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Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Minnesota in shock as burglar hits late Senator Melissa Hortman's home days after she and husband were killed
Just days after the tragic killing of the Minnesota state representative Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband in their Brooklyn Park home, a second disturbing event occurred as a burglar broke into their house, as per a report. Second Tragedy Strikes Grieving Minnesota According to Brooklyn Park police, the break-in occurred overnight and was reported around 8 a.m. Wednesday, reported KSTP. The home, which had been processed by investigators and sealed with plywood over the windows, showed signs of forced entry, as per the report. Police say one of the boards at the back of the house had been pried off, and the window behind it shattered, KSTP reported. The cops said, "The home was once again processed by crime scene investigators for evidence of the burglary ," quoted ABC 11 report. The Brooklyn Park police also said that, "The home appeared to have been searched by an unknown individual; however, the family has indicated that they don't believe anything is missing," as quoted in the report. While, the burglary currently remains under investigation, the police department has urged local residents to check their surveillance cameras and call the police if they have any information, as per ABC 11 report. ALSO READ: Tesla in dire straits as reports say company halts production of Cybertruck, Model Y— Where is the stock headed? Live Events Vance Boelter Killed Melissa Hortman and Her Husband This incident takes place just a few days after Vance Boelter was accused of assassinating Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in Brooklyn Park and also shooting and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their house in nearby Champlin early Saturday morning, reported ABC 11. FAQs What happened at Melissa Hortman's home? Someone broke into the home just days after she and her husband were tragically killed, as per reports. Was anything stolen? No, the family says nothing appears to be missing, though the home was searched, according to the police. Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Expert Issues Warning Over 'Disturbing' TSA PreCheck Scam
Summer travel season is officially at hand with long lines expected at airport security over the next several months. If you've been tempted to apply for TSA PreCheck to help beat those lines, one expert has issued a word of caution. Karin Zilberstein of Guardio, a browser extension that identifies fake websites and other malware, recently warned of a "disturbing" increase in fake TSA PreCheck sites designed to scam travelers. "We are seeing a disturbing trend of mimicking TSA-like sites," Zilberstein told ABC11. Zilberstein says Guardio has discovered several fake TSA precheck websites and that they are getting better and more realistic looking as technology gets better. "The quality of the sites, obviously, scammers are getting better, using generative AI in producing more and more realistic sites," Zilberstein said, adding that the URL of the website often looks real and "something that you can relate to it, says the words TSA pre-check-in, and there are no fishy numbers, words, or symbols." The goal of these websites is twofold. Obviously, the sites collect money from their victims who believe they are paying the fee to enroll in TSA PreCheck. Additionally, however, the scammers are also collecting personal information that could be used for identity theft or other crimes. Zilberstein also warned that these scammers are using "malvertising," so travelers cannot simply search for "TSA PreCheck" and click on the first link on their search engine. "With those scams that we're seeing specifically around TSA, it's very, very complicated because they also use malvertising, which is advertising that is bought for malicious purposes," Zilberstein said. The best way to keep yourself safe from this scam is to make sure that you are using the official TSA website which ends in .gov, and look for the lock symbol or https in your web address bar, which means that the website is secure. Expert Issues Warning Over 'Disturbing' TSA PreCheck Scam first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 13, 2025
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Long-running legal saga over N.C. Supreme Court race could pave way for future election challenges, critics warn
Nearly six months after the North Carolina Supreme Court election took place, the contest still hasn't been called and a winner still hasn't been certified. That's almost entirely due to a barrage of litigation from Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin, who sued for more than 65,000 ballots to be thrown out after they had been cast, triggering a sprawling legal saga that is testing some of the most solid precedents of election law. The effort, if successful, could be more than enough to swing the results of the election, as Griffin currently trails Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs by roughly 700 votes. But even if the push ultimately falls short, Griffin's critics, who include members of both parties, say it could have long-lasting consequences and pave the way for more candidates to pursue challenges — no matter how legally questionable — to the results of elections decided by narrow margins. 'This is clearly an attempt to manipulate the law and the courts into changing an election result by changing the rules after the election has been held,' said Ann Webb, a policy director with the North Carolina chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group. Griffin's arguments, Webb said, 'require the courts to say, 'Yes, it's OK to ask us to change the rules after the election is done.' And that is where we really see something different and something scary, because there is nothing stopping other candidates from any party in the future from using that same strategy and pointing back to this case.' In an interview, Riggs called Griffin's legal approach 'insidious' and warned that it would likely be mimicked if it is successful. 'It's a North Carolina problem today, but it's a Michigan and Arizona and Georgia problem tomorrow,' she said, referencing other closely divided battleground states. Even some North Carolina Republicans have called for Griffin to throw in the towel. 'I wanted the Republican judge to win because his philosophy more aligns with me,' former GOP Gov. Pat McCrory told local news outlet ABC11 this week. 'He was defeated.' 'You abide by the rules before the election. It's like changing a penalty call after the Super Bowl is over. You don't do that,' McCrory said, adding that voters 'voted based upon the rule set.' In addition, Republican-led groups are running ads in the state calling for Griffin to end his litigation. A spokesperson for Griffin didn't respond to questions from NBC News for this story. In an email, North Carolina GOP spokesperson Matt Mercer accused Democrats of not being able to 'make an argument on the merits of Judge Griffin's case because they know following the law is not controversial.' 'If Democrats were being truthful, they'd simply admit they don't actually care about honest elections and are only interested in partisan outcomes,' Mercer added. The North Carolina GOP partnered with Griffin in his original litigation in the state court system. Riggs, who was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2023, emerged after Election Day last November narrowly ahead of Griffin, a state appeals court judge. A full machine recount as well as a partial hand recount of the race both showed Riggs leading Griffin by 734 votes out of 5.5 million ballots cast. Griffin subsequently filed legal challenges, backed by the North Carolina GOP, across the state, alleging that more than 65,000 people had voted illegally. The claims focused on three categories of voters: voters who Griffin's lawyers claimed didn't have driver's licenses or Social Security numbers on file in their voter registration records; overseas voters who haven't lived in North Carolina; and overseas voters who failed to provide photo identification with their ballots. A series of nuanced and complex court rulings have since followed from North Carolina state courts — including the Supreme Court, the bench that the winner of this election will join — and federal courts. (Griffin and Riggs have recused themselves from the matter when the issue came before the courts they serve on.) The latest development came Tuesday, when a federal appeals court temporarily blocked North Carolina election officials from moving forward with a period that would allow thousands of military and overseas voters to 'cure' their ballots after that had been ordered by the North Carolina Supreme Court. In that decision earlier this month, the state Supreme Court ruled that about 60,000 of the votes in question cannot be thrown out, but that others could be if minor errors were not fixed, meaning those voters would be required to prove their eligibility to election officials. Critics of Griffin's strategy say his arguments contradict several long-held precedents in election law — and regardless of whether they're successful, they could be used in future attempts to overturn close races. One such precedent is the notion that the rules of an election must be set before voting occurs, as Griffin is seeking to throw out thousands of ballots cast by voters who followed the letter of the law. Griffin's critics also note that only he is seeking to have the ballots thrown out, not any of the other Republican candidates who competed in statewide elections in November. 'Republicans are choosing to challenge voters who did nothing wrong,' North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton said on a recent call with reporters. 'If they truly believe that there's been election malpractice, then why is every Republican not challenging the same election results that Jefferson Griffin is right now?' Meanwhile, more than 200 judges, government officials, attorneys and legal professors — including some Republicans — signed a letter to Griffin last month stating, 'The arguments you have advanced ask our judicial system to change the rules in place for the 2024 election after it has run its course.' 'If you succeed, tens of thousands of voters will lose their voice after they voted,' they wrote. 'For the sake of our judicial system, we ask you to terminate your litigation now.' In one of the latest filings from Griffin's legal team in federal court, his attorneys rejected the argument that he wanted to change 'the election rules after the election.' 'That's not what the courts said. They held that the 'plain language' of the state constitution barred voters who had never resided in North Carolina from voting in state elections,' Griffin's attorneys wrote. 'And the North Carolina Supreme Court found that the state election code required overseas voters to provide photo identification with their ballots. As part of its remedy, the court provided a 30-day cure period for those voters to fix the defect.' Griffin's critics acknowledge the value of legal remedies following an election, but argue that he should have challenged the rules long before the election if he was concerned about them. 'It's important to have an escape valve in the form of post-election [legal] challenges — if there are real mistakes, or if the law has been misapplied, or there is evidence of fraud,' said Webb, of Common Cause. But in this case, she said, Republicans are 'using the escape valve to bring a challenge against parts of the law that were there and available to be challenged any time over the past several years.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
26-04-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Long-running legal saga over N.C. Supreme Court race could pave way for future election challenges, critics warn
Nearly six months after the North Carolina Supreme Court election took place, the contest still hasn't been called and a winner still hasn't been certified. That's almost entirely due to a barrage of litigation from Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin, who sued for more than 65,000 ballots to be thrown out after they had been cast, triggering a sprawling legal saga that is testing some of the most solid precedents of election law. The effort, if successful, could be more than enough to swing the results of the election, as Griffin currently trails Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs by roughly 700 votes. But even if the push ultimately falls short, Griffin's critics, who include members of both parties, say it could have long-lasting consequences and pave the way for more candidates to pursue challenges — no matter how legally questionable — to the results of elections decided by narrow margins. 'This is clearly an attempt to manipulate the law and the courts into changing an election result by changing the rules after the election has been held,' said Ann Webb, a policy director with the North Carolina chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group. Griffin's arguments, Webb said, 'require the courts to say, 'Yes, it's OK to ask us to change the rules after the election is done.' And that is where we really see something different and something scary, because there is nothing stopping other candidates from any party in the future from using that same strategy and pointing back to this case.' In an interview, Riggs called Griffin's legal approach 'insidious' and warned that it would likely be mimicked if it is successful. 'It's a North Carolina problem today, but it's a Michigan and Arizona and Georgia problem tomorrow,' she said, referencing other closely divided battleground states. Even some North Carolina Republicans have called for Griffin to throw in the towel. 'I wanted the Republican judge to win because his philosophy more aligns with me,' former GOP Gov. Pat McCrory told local news outlet ABC11 this week. 'He was defeated.' 'You abide by the rules before the election. It's like changing a penalty call after the Super Bowl is over. You don't do that,' McCrory said, adding that voters 'voted based upon the rule set.' In addition, Republican-led groups are running ads in the state calling for Griffin to end his litigation. A spokesperson for Griffin didn't respond to questions from NBC News for this story. In an email, North Carolina GOP spokesperson Matt Mercer accused Democrats of not being able to 'make an argument on the merits of Judge Griffin's case because they know following the law is not controversial.' 'If Democrats were being truthful, they'd simply admit they don't actually care about honest elections and are only interested in partisan outcomes,' Mercer added. The North Carolina GOP partnered with Griffin in his original litigation in the state court system. Months of litigation Riggs, who was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2023, emerged after Election Day last November narrowly ahead of Griffin, a state appeals court judge. A full machine recount as well as a partial hand recount of the race both showed Riggs leading Griffin by 734 votes out of 5.5 million ballots cast. Griffin subsequently filed legal challenges, backed by the North Carolina GOP, across the state, alleging that more than 65,000 people had voted illegally. The claims focused on three categories of voters: voters who Griffin's lawyers claimed didn't have driver's licenses or Social Security numbers on file in their voter registration records; overseas voters who haven't lived in North Carolina; and overseas voters who failed to provide photo identification with their ballots. A series of nuanced and complex court rulings have since followed from North Carolina state courts — including the Supreme Court, the bench that the winner of this election will join — and federal courts. (Griffin and Riggs have recused themselves from the matter when the issue came before the courts they serve on.) The latest development came Tuesday, when a federal appeals court temporarily blocked North Carolina election officials from moving forward with a period that would allow thousands of military and overseas voters to 'cure' their ballots after that had been ordered by the North Carolina Supreme Court. In that decision earlier this month, the state Supreme Court ruled that about 60,000 of the votes in question cannot be thrown out, but that others could be if minor errors were not fixed, meaning those voters would be required to prove their eligibility to election officials. Long-term ramifications Critics of Griffin's strategy say his arguments contradict several long-held precedents in election law — and regardless of whether they're successful, they could be used in future attempts to overturn close races. One such precedent is the notion that the rules of an election must be set before voting occurs, as Griffin is seeking to throw out thousands of ballots cast by voters who followed the letter of the law. Griffin's critics also note that only he is seeking to have the ballots thrown out, not any of the other Republican candidates who competed in statewide elections in November. 'Republicans are choosing to challenge voters who did nothing wrong,' North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton said on a recent call with reporters. 'If they truly believe that there's been election malpractice, then why is every Republican not challenging the same election results that Jefferson Griffin is right now?' Meanwhile, more than 200 judges, government officials, attorneys and legal professors — including some Republicans — signed a letter to Griffin last month stating, 'The arguments you have advanced ask our judicial system to change the rules in place for the 2024 election after it has run its course.' 'If you succeed, tens of thousands of voters will lose their voice after they voted,' they wrote. 'For the sake of our judicial system, we ask you to terminate your litigation now.' In one of the latest filings from Griffin's legal team in federal court, his attorneys rejected the argument that he wanted to change 'the election rules after the election.' 'That's not what the courts said. They held that the 'plain language' of the state constitution barred voters who had never resided in North Carolina from voting in state elections,' Griffin's attorneys wrote. 'And the North Carolina Supreme Court found that the state election code required overseas voters to provide photo identification with their ballots. As part of its remedy, the court provided a 30-day cure period for those voters to fix the defect.' Griffin's critics acknowledge the value of legal remedies following an election, but argue that he should have challenged the rules long before the election if he was concerned about them. 'It's important to have an escape valve in the form of post-election [legal] challenges — if there are real mistakes, or if the law has been misapplied, or there is evidence of fraud,' said Webb, of Common Cause. But in this case, she said, Republicans are 'using the escape valve to bring a challenge against parts of the law that were there and available to be challenged any time over the past several years.'
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Tragic end in hunt for missing woman, 29, after local spotted 'Halloween decorations' behind her home
The hunt for a 29-year-old missing Illinois woman in North Carolina came to a tragic end after ' Halloween decorations' spotted by a local were identified as her remains. The body of Caitlin Hodges, who was reported missing on July 25, 2024, was found behind her home on December 10 in the Dollard Town Road area in Goldsboro. Shareka Smith, who had called to report the remains, told ABC 11: 'When I came and seen it I thought it was like Halloween decorations... '...but then I thought, "Oh my god, it's got to be a human head".' It was Smith's dog who alerted her to the remains just feet from her home. Hodges had last been seen on July 18 in Goldsboro where she had been visiting her boyfriend. Her remains were found 14 minutes from the house where she was staying with her boyfriend and his mom. On March 20, the sheriff's office was notified that the remains discovered were likely female but not believed to have been those of Hodges. However, on April 8, the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found that, following further analysis, the remains were in fact those of Hodges, according to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. Caitlin's sister, Mandy Hodges, wrote on Facebook that their family is 'deeply saddened' by the news. 'This past month has brought my parents the pain of losing two daughters,' she wrote, referring to the loss of Jessica Hodges, who was found fed in Illinois in March. 'So many of you poured your time, effort, and resources into the search for Caitlin, and for that, we will always be thankful.' Jennifer Allio, Caitlin's cousin, told ABC 11: 'Caitlin is my baby cousin. She was born ten years after us. She always got a lot of love. She was very special.' A neighbor just houses down from where Hodges' remains were found told the outlet that the discovery was 'really devastating for a young girl.' An obituary for Caitlin described her as 'deeply loved' and that she would be remembered for her 'infectious laughter and her beautiful smile,' Lake & McHenry County Scanner reported. 'She loved to play guitar and had such a free spirit. She loved sunflowers and sea turtles. She loved to help others and truly was a tremendous soul full of love and light,' the obituary said. 'Caitlin loved to travel and made friends everywhere she went.' The investigation remains active as law enforcement and Hodges' family look for answers in Caitlin's death.
