Latest news with #Griggs
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Killer who hid pregnant wife's body under patio for 23 years asked son to dig up her remains
A 'callous' father who murdered his wife and hid her body under a patio for 23 years asked their son to dig her up and send a hair to police in an audacious plot to clear his own name. Andrew Griggs, who is already serving a life sentence with a minimum of 20 years for killing devoted mother-of-three Debbie Griggs, has been jailed for three more years after he tried to manipulate one of their sons into exhuming her body from prison. The former fisherman, 62, was convicted of Ms Griggs' murder in 2019 following a cold case investigation into her disappearance in 1999, after she vanished while she was three months pregnant with their fourth child. Her body had never been found. Despite maintaining his innocence, he later revealed to his son in a prison visit that her remains were sealed in a water butt buried under the concrete base of a shed at his home in Dorset. He instructed him to dig it up, remove a strand of her hair, take it abroad and post it back to the UK with a letter pretending to be from Ms Griggs to prove she was still alive. Specialist officers and staff excavated the back garden of his home in St Leonards, Dorset, in October 2022. Her body was found in a barrel-shaped container wrapped in blue tarpaulin under the base of what had previously been a lean-to shed. Also inside were clothes along with a pillowcase, duvet and a boot liner matching one missing from the mother's Peugeot 306. It is believed Griggs wrapped the clothing he was wearing when he killed the former nurse in the boot liner before placing them on top of her inside the container. When Griggs was interviewed about the discovery, he declined to answer any questions but delivered a pre-prepared statement in which he still maintained he was not responsible for Ms Grigg's death. He claimed he found a body inside a container in someone else's garden around two years after he had reported her missing. He said he panicked and encased the container in fibreglass before someone else buried it, and although he suspected it was beneath his garden shed he did not know for sure. Griggs was charged with perverting the course of justice, which he later admitted, and obstructing a coroner in the execution of their duty. In a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday he was ordered to serve an additional three years in prison. Detective Chief Inspector Neil Kimber said Griggs' lies and attempt to recruit a family member to clear his own name are an 'insult' to the mother's memory. 'Debbie Griggs was a devoted mother whose love for her three children was never in doubt, and it is inconceivable that she would have ever walked out on them,' he said. 'Her husband Andrew has known this ever since he first reported her missing, by which point he had already brutally murdered Debbie and hidden her body. He then continued to lie and manipulate others even after her remains were eventually discovered, making up further ridiculous stories that are an insult to Debbie's memory and to everyone who continues to mourn her loss. 'The fact he asked a family member to dig up her remains shows what a callous and selfish person he is, sparing little to no thought as to the deeply devastating effect such an act would likely have on that person. 'Andrew Griggs is already serving a life sentence for Debbie's murder but our investigation into these further offences was about more than achieving another positive court outcome. 'It was about securing justice for Debbie and her family and friends, and ensuring the general public know exactly the lengths Griggs was willing to go to in order to escape the consequences of his disgusting actions.' Katie Samways from the Crown Prosecution Service said the case was 'one of the worst examples imaginable' of perverting the course of justice. 'Andrew Griggs spent decades lying to everyone around him, claiming that Debbie's disappearance was nothing to do with him,' she added. 'Once convicted of her murder, in a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, he tried to manipulate his son into helping him in the most appalling way possible. 'Griggs deliberately failed to reveal the location of Debbie's body, adding immeasurably to the distress of her family and friends.' She added: 'None of us can imagine the impact that Griggs' actions have had on everyone around him. 'Now, more than 25 years after Debbie first disappeared, we hope that her family and friends can now finally put this chapter of their lives behind them, knowing Andrew Griggs has been fully held to account not just for Debbie's murder, but also for the lies he continually told in the intervening period.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NHL's Lightning Bolt to Scripps Sports, ViewLift for Local Games
The Tampa Bay Lightning is the latest sports team to offer games to fans through free over-the-air television. The three-time Stanley Cup champions have signed a multiyear local broadcast agreement with Scripps Sports. Except for nationally televised games, all regular season games and the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be shown on WXPX-TV (Channel 66), Scripps' Ion Television affiliate station. Advertisement More from On July 1, WXPX will be rebranded as 'The Spot – Tampa 66,' and it will continue to broadcast news and entertainment programs alongside Lightning telecasts. Steve Griggs, the team's CEO and vice chairman, said the challenges faced by RSNs had little to do with their decision. Instead, he said, Tampa Bay wants to prioritize local reach. 'We continue to do our research on our fans about what's important to them,' Griggs said in a phone interview. 'Access was the key to watching our games, and we wanted to create something that had no barriers, that is free and easy for all of our fans to watch across Tampa Bay.' Advertisement Griggs also connected with his two of his counterparts—Florida Panthers CEO Matt Caldwell and Las Vegas Golden Knights CEO Kerry Bubolz—to learn how those teams made the switch to Scripps Sports and local streaming TV. 'We've had conversations over the last year about their ability to expand their audience and what they did with their DTC platform,' he said. 'If you're looking at those three teams, you're talking about the teams that have won the Stanley Cup in the most recent years. We're always trying to do bigger and better things and being able to lean on those two guys was part of our process.' Scripps and the Lightning will also work with ViewLift to launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service that will make Tampa Bay the first NHL franchise to integrate live game streaming into its existing team app. Other teams have created separate platforms for live streaming. With 2.14 million TV households, the Tampa/St. Petersburg media market is the 12th-largest in the U.S., as counted by Nielsen (via Sports Media Watch). The Lightning's footprint extends beyond its immediate metro area across Central and North Florida, with their games also shown in the Orlando (1.84 million TV households) and Jacksonville (799,000 TV households) markets. Advertisement The new local rights deal brings an end to the Lightning's 35-year relationship with FanDuel Sports Network Sun and its various incarnations. Lightning games had been broadcasted on the network since the franchise debuted in 1992, and it remained with FanDuel throughout the bankruptcy saga of Diamond Sports Group, now Main Street Sports Group. Tampa Bay joins the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers, Golden Knights and Utah Mammoth as NHL teams carried by Scripps' local affiliate stations. The Lightning will also pad ViewLift's roster, which recently added New England Sports Network (NESN). Shifting their broadcasts to Scripps and ViewLift is the latest move as it relates to the business of the Bolts. In October, Jeff Vinik sold the majority share of the franchise to a group of investors led by Blue Owl Capital founders Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz at a valuation of $1.8 billion, which ranks 11th in Sportico's NHL franchise valuations. Ostrover and Lipschultz were set to pay for the 54% stake within a year of the October announcement. Additionally, the Lightning signed a multiyear agreement with stadium management firm Oak View Group last month to take on food and hospitality at Amalie Arena, the team's longtime home. Amalie becomes the first arena primarily for an NHL team to be managed by OVG's hospitality division. Advertisement Best of Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This Massachusetts farmer won an 8-year battle to not pay $300K in back taxes — it turns out he was owed $31K
In 2022, Bill Griggs — the owner of Griggs Farm in Billerica, MA — was told that his farm owed the town $300,000 in back taxes. At the time, the farm had been in business for roughly 80 years. But Griggs fought back, demanding a breakdown of the specific taxes that the town was charging on his farmland. Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 5 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10) "What they want is just unsustainable," Griggs told WBZ-TV at the time. "I do not have a breakdown. I just have a grand total. I'd like to see the breakdown of what they are actually charging on the business land." Now, CBS News Boston reports that Griggs has won his fight — and not only does he not have to pay $300,000 in back taxes, he actually gets to walk away with a $31,000 check. In 2017, Griggs stopped paying taxes on his land, claiming that the town of Billerica had been taxing his land improperly since 1997. Griggs' farm was assessed at a value of $1.2 million, which he claimed was way too high. Part of Griggs' argument was that his farm is covered under Massachusetts' Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) program. Under this program, which is voluntary, owners of farmland are paid the difference between their land's fair market value and agricultural value. In exchange, farm owners must agree to a permanent deed restriction that preserves the land for farming only. The purpose of the program is to prevent farmland from being developed, thereby making the state's agricultural industry more sustainable. It's that very program, Griggs said, that made his farm eligible for a lower tax rate. "It is preserved open land," Griggs told CBS News Boston. "It became just unsustainable when you tax so heavy. You run out of money." Part of the confusion stemmed from the fact that Billerica thought Griggs' farm was running more like a retail space. The town claimed that Griggs was selling flowers and imported vegetables to supplement his income and compensate for crops lost during summertime droughts. But Griggs insisted he was doing no such thing. Dina Favreau, a member of Billerica's Select Board, started looking into Griggs' situation prior to joining. And as she explained to CBS News Boston, parts of Griggs' land were being taxed erroneously, leading to a higher bill. "This part of the land and the parking lot was actually being taxed at commercial rates, which was completely incorrect," she said. The town voted to approve a reassessed value on Griggs' farm, and based on that new assessment, it turned out that Griggs was not only current on his tax obligations, but he was actually owed almost $31,000. Griggs told CBS Boston he plans to use that refund to improve and keep up with operations on his farm. "We will probably purchase some supplies and pay some bills," he said. "Hopefully we will be able to run some of the fields a little better now." Read more: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has an important message for the next wave of American retirees — here's how he says you can best weather the US retirement crisis The fact that he was owed $31,000 as a refund for overpaid taxes may have come as a happy surprise for Griggs, and reinvesting that money in his farm makes sense for him. But it's important to know how to manage a surprise windfall if something similar were to happen to you. One of the first things to do is assess your emergency fund, and if you don't have one, creating one with the windfall you received is a great idea. It's important to have enough money in savings to cover at least three months of essential bills in case of an emergency, which could include losing your job. A January 2025 survey by U.S. News & World Report found that 42% of Americans do not have an emergency fund. If your emergency cash savings need a boost, or you're starting off with none, that should take priority. Next, assess your debt. You don't necessarily have to use a windfall to pay down part of a mortgage — since that's a loan you'll probably carry for a long time — and despite recently elevated rates, the interest rate on your mortgage may still be reasonable. But if you're carrying expensive credit card debt, or a personal loan with a high interest rate, those are debts that you should aim to pay off sooner than later. As of the third quarter of 2024, the average consumer credit card balance reached $6,730, according to Experian. The average personal loan balance, meanwhile, was $19,014. Eliminating or whittling down a similar balance could not only save you money on interest, but it'll also likely relieve some of your financial stress. In addition to covering some of his operating costs and buying supplies, these are things Griggs might consider using his tax refund on. Chances are he spent money on legal fees in the course of fighting his property tax assessment, so he may have debt to pay off and/or savings to replenish. Griggs may also want to start thinking about retirement — not necessarily stopping work now, but rather, saving for a time in the future when he no longer feels up to the task of managing his farm. To that end, he might be able to sell his land and use the proceeds to fund his retirement, but it also wouldn't be a bad idea to use some of his $31,000 refund to start or boost his nest egg. That's something you may want to do with a windfall once you've secured your emergency fund and have tackled high-interest debt. The more time you give a retirement nest egg to grow, the more savings you're likely to have once the time comes to call it a career. It's also a good idea to consult a financial advisor any time you come into a windfall, and that's something Griggs may want to consider as well. Unlike salaried employees who can look forward to the same paycheck every month, business owners can see their income vary. And in an industry like farming — where weather and other factors outside of one's control have the potential to impact production and income — it's important to plan for dry spells. With this in mind, it would be wise of Griggs to consult a financial professional to see how one might suggest using his $31,000 windfall. Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan 'works every single time' to kill debt, get rich in America — and that 'anyone' can do it Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — here are the alternative assets they're banking on instead Robert Kiyosaki warns of a 'Greater Depression' coming to the US — with millions of Americans going poor. But he says these 2 'easy-money' assets will bring in 'great wealth'. How to get in now This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Longtime teacher of teachers running for a seat on PSD Board of Education
Tom Griggs, who spent most of his professional career teaching teachers, is running for a seat on the Poudre School District Board of Education in the November 2025 election. Griggs, 71, is running for the District D seat currently held by Jim Brokish, who said he is not running for reelection. Candidates must live in the geographic district they represent but are elected by all voters in the school district, which spans more than 1,800 square miles. The volunteer directors serve four-year terms. Serving on the PSD school board 'is just an extension of my career, my professional interest, my fascination with teaching and learning,' Griggs told the Coloradoan on April 28. 'It's a chance to serve the community that has supported me for the 25 years.' Tom Griggs, a retired education professor and Fort Collins resident for 25 years, is running for the District D seat on the Poudre School District Board of Education in the November 2025 election. Griggs has two adult children who attended and graduated from PSD schools while he was teaching education classes for 20 years as a professor at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. He was previously a professor at San Jose State University. Many of his former students, he said, are teachers and administrators in PSD and other Northern Colorado school districts. He earned a teaching license and master's degrees in education for teaching English and social studies at the secondary level and in arts for teaching English as a second language at UCLA. After teaching high school in Salinas, California, Griggs went back to school to earn a doctorate in teacher education from the University of Toronto, he said. Griggs has also worked internationally, receiving a grant to work with Brazilian public school teachers of English as a foreign language in the fall of 2016. That led to a Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Award that turned into a visiting international professor's position at a university in Brazil. Griggs said he returned to Fort Collins from Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since worked as both a full-time and temporary substitute teacher and social emotional learning specialist in both the Poudre and Thompson school districts. He is a former president of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education and was a chair and co-founder of the group now known as Advocates for Public Education Policy, Griggs said. 'I think I have some unique perspective to add to the mix of perspectives that are on the board currently,' Griggs said. 'Unique and, I guess, valuable. I think there's a real advantage to know what the school system looks like and how it works from inside and out from a scholarly point of view. I'm a systems thinker, and I approach study with an open mind, looking at it from other people's perspectives.' Griggs is the only candidate so far to announce their candidacy and file official paperwork for the District D seat, according to the Colorado Secretary of State's online database. District D is located in north Fort Collins. Two candidates in other districts have also announced their candidacy for Board of Education seats in the November 2025 election — Sabrina Herrick in District C (northeast Fort Collins) and Andrew Spain in District E (northern and western Larimer County, including Wellington, Red Feather Lakes and Poudre Canyon). Another potential candidate who had filed an affadavit and paperwork with the secretary of state's office in February, Ashley Hale, told the Coloradoan on May 5 that she had changed her mind and would not run. Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@ and This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Longtime teacher of teachers running for seat on PSD school board
1News
05-05-2025
- 1News
Lake Alice survivor legally challenges Crown redress
A Flaxmere man tortured as a child at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital is taking the Crown to court, arguing its redress framework is unlawful. Malcolm Richards will file a claim in the High Court at Wellington later this morning, seeking a judicial review of Cabinet's redress decision. Those tortured at the Manawatū psychiatric facility had until last week to choose a rapid payment of $150,000 or head to arbitration. The redress scheme only applies to survivors who are still alive that had been subjected to electric shocks and/or paraldehyde injections. Some have already welcomed the money, but Richards has refused the redress on principle. "No way I'm taking part in it because it's not legal. We can't allow the perpetrator of this crime, which is the government, to set their own sentence." Richards was 15-years-old when he went to Lake Alice and said he still lived with the impacts of being drugged, raped, beaten and shocked all over his body. He was the second survivor to successfully argue his case at the United Nations committee that urged the New Zealand government to compensate him. Richards believes December's redress package breaches Article 14 of the United Nations' Torture Convention, which New Zealand ratified in 1989. This article states each country must ensure in its legal system that victims of torture obtain redress and have an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full a rehabilitation as possible. It also states that if a victim of torture dies, their dependants are entitled to compensation. Richards' lawyer Chris Griggs said Cabinet's redress decision hasn't been legislated, excludes survivors who were tortured by means other than shocks and injections and provides ex-gratia compensation that can't be enforced or effectively challenged in court. New Zealand ratified the Convention against Torture in 1989 but with a reservation, that the government reserves the right to award compensation to torture victims only at the discretion of the Attorney-General of New Zealand. The government has said New Zealand is the first country in the world to acknowledge torture of children and provide compensation to recognise their suffering. Griggs said the case was a simple one that boiled down to the government needing to comply with international human rights laws. "A lot of survivors are telling me what's happening is like a serious crime has been committed by the government so the government goes into a room with the victim and tells them this is what the penalty will be and no correspondence will be entered into. "That's not justice. So we're challenging it." Griggs said he would be asking the court to essentially "quash" Cabinet's decision and declare the government needed to comply with international minimum standards. While the United Nations didn't have any teeth by way of enforcing these standards, Griggs said it was New Zealand's reputation on the line. "New Zealand holds itself out to be a champion of human rights. We're a defender of human rights. We're the first country to speak out on breaches of human rights standards overseas. "And yet, when it comes to our own country, what do we do? We don't comply with the International minimum standards for remedying torture." "I have heard stories of children being lined up against a wall with their backs to the staff and having syringes full of paraldehyde thrown at their bottoms like a dartboard. That happened in this country. "We have to take a stand. New Zealand must live up to what happened and the only way we can do that is by complying with the international minimum standards laid down by the Torture Convention." Griggs has drafted a bill to set up an independent tribunal to assess torture claims and compensation and says there's already precedent for this type of arrangement. "You might remember many years ago we had a big problem in New Zealand with leaky buildings, so the government set up the water weathertight homes tribunal to deal with that problem. "Here we have a situation where the government has tortured a whole bunch of New Zealanders over a number of years and international law requires there to be an equivalent process. "All we're saying is just treat the survivors of Lake Alice and the other institutions in New Zealand where people have been tortured in the same way you've treated people who've had problems with the weather tightness of their homes. It's not a big ask." Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report no amount of money could make up for what survivors endured. "Their stories of abuse were harrowing and heartbreaking. Obviously the UN made a determination on Lake Alice quite rightly around torture, we've worked hard to make sure we've put in place a redress system to make sure people are compensated for that. "Whatever we do, no amount of money frankly makes up for what survivors have endured." The government's focus was on making sure it acknowledged and formally apologised, supported survivors with a better redress system and prevent abuse through improving the operating practices of key government agencies, Luxon said. Richards has taken up woodworking in his shed as a means of coping with stress and trauma, creating wooden trinkets he sells online. "It's just what I found that I can lose myself in and when things become too much, I just go out to my shed and start cutting out stuff and making stuff." He does not see the point in taking the rapid payment that has been offered by the Crown. "[The Minister responsible Erica Stanford] rang me before she made that announcement and I told her no way I'm taking part in it because it's not legal. We can't allow the perpetrator of this crime, which is the government, to set their own sentence," Richards said. "What's the point of taking $150,000 and living with this... it gets so much for me that I've gotta go out and lock myself in the shed away from my family." Richards said he had been trying to access support through ACC for special items like screwing teeth — normal dentures give him flashbacks to being gagged at Lake Alice — and a phone plan — he is forgetful and uses his phone to remind him about appointments and medications. But challenging the Crown's redress was about more than just money, he said. "There's more to this than $150,000 cash, the rehab is just as important. The investigation is the most important thing." The Lake Alice redress scheme is separate from Cabinet decisions about the wider redress system for those abused in state care.
