Midwest
Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry resigns after conviction for lying to FBI
NEWNow you can take heed to Fox Information articles!
Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska resigned from workplace Thursday night time after he was discovered responsible of creating false statements to the Division of Justice throughout an investigation into overseas cash given to his marketing campaign fund.
Fortenberry beforehand issued a quick, written assertion asserting his retirement within the face of authorized challenges.
“It has been my honor to serve with you in the US Home of Representatives,” Fortenberry wrote within the letter. “As a result of difficulties of my present circumstances, I can now not successfully serve.”
NEBRASKA CONGRESSMAN FOUND GUILTY OF LYING TO FBI ABOUT FOREIGN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION
“U.S. Consultant Jeff Fortenberry, who represents Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, was discovered responsible by a federal jury this night of concealing info and making false statements to federal authorities who have been investigating unlawful contributions made by a overseas nationwide to the congressman’s 2016 re-election marketing campaign,” the Division of Justice introduced in a launch final week.
Fortenberry’s false statements arose from his testimony given to federal authorities investigating monetary impropriety in his marketing campaign.
Dr. Elias Ayoub, who hosted Fortenberry in Los Angeles in 2016, confessed in a recorded 2018 name with the congressman that he distributed $30,000 to pals and family members who attended the fundraiser so they might write checks to Fortenberry’s marketing campaign. In the course of the name in 2018, Ayoub had been cooperating with the FBI.
Ayoub stated the cash most likely got here from overseas nationwide Gilbert Chagoury, who admitted in 2019 to funneling $180,000 in unlawful marketing campaign contributions to 4 campaigns and agreed to pay a $1.8 million high-quality.
In 2019, Fortenberry, unaware that the decision was being recorded, instructed the FBI that he didn’t obtain any overseas donations or so-called conduit contributions, the place the cash was distributed to straw donors.
“Fortenberry, 61, of Lincoln, Nebraska, who has served in Congress since 2005, was discovered responsible of 1 rely of scheming to falsify and conceal materials info and two counts of creating false statements to federal investigators,” the DOJ continued.
Every offense carries a most sentence of 5 years.
In an e-mail, Fortenberry thanked his constituents for “entrusting me with the good duty of governing our nation.”
“After I first ran for Congress, I stated that I might deal with our nationwide safety, financial safety, and household safety,” he wrote. “It’s my sincerest hope that I’ve made a contribution to the betterment of America, and the wellbeing of our nice state of Nebraska. As a result of difficulties of my present circumstances, I can now not serve you successfully.”
Fortenberry’s announcement adopted concerted stress from political leaders in Nebraska and Washington for him to step down. Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy on Friday urged Fortenberry to resign.
Fox Information’s Kyle Morris contributed to this piece.
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Detroit, MI
Japanese Breakfast announce 2025 tour with shows in Chicago, Detroit, and more
Japanese Breakfast’s 2025 tour begins shortly after the release of their fourth studio album, “For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women).” Get tickets to see them live at Michigan’s The Fillmore Detroit on Saturday, May 3.
Shop on SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, StubHub, and Ticketmaster when ticket sales go live this Friday.
Indie band Japanese Breakfast have announced a 2025 tour route beginning this April in Austin, Texas, right after appearing at this year’s Coachella. The trek comes in support of the band’s forthcoming album — “For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)” featuring the new single, “Orlando in Love” — expected to be released March 21. Their first outing since the 2021 through 2022 “Jubilee Tour,” this recently announced tour includes concerts at Salt Shed Chicago, The Fillmore Detroit, MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston, Brooklyn Paramount, the Santa Barbara Bowl, and more between April 23 and September 9.
Tickets to Japanese Breakfast’s “The Melancholy Tour” will be available to the general public this Friday, January 10 at 10 a.m. local time.
Tickets:
Detroit — SeatGeek | Vivid Seats | StubHub | Ticketmaster
All dates — SeatGeek | Vivid Seats | StubHub | Ticketmaster
Tour schedule:
Wed, Apr 23 — Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater; Austin, TX
Thu, Apr 24 — South Side Ballroom; Dallas, TX
Sat, Apr 26 — The Tabernacle; Atlanta, GA
Sun, Apr 27 — The Fillmore Charlotte; Charlotte, NC
Mon, Apr 28 — Ryman Auditorium; Nashville, TN
Fri, May 2 — Salt Shed – Indoor Shed; Chicago, IL
Sat, May 3 — The Fillmore Detroit; Detroit, MI
Mon, May 5 — Massey Hall – Allied Music Centre; Toronto, ON
Wed, May 7 — MGM Music Hall at Fenway; Boston, MA
Fri, May 9 — Brooklyn Paramount; Brooklyn, NY
Fri, May 16 — The Met Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA
Sat, Jun 21 — Henry Maier Festival Park – BMO Harris Pavilion; Milwaukee, WI
Wed, Aug 20 — Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU; San Diego, CA
Sat, Aug 23 — Santa Barbara Bowl; Santa Barbara, CA
Thu, Aug 28 — The Masonic; San Francisco, CA
Sat, Aug 30 — Hayden Homes Amphitheater; Bend, OR
Mon, Sep 1 — Orpheum Theatre; Vancouver, BC
Sat, Sep 6 — Mission Ballroom; Denver, CO
Tue, Sep 9 — Palace Theatre St. Paul; Saint Paul, MN
Milwaukee, WI
Clack about it: Qwertyfest MKE announces dates for 2025
Happy World Typing Day; the perfect day to announce Qwertyfest MKE details! Also, OnMilwaukee is a proud sponsor of Qwertyfest.The typewriter was invented in Milwaukee 150+ years ago, and Qwertyfest MKE returns for the third year to celebrate the keyboard that changed the world (and still exists on our phones and computers today!)
Qwertyfest is a three-day festival featuring music, art, history, food, drink, workshops, type-ins and more! The third annual event will take place Friday, Oct. 3 through Sunday, Oct. 5 at numerous locations throughout Milwaukee.
A full schedule of Qwertyfest MKE ’25 will be released later this year, but for now, you can count on:
- Opening night “Typewriter Ball” at Turner Hall
- Writers’ soiree at Newsroom Pub
- Typewriter brunch and bowling at Falcon Bowl
- Literary cemetery tours at Forest Home Cemetery (featuring the gravesite of typewriter inventor Christopher Latham Sholes)
- Live music, workshops, art-making, vending and more!
To stay in the loop, follow Qwertyfest on Instagram and Facebook.
Qwertyfest MKE is currently looking for participants, sponsors and more. Contact organizers Tea Krulos or Molly Snyder (hey, that’s me!) at qwertyfest@gmail.com.
Here are photos from Qwertyfest 2023:
Minneapolis, MN
As Minneapolis agrees to police reform, DOJ cites 5 example cities
In announcing a settlement with Minneapolis for police reform, U.S. Department of Justice officials cited five other cities that have seen success following similar court-ordered action: Seattle, Portland, Newark, Albuquerque and New Orleans.
“Cities that have worked collaboratively with the Justice Department have made important, tangible progress toward better, safer and lawful policing,” U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said Monday.
The Minneapolis consent decree comes nearly five years after the murder of George Floyd and almost two years since the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report finding excessive force and discrimination within the Minneapolis Police Department against Black and Indigenous people.
But it’s common for it to take years for federal court agreements like the one in Minneapolis to take effect. The federal consent decree process was first introduced in 1994.
It’s no coincidence the Minneapolis City Council approved the settlement with the DOJ two weeks before the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. During his first term, Trump called consent decrees a “war on police,” so his upcoming administration poses a threat to this sort of oversight. The consent decree will become legally binding once a federal judge signs off on it.
Clarke, who has 30 years of experience working on police reform, said it’s clear consent decrees are successful in achieving reform.
Here’s a look at those cities:
The Seattle Police Department
Seattle was placed under federal consent decree in 2012 after community members and organizers rallied for federal police oversight following the police murder of deaf Indigenous woodcarver John T. Williams in 2010.
A federal judge terminated most provisions of this consent decree in 2023 after determining the department had completed “significant policing reform.”
According to the DOJ, the department reduced its use of serious force by 60%, with force used in only one-quarter of one percent of all events to which officers respond. SPD also developed an advanced crisis intervention program in which civilian mental health professionals and non-police mobile crisis teams respond to behavioral health crisis incidents. Department officers are now also trained on how to “secure people’s rights” during police investigation stops.
“The court monitor found that officers complied with legal and policy requirements in almost all instances it assessed,” according to a DOJ news release.
The Portland Police Bureau
Portland was placed under a federal consent decree after the city entered a settlement in a 2012 federal lawsuit that accused the police department of using excessive force against people with mental illness. The lawsuit stemmed from a DOJ investigation that launched in 2011. The city and DOJ entered a settlement agreement in 2014.
The court terminated portions of this consent decree in 2023, concluding that the police bureau “sustained substantial compliance” for three years. This compliance included implemented provisions around “electronic control weapons” (such as use of tasers) and the creation of multiple additional oversight committees for behavioral health response, police training, communication, coordination and citizen review of the department.
The termination of parts of this consent decree required the city to select an independent monitor to oversee compliance with the settlement rather than the DOJ being responsible for this, according to local publication the Portland Mercury.
Before this partial termination, the DOJ reported in 2022 that the city was out of compliance with several parts of the agreement, including police response to the racial justice protests of 2020.
The Newark Police Department
Newark entered a consent decree in 2016 after a United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and DOJ 2014 report found “a pattern and practice of unconstitutional policing” by the Newark Police Department. The report found Newark’s police officers had no legal basis for 75% of their pedestrian stops from 2009 to 2012, which were conducted disproportionally against Black people. It was also found that the Newark police were detaining people for “milling,” “loitering” or “wandering.”
In accordance with the settlement reached in 2016, a federal court approved an independent police monitoring team led by former New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey.
Newark officers now conduct stops in compliance with constitutional standards, Clarke said at the Monday news conference in Minneapolis. The city also developed community-member-run safety systems like a community street team of non-police responders.
“These efforts have been successful at reducing the burden on law enforcement and reduced crime, which is down 40% since we entered the decree,” Clarke said.
The Albuquerque Police Department
The Albuquerque Police Department is an example of a department now considered to be nearly in full compliance after nine years of court oversight, clocking in at 99% compliance, according to the DOJ.
The department was placed under a consent decree in 2015 after a DOJ investigation in 2014, a year the department faced deep scrutiny over its use of force and the number of cases where police officers shot civilians.
The decree was lifted last year after officers were equipped with body cameras, increased crisis intervention training and a new policing reform office, new increased officer training was implemented and a new policing reform office was formed in the city.
The city remains in a two-year oversight period during which they must demonstrate their ability to sustain the court-mandated reforms outlined in the decree.
During the Monday news conference in Minneapolis, Clarke said nearly 5% of the call volume to the Albuquerque Police Department is now diverted to the Albuquerque Community Safety Department, which sends a team of civilian responders to assist people with behavioral health needs.
Additionally, according to the DOJ, officers now receive training on using tasers to “ensure that officers only use these weapons when lawful and necessary.” The department now has trained specialized officers to respond to behavioral health crises and created a new agency called Albuquerque Community Safety to send trained mental health professionals to 911 calls involving behavioral health issues.
The New Orleans Police Department
The DOJ entered a consent degree agreement with the New Orleans Police Department in 2013, two years after a Department of Justice investigation found evidence of racial bias and misconduct conducted by police.
The 2011 DOJ investigation found New Orleans police used deadly force without justification, repeatedly made unconstitutional arrests and engaged in racial profiling, and officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths were “investigated inadequately or not at all.”
Clarke said, in New Orleans, the police department went from a high of 22 “critical incidents” in 2012 to five “critical incidents” in 2023.
In 2024, there was a push to end the over decade-long consent decree in New Orleans. However, this move has faced pushback within the last year. Residents speaking against ending the consent decree have said in meetings they’ve seen and continued to experience racial disparities in use of force, cited poor handling of sex crimes and said community engagement remains lacking.
More about the Minneapolis consent decree
The Minneapolis City Council was in closed session for about seven hours on Monday before taking a unanimous vote in favor of the settlement with the U.S. Justice Department.
This consent decree has long been in the making: The DOJ launched an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department in 2021 following the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, and officials announced their findings in 2023.
This agreement makes Minneapolis the first city to enter an agreement like this at both the state and federal level. Chosen in the last year to oversee the state decree, Effective Law Enforcement for All will serve as the city’s third-party evaluator for both the state and federal agreements. This is the organization that will oversee police department implementation of agreed-upon policies.
Some of the reforms under the decree have already begun to be implemented. For example, MPD launched an Implementation Unit last year tasked with improving data collection and reaching court compliance.
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