North Dakota
Appeals ruling protects pristine areas of the Badlands
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that dismisses a lawsuit brought by the state of North Dakota and several western counties that could have resulted in the construction of additional roads in parts of the Badlands.
The Badlands Conservation Alliance says the ruling protects some of the most pristine areas of the Badlands from traffic and potential oil development.
“I think it’s a really serious win for the Badlands, for the long-term integrity of those areas that are still roadless and considered suitable for wilderness,” said Connie Triplett, president of the alliance.
A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found the state’s and counties’ claim is barred by a 12-year statute of limitations that was passed years ago.
Their ruling upholds an earlier decision by U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland, who dismissed the matter in 2017, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
The case began a decade ago when Billings, Golden Valley, McKenzie and Slope counties sued the federal government. The state followed with its own lawsuit and the court consolidated the two cases.
The plaintiffs sought to claim rights to section lines used in land surveying and mapping in the Little Missouri National Grassland and other areas that make up the Dakota Prairie Grasslands.
Triplett said that if the ruling went the other way and more of the Badlands were opened to roads, those areas could lose their designation as “suitable for wilderness” and, one day, see oil development. Much of the Little Missouri National Grassland has already been leased by oil companies, she said.
“There’s no particular reason every last acre has to be drilled,” Triplett said.
Massachusetts
Parent in college bribery scandal gets 9 weeks in prison
BOSTON (AP) — A parent caught up in Operation Varsity Blues — the nationwide college admissions bribery scandal — was sentenced Wednesday to nine weeks in prison, one year of supervised release and 100 hours of community service.
I-Hsin “Joey” Chen, 67, of Newport Beach, California, was also ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton to pay a $75,000 fine. In December 2021, Chen pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and honest services wire fraud.
Prosecutors said Chen conspired with William “Rick” Singer and others to help him cheat on his son’s ACT exam.
After hiring Singer as a college counselor, Chen got approval for his son to receive multiple day testing accommodations through his son’s high school counselor, investigators said. That allowed his son’s testing location to be moved to a testing center in West Hollywood that Singer controlled through bribes to Igor Dvorskiy, a corrupt test administrator, prosecutors said.
Dvorskiy allowed Mark Riddell — described by prosecutors as a corrupt test “proctor” — to secretly correct Chen’s son’s ACT exam answers to obtain a fraudulently inflated score. In exchange, Chen paid Singer $75,000 disguised as a business consulting fee.
Riddell was sentenced in April to four months in prison and two years of supervised release. Riddell was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and forfeit $239,449. Singer and Dvorskiy previously pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Chen is the 35th parent to be sentenced in the college admissions case.
Georgia
Rep. Greene appeals ruling allowing eligibility challenge
ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is appealing a federal judge’s ruling allowing a challenge to her eligibility to run for reelection to proceed.
A group of voters last month filed the challenge with the secretary of state’s office alleging that Greene helped facilitate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that disrupted Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. They say that violates a part of the 14th Amendment and makes her ineligible to run for reelection.
Greene says the law that the voters are using to challenge her eligibility is unconstitutional, and she filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to prohibit state officials from enforcing it. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg on Monday ruled that the challenge can proceed. Greene on Tuesday filed an appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The provision of the 14th Amendment cited in the challenge says no one can serve in Congress “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.” Ratified shortly after the Civil War, it was meant in part to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy from returning to Congress.
Greene has denied aiding or engaging in an insurrection.
The challenge, which was filed on behalf of the voters by a group called Free Speech for People, is set for a hearing before an administrative law judge Friday. The administrative law judge must then present his findings to the secretary of state, who then must determine whether Greene is eligible to appear on the ballot.
Georgia’s primary election is set for May 24.
Oklahoma
Man gets 12 years in prison for running guns to Mexico
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Oklahoma man was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison Wednesday for conspiring to smuggle guns through Arkansas to Mexican drug cartels.
In a statement, federal prosecutors said Andrew Scott Pierson was sentenced in Little Rock, Arkansas, for his Nov. 9 guilty plea. The 46-year-old Jay, Oklahoma, man faced up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million at sentencing.
In 2017, an unidentified Arkansas man reported receiving firearm components to process that he recognized as counterfeit. Federal agents traced them to a Laredo, Texas, organization smuggling the parts to Pierson in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
Pierson turned himself over to federal agents at the Laredo port of entry in December 2018 and admitted to ordering and receiving firearm parts from the United States and manufacturing automatic weapons in Mexico for the Northeastern and Jalisco New Generation cartels. Law enforcement later confirmed that Pierson’s arrest impaired cartel firearm availability, prosecutors said.
Five co-defendants have previously pleaded guilty, and one co-defendant remains a fugitive in Mexico, according to prosecutors.
