Latest news with #Marston
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
California sheriff warns of cartels amid accusations of overstepping authority in tribal land cannabis raids
A Northern California sheriff is speaking out after a Native American tribe accused him of overstepping his authority when his office conducted raids on cannabis farms on tribal land last year amid his warning that drug cartel organizations had a "toehold" in the area. Mendocino County Sheriff Matthew Kendall told Fox News Digital his office has received pleas from tribal members asking for action to combat illegal cannabis farms as well as crime on the reservation. Kendall said most of his office's raids were not on tribal land. "They're begging me, saying, 'Please, we've got gunshots going on all night, all around us,'" he said. "These people are tribal members as well as people who aren't tribal members. I have to go up and protect these folks. I have to go up and deal with the law. But when I go up there and serve search warrants and whatnot, and next thing you know, I'm getting sued for it." "It's a very depressed economy, and it's kind of ripe for picking for bad things to come in," he said of the cartels. "We've had a lot of shootings up there, a lot of violence up there. It's not OK, the things that are going on." Millions Of Illicit Cannabis Packages Disguised As Children's Candy Seized In California Kendall is named as one of several defendants in a lawsuit that accuses him of conducting raids where he did not have jurisdiction, including one in which an 86-year-old woman's garden was allegedly destroyed. Read On The Fox News App The Round Valley Indian Tribes and three individual plaintiffs, April James, 48, Eunice Swearinger, 86, and Steve Britton, are asking a federal court to impose an injunction to prevent the sheriff's department from carrying out more raids on their land. The lawsuit also names Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal, a Humboldt deputy, California Highway Patrol Commissioner Sean Duryee and the counties of Mendocino and Humboldt. The lawsuit alleges that multiple sites on the tribe's reservation were targeted in illegal law enforcement operations. Lester Marston, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, told Fox News Digital that Kendall tried to enforce his authority on tribal land with the raids. Ex-cop Turned Legal Pot Farmer Claims He's Bigger Dealer Than 'Anyone Sitting In Prison' "He has had training sessions on what his authority is," Marston said, contending that the sheriff knew he didn't have jurisdiction on the reservation. "And if he didn't know, he's a stupid idiot." Marston also alleged Kendall failed to disclose in his warrant application to a judge that at least one particular raid would be conducted on tribal land. Kendall said the valley has around 1 million marijuana plants and that drug cartels have spent a lot of money to establish marijuana-growing operations there. Google Maps satellite images he showed Fox News Digital show what he said are marijuana-growing structures all over the area. Round Valley, which is surrounded by mountains, is now rife with illicit cannabis and cartel activity as well as murders, Kendall said. "Right now, I believe drug trafficking organizations have a toehold into that area and other places in my county," Kendall said. "Illegal marijuana cultivations are really dropping because the price is so low. Round Valley is really just ramping up." The lawsuit centers around the enforcement of Public Law 280, a decades-old statute that gives California and a handful of other states – Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin – the authority to enforce criminal laws on tribal land. However, attorneys for the plaintiffs argue that the law doesn't apply to regulatory matters like cannabis, an industry that is regulated in California. They also contend that Round Valley has the right to set and enforce its own laws. The result of the statute is that federal criminal jurisdiction became extremely limited in most reservations in the six states where it applied, while state jurisdiction was greatly expanded. Federal Judge Green-lights New York Marijuana Licensing Despite 'Disaster' Legal Cannabis Market Rollout "He has a duty to enforce criminal law on the reservation," David Dehnert, another attorney for the plaintiffs, told Fox News Digital. "He has no authority to enforce California regulatory law on the reservation, which is what they were doing." Dehnert said the tribe has its own marijuana law and that Kendall was aware of it before conducting the raids. He said he sent Kendall a cease-and-desist letter after the raids. Marston said Kendall was out of his jurisdiction and that what his office did was the same as enforcing California laws in Nevada. "He knew that the tribe had enacted a tribal law prohibiting the possession, sale and cultivation of cannabis, except for medical purposes," Marston said. The raids were conducted in July 2024, with the plaintiffs accusing deputies of leaving homes and gardens in shambles. James, a grandmother who suffers from arthritis and a degenerative disc disorder, makes her own medicinal cream with the cannabis she cultivates to ease the daily pain due to her disorder, the lawsuit said. She had two structures on her trust allotment where she grew cannabis plants, which were destroyed by a tractor by pushing the soil and all the plants and improvements into a pile of dirt and rubbish, the suit alleged. At Swearinger's home, sheriff's deputies showed up and destroyed her vegetable garden and tore out her plants, her attorneys said. Her grandchildren were present and watched as heavily armed officers stood guard, the lawsuit said. Swearinger had a license to grow 10 plants on her property, Marston said. Britton, a rancher, alleged that deputies destroyed cannabis plants, cultivation structures and equipment, fencing and an electric gate on his property. In all three raids, authorities failed to produce a valid search warrant, the lawsuit said. The Round Valley Indian Tribes did not return a Fox News Digital request for comment. Kendall said he has a duty to drive protection in the county and pushed back on the notion that the raids had a racial component. "That is a load of bull----," he said. "I'm not putting up with that. That is a flat-out lie." He noted that he grew up in the Round Valley area of Mendocino County and did not personally decide which properties were raided, only that they targeted the "biggest and the baddest" grow article source: California sheriff warns of cartels amid accusations of overstepping authority in tribal land cannabis raids
North Wales Live
18-05-2025
- Climate
- North Wales Live
UK strawberry alert at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and M&S amid 'never seen anything like it' reports
Supermarket shoppers looking to buy strawberries this summer have been given a heads-up about what to expect. Lovers of the fruit have been told to prepare for an extraordinary bumper crop of "giant" berries this season. The strawberries are reportedly of unprecedented size, so much so that growers suspect some may be too big to fit into consumers' mouths. Some told the Guardian newspaper they'd "never seen anything like it" before. Bartosz Pinkosz, of the Summer Berry Company, said he's been finding huge berries weighing as much as 50g. He said: "We had the darkest January and February since the 70s but then the brightest March and April since 1910. From March onwards it was really kind of perfect for tunnel strawberries. The berries are between 10% and 20% larger." Nick Marston, of British Berry Growers, which represents almost all British producers, is expecting impressive crops this summer, reports Birmingham Live. Lots of sunshine and strong bee pollination have helped produce the classic strawberry that consumers demand. He said: "We're seeing very good size, shape, appearance, and most of all, really great flavour and sugar content, which is what consumers want when they buy British strawberries. "I'm always a little cautious of saying strawberries are 20% bigger because there's an average involved and some crops will be slightly smaller than others. But I think it would be fair to say the very nice sunshine, and the cool overnight temperatures, are ideal for fruit development. "The slower the development of the fruits, the more time they have to expand the cells and create a bigger berry. What we are now seeing is something I have never seen in 19 years, which is consistently larger berries." Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now Given the vagaries of the weather, growers are naturally cautious and Mr Marston said there was a potential cloud on the horizon: the conditions that got the growing season off to a flying start might yet come back to haunt fruit growers. With a drought alert already issued, he expressed concerns that water shortages could pose problems for some growers later in the season. Even this cannot deflate the sector's current optimism. Mr Marston added: "It has been a perfect start to the strawberry season for us ... I have genuinely never seen a harvest produce such large berries consistently. Some are supersized – growing to the size of plums or even kiwi fruits." Until recently, the UK's favourite strawberry was a Dutch variety known as Elsanta. Its disease resistance and high, consistent yields made it a hit with growers. However, many consumers found Elsanta somewhat tasteless, prompting growers and retailers to seek an alternative. So far this year, the prospects are looking good. This news comes as Wimbledon prepares to host its annual tournament in July, when tennis enthusiasts will devour countless strawberries with cream or sugar. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox On the All England Club's website, the tournament's organisers insisted only the best will be served. "Our world-famous berries are hand-picked and delivered to the All England Club each morning where they are inspected by our Food and Drink team to make sure only the best are served to our guests," they confirmed.
Otago Daily Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Choreographer has a way with ‘words'
Storytelling ballets may not have been fashionable when Cathy Marston first began choreographing them, but they are becoming so now. She talks to Rebecca Fox about one of those pieces, one-act ballet My Brilliant Career , being performed by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Cathy Marston's love of a good story has never waned whether diving into a good book or putting on a ballet. So when the British ballet dancer began choreography she was determined "not to be put in a box" and discovered she really loved telling stories. "Maybe I never grew up from being a 3-year-old that asks why to everything." While not fashionable at the time, it is becoming more popular as people recognise that it is actually a human quality to love telling stories, she says. "Things make sense when we put them into a narrative." However, it is not a easy thing to do in a ballet where there are no words. "It's a challenge. But I've been practising and I love it. So most of my pieces are narrative." While Marston, speaking from Zurich, Switzerland, where she is director of Ballet Zurich, says she appreciates abstract art in other forms, when it comes to ballet she needs to know what the purpose and focus of it is. "In dance, it's not abstract because we're working with human beings. So you put two people in a room and it already starts to tell a story. So I'm interested in the specificity of it. Some choreographers enjoy leaving their works a little bit more open. And letting the audience make their own story through what they're seeing. But I really enjoy not just making a pas de deux about love, but love between two. What are the personality traits that we can articulate in our bodies? And what does that do when you add them together?" As a result, she mixes ballet with more contemporary movement and by bringing more contemporary movement and partnering techniques in, the woman has more agency. "So I'm really interested in, yes, a man can lift a woman overhead and that can be great. Both beautiful and it can tell something. But it's also interesting when the woman can take the man's weight or when they counterbalance. And it tells the audience different things about those people." Her one-act ballet My Brilliant Career is a good example of this. The ballet is based on the novel by Miles Franklin — familiar to many through the 1979 film starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill — which Marston discovered in a vineyard bookstore while visiting her Australian husband's family. "I was working through this bookstore. I mean, not reading every book, but I love browsing in real life rather than on the internet, if I can. And I came across My Brilliant Career . And really, what drew me in straight away was the character of Sybilla. She's just so much fun. And strong and mad a little bit. And silly and romantic, but ambitious. All of the different things that I guess I can identify with, too." In the same visit she met the director of the Queensland Ballet who was keen to get her to create a work for the company that had an Australia base. My Brilliant Career lent itself to ballet as there was nothing that could not be conveyed through dance, she says. "It was sort of about ambition and love and dilemma and being sort of an inner dialogue." The ballet was created in 2023 with the Queensland company including Cuban-Australian dancer Victor Estevez who performed Harry Beecham and has come out to New Zealand as a guest dancer to reprise the role in the Royal New Zealand Ballet's production of the ballet which is part of a double bill with Firebird . Estevez says it was one of the most fulfilling and different experiences he has had. "The way Cathy works and tells a story is very different to the way I'm used to. It was a very interesting and creative process. The role has grown on me, he's a real gentleman. It's wonderful to be here and having an input with the company and dancers," Estevez says. It was a production Marston loved creating and a big part of that was due to the character of Sybilla. "I think it was just the different relationships made us laugh a lot in rehearsals. And that's always good because you make your best things when you're having fun. I think it's a story that people can identify with," she says. Marston could put herself in Sybilla's shoes. "Yet, honestly, if it were me in that position, I would make the choice that she made as well. I'm not sure I would have slapped him over the face. But that was another one of those moments where he proposes to her, and she wants it, and then suddenly there's something that erupts in her, and she just whacks him. And it's just such a brilliant moment." To help convey the inner dialogue of the story she created two Sybillas — one called Syb and other called Bylla. "Here's this one side of her that we call Syb, who wants to be elegant and loved and admired and have fancy cakes with her tea and have a beautiful life. And that Syb could imagine staying, marrying Harry, having money, not worrying about life so much. And then the other side of her, who we nicknamed Bylla, is more of the ambitious tomboy type that doesn't want anyone to tell her what to do, let alone a man. And so they argue with each other quite a lot of the time. And so I decided to really visualise this by making it two dancers." This means there are a lot of scenes where one Sybilla is more active and the other one is like a voice in her head and sometimes they swap places rapidly. "So there's games that you can play choreographically once you've got the two of them. And I love trios. Choreographers love pas de deux, duets, and I love that too. But there's something about a trio that pushes it a little bit further. So you have three bodies to play with. It's hard to do. It takes longer to choreograph. But there's more tension in a triangle somehow. And so that's a theme that really goes throughout the piece, is this trio of Syb and Bylla and whoever they're dancing with." Marston's work is all about detail and intention so she has assistance in developing with dramaturg Edward Kemp (former director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) and stager Jenny Tattersall. As she is not able to be in New Zealand for the RNZB production the pair are here. "So I try to avoid traditional ballet mime. And one of the things that I often do, for example, is if someone is going to shake someone's hand, I'll try to say, well, instead of just shaking someone's hand, could we try connecting in the leg? So if the leg can somehow say what the hand would normally say, it looks more choreographic. But if it's done with the same intention, you understand the storytelling aspects of it. So intention of every movement really counts in my ballet. And so it's great that he [Kemp] can be over there in New Zealand working with the dancers on that." That is especially important having two Sybillas. "Everybody needs to be really clear on who are they talking to and who is just a figment of their imagination. So that's one of his tasks right now." Other fiction-inspired works Marston has created are Snowblind (inspired by Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome ), Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre , DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men . She won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for best dance production for Victoria (Northern Ballet), the UK National Dance Award for The Cellist (The Royal Ballet), The Suit (Ballet Black) and has been short-listed for both the Olivier awards and national dance awards for several other works including Jane Eyre and Victoria . In 2020 the International Institute for Dance and Theatre awarded her their prize for excellence in international dance. Marston is used to juggling multiple commitments. Along with My Brilliant Career being produced in New Zealand, Ballet Zurich has just premiered a triple bill, including her own piece based on the film and book The Graduate , called Mrs Robinson , and two commissioned pieces including a world premiere. She is also about to start development of a new work for the Royal Ballet, musically inspired by the Benjamin Britten violin concerto, that will premiere in November and is also preparing Romeo and Juliet for Zurich Ballet. "So there's always different creative projects, like different plates spinning. And then there's the managerial thing of being a ballet director, which is actually a job in itself. So I am very busy. And I have two kids and a husband, so life is never boring." Marston is able to do it thanks to a hands-on husband who is incredibly supportive of her career. Her children are now 9 and 12 so becoming more independent. "So somehow we manage. And I think it's very difficult because you can't be more than one person. You can't be in two places at the same time. But you just have to follow your instinct and heart. And the kids are very understanding. That's what they know about me. This is who I am. And I hope it means that they'll also find their passions and know that they can follow that, too." Following her passions is something Marston has always done. After watching a television show featuring a female police inspector she wanted to be her, but then her mother told her that was an actress, so then she wanted to be an actress. Unable to find a drama class, she started tap dancing which soon moved into ballet. There are even some tap moves in My Brilliant Career although not explicit. "I like using some tap steps because it just breaks up the ballet vocabulary sometimes and adds something a little bit more rhythmical and slightly folkloric." She went to the Royal Ballet School aged 16 and her first job was with the Zurich Ballet. "And that's the strange thing now and wonderful thing is that I've done the full circle and I'm now back in Zurich as the director of the company, which is kind of crazy. I never would have imagined that happening." Marston went on to dance with various companies before going back to the United Kingdom where she became an associate artist at the Royal Opera House. "I started choreographing fairly early and loved it. So it was really for my early 20s a priority. And I danced until I was about 31 and then I got offered the job to direct the Bern Ballet in Switzerland." The small team was a great chance for her to develop her work and then after six years she went freelance, working for some of the best ballet companies in the world. "So my ballet started becoming bigger and I just started getting really into story pieces. Honestly, I think storytelling is the thing that drew me in." She remembers her parents, both English teachers, taking her sister and her to the theatre, especially Shakespeare productions, where she could not understand the words but loved the drama and intensity of it. "Almost the words were like music. So I feel like that makes sense to me still, that music and dance together can tell the story. And I've always just been drawn to the physical aspect of storytelling rather than the words, although the words are what almost always provide the seeds for me in terms of the books that inspire me. So it's a funny mix." Her busy schedule means she does not get much time to read, although she always has a book in her bag just in case. "Its reassuring to have it there." However, she is about to get a five-week summer holiday, so she is working on her reading list for that. "It's one of those very special things in life, isn't it? Just to be able to disappear into a book." TO SEE: The Firebird and My Brilliant Career , Royal New Zealand Ballet, Civic Theatre, Invercargill May 21 and The Regent, Dunedin May 24-25. • To read about The Firebird, which did not make it to stage in Dunedin due to Covid-19, visit
Scotsman
13-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Nissan to axe 20,000 jobs but sunshine helps brightens outlook for High Streets
A rare ray of sunshine - but let's not get carried away - opinion It's not often we get to say this, but today feels unusually upbeat for the UK economy. Wickes and Marston's have both reported strong results, helped along by decent management, favourable weather and Easter timing. The High Street also enjoyed a sunny sales bump, giving retail a rare moment of cheer. Even the travel sector is flying high: On The Beach says it's gearing up for a record summer, with bookings and profits both on the rise as customers continue to 'prioritise travel'. Meanwhile, global tensions may be easing - for now. Donald Trump's so-called 'total reset' with China saw markets surge, and Washington talking to Beijing again is no small thing. But let's not mistake a few rays of light for a change in climate. Unemployment here has crept to a four-year high, driven by companies putting hiring on hold. Nissan, citing weak sales, is axing 20,000 jobs worldwide. And when it comes to Trump, today's calm could easily be tomorrow's storm. He remains a walking source of economic unpredictability. So yes, there's reason for cautious optimism. But the UK is not basking in any economic sunlit uplands just yet.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
Homer woman identified as fatal crash victim on Highway 518
MINDEN, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Louisiana State Police are investigating a crash on U.S. Highway 79 that killed a Homer woman. Troopers with LSP Troop G said the crash happened on May 6, 2025, around 7:50 p.m. on U.S. Highway 79 north of Louisiana Highway 518 and fatally injured 55-year-old Cecilia Marston of Homer. Marston was driving a 2017 Nissan Versa northbound on Highway 79. Simultaneously, a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia was traveling southbound on Highway 79. For unknown reasons, Marston's Nissan crossed the centerline, colliding with the Freightliner. 1 killed in single vehicle crash on LA Highway 3132 According to LSP, Marston was restrained correctly. However, she suffered severe injuries and was pronounced dead at a hospital where she was transported for treatment. The driver of the Freightliner was also restrained and was not injured in the crash. Investigators do not suspect that Marston was impaired; however, toxicology samples were collected and submitted for analysis. LSP continues to investigate the crash. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
