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Friday, March 20, 2009

In the United States, a suspended Pennsylvania state trooper has been convicted of first-degree murder for killing his girlfriend’s estranged husband.

Kevin Foley, 43, faces a mandatory life sentence without parole for slashing to death John Yelenic, a Blairsville dentist who was in the final stages of divorcing his wife, Michele. Foley’s attorney said he plans to appeal the decision. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

Foley previously said he “loathed Dr. Yelenic” and asked another fellow trooper to help kill him. During his testimony, which lasted several hours, Foley claimed he was joking and had no true intention of carrying out the threat, but the Indiana County jury rejected that defense after about six hours of deliberations.

John Yelenic was found dead in his home on April 13, 2006, one day before he was planning on signing his divorce papers. Charges were brought against Foley in September 2007, more than 17 months after the murder.

Foley, who had been on suspension from the Pennsylvania State Police, was himself the final witness to take the stand Wednesday in the trial. Foley insisted he was innocent during his testimony, and even made jokes that the jury laughed at on a few occasions.

“I never made a threat with the intention of carrying it out,” Foley said under cross-examination by the prosecution.

When Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony Krastek pressed Foley for what was funny about asking another state trooper to help him kill Yelenic, Foley answered, “There isn’t any joke. It’s just my personality, my behavior (with co-workers).”

Prosecutors said Foley killed Yelenic after going to the dentist’s house to confront him over the terms of the divorce. Prosecutors claim Foley slashed Yelenic several times with a knife and pushed his head through a small window. Yelenic bled to death.

“John has his justice tonight,” Mary Ann Clark, a cousin of Yelenic, told MSNBC. “John deserved this; he was the most wonderful person in the world. He died the most horrible death and tonight, this is his night. The system worked.”

Foley had been living with Michele Yelenic for two years at the time of the homicide. Prosecutors previously said Foley and Michele helped perpetuate rumors that Dr. Yelenic molested their son. John and Michele Yelenic had been separated in 2002. Michele Yelenic stood to collect Dr. Yelenic’s estate and a US$1 million life insurance policy, and could lose about $2,500 a month in support if the divorce was finalized, a Pennsylvania grand jury previously determined.

Michele Yelenic, who has not appeared at the trial, may face legal action herself, media reports indicated. A sentencing hearing for Foley is scheduled for June 1.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

A federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in the state, violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

“Plaintiffs challenge Proposition 8 under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment,” wrote U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R Walker. “Each challenge is independently meritorious, as Proposition 8 both unconstitutionally burdens the exercise of the fundamental right to marry and creates an irrational classification on the basis of sexual orientation.”

Proposition 8, which was passed by California voters by referendum in November 2008, banned same-sex marriage in the state, which had been legal after a California supreme court ruling on May 15, 2008. The proposition’s passage did not reverse the marriages of thousands of same-sex couples who had gotten married in the state in the interval.

The case, Perry et al. v. Schwarzenegger et al., was heard by Chief Judge Walker. Anticipating a defeat, the pro-Proposition 8 coalition of “defendant-intervenors” filed this morning a “motion for stay pending appeal”, asking the court for its ruling to not take effect unless the decision is upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; both sides in the case say an appeal is inevitable.

Speaking for LGBT rights group Lambda Legal, Jennifer C. Pizer said, “In holding that Prop 8 cannot stand because it violates the equal protection and due process rights of California’s lesbian and gay couples, this decision adds to the growing consensus in courts and legislatures across the country that there are no good reasons for excluding same-sex couples from marriage.” Courtenay Semel, an actress and LGBT activist, told Wikinews “today marks another day in history! A big win for equal marriage. It’s about time that progress is being made towards equality for all.”

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

This Sunday, French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crossed the English Channel on a jet-powered freeflight flying device propelled by turbines and attached to his feet, called Flyboard Air. The 22-mile (35-km) journey took 22 minutes with one refueling about halfway to Dover, England. This success came on the second attempt by the inventor to cross the Channel. This device was invented three years ago and could reportedly serve military assault or logistics purposes.

The flight started at 8:17 a.m. local time (0617 UTC) in Sangatte and finished in St Margaret’s at Cliffe near Dover. Zapata flew across the water at over 100 mph (161 km/h). The inventor carried a backpack with kerosene (paraffin} and was escorted by three helicopters. Zapata also made one landing on a boat mid-channel to refill the kerosene fuel in his backpack, a process Zapata described as being tricky because the boat could not be kept still in the moving waters of the Channel.

“Once I managed to stick my heels into the boat, I knew I had done 90% of the work,” Zapata told French news channel BFM TV.

Strong winds over the Channel presented difficulty during the crossing, Zapata said, adding it required much endurance to manage to stay airborne. “It’s an isometric exercise for the thighs, so it burns — it’s quite hard.”

Upon arrival, Zapata told reporters, “We made a machine three years ago… and now we’ve crossed the Channel, it’s crazy.”

This was Zapata’s second attempt to cross the Channel on the Flyboard Air. On July 25, which was the 110th anniversary of the first plane flight across the Channel by pilot Louis Blériot, Zapata fell into the water after a low-speed collision with the resupply boat.

The inventor previously presented the device at the Bastille Day military parade earlier this year. In that instance, he had been holding a rifle in his hands to show the invention could be utilized for military purposes.

Franky Zapata also invented the original Flyboard, which is propelled by jets of water drawn up by a hose, unlike the Flyboard Air, which uses jets of air.

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Friday, May 26, 2006

In February of 2006, the Savarino Services Construction Corp. proposed the construction of a seven million dollar hotel on Elmwood and Forest Avenues in Buffalo, New York. In order for the hotel to be built, at least five properties containing businesses and residents would have to be destroyed. It was not certain whether the properties were owned by Savarino or by the landlord Hans Mobius. The hotel was designed by Karl Frizlen of the Frizlen Group, and is planned to be a franchise of the Wyndham Hotels group.

Elmwood Avenue is known by the community as a popular shopping center, and Nancy Pollina of Don Apparel (who is “utterly against” the construction) claims it’s the only reason why students from Buffalo State College leave campus. Additionally, Michael Faust of Mondo Video said he did not want to “get kicked out of here [his video store property].”

In 1995, a Walgreens was proposed to be built on the same land, but Walgreens later withdrew its request for a variance because of pressure from the community. More recently, Pano Georgiadis tried to get the rights to demolish the Atwater House next to his restaurant on Elmwood Avenue, but was denied a permit due to the property’s historical value. He has since been an opponent to the hotel construction.

In the process of debating the hotel, it was thought that a hotel had previously existed on the proposed site, however; research done at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society had shown that no hotel had previously existed on the site.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced today that the HSK Kormoran has been located approximately 112 nautical miles off Steep Point Western Australia. Sonar imagery of the Kormoran shows the site consists of two main pieces at a depth of 2560 metres. A debris field 4 nautical miles south of the wreck believed to be the site of the battle.

The Kormoran (HSK 8) was a German auxiliary cruiser of Kriegsmarine during World War II. On November 19, 1941, the Kormoran encountered the HMAS Sydney. The resulting battle saw the Sydney sunk with the loss of all 645 hands, the Kormoran was scuttled by the crew with the loss of 60, 320 survivors including three Chinese prisoners of war were rescued.

The loss of the Sydney has been the subject of much controversy, speculation and conspiracy theory. There have been many searches for the two vessels, this latest search is by the “Finding Sydney Foundation”.

“Finding the Kormoran is one big step forward,” said Prime Minister Rudd. “This is an important part in resolving a 65 year old puzzle.”

Warren Snowdon Minister for Defense Science and Personnel said that the Federal Republic of Germany has been advised of the discovery and that the site is to be protected.

Finding Sydney Foundation Chairman Ted Graham says the search area for the Sydney can now be narrowed down to 300 nautical miles. “This gives us a cornerstone if you like, to start the search for the Sydney from,” said Graham. “So if we hadn’t found Kormoron it would have made it much more difficult”

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