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Group launches effort to cap increases in property tax revenue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Families across Colorado are still feeling the effects of high property tax rates that left people in sticker shock this past spring. A measure designed to bring a slight decrease to the state's assessment rate is on the ballot this year but that proposal will use some Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) dollars if passed. Now, one group is gaining signatures in an effort to make sure Coloradans don't ever see those increases again.There have been a few proposals raised this year to address high property tax. The new proposal is one you could end up voting on next year. How do Colorado property taxes stack against the rest of the US? "This is really a response to the lack of leadership at the Capitol to deal with this problem and to cap property taxes," FOX31 Political Analyst Michael Fields said.Fields is also the senior advisor of Advance Colorado Action, a conservative think tank. He has some experience with ballot propositions. FOX31 told you about one earlier thi...

'I'm never doing drugs again,' Man arrested after Caesars Palace standoff speaks from jail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- Having time in jail to think about his actions, the 35-year-old man arrested for barricading himself in a hotel room, holding a woman hostage, and throwing furniture from a Strip hotel window is apologizing.“I thought the furniture was pretty, uh, pretty worn out and I just thought I was going to do everyone a favor by throwing it out the window,” Matthew Mannix of Golden, Colorado said from the Clark County Detention Center. Caesars Palace hostage standoff suspect had warrant for arrest in Jeffco Matthew Mannix of Golden, Colorado speaks to 8 News Now from the Clark County Detention Center. Matthew Mannix of Golden, Colorado speaks to 8 News Now from the Clark County Detention Center. Matthew Mannix of Golden, Colorado speaks to 8 News Now from the Clark County Detention Center.Mannix agreed to an interview with 8 News Now from jail. On Thursday, he agreed to be extradited to Colorado for charges he faces there.He is also facing several charges in Clark Count...

‘I wanna go monkey hunting!!’: BSO investigating online death threats against colony of wild vervet monkeys

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

Online death threats targeting a well-known colony of South Florida monkeys has a scientist scared and police investigating. Karen Hensel has tonight’s 7 Investigates.Their names are Bella, Andor and Spike. Three of the 40 wild, vervet monkeys living near the Fort Lauderdale airport.They have been here since the 1940s, when their ancestors escaped a Dania Beach research facility.But recently, they have become the target of death threats posted on Facebook.One person wrote: “I am planning on putting out some fruit cups, with rat poison for the monkeys!”Another commented: “I wanna go monkey hunting!!” To which someone replied: “I’m down, let’s roll at dawn.”Dr. Missy Williams, biologist: “I was appalled.”Dr. Missy Williams is a biologist who has studied monkeys extensively.Dr. Missy Williams: “Primates are highly social in nature, so each group does have a group of females that are all related. So you have grandma...

Miami Beach Police intervention specialists coax man threatening suicide off roof edge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

Two Miami Beach Police officers are being hailed as heroes after they talked a man out of making a deadly decision six stories above ground.Desperation played out on top of a building located at 1041 Collins Ave., Wednesday.Body-worn camera video and video from Only in Dade captured the man, whose legs at one point were dangling from the edge of the roof, as he threatened to take his own life.He would be up there for hours, as were the Miami Beach Police officers tasked with talking him down.“As I was coming up, I could hear him yelling,” said Miami Beach Police Officer Julio Blanco.It’s in situations like this when the police department’s crisis intervention specialists are called.“We were talking to him for an hour,” said Miami Beach Police Officer Noel Castillo.Castillo is the lead trainer for the Hostage Negotiation Team.“When we first got here, his feet were over the edge,” said Blanco.Blanco is a 20-year veteran with the Hostage ...

Swedish government tested by far-right alliance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

STOCKHOLM — The Swedish government has a far-right problem.For Sweden’s minority center-right coalition, the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union meant shepherding through key EU policy initiatives, including the Fit for 55 climate package and the landmark Migration Pact.For its supposed allies, the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), it meant a chance to attack those initiatives at every opportunity and remind Swedish voters of its own Euroskeptic credentials.And even as the EU presidency passed to Spain on July 1, SD seems intent on continuing to challenge Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson over Sweden’s relationship with the EU.“The Sweden Democrats want to reform the union and repatriate powers,” Charlie Weimers, an SD member of the European Parliament, told POLITICO. “We want many more decisions taken at the national level. Alternatively, we want many more opt outs for Sweden.”An opt out in justice and home affairs, for example, would enable Sweden to act ou...

Sportswashing allows autocrats to burnish their reputations — and leaves a stain on hosts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

Alex King is a freelance journalist writing about climate change, employment and politics.Given that Manchester City just won the Champions League for the first time in its history, it might sound like a strange time to argue that Abu Dhabi’s purchase of the club has had damaging impact on the city.But that’s the conclusion of “Easy Cities To Buy” — a new report examining the costs cities pay when autocratic states buy their football clubs. A comparative study of the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates’ takeover of Manchester City in 2008 and the Saudi-led Public Investment Forum’s (PIF) takeover of Newcastle United in 2021, it shows how sportswashing projects can not only burnish the reputations of these states, but also undermine the institutions that are meant to sustain local democracy in their host cities.In both Manchester and Newcastle, local political leaders have largely turned a blind eye to the dismal human rights records of their Gulf state partners, ranging from w...

Private jets and a rock star lifestyle for EU politicians

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.“I can’t believe I’m on a private plane. It’s like I’m in a band. A very white, very wealthy band. It’s like I’m in U2.” So said cousin Greg in TV’s “Succession.”Important people do of course take private planes: This publication’s own jet — Despair Force One — is kept next to the bins around the back of POLITICO Towers. And so many world leaders wanted to get to Lithuania this week for the NATO summit that the European Air Transport Command didn’t have enough to go around, so little Luxembourg was given Depeche Mode’s private plane instead.When Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn and Defense Minister François Bausch arrived Tuesday in Vilnius, reporters were surprised to see a “big red skull on the plane used by peaceful little Luxembourg,” wrote AP journalist Philip Crowther on Twitter. Turns out, Luxembourg&#...

Police make arrest after 12-year-old boy killed in shooting in Mattapan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

A 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy in Mattapan on Thursday, police announced. Boston police said first responders were first called to a triple-decker off Fessenden Street just after 2 p.m. for a report of a shooting. Once on scene, police said officers found the boy inside the home with a gunshot wound. The boy was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where officials said he was pronounced dead. In a statement Thursday night, police said Walter Hendrick, 22, has been arrested and charged with multiple charges including improper storage of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.He is expected to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court on Friday morning.Boston Mayor Michelle Wu previously rushed to the scene in Mattapan on Thursday afternoon, joining Police Commissioner Michael Cox and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden.“For a child of this age, being lost t...

Kentucky man arrested in connection with Harvard Medical School stolen body parts case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

A 40-year-old man has been arrested at his Kentucky home, accused of participating in a ring of purchasing and selling stolen human remains from Harvard Medical School, officials said. The man was arrested on Wednesday after the FBI said it found dozens of human bones, including 40 skulls in his residence in Mount Washington, Kentucky.Officials said some of the body parts were tied back to the Harvard Medical School scandal. A former morgue manager at the medical school has been accused of moving, selling and purchasing body parts that were donated for educational purposes. Several other people are also facing charges.Harvard is working with federal authorities in the case.

Record-breaking temperatures expected during peak of heat wave this weekend in San Diego County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - We are experiencing the hottest temperatures in San Diego County so far this year, and it's only going to get hotter in the coming days.This summer's first major heat wave is bringing scorching heat to inland areas for multiple consecutive days, elevating heat risk for the entire population through Tuesday evening.An Excessive Heat Warning is already in effect for some areas like mountains and deserts where maximum temperatures could reach up to 108 degrees and 120 degrees, respectively.Inland valleys including Escondido, Poway, Santee and El Cajon will join the Excessive Heat Warning starting Friday through Tuesday. Daytime highs could climb to up to 103 degrees in some places.The peak of the heat is scheduled for Saturday through Monday and daytime high temperature records could be in jeopardy for places like Borrego Springs. The heat record for July 16 in that area is 118 degrees, with the forecast being 119 degrees Sunday. Push these over, say rangers at Yo...