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US

Attorneys for Cristhian Bahena Rivera request hearing delay

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The sentencing of Cristhian Bahena Rivera is delayed following a motion filed by the defense citing news details in the murder of Mollie Tibbetts.On May 28, a jury found Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death.Court documents obtained Monday state that someone else admitted to Tibbetts’ murder and that a state prison inmate came forward with the information after Bahena Rivera’s guilty verdict.The inmate allegedly said Tibbetts was kidnapped for sex trafficking and bound and gagged in a trap house but that he was directed to kill Tibbetts once the search for her got too close.The man also allegedly said he was directed by the sex trafficker in charge to stab Tibbetts and dump her body near a Hispanic male to make it look like the Hispanic male committed the crime.The name of the inmate who allegedly admitted to killing Tibbetts has not been revealed.According to court documents filed Tuesday, a search warrant obtained by the defense “corroborates the ‘trap house’ account” made by the inmate.The defense said the search warrant it received focuses on a sex trafficking ring allegedly operated by a man out of New Sharon in 2018.The warrant reportedly states that the man met with a sex trafficking victim in Brooklyn and details “the torture and sexual abuse the victim endured while being held hostage at the trap house.”The defense went on to report a connection between the man and the mother of missing Montezuma boy Xavior Harrelson.According to court documents, the man and Sarah Harrelson had a relationship and lived together before being evicted in 2018. The defense claims an independent investigation it conducted revealed the man may have been one of the last people to see Xavior before his disappearance on May 27.In the court filing, the defense claims that state attorneys failed to turn over reports regarding trap houses and kidnapping in or near Poweshiek County, including at least 10 children reported missing in the area. A hearing will be held Thursday on a motion for the state to produce any evidence it may have regarding a sex trafficking operation.KCCI previously reported that a hearing regarding the motion for a new trial would be heard Thursday. That hearing will not take place until after Thursday’s hearing takes place.

POWESHIEK COUNTY, Iowa —

The sentencing of Cristhian Bahena Rivera is delayed following a motion filed by the defense citing news details in the murder of Mollie Tibbetts.

On May 28, a jury found Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death.

Court documents obtained Monday state that someone else admitted to Tibbetts’ murder and that a state prison inmate came forward with the information after Bahena Rivera’s guilty verdict.

The inmate allegedly said Tibbetts was kidnapped for sex trafficking and bound and gagged in a trap house but that he was directed to kill Tibbetts once the search for her got too close.

The man also allegedly said he was directed by the sex trafficker in charge to stab Tibbetts and dump her body near a Hispanic male to make it look like the Hispanic male committed the crime.

The name of the inmate who allegedly admitted to killing Tibbetts has not been revealed.

According to court documents filed Tuesday, a search warrant obtained by the defense “corroborates the ‘trap house’ account” made by the inmate.

The defense said the search warrant it received focuses on a sex trafficking ring allegedly operated by a man out of New Sharon in 2018.

The warrant reportedly states that the man met with a sex trafficking victim in Brooklyn and details “the torture and sexual abuse the victim endured while being held hostage at the trap house.”

The defense went on to report a connection between the man and the mother of missing Montezuma boy Xavior Harrelson.

According to court documents, the man and Sarah Harrelson had a relationship and lived together before being evicted in 2018.

The defense claims an independent investigation it conducted revealed the man may have been one of the last people to see Xavior before his disappearance on May 27.

In the court filing, the defense claims that state attorneys failed to turn over reports regarding trap houses and kidnapping in or near Poweshiek County, including at least 10 children reported missing in the area.

A hearing will be held Thursday on a motion for the state to produce any evidence it may have regarding a sex trafficking operation.

KCCI previously reported that a hearing regarding the motion for a new trial would be heard Thursday. That hearing will not take place until after Thursday’s hearing takes place.

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Technology

Auto-aim cheatmaker halts development at Activision’s request

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  • A sample video shows how computer vision (running on an external computer) detects an enemy and calculates how far the mouse needs to move to target that enemy.

  • Just a few frames later, thanks to inputs sent through external hardware, the cheat user automatically targets the enemy and fires.

  • Another demonstration of computer vision identifying multiple valid targets inside the central “kill zone.”

  • The detection seems to work quickly in a variety of lighting and obscuring conditions.

  • Input devices like the Titan Two are key to making computer vision cheat tools like this work.

  • A mock-up of the user interface for one computer vision cheat tool, showing how it can be configured for head, body, or leg shots.

  • Users may need to play with detection thresholds and speed settings to get the cheat tool working correctly, the maker says.

  • The size of the central “kill zone” can be changed, affecting the detection speed and how far the auto-aim “snap” can go.

The makers of a machine-learning-powered auto-aim cheat tool have halted development and taken down their website “at the request of Activision Publishing.” That’s according to a message posted on the User Vision website, in which developer USER101 promises the group “will no longer be developing or providing access to software that could be used to exploit [Activision]’s games. My intent was never to do anything illegal.”

Previous versions of the User Vision software offered more basic cheating functions like “recoil adjustment” that automatically steadies a player’s aim and a “trigger bot” that shoots automatically when an enemy is detected in the player’s crosshairs. Last week, though, the makers of User Vision started promoting a future version that would provide “full auto-aim [and] full auto-shots” on “any game” for PC, Xbox, or PlayStation.

User Vision’s proposed auto-aim cheat was designed to work without any modifications to the hardware or software running the game itself, thanks to a combination of external capture cards, machine-learning algorithms to detect enemies, and external hardware to emulate user input.

Many of User Vision’s promotional videos—which showed the tool being used in Call of Duty games—were taken offline late last week due to a copyright claim from Call of Duty publisher Activision. The entire YouTube account seems to no longer exist, and the User Vision Discord appears to be offline as well.

While USER101 wrote on the User Vision website that “this statement was not required,” it seems clear that legal threats from the publisher are behind the sudden shutdown (Activision has not responded to a request for comment from Ars Technica). Those threats are no joke; publishers including Riot Games, Ubisoft, Take Two, and Epic Games have taken cheatmakers to court in recent years. The cases have often resulted in significant monetary damages against software-makers that violate an online game’s terms of service.

USER101 stressed that the auto-aim functionality showcased in User Vision’s videos had yet to make it to a published version of the software. USER101 also tried to refocus the conversation by saying that “this type of technology [has] other actual assistive benefits; for example, by pointing a webcam at yourself, you could control movement without the use of limbs. Unfortunately, because of its potential negative impact, I will not be developing it further.”

While User Vision promoted its upcoming auto-aim process as “undetectable [and] unstoppable,” game developers said they already have ways of dealing with these kinds of cheating tools, in part by looking for superhuman play patterns. “Ultimately, the ’emulated input’ vector isn’t anything new, and the Vanguard team is very aware of it,” Valorant anti-cheat lead Phillip Koskinas told Ars. “Cheaters are always looking for new corners to hide in, and ‘Kernel Drivers’ have never been the most important tool in our arsenal.”

The apparent death of User Vision won’t stop the same general cheating method from continuing in other corners, of course. As artificial intelligence technology gets more powerful and accessible, anti-cheat efforts will need to be increasingly vigilant to detect non-human play of this type.

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Business

U.S. Officials Push Back on Pfizer’s Request for Booster Shot Approval

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“Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time,” the statement said, adding, “We are prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed.”

The move may make good business sense for Pfizer-BioNTech. Since the onset of the pandemic, the partner companies have pursued a “get to market first” strategy in manufacturing and marketing their vaccine.

The companies did not take federal money or participate in Operation Warp Speed, former President Donald J. Trump’s fast-track vaccine initiative. They were not only the first to win Food and Drug Administration authorization for their coronavirus vaccine, the first to use novel mRNA technology, but also the first to gain authorization for their vaccine’s use in adolescents.

The strategy has “paid off as handsomely as anyone could ask for,” said Steve Brozak, the president of WBB Securities, a research investment bank focused on biotechnology.

Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech said a booster given six months after the second dose of the vaccine increased the potency of antibodies against the original virus and the Beta variant by five- to tenfold. But antibody levels may not be the best biological measurement of the need for booster doses, according to experts, who say it is no surprise that antibodies would increase after taking a third dose.

“Antibody response is not the only measure of immune protection,” said Dr. Leana S. Wen, a former health commissioner for Baltimore. “There have been multiple studies that suggest these vaccines also stimulate B cell and T cell immunity, so even if there isn’t as much antibody, that doesn’t mean someone isn’t protected.”

In Israel, the government agreed to provide Pfizer with data on its vaccine recipients, and Pfizer has been matching the Israeli data with its own laboratory tests on antibody responses. Some people familiar with the data say that taken together, the two data sets indicate that immunity is waning among the vaccinated after roughly six to eight months, leading to a growing number of breakthrough infections.

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Business

Judge denies CDC’s request to keep COVID-19 cruise restrictions, cites ‘use and misuse of governmental power’

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The Celebrity Edge is set to depart from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this weekend and will be the first cruise ship to leave a U.S. port in 469 days. FOX Business’ Ashley Webster with more.

A federal judge denied the CDC’s request to keep COVID-19 restrictions on cruises in place in Florida past July 18, writing that the agency “can show no factor that outweighs the need to conclude an unwarranted and unprecedented exercise of governmental power.”

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday originally ruled against the CDC last month, granting a preliminary injunction that will turn the Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) into nonbinding guidelines on July 18. 

The CDC appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and requested a stay on Tuesday, but Merryday dismissed that motion on Wednesday. 

REGENT SEVEN SEAS SHARES 2024 DATE FOR ITS 132-NIGHT WORLD CRUISE

“Although CDC invariably garnishes the argument with dire prospects of ‘transmission’ of COVID-19 aboard a cruise vessel, these dark allusions dismiss state and local health authorities, the industry’s self-regulation, and the thorough and costly preparations and accommodations by all concerned to avoid ‘transmission’ and to confine and control the ‘transmission,’ if one occurs,” Merryday wrote Wednesday. 

He continued, “More to the point, this action is not about what health precautions against COVID-19 are necessary or helpful aboard a cruise ship; this action is about the use and misuse of governmental power.”

The Celebrity Edge is moored at Port Everglades, Saturday, June 26, 2021, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Celebrity Edge is the first cruise ship to leave a U.S. port since the coronavirus pandemic brought the industry to a 15-month standstill. (AP Photo/Ma

The CDC shut down cruises in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, then issued a CSO in October that gave cruise lines a strict phased approach to reopening. 

The court battle started in April when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sued the CDC, saying that the “lawsuit is necessary to protect Floridians from the federal government’s overreach and resulting economic harm to our state.”

After Merryday’s ruling that sided with Florida, the CSO will turn into just recommendations on July 18, and the CDC’s appeal will be left up to the Eleventh Circuit. 

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Cruises have already restarted in Florida, with Celebrity Edge taking off from Fort Lauderdale on June 26. A Royal Caribbean ship set sail from Miami on July 2 and a Carnival Cruise Line’s ship set sail from Galveston, Texas on July 3. 

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US

Judge denies Florida pet advocate’s request to search for missing animals prior to condo demolition: report

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In an emergency hearing, a judge in Florida on Sunday night denied a pet advocate’s request to search for missing animals inside the partially collapsed Surfside condo building before the standing portion of the building was demolished, according to a report.

One missing animal, Coco the cat, was believed to still be on the fourth floor of the Champlain Towers building – before it was brought down by explosives in a controlled demolition after 10 p.m. ET Sunday, the Miami Herald reported.

The decision by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman was a disappointment to Stacey Karron, 57, who volunteers to rescue animals, the newspaper reported.

SURFSIDE CONDO BUILDING’S STANDING PORTION BROUGHT DOWN WITH EXPLOSIVES

Karron, who lives in Broward County, had requested that she be allowed inside the still-standing portion of the building in Miami-Dade County to look for any pets she could find, according to the Herald.

“My goal was just to go down there and try and rescue any pets if I was allowed,” Karron said. “I have experience with animal rescue and I volunteered to go in.”

Karron acknowledged there would be risk involved in entering a structure that was considered unstable following the June 24 partial collapse – but she offered to not hold anyone else responsible if any harm came to her during the proposed search, a court filing posted by Herald reporter David Ovalle said.

She also agreed not to remove any items from the building and to keep her search focused strictly on her missing cat, the document said.

But Hanzman denied her request late Sunday, the Herald reported.

On June 28, four days after the partial collapse, City of Miami firefighters working at the Surfside condo site used a cherry-picker truck to leave some food and water on the balcony of the resident’s fourth-floor unit in hopes Coco would find them, the Herald reported.

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Search and rescue crews had turned some attention toward missing pets after searching strictly for people in the initial days following the collapse, the newspaper reported.

It was unclear at the time how many total pets may have gone missing in the collapse.

As of late Sunday, 24 people were confirmed dead in the disaster and 121 people remained missing.

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Entertainment

Federline may request evaluation before Britney Spears’ conservatorship ends

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While Britney Spears can count on ex-husband Kevin Federline for support as she seeks to end her controversial conservatorship, he has concerns regarding the idea of her regaining full control of her life “without any expert evaluation,” according to his attorney.

Divorce lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan shared Federline’s thoughts on Spears’ desire for the conservatorship to be terminated, exclusively telling Page Six that the DJ would likely have concerns due to decisions previously made in terms of the “Toxic” singer’s medical care.

“I’ve seen it reported that Britney wants [the conservatorship] terminated without any expert evaluation,” Kaplan told us. “One thing that I can imagine will engender a further dialogue should it be terminated is that I know she had revealed in the statement she made that she had been put on lithium, and I think, as you can imagine, lithium is regarded as a very powerful psychotropic medication.

A TIMELINE OF BRITNEY SPEARS’ CONSERVATORSHIP

“I have to hope that if some medical professional prescribed that for her that there was some condition or basis for that to be deemed an appropriate medical protocol,” he went on. “So, if the conservatorship were to end and even more so to be terminated without an exit evaluation, I’m sure that Kevin would at least want to know what the conditions were that gave rise to her being prescribed that, and Kevin would probably have to engender some dialogue along those lines at some point in time if that were to occur.”

Despite his concerns, Federline believes Spears’ health and happiness is vital when it comes to the pair co-parenting sons Sean Preston, 15, and Jayden James, 14.

INSIDE BRITNEY SPEARS, SAM ASGHARI’S HAWAIIAN GETAWAY FOLLOWING BOMBSHELL CONSERVATORSHIP HEARING: REPORT

“It was distressing to see her be in distress,” Kaplan told us. “Kevin really has no inside information about what goes on inside of the conservatorship, but obviously if Britney is in a healthy and good and strong place, that’s great. He wants her to be happy and healthy.”

Federline, 43, and Spears, 39, were married from 2004 to 2007.

Last week, the Grammy winner broke her silence about the conservatorship that has allowed her father, Jamie Spears, to control her personal life and assets, namely her estimated $60 million fortune, since it began in 2008 after her public breakdown.

BRITNEY SPEARS’ COUSIN THROWS SUPPORT BEHIND POP STAR TO END CONSERVATORSHIP: SHE ‘DESERVES BETTER’

Britney also stated during the court hearing that she wants to marry and have a baby with boyfriend Sam Asghari but the conservatorship will not allow it.

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“I have an [IUD] in my body right now that won’t let me have a baby, and my conservators won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out,” she claimed. “I feel ganged up on. I feel bullied, and I feel left out and alone.”

The “Me Against the Music” singer is currently on a Hawaiian vacation with Asghari, 27, whom she has been dating since 2016. She wrote on Instagram Tuesday that she is prioritizing her “mental and physical health” during the trip.

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Entertainment

K-Fed may request evaluation before Britney’s conservatorship ends

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While Britney Spears can count on ex-husband Kevin Federline for support as she seeks to end her controversial conservatorship, he has concerns regarding the idea of her regaining full control of her life “without any expert evaluation,” according to his attorney.

Divorce lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan shared Federline’s thoughts on Spears’ desire for the conservatorship to be terminated, exclusively telling Page Six that the DJ would likely have concerns due to decisions previously made in terms of the “Toxic” singer’s medical care.

“I’ve seen it reported that Britney wants [the conservatorship] terminated without any expert evaluation,” Kaplan told us. “One thing that I can imagine will engender a further dialogue should it be terminated is that I know she had revealed in the statement she made that she had been put on lithium, and I think, as you can imagine, lithium is regarded as a very powerful psychotropic medication.

Kevin Federline supports ex-wife Britney Spears through her conservatorship drama.Getty Images ; Instagram

“I have to hope that if some medical professional prescribed that for her that there was some condition or basis for that to be deemed an appropriate medical protocol,” he went on. “So, if the conservatorship were to end and even more so to be terminated without an exit evaluation, I’m sure that Kevin would at least want to know what the conditions were that gave rise to her being prescribed that, and Kevin would probably have to engender some dialogue along those lines at some point in time if that were to occur.”

Spears shares sons Sean Preston and Jayden James with ex-husband Federline.
Instagram

Despite his concerns, Federline believes Spears’ health and happiness is vital when it comes to the pair co-parenting sons Sean Preston, 15, and Jayden James, 14.

“It was distressing to see her be in distress,” Kaplan told us. “Kevin really has no inside information about what goes on inside of the conservatorship, but obviously if Britney is in a healthy and good and strong place, that’s great. He wants her to be happy and healthy.”

Federline, 43, and Spears, 39, were married from 2004 to 2007.

Last week, the Grammy winner broke her silence about the conservatorship that has allowed her father, Jamie Spears, to control her personal life and assets, namely her estimated $60 million fortune, since it began in 2008 after her public breakdown.

Britney also stated during the court hearing that she wants to marry and have a baby with boyfriend Sam Asghari but the conservatorship will not allow it.

“I have an [IUD] in my body right now that won’t let me have a baby, and my conservators won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out,” she claimed. “I feel ganged up on. I feel bullied, and I feel left out and alone.”

The “Me Against the Music” singer is currently on a Hawaiian vacation with Asghari, 27, whom she has been dating since 2016. She wrote on Instagram Tuesday that she is prioritizing her “mental and physical health” during the trip.

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US

Portland mayor looks to re-fund police with $2M request as homicides spike – but council support unclear

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The mayor of Portland, Ore., called for nearly $2 million in additional funding for the city’s police force and other agencies Friday, citing a rise in homicides and other violent crime.

But members of the city council were either mum or not fully committed so far on whether they’ll back the plan, according to reports.

The request by second-term Mayor Ted Wheeler came Friday during his State of the City address – and three days after Wheeler condemned one of the latest killings in the city, the broad-daylight slaying of a 42-year-old man in a city park on Tuesday.

“This shooting was brazen and horrific,” Wheeler wrote on Twitter. “The City and its partners are working hard to prevent and reduce gun violence. It’s a public health crisis that’s harming our entire community.”

Wheeler’s funding request marked a turnaround for Portland, which has been viewed as an epicenter of the “Defund the police” movement – in which liberal groups have sought to divert public cash away from traditional police departments and into efforts such as mental health treatment and community development.

OREGON’S DEM SENATORS SILENT ON LEFT-WING COURTHOUSE RIOT IN PORTLAND

It also came as the mayor has faced criticism for months of violent protests in the city, including a clash Thursday night outside a federal courthouse. Wheeler has been a frequent target of criticism from former President Donald Trump and others, though the mayor managed to win reelection in November.

Last June, the city leaders voted to slash $16 million from the police budget, a move that included the elimination of a gun-violence reduction unit, according to The Associated Press.

But Portland in recent months has seen a surge in gun violence. Since 2021 began, the city has seen 20 homicides, mostly by gunfire. At the same time in March last year, the city had seen only one homicide, the AP reported.

Most of Wheeler’s $2 million request would go toward hiring five additional detectives and forming a uniformed patrol team with a focus on gun violence, KATU-TV of Portland reported.

PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS HEADQUARTERS TARGETED IN AROSN ATTACK, SUSPECTED BLM-ANTIFA GRAFFITI MESSAGES FOUND

On Thursday, Wheeler previewed his proposal ahead of Friday’s speech, during a news conference with police Chief Chuck Lovell and other city officials. Wheeler said the proposed patrol team would operate differently than the gun-violence reduction team that was disbanded last year.

“What’s going to be different this time, and Chief Lovell said it very clearly, they believe we need a prevention and intervention function, but he also made it clear that he would not stand that up unless the community supported it, unless there was community oversight, and unless there was the transparent collection and dissemination of data,” Wheeler said, according to KATU.

Restoring the Portland Police Bureau’s ability to deal with gun violence is a focus of a new funding proposal by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, right.

But other city officials weren’t tipping their hands on whether they would support Wheeler’s plan.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s office told KATU that she was reviewing the proposal but was looking forward “to learning more as well as hearing other community proposals and deliberating any corresponding financial requests during the budget process.”

Commissioner Mingus Mapps expressed partial support for the mayor’s plan.

“There are parts of this proposal that I fully support,” Mapps said in a statement to KATU. He mentioned the plans for the Office of Violence Prevention, increased investigative capacities within the city police force, and more community oversight, the KATU report said.

A group of community leaders have already expressed support for backing the city’s police, writing to the City Council on Thursday, Western Journal reported.

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“There is just too much blood on the streets,” Pastor Ed Williams of the Inter-Faith Peace & Action Collaborative told the news outlet. “We have to be determined, we have got to be fed up about [the violence] and to want to do sonething about it. I see this issue in front of us as an opportunity to come together.”

“There is just too much blood on the streets.”

— Pastor Ed Williams, Portland, Ore.

“Defund the police” efforts swept across the U.S. last year, prompted in part by allegations of excessive force by police officers, particularly against Blacks and other minorities. The issue gained steam following the deaths of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last May and Breonna Taylor in a police raid on her home in Louisville, Ky., exactly one year ago Saturday.

Over the past year, Portland has seen violent protests almost daily and nightly.

It has also seen numerous shooting deaths, include that of Patriot Prayer supporter Aaron “Jay” Danielson last August. That shooting was linked to suspect Michael Forest Reinoehl, an Antifa supporter who was killed by law enforcement officers several days later.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Entertainment

Britney Spears Invoked for Congressional Conservatorship Hearing Request

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Breaking News

Britney Spears‘ conservatorship drama is about to be front and center in front of our nationally elected officials — that is, if Reps. Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz get their way.

The congressmen from Ohio and Florida, respectively, sent a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler … requesting a hearing on the issue of conservatorship/guardianship — using Britney’s situation as exhibit A for why it MUST be dissected.

They say too many Americans are being taken advantage of in these court-devised constructs — often without any say in the matter — and argue that many then become trapped for life … with no effective way for recourse.

Then, they bring up Brit … “The most striking example is perhaps the case of multi-platinum performing artist Britney Spears,” explaining she’s been in a conservatorship since 2008 … alleging the motives of her father/co-conservator, Jamie Spears, are “questionable.”

The House members add, “In court appearances in August and November of 2020, Ms. Spears’ attorney represented to the court that Ms. Spears ‘strongly opposed’ having her father as a conservator, that she was afraid of her father, and that she would not again perform publicly so long as this arrangement persisted.” What they’re not saying … neither Britney nor her court-appointed lawyers have ever asked to end the conservatorship …ever.

Despite this — and the fact Jamie has apparently said he’d love nothing more than to see Britney not need this — the congressmen say his own attorney admitted in the Hulu doc, “I have not seen a conservatee who has successfully terminated a conservatorship.”

In light of that — and other examples they cite of elderly people being held against their will in nursing homes — Reps. Jordan and Gaetz are ready to talk about it officially.

Who knew … even the GOP is pro-#FreeBritney.

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Business

Labor board denies Amazon’s request to delay Alabama unionizing vote

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The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) denied Amazon’s motion to delay a union election at one of its Alabama warehouses slated for Monday.

Last month, the e-commerce giant had filed a motion with the U.S. labor board to delay the vote and give the board more time to reconsider its earlier decision to hold the election by mail during a nearly two-month time span to have a “fair” election, despite the ongoing threat of the coronavirus.

AMAZON PUSHES FOR IN-PERSON UNIONIZING VOTE FOR ‘VALID, FAIR AND SUCCESSFUL ELECTION’

Starting Monday, employees at the Bessemer facility will have until March 29 to mail in their ballots.

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AMZN AMAZON.COM INC. 3,352.15 +21.15 +0.63%

In November, employees at the Bessemer facility filed a petition with the NLRB saying they wanted to hold an election on forming a union to represent the 1,500 full- and part-time workers at the fulfillment center. The plan does not include drivers, seasonal employees, professional employees and others.

The employees are seeking to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

“The purpose of us coming together with our co-workers to form a union is to have better working conditions, better pay, and to be treated with respect and dignity on the job,” read a website created in support of forming a union at the Alabama facility.

Their push for forming a union received support from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who said their efforts would mark a turning point for “every worker in America.”

However, Amazon previously argued that in-person voting is the best way to “approach to a valid, fair and successful election.” The company also said it would make “it easy for associates to verify and cast their vote.”

Amazon spokesperson Owen Torres told FOX Business that the company’s objective was to get as many employees as possible to vote and “we’re disappointed by the decision by the NLRB not to provide the most fair and effective format to achieve maximum employee participation.”

Torres argued that the labor board “recognizes that the employee participation rate for its own elections conducted with mail ballots is 20-30% lower than the participation rate for in-person voting.”

Torres also said that the company had “proposed a safe on-site election process validated by COVID-19 experts that would have empowered our associates to vote on their way to, during and from their already scheduled shifts.”

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Still, the NLRB had deemed that mail-in ballots were the “safest and most appropriate method of conducting an election in view of the extraordinary circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” officials wrote in a notice.

Although the company said it respects their decision, Amazon said the warehouse has created thousands of full-time jobs in Bessemer since opening in March. The average pay is $15.30 per hour, including full health care, vision and dental insurance.

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“We respect our employees’ right to join or not join a labor union but we don’t believe this group represents the majority of our employees’ views,” Amazon spokeswoman Heather Knox said earlier this year.

The company will “continue to insist on measures for a fair election that allows for a majority of our employee voices to be heard,” Torres said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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