National Roundup

Ohio
State AG moves to block another $102M in FirstEnergy fees

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's top lawyer asked a court on Thursday to block FirstEnergy Corp. from collecting special fees from customers that were set up under a now-tainted nuclear bailout bill to allow the company to maintain record-high profits even if electricity sales dip.

Republican Attorney General Dave Yost filed his motion in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, where a judge already has blocked fees  that House Bill 6 established for bailing out two nuclear power plants operated by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary, Energy Harbor.

The bill is at the center of a $60 million federal bribery probe that alleges then-House Speaker Larry Householder used the money to politically position for and succeed at passing the bailout bill. Householder and four others charged have pleaded not guilty.

Yost said customers also should not have to pay the $102 million that FirstEnergy is set to collect in 2021 through a "perverse for a decoupling" that not only unlinked how much the company makes from how much electricity it sells but guaranteed it maintain the level of profits at record-high 2018 levels.

"First we had to stop the collection of the fee created to line the pockets of Energy Harbor and now we are trying to stop the guaranteed profits for FirstEnergy and inappropriate rate increases to Ohioans," Yost said in a statement. "It's time for the court to shut the HB6 piggybank down."

A message seeking comment was left with FirstEnergy, which has argued the so-called rider that establishes the fees provides stability and certainty, something important to customers and markets.

Nebraska
Ex-Fremont police officer gets prison for child sex assault

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — A former Fremont police officer has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for sexually assaulting a child.

Austin Williams, 35, was was sentenced Wednesday in Dodge County District Court to 30 months in prison, the Fremont Tribune reported. Williams was convicted of third-degree sexual assault of a child last October following a six-day trial.

Authorities began investigating Williams in 2018 after an advocacy center notified the Nebraska State Patrol of a possible assault. Prosecutors said Williams began the abuse in 2016, when the child was 10 or 11, and continued until August 2018.

Williams was a five-year veteran of the Fremont force when he was fired in February 2019. Williams must also register as a sex offender for 25 years and undergo 18 months of supervision following his release from prison.

Nebraska
Man gets prison for moving body of victim

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — A Bellevue man has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in moving the body of a man found shot to death in a park last year.

Eric Palmquist, 22, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading no contest to concealing a body and tampering with physical evidence, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

Palmquist was one of five people arrested in connection with the death of 19-year-old Matthew Brenden. Brenden's body was found on Oct. 20, 2019, in Bellevue's Faulkland Park. He had died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Prosecutors say Palmquist was among those who moved Brenden's body from a home where he was shot to the park.

Last October, Armondo Becerra, 21, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading no contest to tampering with physical evidence. Alyssa Edmisten and Emily Groff, both 19, have pleaded no contest to false reporting in Brenden's death and are awaiting sentencing.

Police say Edmisten has said Brenden shot himself at Carpenter's home during a gathering, and the group decided to move his body to avoid talking with police because Carpenter's parents were out of town and alcohol was present at the gathering, according to officials.

Kansas
Wichita man sentenced to 225 years in prison for child abuse

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man who sexually abused three young children related to women he knew or dated has been ordered to serve nine consecutive life sentences.

Nathen Brazille, 61, was sentenced Tuesday on nine counts for abusing children as young as 6 or 7 between 2016 and 2018.

Under Kansas law, sex crimes against children younger than 14 carry a presumptive sentence of life with eligibility for parole after 25 years.

Because a judge ordered the nine sentences to be served consecutively, Brazille would have to serve 225 years in prison before being eligible for parole, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said.

Brazille was convicted in September 2019 of multiple counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, attempted aggravated criminal sodomy, rape and attempted rape.

Missouri
Police diversity chief requests transfer in racial slur spat

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — The head of a St. Louis County police diversity unit has been admonished for speaking to the media about a county dispatcher who used a racial slur over a police radio, and he plans to resign the post, a union leader said.

On Sunday, Lt. Keith Wildhaber told KSDK-TV that department leadership needed to take "immediate decisive action" in response to the slur.

"We cannot continue to deny there is systemic racism and discrimination in our department. It's time to dismantle it," Wildhaber told the television station. The dispatcher has been relieved of their duties while an investigation is conducted.

Wildhaber was called to a Human Resources meeting on Monday during which he was "verbally admonished" for his comments, Joe Patterson, executive director of the St. Louis County Police Association, said in an email Wednesday to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Chief Mary Barton ordered him to stop talking to the media.

Wildhaber, who was named to lead the Diversity and Inclusion Unit in 2019, immediately requested a transfer, Patterson said.

On Wednesday, the Ethical Society of Police, which represents minority officers, criticized the department's treatment of Wildhaber.

Last year, Wildhaber reached a $10 million settlement in a lawsuit that contended he was discriminated against because he is gay. Wildhaber, who is white, also threatened to resign as leader of the unit in July, saying he was a victim of racism.