
Mike Mitchell scores 22 and Minnesota defeats Morgan State 90-68However, some state workers failed to return to their jobs and a United Nations official said the country’s public sector had come “to a complete and abrupt halt”. Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighbouring countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Mr Assad’s brutal rule. There were already signs of the difficulties ahead for the rebel alliance now in control of much of the country. The alliance is led by a former senior al-Qaida militant, who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and has promised representative government and religious tolerance. The rebel command said they would not tell women how to dress. “It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty,” the command said in a statement on social media. Nearly two days after rebels entered the capital, some key government services had shut down after state workers ignored calls to go back to their jobs, the UN official said, causing issues at airports and borders and slowing the flow of humanitarian aid. Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also met with Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali for the first time. Mr Jalali stayed in Syria when Mr Assad fled and has sought to project normalcy since. “We are working so that the transitional period is quick and smooth,” he told Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the security situation had already improved from the day before. At the court of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister in the outgoing government, said that judges were ready to resume work quickly. “We want to give everyone their rights,” Mr Haddad said outside the courthouse. “We want to build a new Syria and to keep the work, but with new methods.” But a UN official said some government services had been paralysed as worried state employees stayed at home. The public sector “has just come to a complete and abrupt halt,” said Adam Abdelmoula, UN resident and humanitarian co-ordinator for Syria, noting, for example, that an aid flight carrying urgently needed medical supplies had been put on hold after aviation employees abandoned their jobs. “This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonised by the public media are now in charge in the nation’s capital,” Mr Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. “I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again.” In a video shared on a rebel messaging channel, Mr al-Sharaa said: “You will see there are skills” among the rebels. The Kremlin said Russia has granted political asylum to Mr Assad, a decision made by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Mr Assad’s specific whereabouts and said Mr Putin did not plan to meet with him. Damascus was quiet Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people were still celebrating. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores. There was little sign of any security presence though in some areas, small groups of armed men were stationed in the streets.
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Syrian government services come to ‘complete halt’ as workers stay at homePerhaps the state's solons have skimmed enough headlines in recent years to finally stick a thumb or two on the lopsided scales of justice. One story reported on the then-editor of the Albuquerque Journal serving 10 days in jail after pleading guilty to shoplifting $104 in merchandise from a Walmart. An earlier piece told of then-state Sen. Richard Martinez receiving a five-day jail sentence after seriously injuring two people in a car crash. State District Judge Francis Mathew convicted Martinez of reckless driving and aggravated drunken driving. Martinez, D-Ojo Caliente, could have been jailed for as long as 180 days for his two crimes, but judges in New Mexico typically dole out light punishment to first-offense drunken drivers. My purpose in highlighting these cases is not to seek sympathy for a well-paid thief. The point is one prominent, white-collar New Mexican served less time for inflicting terror and pain on innocents than another who stole some groceries. I wrote a column earlier this fall calling for a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 days in jail for any first offender convicted of drunken driving. Many readers contacted me about that column. As the holidays approach and state legislators prepare for their 60-day session starting in January, they might be interested in a few of their comments. "This state continues to do what it has always done, and at this point it doesn't seem to care that the results are the same as they always have been. Sadly, that means increased death and injury," wrote Linda Atkinson, executive director of the DWI Resource Center and New Mexico Victims' Rights Project. "The most recent data (2022) from the New Mexico Department of Transportation indicates that DWI arrests were down almost 21% from 2018 to 2022. Convictions were also down by 24% over the same time. DWI crashes have gone from 113 fatalities in 2018 to 152 in 2022. "We could increase DWI penalties, similar to Scandinavian countries. Research tells us this would reduce death and injury caused by impaired driving," Atkinson stated. Another reader, Sheila McCarthy Grainger wrote me about her family's tragedy, fresh in her mind after 40 years. "In 1984, my husband was hit head-on by a drunk playing 'chicken' in Taos Canyon. My husband was airlifted to UNMH where he lay in a coma for 10 days, finally succumbing to his injuries. He died the day after Christmas. Our young son was left fatherless, and I was left without my best friend." Richie Grainger's death led to one of the more publicized and controversial DWI cases in New Mexico's history. The Taos News led the way in describing peculiar conduct by state police officers who'd investigated the defendant, Veto Vialpando. "Taosenos wondered why Vialpando was allowed to drive away from the scene of the tragedy after he failed to produce insurance and was charged with DWI," the weekly reported. Vialpando's family hired New Mexico's most famous defense attorney, Leon Taylor, to represent him. An early ruling boded well for Vialpando. A judge decided the jury in Raton could not be told 21-year-old Vialpando had refused to take a blood-alcohol test. Taylor offered a simple defense. He said Vialpando had been blinded by the sun. Richie Grainger, Taylor argued, died as the result of a terrible accident rather than a senseless crime. Jurors acquitted Vialpando. He died 30 years after his trial. Sheila Grainger for a time tried to repair what she believed was a broken system. "My friends who worked at the Legislature would invite me to go during the sessions to talk to various legislators about improving laws concerning drunken drivers. It was like I was talking to a blank wall. "One legislator in the House of Representatives even went so far as to tell me he had three rehab places [in his district] which brought in money. He wasn’t about to change any laws that would alter that moneymaking endeavor." She wearied of lawmakers. "It used to irk me seeing them in The Bull Ring and other eating and drinking places, laughing and slapping each other on the back for jobs well done. "My son and I endured. He has done well in his life, having two college degrees and a lovely little family. Me, I’m old now, never remarried, and I still miss Richie every day. I tell you this because your column just pointed out the fact that after 40 years nothing has improved." Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and legislators in her own party battled in springtime over a package of crime bills she coveted. Trouble was, Lujan Grisham's proposals were redundant or deemed unwise. Lawmakers rejected all of them. The Scandinavian model of stiff sentences for drunken drivers wasn't part of the package. The new year represents a fresh opportunity to change that. All the politicians read about the editor who spent 10 days in a cell for shoplifting. For all their interest in crime and punishment, they didn't find any account of a first-time drunken driver doing that much time. Call it New Mexico's legal system. Justice shouldn't be part of the description. Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.2024 was the year robotaxis proved they are here to stayMultisectoral collaboration aids isolated Kapampangan community
St. Helens High School Principal Kathryn “Katy” M. Wagner was arraigned in Columbia County Circuit Court Wednesday afternoon on a six-count indictment , the latest development to rock the 2,800-student school district. Wagner, 45, turned herself in to Columbia County Jail at 6:58 a.m. Wednesday and was arrested on a warrant. By the afternoon, she was released from jail after posting 10% of her $55,000 bail. Accompanied by her lawyer Jeffrey M. Jones, she arrived at the courthouse to a flank of parents, former high school staff and the two main St. Helens police detectives handling the case who lined a second-floor hallway, waiting to enter the courtroom. One woman wore a shirt that read, “Your Silence is Sus.” Jones entered not guilty pleas on Wagner’s behalf to two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, felonies, and two counts each of first-degree official misconduct and second-degree official misconduct, misdemeanors. The indictment accuses Wagner of failing to report alleged sexual abuse involving two teachers as required by law and failing to care for students under her supervision from approximately November 2018 to Nov. 26, 2024. Circuit Judge Denise E. Keppinger ordered Wagner not to have any contact with the two high school teachers arrested earlier this month on sexual abuse charges, the alleged victims in those cases and not to hold any education-related employment or any other job that requires mandatory reporting of suspected abuse. Jones had objected to the last condition, which Columbia County Deputy District Attorney Erin Leigh Brady had recommended. “She is presumed innocent,” Jones told the judge. He said that his client has “spent an awful lot of her life becoming an educator,” and argued that the final condition barring her from any education-related job was not necessary. “Everyone knows Ms. Wagner and what she’s charged with,” Jones added. But the judge said she found the restriction reasonable, given the charges Wagner is facing, and asked Wagner if she agreed to abide by them. “I do,” Wagner said. The principal’s arrest is the latest fallout from multiple criminal and administrative investigations into alleged sexual misconduct complaints against staff and administrators’ alleged mishandling of them. It also follows just months after the district settled a civil rights suit for a record $3.5 million that was filed by a former student who alleged the district was aware for more than a decade of former track coach Kyle Wroblewski’s predatory behavior but did nothing before he was arrested for sexually abusing her. Wagner’s indictment was issued exactly two weeks after two high school teachers -one current and one retired - were arrested on sexual abuse allegations. Eric Stearns, 46, accused of abusing six students between 2015 and 2024, has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of third-degree sex abuse. Mark Collins, 64, of Beaverton, a retired St. Helens High School math teacher has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of attempted second-degree sexual abuse. He’s accused of abusing three students starting in 2017, court records show. Both Stearns and Collins were arrested on Nov. 12, setting off a firestorm that led to a student walkout at the high school and nearby protest. Students and parents have said that school administrators failed to act immediately to stem the misconduct after receiving complaints about inappropriate teachers’ physical contact with students. St. Helens Acting Police Chief Jospeh Hogue told The Oregonian/OregonLive earlier this month that material obtained by police from a subpoena issued to the district verified that students at the time had reported alleged inappropriate physical contact involving Stearns and Collins to the school administration but that those reports were never shared with police or state officials as required by law. About 35 people attended the brief hearing in court Wednesday, including TikTok creator Doug Weaver, who was identified as one of the people who prompted the investigations. Students had messaged him directly and commented on a video he had posted in September about misconduct he said he experienced while at the high school years ago. He then sent an email to SafeOregon, a state school safety tip line, in September sharing comments the St. Helens High students had made about current and former teachers. Stearns was among those identified in the comments and Collins was named by students during the investigation, according to acting police chief. Weaver, a St. Helens High School alumnus in town for the Thanksgiving holiday, said he wanted to attend the principal’s arraignment in court, partly because he said she had “tried to discredit” him after his video was posted in the fall. Wagner had sent a message to the student body, staff and parents, responding to one of Weaver’s TikTok videos, writing on Sept. 14: “Retraumatization and revisiting past issues that have been addressed make it difficult to move forward in a positive direction as a school community...Sharing videos on social media about events that took place over a decade ago without any context simply invokes fear, spreads rumors and harms our current students and staff, who are doing all the right things.” Other former St. Helens High School teachers and parents also attended Wagner’s arraignment. Shane Kennedy, executive director of an advocacy group called SAFE of Columbia that supports domestic violence and sexual abuse victims and a parent of a St. Helens high school sophomore, said she felt compelled to watch the arraignment. She said her daughter has had classes with the two teachers arrested, and has attended out-of-state choir trips led by Stearns. She was not a victim but is angered that students’ complaints were not addressed sooner, Kennedy said. “I feel the need to do whatever I can here to support the students,” said Terri MacEllven, a former St. Helens High special education teacher who had reported to Wagner. “There’s been a history here for far too long. It shouldn’t have come to this.” Wagner is due back in court on Jan. 22. Police are also investigating alleged criminal conduct by a St. Helens Middle School teacher, who has not been charged. The Oregon Department of Human Services announced last week it was investigating both Wagner and Superintendent Scot Stockwell for alleged neglect due to failure to report child safety concerns. Stockwell and Wagner remain on paid administrative leave. Acting Superintendent Steve Webb announced this week that he plans to appoint an acting St. Helens High School principal. An outside, independent investigation will start Monday and focus on the district’s mandatory reporting policies, reporting of suspected harassment allegations and other misconduct, staff ethics, training and assess the district’s culture, Webb said. -- Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com , follow her on X @maxoregonian , or on LinkedIn . Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com .
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