Civil rights activists protest Act 3 near New Orleans City Hall
Organizers say the rally was aimed to inform and educate Louisiana residents about the harms of the proposed Act 3 legislation and encourage them to vote against it.
OPDA's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative and Special Victims Unit secure guilty verdicts
The proposed constitutional amendment would lead to more juveniles being tried as adults in Louisiana. In 2024, Louisiana's 'Raise the Age' law was reversed, meaning 17-year-olds arrested for any crime will be tried as an adult.
Organizers say Act 3 would lift limitations for lawmakers and allow minors as young as 14 to be charged as an adult for 'any crime,' instead of creating pathways to rehabilitate for the youth.
'If we want to add more penalties to our Constitution, for which young people can be charged for and tried for in adult courts, we're not giving them a greater start in life, but we are further penalizing them for simply going through life, trying to understand life, but not teaching them the steps, not providing them the resources for that as well,' said Christopher Johnson, executive director of the Mobilizing Millennials Organization.McNeese hires Southeastern's Ayla Guzzardo to be women's basketball head coach
Civil rights activists protest Act 3 near New Orleans City Hall
Kyle Larson eyes a triple-header sweep, after win at Homestead
Best Performance Cars for 2025
WATCH: Man caught on camera stealing packages with a child
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Chicago Tribune
39 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Charges dismissed against Kees Firearms owners
After more than two years in court, Will County prosecutors moved Monday to drop several criminal charges, first filed in 2023, against two New Lenox business owners, after a circuit court judge denied their request to reschedule the trial date. Jeffery Regnier, the owner of Kee Firearms and Training in New Lenox, and Greta Keranen, with Kee Construction, will not face charges of theft by deception, burglary, loan fraud, wire fraud or burglary fraud, unless the state decides to refile the charges. The Will County state's attorney's office did not respond Tuesday afternoon whether refiling is a possibility. Regnier and Keranen were first charged with several felonies for fraud and theft of COVID-19 pandemic relief funds in 2023. The state requested to continue the case, scheduled for a jury trial Monday, on another date due to the absence of several witnesses, including two special agents for the U.S. Secret Service and a former secret service agent now working with the IRS Southeastern District Analysis. The state said the agents were necessary to the case but were scheduled for field work the week of the trial. But Judge Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak said prosecutors had four months to ensure the witnesses presence, as the July court date was set in March, and denied the state's request. Previous judges in the case expressed frustration with prosecutor delays. The New Lenox business partners will still face a number of charges in Will County Circuit Court on Sept. 8, including money laundering and filing a fraudulent Illinois sales and use tax return. 'I'm relieved that they dropped the case at this point in time because of the time it's taken to go almost 30 months to prove that we're innocent,' Regnier said Monday. Regnier and Keranen won a case July 16 to recover seized property and securities under the Eighth Amendment's protection against excessive fines. The properties, including four vehicles and Fidelity Investment accounts valued at $5.5 million, were seized as a part of officials investigation of Regnier and Keranen for money laundering. Michael Ettinger, an attorney on the case, called the judgement 'historic' for how pretrial civil forfeiture is applied in the county. Previously, defendants had to wait 10 months to a year of trial proceedings before they could move to dismiss the forfeiture and get their property back, Ettinger said. 'They had no right to seize that property under the Constitution,' said Ettinger. 'Whatever alleged fraud, if it was $200,000, they could seize that amount of money, but you can't take the rest of their assets just because it's in the same account.' The business owners also filed a federal lawsuit in January 2025, claiming Will County authorities and the U.S. Secret Service targeted them and others with 'frivolous' civil forfeiture cases. Defendants in the lawsuit are the Will County sheriff's office, a U.S. Secret Service agent and unknown members of the Will County sheriff's office and U.S. Secret Service. The agent filed a request Monday to dismiss several motions. The lawsuit alleges the Will County state's attorney's office worked in conjunction with the secret service and the Will County sheriff's office to bring 'knowingly frivolous civil forfeiture claims targeting citizens of Will County to line the pockets of the Will County State's attorney and other Illinois government agencies.' Under Illinois law, 65% of forfeiture proceeds go to the arresting agency, which in this case is either Will County sheriff or U.S. Secret Service, 12.5% goes to the state's attorney, 12.5% to the state appellate prosecutor and 10% to Illinois State Police. The lawsuit claims those authorities, working together, created a 'de facto policy to overzealously pursue forfeiture opportunities' regardless of their legality 'in violation of the constitutional rights of the individuals whose assets they seek to forfeit.' The federal lawsuit also alleged the ongoing and widespread constitutional violations in civil forfeiture cases in Will County and across Illinois suggest a possible 'widespread conspiracy, understanding or policy' that leads to the overzealous and unconstitutional prosecution of forfeiture cases.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Former MSNBC Host's Reaction To Right-Winger Calling Self A 'Fascist' Goes Viral
Political commentator and journalist Mehdi Hasan's baffled reaction to a far-right influencer proudly admitting he is a fascist has left the internet in shock, and the YouTube channel that hosted the debate between the two is facing pushback for platforming fascism. In a Sunday episode of Jubilee's 'Surrounded' titled '1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives,' the former MSNBC host was shocked to find out his opponents included those he described as 'actual outright open fascists.' Journalist Mehdi Hasan said he was disappointed after a debate with far-right conservatives he called "openly fascist" aired on Jubilee. Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images 'I am disappointed that I had to sit across from people who believe in white genocide, who believe I'm not a citizen,' Hasan said, reflecting on the debate at the end of the episode. 'Multiple people here said I should be deported. One of them was even the child of immigrants, which I found bizarre.' One person in particular left Hasan's jaw on the floor. The topic that Hasan had put up for debate was whether 'Donald Trump is defying the Constitution.' That conversation begins at 21:40. 'I don't really care, to be quite frankly,' said one guest, who went by the name of Connor. 'Quite frankly, there are a lot of legal processes that are enabling criminals and bad people to fully enact their will in this country in the name of the Constitution,' Connor continued. 'So quite frankly, if Trump is anti-Constitution, good, and I think he should go further.' 'This is wonderfully revealing of the modern conservative mindset,' Hasan said. Connor went on to quote Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt, and when Hasan asked how Connor felt about the Nazis, he replied, 'Well, they persecuted the church a little bit. I'm not a fan of that.' When asked specifically about Jews, Connor said, 'I certainly don't support anyone's human dignity being assaulted.' At that point, Hasan interjected that Connor was 'a little bit more than a far-right Republican.' 'Hey, what can I say?' Connor said. 'I think you can say, 'I'm a fascist,'' Hasan replied. 'Yeah, I am,' Connor said, laughing. Hasan looked concerned and baffled as the group cheered and clapped for Connor. Hasan eventually ended the exchange, stating, 'I don't debate fascists.' The self-identified fascist later claimed he lost his job because of his comments on the show, and ranted about cancel culture while in an appearance on RiftTV. He also set up a fundraiser for himself, which was reviewed by HuffPost and had reached over $25,000 at the time of writing. 'Unfortunately, voicing fully legal traditional right wing political views results in real consequences,' Connor wrote on a page for the fundraiser, which did not say what his job had been. 'This is cancel culture and political discrimination on full display.' Many online have condemned Jubilee for platforming him and other far-right conservatives in the first place. Another person on the episode told Hasan to 'get the hell out' and 'I don't want you here' after the journalist said he was an immigrant, in an intense interaction that starts at 53:46. In his reflection at the episode's end, Hasan called it 'kind of disturbing to see that they think what I thought they think and they were happy to say it out loud.' He told followers on X, formerly Twitter, that this was 'not how the debate was sold' to him by producers. Related...


Axios
3 hours ago
- Axios
North Carolina sues over withheld education funding
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said Monday he is suing the U.S. Department of Education for withholding more than $165 million for K-12 funding in the state. Jackson is joining attorneys general in more than a dozen states who are suing the Trump administration's decision to withhold more than $6 billion in education funding nationwide. Why it matters: At a press conference, Jackson said the withheld funds will affect mental health services, after-school programs and English-learning programs across the state, and potentially cut 1,000 jobs. These cuts affect rural school districts more on a per-pupil basis, Jackson added, specifically noting Graham, Ashe and Polk counties. Zoom in: The withheld funds include money for programs for migrant children, English-language proficiency and some after-school programs, according to the Learning Policy Institute, which conducts research to improve education policies. What they're saying: The Department of Education previously referred Axios' questions on the withheld funds to the Office of Management and Budget. An OMB spokesperson said no decisions have been made amid "an ongoing programmatic review of education funding." The spokesperson pointed to initial findings that they said "show that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda." Jackson said in a statement that the Education Department was not following the Constitution. "It's unlawful and unconstitutional for the Department of Education to withhold money that Congress has appropriated," he said. "I'm going to court to get this money for our students, our schools, and North Carolina families."