Author: rpnadmin

United Airlines’ CEO confirmed Monday that he approached rival American Airlines about a potential merger – his first public acknowledgment of his proposal – saying it would benefit travelers despite American’s refusal to engage in talks. “I was confident that this combination, which would have been about adding and not subtracting, creating a truly great airline that customers love, could get regulatory approval,” Scott Kirby wrote in a statement released Monday. “I was hoping to pitch that story to American, but they declined to engage and instead responded by publicly closing the door.” Kirby’s confirmation comes after weeks of public…

Prosecutors in Utah are seeking the extradition of a man from California on murder charges in connection with a deadly shooting in January at a church parking lot in Salt Lake City that left two people dead, according to court documents unsealed Monday. Law enforcement took 32-year-old John Vea Uasike Jr. into custody on April 14 in connection with six felony charges including two counts of murder and weapons violations, the Salt Lake County district attorney’s office said in a news release. It was unclear if Uasike has an attorney who could comment on his behalf. The shooting took place…

NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge has tossed the murder conviction of a man who spent 25 years in prison after a review of his case revealed new evidence that may have been withheld by prosecutors, including thousands of dollars in payments made to the mother of their key eyewitness. The man, Harry Ruiz, has maintained his innocence since his 1994 conviction for the fatal shooting of Emmanuel Felix, an alleged drug dealer in Harlem. Ruiz, now 58, was released on parole in 2019. “I feel like I can finally breathe again,” he said on Monday, leaving the courthouse flanked…

A federal appeals court blocked a lower court ruling that had found ICE went too far in suppressing riots in Portland, Oregon, saying the officers weren’t retaliating against protesters but rather trying to clear out an unruly crowd. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision Monday, said demonstrators were engaged in clearly illegal activity but state and local authorities refused to respond, due to their “sanctuary” policies.  So U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had to take matters into its own hands. The court said some of ICE’s conduct may have strayed over the line, but they…

WASHINGTON — Kid Rock and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth both flew in Army Apache attack helicopters at a base in Virginia on Monday, a defense official said, coming weeks after military pilots drew scrutiny for hovering near the entertainer’s Tennessee home. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said the flights supported a “community relations event” for a White House-led initiative, called Freedom 250, that is coordinating events for America’s 250th anniversary commemoration. “Robert ‘Kid Rock’ Ritchie participated in multiple troop touches with service members and filmed videos for Memorial Day, America’s 250th birthday, and for his Freedom 250 tour,” Parnell…

Please fasten your seatbelt, make sure your tray table is in an upright and locked position, and prepare for delivery. A passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta gave birth to a healthy 5 1/2 pound (2.5 kg) girl just before the Boeing 737 landed at Portland International Airport in Oregon on Friday night. Two paramedics who happened to be on the flight assisted, borrowing blankets from other passengers and using a shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord. Baby Brielle Renee Blair came in about two weeks ahead of schedule; the plane, about 20 minutes. Her mom,…

NEW YORK — A man convicted in the 2024 shooting death of a New York City police officer during a traffic stop will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a judge sentenced him Monday to 115 years to life in prison. During an emotional hearing in a Queens courtroom packed by uniformed police officers and Officer Jonathan Diller’s family, the judge said Guy Rivera “most certainly will” die in a prison cell. “Your sentence to me was determined the second you pulled that trigger,” Judge Michael Aloise told Rivera. “It took me five minutes to calculate the…

A pioneering Arizona initiative allowing non-lawyers to own law firms has rocked the legal profession, raising questions about whether the change is expanding low-cost services for locals or jeopardizing the profession by placing profits ahead of justice. Arizona has approved more than 150 applications by non-lawyers to start law firms under the Alternative Business Structure (ABS) model, a program ushered in by the Arizona Supreme Court in 2021 that breaks ranks with the long-honored tradition of lawyer-only ownership. Other states are reacting. The Washington State Bar Association has approved a pilot program on non-lawyer ownership, while California, Florida, Maryland and…

The average salary of a public school teacher rose from $72,000 to $74,500 in the 2024-25 academic year, the National Teachers Association reported Monday. However, the country’s largest teachers’ union warned that the 3.5% average increase from 2023-24 was only “nominal” due to rising living costs. Adjusted for inflation, the union projected that real earnings for K-12 teachers dropped 5% from a decade earlier. “Educators are the foundation of our public schools, yet too many are overworked, underpaid, and unable to keep up with the cost of living,” NEA President Becky Pringle said in a statement. The group cited a…

The mother of a Virginia woman who was allegedly stabbed to death by an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record wants Fairfax County’s top prosecutor out of office for saying he won’t pursue criminal cases against migrants because it could result in their deportation. Cheryl Minter, with the help of the Victim’s Rights Reform Council, submitted a federal civil rights complaint asking the Department of Justice to probe Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano over what the filing calls “preferential treatment for illegal immigrants over native-born citizens.” The complaint notes that the suspect in daughter Stephanie Minter’s slaying — Sierra Leone…