Paradise News

Tag: Americas

  • Voting Machines Shut Down in Swing State County After Reports of ‘Votes Getting Flipped’

    Multiple voting machines in Northampton County in the swing state of Pennsylvania have been shut down due to reports of voting errors, including “votes getting flipped.”

    The election issue surfaced in the early hours of Tuesday, which impacted the contest for the Pennsylvania Superior Court between Judge Jack Panella and Judge Victor Stabile.

    The Northampton County Elections Office reports that the malfunction seems to manifest itself when a voter chooses between “Yes” and “No” in regard to a candidate vying for a seat on the Superior Court of Appeals.

    The selection for the opposing candidate was inaccurately recorded on both the paper ballot and the voting machine.

    The error appears to have been confined to the re-election of Superior Court judges and solely manifested itself during the tallying of ballots for those who voted “Yes” for one candidate but “No” for another.

    “I’m livid at the election folks and ES&S,” said Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure.

    One Year from 2024 Election, Democrats are Busted in Four Different Voter Fraud Schemes

    The county has acknowledged the issue in a statement and provided reassurance to the public that efforts are being made to expedite the resolution of the malfunction.

    The election officials acknowledged the error in a press release:

    Northampton County Elections Office reports an issue with the recording of votes only for the races for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, affecting Judge Jack Panella and Judge Victor P. Stabile.

    It appears that when a voter selects a “Yes” or a “No” for one of the candidates for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the selection is recorded on the paper ballot and on the machine for the other candidate.

    The issue is limited to the retention of Superior Court Judges, and is only an issue when recording the votes for when a voter selected a “Yes” for one candidate and a “No” for another candidate.

    The Elections Division of the County of Northampton notified all poll workers by text message that they are to instruct voters before the voter enters the voting booth that there is an issue with the recording of their vote for the candidates for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, that the paper receipt will record their selection for retention to the Pennsylvania Superior Court one candidate to the other candidate.

    According to Lehigh Valley News, immediately following the opening of polling precincts, when errors with the voting machines were discovered, poll workers across the county discontinued using the machines and resorted to provisional ballots.

    As stated in the county’s news release, county officials dispatched text messages to all polling locations in the aftermath of the initial incidents in order to maintain communication and keep poll workers informed of the situation. The occurrence has resulted in significant disturbances to the voting procedure, prompting numerous officials and voters to voice their discontent and apprehensions.

    Merissa Hansen, an investigative journalist in Harris County, Texas, reported that there were voting machine issues at multiple locations, leading to shut downs.

    “I’m hearing from voters across District G about voting machines not working at various locations. Machines down at @FrostwoodElem. A few machines down at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. Voters being turned away b/c ballot scanners aren’t scanning at River Oaks Elementary and at River Oaks Park. If you’re having problems please report it here: defendmyballot.org.”



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  • Convicted rapist arrested on suspicion of killing woman whose body was found near a Home Depot

    SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (TCD) — State Police detectives arrested a 65-year-old man this week for allegedly killing a woman whose body was found on the side of the road in early September.

    On Sept. 5 at 4:11 p.m., South Portland Police Department officers were called to Clark’s Pond Parkway near a Home Depot after someone called to report finding a body on an embankment close to the sidewalk. Police arrived on scene and found a deceased female victim. South Portland Police contacted Maine State Police, who took over the investigation.

    Almost exactly two months later, on Nov. 4, Maine State Police announced investigators took Gary Mariner into custody on a murder charge in connection with 52-year-old Danielle Goodwin’s death. State Police did not reveal her cause of death.

    According to the Portland Press Herald, Mariner was convicted in 2017 of gross sexual assault while impersonating a police officer. A judge sentenced him to 12 years with all but four suspended. He reportedly took his deceased father’s police badge and used it to pressure a prostitute for free sex. He was also charged with assault in 1978. His father once served as chief of police for the Cape Elizabeth Police Department.

    The Maine sex offender registry shows Mariner will be registered as an offender for the rest of his life.

    Goodwin reportedly worked with people who had substance abuse addictions. She reportedly relapsed not long before her death.

    One of Goodwin’s friends told the Portland Press Herald she “had a way of making anybody feel special just by being in her presence.”

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  • Dentist convicted of hiring hit men to kill brother-in-law in 2014

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (TCD) — A jury convicted a 47-year-old man this week of conspiring to kill his brother-in-law, who was fatally shot in his driveway in 2014.

    Leon County court records show Charlie Adelson was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and solicitation to commit first-degree murder in connection with the death of Dan Markel. The Tallahassee Democrat reports the jury came to their decision about the verdict in about three hours.

    A grand jury indicted Adelson and his co-defendant, Katherine Magbanua, in April 2022 for working together to plot Markel’s death. The two men contracted to kill Markel, Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, were charged with homicide in 2016. Garcia was convicted of first-degree murder, while Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Rivera was sentenced to 19 years in prison and Garcia is serving life in the Florida Department of Corrections.

    Magbanua was also charged in 2016, but the jury could not reach a verdict at her first trial in 2019. She went back to court in 2022, and a jury convicted her of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and solicitation to commit first-degree murder. A judge sentenced her to life in prison without parole.

    According to Adelson’s probable cause affidavit, on July 18, 2014, at 11:02 a.m., Tallahassee Police responded to a shooting call at Markel’s home and found the law professor “slumped over the driver seat of his vehicle from an apparent gunshot wound to the head.” Medics transported him to a hospital, where he died hours later.

    Markel had reportedly been on the phone at the time of the shooting and said there was “someone he did not recognize” in his driveway. The person on the phone heard “what sounded like a loud grunt” as well as other concerning noises. After that, Markel stopped responding.

    A witness noticed a Toyota Prius at Markel’s home on the day of the murder.

    Magbanua was reportedly in a relationship with Adelson and had two children with Garcia. The affidavit says she contacted Garcia and Rivera to carry out the killing in exchange for compensation.

    Markel’s estranged wife and Charlie Adelson’s sister, Wendi Adelson, kept her maiden name, so the affidavit argues Charlie Adelson was the only common link between the three other suspects and Markel.

    Two years before the fatal shooting, Wendi Adelson and Markel went through a “bitter” divorce. She filed for divorce in September 2012, and the dissolution of their marriage was finalized in July 2013. Charlie Adelson and their parents were reportedly “determined to relocate Wendi and the two Markel children to South Florida,” where the rest of the family lived. Wendi Adelson made the move, but Markel went to court about it and the judge sided with Markel.

    The affidavit alleges Wendi Adelson’s parents attempted to sway Markel to let Wendi Adelson and their children move to the southern part of the state. The mother allegedly told Wendi Adelson to offer Markel $1 million in exchange for the move. The plan was that the parents, Wendi Adelson, and Charlie Adelson would split the cost three ways. The mother also allegedly told Wendi Adelson to pretend she would convert their children to Catholicism even though Markel and the family were “very strict in the Jewish faith.”

    According to the court document, Charlie Adelson “did not like Markel and did not get along with him.” He reportedly previously did research about hiring a hit man and learned it would cost him $15,000. Wendi Adelson told investigators her brother “joked about hiring a hit man to kill Markel in the past.”

    Charlie Adelson allegedly made “a lot of jokes” about it, including that he “looked into hiring a hit man, but it was cheaper to buy her a television as a divorce gift.”

    Wendi Adelson reportedly did not believe Charlie Adelson would actually follow through with it.

    Garcia and Rivera reportedly rented the Prius and drove up from the Miami area to Tallahassee. Phone records showed Magbanua contacted Garcia and Charlie Adelson in the early hours of July 18, 2014.

    According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Wendi Adelson’s mother, Donna Adelson, has not been charged in connection with the case.

    After the conviction, Markel’s mother, Shelly Markel, said, “This has been a really long and terrible ordeal for all of us. It’s taken a long toll on our lives. And there’s a real sense of relief today.”

    You can check out Crime Watch Daily’s coverage of the case in the video below.

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  • ‘Joe Biden is Not Obama’: CNN Analyst Wants President to Consider Stepping Aside

    Radical activist and one-time Obama “green jobs czar” Van Jones now thinks it’s time for Biden to consider hanging it up and calling it a career.

    While on CNN, where Jones is a political commentator, he made it clear that the beleaguered U.S. president should think about stepping aside for the good of the country.

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    “Well, right now, he’s swimming in oatmeal,” Jones said. “It’s tough, because [if] you look at the economy, the numbers are pointing in the right direction overall. He should be doing well with his base … if he were to retire right now, he’d be on Mount Rushmore in terms of what he’s been able to do–”

    “So should he?” host Phil Mattingly interjected.

    “I would argue that it’s time for him to look at that, looking at these numbers. People say, ‘Well, you know, Obama was down.’ Joe Biden is not Obama. Obama … still had the legs, he had the charisma. Biden is not there. So, look, you’re going to watch the debate tomorrow — the debate tomorrow is really for who is going to maybe be a leader in the Republican Party in four years, or who’s going to be the vice president,” Jones continued.

    “It’s important, these people are important. I am proud to see that there’s three people of color on that stage. That’s a historic moment we shouldn’t miss tomorrow night. But none of these guys are going to catch Donald Trump. So, you’re looking at Donald Trump versus Biden, and the Biden coalition is tired. It’s uninspired. And people are scared, and there’s no point pretending that’s not true or having people from the Biden camp yell at us for pointing out the truth. That’s the reality right now.”

    A New York Times/Siena College poll released on Sunday found former President Donald Trump leading Biden comfortably in five out of six key swing states. Biden held a slight edge within the margin of error over Trump in Wisconsin.

    It all spells trouble for the Democratic Party’s chances to keep the White House in 2024. The left’s usual mouthpieces are signaling that Biden’s time is up, and that it will be time for the party to move on to a surprise candidate ahead of the primary season.

    Who that surprise candidate would be is anybody’s guess.

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  • Ky. teen arrested for allegedly stabbing police officer in the face with a screwdriver

    MOUNT WASHINGTON, Ky. (TCD) — An 18-year-old was arrested Saturday for allegedly stabbing a police officer in the face with a screwdriver while he tried arresting her.

    According to the arrest citation cited by WHAS-TV, on Saturday, Nov. 4, at approximately 6 a.m., a Mount Washington Police officer went to Lindsey Duvall Park to unlock it to the public, but when he got there, he saw a woman on the other side of the gate.

    The policeman, Officer Bramer, reportedly wrote in the complaint that Kenzie Vanarsdale went up to his patrol car to provide her information, but then she fled. Bramer reportedly ran after her, identified himself as a cop, and ordered her to stop. WHAS reports Vanarsdale stopped running and put her hands in the air. Bramer started to handcuff her, but then she allegedly turned around and stabbed him above the left eye with a screwdriver.

    WAVE-TV reports Bramer wrote in the citation Vanarsdale allegedly tried to inflict “serious physical injury or possibly even death.”

    Bramer was reportedly treated at the hospital for his injury and has since been released.

    Bullitt County Jail records show Vanardsdale was booked on a charge of attempted murder of a police officer. According to WAVE, her bond was set at $500,000.

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  • Ringleader of custody dispute murder plot testifies; Delphi suspect’s trial delayed — TCD Sidebar

    In this episode of True Crime Daily The Sidebar Podcast: Gisela K joins host Joshua Ritter to break down the biggest cases making headlines across the nation. They discuss the alleged orchestrator of a murder-for-hire plot taking the stand in his own defense, the ongoing trial for a yoga teacher accused of murdering her boyfriend’s pro cyclist mistress, and further delays in the case of Delphi slayings suspect Richard Allen.

    Please note: We recorded this episode prior to a jury convicting Charles Adelson on all counts.

    YouTube: Ringleader of custody dispute murder plot testifies; Delphi suspect’s trial delayed — TCD Sidebar

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page for podcasts, exclusive videos, and more, and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.



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  • Trump on Trial: Judicial Excess, Partisan Bias

    Donald Trump took the stand Monday in New York State Attorney General Letitia James’s long running fraud litigation against the former president, a case filled with startling twists and turns.

    On September 26, one week before the civil action was set to open at trial, the judge in the case delivered a surprise ruling. Justice Arthur Engoron issued an order canceling Trump’s certification to do business in New York. The order stripped Trump of control of the iconic Trump Tower; of a family estate and golf club in Westchester County; and of 40 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, a lucrative commercial property. At times it seems as if the entire Trump family is on trial. Trump’s two adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric, were called to the stand by the prosecution last week; his daughter Ivanka is slated to testify this week.

    In her civil lawsuit, James alleged that Trump, Trump family members, and Trump Organization executives had committed fraud. Engoron agreed. Financial statements that Trump had submitted to banks and insurers to support real estate deals, wrote Engoron, “contain fraudulent valuations.” The Trump businesses would be placed in receivership “to manage the dissolution.”

    Legal experts attacked the Engoron ruling as harsh and unprecedented. “This is a version of business law capital punishment,” a Columbia Law School corporate law expert told the Washington Post. “I’m not aware of a precedent at this scale.”

    The non-jury trial opened October 2. The only issue left for trial is how big a penalty Trump will pay. James is looking for a fine upward of $250 million and Engoron himself will decide the penalty. But the deadlier blow already has been delivered with Engoron’s judicial strike against Trump businesses in New York.

    The optics of the case are hard to miss. Trump, the builder of business empires, is denuded of his empire. The frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination is brought low.

    Which is precisely what James has been promising for years. A New York City Democrat from the progressive wing of the party, James made Trump the centerpiece of her campaign to become state attorney general. She repeatedly denounced Trump as an “illegitimate president” and vowed to “shine a bright light into every corner of his real estate dealings.”

    Engoron seems largely cut from the same political cloth. A longtime Democrat, he “has ruled repeatedly against Trump in the three years he’s been presiding over James’ lawsuit,” notes the Associated Press. “He’s forced Trump to sit for a deposition, held him in contempt and fined him $110,000.” A graduate of Columbia University, Engoron once noted that he took part in “huge, sometimes boisterous, Vietnam War protests.” He has been a member of the ACLU for nearly thirty years. Trump and Engoron have sparred for weeks over a gag order imposed on the former president.

    Trump’s lawyers argue there was “no nefarious intent” in submitting the real estate valuations at the heart of the case. Trump lawyer Christopher Kise told the court that different financial estimates often simply reflect “change in a complex, sophisticated real estate corporation.”

    Banks and insurers doing business with the Trump Organization knew exactly what they were getting into, Kise said. “Banks and insurers know that the [financial] statements are estimates.” The banks were not victims, the defense argues, saying they made money from the deals.

    In a surprise twist shortly after the trial opened, a New York appeals court temporarily halted Engoron’s order to dissolve the Trump business empire while Trump appeals the ruling. The trial was allowed to continue.

    But Trump appears resigned to his fate in Engoron’s court. Outside the courtroom, he has denounced the case as “a scam” and “a sham” and “an attempt to hurt me in an election.” Inside the courtroom, the Trump team continues to hammer away at the prosecution’s case, apparently laying the groundwork for an appeal. On the stand Monday, Trump denounced the proceedings as “very unfair” in a day of legal fireworks.

    The Democrat-leanings of James and Engoron, and oversteps by Engoron, increase Trump’s odds for a successful appeal.  And then there is the larger question of the whole proceeding and its kangaroo court miasma: would this case ever have been brought against someone not named Trump?

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    Micah Morrison is chief investigative reporter for Judicial Watch. Tips: mmorrison@judicialwatch.org

    Investigative Bulletin is published by Judicial Watch. Reprints and media inquiries: jfarrell@judicialwatch.org

     

     

     

     

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  • Brooklyn landlord allegedly set apartment on fire while 6 children were home

    NEW YORK (TCD) — A landlord faces multiple charges, including attempted murder, for allegedly setting an apartment on fire because his tenants failed to pay rent.

    According to the New York City Fire Department, Rafiqul Islam was upset that his second-floor tenants “stopped paying rent and refused to move out.” He allegedly set an interior staircase ablaze at 212 Forbell St. while two adults and six children were home. The occupants safely escaped.

    Once they made it to the roof, the parents reportedly jumped, and neighbors and firefighters caught the children, WCBS-TV reports.

    The fire department alleges that Islam previously threatened to cut off the family’s gas and electric. He also reportedly “threatened to burn the house down if he wasn’t paid his rent.”

    Video footage from the day and time of the incident captured a masked and hooded man entering and exiting the apartment shortly before the first 911 call was made.

    Marshals dedicated four weeks to an exhaustive video canvassing effort to identify the suspect. During that investigation, they observed an image of Islam with his hood and mask down, according to the fire department.

    Islam was booked into the New York City Department of Corrections on Oct. 25 and faces eight counts of attempted murder, assault, and arson. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office will prosecute the case.

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  • Northern California man allegedly decapitated relative and took the head with him

    SANTA ROSA, Calif. (TCD) — A 24-year-old man was located and arrested two days after he allegedly decapitated a female relative and fled with the victim’s head.

    On Thursday, Nov. 2, at approximately 3:40 p.m., Santa Rosa Police Department officers were called to the 2500 block of Pomo Trail about a homicide and found the body of a headless female inside the home. Santa Rosa Police said in a news release the “victim’s head was not located at the residence.”

    The Santa Rosa Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit took over the investigation. After interviews, they alleged Luis Gustavo Aroyo-Lopez killed the victim and “took the victim’s head with him when he left the residence and he may still be in possession of it.”

    Police said Aroyo-Lopez had recently been released from a California state prison for assault with a deadly weapon and other weapons-related charges and was on post-release supervision.

    At the time, Santa Rosa Police said it was unclear where he might travel to and how he would get there. Officials warned he should be considered armed and dangerous.

    Aroyo-Lopez was apprehended in San Francisco. According to KRON-TV, San Francisco Police Department officers noticed him Saturday, Nov. 4, and arrested him.

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  • La. woman convicted of stabbing fiancé’s other girlfriend with box cutter while she was sleeping

    DONALDSONVILLE, La. (TCD) — A jury convicted a 44-year-old woman of breaking into a house and stabbing her fiancé’s other girlfriend after she reportedly confessed to her pastor.

    23rd Judicial District Attorney Ricky Babin announced Monday, Nov. 6, that Peggy Valentine was found guilty of attempted first-degree murder and home invasion.

    According to a news release from the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, on May 4, 2022, at around 4:17 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a home invasion on Elizabeth Street. Inside the residence, deputies located a female victim suffering from multiple stab wounds. She was transported to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and later released.

    Further investigation revealed Valentine broke into the home and stabbed the victim with a box cutter while she was sleeping, Babin said. The victim reportedly fought off Valentine, who fled the scene following the attack.

    Valentine confessed to the crime during an interview with detectives, and she was arrested and booked into the Ascension Parish Jail.

    The sheriff’s office said it was “not a random act.”

    According to WAFB-TV, the victim had a baby with Valentine’s fiancé. In court, Valentine’s attorney reportedly argued that she was invited inside the home and went there with baby clothes. Valentine’s attorney alleged there were no signs of forced entry, WAFB reports.

    Valentine reportedly called her pastor, who also works as a major for the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, and told him she went to the home in an attempt to catch her fiancé with the victim. Another deputy was in the room during that discussion, WAFB reports.

    Valentine’s attorney made an effort to have the conversation removed from evidence because of pastor privilege. However, the judge determined there was no expectation of privacy because Valentine wasn’t alone with her pastor, and the judge allowed the jury to hear the confession.

    Valentine is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27, 2024, and she faces decades in state prison.

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