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American sprinter ShaCarri Richardson received perhaps the worst advice upon failing her drug test for marijuana.

Though she publicly apologized, she wasnt wrong. The United States Anti-Doping Agency's cannabis policies and the federal prohibition of marijuana are wrong and a waste of resources. But this country has a real hard time admitting that.

Richardson's disqualification from the Olympics is a gross injustice and they are taking away everything shes earned. The federal prohibition on marijuana has damaged American lives for half a century; this is the latest and most egregious example of it. Theyve taken a woman who is an American hero and gutted her.

She should be fighting this in court. The United States Olympic Committee is based in Colorado Springs. They are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court of Colorado. Richardsons legal option would be to file a TRO (temporary restraining order) and injunction, seeking that the court order the United States Olympic Committee reinstate her on the team.

She would fight the TRO on grounds of 14th Amendment Equal Protection. Equal protection means that the rules and laws apply equally to everyone. Regarding cannabis, however, the rules are not applying equally to everyone.

For example, I represent 25-year-old Jonathan Wall, whos currently in jail for growing and selling weed. Theres a multibillion-dollar industry in the United States, with many people and corporations growing and selling weed all over the country. Its a violation of equal protection for one person to be able to do something in the United States while another person cannot.

It violates equal protection that Richardson could take one hit of pot and lose everything while other people in the country are making millions of dollars from growing, distributing, and selling it. Yet, while they get rich, she is deprived of everything she has earned.

Second ground would be the Fifth Amendments Taking Clause, which states: "Private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation."

To take her career and future earnings away from her causes a potential Fifth Amendment violation under the takings clause. Her career was a lifetime in the making. Earning it and going through the Olympic trials and everything else that shes done to deserve a spot on the Olympic team, thats her property. Yet, the government is taking it from her without due process. Its like going to a doctor or lawyer and saying, Were taking your license or coming to your house and saying, Were taking your home because you took a hit of pot in the backyard and cannabis is federally illegal.

This is a gross injustice and that they are taking away everything shes earned.

Its undeniable that the U.S. government has a much easier time punishing people of color than white people. The federal prohibition on pot has been a failed policy. Its been a racist policy. The very roots and motives of the drug war and the federal prohibition on cannabis are racist. This is just a continuation of a policy that is fundamentally racist, in a more high-profile setting.

President Joe Biden said: Rules are rules. But, as we saw in the past, just because something is a rule does not mean its brutally wrong and unjust. Do you want to argue Rules are rules to Jim Crow? Think about the lives that have been destroyed because of the federal prohibition of marijuana.

Rules are rules is one of the most intellectually and morally bankrupt arguments that you could ever offer because this country has a history of using unjust rules to damage people of color. And thats exactly what's happening here.

But it shouldnt be happening here. ShaCarri should be fighting it. As a representative of our country, it would be the most patriotic thing she could do.

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How Sha'Carri Richardson Can Sue Her Way Back Into the Olympics - The Daily Beast

A tentative contract has been reached between representatives of the union representing Columbus police officers and the city that includes a large payout for officers in exchange for somechanges to how alleged police misconduct investigationsare carried out, The Dispatch has learned.

Members of the Fraternal Order of Police Capitol City Lodge No. 9are currently voting on the proposed contract through Saturday night. If the contract is approved by the members of the union, Columbus City Council would then vote on whether to accept the contract perhaps as soon as Monday, the body's last meeting before its summer break.

FOP Local 9 leaders say they will not comment publicly about the tentative contract until after it is voted on by membership, which includes about 1,900 members from officers up to commanders.

Highlights of the new contract:

Mayor Andrew J. Ginther's office did not respond to questions from The Dispatch about where the money for the pay increases and the buyouts will come from. However, sources have speculated to the newspaper that the buyout money will from from federal COVID-19 relief funds.

"We are encouraged to have reached a tentative agreement through the collective bargaining process, but it is important to let the process play out free of interference and for members to cast their vote," Ginther said in a prepared statement.

The new Civilian Police Review Board, approved by 74% of voters in November 2020 and seated by Ginther and City Council earlier this year, was expected to be a sticking point in negotiations. Ginther and other city leaders had said publicly they expected to negotiate language into the contract that would take away some of the police union's power in investigations and give more authority to the review board and newly created Inspector General position.

More: Columbus police union seeks to stop interviews with officers in protest misconduct probe

However, the language in the proposed contract shows no significant deletions from the contract approved in 2018. There is some new language connected to the Civilian Review Board and Office of Inspector General.

More: Read the FOP's 2018contract with the city

According to the tentative contract agreement, the review board will not have subpoena power. Officers can be ordered by the police chief as under previous contracts, or bythe Office of the Inspector General to appear and participate in investigations into allegations of misconduct or behavior that are not criminal in nature.

If an officer is suspected of criminal misconduct, they cannot be forced to participate because of Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

More: Columbus police union seeks to stop interviews with officers in protest misconduct probe

Civilian Review Board representatives can be present at departmental hearings for officer discipline before the Director of Public Safety, according to the proposed contract. Those hearings would continue to not be open to the public.

An investigator from the Office of the Inspector General can also observe criminal investigations, according to the proposed contract, but neither the Inspector General or the Civilian Review Board can conduct investigations into alleged criminal misconduct.

The proposed contract would requiresuspensions, demotions or terminationsto be kept in an officer's personnel record for eight years, compared to the six years required under the current extended contract. That means if an officer is to receive progressive discipline, a suspension is kept on their record to be used for eight years.

In July, Ginther told The Dispatch that the city would be pushing for increases in the length of times complaints stay in an officer's personnel file andmandatory post-incident drug and alcohol testing after a shooting or deadly use of force.Drug and alcohol testing is included in the tentative new contract.

More: What we know about charges against three Columbus police officers from 2020 protests

In late December, Ginther said the top priority as it related to the Civilian Review Board was to make sure it had subpoena power and the ability to make recommendations to the chief about officer discipline.

The new contract also would increase the ability for body cameras to have a two-minute look-back window with audio. The department's body cameras currently have a 60-second lookback feature that does not include audio.

This lookback feature proved important in the shooting death of Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man, by former Columbus police officer Adam Coy in December. Coy's body camera was not activated at the time of the shooting, but captured video without audio of the incident. Coy has since been fired and indicted on charges of murder, felonious assault and reckless homicide. He has a scheduled status conference hearing Wednesday on his case.

More: Columbus City Council expands body cam requirement for police working with state, feds

When the police union's contract had expired with the city in December 2017, it took until November 2018 for terms to be finalized. That process involved having a fact-finder issue a report about resolving key issues surrounding pay raises, pension premiums and insurance coverage. That contract was ultimately approved by City Council in January 2019 and became retroactive to Jan. 1, 2018. The Columbus Division of Police has continued to operate under the expired contract during the negotiation process, which began in mid-2020, but was stalled by COVID-19.

More: Read the FOP's 2018-2020contract with the citythat members continue to work under

Should either side reject the tentative agreement, the negotiation process would proceed to the factfinding process.

A factfinder would be hired to examine the proposed changes to the contract from each side and issue a report as to resolutions to those issues. The union and City Council would have to vote to accept the changes outlined in the factfinder's report or the process would then go to binding arbitration. An arbitrator would be selected by mutual agreement and whatever the arbitrator decides would be the final contract terms.

Columbus firefighters agreed to take no pay raise in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but will receive a 2.5% raise in 2022 and 3.5% raise in 2023, in accordance with the terms of the contract approved in November by International Association of Fire Fighters Local 67, which has more than 1,550 members. The cost of that three-year contract to the city was expected totalmore than $20.1 million.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

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Columbus and police union reach tentative 3-year contract calling for 14% raises, buyouts - The Columbus Dispatch

Jul. 20ATHENS A jury that had listened to hours of detailed financial testimony Monday in the public corruption trial of Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely was not present to hear the judge warn the final witness of the day that he had a Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination.

It was the sixth day of the trial and the first day in which witnesses were called in the state attorney general's prosecution of the 10-term sheriff on 11 felony counts of theft and ethics violations.

Retired Judge Pamela Baschab had the jury leave the courtroom before issuing the Fifth Amendment warning to Trent Willis, founder and CEO of Red Brick Strategies in Huntsville. Red Brick assisted Blakely in his successful 2014 reelection campaign.

Willis, it turns out based on the colloquy between the lawyers as they argued motions to the judge, is the subject of an investigation involving the disappearance of funds from the campaign account of state Rep. Richie Whorton in 2018, a campaign that Red Brick Strategies managed. A separate investigation involving Willis or his associates was mentioned but not described.

In a whispered sidebar with Baschab while Willis remained on the witness stand, Assistant Attorney General Clark Morris, head of the attorney general's anti-corruption unit, appeared to alert the court to the pendency of the investigations and the possible need for Willis to be advised he had a right not to incriminate himself. Baschab had the jury escorted to the jury room and then placed her head in her hands.

After the jury left, Morris acknowledged the investigations, but said Willis is not receiving any special treatment as a result of testifying in the Blakely case.

Blakely defense attorney Marcus Helstowski complained that information about the investigations was not turned over to the defense despite discovery requests early in the case. Morris said her anti-corruption unit did not know about them because a different unit of the office was handling them.

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"It is embarrassing to our office that this happened," Morris said, and explained that at the time the Attorney General's Office was "siloed" so information on the activities of one unit was not shared with other units.

Blakely's lawyers made a motion that Willis be disqualified as a witness because of the prosecution's failure to notify the defense earlier of the investigations, and that the jury be advised to disregard the testimony that came before he was advised of his rights. The defense also moved for a mistrial, which was denied.

Baschab advised Willis his testimony was suspended until 9 a.m. today, and she advised the lawyers to file briefs outlining their positions on whether he could continue his testimony.

Red Brick Strategies

Before the abrupt end to his testimony, Willis had been providing details on a $4,000 check Red Brick Strategies had issued to Blakely and which, according to other testimony, Blakely deposited into his personal account.

Willis said he reached an arrangement with John Plunk, a lawyer in Athens, and Blakely that Red Brick would handle consulting for Blakely's campaign, which would include designing advertisements, direct mail campaigns and related political work.

Willis said his firm generally works for Republicans. Blakely is a Democrat. Willis said he feared that if campaign disclosures with the Secretary of State's Office showed his firm had received payments from Blakely's campaign account, it would undermine his ability to work with future Republican candidates.

To avoid this issue, Willis said, it was agreed that Plunk would pay Red Brick, rather than the campaign committee. He said it was his expectation that these would be reported as "in-kind contributions" from Plunk to the Blakely campaign, so Red Brick would not appear on the forms.

He said Plunk or a company associated with Plunk made five of the six monthly payments agreed upon at $3,500 each, and he invoiced Plunk for the final $3,500 payment on Nov. 7, 2014, days after Blakely won the election.

Willis said Blakely's campaign committee issued a check for $7,500 to Red Brick on Nov. 14, 2014. In separate testimony, Blakely campaign treasurer Tom Watkins said he issued this check at Blakely's request. According to Willis, Blakely contacted Willis and asked if he could receive a refund for the $4,000 overpayment. Also on Nov. 14, Red Brick issued the $4,000 refund check to Blakely. According to separate testimony, the check was deposited in Blakely's personal account three days later.

Willis testified he signed the check, but Blakely filled in the amount and payee. Asked by Morris why he would give Blakely a blank check, Willis responded he trusted him because "this is the sheriff of Limestone County."

According to phone records, Willis and Blakely spoke twice on Nov. 13, 2014, and eight times the following day.

The testimony was relevant to a count in the indictment alleging that Blakely stole money from his campaign account. Blakely's treasurer testified that if a refund was due, it should have been deposited in the campaign account, not Blakely's personal account.

Campaign contributions

Earlier in the day, the testimony focused on two other campaign contributions.

Blakely was endorsed by the local Realtors organization and received a $1,500 donation from the Alabama Realtors Political Action Committee in December 2014, a month after Blakely had won the election. According to testimony from bank officials Monday, Blakely deposited the money into his personal banking account at Bank Independent, not the campaign account at First National Bank. Blakely's campaign treasurer said he always made the deposits into the campaign account. He said he never reported the PAC contribution to the state because he did not know about it.

Austin Hinds, who is an owner of Austin Hinds Motors in Marshall County, testified he contributed $2,500 to Blakely in November 2017. A copy of the check listed its purpose as "reelection donation." Blakely deposited the check into his personal account, according to banking records. The campaign treasurer testified he did not report the contribution on campaign finance reports because he did not know about it.

In February 2018, campaign treasurer Watkins said, Blakely told him he had received $2,500 in cash as a contribution from Hinds. According to questions by the prosecution, Blakely told Watkins this was just days after one of the sheriff's subordinates was notified that Blakely was being investigated. Blakely gave Watkins a $2,500 check drawn on Blakely's personal account and Watkins deposited it in the campaign account, listing it on state records as a contribution from Hinds made Feb. 2, 2018.

Proceedings began Monday morning with a motion to dismiss filed by one of Blakely's attorneys. Nick Heatherly argued that the charges alleging that Blakely stole from his campaign accounts should be dismissed because Blakely was effectively the owner of the accounts and could not steal from himself. He said the allegations only amounted to violations of the Fair Campaign Practices Act, not theft, and that charges filed under that law were time-barred because they were filed beyond the statute of limitations.

Baschab denied the motion.

eric@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2435. Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.

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Judge in Blakely trial suspends testimony by witness under investigation - Yahoo News

Aiming to prevent re-imposing mandatory mask-wearing when students head back to school in September, a group of parents and students is suing Gov. Phil Murphy and the state commissioners of education and health in U.S. District Court in Newark.

The lawsuit, which was filed by Princeton attorney Bruce Afran on July 9, names Murphy, Commissioner of Education Angelica Allen-McMillan and Commissioner of Health Judith Persichilli.

The lawsuit alleges that imposing mask mandates and other restrictive measures on school children is burdensome, and restricts and limits the rights of speech communication, association and privacy protected by the First, Fifth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Murphy lifted the face mask, barrier and social distancing requirements for children and adults at theaters, malls, stores, restaurants, houses of worship, weddings and similar community settings earlier this year but not in schools.

The mask mandate and other COVID-19 measures that apply only to school children and not to others who gather in public violates their First Amendment rights, the lawsuit said. This includes wearing a mask throughout the school day, which inhibits their ability to clearly communicate verbally and non-verbally through facial expressions.

Requiring children to stay at least six feet apart at all times including lunch and to stay inside the Plexiglass barrier surrounding their desks also violates the First Amendment right to free association, the lawsuit said.

The requirement to sit behind a Plexiglass barrier, enforcing a separation between students, is an alienating experience and a type of imprisonment within the classroom, Afran said.

Applying the mask mandate and other measures that target school children but not others who gather in public violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, the lawsuit said.

Those mandates also violate the equal protection clause of the New Jersey Constitution, thereby depriving plaintiffs of their right to due process under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit said.

Murphy and Allen-McMillan specifically stated that school districts are empowered and authorized to continue social distancing and physical separation between students, the lawsuit said.

Murphy also expressly reserved for himself the power to reimpose mask mandates and other restrictions in the schools via executive order, the lawsuit said. The complaint challenges state officials power and authority to do so.

There is a very realistic chance that the mask mandate will be reinstated, Afran said.

Children are being used, in a sense, as tools in a great experiment. The governor does not have the statutory power to do this, Afran said.

Murphy would have to abide by administrative procedures that require public hearings before rules that limit childrens rights could be carried out, Afran said. There have been no public hearings and the State Legislature has not taken action, he said.

Mandatory mask wearing and other measures are not only a violation of basic fundamental liberty rights of children, but there is no rational basis for them, Afran said.

Children are not known to be truly susceptible in any real way to COVID. There has been virtually no child mortality in any significance from this disease, he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed 397 deaths of persons up to 18 years old as attributable to COVID-19 nationwide as of July 14, according to agencys website. This compares to 609,000 deaths attributable to COVID as of July 20, according to covidusa.net.

The Princeton, Lawrence and East Windsor Regional school districts brought some students back into the classroom using hybrid learning, in which they divided their time between in-person and remote learning, during the 2020-21 school year. Other students chose to stay home and learned remotely.

Asked about the number of children who have tested positive for COVID-19, Princeton Health Officer Jeffrey Grosser said 66 children under 18 years old tested positive for the illness. Six of those 66 cases were linked to school-based exposures, he said.

Clearly, there is overlap with family and sibling exposures, so those six cases are confirmed exposures within the school and no other known COVID-19 exposures, Grosser said.

In the Lawrence Township Public Schools, 96 students tested positive for COVID-19 between January and April, said Ross Kasun, the superintendent of schools. The district only knows of the cases that were reported to it, he said.

Students who were only on remote learning did not have to share information with the school district, so those numbers may be low, Kasun said. There were many cases of students who were learning remotely and who did not report test results to the district, he said.

In the East Windsor Regional School District, which includes East Windsor Township and Hightstown Borough, there have been 202 students who tested positive for COVID-19 since September 2020.

None of the cases listed on the East Windsor Regional School Districts COVID-19 dashboard are directly related to an exposure while in school, said Mark Daniels, the superintendent of schools.

Through the contact tracing process, it appears the positive cases were associated with activities and interactions that occurred while students were outside of school, Daniels said.

This would include household or family transmission, community activities and social gatherings, Daniels said.

Afran dismissed the need for harsh, draconian measures in the schools. Adults can be vaccinated against COVID-19, he said.

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Lawsuit filed to prevent mandatory masks in schools - centraljersey.com

WORCESTER In the fall of 2011, Joan Honig, a longtime real estate lawyer consulting for a local nonprofit, was asked to gather information about a possible rehabilitation project in Worcester.

A stalled project at 5 May St., a large buildingthe city was working with a developer to rehaul into 13 units of affordable housing, seemed like the kind of jobher client, the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, was well suited to tackle.

Honig, as is standard for such deals, visited the site and spoke with the developer and city official driving the project, with an aim of understanding how much money had been put into the building and how much cash was still needed.

Thus began a monthslong process that led to frustration, stalemate and, a decade later, a witness stand in federal court.

They had so much prior financing, and the building was unfinished, Honig, a former state housing official, told a federal prosecutor Tuesday as she detailed a succession of confusing interactions that left her wondering where the money went.

Tuesday was the seventh day of trial for Jacklyn M. Sutcivni, the former city chief of staff for economic development accused of aiding developer James E. Levin of bilking the government of $2 million in federal rehabilitation funds.

Levin is serving a 37-month prison sentence after admitting to fraud and conspiracycharges, while Sutcivni is putting her case to the jury.

Levin has not been called to testify by prosecutors, and asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify for the defense after a judge foundhe might perjure himself on the stand.

Prosecutors have spent hours asking witnesses about their dealings with Levin and Sutcivini, with lawyers for the former city official noting that many of those witnessesdealt primarily with Levin.

Honig who took great care with her wordsTuesday, pausing often to consult her old notes testified that both Sutcivni and Levin failed to deliver the financial information she needed to assess the project.

I was getting changing numbers about everything, she said, and conflicting stories.

The now-retired consultant said it appeared Levin was interested in getting something from SMOC for the building after running into funding woes.

But after visiting the building in September 2011 and seeing how little work had been done, she said she and SMOC officials wanted specifications on expenditures so they could assess how much money they might need to finish it.

Levin, with help from city officials, had secured about $2.3 million in federal grant funds for the project. The amount he hadspent depended, Honig said, on who she asked.

Honig testified that Levin indicated there was about $650,000 in funding left, but that Sutcivni had told her the funds had run dry.

While both Sutcivni and Levin cited federal law that required heightened wages for workers as a factor, Honig said that wouldnt come close to accounting for the gap between expenditures and progress.

When she pressed harder, she said, Levin alleged on a phone call that the electrician he hadhired to manage the project had drained bank accounts.

You never heard it. Dont tell anyone, Honig quoted Levin as saying as she read from her contemporaneous notes.

Levins electrician who testified last week he left the job after concerns about Levins integrity and the slow work pace was never charged or accused of wrongdoing.

Instead, prosecutors have presented evidence to jurors suggesting that Levin was under financial strain in 2011 when another city property he had taken on suffered damage that left him liable for more than $1 million in remediation.

Workers who had been hired for 5 May St. were diverted to other Levin projects, the electrician testified, and the plans for the Main South apartment building were constantly changing.

Honig said she asked both Levin and Sutcivni for specific documents relating to 5 May St. including forms showing reimbursement of worker wages and other expenses but never received most of what she had requested.

Emails entered into evidence by prosecutors memorialized the detailed requests for information Honig had lodged over a period of months. She recalled setting up a meeting at Sutcivnis city hall office in hopes of receiving further information, to no avail.

I got nothing, she told the jury.

Honig said when she pressed Levin further on where the money went, he shrugged and said it was probably his fault, and that he didnt know what happened.

She said he admitted to not understanding federal prevailing wage requirements and not being a good money manager.

By early winter of 2012, SMOC gave up on the project, Honig said, after a consultant it hired to check out the building opined it would take well over $1 million to finish.

The consultant, James Hass, testified Tuesday that he estimated about $650,000 had been put into the building as of that time, and $1.7 million more would be needed to complete the project under federal procurement guidelines.

That meant, Honig noted in her testimony, that a project initially anticipated at costing around $2 million was instead potentially going to cost double that amount.

Honig said Sutcivni had told her she estimated it would take between $400,000 and $500,000 to finish the job.

Federal agents have testified that Sutcivni told them Levin encountered unanticipated expenses with the project, and that she and other officials were working with him to get additional funding.

She allegedly told the agents she knew the expenses Levinsubmitted were not all for work he had performed, but maintained he did expend the dollar amounts.

Agents testified Sutcivni never provided proof of the claim, and have noted she, in 2010, bought a condo from a business associate of Levins that appeared to help her shirk a city residency requirement.

Dori Vecchio, the citys longtime director of human resources who left this month to become town administrator in Blackstone, took the stand Tuesday to discuss her role in processing checks to Levin.

Lawyers for Sutcivni have suggested city officials conducted poor oversight, calling what happened a systemic failure influenced by poor internal controls.

Vecchio told the jury Tuesday that she was only responsible for crunching numbers to make sure the project was on budget, not for verifying the accuracy of the reimbursement requests themselves.

Vecchio, who in 2010 was an official in the citys budget office, confirmed that she sent one request from Sutcivni back for changes after noticing an architect had not certified a figure for expenses on the required documentation.

The architect for 5 May St., Steven Petitpas, testified Monday that he hadrefused to certify the expenses because he knew not all the work was done. Emails entered into evidence showed Sutcivni advising Levin to certify the figure himself.

Vecchio said she cut the $720,000 check in question after the form was returned to her signed by Levin with the proper figure listed as certified.

When a prosecutor asked her whether she noticed Levin had signed the document both as the developer and the architect, Vecchio said she had not.

She emphasized that her role was confined to double-checking figures for instance, making sure all the itemized expenses added up to the total and said she had no reason not to trust the figuresher colleague had provided.

Vecchio said the documentation supporting the line items was supposed to be vetted and kept by Sutcivni, who worked in a different department.

Robert M. Shaw Jr., a former city inspector who worked under Sutcivni in 2010, testified Monday that he was thecity employee tasked with checking in on the projects the city was overseeing through the federal program used for 5 May St.

On cross-examination Tuesday, Shaw testified that it wasnt unusual for contractors to cross off the architect line on reimbursement forms and sign themselves.

However, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Danial E. Bennett drew out in questioning, the other projects being done at the time under the federal grant program were mostly single family residences.

Shaw left the city in November 2010 after a federal grant funding his position dried up.

Sutcivnis trial resumes Wednesday.

More: Former top Worcester housing official wore wire for FBI years before own alleged corruption

More: Via Zoom from prison, developer claims Fifth at trial of former Worcester housing official

More: Worcester housing official trial: Contractor details quitting 5 May St. job after slow pace, integrity concerns

More: Emails show developer, business partner talking about sale of condo to top city official

More: Architect on 5 May St. project refused to sign reimbursement form from developer

Contact Brad Petrishen at brad.petrishen@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishenTG.

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'You never heard it': Consultant details shifting excuses on 5 May St. financials - Worcester Telegram