Latest news with #ex-Minnesota
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
No resolution reached yet in criminal case against ex-state trooper Shane Roper
May 29—ROCHESTER — A resolution has not been met in the criminal case against Shane Roper, the ex-Minnesota State Patrol trooper involved in a fatal crash in May 2024. Roper appeared virtually in court on Thursday, May 29, for another hearing. He is facing nine criminal charges in Olmsted County District Court, including felony counts of second-degree manslaughter, criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation, for his involvement in a fatal crash that killed 18-year-old Olivia Flores. The crash happened around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, 2024, at the intersection of Memorial Parkway and 12th Street Southwest, near Apache Mall. Flores sat in the back seat of her friend's Ford Focus when the car was struck by a Minnesota State Patrol squad car, driven by Roper. During Thursday's hearing, District Judge Lisa Hayne said she would like to hear arguments on the change of venue motion "sooner rather than later." The next hearing, a settlement conference, was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 20. If the case is not resolved by then, Hayne said, both parties will present their arguments. In previous court documents, the defense submitted a change of venue motion due to the case's publicity. If granted, the jury trial would move to a different county whose residents would be impaneled as jurors. The court is looking at dates in early 2026 for a possible jury trial. Recap of the criminal complaint According to the criminal complaint, Roper quickly approached the intersection of Apache Drive Southwest, an area where the primary entry points to the Apache Mall are located. This area tends to have "very active traffic ... on a typical Saturday." When Roper's car was 400 feet from the intersection, the squad camera showed a green traffic signal for eastbound traffic. A larger SUV also traveling east entered the left turn lane to go onto Memorial Parkway Southwest, obstructing the view for vehicles turning onto Apache Drive Southwest, the complaint said. A Ford Focus with three passengers was in that turn lane and attempted to drive through the intersection. "Due to Roper's excessive speed (traveling 83 miles per hour and at full throttle up until 1.4 seconds before impact), when the Ford Focus started through the intersection, Roper was unable to sufficiently brake or maneuver his squad car to avoid the collision," the complaint says. Roper's squad car hit the passenger side of the Ford Focus, the vehicle Flores was in, while traveling at least 55 mph. The impact sent both cars east through the intersection to collide with a Toyota Rav4. There were two people in the Toyota. Witnesses told police that the oncoming vehicle was "flying." Witnesses did not see or hear emergency lights or a siren. According to the complaint, the Ford Focus driver sustained a liver laceration, a bruised kidney and numerous additional minor injuries. The front passenger sustained a broken pelvis, lacerated kidney and other minor injuries. The passengers of the Toyota Rav4 sustained physical pain from the collision. In the squad car, Roper had a ride-along passenger who sustained rib bruising and multiple fractures from the crash. Roper was also injured. Weeks after the incident, Roper confirmed to law enforcement that he was attempting to "close the gap" between his squad car and a vehicle suspected of being in violation of a traffic code, the Post Bulletin previously reported. Roper said it was not an active pursuit and that he was not paying attention to his speed, according to the criminal complaint. He told police he did believe his lights were activated.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House ethics watchdog now open for business
The House's outside ethics watchdog will soon be able to begin investigating lawmakers after the longest period of dormancy in its 17-year history. The Office of Congressional Conduct — which vets misconduct allegations against lawmakers then sends findings to the House Ethics Committee, which can recommend potential formal action — has been effectively shuttered since the start of the 119th Congress as it awaited the appointment of board members. But on Tuesday afternoon, the House clerk read aloud the names of those four members from the chamber floor, permitting the office to make moves toward resuming normal operations once again. Karen Haas, a former House clerk, will serve as board chair; ex-Minnesota Democratic Rep. Bill Luther will serve as board co-chair. Another former House clerk, Lorraine Miller, alongside former Georgia GOP Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, will also hold seats. It follows drawn-out pleading by good government organizations and a personal appeal earlier this month from a group of House Democrats who directly asked Speaker Mike Johnson to appoint members to the board. 'Ensuring OCC can operate effectively should not be a partisan issue,' wrote Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and seven colleagues. It's not currently clear what the hold-up was about, though House GOP leadership made early moves to suggest it was seeking to slow-walk the OCC's ability to get up and running. The rules package at the start of this Congress included language that changed the name of the body and required the board to meet to formally appoint the staff, essentially stalling its ability to resume operations. Former GOP Rep. Porter Goss, who helped create the office in 2008, said he believed the inaction in forming OCC's board for the new Congress might have been intended to quietly kill it altogether. A spokesperson for Johnson did not respond to an inquiry about the reason for the delay. In any event, with the board's reappointment — all four members served last year, too — the OCC now has its work cut out for it. Staffers will soon face a mountain of cases that have accumulated during the OCC's months of relative inactivity. The absence of a board forced the agency to sit almost entirely idle: While it could continue to gather freely-accessible information to develop cases, it lacked the ability to open any investigations without a formal governing body. Beyond reviewing complaints against lawmakers, the inaction from House leadership in appointing a board for the new Congress also prevented OCC from formally changing its name on some official materials — as was required in the Rules package for this Congress — and from releasing reports on its activities. Launched in 2008 by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the OCC was a response to a series of ethics scandals roiling Capitol Hill at that time, including the high-profile bribery charges against the notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Whereas the House Ethics Committee's operations are shrouded in secrecy, the OCC was set up to receive complaints from the outside public about any House member. The independent, nonpartisan body could then investigate the matter and turn over credible allegations to the bipartisan Ethics panel made up of House members evenly divided between the two parties. Goss said he, Pelosi and others proponents of the OCC believed that public-shaming could compel good behavior: Whereas the OCC is governed by a board of private citizens, the House Ethics Committee is a panel of members who adjudicate cases against their peers. And while the Ethics Committee is notoriously quiet, OCC is public-facing. 'The idea was that this would take the pressure' off the Ethics Committee, Goss said. The House also took months to reappoint members to its Ethics Committee in the longest delay in recent history. It followed the tumultuous circumstances surrounding the release of the report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, accused of illicit drug use and paying a minor for sex. But many lawmakers revile the OCC, regarding it as a politically-motivated operation unfit to oversee the activities of the House. Shortly after Trump's first election, lawmakers sought to kneecap the office altogether. Former Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), who as a member of Congress served on the Ethics Committee, has since leaving office represented people with cases pending before the OCC and said in an interview he would advise future clients to not cooperate with the office's requests. He called it a 'gotcha organization' with little usefulness to the House and said it was time to shut it down to save taxpayer dollars. One current House member, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters around Congressional ethical concerns, argued that the OCC was a partisan entity that would take up just about any complaint — and that, despite the headaches the body creates, it has no real power in how the House Ethics Committee adjudicates complaints. In the meantime, polls have found public trust in the federal government, particularly trust in Congress, to be exceptionally low. Good governance activists argue that the OCC is a key tool in restoring that trust and bemoaned the delays in reconstituting the office. Aaron Scherb, a lobbyist for the progressive group Common Cause, cited concerns about 'misconduct just being swept under the rug' in the OCC's absence. 'As we've seen, the House Ethics Committee is extremely lacking in its investigations, and so the OCC has in some cases helped spur or kind of helped catalyze the House Ethics Committee to conduct more rigorous investigations,' Scherb said. A spokesperson for OCC declined to comment.
Politico
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
House ethics watchdog now open for business
The House's outside ethics watchdog will soon be able to begin investigating lawmakers after the longest period of dormancy in its 17-year history. The Office of Congressional Conduct — which vets misconduct allegations against lawmakers then sends findings to the House Ethics Committee, which can recommend potential formal action — has been effectively shuttered since the start of the 119th Congress as it awaited the appointment of board members. But on Tuesday afternoon, the House clerk read aloud the names of those four members from the chamber floor, permitting the office to make moves toward resuming normal operations once again. Karen Haas, a former House clerk, will serve as board chair; ex-Minnesota Democratic Rep. Bill Luther will serve as board co-chair. Another former House clerk, Lorraine Miller, alongside former Georgia GOP Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, will also hold seats. It follows drawn-out pleading by good government organizations and a personal appeal earlier this month from a group of House Democrats who directly asked Speaker Mike Johnson to appoint members to the board. 'Ensuring OCC can operate effectively should not be a partisan issue,' wrote Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and seven colleagues. It's not currently clear what the hold-up was about, though House GOP leadership made early moves to suggest it was seeking to slow-walk the OCC's ability to get up and running. The rules package at the start of this Congress included language that changed the name of the body and required the board to meet to formally appoint the staff, essentially stalling its ability to resume operations. Former GOP Rep. Porter Goss, who helped create the office in 2008, said he believed the inaction in forming OCC's board for the new Congress might have been intended to quietly kill it altogether. A spokesperson for Johnson did not respond to an inquiry about the reason for the delay. In any event, with the board's reappointment — all four members served last year, too — the OCC now has its work cut out for it. Staffers will soon face a mountain of cases that have accumulated during the OCC's months of relative inactivity. The absence of a board forced the agency to sit almost entirely idle: While it could continue to gather freely-accessible information to develop cases, it lacked the ability to open any investigations without a formal governing body. Beyond reviewing complaints against lawmakers, the inaction from House leadership in appointing a board for the new Congress also prevented OCC from formally changing its name on some official materials — as was required in the Rules package for this Congress — and from releasing reports on its activities. Launched in 2008 by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the OCC was a response to a series of ethics scandals roiling Capitol Hill at that time, including the high-profile bribery charges against the notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Whereas the House Ethics Committee's operations are shrouded in secrecy, the OCC was set up to receive complaints from the outside public about any House member. The independent, nonpartisan body could then investigate the matter and turn over credible allegations to the bipartisan Ethics panel made up of House members evenly divided between the two parties. Goss said he, Pelosi and others proponents of the OCC believed that public-shaming could compel good behavior: Whereas the OCC is governed by a board of private citizens, the House Ethics Committee is a panel of members who adjudicate cases against their peers. And while the Ethics Committee is notoriously quiet, OCC is public-facing. 'The idea was that this would take the pressure' off the Ethics Committee, Goss said. The House also took months to reappoint members to its Ethics Committee in the longest delay in recent history. It followed the tumultuous circumstances surrounding the release of the report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, accused of illicit drug use and paying a minor for sex. But many lawmakers revile the OCC, regarding it as a politically-motivated operation unfit to oversee the activities of the House. Shortly after Trump's first election, lawmakers sought to kneecap the office altogether. Former Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), who as a member of Congress served on the Ethics Committee, has since leaving office represented people with cases pending before the OCC and said in an interview he would advise future clients to not cooperate with the office's requests. He called it a 'gotcha organization' with little usefulness to the House and said it was time to shut it down to save taxpayer dollars. One current House member, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters around Congressional ethical concerns, argued that the OCC was a partisan entity that would take up just about any complaint — and that, despite the headaches the body creates, it has no real power in how the House Ethics Committee adjudicates complaints. In the meantime, polls have found public trust in the federal government, particularly trust in Congress, to be exceptionally low. Good governance activists argue that the OCC is a key tool in restoring that trust and bemoaned the delays in reconstituting the office. Aaron Scherb, a lobbyist for the progressive group Common Cause, cited concerns about 'misconduct just being swept under the rug' in the OCC's absence. 'As we've seen, the House Ethics Committee is extremely lacking in its investigations, and so the OCC has in some cases helped spur or kind of helped catalyze the House Ethics Committee to conduct more rigorous investigations,' Scherb said. A spokesperson for OCC declined to comment.
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE QB guru who has trained Patrick Mahomes names the shock hidden gem of the 2025 NFL draft
Quarterback coach Quincy Avery, who has trained some of the greatest players in the NFL, believes Max Brosmer could be the 'sleeper' in this year's NFL draft. The class of 2025 will learn their fate on Thursday, with the Tennessee Titans holding the first overall pick ahead of the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants. Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders are the most intriguing prospects at quarterback. Miami product Ward is tipped to be taken first overall by Tennessee but there is intensifying scrutiny on Sanders, with some questioning if he will go in the first round at all while others think he will be picked early on. But Avery, who has worked with the likes of Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes and CJ Stroud, believes teams should not ignore ex-Minnesota quarterback Brosmer. According to the NFL's own projections, Brosmer is considered only 'an average backup'. He is not among ESPN's top 11-ranked quarterbacks in the class, either. But Avery believes the 24-year-old, who played at New Hampshire between 2019 and 2023 before joining the Golden Gophers, has everything to 'be really successful in the NFL for a really long time'. 'That's a sleeper I think that a lot of people aren't thinking about,' said Avery, who has watched Brosman train alongside NFL stars and hold his own. 'He's someone I think is going to be really, really successful for a long time, and I think that someone people need to get him on their radar if he's not already.' Avery cited Brosman's ability to read defenses, adapt on the fly and change play calls. 'I've had an opportunity to see Max Brosman a ton and seeing where he's at mentally - in terms of the things that he was tasked with doing... not only is he executing at a high level, he is mentally at a high level over and over again.' Avery added: 'There's always somebody who sneaks in later in the draft, who is able to be a really successful quarterback and play for a lot of years.' Avery has previously been critical of Sanders, claiming the ex-Colorado star would be a 'sixth-round' pick if he wasn't the son of NFL legend Deion Sanders. The QB guru also suggested that Shedeur comes with baggage because coaches will 'have to worry about' Deion 'trying to take (their) job'. But Avery believes he may have been too harsh on Shedeur, who he considers 'the toughest quarterback in college football'. View this post on Instagram A post shared by QB Takeover (@qbtakeover) 'You see him get hit over and over and over again, and you always see him to get back up. And that is a testament to who he is as a person,' Avery told Mail Sport. 'You know that he's not going to crater in the biggest moments. He's going to be tough enough to stand in the pocket... (and) there are some things that he does really well.' Avery nevertheless believes Ward may be the only quarterback in the 2025 class with the capacity to immediately 'change a team'. 'All the other guys are going to have to really, really work hard and and be diligent in the little things, in order be successful,' he said.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top NATO officer Trump's latest ‘DEI' firing: Meet 5 ousted top brass
President Trump has fired a top U.S. military officer at NATO, Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, a termination that caused swift rebuke from Democrats in Congress. Chatfield was the country's top representative to NATO's military committee. Her firing marks the latest casualty of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's purge of military officials seen as part of past diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. That campaign against 'woke' culture in the military has led to the ouster of three barrier-breaking women in top military roles, as well as the removal of Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. C.Q. Brown and top lawyers in multiple branches of the armed services. Hegseth, an ex-Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has long railed against DEI efforts in books and on Fox News, where he was a longtime weekend host. During an appearance on 'Shawn Ryan Show' podcast shortly before his nomination to lead the Pentagon, Hegseth said any 'general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s‑‑‑ has got to go.' Here are five top brass who have been ousted since Trump's return to the Oval Office: Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Chatfield, who is a combat veteran, helicopter pilot and the first female president of the Naval War College, was removed from her post 'due to a loss of confidence in her ability to lead.' 'The Defense Department is grateful for her many years of military service,' Parnell said in a statement on Tuesday. Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I) characterized Chatfield's firing as 'disgraceful' and 'unjustified.' 'Admiral Chatfield's record of selfless service is unblemished by President Trump's behavior,' Reed said in a statement. Chatfield has been in the conservatives' crosshairs for some time, with critics calling her 'woke' for her remarks when beginning as the president of the Naval War College in 2019. 'I want to see members of this team offer each other respect for differences, for diversity, for the dialogue from which ideas and collaboration emerge,' she said at the time. Chatfield was also one of 20 military leaders featured in the letter that the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a conservative watchdog group, sent to Hegseth in December. The organization argued that those mentioned in the 10-page letter were overly focused on DEI and other similar left-wing efforts and were, therefore, hampering the military's readiness. 'Purging the woke from the military is imperative, but just revering woke policies would not be enough to bring our military to peak preparedness,' AAF's President Thomas Jones wrote in the letter. 'Those who were responsible for these policies being instituted in the first place must be dismissed.' Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti, the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was fired in late February. Her dismissal was announced in an email from Hegseth. It came hours after Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that he would be terminating Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. and naming Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan 'Razin' Caine to be the U.S.'s next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 'I am also requesting nominations for the positions of Chief of Naval Operations and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff,' Hegseth said at the time, thanking Franchetti for her 'distinguished career' and ' dedication to our country.' Franchetti is a 1985 graduate of Northwestern University, where she got her commission through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Program, according to her biography. She became a service warfare officer in 1989. At the time, women in those roles mostly served on noncombat vessels, a mandate that was terminated in 1993. Franchetti was also mentioned in AAF's letter. The conservative group pointed to her 2023 video address at the Naval Surface Forces Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit, where she talked about the importance of 'connectedness' as a military value. Hegseth fired his top female military staffer, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, in late February. Short acted as the main military point of contact for Hegseth and is the Joint Chiefs of Staff's representative, interacting with 'Joint Staff, combatant commands, and with agencies outside of the Defense Department for policy matters and related subjects,' according to her biography. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing from Arizona State University in 1993. Short completed Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in 1995. She accumulated over 1,800 flight hours. Brown, a four-star general and former fighter pilot, was only the second African American to hold the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Trump announced his termination in a post on Truth Social in February, when he also named his successor, Air Force Lt. Gen. Caine. 'I want to thank General Charles 'CQ' Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,' Trump wrote at the time. 'He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.' Hegseth said on the 'Shawn Ryan Show' that Brown should be ousted from his post along with other generals 'involved' in DEI initiatives. Brown said in January that he planned to remain in his position despite Trump threatening to fire him once he got back to the White House. The chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff normally serves a four-year term. Brown began his tenure on Oct. 1, 2023. Brown drew scrutiny from the right over a video in 2020 where he addressed the protests around the country that were sparked by the death of George Floyd. 'I'm thinking about how full I am with emotion, not just for George Floyd, but for the many African Americans that have suffered the same fate as George Floyd,' he said. 'I'm thinking about our two sons and how we had to prepare them to live in two worlds.' 'I'm thinking about my Air Force career where I was often the only African American in my squadron or, as a senior officer, the only African American in the room,' he added. U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, who was the first female uniformed leader of a U.S. military branch, was fired by the administration less than 24 hours into Trump's second term. The Coast Guard is under the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) umbrella. DHS later said that Fagan, who was the first top military officer to be ousted during Trump's second term, got axed 'because of her leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the U.S. Coast Guard.' The senior DHS official said that Fagan, who assumed her duties in June 2021, did not effectively deploy Coast Guard resources in border efforts, 'especially in interdicting fentanyl and other illicit substances.' The official also criticized Fagan for 'botching high-ticket purchases' such as ice breakers in the Arctic, and mishandling the fallout of 'coverup' around sexual misconduct in the Coast Guard. Upon assuming the role, Fagan inherited major recruiting challenges, which she helped reverse, meeting goals for new recruits in 2024. Democrats said Fagan should be rewarded for how she dealt with the branch's historic lack of transparency around cases of sexual assault and misconduct. 'The Commandant who stood up to clean up this mess instead of burying it should be rewarded, not dismissed,' Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said on social media. 'Firing a Commandant at will by a new President also sets a bad precedent. The complexity of the Coast Guard's diverse missions require continuity to protect lives and American interests.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
