An insurance firm is ordered to pay $44M in a lawsuit filed by a man freed from prison in Missouri
Most of the money would go to Ryan Ferguson, whose legal battle with Minnesota-based St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co. in Missouri's courts started in 2017, about six weeks after he won a federal lawsuit against six Columbia police officers. Ferguson was convicted in 2004 of killing Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt but was released from prison in 2013 after a state appeals court panel concluded that he hadn't received a fair trial. Ferguson maintained his innocence.
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Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Nigeria says it has arrested 2 militant leaders on its most wanted list
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The leaders of two militant groups on Nigeria 's most wanted list have been arrested in an operation involving multiple agencies, the West African country's national security adviser said Saturday. The two leaders were allegedly the heads of Ansaru, an al-Qaida -linked group, and Mahmuda, a relatively new and lesser-known militant group. Mahmuda gained national prominence after a string of attacks earlier this year in the country's north-central region. Nigeria's northern region is home to numerous armed groups. Officials said the arrests came in an operation conducted between May and July and that they recovered valuable materials including digital evidence that is undergoing forensic analysis and could lead to more arrests. The arrested leaders are Mahmud Muhammad Usman of Ansaru and Mahmud al-Nigeri of the Mahmuda group. Both men are also wanted internationally, according to Nuhu Ribadu, the security adviser. 'These two men have been on Nigeria's most-wanted list for years. They jointly spearheaded multiple attacks on civilians, security forces and critical infrastructure,' Ribadu said at a news conference. He said the arrested leaders are responsible for the Kuje prison attack in 2022 that led to the escape of dozens of jailed Boko Haram members and an attack on the Niger uranium facility in 2013, among others. Ribadu said they maintain 'active links with terrorist groups across the Maghreb, particularly in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.' Nigeria faces a complex, multidimensional security challenge with various armed groups operating across the country. On one side are religiously motivated groups, including 16-year-old Boko Haram and its splinter factions like Ansaru and the Islamic State West Africa Province. On the other are amorphous groups specializing in kidnapping for ransom and looting and commonly referred to as bandits. Sometimes, their activities overlap. Despite military assaults on the groups, they have continued to expand their operations and carry out routine attacks. This year, Boko Haram has mounted a major resurgence. The U.S. government on Wednesday approved the sale of $346 million in arms to bolster Nigeria's fight against insurgency and criminal groups. 'The successful decapitation of the leadership of this dangerous franchise marks the most decisive blow against ANSARU since its inception. This strike has effectively dismantled its central command while paving the path for the complete annihilation of the group,' Ribadu said. Oluwole Ojewale, a Dakar-based security analyst at the Institute of Security Studies, says the significant arrest will test the resilience of Ansaru and its capacity to spring surprises or mount major attacks in the immediate term. 'The impacts of this arrest on the terrorist groups depend on what the Nigerian state security does with the intelligence at their disposal,' he said.
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Michigan autoworker's wallet found under hood in Minnesota — 243,000 km later
Social Sharing A retired Michigan autoworker looked at a Facebook message after midnight from a stranger: Did you lose your wallet years ago? "If so," a Minnesota man wrote, "it was in the engine bay of a car." Richard Guilford couldn't believe what he was reading on his phone — a decade-old mystery was remarkably solved. Guilford's tri-fold leather wallet — stuffed with $15 US, a driver's licence, work ID, gift cards worth $275 and lottery tickets - had turned up under the hood of a car in a repair shop in Lake Crystal, Minn. A Christmas gift from Guilford's sons was suddenly a family treasure again. "Big Red," as he was affectionately known at Ford Motor, was in awe. "It restores your faith in humanity that people will say, 'Hey, you lost this, I found this, I'm going to get it back to you,'" Guilford said Thursday. The wallet was discovered in June by mechanic Chad Volk, sandwiched between the transmission and the air filter box of a 2015 Ford Edge with approximately 243,000 kilometres on it. "Crazy," Volk said. The filter box wouldn't snap in place after a repair, he said, "so I messed around a little bit and then pulled it back out and the wallet was sitting on a little ledge where it needed to snap down. I pulled the wallet out and that's what it was." Turn back the calendar to 2014, around Christmas. Guilford was working on the same car at a Ford factory in Wayne, Mich. It was in a long line of new vehicles assembled elsewhere that needed extra electrical work before being shipped to dealers. Guilford realized later that his wallet had fallen out of his shirt pocket. He was certain he had lost it in a car, but figured it was on the floor of a Ford Flex, not an Edge, and certainly not in the engine. Guilford said he searched 30 to 40 cars, and his co-workers looked at dozens more, "just opening the doors up, looking under the seats, looking behind it." "I can't take too much time to look for this because I gotta work. I'm on the clock," he recalled feeling. "No luck. Life went on." Guilford, now 56 and living in Petersburg, Mich., retired from Ford in 2024 after nearly 35 years. He had put the wallet out of his mind long ago, until getting the message on Facebook, where his profile said he had worked at Ford. Volk messaged a photo of the wallet and included the driver's license. "Big Red" saw a younger version of himself with his red-tinged beard. "The amazing part to me was it was so protected," Guilford said of the wallet as he also traced the car's history. "Think about this: 11 years, rain, snow. It was in Minnesota, for crying out loud. It was in Arizona when it was bought. Think about how hot a transmission gets in Arizona driving down the road. That's incredible." Ford spokesperson Said Deep called it a "repair that's right on the money," adding: "Can you imagine the odds?" Cabela's, an outdoor retailer, said the $250 US in gift cards remain valid, but it has offered to give him new cards anyway. Guilford doesn't know the status of a $25 US card from Outback Steakhouse. The numbers on the lottery tickets in the wallet faded long ago. "I'm going to put everything back in it and leave it just like it is, and it's gonna sit at the house in the china cabinet and that's for my kids," said Guilford, a part-time auctioneer. "They can tell my great-grandkids about it. We're big into stories. I like tellin' stories. That's just who I am."
CTV News
a day ago
- CTV News
Fisherman finds car tied to 1960s cold case in Minnesota river
A Minnesota fisherman made an unlikely discovery while trying to catch walleye, finding a car tied to a 1960s cold case with his sonar equipment.
