ansible
ansible's JournalFlorida police try to unlock phone with dead mans finger during funeral
LARGO, Fla. -- Florida authorities went to a funeral home and used a dead man's finger to try to unlock his cellphone as part of an investigation.
Thirty-year-old Linus Phillip was killed by a Largo police officer last month after, authorities say, he tried to drive away before an officer could search him.
At the funeral home, two detectives held the man's hands up to the phone's fingerprint sensor, but could not unlock it.
Phillip's fiancée, Victoria Armstrong, says she felt violated and disrespected.
Legal experts mostly agree that what the detectives did was legal, but they question whether it was appropriate.
Charles Rose, a professor at Stetson University College of Law, tells the Tampa Bay Times dead people can't assert their Fourth Amendment protections because you can't own property when you're dead. But those rights could apply to whoever inherits the property.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-use-dead-mans-finger-to-try-to-unlock-his-cellphone/
Fake Starbucks coupons circulate online promising free coffee for black customers
Fake Starbucks coupons have begun circulating on social media in the wake of protests over the arrests of two black men who had asked to use a Starbucks restroom.
The coupons, which feature images of Starbucks beverages, the brand's iconic color green and bar codes, appear to offer "people of color" or "African-American heritage" free drinks.
"This is completely false and in no way associated with Starbucks," a Starbucks spokeswoman told CNBC.
Business Insider was the first to report that the images were being shared on 4chan, a website that gained notoriety for spreading pro-Trump memes and messages during the 2016 presidential election.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/fake-starbucks-coupons-circulate-online-promising-free-coffee-for-black-customers.html
Trump's tax cut not for everyone: 1 million Californians will owe $12 billion more next year
President Donald Trump’s tax cuts will be anything but for about 1 million California taxpayers who will owe Uncle Sam more money a year from now. They’re the Californians who will lose a collective $12 billion because the new law caps a deduction they have been able to take for paying their state and local taxes, according to a new analysis by the Franchise Tax Board.
Very wealthy Californians earning more than $1 million a year will pay the lion’s share of that money, with 43,000 of them paying a combined $9 billion. But some middle-class Californians will pay more, too. About 751,000 households with incomes under $250,000 probably will owe more tax. All together, they’ll owe an extra $1.1 billion.
The FTB has been releasing reports on the new tax law in waves since December, explaining in detail how it differs from state regulations and analyzing how taxpayers might respond to the changes.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article209015539.html
California Bullet Train to be audited by US DOT
This is going to turn into a massive corruption case. Jesus Christ, what a huge waste of money with nothing to show. 
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/04/13/us/ap-ca-california-high-speed-rail.html
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's high-speed rail project is facing an audit from the U.S. Department of Transportation's as costs continue to climb. The inspector general's audit, announced Thursday, will examine the Federal Railroad Administration's oversight of nearly $3.5 billion in federal grant money awarded to the project.
It comes as the plan to bring travelers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours faces growing scrutiny. A business plan released in March shows the state does not have the roughly $30 billion needed to complete the first phase of the project between the Central Valley and San Francisco. The entire project, meanwhile, is expected to cost $77 billion. State auditors are also conducting a review.
The authority's new chief executive has pledged more transparency about the project's troubles.
"We will cooperate fully in this and any other audit of our funding or program," Brian Kelly said in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with our federal partners to deliver the nation's first truly high-speed system."
Cops: Accused incest couple, their infant dead in apparent multi-state murder-suicide
Source: CBS
NEW MILFORD, Conn. -- Police in three states are investigating the apparent murder-suicide deaths of a father and daughter accused of incest, their infant son, and the woman's adoptive father.
Police in Knightdale, N.C. say they responded to a home around 9 a.m. where Steven Pladl, 45, and his biological daughter Katie Pladl, 20, were living when they were arrested on incest charges out of Henrico County, Va. in January. There, they found 7-month-old Bennett Pladl dead in a suspected homicide. No one else was in the home.
About 20 minutes earlier, 600 miles north in New Milford, Conn., police responded to a report of a shooting and found a man and a woman dead in a pickup truck with New York plates, the victims of a double homicide. Police developed information on a suspect vehicle, and when New York state troopers found the minivan several miles away across the state line in Dover, the suspected gunman was found inside -- dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Knightdale Police Chief Lawrence Capps confirmed the victims killed in the pickup truck were Katie Pladl and her adoptive father 56-year-old Anthony Fusco, and that the man who killed himself in New York was Steven Pladl. Knightdale police confirmed to Crimesider that Steven Pladl is suspected in the death of his infant son in North Carolina.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-infant-death-at-n-c-home-of-accused-incest-couple-linked-to-ct-ny-shootings/
California proposal would limit when officers can open fire
Source: ABC
Several lawmakers and the family of a 22-year-old unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police proposed Tuesday that California become the first state to significantly restrict when officers can open fire. The legislation would change the standard from using "reasonable force" to "necessary force."
That means officers would be allowed to shoot only if "there were no other reasonable alternatives to the use of deadly force" to prevent imminent serious injury or death, said Lizzie Buchen, legislative advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is among the groups behind the measure.
"We need to ensure that our state policy governing the use of deadly force stresses the sanctity of human life and is only used when necessary," said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a San Diego Democrat who introduced the bill. "Deadly force can be used, but only when it is completely necessary." The goal is to encourage officers to try to defuse confrontations or use less deadly weapons, said Democratic Assemblyman Kevin McCarty of Sacramento, who is co-authoring the legislation.
"We should no longer be the target practice or victims of a shoot first, ask questions later police force," said Assemblyman Chris Holden, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/california-eyes-lethal-force-law-shootings-police-54201152
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