Latest news with #Mayes
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Winnipeg councillors begin hearing on fourplexes, four-storeys zoning changes
Winnipeg councillors began a multi-day hearing on new zoning rules on Monday that would allow up to four units on residential lots across the city. The proposed changes would also allow construction fourplexes up to four storeys high within 800 metres of frequent transit routes. These projects would be permitted without the need for a public hearing, as long as they meet design standards like lot coverage and setbacks. Dozens of people registered to speak at the hearing, roughly evenly split between those in support and those in opposition. The hearing is expected to last multiple days, beginning with supporters like Michael Hems. "I believe that we need to just allow our housing stock to grow in a way that curbs urban sprawl, because to many Winnipeggers out there, they understand our infrastructure is crumbling," he said. Councillors agreed to make the changes to get more than $122 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. Critics say the plan will take away the right of people to have a say on developments. Others argue that the changes will not lead to a significant increase in housing construction, because other factors such as the cost of materials and labour shortages hamper the industry. St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes says city staff have addressed some of his concerns, but not all of them. He and River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. John Orlikow won a vote earlier this year, rescheduling the hearing from March until June, to allow more time for public consultation. "That created, I think, a kind of a spirit of compromise," Mayes told reporters on Monday. "So, it's been respectful so far. We'll see. Tempers will rise at some point, probably mine included. But you know, so far so good, I think." Mayes says he still worries the minimum lot size for fourplexes with no back lane is too small. Mayor Scott Gillingham says the federal government has mandated the changes, and the city needs money for housing. "We have talked publicly and consistently about the fact that I think as of six months ago, the vacancy rate in Manitoba was below two per cent," he said. "It's very difficult to find housing in Winnipeg right now." Gillingham says other federal funding programs like the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund and the Canada Public Transit Fund also make zoning changes a requirement. In total, he says more than $450 million in federal money depends on the city following through on its rezoning commitment. To qualify for the full funding, Winnipeg must issue building permits for 14,000 units by next year. Councillors are expected to vote on the zoning changes later this week, after all delegates have spoken.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Taking a shot
Romi Mayes wants to make live music an on-demand experience. Last month, the Winnipeg blues artist, event producer and booking agent launched Sure Shot Bookings, an online platform to help connect the public with musicians-for-hire across the country. 'It's kind of like SkipTheDishes, but for music,' Mayes says. SUPPLIED JD Edwards is one of the local musicians on the Sure Shot roster. Named after the Beastie Boys classic of the same name, Sure Shot currently has a roster of about 150 artists working in Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Customers looking to book an act for a public, private or corporate event can submit a request and Mayes — currently the company's sole employee — will get to work liaising with the musician or band. 'For any event there is, live music is an enhancement. You choose who you want, when you want it and I try to facilitate that,' she says. Mayes is a Juno-nominated, Western Canadian Music Award-winning singer-songwriter who released her seventh studio album, Small Victories, last year. Event planning and logistics have always been part of her decades-long music career. 'Even as a teenager I was doing things, putting on talent shows, volunteering to help out at the synagogue. I didn't realize it was going to be such an important skill set that was also going to be my passion,' she says. When Mayes became a professional musician, she hosted local songwriter events, booked tours for other artists and co-ordinated outdoor concerts during the pandemic. She's been nominated several times for agent of the year by the Canadian Live Music Association. Sure Shot is the culmination of that experience and an attempt to create more industry opportunities. 'The goal is to bring live music to music lovers and to add work for fellow musicians. I see how hard it is to get work, to maintain work as an independent Canadian musician without really being able to expand into the U.S. anymore,' Mayes said. Beyond the current political climate down south, getting a work visa to perform in the United States is a long and expensive process and the dollar discrepancy can cut into profits made on the road. 'I'm hoping to get some more work out of it,' says JD Edwards, one of the Manitoba musicians on Sure Shot's roster. 'I'm not doing as much international touring as I have in the past, but I do like to stay connected with my community and I still love to perform. SUPPLIED Winnipeg musician and booking agent Romi Mayes has launched her own cross-country live music platform. 'I think any help artists can get to get gigs is gonna be good.' Mayes has tried to enlist artists from a range of backgrounds and genres. Other locals include Mitchell Makoons, Bobby Dove, Joe Curtis, Amber Epp, Rodrigo Muñoz, Sol James and the Sturgeons. Edwards is also looking forward to playing for audiences outside of his usual stomping grounds. Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. 'People might not necessarily come out to the Times Change(d), they might not go out to other venues to see artists, so this will give more exposure,' he says. One such venue is the Bar Italia patio, where Edwards will be among several Sure Shot musicians performing in a new summer concert series beginning this weekend and running every Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. until July 13. Sure Shot offers 45- or 60-minute performance slots for virtually every kind of event — birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, yard parties, corporate functions, community events and cultural holidays. Bookings include liability insurance and rates are discounted for non-profit organizations. The musicians supply their own sound equipment. Visit for more information. Eva WasneyReporter Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva. Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Kris Mayes wanted to save democracy from Arizona's fake electors. Now what?
The public has broadly moved on from then-President Joe Biden's win over Donald Trump in 2020, but there is a major exception to that in Arizona. Kari Lake, a member of Trump's current administration, still spends time denouncing the results, but the state's Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes is more focused on the Republicans who tried to help sidestep Arizona's certified election results. These "fake electors," including people like former Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward and former Arizona state Sen. Anthony Kern, are at the center of a felony case pending by Mayes, and going through with the lawsuit was a vital point in her election campaign. But now, those Republicans have been handed a victory. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge recently ordered Mayes to take her evidence back to the grand jury to inform them of a key legal argument made by the electors. This ruling may — or may not — undercut Mayes' case enough to reconsider a matter she has framed as protecting democracy itself. This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by former Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard, and later, Republic reporter Stacey Barchenger. Goddard breaks down how rare it is for a case to go back to the grand jury for matters of defense, rather than elements of the alleged crimes, and other insights into the law. Stacey then joins The Gaggle to discuss this specific case and what it means for Mayes' political future. The best way to listen is to subscribe to The Gaggle on your favorite podcast app, but you can also stream the full episode below. Note: The Gaggle is intended to be heard. But we also offer an AI transcript of the episode script. There may be slight deviations from the podcast audio. Follow The Gaggle and all azcentral podcasts on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram. Listen to The Gaggle : Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher You can share your thoughts with us at 602-444-0804 or via email here. Reach the producer Amanda Luberto at aluberto@ Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @amandaluberto and on Bluesky @amandaluberto. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kris Mayes' future after fake electors case update
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Sober Living Scheme: Arizona Attorney General addresses Medicaid fraud
The Brief Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sat down with FOX 10 Investigator Justin Lum to talk about the state's Sober Living Crisis. The crisis, along with the scandal involving the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), could ultimately cost the state $2 billion. "This is going to take years to fix," AG Mayes said. PHOENIX - As fallout from the Sober Living Crisis and the scandal involving Arizona's Medicaid agency that ultimately cost the state $2 billion continues, Attorney General Kris Mayes sat down with us to talk about the situation. The backstory Attorney General Mayes sat down for the interview after nearly 20 people, a behavioral health provider and a church are accused of defrauding the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) for $60 million. While AG Mayes could not get into specifics of the case, we know that, according to investigators, Happy House Behavioral Health and other defendants allegedly conspired by patient brokering and using sober living homes to take advantage of Medicaid members. The suspects are also accused of wiring millions of dollars to Hope of Life International Church and an entity in Rwanda, which is a country located in Africa. The defendants have pleaded not guilty. What they're saying Attorney Joshua Kolsrud, who represents Pastor Theodore Macuranyana, released a statement in connection with Macuranyana's indictment. Kolsrud's statement reads: "Kolsrud Law Offices condemns the Arizona Attorney General's Office for its unjust indictment of Pastor Theodore Macuranyana, a respected community leader with no criminal history, and his religious organization in a healthcare fraud investigation. This action exemplifies egregious prosecutorial overreach. The Attorney General's Office seeks to escape accountability for failing to detect an alleged fraud that triggered over $60 million in payouts within a year. Instead of addressing this regulatory failure, the prosecution pursues baseless charges against uninvolved parties to deflect blame. Criminal charges must be rooted in evidence, not politics. Targeting a church and its leadership without proof sets a dangerous precedent and erodes public trust in the justice system. The AG's Office unfortunately has a history of politically motivated prosecutions. Just yesterday, May 19, 2025, the Maricopa County Superior Court ruled that the AG's Office unfairly presented its so-called "Fake Electors" case to the grand jury and violated the defendants' constitutional rights. The judge ordered the case remanded back to the grand jury. Kolsrud Law Offices demands a transparent review of the facts, free from political motives." We've reached out to the attorneys for the rest of the defendants in this latest indictment, but have not heard back. Dig deeper As we have reported on since 2023, thousands of victims, mainly Native Americans, were not provided legitimate treatment services for substance abuse and mental health. Per AG Mayes, more than 120 individuals and entities have been charged in connection to the Sober Living Scheme, but only a small percentage of the estimated $2 billion has been recovered, as she says funds have been spent on assets like cars and homes, or wired offshore. Cases we are seeing prosecuted stem back to before 2023, when AHCCCS and the state's Attorney General's Office were led by another administration. "How much does this fall on checks and balances handled by our state agencies?" we asked AG Mayes. "This is about a government failure. That is something that we're working on right now, that AHCCCS is now working on," AG Mayes replied. "We continue to provide advice and some guidance to them about what we think they need to do to stop this fraud. This is going to take years to fix. It could take up to a decade to fix this. This is something that was allowed to fester for way too long, and far too many people were hurt by it." AG Mayes also confirmed that there are clear international ties to this scheme, as alleged in the money laundering charge involving Rwanda.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona to execute Richard Djerf for 1993 quadruple murder of Phoenix family
Arizona has carried out most executions with lethal injection since 1992, but with a litany of changing protocols and problems, which ultimately halted executions in the state for eight years. Photo courtesy Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Richard Kenneth Djerf, who murdered four members of a west Phoenix family in 1993, will be the next Death Row prisoner put to death in Arizona. The Arizona Attorney General's Office filed notice in the Arizona Supreme Court Thursday to begin the process for obtaining a death warrant. If all goes according to schedule, the execution should take place in late August or early September. 'The people of this state still support the death penalty, as far as we know,' Attorney General Kris Mayes told the Arizona Mirror. 'And so my job is to carry it out.' It's become a mantra of sorts for Mayes: Execution is the law of the land in Arizona. She said it in March after the execution of Aaron Gunches, the first of her administration, and she said it again several times during a recent interview with the Mirror. Usually, it's Republicans who embrace execution as a tenet of their law-and-order credo. Nonetheless, Mayes, a Democrat, has promised to carry out the law in her administration, though she won't give hints as to who will go after Djerf. There are 22 other men on Arizona Death Row who have exhausted their appeals, and Mayes intends to cull the worst of them. Djerf was hardly a surprise candidate. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Defense attorneys had speculated for months that Djerf would be at the top of the list. And in late April, Maricopa County Attorney Rachell Mitchell blurted his name out at a press conference, even though executions fall outside of her jurisdiction. Consequently, journalists in the room rushed to figure out who Djerf was. While Mitchell was speculating, Mayes was analyzing. 'We have prepared a series of criteria by which I will be choosing the next people who are executed,' she said. The criteria 'includes things like blameworthiness, whether a child was killed, whether multiple people were killed, whether the crime was particularly heinous or cruel and the amount of time that the victims have been waiting. And I don't believe that's ever been done by any AG in the past. We did it.' In 1976, a U.S. Supreme Court opinion dictated that the death penalty be reserved for the worst of the worst crimes, defined by a set of aggravating factors. Arizona law follows the same theory, and Djerf's crimes fit the description: In September 1993, he took a family hostage in their home, killing the mother, father and a their 5-year-old son, and raping their teenage daughter before killing her, too. It was the work of a monster, or so it seemed. But it's never that simple. Djerf is now a 55-year-old man with a bald and bullet-shaped head and a leering smile. There's not a single item on his prison disciplinary record. According to one of his former defense attorneys, he sits in his cell drawing professional-quality, self-satirizing cartoons After a courthouse interview in December 1993, Bill Hermann my former colleague at The Arizona Republic, described the then-23-year-old Djerf as an enigma. 'Djerf appears to be a pleasant, retiring, gentle young man of medium height and stocky build, with wavy brown hair,' he wrote. 'He speaks softly and politely, and smiles often, in a friendly, if shy, manner.' It was a shocking portrait in light of what he had done. And though Djerf expressed his remorse in trial, it was too little, too late. Djerf had attended Independence High in Glendale. He was an unpopular kid, not anyone who drew attention. But he was not a complete stranger to police, having been arrested once for shoplifting and twice for extorting money from fellow students at the school. The Glendale apartment he rented after high school was decorated in nerd style, with auto racing posters, a Freddy Krueger doll and a street sign that said Elm St. Some time after high school, he took a job at a Safeway supermarket in west Phoenix, where he worked with Albert Luna Jr. But apparently they were not friends: Luna burglarized Djerf's apartment, taking electronic equipment and an AK-47. And though Djerf reported the theft to police, they did nothing. So, several months later, Djerf decided to get his own revenge. There were no surviving eyewitnesses to what happened next. But there is a detailed narrative in the court record, nonetheless, describing events down to the minute, presumably put together by prosecutors from his eventual confession and from what he told his girlfriend and other friends afterward. On the afternoon of Sept. 14, 1993, Djerf went to the 7200 block of West Monte Vista Road and knocked at the front door of the Luna house, brandishing a bouquet of artificial flowers. When Luna's mother, Patricia, 40, opened the door, Djerf pulled out a 9 mm handgun. He made her load belongings from the house into the family car and then taped her and her 5-year-old son, Damien, to kitchen chairs. He asked her where Albert Jr. was and taunted her by asking whether he should kill her or her son first, forcing the other to watch. Albert Jr.'s sister, Rochelle, 18, came home at 3 p.m. Djerf took her to her bedroom, taped her to the bed and raped her before stabbing her repeatedly and slitting her throat. He went back to the kitchen to let Patricia know he had killed her. An hour later, Albert Sr., 46, came home. Djerf forced him to crawl to another bedroom, and bashed his head with an aluminum baseball bat, leaving him for dead. Then he returned to the kitchen to tell Patricia. He tried to snap Damien's neck using a technique he'd seen in a movie, and when that didn't work, he tried to electrocute him with a frayed lamp cord. Albert Sr., who was not yet dead after all, leapt into the kitchen at that moment and stabbed Djerf with a pocket knife. The two men fought, but Djerf shot Albert Sr. to death. Then, after more taunts, he shot Patricia and Damien in the head, doused the room with gasoline, turned on the stove burners and left in the Luna family car to meet up with his girlfriend. The girlfriend drove Djerf to St. Joseph's Hospital; he said he'd been stabbed by two men who tied to rob him. But over the next few days, he told the girlfriend what he had done and bragged to other friends, as well. He was arrested on Sept. 18 and charged with burglary, multiple counts of kidnapping and aggravated assault, sexual assault, attempted arson, misconduct with weapons and four counts of murder. Djerf eventually confessed. Rather than face a jury, he pleaded guilty to all four murders and prosecutors agreed to drop the other charges. He fired his attorneys and represented himself through his sentencing, but after finding aggravators of pecuniary gain (murder for money), multiple murders, a victim younger than 15, and the heinous, cruel and depraved manner of the killings, the judge sentenced him to death four times. The last of his appeals failed in 2019. When Gov. Katie Hobbs took office in 2023, she declared a moratorium on executions, citing a litany of problems in carrying them out over the preceding decade. The prior attorney general, Mark Brnovich, had carried out three executions in the last months of his tenure, and he had obtained a warrant for a fourth. But Hobbs and Mayes let that warrant lapse as they awaited an analysis of the state's procedures for execution by lethal injection for which they commissioned a retired federal judge magistrate. 'A violent act in every case': One judge's impossible quest for a humane execution When that commissioner stated in a preliminary report that lethal injection, as practiced in Arizona, was fatally flawed, he was fired. His study was supplanted by a separate analysis conducted by Ryan Thornell, director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. Meanwhile, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell was pressuring the state to seek a new warrant for Death Row prisoner Aaron Gunches, whose earlier warrant had lapsed. She petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to let her file for a warrant herself, and when the court agreed to hear her argument, Hobbs and Mayes decided to seek a warrant after all. 'We objected to what we thought was a very inappropriate filing by her in the Supreme Court,' Mayes said. 'We made it clear to the Supreme Court that this was the purview of the attorney general — whether it's me or whoever follows me. It is the purview of the attorney general to make these decisions. And it would be utter and complete chaos if we had 15 county attorneys who could go directly to the Supreme Court and file for a death warrant. That's insane, and it's not going to happen in the State of Arizona under my watch. Nor should any county attorney be lobbying the attorney general about who should go next. And, again, it's only been one county attorney.' But Mitchell stepped in again, positing during an April press conference that Djerf was a likely execution candidate. 'Rachel and I agree on a lot of things, but on this she was way off base,' Mayes said. 'I expressed that to her.' 'One of the reasons you don't do that is it very much violates the rights of the victims in these cases,' she said. Mayes had already made the decision to execute Djerf but was not ready to announce it. She had already informed the surviving victims of the Luna family, and she was relieved that they would not be hearing it from the media. 'In everything I do in regard to the death penalty, I try to be serious, not headline driven, and victim-focused,' she said. 'So, I think that is what disturbed me about that.' 'Hopefully, that won't happen again, but we'll see.' In the months before the Gunches execution, attorneys and activists filed motions to stop it, arguing that the state's supply of pentobarbital, the execution drug, had possibly expired. Others argued that the drug's use constituted cruel and unusual punishment because, in 84% of cases, according to experts, it causes flash pulmonary edema, a chemical reaction in the lungs that causes the decedent to literally drown in his own body fluids, while unresponsive, but not necessarily insensate. Experts have compared it to the painful and terrifying sensation of water-boarding torture. In fact, autopsies of nine Arizona death row prisoners executed since 2011 showed clear signs of pulmonary edema. The Gunches execution went forward anyway, without a hitch, and his autopsy showed that he was one of the 16% who do not experience pulmonary edema. 'I think it was the result of extensive preparations by Ryan Thornell, and the fact that the state took the amount of time that we needed to take to get it right,' Mayes said. 'And there are obviously differing opinions on the death penalty, but it is the law of Arizona — and I'm the attorney general, and it's my job to uphold the law of Arizona.' Mayes scoffed at the suggestion that there may have been some luck involved in the Gunches execution happening without issue. And so she and Thornell are going forward in Djerf's execution with the same protocol. As she explained: 'What I think about when I'm making these decisions is, No. 1: Can the state do this constitutionally and competently, and we can. No. 2: I'm the top law enforcement officer in the state and it's my job to uphold the law. And No. 3: I think about what the victims went through. And what the victims went through in every single one of these cases is far greater than what the perpetrator deals with in those final moments. And that is certainly the case in every single case that I have looked at in terms of those folks who are on death row. They put their victims through pure hell, and that needs to be front and center.' 'I try to put myself in the shoes of someone who has had a loved one murdered,' she said. 'It's unimaginable, and therefore it's important for us to consider how they're feeling and what they think closure is for them. And no one can make that decision for them. Nobody. Not you, as a reporter who's covered these cases, not me, as an AG who's doing her second execution. Nobody but the victim knows what it's like to walk that path. And it's a horrible, horrible path. And it goes on for a long time because these cases take decades to do. That's where I put my focus.' Is execution closure for victims? Can anyone get over the trauma of having a family extinguished? 'It's the end of a chapter in a book that goes on forever,' Mayes said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
