NoneMINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Connecticut couple has been charged in Minnesota with being part of a shoplifting ring suspected of stealing around $1 million in goods across the country from the upscale athletic wear retailer Lululemon. Jadion Anthony Richards, 44, and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards, 45, both of Danbury, Connecticut, were charged this month with one felony count of organized retail theft. Both went free last week after posting bail bonds of $100,000 for him and $30,000 for her, court records show. They're due back in Ramsey County District Court in St. Paul on Dec. 16. According to the criminal complaints, a Lululemon investigator had been tracking the pair even before police first confronted them on Nov. 14 at a store in suburban Roseville. The investigator told police the couple were responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses across the country, the complaints said. They would steal items and make fraudulent returns, it said. Police found suitcases containing more than $50,000 worth of Lululemon clothing when they searched the couple's hotel room in Bloomington, the complaint said. According to the investigator, they were also suspected in thefts from Lululemon stores in Colorado, Utah, New York and Connecticut, the complaint said. Within Minnesota, they were also accused of thefts at stores in Minneapolis and the suburbs of Woodbury, Edina and Minnetonka. The investigator said the two were part of a group that would usually travel to a city and hit Lululemon stores there for two days, return to the East Coast to exchange the items without receipts for new items, take back the new items with the return receipts for credit card refunds, then head back out to commit more thefts, the complaint said. In at least some of the thefts, it said, Richards would enter the store first and buy one or two cheap items. He'd then return to the sales floor where, with help from Lawes-Richards, they would remove a security sensor from another item and put it on one of the items he had just purchased. Lawes-Richards and another woman would then conceal leggings under their clothing. They would then leave together. When the security sensors at the door went off, he would offer staff the bag with the items he had bought, while the women would keep walking out, fooling the staff into thinking it was his sensor that had set off the alarm, the complaint said. Richards' attorney declined comment. Lawes-Richards' public defender did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday. “This outcome continues to underscore our ongoing collaboration with law enforcement and our investments in advanced technology, team training and investigative capabilities to combat retail crime and hold offenders accountable,” Tristen Shields, Lululemon's vice president of asset protection, said in a statement. "We remain dedicated to continuing these efforts to address and prevent this industrywide issue.” The two are being prosecuted under a state law enacted last year that seeks to crack down on organized retail theft. One of its chief authors, Sen. Ron Latz, of St. Louis Park, said 34 states already had organized retail crime laws on their books. “I am glad to see it is working as intended to bring down criminal operations," Latz said in a statement. "This type of theft harms retailers in myriad ways, including lost economic activity, job loss, and threats to worker safety when crime goes unaddressed. It also harms consumers through rising costs and compromised products being resold online.” Two Minnesota women were also charged under the new law in August. They were accused of targeting a Lululemon store in Minneapolis. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.Monopar Announces First Patient Dosed with its Novel Therapeutic Radiopharmaceutical MNPR-101-Lu
Games to snuggle up with this holiday season
None
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden uses his final days in office to boost Ukraine’s defenses, Russia is playing a different game: spreading disinformation aimed at eroding U.S. support for Ukraine before Donald Trump’s return to the White House next month. Since the U.S. election on Nov. 5, the Kremlin has used state-run media and its networks of fake news sites and social media accounts to push divisive narratives about the war and America’s Republican president-elect. Analysts say the content, translated into English for American audiences, is intended to turn sentiment against Ukraine at a pivotal time, with the hope of reducing U.S. military assistance and ensuring a Russian victory. Recent examples include fake videos supposedly showing Ukrainian soldiers burning effigies of Trump or his supporters. One clip depicts soldiers saying Trump must not be allowed to take office and should “never be president again.” Multiple researchers have debunked the video, noting telltale signs of digital manipulation. A different video claims to show Ukrainian soldiers firing at a mannequin wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat and a Trump campaign shirt. That video was analyzed and determined to be fake by private analysts and Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, a government agency that tracks Kremlin propaganda. Other versions — just as fake — depict Ukrainian soldiers burning Trump’s books or calling him a coward. In the weeks after the election, the clips spread far beyond Ukraine and Russia, circulating among Trump supporters and believers in QAnon, the conspiracy theory that claims Trump is fighting a war against a Satanic cabal of powerful world leaders. It’s part of Russia’s continued push to divide Americans over the nearly 3-year war in Ukraine and paint Ukrainians as unreliable, dishonest allies, according to analysts who have tracked Russian disinformation and propaganda since the war began. By discouraging American support for Ukraine, the Kremlin is hoping to cut off the most vital source of military assistance that has kept Ukrainian hopes alive since Russia invaded in February 2022. Early in the war, Russian propagandists portrayed Ukrainian leaders as corrupt and self-serving. Russian state media claimed Ukraine’s leaders held Nazi sympathies — even though President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish — or were involved in clandestine bioweapons research that Moscow sought to tie to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each false claim was used to justify Russia’s invasion. “It’s planted by the Russians, this idea that ‘Ukraine is so corrupt it shouldn’t even be a state, and we are the right people to be running this place,’” said Rupert Smith, a retired British general and former NATO deputy supreme commander who now leads a Brussels-based consulting firm called Solvo Partners. “Now this is being used as an excuse for not supporting Ukraine.” The fake video claiming to show Ukrainian soldiers firing on the Trump mannequin spread on platforms such as X, Telegram and YouTube, getting an early boost from pro-Kremlin news sites before migrating to ones popular with Americans, according to an analysis by researchers at NewsGuard, a firm that tracks disinformation. Some versions of the video were created long before the election but were passed off as more recent. Within days, the video was receiving hundreds of thousands of views and had been translated into several languages besides Russian and English, including German, Chinese and Polish, NewsGuard found. According to U.S. intelligence, Russia sought to support Trump in the presidential election, believing he would reduce American backing for Ukraine and perhaps the NATO alliance. The incoming president has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, criticized U.S. military aid to Ukraine and NATO and promised to end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory now occupied by Russia. In response to questions about Russia’s role in spreading disinformation about Ukraine, a spokesperson for the Russian Embassy in Washington referred to past statements rejecting any involvement. In the time it has left, the Biden administration has urged Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and has stepped upweapons shipments while forgiving billions in loans provided to Kyiv. So far, the White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine and expects to send billions more before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, 2025. It’s easy to understand Russia’s motives in trying to cut off that supply of aid, said Joshua Tucker, a New York University professor and Russia expert who studies online disinformation. What’s harder to gauge, he said, is the effectiveness of Russian disinformation, especially on social media platforms already crowded with false, bizarre and debunked claims. One reason that Russia may persist with disinformation targeting Americans is the relative ease and affordability of such operations compared with diplomatic or military alternatives. Russia likely sees disinformation as part of a long-term effort to undermine America’s global leadership by dividing its people and undermining support for its institutions, Tucker said. Whether the topic is immigration, the government, the U.S. economy or the war in Ukraine, he said, the goal remains the same and goes beyond one election cycle or one candidate. “I think what they were really hoping for is a contested result with lots of people out in the streets, arguing the election wasn’t legitimate,” Tucker said. If they couldn’t have that, however, Russia’s disinformation agencies will keep pushing narratives that they believe will inflame Americans and boost their chances in Ukraine, Tucker said.FRONT ROYAL — At the first of two town hall-style meetings scheduled for this week, Samuels Public Library trustees and staff on Wednesday night gave their rebuttal to a county proposal to create a new library board. “We’re gathered here as a community of neighbors with the goal of putting an end to the rumors, misinformation and divisiveness,” Melody Hotek, president of the Samuels board of trustees, told the more than 100 people gathered in the library’s largest meeting room. A library volunteer for 12 years, Hotek said that the 2023 Library Debrief and Research report, compiled by Warren County Supervisors Richard Jamieson and Vicky Cook, has caused unnecessary acrimony and chaos in the community. The report recommends that the county create a new library board that would be charged with providing library services to the community in an effort to align public oversight with funding. Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the creation of the library board on Tuesday. “Supervisors Jamison and Cook’s library debrief and research report warrants response because it is inaccurate and despite being so large... their analysis demonstrates precisely why credentials alone don’t guarantee an informed and truthful report. The library takes issue with this report because it is acrimonious in nature, exhibits bias, is filled with unwarranted accusations, misinformation and distorted or omitted facts,” Hotek said, adding that library representatives were not invited to discuss options or provide expertise necessary for a balanced report. She questioned the reason for creating the report and the wisdom in spending supervisors’ time and county money on “rehashing issues that were already resolved in 2023.” In 2023, a group of about 90 individuals filed requests to remove about 140 books from the library’s collection. An analysis of those requests revealed that many petitioners wanted them removed for their LGBTQ content and themes. Supervisors withheld 75% of the library’s allocated budget last year while the library made policy changes in response to concerns raised about its collection at a public hearing in June and worked with the county to create a new operating agreement, which was finalized in October. Both the original report and the addendum take issue with the library’s handling of the events from 2023. Jamieson's addendum, which he presented Tuesday night, says that the “fundamental misalignment between public funding and public oversight became evident during the 2023 contract oversight process. When concerns surrounding a book recall effort arose, the board of supervisors had very limited tools for exercising its legitimate oversight responsibilities.” On Wednesday, Hotek told those at the library’s town hall meeting that Samuels “took the book challenges seriously and followed all established policies regarding requests for reconsideration.” She noted that the library created new library cards that added parental controls over the items their children could check out and added a New Adult section where books with more mature content were moved. “The supervisors acknowledged the changes publicly,” Hotek said, adding that Cook complimented the library and seemed pleased with the operating agreement that was signed by the county and the library in October. Hotek said she does not believe the proposal to create a new board is about representation or saving taxpayers’ money. “Changes to the current structure could potentially cost the taxpayers millions to start up a new library and involve losses of volunteers, donations and grants,” she said. While the county owns the Criser Road building that houses the library, Samuels — a nonprofit 501c3 entity — owns everything inside. The Jamieson addendum to the report notes that the proposed new library board would have authority to contract for library services with Samuels or another vendor or have the library become a county department, a scenario that he indicates is unlikely. Hotek sought to clarify what she said was inaccurate information in the Jamieson report. The report references several times the library spending $52,000 on a public relations firm. Social media posts accused the library of using taxpayer money to cover those costs. Hotek said that both the figure and the source of those funds is incorrect. She added that according to a Freedom of Information Act report shared with the library, Warren County has spent $16,364 in fees to the county attorney for legal matters regarding Samuels since January 2023. “Samuels has never spent taxpayer money on legal fees. We hired a lawyer to navigate the book challenges to protect the library and the county from lawsuits,” she said. “When supervisors voted to withhold funding... this move felt threatening and public outcry continued to grow. The lawyer advised we hire a public relations consultant for professional advice." The combined expenditure for those services was $52,000 with about half spent on legal fees and the other half on consulting, she said. Eileen Grady, the library’s director of operations, said that the money came from donations to the library specifically for those purposes and not from the library’s county-funded operating budget. In response to the report’s assessment that the library engaged in a combative media strategy, Hotek said, “All of the press releases and interviews with the press stated over and over again that we were striving to continue good relations with the board and would like to engage in negotiations. The library took no part in any public outcry. The citizens and groups acted independently and Samuels staff and board acted professionally at each stage of the controversy and took measures to protect the library and the county while still protecting citizens' freedoms. When September rolled around and our operating account balance was nearly depleted, we did inform the public that we might have to close the doors. This was a truthful fact that the public had a right to know.” Delving into the library’s history, Hotek said that since its inception in 1799, community involvement has been an important component in growing the library. “You and your ancestors have built this library from the ground up and we feel a tremendous responsibility to those who came before us to protect the legacy of this institution,” she said. Hotek said that the public-private partnership under which the library operates is beneficial for several reasons. In addition to using county funds for operating expenses, the library receives funds from the state of Virginia. State money, she noted, is tied to local money and would not be awarded to Samuels if the county does not contribute. Noting that the Jamieson-Cook report states the need for more public oversight, Hotek said Wednesday, “The advantage in our particular relationship is that we’re a nonprofit. It’s been talked about that a lot of other libraries are run by the government, but we have an advantage because when you’re a nonprofit there are things that can happen that don’t happen at a government level.” She pointed to the ability to hold fundraising events and campaigns, accept donations, eligibility for grants, lower costs that are available to nonprofit organizations, in addition to volunteer hours. “We have a very vibrant volunteer community and we treasure every single one that comes here. They lighten the load and they just add to the whole community feel here at the library and we couldn’t do all of the things we do without them. It would mean that we would need to hire additional staff and that would raise the cost to the taxpayers. Having a vibrant volunteer program reduces the cost of the taxpayers,” she said. “We own all the assets and our endowment fund is ours and they can’t touch that. Generally people don’t make donations to the county because they’re already paying taxes, which is why this public-private partnership has worked so well for many years.” The Jaimeson-Cook report states the importance of having taxpayer representatives involved in making decisions about library services. The proposed five-member board would be appointed by supervisors and have authority over all aspects of library operations. The Samuels trustees introduced themselves Wednesday night, saying that they are community representatives. The 15-member board is composed of parents of public, private, and homeschool students, military veterans, educators, accountants, lawyers, artists, media and telecommunications professionals and business owners. “We have no interest in raising anyone’s taxes. And every single person on this board donates money to the library and so we have a lot of reasons to want to make sure that this library is being run well,” said Celeste Brooks, a member of the board of trustees. Brooks outlined the selection process for adding new members, saying that there is an extensive application and interview process.
What did you Google in 2024? From the elections to Copa América, here's what search trends showText-recognition election audit verifies voting machine count in Georgia
Penn State kicks off Sunshine Slam by cruising past Fordham