Latest news with #Palazzo
Boston Globe
01-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Video captures moment R.I. police shot man who allegedly struck officer with a car
Officers found a man — later identified as Peterson — sitting alone in the driver's seat of a white Nissan Sentra, according to authorities. As one of the officers excited his patrol vehicle, Peterson allegedly 'accelerated forward, striking the officer,' officials said. 'At that time, the officer discharged his service weapon, firing multiple rounds at the driver.' Advertisement Footage from a gas station security camera and another officer's body camera that was obtained by the Globe on Wednesday shows how Peterson reversed his vehicle right before the incident and then sped toward the officer, identified in an arrest report as Officer Derrick Palazzo. Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up Warning: This video depicts a shooting and may be disturbing for some viewers. The videos show Palazzo drew his firearm and another officer tried to approach the vehicle's driver's side door as Peterson reversed the car. Then, as Peterson sped forward, Palazzo attempted to move out of the vehicle's path, but was grazed by the sedan as he fired four shots, the videos show. Palazzo then lost his footing and fell on the ground, according to the videos. Advertisement Peterson's vehicle continued moving across Hartford Avenue before coming to a stop across the street when it crashed into a pylon, the footage shows. Officers then quickly crossed the street to get to Peterson, who can be heard screaming in the video as he lay on the ground. 'On the ground!' one officer yells at him, as he keeps his firearm drawn on Peterson. 'Cuff him!' the officer tells a colleague. Police can then be seen scrambling to provide medical aid to Peterson after learning he was shot in the leg. One officer can be heard in the video directing another to 'get a tourniquet on him.' Authorities have said Palazzo suffered minor injuries. On Monday, police said Peterson was in stable condition. The incident will be investigated by members of the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office, State Police, and the Johnston Police Department, as required by protocol, officials said. Officials said at the time of the shooting, Peterson was wanted on a warrant from Rhode Island State Police on charges of obstructing an officer and reckless driving. Peterson was arraigned at the Rhode Island Hospital on Sunday evening on charges of felony assault, assault of a police officer, obstructing a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and 'reckless driving and other offenses against public safety,' police said. Peterson is being held without bail as a probation and bail violator, according to authorities. Steph Machado of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Christopher Gavin can be reached at
Sky News AU
26-04-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
AUKUS labelled ‘the problem' with Australia's defence spending
Former director of war studies for the ADF Albert Palazzo discusses defence spending by the Australian government. 'It's what you're buying that matters and at the moment what both parties plan to buy for the security of the country is really not the correct stuff,' Mr Palazzo told Sky News Australia. 'We are in AUKUS and AUKUS is really the problem, not the solution to Australia's national security.'
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mississippi politics: Former Congressman Steven Palazzo fined for misuse of campaign funds
Although he's been out of office since 2023, Former Congressman Steven Palazzo is still on the forefront of politics after he was cited for misusing campaign funds. "The Commission found reason to believe that Steven Palazzo and Palazzo for Congress and Paul Kilgore in his official capacity as treasurer … violated (part) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, by converting campaign funds to personal use," the Federal Election Commission wrote in its conciliation agreement, which is similar to a settlement agreement. Palazzo, who represented Mississippi's 4th Congressional District from 2011 to 2023, received notice of the fine last week, although the agreement was reached in January. He has approximately 30 days to pay the fine. to read the conciliation agreement. Find out what was in the initial complaint. 'I am glad this is finally over for my family, friends, and loyal supporters," Palazzo said in an email. "After five years of dealing with the lies and half-truths, we can finally move on. "Serving as South Mississippi's Congressman will always be among my greatest honors. From my heart, thank you for the opportunity, and God bless you all.' Carl Boyanton, who has sought the Republican nomination in the congressional primaries since 2020, filed a complaint with the FEC, questioning Palazzo's campaign spending. Boyanton said he filed the complaint before he decided to run for Congress. Among the spending he challenged was the congressman's expenses of $3,000 a month on rent for a campaign office that did not exist. In addition, that rent was paid to Greene Acres, a company owned by Palazzo. He also reported by Palazzo's own campaign finance reports that the congressman paid for utilities and cleaning of the nonexistent facility. Palazzo, in his responses to Boyanton's complaint and the FEC investigation, denied he and his campaign leadership used the funds for anything other than for what they were intended. Read the FEC general counsel's second report. to read the FEC general counsel's first report. The complaint was filed in January 2020, and after five years the FEC determined Palazzo was in the wrong. He was fined $13,500 in a civil penalty and as part of the settlement agreement, and agreed to reimburse his campaign committee an additional $16,500 to cover outstanding debts. On Monday, Boyanton said in a phone interview that he was happy to see the FEC agreed with him, but he believes the punishment should have been for Palazzo to pay back every dollar that was put toward personal use. "The fine isn't going to be enough, because it isn't going to deter people from doing it," Boyanton said. "If you're going to do the crime, do the time. You know, we put people in jail for less than what he did. It's horrible to say these people aren't held accountable." Boyanton said he also filed a complaint with the House ethics committee, chaired by Mississippi Congressman Michael Guest, but felt the complaint was ignored since nothing apparently came of it. But Boyanton also said he was told in a follow-up to the complaint, that the ethics committee doesn't disclose personal information, so he doesn't know for sure what happened after the complaint was filed. "But where is the transparency," he asked. "To have the fox watching the hen house, that is what we've got with the ethics committee." Despite his frustration with how long it took for the FEC to act and the small amount of the fine, Boyanton said he is satisfied that action was taken. "I'm happy something happened," Boyanton said. "I don't want him to go to jail. To tell you the truth, he's actually a nice guy. I think he would have gotten reelected had he just come out and said, 'Hey, I made a mistake. I'll fix everything.' He was well-liked. It's a shame." Former Mississippi Congressman Gregg Harper defended Palazzo in the FEC complaint and proceedings. 'This was a long and difficult process for Congressman Palazzo to have to endure," Harper said. "If you read the Conciliation Agreement, you can see that the Congressman strongly states that he did not convert campaign funds to personal use, and at the end of the day, paid a modest amount for a fine for not having mileage logs for a vehicle and other technical violations. "In addition, this allows him to pay for some campaign expenses that he wanted to see resolved. Had he fought this, it would have taken years longer and probably cost in excess of $150,000 in legal fees to hire an attorney in D.C. that specialized in FEC matters. "After almost five long years, I recommended that he settle and bring this to an end. This doesn't diminish the fact that Congressman Palazzo worked hard and successfully to represent the 4th Congressional District for 12 years.' Lici Beveridge is a reporter for the Hattiesburg American and Clarion Ledger. Contact her at lbeveridge@ Follow her on X @licibev or Facebook at This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Ex-Mississippi Rep. Palazzo fined $30,000 for campaign fund misuse
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo violated campaign finance law, FEC says. He'll have to pay
Former U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo will pay $30,000 for converting campaign funds to personal use under an agreement that he reached with the Federal Election Commission. Palazzo, who could not be reached to comment, will pay the FEC a civil penalty of $13,500 and reimburse his re-election campaign $16,500 to cover outstanding debt. The certified public accountant served as Mississippi's 4th Congressional District representative from 2011 until January 2023, losing his final re-election bid to U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell in the Republican primary. In 2019, the FEC found, Palazzo charged his campaign $3,000 a month to rent, as a campaign office, the River House in D'Iberville from a company that he owned, Greene Acres LLC. His campaign paid a total of $24,000 in rent on the property before it was sold in August 2019, plus an additional $7,848.99 for utilities, maintenance, and repairs. The FEC concluded that 'almost no campaign activity' was conducted at River House in 2019. The campaign paid an additional $65,893.51, from March 2018 until June 2021, for a car lease and other vehicle-related expenses, the FEC report says. Palazzo was also using the car for personal travel, he has acknowledged. Palazzo has already reimbursed the campaign $23,202.46 for personal use of the vehicle. The FEC noted that Palazzo did not keep mileage logs to track personal use of the vehicle and the amount paid was 'a good faith effort to properly apportion the shared use of the campaign vehicle.' The FEC investigated the expenses after receiving a complaint in January 2020 from Carl Boyanton, also a candidate in the 2022 Republican primary. In the complaint, Boyanton wrote, in part: ' . . . Congressman Palazzo has no campaign office so he shouldn't have any bills paid for one. I went to his congressional offices in Mississippi and they all said the same thing that Palazzo has no campaign office, that he just has people out in the district representing him. 'So how would he have electric, cable, house cleaning, lawn care and repairs and maintenance?' Although he agreed to the FEC decision, Palazzo has admitted no wrongdoing. He did not return a telephone call from the Sun Herald. His attorney, former 3rd District Rep. Gregg Harper, said: 'Steven Palazzo absolutely never converted any campaign funds to personal use. It would have cost $125,000 to $150,000 to defend against the FEC. The cost of litigation was just too exorbitant.' In March 2021, the Office of Congressional Ethics found 'substantial' evidence to suggest that Palazzo converted campaign finance funds for personal use. The FEC also considered material submitted from that investigation. Staff Writer Margaret Baker contributed to this report.
Boston Globe
29-01-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Go inside the best basketball gym in all of Rhode Island
And after watching my two sons play Purple home and away games for eight years, I can tell you that Classical has the best gym in all the (R.I.) land. So what makes it so special? It's an urban version of the Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up On Wednesday night, Classical will travel across Providence for Advertisement As a public school in a city that just Robert J. Palazzo, a longtime track and field coach and a former state senator, has been Classical's athletic director for 36 years. He bleeds Purple. He wears school championship rings the size of golf balls. And during pep rallies, he wears a toga and gives impassioned speeches about the Purple battling foes from far off lands, such as Newport. Sure, Palazzo has seen the 'perpetual' banners that hang in some gyms: When a team wins a championship, that year gets added to an existing banner listing other championship years. They're generic, orderly, and don't take up much space. Advertisement But, Palazzo said, 'We're into shock and awe here. That's what we do.' Classical High School Athletic Director Robert J. Palazzo stands before a wall of championship banners in the school's historic gymnasium in Providence, R.I. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Inside Classical's gym, you can spend the entire first half reading purple banners of various sizes heralding Purple glory from various decades. But it wasn't always that way. Jackie Poulios said when he was a member of the Classical basketball team that beat La Salle in the 1985 state championship, the court had no banners — not even a center court logo. Just cinderblock walls. 'It was prisonlike,' Poulios said. 'It could be Anywhere USA. In Italian, Palazzo means palace, and Bobby turned it into an iconic palace. He has celebrated the accomplishments of Classical athletes like no other. It builds self-esteem, and he teach life lessons.' Some people bust Palazzo's chops, telling him he'd put up a banner for a ping-pong champion. But, Palazzo said, 'Listen, we have a different level of success here that we celebrate.' He gives a speech to the student body each year, encouraging them to get involved, and he wants to recognize their achievements, big and small. 'The message is inclusion,' Palazzo said. 'There's got to be something that you can do to move the school forward. And this place can't exist with kids just going home at 3 o'clock.' So he keeps buying purple banners, making Classical second only to Penn State as the oldest customer at the Nixon banner company, in Massachusetts. Granted, it can be hard to find the gym. The first time I attended a game, I went in the front door, got lost, and somehow ended up in a space outside the walls of the school auditorium. To get to the gym, you have to go through the cafeteria and up a flight of stairs. Advertisement A sign above the entrance lets you know you're entering the 'Home of the first RI Interscholastic League State Championship Ever Played: Classical Baseball. March 1899.' Another sign celebrates Championship banners and alumni tributes line the walls of Classical High School's gymnasium, including honors for NBA player David Duke Jr. and MLB star Jeremy Peña, alongside a 2008 state championship banner commemorating the school's undefeated 22-0 season. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Yet another sign proclaims the school's Latin motto: 'Certare, Petere, Reperire, Neque Cedere' (To Strive, to Seek, to Find, and Not to Yield). As layup lines form before a game, loud speakers reverberate with the bass beats of Gunna and other rappers — far hipper than the Journey anthem played at an East Greenwich game last year. Classical was 'The roof is leaking like a sieve,' Palazzo said, pointing out water stains trailing down a wall and over banners. 'The heating system is atrocious. You've been in here with the sauna. And then in the summer, it's terrible.' It's like the There have been improvements. During the pandemic, the scoreboard blew out, so Palazzo brought the football scoreboard inside and put in on the floor. He said the then-schools superintendent showed up for a playoff game, and said, 'We gotta do better than that.' Advertisement So Classical ended up with a new scoreboard that displays the points scored by all of the players on the floor. Palazzo said it can be hard to keep pace with private schools such as La Salle and Bishop Hendricken, which draw students from throughout the state, plus the likes of Ponaganset and North Kingstown, which are becoming magnets for career and technical education programs. But Classical is poised for progress. Palazzo said a state bond will provide funding for a second phase of Classical renovations in 2026 and 2027, and he'd like to see work on the roof, bleachers, gym floor, heating system, and air conditioning. In the process, Palazzo said, Classical must maintain room for the history, the tradition, the character — and the banners. More immediately, he said, he hopes Classical beats La Salle. A commemorative basketball marking Classical High School's 2024 state championship season sits in a trophy case at the school's gymnasium. The team went undefeated in both the State Open Tournament and Division 1 Championship Tournament. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
