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Man freed from prison after exoneration of murder charge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A man imprisoned for nearly 25 years for murder has been released from prison after being exonerated by prosecutors and a California law school clinic.Leon Benson, 47, left the Correctional Industrial Facility in Pendleton a free man Thursday after an investigation revealed police failed to disclose key evidence, including information implicating someone else in the crime, The Indianapolis Star reported. “It is so surreal. I just walked out of prison, literally, a few hours ago,” Benson said after a champagne toast with his friends and family.Benson was convicted of the murder of Kasey Schoen, who was shot five times while sitting in his truck near downtown Indianapolis early on Aug. 8, 1998. Benson was convicted in July 1999 and sentenced to 61 years in prison.Lara Bazelon, an attorney for Benson and director of the Racial Justice Clinic at the University of San Francisco School of Law, said the case against him relied on the questionable identification by a wit...

AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

Silicon Valley Bank is seized by US after historic failureNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. regulators rushed to seize the assets of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday after a run on the bank, marking the largest failure of a financial institution since Washington Mutual collapsed at the height of the financial crisis more than a decade ago. Silicon Valley Bank, the nation’s 16th largest bank failed after its depositors — mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies — hurried to withdraw money this week as anxiety over the bank’s health spread. It is the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history.The bank had deep ties to Silicon Valley industries and startups. Y Combinator, an incubator startup that has launched companies such as Airbnb, DoorDash and Dropbox, has referred hundreds of entrepreneurs to the bank.“This is an extinction-level event for startups,” Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan said. “I literally have been hearing from hundreds of our founders asking for help on...

How WGN has covered Chicago's St. Patrick's Day parades

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

CHICAGO — With the downtown St. Patrick's Day Parade set for Saturday, WGN-TV went through the tapes to find some of our old broadcasts of the parade, including the first one.In 1956, WGN televised the city's first downtown parade and showed 36 more up until 2008. St. Patrick’s Day Chicago 2023: See a schedule for big events in the city St. Patrick's Day in Chicago is about more than celebrations and shamrocks: It's the city emerging from the bleak, gray winter with a bright brush of spring.Throngs of people originally crowded State Street. And every year, with the Shannon Rovers wailing and the river running green, the city gathers for one of its favorite parades.For a run in the 1980s and 1990s, two Chicago icons hosted the broadcast on Channel 9: Tom Skilling and Butch McGuire, the namesake of the legendary Division Street Pub.The parade typically stretched for more than three hours and was filled with floats, flags, marchers and music. Dean’s Weekender: St. Patrick’s Day cel...

After nearly a 4-year ban, bump stocks are available in Texas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Two years after a man killed 58 people in Las Vegas, the Trump administration banned bump stocks — a device the gunman used, which can enable a shooter to rapidly fire multiple rounds from semi-automatic weapons after an initial trigger pull. After several legal battles, Texans are now able to purchase them again. Following the massacre, the Department of Justice amended the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to change the definition of “machine gun” to include bump stocks. Federal law largely prohibits “machine guns,” though a person with a special permit may possess one.“Boom, the [Trump] administration decided to go through the ATF rather than go through Congress and banned [bump stocks],” said Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works.“So I decided to file a case against the federal government –  the Department of Justice and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms – to get rid of the bump stock ban. Because my p...

Crews put up trail fence, lighting near Rainey Street

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) has installed four sets of solar-power lights and a fence on the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail near Rainey Street. The project wrapped up Friday afternoon, ahead of the official start of spring break and SXSW.Last week, friends and family members of people who went missing near the trail spoke at the City Council Public Safety Committee meeting. These loved ones called for additional safety measures like lighting and surveillance cameras on the trail.Some of them plan to walk to the trail Friday night to check out the lights for themselves.The fence and solar lighting are part of the project's "temporary infrastructure installation."The project also has permanent infrastructure plans that include new signage, a kiosk, and additional lighting. A lighting breakdown part of The Trail Conservancy and PARD's Rainey Street Trailhead project."The plan will prioritize amenity reliability by considering and recommending h...

Man with nearly 30 active warrants arrested in connection with commercial burglaries, APD says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN)-- A man wanted in connection with several burglaries at local businesses has been arrested, according to a news release from the Austin Police Department.In October 2022, officers received numerous reports of business burglaries, and detectives identified the primary suspect as Kyle Jones, 36, the release said.According to police, Jones had 13 active felony arrest warrants out of Travis and Milam Counties. With the help of the APD Metro Tactical Unit and the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force (LSFTF), Jones was arrested in mid-December, the release said. During Jones' arrest, officers discovered he was driving a stolen vehicle and had a firearm.Furthermore, an investigation led to investigators executing 15 additional felony arrest warrants for Jones' involvement in the burglaries, the release said.Evidence suggests Jones had an accomplice in several burglaries, and investigators released photos and a description of the unidentified person below.Second suspect descriptionWh...

One of Silicon Valley’s top banks fails; assets are seized

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

By KEN SWEET (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Regulators rushed Friday to seize the assets of one of Silicon Valley’s top banks, marking the largest failure of a U.S. financial institution since the height of the financial crisis almost 15 years ago.Silicon Valley Bank, the nation’s 16th-largest bank, failed after depositors hurried to withdraw money this week amid anxiety over the bank’s health. It was the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history after the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008.The bank served mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies, including some of the industry’s best-known brands.“This is an extinction-level event for startups,” said Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, a startup incubator that launched Airbnb, DoorDash and Dropbox and has referred hundreds of entrepreneurs to the bank.“I literally have been hearing from hundreds of our founders asking for help on how they can get through th...

Fall Out Boy, Atmosphere and the Lumineers book outdoor summer shows across the border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

Wisconsin’s Somerset Amphitheater has upped its live music game, with three major concerts booked this summer.Emo stars Fall Out Boy are following their joint 2021 tour with Green Day and Weezer, which included a stop at Target Field, by headlining their own summer tour of outdoor venues. They play Somerset on July 13 on a bill with Bring Me The Horizon, Royal and the Serpent and Carr. Lawn tickets are $39.50, with seats priced from $169.50 to $99.50. Pricier VIP options are available and Tickemaster is handling sales, as it is with the other two shows.Fall Out Boy’s eighth album “So Much (for) Stardust” is due out March 24.Minneapolis hip-hop duo Atmosphere will share a bill with reggae rock acts Sublime with Rome, Slightly Stoopid and the Movement on July 27. Lawn tickets are $29.50, with seats running from $99.50 to $39.50.Atmosphere’s latest record, “So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously,” comes out May 5. The pair are touring Europe that month before re...

From a basement dispatch center to ‘behavior detection’ officers, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at MOA security

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

Walk into America’s largest mall and you’ll see visible signs of security: officers patrolling on foot and bicycle, K-9s and surveillance cameras.Then, there’s another whole layer of security that’s invisible to most Mall of America visitors — a room of staff who monitor surveillance cameras in real time and can dispatch security officers, an intelligence analyst looking at what people are posting publicly on social media about MOA, and plain-clothes “behavior detection” officers.The Mall of America gave journalists a behind-the-scenes tour of security Friday because they want the public to know about all the efforts they’re not seeing, said Will Bernhjelm, MOA’s vice president of security.With a 19-year-old from St. Paul fatally shot in the Bloomington mall in December, an incident of shots-fired in August, and two people wounded in a 2021 New Year’s Eve shooting, some people have been asking about the mall’s securit...

At the Guthrie, stories of satire, self-exploration and Shakespeare for 2023-24

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:25 GMT

The Guthrie Theater announced a packed schedule for its 2023–2024 season, with a wide range of classic productions and new theater focused on the modern world.A highlight of the season is Shakespeare’s full Henriad cycle, three productions — “Richard II,” “Henry IV” (Parts I and II performed together) and “Henry V” — performed by the same 25-member company. It’s a significant undertaking and was originally scheduled for the theater’s 2020–2021 season, disrupted by Covid.Here’s what’s on the schedule:“The Importance of Being Earnest” (Sept. 9–Oct. 15, Wurtele Thrust Stage): Oscar Wilde’s witty comedy follows “two dapper Victorian gents who shamelessly invent people to shirk responsibility and follow their whims, as the Guthrie describes it.“For the People” (Oct. 7–Nov. 12, McGuire Proscenium Stage): On Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis, April Dakota faces the powers-that-be in her quest to establish a wellness center for the Indigenous community. The play, written by Ty Defoe and Lariss...