than $50 million, according to exhibits and testimony in Doherty's federal criminal trial. Ten years later, he began serving as the unpaid president of the City Club of Chicago, a 122-year-old nonprofit civic organization hosting bipartisan candidates' debates, journalist panels and speeches by political heavyweights from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. But starting in 2011 Doherty began using his lobbying firm, Jay Doherty & Associates, to funnel $1.3 million from ComEd to four Madigan allies for no-show subcontractor positions 'to influence and reward' Madigan, who helped orchestrate passage of three ComEd legislative proposals worth at least $150 million to the utility, prosecutors alleged. The utility admitted its role in the bribery scheme and agreed to pay the government a $200 million fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. Madigan was charged in a connected but separate case in which he was convicted in February on bribery and conspiracy charges. Madigan is set to be sentenced Friday. Doherty was convicted in 2023 of six counts, including conspiracy and falsifying records. His sentencing date is scheduled for August. A relentless political consultant who worked long hours and on holidays, Doherty kept much of his work for Tyler and others out of the public eye. Fellow lobbyists say he rarely contacted targets at board meetings, instead peppering county officials with short emails to arrange private meetings and phone calls. Lobbying records show Doherty's one-man firm had at least 27 clients since 2014, but also show Doherty sometimes failed to disclose his activity as required. In 2021, the city fined him $75,000 for failing to register as a lobbyist for three companies. His trial also revealed how much he leaned into his position as president of one of Illinois' most venerable civic organizations to boost his lobbying clients. In one wiretapped conversation with another ComEd lobbyist who turned government witness, Fidel Marquez, Doherty explained why ComEd made significant charitable donations to the City Club while paying his lobbying retainer, which rose to $450,000 per year. ComEd executives understood the importance of the City Club as a place where Doherty could facilitate informal contacts with government officials, he told Marquez. 'They saw the value of being able to sit next to people in soft situations,' Doherty told Marquez in February 2019 as Marquez wore an FBI wire. Marquez responded: 'No, they, they, they know very, very well the value of a good relationship.' 'Yeah, and, and a soft relationship,' Doherty responded. 'A soft one, yes,' Marquez said. Marquez explained on the witness stand in Doherty's criminal trial that Doherty enabled ComEd leaders to appear as featured City Club speakers, and arranged for them to sit alongside government officials at the head table with the event's speaker, where they could 'get to chat with them for a little while.' At least half a dozen times, Doherty introduced ComEd executives at City Club events without mentioning he was also the company's lobbyist, the nonprofit's online archive shows. It helped boost the revenues of City Club — which raised and spent more than $1 million per year — when Doherty featured government officials who oversaw contracts as luncheon speakers, and brought in his clients to sit with them at reserved tables where they could talk privately, according to interviews and trial testimony. They were the same tactics Doherty used to benefit Tyler, the Tribune and Injustice Watch found. Four months before he reported any official work as Tyler's lobbyist, Doherty began taking steps that would benefit the rapidly growing Texas tech company. Among his late 2016 moves was booking Cook County's chief technology officer, Simona Rollinson, as a featured City Club speaker for the first time since she took the job four years earlier. Emails show Doherty had lobbied Rollinson for several years on behalf of other tech clients. He did not note that work or Tyler when he introduced Rollinson before her appearance at the City Club on Feb. 21, 2017. In her speech about ongoing efforts to upgrade the county's aging computer systems, she took credit for being a tough tech contract negotiator. Without naming Tyler, she declared the company was on schedule to install cloud-based, mass appraisal software for the county. 'We're going live with the assessor's office next year,' Rollinson announced. Her City Club prediction would prove premature. Tyler's revamp of basic Cook County assessor's office functions — called iasWorld — was scheduled to go live in December 2018, but it did not happen until 2021 after years of complaints about delays and cross-accusations of incompetence, government records show. In the weeks before and after Rollinson's City Club speech, final negotiations for Tyler's court contract were also taking place behind the scenes, records show. In emails, county and Tyler officials grappled over remaining sticking points, formed strategies to address board opposition, and discussed their talking points. Emails and lobbying disclosures also show Rollinson was scheduled to meet with Doherty and two of his other tech clients in the days leading up to crucial board votes. Rollinson, who no longer works in government, did not respond to requests for comment from the Tribune and Injustice Watch. On March 21, 2017, Tyler Vice President of Sales Eric Cullison met with Fritchey and separately with tech committee vice chair, Sean Morrison, to discuss their concerns about the pending $36.5 million contract with Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown, Cullison's lobbying records show. At a County Board hearing the next day, Commissioner Robert Steele raised questions about problems Tyler was having in other parts of the country. County Court Clerk Dorothy Brown's top deputy, Bridget Dancy, said at the hearing county officials reached out to other satisfied counties, and Tyler had demonstrated they knew how to convert and transfer data. Much of the data, images and talking points Dancy used originated from Cullison, emails show. Contacted by phone, Dancy said all the information she used came from other county officials. After the hearing, commissioners 'returned' it for further study until the next month. Although he had already been under contract with Tyler for months, Doherty registered his first lobbying activity for the company that day, disclosing the meetings with Rollinson, Fritchey and Morrison. Three weeks later, records show Cullison reported lobbying Rollinson at an April 10 'event' the day before a crucial Finance Committee vote. Although Cullison did not report any details about the event, Fritchey recalled being seated at the speaker's table with Cullison at a City Club luncheon. The next day, the Cook County Board approved the court clerk's $36.5 million contract with Tyler. Fritchey voted 'present.' 'It wasn't lost on me that it was one of the only times I recalled sitting at the City Club speaker's table or that I was seated with one of Jay's clients who had a large pending matter before my committee,' Fritchey said in an interview. 'You unfortunately can't help but think that he was leveraging his role at one of Chicago's leading civic institutions in furtherance of his private lobbying activities.' Charities such as the City Club can jeopardize their tax-exempt status if they're used to enrich their own officers, allegations Doherty had successfully faced down years before. In 2009, longtime City Club board member Kathy Posner complained to then-state Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office about Doherty's use of the club's staff, downtown office and power-elite database for his political consulting business. In response to the allegations, the City Club hired three attorneys who once worked in the AG's office to negotiate an agreement with Lisa Madigan's office. The agreement resulted in no violations, but City Club revised its bylaws and corrected its past financial reports — while keeping Doherty on as club president, records and interviews show. 'We investigated the allegations and none of it was true,' said Mike Hayes, one of the three attorneys who defended the City Club against the whistleblower's allegations. A year after the AG's investigation wrapped, in 2011, Doherty began working covertly with associates of Lisa Madigan's father, Speaker Madigan, according to trial testimony. He continued using City Club's offices and staff for his private lobbying work and showcasing his clients at club events, according to trial testimony and court records. He listed the City Club offices as his lobbying business' address; an administrative aide split her time between the club and his lobbying firm; and filing cabinets at the City Club office held folders on lobbying activity by two of Speaker Madigan's no-show subcontractors. 'If the AG had done its job and stopped Jay in his tracks back then, he wouldn't have been able to keep abusing City Club's tax-exempt status for his lobbying,' Posner said in a recent interview. Lisa Madigan declined to comment, but top staffers who investigated the City Club allegations in 2009 said she never meddled in the probe. In an email response to questions, Tyler executives said Doherty was recommended by a 'highly respected and well-established' vendor the company refused to name. The company said the vendor called Doherty 'a resource who could help Tyler navigate the County's complicated operational landscape.' Doherty reported Tyler paid him $45,325 to lobby Cook County officials. Tyler would not confirm his compensation or respond to other specific questions about Doherty's work. Tyler said Doherty's role was limited to Cook County, and he did not 'engage with' the Illinois Supreme Court, which had a separate contract at the same time. By the fall of 2017, Tyler faced serious problems on its Cook County property tax contract. Rollinson by then had become one of Tyler's critics. On Nov. 15, 2017, Rollinson wrote to Tyler 'to express my concern regarding Tyler's management.' Doherty met with her the same day, his lobbyist disclosure reports show. Doherty's last lobbying contact with Rollinson was in May 2018, records showed, but days later, she left her county post and moved back to the private sector. 'Jay, like most lobbyists, was more interested in lining his pockets than protecting taxpayers from dubious business and utility deals,' said Andy Shaw, a former executive director of the Better Government Association where he acted as liaison for City Club whistleblowers. 'This, sadly, is the 'Chicago Way' — on steroids.' .
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Martha's Vineyard residents fume over arrests of illegal immigrants in liberal enclave
Martha's Vineyard residents are unhappy with the Trump administration deporting illegal immigrants from their liberal enclave, The Washington Post reported this week. The community has been reeling since Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers arrested dozens of illegal immigrants in a recent raid, according to the report. "It's bullying," one Martha's Vineyard resident, Charlie Giordano, told the Post. "I don't know how many are illegal or legal, I don't give a s---. But I do care about how they're treated." The Washington Post's story on the Martha's Vineyard ICE raid comes as the federal law enforcement agency has been the focus of riots in downtown Los Angeles for the past several days. ICE agents carried out operations at businesses across Los Angeles on Friday, sparking protests and clashes outside multiple locations that grew so chaotic that President Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops into the city, followed by several hundred U.S. Marines, to restore order. Some California officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have accused the administration of exacerbating the situation. As the Post reported, ICE agents performed a massive sting throughout Massachusetts in late May that resulted in nearly 1,500 arrests. Forty of those arrests happened on the two islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The arrests have ignited "fear among undocumented workers who form the backbone of the workforce here just as the busy summer season gets underway," the outlet reported. "After the raid, many immigrants panicked and shuttered themselves indoors. Many spoke to The Washington Post only on the condition of anonymity because they fear being targeted the next time ICE arrives on the island. They recounted taking extraordinary measures that day and in the week after to protect themselves," the Post said, adding that the liberal community on the island had been shaken as well. "The arrests hit a nerve in a liberal enclave known for welcoming everyone: presidents — former president Barack Obama has an oceanfront property here — LGBTQ+ activists, racial minorities, celebrities and a large cluster of immigrants from Brazil," the paper noted. One Brazilian resident, who admitted to the Post he is undocumented, warned that the local economy will crater because of the arrests and deportations. The anonymous man, who also owns three businesses in Martha's Vineyard, said, "The money is just going to stop flowing. The U.S. is only losing in pushing us out." The Island has become a safe haven for many illegal immigrants from Brazil in recent decades as they fled their home country due to hyperinflation and other economic problems. According to the outlet, many came over on work or tourist visas, but ended up staying in the country. The Post reported that these immigrants "established businesses offering food and cleaning services that are now crucial to daily life in a resort town. Today there are few restaurant menus here that don't offer Brazilian-inspired options like croquettes or traditional cheesy bread." It noted just how prevalent the Portuguese language is within the community as well. An anonymous Brazilian woman, who owns a business and has raised three children on the island, told the paper, "The American people love us because we work so hard to help the community prosper and grow." "This was a safe place," she added. Residents said that the recent arrests "felt arbitrary and included valued community members who had committed no crime," according to the Post. A Brazilian pastor on the island told the outlet, "ICE would come here to get criminals and that is good. But the way they did it now, that was not it." However, the paper acknowledged ICE's recent statement disputing those claims. According to the agency, more than half of all the illegal immigrants detained in Massachusetts last month had a criminal record. ICE did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Martha's Vineyard was at the center of the nation's immigration debate in 2022, when Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered 50 illegal immigrants detained in Florida to be flown to the island. DeSantis was attempting to highlight the record influx of migrants at the southern border.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Editorial: A win for the rule of law — Abrego Garcia return is first step in accountability for Trump deportations
Finally obeying the Supreme Court's ruling 9-0 to return to the U.S. Kilmar Abrego García, the Maryland man with legal protections who was illegally sent to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador, the Trump administration has followed the law and brought him back. That is good. But this being the Trump administration, Abrego García is now suddenly facing multiple federal criminal charges surrounding the allegation that he once ferried people in the country illegally to different states. Whether the indictment is solid or not, Abrego García will now have competent legal defense and will be before independent judges. He is entitled to all protections that are due under the Constitution, which the disappearance of him to El Salvador abrogated. There are no new facts in this case, only what was substantially already known to investigators and prosecutors. There could be myriad reasons why federal law enforcement did not take any action beforehand, ranging from lack of evidence to simple resource allocation. But what is certain is that only reason why they're pursuing it now: to send the signal that the Trump government won't tolerate questioning its enforcement efforts, and that if you become enough of a public thorn in their side — even if it is the result of popular outrage you don't have any hand in — they'll go after you. As predictable as a ploy, as this is, it's at least a good thing that he will not remain in the Salvadoran prison system; at this point, he's the only publicly-known person to ever leave CECOT alive. In the United States, he'll have access to the still-active protections of our legal system and can actually fight acknowledged charges with his attorneys. To state the obvious, this is a pretty clear indication that the administration always could get the Salvadorans to return custody. The insistence of Attorney General Pam Bondi and others that they had no ability to correct their acknowledged error was always a lie, and there should be consequences for that lie. Maryland Federal Judge Paula Xinis, who issued the original order for his return, has already set the groundwork to hold federal officials in contempt, and she should continue to explore that avenue even though he's now been brought back. The fact of Abrego Garcia's return does not mean that everything is above board with regards to the administration's use of CECOT or Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, under which most of the other detainees were sent. This was merely the case where the administration had most individually and egregiously violated the law, but, as D.C. Federal Judge James Boasberg recently ruled, every single removal under that policy — which to remind readers is based on the absurd conceit that the United States is in something akin to war against Venezuela — was unlawful. This isn't over until the government returns every person removed under the AEA and stops contracting with a foreign government to indefinitely imprison people on no charge, a policy for which it has never laid out any legal basis. The public outrage that was struck by Abrego Garcia's detention and removal should extend to all others who remain held there without charge, and to all of the people the administration continues to detain every day just for trying to follow the law. _____
