Latest news with #FreedomofInformationAct
New York Post
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
It just got $9 million cheaper for Bill Belichick to blow off UNC football
The Bill Belichick contract wrinkle that sees his buyout drop by $9 million before he even coaches a game for North Carolina is in effect. When he was hired as coach of the Tar Heels in December, Belichick's contract buyout started at $10 million per year, but the 73-year-old apparently negotiated a clause that sees the number drop to $1 million as of June 1. When the clause was uncovered shortly after Belichick's hire, widespread belief was that it was an escape valve for the former Patriots head coach to easily return to the NFL. 3 Bill Belichick during a North Carolina spring practice on June 1, 2025. Getty Images While that might have been the intention at one point, it's become a lot more understandable since then why the NFL hasn't touched the former Super Bowl champion since the Patriots fired him. Belichick's tenure at UNC has so far been completely overshadowed by the ongoing saga surrounding his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson. Hudson, who is 49 years Belichick's junior, has become an inextricable part of the story at North Carolina. Throughout the offseason, reports have surfaced of her increasing influence on the head coach and the story went nuclear when she shot down a question on 'CBS Sunday Morning' about how the two met, saying — off-camera — 'We're not talking about this.' 3 Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson leave the Miss Maine USA pageant holding hands on May 11, 2025. Toby Canham for NY Post 3 Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson at the NFL Honors on Feb. 6, 2025. AP Their relationship has become a daily talking point as a result, with podcaster Pablo Torre breaking a number of high-profile stories around the relationship and recently threatening to sue UNC over failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests. Hudson called Torre's reporting 'factually incorrect, slanderous, defamatory and targeted' in an Instagram story that was quickly taken down after his episode investigating Ring doorbell camera footage of Belichick leaving a rendezvous with Hudson. Given that no one in the NFL was hiring Belichick before all this was happening, it's impossible to believe someone would now, regardless of his buyout. Belichick's contract with UNC runs through 2029.
Chicago Tribune
16 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
As residents and dogs again fill Chicago parks, data shows fewer than 1 in 4 reported bites result in citations
Ed Wolf doesn't quite recall the moments between being knocked off his bike and losing a chunk of his face in November 2023. But he remembers the phone call he made to his wife: 'I said, 'You have to come get me. I've been attacked by a pit bull,'' Wolf said. 'And she goes, 'Are you kidding?'' A day and 50 stitches later Wolf, 68, went to the police station to report the bite and found himself navigating a morass of different systems as he tried to draw official attention to the dog's owner. An officer at the Morgan Park District (22nd) police station helped Wolf get started on a bite report, which kickstarts an investigation at Chicago Animal Care and Control. The city department received some 6,435 bite reports between January 2020 and April 30 of this year, according to a Tribune review of data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. For that same period, data shows that CACC has issued about 1,516 citations, for 'unrestrained violations,' to animal owners. The violations cover dogs found to be off-leash in public areas, but not every violation issued pertains to a bite. All of the investigations save a single one were marked closed, leaving residents and city officials alike to complain that the path to hold owners to account after dog attacks is opaque at best and useless at worst. Wolf's was one of them. An animal control investigator spoke with Wolf about the attack, but stated in the report that Wolf didn't know the owner or how to reach him. Someone was trying to locate better information on the dog's owner, according to the investigation report. The Beverly resident said he tried to follow up with Animal Control but never heard back. A copy of the investigation associated with Wolf's bite report showed the inquiry was marked completed, with no listed resolution. 'I would have liked for there to be some consequences to this,' he said. In the 19th Ward, where Wolf lives, canine attacks have been a problem since a woman jogging in the Dan Ryan Woods was mauled to death by a trio of vicious dogs in 2003. More recently, city data shows that bites are up in that ward and citywide since agency received 1,267 bite reports in 2023 and just over 1,300 reports in 2024, according to Chicago Animal Care and Control data. But the number of unrestrained citations it issued dropped by more than half over the same period — from 390 to 177. A CACC representative said in a statement that the department was reviewing Wolf's case and one other closed case listed in a request for comment. The department acknowledged it can be frustrating for the public to deal with multiple agencies in the reporting process, but said it largely relies on the Chicago Police Department for accurate information to push cases forward. CPD representatives didn't respond to multiple requests for Care has been without a permanent leader for more than two years, since then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed Susan Capello as acting director in January 2023. CACC has cut back on its hours for members of the public to bring in animals and is sounding the alarm on a flood of pet surrenders that is testing the capacity of its space and its staff. On Thursday, it reported on social media that 75 animals entered its shelter over a single day. As for why more than three-quarters of the animal bites reported to the agency are closed without a clear resolution, Animal Care and Control Operations Manager Angela Rayburn said investigators contend with missing or inaccurate information in bite reports. 'We have no other way to find the person other than what we're seeing in the official police (report),' she said. Even with the correct information, Rayburn acknowledged, investigators will mark probes closed if they are unable to reach a bite victim or a dog owner. They can reopen investigations if someone calls them back, she added, but said callbacks after the first 24 hours are rare. 'We would probably have over 100 open bite (reports) if we're waiting on people to call us back,' she said. 'We don't want to wait months just to leave it open for someone that's probably never going to call.' A department spokesperson said CACC officials and CPD were working to update a 2019 police order governing how officers handle animal-related incidents. That order directs officers to determine whether biting animals belong to anyone, and fill out bite reports for city and county animal control officials, among other obligations. If an officer can identify an owner, the order requires him or her to cite the owner for any alleged violations of city code. CACC investigators will also work with animal owners to 'address concerns rather than defaulting to citations' when appropriate, according to the statement. 'That said, our ability to issue citations or take enforcement action depends on verifiable information, including victim/witness cooperation and confirmed ownership.' People who have tried to make reports complain of a confusing and frustrating process involving multiple agencies. That can include CPD, Animal Control and potentially Cook County Animal Care and Control, which handles rabies investigations. Ald. Matt O'Shea, 19th, has resorted to getting personally involved on behalf of his constituents who need help getting bites reported and investigated. 'There seems to be a lot of confusion,' O'Shea said. 'But when I'm on the scene or I'm on the phone, or I'm getting an email from someone who was just viciously attacked, and there's a whole lot of 'Oh, that's not us' on the other end, that's a problem.' One of those constituents was Kevin Conroy. Conroy, 37, wasn't even sure where he was supposed to report the attack that left his dog Liam with a half-dozen puncture wounds and a $1,300 vet bill while the pair was out for a run on the Major Taylor Trail last fall. Conroy first called 311, he said, and was then told he needed to go to the police station. He ended up calling the Cook County Forest Preserve to report the bite, which cares for the property on which he and his dog were attacked, and filed a bite report through the Police Department. 'That was the last I heard of that,' he said. A Cook County Forest Preserve spokesperson, reached for comment, said Forest Preserve police documented the attack but didn't get any more information after the initial phone call with Conroy. According to the investigative file associated with Conroy's bite report, an Animal Control investigator conducted a phone interview but wrote that no owner information was available. The file does not list an outcome.
New York Post
a day ago
- Health
- New York Post
Biden admin admitted chances of cancer affecting East Palestine residents after Norfolk Southern crash was ‘not zero,' bombshell emails show
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration admitted possible cancer-causing toxins were spread in East Palestine, Ohio, following the Norfolk Southern train derailment in 2023, explosive new emails show, despite the White House insisting residents were safe. 'The occurrence of a cancer-cluster in EP [East Palestine] is not zero,' FEMA recovery leader James McPherson wrote in a March 29, 2024, email to other public health officials — a little more than a year after the crash. 'As you all are aware, the first 48 hours of the fire created a really toxic plume,' he said in the chain of communications, which were first reported by News Nation. 4 'The occurrence of a cancer-cluster in EP [East Palestine] is not zero,' Federal Emergency Management Agency recovery leader James McPherson wrote in a March 29, 2024, email. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images Just two months earlier, President Biden had excoriated 'multimillion-dollar railroad companies transporting toxic chemicals' for the fiasco — but praised his administration's 'herculean efforts' to resolve the 'vast majority' of East Palestine's problems. The crash spewed harmful chemicals into the air and resulted in 115,000 gallons' worth of carcinogenic vinyl chloride undergoing an open burn — displacing residents and leading to reports of strange illnesses as well as the death of livestock in the weeks following the Feb. 3, 2023, disaster. Michael Regan, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, showed up on Feb. 22 with TV cameras in tow to capture himself drinking from the local water supply, and months later claimed unequivocally that people in East Palestine were 'not in danger.' 4 President Biden excoriated 'multimillion-dollar railroad companies transporting toxic chemicals' for the fiasco — but praised his administration's 'herculean efforts.' AP 'Since the disaster, EPA has collected more than 100 million air monitoring data points and more than 25 thousand samples in and around the community,' Regan said in an Oct. 17, 2023, statement. 'This data collection continues, and ongoing science-based reviews show that residents of East Palestine are not in danger from contaminated drinking water, soil, or air from the derailment.' But a watchdog group that has been investigating the toxic fallout from the train derailment said the Biden administration's approach was 'flawed' from the start — and has now released emails obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests to prove it. 4 Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan showed up on Feb. 22 with TV cameras in tow to capture himself drinking from the local water supply. C-SPAN 'They didn't always test for the right chemicals; they didn't test in the right locations; they didn't have the right detection limits,' Government Accountability Project investigator Lesley Pacey told The Post, saying the Biden admin wasn't 'worrying about public health' but, rather 'public reassurances.' 'They delayed testing for dioxin, and then when they did the testing for dioxin — and also did the testing in people's homes for other chemicals — they used Norfolk Southern contractors, and those contractors used equipment that wasn't correct,' said Pacey, who's been investigating the incident. 'They completely botched this event from the very beginning.' So-called 'ASPECT' planes that monitor air quality weren't deployed due to apparent bad weather until four days after the derailment, she added, when they should have been flown within eight hours of the incident. 4 The federal response also lacked robust monitoring of the water supply and ignored agency policies in order to burn the harmful chemicals, according to Pacey, leaving East Palestine natives 'acutely very, very ill.' Bloomberg via Getty Images The federal response also lacked robust monitoring of the water supply and ignored agency policies in order to burn the harmful chemicals, according to Pacey, allowing East Palestine natives to get 'very, very ill.' The new emails — including batches from FEMA, the EPA, the White House, the National Security Council and the Justice Department, which later settled with Norfolk Southern for $310 million to redress harms to the Ohio community — also show that one year after the chaos admin officials were still discussing the need to develop a 'tripwire to identify cancer clusters.' Biden, who was diagnosed earlier this month with an 'aggressive' form of prostate cancer that has already spread to his bones, often claimed that his late son Beau died from a brain cancer possibly caused by exposure to toxic fumes while serving in Iraq. He also claimed in a 2022 speech that he had cancer due to growing up near oil refineries in Claymont, Delaware, though the White House maintained he was referencing 'non-melanoma skin cancers' that had previously been removed.
Indianapolis Star
a day ago
- Indianapolis Star
Emilie Kiser asks to 'grieve in private.' Why public records could be released anyway.
As Emilie Kiser sues to prevent the release of records about her son's death, an Arizona judge will weigh whether the influencer's right to privacy outweighs the public's right to access. Kiser's 3-year-old son Trigg died on May 18 after days earlier he was pulled from a backyard pool in Chandler, Arizona, police previously confirmed to USA TODAY. In a lawsuit filed in Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County on May 27, Kiser is pushing to keep records about what the lawsuit referred to as an accidental drowning, out of public view. Kiser's attorneys said in the filing that she and her family "desperately want to grieve in private, but sadly, the public will not let them," adding that her son's death "has become a media frenzy." However, the lawsuit is still slated to go through the court, and a judge could rule to release the records anyway. "It's going to vary from case to case — a ruling like this, it's in the judge's discretion," Craig Weiner, a partner at Blank Rome law firm, told USA TODAY. Emilie Kiser lawsuit Influencer sues to keep records about son Trigg's drowning death private Across the country, documents such as police reports and 911 calls are public record, meaning they must be accessible to the public. The general reason for this is to keep citizens aware of their government, according to the Cornell Legal Information Institute. At the federal level, the Freedom of Information Act requires government agencies to disclose information to the public. Each state, however, has its own laws in place around what kinds of records can be released. In some cases, like Kiser's, individuals can ask a court to seal records that would ordinarily be public. Kiser's lawsuit said more than 100 requests were filed with the City of Chandler and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office for access to public records related to Trigg's death. USA TODAY filed a request on May 15 — three days after the initial drowning call — with the City of Chandler for access to the police report. However, there are stipulations around the release of public records, and police often redact portions of these items. In Arizona, for example, officials can redact parts of video recordings to protect a victim's rights, according to Arizona's legislature. In Arizona, a court can rule to keep public records private if the release could cause "substantial and irreparable private or public harm," according to the Arizona Legislature. Kiser's lawsuit alleges that the records have been requested for "commercial purposes," rather than the purpose of monitoring the government. Arizona law does not consider requesting records for the purposes of news gathering to be a commercial purpose, according to Arizona Ombudsman Citizens' Aide. Influencer privacy Emilie Kiser's son Trigg's death shows how little privacy public figures get The fact that Kiser is an individual with a public persona could likely play into a judge's decision in this case, Weiner told USA TODAY. "The public has an interest in newsworthy events," Weiner said. "This is a high profile person. They are in the news. And what makes it even more, they put themselves out there." Because influencers publicize their lives for the purpose of monetization, Weiner said Kiser's career could be a factor. "I assume that this influencer monetizes their social media," Weiner said. "So to try to claim it that a news story is a commercial purpose, I don't see it." While everyone has a right to privacy, a judge may be more inclined to ensure that right to a private citizen over a public figure like an influencer, Weiner said. "The difference here is what they're sharing," Weiner said. "You can't turn around and say, 'this is affecting my privacy' when you posted a picture of your house and your kids." Still, Weiner said Kiser did the "right thing by going to the judge." "They're concerned that the publication of it will cause all types of stress, emotional distress to to the family, to the parents," Weiner said. The lawsuit says the release of the records would be a "profound invasion of privacy" and cause "irreparable harm" to Kiser's family. Kiser is "going through a parent's worst nightmare right now," the lawsuit said. "Emilie is trying her best to be there for her surviving son, two-month-old Theodore," it said. "But every day is a battle."
USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
Emilie Kiser asks to 'grieve in private.' Why public records could be released anyway.
Emilie Kiser asks to 'grieve in private.' Why public records could be released anyway. Show Caption Hide Caption Influencer Emilie Kiser loses 3-year-old son after drowning incident Influencer Emilie Kiser's 3-year-old son Trigg died after a drowning incident in Arizona. Police say he was discovered unconscious in backyard pool. Times of India - English As Emilie Kiser sues to prevent the release of records about her son's death, an Arizona judge will weigh whether the influencer's right to privacy outweighs the public's right to access. Kiser's 3-year-old son Trigg died on May 18 after days earlier he was pulled from a backyard pool in Chandler, Arizona, police previously confirmed to USA TODAY. In a lawsuit filed in Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County on May 27, Kiser is pushing to keep records about what the lawsuit referred to as an accidental drowning, out of public view. Kiser's attorneys said in the filing that she and her family "desperately want to grieve in private, but sadly, the public will not let them," adding that her son's death "has become a media frenzy." However, the lawsuit is still slated to go through the court, and a judge could rule to release the records anyway. "It's going to vary from case to case — a ruling like this, it's in the judge's discretion," Craig Weiner, a partner at Blank Rome law firm, told USA TODAY. Emilie Kiser lawsuit Influencer sues to keep records about son Trigg's drowning death private What are public records? Why are police reports public? Across the country, documents such as police reports and 911 calls are public record, meaning they must be accessible to the public. The general reason for this is to keep citizens aware of their government, according to the Cornell Legal Information Institute. At the federal level, the Freedom of Information Act requires government agencies to disclose information to the public. Each state, however, has its own laws in place around what kinds of records can be released. In some cases, like Kiser's, individuals can ask a court to seal records that would ordinarily be public. Kiser's lawsuit said more than 100 requests were filed with the City of Chandler and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office for access to public records related to Trigg's death. USA TODAY filed a request on May 15 — three days after the initial drowning call — with the City of Chandler for access to the police report. However, there are stipulations around the release of public records, and police often redact portions of these items. In Arizona, for example, officials can redact parts of video recordings to protect a victim's rights, according to Arizona's legislature. What does Arizona's law say? In Arizona, a court can rule to keep public records private if the release could cause "substantial and irreparable private or public harm," according to the Arizona Legislature. Kiser's lawsuit alleges that the records have been requested for "commercial purposes," rather than the purpose of monitoring the government. Arizona law does not consider requesting records for the purposes of news gathering to be a commercial purpose, according to Arizona Ombudsman Citizens' Aide. Influencer privacy Emilie Kiser's son Trigg's death shows how little privacy public figures get Kiser's internet fame could impact decision The fact that Kiser is an individual with a public persona could likely play into a judge's decision in this case, Weiner told USA TODAY. "The public has an interest in newsworthy events," Weiner said. "This is a high profile person. They are in the news. And what makes it even more, they put themselves out there." Because influencers publicize their lives for the purpose of monetization, Weiner said Kiser's career could be a factor. "I assume that this influencer monetizes their social media," Weiner said. "So to try to claim it that a news story is a commercial purpose, I don't see it." While everyone has a right to privacy, a judge may be more inclined to ensure that right to a private citizen over a public figure like an influencer, Weiner said. "The difference here is what they're sharing," Weiner said. "You can't turn around and say, 'this is affecting my privacy' when you posted a picture of your house and your kids." 'A parent's worst nightmare' Still, Weiner said Kiser did the "right thing by going to the judge." "They're concerned that the publication of it will cause all types of stress, emotional distress to to the family, to the parents," Weiner said. The lawsuit says the release of the records would be a "profound invasion of privacy" and cause "irreparable harm" to Kiser's family. Kiser is "going through a parent's worst nightmare right now," the lawsuit said. "Emilie is trying her best to be there for her surviving son, two-month-old Theodore," it said. "But every day is a battle." Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at
