Latest news with #Miles
Indianapolis Star
4 days ago
- Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis man sentenced to over 50 years for child sex crimes
This article contains descriptions of child abuse. If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, call the Indiana Department of Child Services' Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-800-5556. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All adults are mandated reporters in Indiana. A man was sentenced to serve 53 years July 25 after being convicted of child sex crimes by a Marion County jury. Ira Miles, 37, will serve 49 of those years in prison after being found guilty of child molesting, rape, sexual misconduct with a minor, criminal confinement and intimidation. Miles' sentence was increased due to prior felony convictions. In June, Miles was found guilty of sexually abusing a child relative over the course of several years. The victim told investigators that Miles said if anyone found out about the abuse, he would kill her and another family member, according to a probable cause affidavit. Detectives also spoke with a relative who said Miles would "become violent when he gets upset.'
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Category 1 status for church ‘great news'
Kakanui church owners Anna Miles and Michael Simpson (right), and their dog Pippa (left) on the doorstep of the category 1 historic place, and the interior (centre) of the restored former community church that still houses the original piano organ from 1901. PHOTO: JULES CHIN A preservation project has paid off for the dedicated efforts of the passionate owners of the Kakanui church that is now listed as a category 1 historic place with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. The former Kakanui Presbyterian Church, a modest Carpenter Gothic building designed by renowned Scottish-born Dunedin architect Robert Arthur Lawson, has undergone a significant transformation in recent years thanks to Waimate-based couple Michael Simpson and Anna Miles. The pair are ecstatic their restoration project has reached category 1 status after working on the former church since they bought it in 2019. "We are absolutely thrilled and delighted. It's great news," Mr Simpson said. Category 1 historic places are of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance or value. Ms Miles said the church and the area surrounding meant a lot to them and the Kakanui community. "It's just a special spot ... the river, the beach, this place. "So many people came in while we were working on the church and because it was already a notable building and the community had battled to try and save it and fundraise for it when the church still owned it," Mr Simpson said. Built in 1870, and once the spiritual heart of Kakanui, the timber church had weathered decades of change before its final service in November 2019 in the seaside town. Mr Simpson and Ms Miles, who attended the last service, said it was "emotional" and embodied the deep connection the Kakanui community had to the church. Since buying the property, the couple have steadily restored the structure, replacing sub-floor bearing joists, corner studs and weatherboards, improving drainage, restoring windows and repainting the interior. Their restoration has extended to the church's outbuildings — including the bible class hall added in 1933, two small buildings acquired in 1955 for the growing Sunday school and even a brownies den. They say they have kept the budget to a minimum by working with original materials "to minimise waste" as much as possible. They have also strived to keep original details such as original boarding and the iron straps added to the building in 1884 to stop the church from "getting battered by northwest winds", Mr Simpson said. Mr Simpson, a carpenter with heritage expertise, and Ms Miles, equally hands-on, saw the church as more than just a building and have brought it back to life with community events including a night market and musical gigs, Christmas carols and even a friend's wedding. "We'd seen so much loss of heritage and we knew we could work to preserve it ... we see ourselves as stewards of the building". Mr Lawson (1833-1902), the church's architect, is well known for many of Oamaru's classical buildings including the National Bank, the Bank of New South Wales and the Star and Garter Hotel. Mr Simpson said it was "was super exciting" when they got the listing "to get a stab" at preserving the history of the church. The couple said initial meetings with Waitaki District Council building advisers and engagement with Heritage New Zealand had been "fantastic". "The building advisers were so receptive to our ideas ... and Heritage New Zealand assessment adviser Alison Brees who came up and then did a report on it, it was so comprehensive and she was learning, so much," Mr Simpson said. "She was doing all the research on the social history of Kakanui and what it was a symbol of," Ms Miles said. After various project ideas the couple opted to stick to the "essence" of the original design of the building. They have also made some interesting discoveries throughout the restoration of the 154-year-old church including Roman numerals etched into wood behind some of the boards. "Because this was kit-set, likely built off-site or pre-assembled offsite. "An intern at Heritage NZ also discovered through old photos that the bent and forked roof was actually for the rope that went up to the bell on the bell tower," Mr Simpson said. Making the commute from Waimate at any chance they get, they describe the restoration as their "hobby", but the project has taken on new meaning for them as it has progressed. "We saw it as a building project on day one, but it just keeps turning into something else — having events in the church, and restoring it as well as we can, means that it should have a life beyond us, and that's what we want." Mr Simpson said. Originally designed to seat 100 worshippers, the church was constructed in just three months during a period of ambitious development. Hopes were high that the newly built port would turn the coastal settlement into a major export hub. While those dreams faded, the church remained a part of the community's life for nearly 150 years. The couple say they have had "so much fun" restoring the former church and have been grateful not to have a set deadline to be able to enjoy the process at their own pace. Ms Miles said the wider community outreach and public submissions in support of the building to achieve a category 1 historic place had been immense. "All these people submitted saying they thought it was a great idea. They all got involved; it was amazing," she said. Mr Simpson said they were told it was a "recent record" for the number of submissions they received. The couple plan to continue restoration of the church and to celebrate its new-found heritage status with an open day event "to welcome all" in spring. "If we have a gin at the end of the day sitting in here and looking at the ceiling and thinking how lovely it is, well, what else could you want?" Mr Simpson said.
Irish Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Waterford snap up former Steven Gerrard Academy prospect who has an eye for goal
Waterford have snapped up a pacy winger with a keen eye for goal, as they bid to push up the Premier Division table. Manager John Coleman has handed one-time Steven Gerrard Academy prospect Josh Miles an 18-month contract, after he impressed while training with the Blues over the past few weeks. Miles has played with AFC Liverpool, Southport and Blackpool, where he finished the 2023/24 season as the stop scorer in their Under-18 side. The 19-year-old also played on-loan at Warrington Town and FC United of Manchester, where he spent the second half of the 2024/25 season. Click this link or scan the QR code to receive the latest League of Ireland news and top stories from the Irish Mirror. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice . He will travel with the squad to Friday night's Premier Division clash against Galway United at Eamonn Deacy Park. 'I'm delighted to be here,' said Miles. 'I've really enjoyed my time so far. You can see the quality in the squad. I'm looking forward to getting started and hopefully we can have a strong end to the season.' Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .
Vox
5 days ago
- Politics
- Vox
Why America is murdering less
is a senior producer and reporter for, Vox's daily news podcast. These days, Miles is mostly focused on economics stories, but he has reported and produced episodes on topics ranging fromto the campaign of Over the last two years, a quiet miracle has been playing out across the United States: People are killing each other far less often. Murder and other types of violent crime spiked across the country in 2020, when the pandemic closed down schools and recreation centers and the police murder of George Floyd fueled a collapse in community trust in policing. Violent crime stayed high for the next two years. But murders fell by about 12 percent in 2023 — the largest drop ever recorded in federal crime statistics — and may have declined even further in 2024. Federal data for the year has yet to be released, but murders likely fell around 14 percent in 2024, according to data compiled by the Real Time Crime Index. This year, they're down roughly 20 percent. Jeff Asher, a crime analyst who helps run the index, said 2025 is on track to have the lowest murder rate since 1960, when the FBI began keeping reliable records. Today, Explained Understand the world with a daily explainer, plus the most compelling stories of the day. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. One of the most remarkable examples of this trend is Baltimore, Maryland, which in the first six months of this year has had its fewest homicides in five decades. Baltimore, like many other cities in the US, received a massive influx of federal funding in 2021 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). In the last few years, the funding paid for things like new recreation centers and street lights in high-crime areas. At the same time, the Biden administration distributed billions in grants to nonprofit violence reduction groups. That funding, Asher told Vox's Today, Explained podcast, may be part of the answer. He described an 'everything but the kitchen sink' theory of gun violence reduction, with a tide of federal money addressing multiple potential factors, directly and indirectly. 'It's a lot of slop being thrown against a wall, but it's also, I think, well-informed slop, if that's a thing,' Asher said. 'And it is the thing that I think helps to explain why we're seeing [a decline in murder rates] everywhere.' How Baltimore got a handle on gun violence Baltimore's murder spike began earlier than the rest of the country. It came in 2015, after a young Black man named Freddie Gray was killed in police custody. Violent crime shot up to historic highs and stayed elevated through 2020, when Brandon Scott was elected mayor on a platform of reforming how the city approaches gun violence. 'The goal was very simple,' Scott told Vox. 'We were going to reduce the number that has sunk many Baltimore mayors for years by 15 percent from one year to the next, and that was homicides.' Scott's team has leaned into a strategy called 'focused deterrence.' It calls for concentrating resources on the small group of people — mostly young men and boys — who are most likely to be both victims and perpetrators of gun crime. Baltimore's police have tried focusing on these high-risk young men before; what's new here is the carrot: Baltimore partners with nonprofits to offer them job training, mental health support, housing assistance, and other services to try and head off gun crime before it happens. 'What we were doing [before] is we were trying to arrest the criminals who were committing the acts, but there were no wraparound services,' Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley told Vox. 'There was nothing offered for them to get out of the game.' The effort was initially funded by tens of millions of federal dollars. And preliminary research suggests it's moving the needle. 'My whole mindset changed for life,' said Malik, 20, who got involved with Roca Baltimore, an anti-violence group that partners with the city on focused deterrence, after he finished a stint in prison for a gun charge in 2023. 'I think way different — I'm more disciplined now.' Other young men at Roca Baltimore said they thought a general improvement in the infrastructure in their neighborhoods was contributing to the decline in gun violence. Scott's administration received $41 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to renovate the city's parks, pools, and recreation centers. 'All of the [recreation centers] getting reopened, getting refurnished, rebuilding and all, everything looking better and stuff like that. Just simple things like that can go a long way,' said Antonio, 20, another member of the Roca program in Baltimore. 'If you got somebody in a messed-up environment, all they see is abandoned houses, all the recs closed, no activities. What else is there to do [but be] outside? You feel me?' What's next for Baltimore The tenuous progress in Baltimore and elsewhere is now under threat. This spring, Roca Baltimore found out it was one of the programs impacted by the Justice Department's decision to cancel nearly a billion dollars in violence reduction grants; it lost a million dollars in grant money that had already been promised. The organization has had to lay people off, and it will serve fewer kids this year than last year. After the passage of President Donald Trump's reconciliation package earlier this month, Scott is also bracing for the additional ripple effects of federal cuts to Medicaid and food benefits. 'It's really sad because you have a president and administration and a party that claims that they want to deal with violent crime, right?' Scott said. 'But then they cut Roca. They cut…people that are out here helping to prevent violence simply because they don't believe in the methods that they use.' Asher, the crime analyst, cautioned that it's difficult to predict what is going to drive gun violence up or down. It may continue to trend downward even if the funding cuts force Baltimore and other cities to scale back the anti-violence strategies developed over the last few years. But, he said, if history is any guide, gun violence will likely begin to trend back up at some point — and that's when the loss of those programs will be felt the most acutely.
Graziadaily
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Graziadaily
Miles Nazaire Quits Made In Chelsea: 'I'm Done With It Forever'
If there's one person boyfriends hate to see coming it's Miles Nazaire. After a long stint as a Made in Chelsea heart throb, with an unmatched knack for befriending girls with burgeoning relationship issues, Miles has announced that he won't be returning to the e4 show. Breaking the news on YouTube, Miles said he's 'done with Chelsea forever', which came shortly after he reportedly pulled out of a rumoured appearance on Love Island USA. 'I'm just done with TV for a while,' he said, speaking to his friend David 'Temps' Templer. 'I'm done with Chelsea forever, but I'm not with TV for a little bit before we start going back into it.' He also eluded to the Love Island USA appearance and said, 'I had these big TV plans that, unfortunately, I had to come back to the UK for personal reasons.' A source previously told MailOnline that 'producers flew him out to Fiji and he was there for weeks before coming home citing "personal issues"'. Adding, 'Britain's Love Island has an American contestant this series and the plan was for the American season to have a British star too, but it hasn't happened.' For any Miles super fans, the news that he has left the e4 show won't come as a huge surprise. Speaking on the Monday Mile podcast last year, he said, 'I don't know how much longer I'll be in reality TV.' 'I was always going to do something in film, TV, radio, whatever it was going to be,' he explained. 'TV found me. I found I was very good at it and I'm really happy I did it, but now I'm focusing on different things.' He has also been noticeably absent from the cast's recent trip to Thailand for series 30 and his social media is now very much dedicated to influencing and fitness. Even so, the sound of hearts breaking can be heard from Sloane Square. Since joining the show in 2018, Miles has dated everyone from Ruby Adler, Tiff Watson, Inga Valentiner, Issy Francis-Baum, Jazz Saunders, Yasmine Zweegers and, of course, Maeva D'Ascanio. His legacy speaks for itself. If you want relationship advice from someone who would never take it himself, Miles is your man. If you want a confidence boost after a break up, Miles is your man. If you want to find yourself locked in intense flirtation when you were simply trying to walk through a door, Miles is your man. He'll be sorely missed. Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across entertainment, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things pop culture for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow with equal respect).
