NewzIntel.com

Category: Justice

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Labrador Joins Coalition Asking Supreme Court to Expedite Virginia Voter Registration Case

    Source: US State of Idaho

    [BOISE] – Attorney General Raúl Labrador joined attorneys general from 26 states in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Virginia to remove non-citizens from its voter roll.
    “It is gravely concerning that the Biden-Harris Department of Justice and liberal activists are fighting so hard to keep non-citizens on the voting rolls, especially this close to an election,” said Attorney General Labrador.  “We cannot permit the ongoing erosion of trust in our most critical freedom, the right to vote, and I’m asking SCOTUS to intervene immediately.”
    The brief argues that a preliminary injunction that halted the state of Virginia from removing self-identified non-citizens from its rolls undermines a states’ authority to determine voter qualifications. Virginia’s law provides mechanisms to protect election integrity, while ensuring only U.S. citizens remain on voter rolls.
    “The upcoming election is hotly contested and has caused division around the country. Perhaps the division would be lower if the federal government were not interfering with the election via last-minute attacks on state efforts to police voter qualifications,” the amicus brief reads.
    The Eastern District of Virginia Court’s recent decision to temporarily stop Virginia from removing non-citizens from its rolls will result in Congress forcing a state to allow non-citizens to vote in an election over the objection of that state.
    It converts Virginia’s statute into a federal mandate that forces states to allow non-citizens to vote in an upcoming election in violation of state law and federal law itself when a non-citizen is discovered on the rolls within 90 days of an election, according to the brief.
    “Non-citizens are not eligible voters. They were not eligible voters before Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, they were not eligible when Congress passed the NVRA, and they are not eligible today,” the amicus reads.
    In addition to Idaho and Kansas, attorneys general from 25 other states joined the brief. They include attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
    Read the amicus brief here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: CAREER ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY TO LEAD DOJ ELECTION DAY PROGRAM IN THE DISTRICT OF NORTH DAKOTA

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Fargo – United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Rick L. Volk will lead the efforts of the Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 5, 2024, general election.  AUSA Volk has served as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the District of North Dakota for the past 20 years, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the Office’s handling of Election Day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Justice Department headquarters in Washington.

    “Lawfully casting a vote without interference or discrimination and having that voted counted in a fair and free election is a fundamental right in North Dakota and across the country,” Schneider said. “There is a history in the District of North Dakota of election officials and staff serving their critical roles without being subject to unlawful threats or violence, and the Department of Justice will do its part to uphold that tradition and protect the integrity of the election process. With an experienced career federal prosecutor as a point of contact on Election Day, our Office stands ready to respond to complaints of voting rights concerns or election fraud in real time while the polls are open.” 

    Volk has led the Office’s Election Day efforts since 2004 and has served as DEO during five presidential elections. In order to respond to complaints of voting rights concerns and election fraud during the upcoming election, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, Volk will be on duty while the polls are open in the District of North Dakota.  He can be reached by the public at the following telephone numbers: 701-530-2420 and/or 701-297-7400.

    In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. The relevant FBI field office for the District of North Dakota can be reached by the public at 763-569-8000.

    Complaints about possible violations of federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/ or by phone at 800-253-3931.

    Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities.  State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.

    The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring and combatting discrimination and intimidation at the polls, threats of violence directed at election officials and poll workers, and election fraud.  The Department will address these violations wherever they occur.  The Department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.

    Federal law protects against such crimes as threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.  It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from interference, including intimidation, and other acts designed to prevent or discourage people from voting or voting for the candidate of their choice.  The Voting Rights Act protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or inability to read or write in English).

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Federal Indictment Charges Three Men With Chicago Carjacking

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    CHICAGO — A federal grand jury has indicted three men on carjacking and firearm charges for allegedly violently stealing a vehicle in Chicago.

    MARQUELL DAVIS, 22, RAMONE BRADLEY, 26, and EDMUND SINGLETON, 34, all of Chicago, conspired to take an Infiniti Q50 and a BMW X6 on Nov. 3, 2022, according to an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago.  Davis carried a firearm while the trio carjacked the Infiniti’s driver at a gas station in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago, the indictment states.  Later that day, Bradley and Davis carried firearms while they attempted to carjack the BMW at a gas station in Chicago’s Douglas neighborhood, the indictment states.  Davis took the BMW driver’s car key, but he and Bradley were not successful in stealing the vehicle, the indictment states.

    All three defendants are currently in law enforcement custody.  Bradley faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.  Davis and Singleton face mandatory minimum sentences of seven years and a maximum of life. Arraignments are scheduled for Nov. 5, 2024, at 1:15 p.m., before U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly.

    The indictment was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Larry Snelling, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret A. Steindorf.

    The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: SIRT Investigates Medical Distress at Fort Qu’Appelle RCMP Detachment

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on October 29, 2024

    On Thursday, October 24, at approximately 4:32 p.m., the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) received a notification from the Saskatchewan Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) regarding an individual who went into medical distress while lodged in cells at the Fort Qu’Appelle RCMP detachment. 

    SIRT’s Civilian Executive Director accepted the notification as within SIRT’s mandate and directed an investigation by SIRT. 

    On October 23, 2024, at approximately 3:30 p.m., RCMP responded to a report of a male sitting on the step of a residential address with possible facial injuries. The subject of the call, a 55-year-old man, was located and later removed from the residence at the request of its occupants. The man was transported to the Fort Qu’Appelle RCMP detachment to be lodged until sober. On October 24, at approximately 7:00 a.m., a detachment guard alerted RCMP members that the man had not moved for a period of time. The man was checked and determined to be breathing but non-responsive. EMS was contacted and transported the man to hospital in Fort Qu’Appelle. At approximately 3:50 p.m., RCMP were advised that the man had been transferred to hospital in Regina, where he remains in critical condition. 

    Following the notification, a SIRT team consisting of the Civilian Executive Director and four SIRT investigators were deployed to begin their investigation. A community liaison will also be appointed pursuant to S.91.12 (1) (a) of The Police Act, 1990. SIRT’s investigation will examine the conduct of police during this incident, including the circumstances surrounding the man’s detention and his time in custody. The RCMP will maintain responsibility for the investigation into the time preceding the man’s arrest, including the cause of the originally reported injury. No further information will be released at this time. A final report will be issued to the public within 90 days of the investigation ending.

    SIRT’s mandate is to independently investigate incidents where an individual has died or suffered serious injury arising from the actions of on and off-duty police officers, or while in the custody of police, as well as allegations of sexual assault or interpersonal violence involving police.

    For updates on SIRT investigations, follow SIRT on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SIRT_SK.

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    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General James Announces Convictions of Capital Region Drug Traffickers Who Sold Heroin, Fentanyl, and Cocaine

    Source: US State of New York

    NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced the convictions of members of a major drug trafficking ring that distributed heroin and fentanyl, as well as powder and crack cocaine in Albany, Dutchess, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties. An investigation led by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) resulted in the indictment of 25 individuals in November 2023, and recovered more than three kilograms of cocaine and approximately 40 grams of heroin laced with fentanyl, which have a combined potential street value of approximately $350,000. The investigation also recovered four handguns, two large capacity ammunition feeding devices, and over $50,000 in cash. All 25 individuals charged in the investigation have pleaded guilty, and the first defendant was sentenced yesterday to 12 ½ to 15 years in prison for his role in the trafficking operation. 

    “We are committed to ending the opioid crisis in our state, and that means addressing this problem from every angle, including stopping dangerous drug traffickers who bring fentanyl into our communities,” said Attorney General James. “This drug trafficking ring ran a widespread network to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of narcotics, and now they are being brought to justice. I thank all of our partners in this investigation for their hard work to protect our communities and keep New Yorkers safe.”

    The OAG’s investigation centered on the activities of several key individuals in the Capital Region who bought and sold large quantities of drugs. Alexander Torres and Yamillet Galarza were central figures in the narcotics distribution network, and they often partnered together to obtain and sell heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine in Rensselaer County. Torres had four different sources of supply for the cocaine and narcotics, and he sold the drugs to a network of customers around the Capital Region. Torres purchased heroin laced with fentanyl from a Bronx-based narcotics dealer in custom-designed bags stamped with the phrase “American Gangster” as a brand to distinguish his narcotics from other local sellers.

    Efrain Acevado was also a major cocaine distributor in this operation. During the course of the investigation, Acevado opened a restaurant called “El Coqui,” in Troy, and he sold narcotics to customers from the restaurant and used it as a location to stash his narcotics and related proceeds.

    The investigation, led by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF), included the New York State Police, City of Troy Police Department, the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office, Schenectady Police Department and the Schenectady Sheriff’s Office. The year-long investigation, which concluded in November 2023 with the indictment of 25 individuals, included covert surveillance and hundreds of hours of wiretaps over more than two dozen target phones.

    Defendant Elvis Colon, a/k/a “Minino”, a heroin and fentanyl trafficker in Rensselaer County who was part of the drug trafficking operation, was sentenced yesterday to 12 ½ to 15 years in prison. Colon was convicted by a jury on charges of Conspiracy in the Second Degree and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree on October 4, 2024. 

    The remaining defendants in the case have all pleaded guilty: 

    • Efrain Acevedo pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, a class A-II felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in state prison.
    • Erick Baez pleaded guilty to Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison.
    • Raul Baez pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison.
    • Jose Cintron pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison. 
    • Javier Colon pleaded guilty to Conspiracy in the Second Degree, a class B felony and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree, a class A-I felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in state prison.
    • Mercedes Danahy pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. She faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • James Foley pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison.
    • Jack Frazier pleaded guilty to Attempted Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree, a class D felony. He faces a maximum sentence of two and a half years in state prison.
    • Jose Galarza pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • Yamillet Galarza pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. She faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • Vladimir Guzman Grullon pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • David Harden pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • Mark House pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison.
    • Karim Little pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison.
    • Jordan McCullen pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison.
    • Jahtiek Milisci pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • Beau Moreau pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • Michael Nelson pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • Tracy Taylor pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. She faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • Denzel Timot pleaded guilty to Criminal Possession of a Firearm, a class E felony. He faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison.
    • Alexander Torres pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, a class A-II felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison.
    • Israel Vasquez pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison.
    • Abner Velasquez pleaded guilty to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, a class A-II felony. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison.
    • David Venson pleaded guilty to Criminal possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree, a class C felony. He faces a maximum sentence of eight years in state prison.

    Attorney General James would like to thank Rensselaer District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly and the Schenectady County Drug Task Force for their assistance in the investigation. 

    The investigation was directed by New York State Police Investigator Matthew Guiry under the supervision of Senior Investigators Robert Martin and Vonnie Vardine and OCTF Detective Michael Connelly, with the assistance of the U.S. Army National Guard Counterdrug Task Force, under the supervision of OCTF Supervising Detective Brian Fleming, OCTF Assistant Chief Investigator John Monte, and OCTF Deputy Chief Investigator Andrew Boss. The Attorney General’s Investigations Division is led by Chief Oliver Pu-Folkes.

    The case and jury trial was conducted by OCTF Assistant Deputy Attorney General Andrew McElwee, with the assistance of legal support analysts Stephanie Donovan and AnnaLisa MacPhee, under the supervision of OCTF Upstate Deputy Bureau Chief Maria Moran. Nicole Keary is the Deputy Attorney General in Charge of OCTF. The Criminal Justice Division is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Jose Maldonado. Both the Investigations Division and the Criminal Justice Division are overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Merkley, Wyden Celebrate Multi-Million Dollar Federal Investment in Rail Safety, Stronger Supply Chains Across Oregon

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore)
    October 29, 2024
    Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced $42,712,400 in federal funding is coming to Oregon for five projects to improve railroad safety, efficiency, and reliability across the state. The investment—funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program, which advances projects that modernize America’s freight and intercity passenger rail infrastructure to move people and goods.
    “Railroads are a vital mode of transportation for businesses and communities across our state, and this is the kind of significant investment in infrastructure we need to make to keep Oregon on track in the 21st century,” Merkley said. “As I travel to every corner of our state, I see firsthand the need for bold infrastructure investments in our communities. This nearly $43 million in federal funding invests in rail safety and stronger supply chains—creating jobs and economic opportunity for all Oregonians.”
    “Rail improvements in rural Oregon communities are a must to ensure small businesses generating jobs throughout our state have a full menu of reliable transportation options for their goods,” Wyden said. “Federal investments like this prove yet again the immense value of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for Oregon and the entire country. And I’ll keep battling to secure similar investments from this landmark federal law I worked to pass so Oregon could channel significant infrastructure resources into building a stronger economy.”
    Today’s major funding announcement comes after Merkley, Wyden, and U.S. Representative Val Hoyle announced last week that the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port (PCIP) Coos Bay Rail Line (CBRL) Upgrades Planning Project secured an over $29.7 million award through the CRISI Program. This critical funding further moves the Port of Coos Bay toward the goal of becoming the first fully ship-to-rail port facility on the West Coast.
    The five additional projects in Oregon awarded funding by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) CRISI Program can be found below:
    $19,843,062 for Watco ZE Locomotive Conversion (Watco Companies, LLC). The proposed project involves project development and construction activities to acquire and repower eight (8) diesel locomotives (non-tiered and Tier 0) with eight (8) battery-electric, zero-emission locomotives to be put into service on Watco-operated rail lines. Watco operates 44 short-line railroads across the U.S. and provides rail switching service to tens of locations, including at the Georgia Pacific containerboard facility in Toledo. The project enhances climate resiliency by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the harmful health impacts associated with diesel locomotives.
    $13,736,000 for the Lake County Rail Replacement Project (Lake County Railroad). The proposed project involves final design/construction for a rail rehabilitation project on the Lake County Railroad between Alturas, California and Lakeview, Oregon. Lake County will complete an essential rail replacement project that would significantly increase track safety standards, allow for an increase in freight, and provide new connections for environmentally friendly industries. The replacement project will significantly improve safety standards, allowing Lake County to achieve FRA Class 2 (25mph freight) track safety standards on the lower portion of the line allowing for capacity for expected growth.
    $4,139,730 for the Sweet Home Branch Rail Relay (Albany & Eastern Railroad Company). The proposed project will complete final design and construction activities for track and track structure improvements on the Albany and Eastern Railroad’s (AERC) Sweet Home Branch in Linn County, Oregon. Specifically, the project will replace approximately 6.25 track miles of 85 lb. jointed rail with at least 112 lb. rail, which includes upgrading four turnouts and associated tie and surfacing work along the project area. The project will improve the safety and performance of rail shipments along this line
    $3,393,608 for the Mill City Branch Tie Renewal Project (Albany & Eastern Railroad Company). The proposed project involves final design and construction activities to replace 12,000 defective ties and related ballast and surfacing on the Mill City Branch of the Albany & Eastern Railroad Company in Oregon. The project will enhance safety and improve system and service performance by removing all slow orders placed on the project segments and reducing the risk of derailment.
    $1,600,000 for the City of Prineville Railway Track Improvement and Restoration Project (City of Prineville, Oregon). The proposed project will complete final design and construction for the rehabilitation of 18 miles of the City of Prineville Railway’s track between Prineville and Prineville Junction, OR. Specifically, the project will improve the track by replacing approximately 9,700 rail ties as well as associated tamping, resurfacing, and aligning the rail line, and the procurement of the necessary railroad equipment to perform this work including a tamper, regulator, tie inserter, tie handler, and mini excavator. These improvements will allow for the removal of two slow orders, decrease locomotive run-time and associated emissions, improve safety, and provide a Class II track condition, thereby imparting benefits to 34 rail users served by the City of Prineville Railway.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Casey, Cartwright Secure Funding to Begin Construction on Scranton to New York Rail Line

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Pennsylvania Bob Casey

    Casey, Cartwright have long pushed to restore passenger rail service to region

    Direct rail service between Scranton and New York could generate as much as $84 million in economic activity every year, according to Amtrak study

    Funding to begin railway construction made possible by Casey and Cartwright-backed infrastructure law

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright (D-PA-8) announced $8,958,919 in federal funding to begin construction to bring back Amtrak passenger rail service between Scranton, PA and New York, NY. The award will kick off long needed railway rehabilitation and track improvements to begin the process to restore service between the communities via the Lackawanna Cut-Off. The funding comes from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program, made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Casey and Cartwright fought to pass.

    “I have fought to restore rail service between Scranton and New York for my entire career in the Senate, and this investment from the infrastructure law means we are now closer than ever to making it a reality,” said Senator Casey. “Passenger rail service to and from New York will be a game-changer for our region, meaning more family time, more economic investment, and more job opportunities. I won’t stop fighting for this train until it pulls into Scranton.”

    “Restoring passenger rail has been a major goal of mine since my first day on the job. That’s why I’m thrilled to help announce that we’re getting closer than ever to seeing the realization of our passenger rail project. This nearly $9 million CRISI Grant Award will go towards restoring the rail line between the Delaware Water Gap and Scranton,” said Congressman Cartwright. “Connecting our region to major metropolitan areas in a seamless, passenger friendly system will be transformative. It will create jobs, improve quality of life, and offer convenient travel options for commuters, college students and tourists, alike. We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something transformational for our region.”

    Rail service previously ran directly between Scranton and New York but was discontinued in 1970. Without consistent use and upkeep, the track fell into disrepair.

    Senator Casey and Representative Cartwright have spent their careers in Congress advocating relentlessly to restore rail service between Scranton and New York. In 2008, Casey began leading the charge in the Senate to implement a passenger service between Scranton, PA and New York City. Representative Cartwright has also been fighting to restore the Lackawanna Cut-Off since being elected to the House of Representatives in 2012.

    Senator Casey pushed the Obama administration, emphasizing the need for continued support to see the project to completion. Additionally, Casey sent letters to the Lackawanna County Regional Planning Commission and the Luzerne County Planning Commission, as well as the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in support of funding for the Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project. Representative Cartwright also organized and led symposiums to highlight the project and helped the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PRRNA) secure funding to investigate costs, feasibility, and impact of the project.

    In 2021, Casey and Cartwright fought to pass the landmark bipartisan Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA), creating unprecedented funding for infrastructure across the Nation and paving the way for the restoration of service via the Lackawanna Cut-Off. Senator Casey visited East Stroudsburg to tout the potential for train service after Amtrak released a proposal to expand rail across the country, including restoring Scranton-New York rail service. In October 2021, President Biden delivered his infrastructure speech at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton and was joined by Senator Casey and Representative Cartwright.

    In 2022, Casey and Cartwright led a coalition of regional partners from Pennsylvania and New Jersey in urging the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to reestablish rail service through a once-in-a-generation investment in Northeastern Pennsylvania’s rail infrastructure. The Members have also pushed Pennsylvania Governors Tim Wolf and Josh Shapiro to support the rail project. In 2023, at the Members’ urging, Governor Shapiro pledged millions in matching funds from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to further the rail service restoration project.

    In December 2023, the Members announced that the FRA had included Northeastern Pennsylvania in its Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) Program with the goal of reestablishing direct passenger rail service between Scranton, PA and New York, NY. In addition, Senator Casey and Congressman Cartwright both delivered funding for the line in the FY24 spending bills.

    Since being elected to Congress in 2012, Cartwright has made restoring passenger rail service to Northeast Pennsylvania the top priority of his work in public life. Beginning shortly after being sworn in, Rep. Cartwright teamed up with Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority (PNRRA) officials Larry Malski, Dominic Keating and Bob Hay for dozens of meetings and hundreds of calls, all with a view toward reviving the moribund project.

    In January 2017, Cartwright and then State Senator John Blake (and currently District Director for Rep. Cartwright) organized and led a symposium at Pocono Manor at which the bipartisan coalition of scores of local elected officials, New Jersey rail officials and community business leaders began to come together. At that event, PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards and Federal Transit Administrator Therese McMillan provided key advice on how to position the project for success, including evaluating the repair work needed on the massive bridges over the Delaware River and the Paulinskill Creek.

    Beginning in 2017, Cartwright helped PNRRA secure funding from Lackawanna and Monroe counties, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Appalachian Regional Commission to fund a rail study on costs, feasibility, ridership and environmental impact. These studies were performed by recognized engineering firm Greenman Peterson and, later, Amtrak itself.

    In February 2021, Cartwright and Blake held a Zoom meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and secured his agreement to increase the New Rail part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law by $2 billion, to increase this project’s chances of success.

    In May that year, Cartwright founded the Lackawanna Cutoff Rail Restoration Caucus in Congress, which included inaugural Members Susan Wild (PA-7), Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) and Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5).

    As a member of House Leadership, in the summer of 2021, Cartwright heavily lobbied top leadership to treat the Infrastructure Law as a stand-alone bill and pass it. Rep. Gottheimer also aided in that effort. It succeeded, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed the House on July 1, 2021.

    In October 2021, Cartwright selected the Scranton Trolley Museum as the site of President Biden’s infrastructure speech, and invited Amtrak President Stephen Gardner and CEO Bill Flynn, who attended. The next month, November 15, 2021, Cartwright was joined by both men, plus Amtrak Board Chair Anthony Coscio, at the signing of the Infrastructure bill into law.

    In July 2022, Cartwright secured an agreement from Governor Tom Wolf to provide $3.7 million matching funds for the purchase of 43,000 railroad ties to upgrade tracks on the Pennsylvania side of the line. PNRRA will be applying for a matching grant from FRA in February.

    Later in 2022, Cartwright introduced Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro to the rail project and met with him several times during the campaign. After his inauguration, Governor Shapiro agreed to a January 14, 2023, discussion of the project. On that day, after a full discussion of the project, including an explanation of its widespread bipartisan support and economic benefits, Governor Shapiro enthusiastically agreed to support it. He agreed to provide $125 million in local-match funds, to have PennDOT author the application to the Federal Railroad Administration, and to seek New Jersey Transit’s co-sponsorship of the application. Under the leadership of Governor Shapiro, and Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Mike Carroll, that application was submitted, and NJT did cosponsor it.

    This past August, Cartwright and New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer led a delegation that included Amtrak’s vice president of network development along with N.J. Transit and PennDOT officials on a tour of proposed station locations and other key landmarks along the Scranton-to-New York City passenger rail route.

    The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safey Improvements (CRISI) grant program is a federal grant program that provides funding for projects that improve the safety, efficiency, ant reliability of intercity passenger and freight rail.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Amherst — Three people charged under Cannabis Act

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    The Cumberland Integrated Street Crime Enforcement Unit (CISCEU) has charged three people after receiving public complaints about the ongoing sale of cannabis from an illegal storefront in Amherst.

    On October 17, officers with CISCEU attended the location on South Albion St. and safely arrested two people before executing a search warrant.

    During the search, investigators seized hundreds of grams of illicit cannabis in various forms, as well as a quantity of psilocybin.

    Yesterday, a third person was arrested in connection with the investigation.

    Thirty-two-year-old Cody Edward Joseph Bowser-Knockwood of Dorchester, New Brunswick; 48-year-old Kevin Richard Gloade of Amherst; and 40-year-old Erika Lynn Nickerson of Amherst will appear in court at a later date to face the following charges:

    • Possession of Cannabis for the Purpose of Distributing

    • Possession of Cannabis for the Purpose of Selling

    • Possession of Unstamped Cannabis

    The individuals are also charged with Possession of Psilocybin for the Purpose of Trafficking and Bowser-Knockwood and Gloade are charged with Possession of Property Obtained by Crime.

    The Nova Scotia RCMP reminds residents that the only legal and safe way to purchase cannabis in the province is at licensed locations. And Nova Scotians are encouraged to contact their nearest RCMP detachment or local police to report crime, including the illegal sale of drugs, in their communities. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submitting a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or using the P3 Tips app.

    Note: The Cumberland Street Crime Enforcement Unit includes members of the Cumberland County District RCMP and the Amherst Police Department.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Sheshatshiu — Sheshatshiu RCMP conducts traffic stop and seizes drugs, woman charged

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    Following a traffic stop that was conducted by Sheshatshiu RCMP on October 26, 2024, 29-year-old Eliza Gregoire was arrested and is charged with drug offences.

    At approximately 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sheshatshiu RCMP stopped a vehicle on Route 520 in Sheshatshiu. As a result of further investigation, Gregoire, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was arrested. A quantity of cash, cocaine and items consistent with drug trafficking were seized.

    Gregoire is charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of cocaine. She is set to appear in court at a later date. The investigation is continuing.

    The driver of the vehicle was ticketed for operating a vehicle without a valid licence and for failing to produce proof of insurance. The vehicle was seized and impounded.

    RCMP NL continues to fulfill its mandate to protect public safety, enforce the law, and ensure the delivery of priority policing services in Newfoundland and Labrador.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Jefferson County Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Attempting to Meet a Minor for Sex

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A Jefferson County man was sentenced today on a charge of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Carlton L. Peeples.

    U.S. District Court Judge Anna Manasco sentenced Robert Elton Trimble, 38, of Kimberly, to 120 months in prison, followed by a life term of supervised release.  In June, Trimble pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to coerce or entice a minor to engage in sexual activity. 

    According to court documents, on October 16, 2023, Trimble made contact with an individual he believed was a 15-year-old girl on a social networking app. After learning her age on day one, Trimble continued to communicate with the “child,” asking her questions about school, telling her about his work, and requesting photos.  Within two weeks, Trimble turned their conversation sexual by asking the “child” about her sexual experiences and discussing plans to meet her. On November 21, 2023, Trimble arrived for the meeting and was arrested.  Only then did he discover that he actually had been communicating with an undercover officer.  

    FBI Birmingham’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force investigated the case along with the Homewood Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Leann White prosecuted the case.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the National Children’s Advocacy Center have partnered and released a digital series to educate parents and caretakers about sextortion and how they can help prevent kids and teens from being victims. This series offers three-to-five-minute videos about current online safety topics and provides essential information about the true dangers of online activities.

    The videos can be accessed from the following locations:

    https://www.nationalcac.org/sextortion-prevention/

    https://www.youtube.com/@nationalcac

    If you suspect or become aware of possible sexual exploitation of a child, please contact law enforcement. To alert the FBI Birmingham Office, call 205-326-6166. Reports can also be filed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children or online at www.cybertipline.org.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: US Attorney Announces District Election Officer for Alaska Ahead of Election Day

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska – United States Attorney S. Lane Tucker announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Morgan J. Walker will lead the efforts of her Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 5, 2024, general election. AUSA Walker has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the District of Alaska, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

    United States Attorney Tucker said, “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election. Similarly, election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence. The Department of Justice will always work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the election process.”

    The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring and combatting discrimination and intimidation at the polls, threats of violence directed at election officials and poll workers, and election fraud. The Department will address these violations wherever they occur. The Department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.

    Federal law protects against such crimes as threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from interference, including intimidation, and other acts designed to prevent or discourage people from voting or voting for the candidate of their choice. The Voting Rights Act protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or inability to read or write in English).

    United States Attorney Tucker stated that: “The right to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy.  We all must ensure that those who are entitled to vote can exercise that right if they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice. In order to respond to complaints of voting rights concerns and election fraud during the upcoming election, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, AUSA/DEO Walker will be on duty in this District while the polls are open.”

    In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. The public can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov, or contact the local FBI Anchorage Field Office at (907) 276-4441.

    Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/ or by phone at 800-253-3931.

    United States Attorney Tucker said, “Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the assistance of the American electorate. It is important that those who have specific information about voting rights concerns or election fraud make that information available to the Department of Justice.”

    Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities. State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Arizona Doctor Sentenced to Prison for Health Care Fraud

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    TUCSON, Ariz. – Linh Cao Nguyen, M.D., 51, of Peoria, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge John C. Hinderaker to 24 months in prison. Nguyen pleaded guilty to Health Care Fraud on March 19, 2024.

    Over the course of several years, Nguyen engaged in a scheme to defraud various health care benefit programs, including Medicare, TRICARE, AHCCCS, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and UnitedHealthcare. As part of his scheme, Nguyen knowingly caused the submission of thousands of false billing claims. Nguyen also falsely created patient records to conceal and avoid detection of his fraudulent scheme. The fraudulent claims identified a medical doctor as the treating provider when, in fact, another provider such as a nurse practitioner, social worker, unlicensed psychology intern, or wound care nurse provided the service independently. By billing the medical service as if it were provided by a physician, Nguyen falsely inflated the amount his company was to be paid for the service.

    The total loss to the insurance companies from Nguyen’s scheme was approximately $3.7 million. As part of his sentence, Nguyen was ordered to pay over $1.1 million in restitution to the private insurance companies. Nguyen also was required to pay over $2.5 million to the government in a separate civil agreement.

    The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service conducted the investigation in this case. The United States Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.
     

    CASE NUMBER:           CR-21-02716-TUC-JCH
    RELEASE NUMBER:    2024-144_Nguyen

     

    # # #

    For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
    Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on X @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Los Angeles County Man Sentenced to 12 Years and Nine Months in Prison for Child Exploitation Conspiracy with Yuba County Man

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Pedro Luis Millan, aka Peter Millan, 38, of Montebello, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta to 12 years and nine months in prison for conspiracy to sexually exploit a child, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

    According to court documents, in May 2021, Millan conspired with Brent Hooton, 51, of Marysville, to produce an image of a severely autistic child who was under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Hooton produced the image and then sent it to Millan and other users over the Kik messaging app. Millan received that image, as well as additional sexual abuse images of the same child victim, from Hooton over the Kik app.

    This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise N. Yasinow prosecuted the case.

    On Aug. 27, 2024, Hooton was sentenced to 27 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child and distribution of child pornography.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about internet-safety education.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Alleged Bay Area Fentanyl Distributor Extradited From Honduras

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    OAKLAND – The government of Honduras extradited Javier Marin-Gonzales, a Honduran national, to the United States this week to appear on charges stemming from his alleged involvement in the distribution of fentanyl in the San Francisco Bay Area. The extradition marks the fifth extradition of an alleged drug distributor from Honduras to the Northern District of California this year.

    On Aug. 2, 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Marin-Gonzales, 25, at the time a resident of Oakland, in connection with the alleged distribution of fentanyl on three separate occasions.   The investigation in this case led to charges against multiple East Bay-based defendants who allegedly traveled into the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco to engage in drug dealing.

    According to court documents, at the time of the indictment, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) learned that Marin-Gonzales had traveled back to Honduras.  The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with Honduran authorities, the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to secure the arrest and extradition of Marin-Gonzales. Marin-Gonzales arrived back in the United States on Oct. 23, 2024.  He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore today for arraignment on the indictment and further proceedings.  A detention hearing for Marin-Gonzales is scheduled for Oct. 30, 2024.

    “We appreciate our law enforcement partners’ efforts, here and abroad, to bring to justice those who are charged with peddling deadly drugs in our communities,” said United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey.

    “This arrest and extradition marks a significant step in our ongoing fight against the distribution of dangerous drugs like fentanyl,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp. “By bringing Marin-Gonzales to face justice in the United States, we are sending a clear message: those who profit from the trafficking of deadly substances will be held accountable, no matter where they operate. The FBI remains committed to working with our domestic and international partners to disrupt drug networks that threaten the safety and well-being of our communities.”

    “We remain steadfast in our commitment to hold accountable drug traffickers operating in the Tenderloin,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris. “The extradition of Marin-Gonzales is another example of how strong global partnerships keep our communities safe.”

    The indictment charges Marin-Gonzales with the distribution of 40 grams or more of fentanyl, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B)(vi).

    An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  If convicted, Defendant faces a maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $5,000,000, a lifetime of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.  However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by a court only after considerations of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

    The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp, and DEA Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris.

    This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Bisesto is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Sara Slattery and Andy Ding.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI SAFE Streets Task Force, DEA, and the Concord Police Department.
     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Return to Nature Funeral Home Owners Plead Guilty in Federal Court

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Jon Hallford, 44, and Carie Hallford, 47, pleaded guilty today to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

    According to the plea agreements for each, the Hallfords were the co-owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home, which operated both in the Colorado Springs area and in Penrose, Colorado. In October 2023, residents in the Penrose area reported a foul odor emanating from the Return to Nature facility. After obtaining a search warrant, FBI, CBI, and local law enforcement investigators found the remains of approximately 190 deceased persons inside the building in various states of decomposition.  Some of the remains discovered had dates of death as far back as 2019.  As part of their fraud scheme, the Hallfords misled customers of the funeral home into believing that the remains of their loved ones would be buried or cremated per their wishes and the terms of the parties’ contracts.

    As part of their plea agreements, the Hallfords also admitted that they conspired together to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration of over $800,000 in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds, which they obtained under the government’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

    Sentencing will be held at a later date. Each defendant faces up to twenty years in federal prison.

    United States District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang presided over the hearing. The FBI Denver Field Office and The United States Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General investigated the case.  Several other state and local law enforcement agencies including the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Colorado Springs Police Department, the El Paso County Coroner’s Office, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fremont County Coroner’s Office have made significant contributions to this case. The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Tim Neff and Craig Fansler.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Accountability for Ottawa’s carbon tax double standard

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    [embedded content]

    Alberta’s government is standing up against the federal government’s carbon tax exemption for heating oil to protect Albertans from the double standard Ottawa has created with the carbon tax, which means Albertans continue to pay carbon taxes to stay warm in winter.

    Last fall, after years of insisting that the carbon tax is applied equally across Canada, the federal government exempted the carbon tax for heating oils, which are used predominantly in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. Over the last year, the federal government has refused multiple requests to grant a similar carve-out on other heating methods from Alberta and others across the country who are also facing rising costs of living.

    Alberta’s government will now take this fight to the courts. Alberta filed an application seeking judicial review of the exemption with the Federal Court on Oct. 29, asking the court to declare that the exemption is both unconstitutional and unlawful. The application argues that Ottawa’s carbon tax exemption for heating oil is unconstitutional and inconsistent with the Government of Canada’s stated purpose for enacting the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.

    “Last year, Ottawa decided Canadians in the East deserved a three-year break from paying the carbon tax on their home heating costs. While we’re happy for these Canadians, Alberta, Saskatchewan and other provinces who heat their homes with natural gas have been deliberately excluded from these savings. Albertans simply cannot stand by for another winter while the federal government picks and chooses who their carbon tax applies to. Since they won’t play fair, we’re going to take the federal government back to court.”

    Danielle Smith, Premier

    While the Supreme Court of Canada previously found the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was constitutional, it found that Canada’s jurisdiction to regulate greenhouse gas emissions was limited to the ability to create minimum national standards for carbon pricing for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

    Alberta strongly opposes the federal carbon tax exemption on heating oil, as the federal government is no longer creating minimum national standards that apply evenly across the country, and is instead creating a regime that favours one region and fuel type over others.

     “This exemption is not only unfair to the vast majority of Canadians, but it is also unlawful as the federal government does not have the authority to make special exemptions for certain parts of the country under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. The federal government isn’t even following its own laws now. Someone needs to hold them accountable, and Alberta is stepping up to do just that.”

    Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice and Attorney General

    The federal carbon tax adds to the rising cost of living for all Canadians. By 2030, it will cost Canadians $25 billion every year, in addition to lowering the gross domestic product (GDP) by $9 billion. In addition, the Bank of Canada has estimated that the federal carbon tax increases inflation by 0.15 per cent year over year.

    Quick facts

    • Since Apr. 1, 2024, Albertans have been paying around 35 cents in federal taxes on every litre of fuel – along with the carbon tax, that also includes the federal excise tax and the GST.
    • The following percentage of households use home heating oil by province:
      • Forty per cent in Prince Edward Island
      • Thirty-two per cent in Nova Scotia
      • Eighteen per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador
      • Seven per cent in New Brunswick
      • Four per cent in Quebec
      • Two per cent in Ontario
      • One per cent in British Columbia
      • Less than one per cent in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba

    Related news

    • Readout: Premier meets with Prime Minister (March 13, 2024)
    • Rebranding the carbon tax won’t fix a failure: Statement (February 14, 2024)

    Multimedia

    • Watch the news conference

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Rahui – Eastbourne, Lower Hutt

    Source: New Zealand Police (District News)

    A rahui has been placed near Eastbourne, Lower Hutt, after the recovery of Terrence Jameson’s body from the water on Monday.

    Yesterday evening Te Āti Awa representative Kura Moeahu (Chairman of Waiwhetū Marae and Te Rūnanganui o Te Āti Awa) performed karakia where Mr Terrence Jameson was located the previous day at Point Arthur.

    The rāhui has been laid down which takes effect immediately from Lion’s Rock heading out to Mākaro (Ward Island) then diagonally south towards the point closest to Lake Kōhangapiripiri.

    Out of respect for Mr Jameson’s whānau, Te Āti Awa iwi asks that kaimoana not be taken and recreational activities not take place in this area until the rāhui is lifted on Saturday 2 November at 7am.

    ENDS 

    Issued by Police Media Centre 

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Polis, Federal Delegation Celebrates $66.4 Million from U.S. Department of Transportation to Improve Safety and Expand Colorado Rail

    Source: US State of Colorado

    Total Funding of $94.3 million will help improve safety of freight operations today in Colorado by adding Positive Train Control and crossing improvements to the Front Range Rail Corridor preparing Colorado for fast, convenient, and safe passenger rail service

    WESTMINSTER – Today, Governor Polis, Senator Michael Bennet, Congressman Joe Neguse, Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, Colorado Department of Transportation Executive Director Lew, Longmont Mayor Joan Peck, Erik Davidson, RTD Board Chair and local officials celebrated funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation, to improve rail transportation and safety infrastructure in Colorado. Colorado received $66.4M in grant funding from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), with the state matching almost $28 million from the State’s IIJA match fund to improve safety on the BNSF line north of Denver and helping to proactively prepare the state for fast, convenient, and safe passenger rail service.

    “Today’s grant will make freight rail traffic in some of our busiest growing communities safer quickly while providing critical building blocks for Passenger Rail.  This major funding will help achieve important priorities like complying with longstanding federal standards and improving the safety of rail crossings, which can be the sites of dangerous incidents. With more than $66 million in federal support from the Biden-Harris administration, the future of Colorado’s rail network is a clear priority for the federal government, as it should be. We thank Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet, Congressman Neguse and Congresswoman Pettersen, the BNSF Railway, and our communities for their support of this important project,” said Governor Jared Polis.

    “A unified statewide effort with the Polis Administration has made this important milestone possible.  We appreciate the unwavering support of our Congressional delegation, along with that of local partners in communities across the state. The Biden-Harris Administration has consistently recognized the state’s seriousness about freight safety and passenger rail, recognizing the Front Range Passenger Rail corridor for the National Corridor ID program, and now by providing this grant to improve the safety of freight operations while also opening doors for future passenger rail. We appreciate their efforts and the time that their leadership has consistently dedicated to our efforts,” said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew.

    “This is a major step forward for Colorado and the future of safe freight and passenger rail in our state. We are thankful to our federal partners, BNSF Railway, members of Congress and local leaders for their relentless efforts to secure this major funding from the Biden-Harris Administration,” said John Putnam, Senior Advisor, Colorado Department of Transportation.

    This grant to improve the BNSF Front Range Subdivision is one of four Colorado projects to receive CRISI awards announced today. Colorado State University – Pueblo was awarded almost $12 million to enhance the ability to test hydrogen and compressed natural gas advanced technology trains at the FRA Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo.  San Luis Central Railway and Omnitrax were awarded funds to replace ties to increase safety and reduce maintenance costs for short lines in rural Colorado.  

    “The Colorado Department of Transportation’s Modernizing Rail on the Front Range project will improve existing rail operations along the Front Range by delivering improvements to several highway grade crossings, constructing a new passing siding, and deploying the safety overlay of positive train control across a portion of the corridor,” said Jim Tylick, Assistant Vice President Passenger Operations at BNSF. “We appreciate the early collaboration with the Front Range Passenger Rail District, CDOT, and the FRA as intercity passenger rail is considered along the Front Range in Colorado. We know the projects identified in this grant will benefit the rail corridor today while also providing benefit in the future as passenger rail is explored.”  

    In April, Governor Polis joined U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to visit the Floyd Hill Project, a seven-mile stretch of I-70 from exit 248 northwest of Evergreen to exit 241 in eastern Idaho Springs that works to eliminate a bottleneck on one of the most congested stretches of the I-70 Mountain Corridor. This project was announced in October of 2022, and made possible by state and federal investments including a $100 million grant from the Biden administration.

    In December 2023, Front Range Passenger Rail was included in the Federal Rail Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development program, which brought additional federal support for Colorado ahead of today’s grant award. Since the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Colorado has won more than $400 million in competitive grant awards to support key infrastructure projects across the state.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Brothers From New York Arrested for Assaulting Law Enforcement with a Weapon and Other Charges During January 6 Capitol Breach

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

                WASHINGTON — Two brothers from New York were arrested today for allegedly assaulting law enforcement with a weapon and other charges related to their alleged conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Their alleged actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

                Reynold Robert Voisine, 47, of Nicholville, New York, and Roger Alyre Voisine, Jr., 48, of Canton, New York, are each charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

                In addition to the felonies, the two brothers are also charged with misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings, and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

                The FBI arrested the two men today in Plattsburgh, New York, and they will make their initial appearance in the Northern District of New York.

                According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, the Voisine brothers, Roger and Reynold, attended former President Trump’s rally in Washington, D.C., before marching toward the Capitol building and eventually arriving on the West Front of the Capitol grounds. Roger Voisine, distinguishable by a GoPro mounted on a stick, a tripod tucked in his jacket, and a camouflage-patterned backpack, donned a paintball mask as he approached the Lower West Plaza. Reynold Voisine, also present in the area, was seen wearing a paintball mask on his head during the riot.

                By the afternoon, the situation on Capitol grounds had escalated, and it is alleged that both brothers played active roles in the day’s violence. At approximately 3:20 p.m., Reynold Voisine was seen among the crowd as rioters viciously assaulted an officer, dragging the officer from the Lower West Terrace Tunnel and into a mob of rioters. As the attacks continued throughout the day, Reynold remained in the vicinity, using a handheld radio to communicate while the mob assaulted officers inside the Tunnel. The Tunnel was the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day.

                By 4:25 p.m., Reynold Voisine made his way to the mouth of the Tunnel, where rioters were launching a variety of weapons at the police, including a crutch, a hockey stick, a baton, and multiple poles. It is alleged that Reynold participated in these attacks against officers, first by throwing a crutch at the officers and then by hurling a blue pole that struck police officers. After throwing the pole, he threw the crutch again, which ricocheted off another rioter and hit the officers. Later, Reynold used a stolen riot shield to ram into the police line.

                Around the same time, it is alleged that Roger Voisine was also engaged in direct assaults on police. Court documents say that Roger threw a length of pipe at the officers, pushed into their shields alongside other rioters, and attempted to drag one officer into the crowd. It is further alleged that Roger continued his violent actions by throwing a black rod at the police, hitting one officer’s shield, and later throwing three shoes at various officers. At one point, Roger picked up a wooden table leg with protruding nails, swung it twice at officers, and then aggressively threw it at another officer.

                In addition to these physical assaults, Roger allegedly used a spotlight to shine directly into the eyes of police officers, further hindering their ability to defend themselves against the mob. Throughout the chaos, Roger remained at the front lines of the mob, holding his GoPro in a manner that suggested he was documenting the event.

                This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York.

                This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Albany and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the Tampa FBI, U.S. Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department.                                                     

                In the 45 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,532 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 571 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

                Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

                A complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Peoria Man Sentenced to More Than 11 Years in Prison for Multi-Year Fraud Scheme

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria, Illinois, man, Chad Duane Campen, 35, was sentenced on October 24, 2024, to 135 months (11.3 years) following his convictions for bank fraud (one count), wire fraud (three counts), illegal monetary transaction (one count), bankruptcy fraud (one count), and false statements under oath (one count).

    At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid, the government presented evidence that Campen successfully swindled dozens of individuals and financial institutions between 2013 and 2021. During the course of the sentencing, the court heard from several of Campen’s victims who described themselves as “survivors” of Campen’s crimes. Campen pretended to be engaged in various business ventures ranging from farming to the construction of a solar farm. Via this elaborate scheme, Campen obtained loans from multiple banks using each fraudulent loan to not only enrich himself but also to pay off his previous victim. By the time his scheme collapsed, the government showed that Campen had obtained more than $17 million from these banks, of which almost $5 million was still outstanding.

    Campen, however, did not limit himself to stealing from banks, he also defrauded individuals. Witnesses, victim letters, and other evidence demonstrated how Campen would pretend to befriend people over the course of years and be welcomed into their families and homes only to steal from them. Campen caused a family farm to have its equipment repossessed after he claimed their equipment as his to secure one of his fraudulent loans. In another instance, Campen offered to assist an elderly man, gained access to his home, and stole more than $50,000 from him. And Campen convinced a family to invest in a purported farming opportunity. The family took out a loan using their own farm as collateral. When Campen’s fraud scheme collapsed, the family not only lost the money they had given Campen, but their farm—which had been in their family for more than 100 years—had to be sold.

    Another victim of Campen’s fraud was the Village of Bartonville, Illinois. Campen with co-conspirator Richard Weiss, convinced the Village to extend loans and additional funds to tear down the old Bowen Building in Bartonville. Campen lied to the Village and made promises that he could recoup the Village’s loan and investments through the sale of materials from the building. Campen secured these funds by falsely claiming that he already had buyers lined up for the stone for the building. As a result of Campen’s fraud, the Village lost the equivalent of half of all its property tax revenue for an entire year.

    Campen’s co-conspirator in certain acts connected with that fraud, the owner of the Bowen building, Richard Weiss, 62, of Pekin, Illinois, was charged in a separate case in February 2024 with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, related to his and Campen’s receipt of funds from the Village. He pleaded guilty to both counts in February and was sentenced the same day as Campen to 15 months of imprisonment. Weiss’s sentence took into account his unique personal characteristics and significantly smaller role in the offense. In imposing the sentence, Judge Shadid noted that Weiss himself was a victim of Campen’s fraud.

    As Campen’s scheme began to unravel, he tried to use the mechanisms of bankruptcy court to delay his creditors and prevent discovery of his fraud. Campen committed additional fraud in the bankruptcy court by filing counterfeit documents and making false statements in his pleadings and under oath. Campen’s fraud was quickly detected by the professionals with the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10, who added to the growing investigation of Campen by providing a criminal referral to the United States Attorney’s Office.

    A seventeen-count indictment was filed January 19, 2022, and Campen was arrested and detained five days later. Although he has filed several motions and appeals requesting bond, he has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest. Campen entered into a written plea agreement in March 2024, pleading guilty to seven of the seventeen counts.

    The statutory penalties for the charges are:

    Charge

    Imprisonment Time

    Supervised Release
    Bank Fraud (Ct. 5) Not more than 30 years 5 years
    Wire Fraud (Cts. 6, 12, 13) Not more than 20 years 3 years
    Illegal Monetary Transaction (Ct. 14) Not more than 10 years 3 years
    Bankruptcy Fraud (Ct. 16) Not more than 5 years 3 years
    False Statements Under Oath (Ct. 17) Not more than 5 years 3 years

    During his term of supervised release, Campen is to refrain from engaging in any occupation, business or profession related to the banking industry, including, but not limited to, employment by a bank or any other financial institution.

    “The defendant’s repeated acts of fraud caused great damage not only to financial institutions, but also to members of our community, including but not limited to the Village of Bartonville and its taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris. “Our office is committed to protecting individuals and banks from predatory acts like those of the defendant and will vigorously pursue such cases. We are grateful to our federal law enforcement partners, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10.”

    “Today’s sentence will go a long way in protecting the integrity of the bankruptcy system,” said Nancy J. Gargula, United States Trustee for Indiana and the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois (Region 10).  “We are grateful to U.S. Attorney Harris and our law enforcement partners for their commitment to protect the interests of creditors and the public.”

    “Driven by an unquenchable thirst for ill-gotten gains, Chad Campen embarked on an eight-year fraud spree which led to devastating results for those who put their trust in him,” said FBI Springfield Special Agent in Charge Christopher Johnson. “This sentence sends a clear message about the consequences of greed and demonstrates the resolve of the FBI and our law enforcement partners to follow the money trail and ensure justice.”

    “Over several years, Chad Campen defrauded dozens of victims, creating severe economic distress for families and straining resources for institutions that fell victim to his fraud scheme,” said Marta C. Grijalva, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office. “This sentencing reflects the consequences of actions that caused significant financial pain to not only institutions and communities, but also individual families. That is why IRS Criminal Investigation and its fellow law enforcement partners remain committed to safeguarding the financial security of our communities and holding accountable those who exploit the system for personal gain.”

    The case investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Field Office. The bankruptcy fraud charge was referred for criminal prosecution by the Office of the United States Trustee for Region 10, Nancy J. Gargula. The U.S. Trustee Program is the component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws. Region 10 is headquartered in Indianapolis, with additional offices in South Bend, Indiana, and Peoria, Illinois. Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas F. McMeyer represented the government in the prosecution.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Jamestown Man Pleads Guilty to Methamphetamine Charge

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Willie C. Graham, 43, of Jamestown, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, which carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of imprisonment of 40 years, and a fine of $5,000,000.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna M. Duncan, who is handling the case, stated that on September 6, 2023, Jamestown Police officers initiated a traffic stop on a car that Graham was a passenger in. Officers located numerous items of drug paraphernalia in the car, as well as a quantity of fentanyl on Graham’s person.

    On March 2, 2024, Graham was a passenger in a car that fled from law enforcement officers trying to conduct a traffic stop. A subsequent search of the vehicle resulted in the recovery of 11.6 grams of methamphetamine drug paraphernalia, and $1,134.00 cash.

    On April 30, 2024, Jamestown Police officers located and arrested Graham. At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of 10 assorted bank and benefit cards, some of which were issued to individuals other than Graham, a quantity of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and $185.

    The plea is a result of an investigation by the Jamestown Police Department, under the direction of Chief Timothy Jackson, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia.

    Sentencing is scheduled for February 20, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. before Judge Sinatra.

    # # # #

     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Matt Gaetz Introduces “JAIL for Alien Voters Act” to Punish Illegal Alien Voters with Felony Charges

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Matt Gaetz (1st District of Florida)

    Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01) will introduce the “Judicial Action to Impose Liability for Alien Voters Act,” also known as the JAIL for Alien Voters Act, following President Donald Trump’s warning to illegal aliens: “[i]f you vote illegally, you are going to jail!” The legislation, if enacted, would make voting by an illegal alien a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison or a $10,000 fine, which is in line with the criminal penalty for U.S. citizens unlawfully voting.

    Earlier this month, in response to the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) suing the Commonwealth of Virginia for removing illegal aliens from its voter rolls, Rep. Gaetz introduced the “National Motor Voter Clarification Act,” which would ensure that states can remove illegal aliens from their voter rolls at any time. These two pieces of legislation would help to secure U.S. elections against voting by the tens of millions of illegal aliens who have entered illegally through the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden-Harris administration.

    The legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Andy Ogles (TN-5), Andy Biggs (AZ-5), Mike Collins (GA-10), Claudia Tenney (NY-24), and Barry Moore (AL-02).

    “President Donald Trump is right: illegal aliens who vote in our elections should be in jail. It is unacceptable that illegal aliens get lighter sentences for defrauding our elections than U.S. citizens. My legislation, the JAIL for Alien Voters Act, will create parity in punishment for those who commit voter fraud, regardless of immigration status. It’s common sense that U.S. citizens should be the only ones voting in U.S. elections.” said Congressman Gaetz.

    Full text of Congressman Gaetz’s bill can be found HERE. Additionally, exclusive coverage of the bill by Fox News can be found HERE.

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    For updates, subscribe to Congressman Gaetz’s newsletter here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reps. Beatty, Nadler & Williams Urge CMS to Protect Pregnant Patients’ Rights in Drug Testing

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (3rd District of Ohio)

    WASHINGTON, DC –  Today, Representatives Joyce Beatty (OH-03), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), and Nikema Williams (GA-05) led Representatives Barragán (CA-44), Brown (OH-11), DeGette (CO-01), Schakowsky (IL-09), and Watson Coleman(NJ-12)in a letter to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requesting CMS include guidance on informed consent prior to drug testing of pregnant patients in the proposed obstetric care Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs) included in the proposed CY2025 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS).

    The risk of arrest, prosecution, or family separation following a positive toxicology test makes patients afraid to access health and medical services during pregnancy, putting them and their fetus at an increased risk of harm. While the Supreme Court determined in 2001 that diagnostic tests on pregnant patients without the patient’s consent constitutes an unreasonable search, drug testing of pregnant patients without their consent is still a relatively common practice.

     

    The members write: “As members of Congress committed to improving the health and safety of our pregnant, birthing, and postpartum constituents, we write to commend the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for promulgating a thoughtfully considered proposed rule that establishes obstetric care Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs) for hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs). As part of our efforts to advance the health and safety of all patients, we encourage CMS to incorporate guidance into the final rule that reduces roadblocks for pregnant patients with substance use disorder (SUD) seeking prenatal care.

     

    SUD is a leading cause of maternal death and can also have severe health consequences for infants. However, research has shown that increasing prenatal care for pregnant people with SUD can improve both maternal health outcomes and birth outcomes.”

     

    In an effort to improve maternal and fetal health outcomes, the letter requests that CMS:

    1. Provide guidance for providers on how to obtain informed consent for drug testing during the prenatal period and during labor and delivery.
    2. Prohibit drug testing of people during pregnancy and labor and delivery without the patient’s informed consent.
    3. Enhance provider training requirements regarding SUD during pregnancy.

     

    The members continued:“CMS should include guidance for medical providers in the obstetric care CoPs on obtaining informed consent for drug toxicology testing during the prenatal period and during labor and delivery. The risk of arrest, prosecution, or family separation following a positive toxicology test makes patients afraid to access health and medical services during pregnancy, putting them and their fetus at an increased risk of harm.

     

    Maternal toxicology testing often takes the form of a verbal screen or urine test to monitor for conditions such as diabetes or preeclampsia. However, many pregnant patients are not informed that the urine tests can also be used to screen for substance use. Additionally, doctors have reported that because urine tests are regularly provided in prenatal care, patients are not given an option to refuse urine drug testing… 

     

    …This high occurrence of drug testing of people during pregnancy and labor and delivery without informed consent is concerning, as experts warn that nonconsensual drug testing can undermine trust between patients and providers. In fact, research found that the most common strategy that pregnant patients with SUD employ to avoid their provider detecting their substance use is to skip medical visits or avoid prenatal care altogether…

     

    …. Ensuring that pregnant patients are aware of all potential ramifications that could result from any medical test in advance of a patient consenting to that test will assuage fears and encourage patients to seek essential prenatal care. Therefore, CMS should incorporate guidance into the obstetric care CoPs that specifically prohibits drug testing of pregnant, birthing, and postpartum patients without their informed consent. CMS should ensure that any updated guidance related to informed consent and drug testing of pregnant patients is not redundant with or in conflict with current requirements mandated by existing state or federal policy.”

     

    “Hospitals must be places of care and comfort, not fear. Our research shows that the majority of pregnancy-related criminal cases begin in a health care setting,” said Pregnancy Justice President Lourdes A. Rivera. “Ensuring that providers obtain informed consent before unnecessarily drug testing patients is one important step in building trust and improving maternal health outcomes. We are thrilled that Reps. Nadler, Beatty, and Williams are urging this vital guidance to protect pregnant people from criminalization and family separation.”

     

    The full letter can be found here. 

     

    For media inquiries, please contact Cassandra.Johnson@mail.house.gov.

     

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Assistant Leader Neguse and Local Leaders Celebrate $66.4 Million for Front Range Passenger Rail Project

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

    Lafayette, CO — In case you missed it, earlier today, U.S. House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse celebrated the announcement that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded $66.4 million to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to help bring the Front Range Passenger Rail Project to life. The funding was allocated through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program, which invests in railroad infrastructure projects that improve safety and support economic vitality. 

    At a press conference in Westminster this morning, Congressman Neguse, Governor Polis, Senator Bennet, Congresswoman Pettersen, CDOT Executive Director Lew, and local leaders announced that four Colorado rail projects will receive a total of $129.5 million in federal funds. The CRISI grants were awarded to CDOT, Colorado State University Pueblo, San Luis Central Railroad Co., and OmniTRAX.

    “After years of working to secure federal support for the Front Range Passenger Rail Project, I am excited to see the Department of Transportation heed our calls and commit to modernizing Colorado’s passenger rail system—not just for communities along the Front Range but for residents throughout the entire state. This is a once-in-a-generation investment in our passenger rail infrastructure, creating countless new opportunities for communities to connect, grow, and thrive—and we will continue to work together to ensure this momentum leads to lasting benefits for all Coloradans,” said Assistant Leader Joe Neguse. 

    “Today’s grant will make freight rail traffic in some of our busiest growing communities safer quickly while providing critical building blocks for Front Range Passenger Rail. This major funding will help achieve important priorities like complying with longstanding federal standards and improving the safety of rail crossings, which can be the sites of dangerous incidents. With more than $66 million in federal support from the Biden-Harris administration, the future of Colorado’s rail network is a clear priority for the federal government, as it should be. We thank Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet, Congressman Neguse and Congresswoman Pettersen, and our communities for their support of this important project,” said Governor Jared Polis.

    This announcement is the result of the persistent advocacy from Neguse, members of Colorado’s federal delegation, and state officials who have long championed investments in the state’s transit infrastructure. Earlier this year, Rep. Neguse led his colleagues in a letter to House Appropriators, requesting full funding for the FRA’s passenger rail programs. This follows previous outreach to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, urging the inclusion of the Front Range Passenger Rail in the FRA’s newly established Corridor Identification and Development Program (CDIP)—created as part of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help the federal government identify new passenger rail services. 

    Leaders across the Front Range joined in celebrating the news: 

    “The recent award by the Federal Rail Administration of $66.4 million dollars is a great big step in the right direction for Colorado to realize our front range passenger rail!  Thank you Representative Neguse for leading the way, at the federal level, on this critical project,” said Jeni Arndt, Mayor of Fort Collins. 

    “The Front Range Passenger Rail District Board (FRPRD) is deeply grateful to Congressman Neguse, Senator Hickenlooper and the Secretary of Transportation for their advocacy with the FRA. Their support played a significant part in the $66.4 million award that the FRA awarded to the FRPRD, which will play a pivotal role in advancing rail transportation on Colorado’s front range. This support enables us to move forward with the construction, which will greatly enhance connectivity and improve accessibility for our community. Thank you for your commitment to our vision and for helping us make this important project a reality,” said Joan Peck, Longmont Mayor. 

    “This landmark grant from the Federal Railroad Administration is a huge step forward for passenger rail in Boulder and across the region. Front Range Passenger Rail will finally provide long-awaited train service from Boulder to Denver, Longmont and points beyond, and will make a transformative impact on mobility in our community for decades to come. We’re incredibly grateful to Congressman Neguse as well as Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper for their persistent advocacy for this project,” said Aaron Brockett, Mayor of Boulder. 

    Background on Project 

    The $66,400,000 for CDOT will go toward the project titled ‘Modernizing Rail on the Front Range: PTC Installation, Siding, & Grade Crossing Safety and Operational Improvements’ involves systems planning, project planning, project development, final design, and construction activities to for provide track improvement, siding installation, and PTC design/installation in northern Colorado. The project will design, install, and test positive train control with a complementary siding on a portion of the Front Range Subdivision, along with several railroad crossings that could benefit from operational and safety improvements. It will also evaluate, design, and construct site-specific crossing solutions at five high-priority locations along the Subdivision. 

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: U.S. Attorney Appoints Election Officer for the Eastern District of Kentucky

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    LEXINGTON, Ky. – United States Attorney Carlton S. Shier, IV, announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Kate Smith will lead the efforts of his Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 5, 2024, general election.  AUSA Smith has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the Eastern District of Kentucky and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

    United States Attorney Shier said, “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election.  Similarly, election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence.  The Department of Justice will always work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the election process.”

    The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring and combatting discrimination and intimidation at the polls, threats of violence directed at election officials and poll workers, and election fraud.  The Department will address these violations wherever they occur. The Department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.

    Federal law protects against such crimes as threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.  It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from interference, including intimidation, and other acts designed to prevent or discourage people from voting or voting for the candidate of their choice.  The Voting Rights Act protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or inability to read or write in English).   

    United States Attorney Shier stated that:  “The franchise is the cornerstone of American democracy.  We all must ensure that those who are entitled to the franchise can exercise it if they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice.  In order to respond to complaints of voting rights concerns and election fraud during the upcoming election, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, AUSA/DEO Smith will be on duty in this District while the polls are open.  She can be reached by the public at the following telephone number:  859-685-4884.”

    In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day.  The local FBI field office can be reached by the public at (502) 263-6000.

    Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/ or by phone at 800-253-3931.

    United States Attorney Shier said, “Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the assistance of the American electorate.  It is important that those who have specific information about voting rights concerns or election fraud make that information available to the Department of Justice.”

    Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities.  State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.

    — END — 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Braintree Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Charges

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    BOSTON – A member of a nationwide drug trafficking ring was sentenced on Oct. 25, 2024 in federal court in Boston for drug trafficking and money laundering. During the investigation, over 160 pounds of pure methamphetamine, as well as an AK-47, a Glock with no serial number, two loaded Smith & Wesson handguns and over 4,200 rounds of ammunition were seized. An illegal marijuana grow operation with hundreds of marijuana plants was also dismantled.

    Patrick O’Hearn, 64, of Braintree was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 15 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. In March 2024, O’Hearn pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of money laundering.

    O’Hearn was charged along with 10 others in September 2021 in a 15ifteen count superseding indictment.  

    O’Hearn was part of a large-scale methamphetamine distribution network that distributed significant quantities of pure methamphetamine throughout New England. The investigation began in late 2020, when O’Hearn’s methamphetamine supplier Reshat Alkayisi was identified as a large-scale methamphetamine trafficker, who distributed multi-pound quantities to customers throughout the New England area. O’Hearn was subsequently identified as one of Alkayisi’s regular large-scale distributors who routinely purchased methamphetamine and redistributed it throughout the Boston area. Bank records indicated that O’Hearn paid Alkayisi at least $100,000 between January and July 2021. O’Hearn also purchased over $465,000 worth of methamphetamine from Alkayisi between January and May 2021.

    O’Hearn conspired with Alkayisi to launder their drug proceeds. As part of that money laundering conspiracy, Alkayisi used O’Hearn’s residence as the address for his shell company that he used to launder drug proceeds.

    In July 2021, O’Hearn was arrested and over 680 grams of pure methamphetamine was seized, as well as small quantities of cocaine, ketamine, MDMA and other controlled substances from O’Hearn’s residence. Over $213,000 in cash was also found in O’Hearn’s residence and in bank safe deposit boxes.

    Alkayisi pleaded guilty in April 2024 and in September 2024 sentenced to 23 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. O’Hearn is the 10th defendant to be sentenced in the case. The remaining defendant has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

    Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts Department of Correction; Norfolk County Sherriff’s Office; and Concord, Hudson, Peabody, Reading, Watertown and Waltham Police Departments. Assistance was also provided by the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alathea Porter and Katherine Ferguson of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

    This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Clarkston Woman Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Embezzling Over Three Million Dollars From Former Employer

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    DETROIT- A Clarkston woman was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison for wire fraud arising out of an embezzlement scheme targeting her former employer, announced United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison.

    Joining Ison in the announcement was Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cheyvoryea Gibson.

    Sally Lynn Elmore, 56, pleaded guilty in July 2024 to one count of wire fraud arising from a scheme to defraud her former employer that resulted in over $3 million in losses.  In addition to the 3 years’ imprisonment, United States District Judge Brandy R. McMillion ordered Elmore to pay $2.2 million in restitution to her victims and to pay a $3.2 million forfeiture money judgment. 

    According to Court documents, from April 2019 to December 2022, Elmore abused her position of trust and used her access to the payroll and banking systems of her employer to execute a scheme to fraudulently direct electronic payments—in the form of salary, bonuses, and expense reimbursements that she knew she was not entitled to receive—from her employer’s bank account to her personal bank accounts.  In order to conceal her fraud, Elmore prepared and presented falsified financial statements to her employer’s board, representing that the company was still in possession of funds that she had, in fact, fraudulently directed to herself. She also concealed the missing funds from the company’s insurer, causing the company to lose coverage for losses from theft.  In total, Elmore stole over $3 million and gambled most of it away. 

    “Elmore violated the trust placed in her as the director of finance and human resources for her company, stealing over three million dollars, nearly driving the company to insolvency, and putting the livelihoods of her fellow employees in jeopardy, stated United States Attorney Ison. “Our office will aggressively prosecute those individuals who abuse their authority to line their own pockets at others’ expense.”

    “Over the course of three years, Ms. Elmore betrayed her employer by exploiting her access to the company’s finances, stealing millions of dollars, and covering up her actions through deception,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan. “The FBI has zero tolerance for fraud against individuals or institutions and will continue to work with our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office to prosecute those involved in embezzlement schemes. We are committed to ensuring that anyone who abuses their position of trust faces justice.”

    The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alyse Wu. The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: USAO-KS Announces Election Day Program

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    KANSAS CITY, KAN. – United States Attorney Kate E. Brubacher announced that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Jared Maag will lead the efforts of his Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 5, 2024, general election.  AUSA Maag has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Kansas, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

    U.S. Attorney Brubacher said, “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election.  Similarly, election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence.  The Department of Justice will always work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the election process.”

    The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring and combatting discrimination and intimidation at the polls, threats of violence directed at election officials and poll workers, and election fraud.  The Department will address these violations wherever they occur.  The Department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.

    Federal law protects against such crimes as threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.  It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from interference, including intimidation, and other acts designed to prevent or discourage people from voting or voting for the candidate of their choice.  The Voting Rights Act protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or inability to read or write in English).  

    U.S. Attorney Brubacher stated that: “The franchise is the cornerstone of American democracy.  We all must ensure that those who are entitled to the franchise can exercise it if they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice.  In order to respond to complaints of voting rights concerns and election fraud during the upcoming election, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, AUSA/DEO Maag will be on duty in this District while the polls are open. He can be reached by the public at the following telephone number: (785) 295-2850.

    In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day.  The local FBI field office can be reached by the public at 816-512-8200.

    Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/ or by phone at 800-253-3931.

    U.S. Attorney Brubacher said, “Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the assistance of the American electorate.  It is important that those who have specific information about voting rights concerns or election fraud make that information available to the Department of Justice.”

    Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities.  State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Chris Kaba’s criminal history shouldn’t change how we think about the Martyn Blake trial – but it could affect future cases

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tara Lai Quinlan, Associate Professor in Law and Criminal Justice, University of Birmingham

    Members of Chris Kaba’s family at a march on the anniversary of his death. Shutterstock

    Two years after fatally shooting 24-year-old Chris Kaba in the head, the London Met Police firearms officer Martyn Blake was acquitted of Kaba’s murder.

    As soon as the trial concluded, newspapers published information about Kaba that they were barred from reporting during the proceedings. Chief among the details was the news that Kaba had allegedly shot a man in both legs at a nightclub days before his own death, although he was never prosecuted for or convicted of the crime.

    The post-trial publication of details of Kaba’s alleged criminal history should not affect how we view Blake’s prosecution and acquittal. But it will have implications for future cases where black men are killed by police. It will also further damage already-strained relationships between black communities and police.

    Kaba was shot by Blake after police stopped the car he was driving in south London. Kaba was unarmed. Police did not know that Kaba was driving, but believed the car had been connected to a shooting the night before. Blake told the court he fired his weapon because he believed his colleagues’ lives were at risk.

    The jury was not told of Kaba’s prior convictions during the trial, nor should they have been. Kaba was not on trial – Martyn Blake was. So this information did not play a role in their decision to acquit. Because Kaba was killed by Blake, Kaba’s prior convictions were not relevant in Blake’s trial. We correctly shun victim-blaming when it comes to other victims: it should be no different in this case, in which Kaba was the victim.

    Had Kaba been alive and testified for the prosecution against Blake, the judge could have considered whether his prior criminal convictions were relevant to his testimony and credibility. But disclosure of a witness’s previous convictions is rightfully very narrowly construed by the courts, and would have to meet a specific legal standard.

    Racial stereotypes

    The research is clear that when a person of colour is killed by police and posthumous information about the victim is released to the public, it has an impact on public perceptions of blame, sympathy and empathy for the black victim and police shooter, and perpetuates racial stereotypes. And this seems to be what is occurring here.

    Studies have shown for decades that black people, men in particular, are first and foremost viewed as perpetrators by police and members of the public, not as crime victims. We have seen the impact of this in the many killings of unarmed black men by police in the US, from Michael Brown to Eric Garner to George Floyd.

    These stereotypes have also played a role in cases in the UK. Black men and boys are often treated by the criminal justice system and the media as somehow responsible for their own deaths. For instance, Stephen Lawrence, who was killed in 1993 by a group of white men while waiting at a London bus stop, was regarded by police for a long time as a suspect, not a victim.

    Or Dea-John Reid, a 14-year-old black boy who was chased and killed by a group of white teens and adults in Birmingham in 2021. After his death, police initially doubted racism played a role in the killing, and it was suggested at the trial that Reid was involved in instigating events leading to his killing. While multiple defendants were brought to trial, only a 15-year-old boy was convicted of manslaughter for Reid’s death. Two adults, aged 36 and 39, and two other teenagers were acquitted of his murder.

    Police chiefs are asking the government to make it harder for the Crown Prosecution Service to charge officers.
    Svet foto/Shutterstock

    For decades, scholars have tracked how black men are viewed through the lens of the myth of criminality. This view, rooted in slavery and colonialism, erroneously suggests black men have a propensity for criminality. It persists today in crime figures that show minority ethnic people disproportionately represented in every stage of the criminal justice process.

    Yet the reality from government offending surveys is that black and white people commit crimes at the same rates. The myth is reinforced through the criminal justice system, which focuses on some crimes (and alleged criminals) more than others through decisions around deployment of personnel and resources, and decisions to arrest, charge, prosecute and sentence in disproportionate ways.

    For example, police stop and search rates for decades have been disproportionately shown to target black men. Arrest rates show similar disproportionate outcomes. These disparities are not due to a propensity for criminal offending, but rather the implicit and explicit stereotypes of the justice system.



    Read more:
    Stop and search disproportionately affects black communities – yet police powers are being extended

    These stereotypes mean that people of colour, and black men in particular, are not seen as deserving victims when they are the victims of crime or police wrongdoing.

    Academic research, as well as government inquiries by Lord Macpherson and Baroness Casey, have observed how policing culture is embedded with these stereotypes.

    Future of policing

    Following the Blake verdict, police leaders have called for further protections for officers who use force while on duty (even if not deadly force). The government has said that officers charged in future cases will stay anonymous unless convicted.

    The UK legal system already has rigorous standards for investigating, charging and convicting individuals, including police officers, of wrongdoing. Moreover, is it important to bear in mind that misconduct prosecutions in court against police officers are already very rare.

    Blake was the first officer in England ever charged with murder for killing someone on duty, and therefore none have ever been convicted of murdering a member of the public while on duty. There are therefore already sufficiently robust due process protections in place for officers charged with a crime and they do not require further enhancing.

    At a time when police have lost the trust of many of the communities they are meant to protect, particularly ethnic minority Britons, this sends the wrong message to the public that police can act without accountability.

    “We went two steps forward in terms of building relationships and it just feels like we’ve taken a step back,” said Anthony King, who runs a youth crime reduction organisation in London, of the Blake verdict.

    The persistence of negative racial stereotypes of people of colour generally, and black men in particular, continues to put black communities in a position of being overpoliced and yet underprotected. Treating Chris Kaba as a suspected criminal ahead of seeing him as a victim will only further this inequality.

    Tara Lai Quinlan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Chris Kaba’s criminal history shouldn’t change how we think about the Martyn Blake trial – but it could affect future cases – https://theconversation.com/chris-kabas-criminal-history-shouldnt-change-how-we-think-about-the-martyn-blake-trial-but-it-could-affect-future-cases-242051

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From a scream to a whisper – ‘quiet horror’ novels are making a comeback

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nick Freeman, Reader in Late Victorian Literature, Loughborough University

    Readers need to be imaginative rather than being startled by jump scares. zef art/Shutterstock

    Ever since its inception with Horace Walpole’s novel The Castle of Otranto (1764), a delirious mixture of violent death and familial conspiracy, gothic literature has been a restless cultural form, constantly mutating and assuming new guises but always exploring the darker side of life. Sometimes, its fashions are those of the historical moment. Sometimes they are initiated by a book enjoying unprecedented commercial success.

    One of these was Thomas Harris’s The Silence of the Lambs (1988). After the film adaptation scooped five Oscars in 1991, the deviant genius became the villain of choice for gothic films and novels. For a time, the violent merging of the crime thriller with the “body horror” of 1980s cinema ensured that the genre was dominated by such characters. Usually (though not always) men with high IQs, elevated artistic taste and ingenious ways of torturing and killing their fellow human beings, Hannibal Lecter and his ilk became modern icons.

    In the wake of such influences, crime novels (and films) got bloodier and horror novels grew longer. John Connolly’s first novel, EveryDeadThing (1999), for example, spent 470 pages documenting the murderous activities of a serial killer who mutilated his victims in the style of Renaissance anatomical drawings.

    In recent years however, there has been a reaction against these excesses. So-called “quiet horror” has become increasingly popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Perhaps taking its name from a 1965 collection of short stories by Stanley Ellin, which was literally called “quiet horror”, this is a genre that prizes suspense and subtlety over graphic bodily violence.

    The novelist Selena Chambers characterises quiet horror as exploring “the unexplained, the suppressed, the supernal [otherworldly], the material, the cosmic, and the secular … everything we cannot see, or verbalise and fail to feel concretely”. As she implies, suggestion is crucial.

    Readers need to be patient and imaginative, sensitive to the nuances and implications of language and willing to respond to spooky ambiguities rather than being startled by jump scares or “gross out” imagery.

    Slasher movies usually treat their characters as no more than fodder for the next brutal killing. Quiet horror, by contrast, takes character development far more seriously and imbues its stories with greater psychological depth. This in turn can enhance readers’ involvement. Put simply, those who dislike “splatter fiction” are more likely to care what happens to a well-rounded, sympathetic character than a stereotypical US teenager about to be put under a steam hammer.

    Women and quiet horror

    Female novelists have been at the forefront of this style of writing since the Victorian period. Elizabeth Gaskell’s tales, including The Old Nurse’s Story (1852), a chilling tale of a family curse, are foundational works.

    A long line of women writers have explored how the familiar, the domestic, the marital and the homely can be imbued with subtle terrors, from loneliness and isolation to paranoia, alienation, captivity and psychological trauma.

    The haunted house does not need to contain a typical ghost. From Elizabeth Bowen’s The Demon Lover (1945) to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (1959), to Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger (2009) and beyond, the complex and fraught relationships between a dwelling and its occupants have frequently engaged women writers’ imaginations.

    The continuing success of Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black (1983) in its literary, theatrical and cinematic incarnations has helped ensure that quiet horror, particularly tales which recall the golden age of the ghost story a century or so ago, are once again much in vogue. This can be seen in the bestselling novels of Michelle Paver, such as Dark Matter (2010) and in anthologies such as The Haunting Season (2021).

    At the same time, readers are increasingly rediscovering forgotten practitioners of the genre. One such figure is Elizabeth Walter (1927-2006). As a writer (and the editor of Collins Crime Club for 30 years from the mid-1960s) Walter recoiled from sadistic violence, cardboard characterisation and haphazard plotting.

    Shirley Jackson was a master of ‘quiet horror’.
    Wiki Commons, CC BY

    After five collections of stories, beginning with Snowfall and Other Chilling Events (1965), she retired from writing supernatural fiction in the mid-1970s as the traits she didn’t like were becoming dominant within Anglo-American gothic. Many of her stories are set in the border country between England and Wales and draw upon folklore and a sensitivity to landscape to create creepily unnerving works such as The Sin Eater (1967) and Telling the Bees (1975).

    I edited a collection of Walter’s writing titled Let a Sleeping Witch Lie (2024). Spanning the ten years from Snowfall to her final collection, Dead Woman and Other Haunting Experiences (1975), the stories within anticipate some elements of Phil Rickman’s Merrily Watkins novels which also involve Welsh border settings, supernatural elements, and police procedural, though they lack Rickman’s religious dimension.

    There is no sense of providence at work in Walter’s borderlands, only ancient and mysterious menace. Marriages tend to be unhappy, families harbour terrible secrets, and the old ways continue to overshadow the present. Fifty years since her final collection, Walter’s work might be more relevant than ever before.

    Quiet horror has never really been away, but it seems to finding a new audience, one which both looks to its past and relishes its present.


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    Nick Freeman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. From a scream to a whisper – ‘quiet horror’ novels are making a comeback – https://theconversation.com/from-a-scream-to-a-whisper-quiet-horror-novels-are-making-a-comeback-241945

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –