Latest news with #Leeper
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
No homeschooling bill this session, Dems say. Republicans cheer ‘victory' for parents rights
No legislation to regulate homeschooling will be introduced this session, despite the subject's recent attention and the urging of child advocates. Rep. Jen Leeper made the announcement in response to a reporter question Tuesday at the House Democrats news briefing ahead of the session Tuesday. 'There won't be any legislation this session on homeschooling,' Leeper said. 'I think we, in an effort to be publicly transparent brought everyone to the table to listen from all of our agencies that interact with students and children and their wellbeing about where there are gaps in the system and now we're going to do the public and methodical work to explore all those places where kids are slipping through and see what we can do next session to ensure all the children of Connecticut are safe.' CT Senate Republicans on X responded to the news, calling it a win for parents rights and Republicans. 'Thanks to the strong voices of CT Republicans and passionate homeschooling families and advocates, the proposed legislation imposing new mandates on homeschoolers will not move forward this session,' they said. 'This is a major victory for parental rights and educational freedom in our state!' The legislature's Education Committee and the Committee on Children held a joint hearing May 5 to hear from experts regarding the state's homeschooling policies. Speakers called to address legislators included state experts Department of Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker, Department of Children and Families Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lilly, Office of the Child Advocate's Acting Child Advocate Christina Ghio and Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents Executive Director Fran Rabinowitz. Homeschooling group leaders included National Home Education Legal Defense Attorney Deborah Stevenson, Connecticut Homeschool Network's Diane Connors and Coalition for Responsible Home Education's Beau Triba. Homeschool families showed up in droves to the event and joined Republican legislators in criticizing the joint hearing, with both groups decrying implied connections between homeschooling and the recent case of a Waterbury man which prompted the hearing. The 32-year-old man recently freed from a Waterbury home was reportedly found malnourished after being withdrawn from school at age 11 and then reportedly held captive for decades. The homeschooling community, which had staged consistent protests at the Capitol have said that legislators are using the case as an opportunity to restrict their freedom to teach their children. In addition, homeschooling families dispute a report from the state Office of the Child Advocate that claims high rates of abuse and neglect among families who have withdrawn their children from school, prompting the OCA's calls for oversight. 'Nearly one-quarter of families of students withdrawn for homeschooling had at least one accepted DCF report and approximately 8% had four or more accepted DCF reports,' the report states. 'In our 2025 data review, we found that approximately 10% of the families had at least one substantiation, including substantiations for physical abuse, physical neglect, and educational neglect.' Christina Ghio, acting child advocate for the Office of the Child Advocate, told the Courant that the Office is not trying to 'stop people from homeschooling, people who are doing high quality homeschooling, providing instruction and regularly engaging their children in activity. 'But because we have no regulations at all, there are parents who use that freedom to withdraw their children under false pretenses and hide them and that is what we are trying to address,' she said. Connecticut currently has no oversight of homeschooling. Parents are not required to notify their home districts that they intend to homeschool and no follow-up is ever done to ensure children are keeping up with grade level standards. Connecticut's education commissioner and head of the superintendents' group also argued that more oversight is needed to ensure children are safe and learning. Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, called for strengthening of regulations around homeschooling, perhaps through an academic evaluation or a portfolio or a standardized test. 'We do not want in any shape or form to want to control homeschooling,' she said. 'We want to safeguard every child in Connecticut and ensure we are upholding our obligation to the state constitution that all students must be educated. 'We want to know you are educating your children,' she added. Senate Republicans also issued a statement Tuesday about the announcement. 'Homeschoolers have nothing to do with the tragic situation in Waterbury. Instead of focusing on DCF and the Waterbury public school system on how and why that child fell through the cracks of the system, Democrats targeted the thousands of homeschoolers in our state who do an amazing job of educating their students outside of Connecticut's education system. … 'The last thing state government should do is get in the middle of something that is working. Homeschooling is working – and working tremendously well. This was once again the majority Democrat party in Connecticut trying to take control of people's lives. It's destructive and it's wrong. Together, we stood up to it and we spoke out. Our voices were heard.' Reporting from Courant reporter Livi Stanford is contained in this article.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘She decided to let him in': Documents reveal what led up to a stabbing, manhunt in Fernandina Beach
Action News Jax has learned more about the man at the center of a 7-hour manhunt in Nassau County. 45-year-old Ryan Daniel Nave is now behind bars without bond, charged with attempted second-degree murder. It was a law enforcement search for Nave that left Fernandina Beach neighbors on edge Wednesday night. Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said Nave stabbed a woman he knew after asking her for food. He is listed as homeless in the county's inmate log. 'The victim did not want to let him in the house. But he wanted something to eat, so she decided to let him in,' said Leeper. The arrest warrant said Nave ran off after other people returned to the home. Court documents detail the bloody scene that deputies found on Robin Hood Drive: 'A female victim, in a bedroom, with 9 major puncture wounds to her head, torso, arms, and legs,' and '13 defensive wounds on her arms and hands.' 'Obviously, it looks like he's got some mental issues too. He's well known in the area. He goes around. If you do what he did, he's nuts,' said Leeper. Court records show Nave has been in prison twice before. He served 13 months for each conviction in Nassau County: One in 2017 for burglary and one for possession of meth in 2018. Along with his current mugshot, Action News Jax found two prior mugshots from Nassau County from earlier this year when he was arrested for trespassing. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Nave was found in a wooded area about a mile away from the house, after the Sheriff's Office said someone spotted him and called law enforcement. Action News Jax was in Fernandina Beach throughout the search, and one neighbor said he believed he had seen Nave. 'I saw a gentleman on the left-hand side of the road coming out of a ditch,' said David Powell. Powell also said the man was covered in blood. The victim, who has not been identified, was in critical condition at last check. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stockard on the Stump: Lawmakers push private-prison operator to cut death rates
Private prison operator CoreCivic is up for a $6.8 million contract increase from the Tennessee Department of Corrections despite paying $44.78 million to the state since 2022 for failing to meet contract specifications. (Photo: John Partipilo) A Lebanon man whose son died of an overdose at Trousdale Turner prison is accusing the state's private-prison operator of 'chronic and intentional understaffing' that could have contributed to the death. 'There are not enough guards to run a safe and secure prison. Instead, it's become a haven for gangs, dealing drugs, and these drugs are killing inmates,' said Tim Leeper in testimony before the House State and Local Government Committee Wednesday. Leeper told the panel the state should take over Tennessee's four privately-run prisons and remove CoreCivic because it's putting profits ahead of prisoners. The committee followed by unanimously endorsing House Bill 1144 by Republican Rep. Clark Boyd of Lebanon, which would require the inmate population at each CoreCivic-run prison to be reduced 10% if the death rate there is twice as high as the rate at a comparable state-run prison. Tennessee levied $44.78 million in penalties against private prison operator in three years State Comptroller audits show Trousdale Turner had a 146% employee turnover rate in 2023, making it more difficult to check on prisoners and avert murders and drug overdoses. Trousdale Turner, which is under a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, has a vacancy rate of 33.7%, compared with 26% at state-run prisons, officials said earlier this year. Still, the state is seeking a $6.8 million contract increase for the private prison operator despite penalizing the company $44.78 million since 2022 for contractual shortfalls, $15 million in the last half year. CoreCivic doesn't pay those penalties but simply forgoes state payments. And Boyd told the Lookout he doesn't believe the penalties are stiff enough to make CoreCivic, a publicly-traded company, change course. The Department of Correction consistently defends the prison company, calling it a valuable state 'partner' and commending it for trying to bolster staff. The state is having its own problems keeping officers. Leeper hired a private investigator to look into the cause of son's death after the young man succumbed to a fentanyl overdose two years at age 25 while serving time for arson Trousdale Turner. 'The more I looked into how it happened the more frustrated I became, because these deaths were extremely preventable,' Leeper said to the Lookout. The young man suffered a stab wound the first day he was transferred to Trousdale Turner in May 2023 and died just six months later, his father said, adding his son suffered from anxiety because of constant fear he would be knifed again. A correction officer even told him he needed a shank or 'butcher' to protect himself, Leeper said. The elder Leeper called the state's prison system the 'catch-all' for people with mental illness, childhood trauma and substance abuse, a place where society 'warehouses people away from us because it makes us feel safe.' CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin responded to the criticism with an email statement saying prisoner safety, health and well-being is 'top priority' and that each facility has emergency response teams to handle medical care. All deaths are reported immediately to the state for investigation. 'All of our Tennessee facilities are subject to multiple layers of oversight by TDOC and independent third parties like the American Correctional Association. TDOC employs full-time, on-site contract monitors at each of our facilities who work to ensure our full compliance with prescribed policies and procedures,' Gustin said. Yet even with President Donald Trump pardoning crimes and cutting civil rights investigations, the probe into CoreCivic's Trousdale Turner continues. Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon, who is sponsoring the bill's Senate version, said Thursday he wants to renew the legislature's correction oversight board, which was removed six years ago by former House Speaker Glen Casada. Pody said statistics show more deaths occur in CoreCivic prisons than in the rest of the state's prisons. 'If it can't get under control, I think we need to do something legislatively so we don't put people at risk in the prisons,' Pody said. For a start, Pody said he wants more timely and accurate information so lawmakers can make better decisions. But any bill resurrecting prison oversight will have to wait until next year. Lawmakers are shutting down committees and trying to adjourn by mid-April so they can skedaddle before the kickback corruption trial for Casada and former staffer Cade Cothren begins. About 20 members have been subpoenaed to testify, and the trial is becoming the elephant in the room. Their priorities are set, but other than the Boyd-Pody bill, they don't appear to involve reining in CoreCivic. A week after the Senate Judiciary Committee killed a bill supported by the Tennessee Innocence Project, the measure is coming back to life. Senate Bill 256, sponsored by Republican Sen. Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga, would set a procedure for inmates to seek post-conviction relief based on new evidence that wasn't available at the time of their conviction. It's slated to be heard – again – in committee next week. House Bill 601, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Bob Freeman of Nashville, is to be heard Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee. The rebirth came after Chairman Gardenhire and other committee members signed a letter this week showing their support for revival. Republican Sen. Paul Rose's support was critical after he voted against the measure initially. The Covington Republican said he was persuaded to change his stance after seeing an amendment that sends applications for post-conviction relief through district attorneys. 'This is something that needs to be fixed. We really wanted it, so we worked with the Innocence Project, the district attorneys and got to a really good place,' Rose told the Lookout. Considering most of the legislature's criminal justice bills lock people up for good, this is a reversal of sorts. Maybe they don't have tin man's disease after all. Nah, what am I thinking? In a shocking turn of events, the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee endorsed a Democrat's bill, one that would require personal liability insurance for watercraft such as jet skis. Sen. Heidi Campbell of Nashville pushed the measure through the committee when the late Roy Herron's wife, Nancy, testified about the need to insure personal watercraft because of the risks involved with riding them. A minimum age for driving them had been removed from the bill. Herron, a West Tennessee lawmaker for more than a quarter-century then a lobbyist, died from a jet ski accident on Kentucky Lake. He was enjoying a family outing with family in July 2023 when an 11-year-old boy plowed into his jet ski at a high rate of speed. Herron died a week later at Vanderbilt hospital. His son's friend, Kala McDonald, was seriously injured as well and continues to receive treatment despite returning to medical school, according to Mrs. Herron. 'This financial responsibility provision may seem to some people like a small thing. But it would have meant so much to Kala,' she said, adding insurance costs only about $100. Mrs. Herron implored the committee to take action, and shockingly, they did. Are we starting to see a new theme here? Maybe not. A heated exchange between Memphis Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson and Sevierville Republican Rep. Andrew Farmer forced the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee into recess Wednesday. Pearson, who has been absent from the hill following the death of his brother by gun suicide in December, brought a bill that would repeal permitless carry in Tennessee, calling on the legislature to act on gun violence instead of offering 'some empty thoughts and prayers.' Farmer replied it was unfair for Pearson to 'lecture (the committee) on hard work and convictions' when 'every member in this committee has been here this year … but you have not.' An incensed Pearson shouted back that hard work means passing better laws and fighting 'for a state where everybody is able to live more freely from the pain of gun violence that me and my family are experiencing.' He said if Farmer 'can't take that,' he should 'learn to shut up.' Farmer responded that he also has a family and makes sacrifices every year to participate in the legislature. 'It's very common in your party when you disagree with a comment — and I was not disrespectful to you — that you resort to yelling,' Farmer said. The two lawmakers were separated by their colleagues during the recess. Pearson issued a statement later saying he has been working on constituent service while dealing with family tragedy. Hallway talk, though, is that Republicans could be considering a way to punish Pearson for the incident, in part because he approached Farmer in the committee room and had to be restrained. Conflict between Farmer and Pearson dates back to 2023 when the Sevierville attorney helped lead expulsion hearings against Pearson, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Gloria Johnson. It wasn't pretty as House Republicans expelled Pearson and Jones for leading a gun-control rally on the floor but narrowly voted to keep Johnson. Memphis and Metro Nashville councils returned Pearson and Jones to the House the following week, and international publicity enabled them to raise nearly $1 million each. The expulsion left House Republican leaders with more than egg on their faces, and kicking Pearson out again would only come back to haunt them. The problem is this week's blow-up could have been avoided, plain and simple. The House version of Republican Sen. Brent Taylor's bill to investigate and potentially impeach Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy was taken off notice this week, for a supposed technicality. The Tennessee Journal, though, is reporting that Taylor's bill has devolved into creation of a disciplinary board to review that actions of district attorneys and court officers. Asked where the matter stands this week, Taylor promised big doings. But this appears to be an attempt to study the matter rather than go directly after Mulroy, a Democrat, which means the impeachment or expulsion is dead. Taylor kept running into opposition from Senate leaders who didn't want to micromanage district attorneys, and others say there wasn't much to the matter, except Taylor's dislike for Mulroy. Nothing like a good tempest in a teapot. Lawmakers outlawed chemtrails last year, those pesky white plumes emitted from jets, which is why we need more skyhawks to survey the heavens. But that wasn't enough. Protectors of the atmosphere and everything we breathe wanted to stiffen penalties for entities that spread those lines across the sky. The House went along with Republican Rep. Monty Fritts' bill, passing it with ease this session. But the Senate said, 'not so fast, my friends.' Republican Sen. Janice Bowling this week argued that Congress is continuing to fund geo-engineering weather modification efforts while so-called experts claim that aerosol injections into the atmosphere can help stop the 'climate crisis' by reducing the intensity of sunlight hitting the Earth. But alas, the Senate energy and ag committee killed the last chance for Tennesseans to 'breathe deep the gathering gloom.' The House voted 73-21 Thursday morning to honor the 'estimable' Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins for his efforts over the years to run elections – some say into the ground, considering the state ranks near the bottom in election participation. The resolution prepared by Republican Rep. Tim Rudd of Murfreesboro said Goins worked with the General Assembly to enact laws ensuring 'fair, secure, and free elections,' including requiring photo IDs, voting machine vendor ethics regulations and anti-election hacking. If only he'd been in charge of elections in every state five years ago, we could have avoided the 'stop the steal' campaign and the Jan. 6 insurrection. While Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor of recognizing Goins – even though it's not a great practice to congratulate someone until they retire or die – Democrats weren't as amiable. Democratic Rep. Bo Mitchell of Nashville told the House chamber, if Goins had been a local school district, he would have been taken over and turned into a charter school. The Cordell Hull Building is packed these days with folks from across the state coming to lobby lawmakers or, it seems, to hang out and ride the elevators. One soul, though, apparently decided he'd had enough of the legislature's shenanigans outside the building and took it upon himself to urinate on the sacred Cordell. People on the Hill are accustomed to people raising a ruckus or sitting quietly holding 8-by-11 signs, but one wise guy said, 'This isn't peaceful protest but pee-ful protest.' 'Broken glass everywhere, people p—ing on the stairs, you know they just don't care / I can't stand the smell, can't take the noise.' – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: The Message WRITER'S NOTE: Lookout reporter Cassie Stephenson contributed to this conglomeration.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee bill to penalize CoreCivic for death rate advances in Senate
A Tennessee Senate committee on Tuesday unanimously voted for legislation that would financially penalize CoreCivic prisons for their soaring death rates. The bill is a rare prison accountability measure to receive support in the Tennessee General Assembly. State leaders have expressed reluctance to substantially discipline the private prison operator over its systemic operational issues. The bill, Senate Bill 1115, would allow the state Department of Correction to remove 10% of the prison population from any private prison in the state once that prison's death rate reaches twice the average death rate in Tennessee-run prisons. As CoreCivic is paid according to its daily inmate population, the 10% reduction would immediately affect its profit margins in Tennessee. The legislation states the population reduction would continue "until the department determines that the conditions leading to the reduction have been corrected." The Senate State & Local Government Committee voted unanimously to advance the bill on the heels of testimony from Tim Leeper, the father of Kyle Leeper, who died of a drug overdose in Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in 2023. "CoreCivic cannot be trusted to keep inmates alive," Tim Leeper said. "They have become desensitized to death and human suffering." The Tennessean in January reviewed death data dating back to 2020 across state and CoreCivic prisons and found deaths occurred disproportionately in CoreCivic facilities. Between 2020 and 2023, 529 people died in general population Tennessee prisons, excluding 162 deaths that occurred in a medical unit prison. More than 50% of the 529 deaths occurred in CoreCivic's four facilities, despite CoreCivic housing less than 39% of the state's overall prison population during the same period. Familes and advocates sharply criticized CoreCivic facilities for its higher rates of death and sexual abuse compared to relatively fewer chances for education and mental health support than inmates have at state prisons. More: Two systems of justice: Families, audits say Tennessee's CoreCivic prisons underperform "At least in a [Tennessee Department of Correction] prison, they have a much better chance of staying alive and making it to the end of their sentence," Leeper said. Meanwhile, CoreCivic is on track to received a $6.8 million budget bump this year from its state contract, the same contract it continues to routinely violate. The company has racked up nearly $30 million in fines for failing to meet staffing guidelines and other contractual obligations, but reform advocates argue the fines are not a clear incentive for CoreCivic to improve its facilities. Leeper has accused CoreCivic of intentionally understaffing, a strategy that is "intentional and profitable." "Inmates have become a profit center for CoreCivic. They use the state like their own personal ATM machine," Leeper said. Still, Gov. Bill Lee and state corrections officials have indicated they're satisfied with the existing CoreCivic partnership and policy of levying fines for contract violations. CoreCivic's political action committee is among the biggest spenders in Tennessee politics, donating heavily to Republican leaders. 'I think we're holding them accountable, yes,' TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada said last month. 'I think they are doing the best that they can, and I do think they're a partner for us in the state, especially when it comes to population management.' The House companion bill, HB 1144, is up for committee debate on Wednesday. In a statement, CoreCivic said its facilities are subject to "multiple layers of oversight" from the state and American Correctional Association. "The safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care and our dedicated staff is our top priority. This commitment is shared by our government partners at the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC)," said Ryan Gustin, CoreCivic director of public affairs. "Our facilities have trained emergency response teams who work to ensure that any individual in distress receives appropriate medical care, and we are deeply saddened by and take very seriously the passing of any individual in our care. Any death is immediately reported to our government partners and investigated thoroughly and transparently." This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee bill to penalize CoreCivic for death rate advances in Senate
BBC News
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Cambridgeshire Festival of Stories returns for fourth year
Families are being encouraged to take part in a story-telling event aimed at helping young children better understand the Festival of Stories in Cambridgeshire runs until 26 February, and includes sixty events, both in-person and focus is on developing children's communication, language, and literacy skills through everyday Leeper, one of the storytellers, said: "[It] is a great opportunity to devise a story specially for families and based on their everyday experience." The festival will feature children's storytellers, an author, a puppet show and interactive activities, including scavenger Leeper said: "Storytellers often say, 'You have to tell a story to get a story,' and everyday stories like these encourage so many stories in response."The stories that every family tells with their children, the little, ordinary events that make memories to bind a family together."Bryony Goodliffe, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council's children and young people committee, said storytelling was a "particularly engaging medium for children". "It provides a great way to connect with them, support their communication skills and develop their understanding of the world around them," she added. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
