California
Judge orders Oakland airport to stop using ‘San Francisco’ in name amid federal lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge ordered the Port of Oakland to stop using San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport as its airport’s new name while a lawsuit by the city of San Francisco is ongoing.
San Francisco sued in April over what it says is a trademark violation and asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction, arguing that the airport’s new name is confusing people who want to fly to the San Francisco International Airport and violates copyright infringement.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson on Tuesday issued an order agreeing with the copyright violation argument, saying San Francisco spent millions to develop its brand. The judge also ordered Oakland’s airport to remove any signs with the new name.
Port of Oakland spokesperson Robert Bernardo said officials were reviewing the ruling and considering their options, including appealing it.
The Board of Commissioners for the Port of Oakland in May finalized the approval to change the Oakland International Airport’s name over the objections of San Francisco officials who said the name would cause confusion and affect SFO financially.
Oakland airport officials have said travelers unfamiliar with the region fly into San Francisco’s airport even if their destination is closer to the Oakland airport across the San Francisco Bay. Modifying the name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport will change that, they say. The airport’s three-letter code OAK would not change.
“We are standing up for Oakland and the East Bay,” Port Commission President Barbara Leslie said in a statement after the vote. “This name will make it clear that OAK is the closest major airport, for 4.1 million people, three national laboratories, the top public university in the country, and California’s Wine Country.
Vermont
Man found fit to stand trial over shooting of 3 Palestinian college students
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The man charged with shooting and wounding three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont last year has been declared fit to stand trial, according to the judge presiding over the case.
The findings from a psychological evaluation of 49-year-old Jason Eaton were discussed during the hearing Tuesday, and the judge also gave defense attorneys more time to collect depositions.
Authorities say Eaton shot and seriously wounded Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad in Burlington on the evening of Nov. 25, 2023, as they were walking in his neighborhood near the University of Vermont.
The students, all age 20 at the time, were conversing in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, police said. The students say the shooter approached them and fired without saying a word.
Threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the U.S. since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Eaton pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, and has been held without bail since he was arrested last year at his Burlington apartment. The three students’ families say the shooting should be treated as a hate crime, but prosecutors say they don’t have enough evidence to support that.
On Tuesday, Eaton’s attorney Peggy Jansch asked the court to push the deadline for depositions to June 2025, saying she wouldn’t be able to finish by the original Dec. 16 deadline.
Judge John Pacht set a May 31 deadline to conduct depositions. A status hearing was scheduled for early March.
Nevada
Trial set for ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor in newly-revived sex abuse case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse is set to stand trial early next year in Las Vegas on charges that he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls, a significant development in the sweeping criminal case after more than a year of stalled court proceedings while he challenged it.
His trial in Clark County District Court is currently scheduled to begin on Jan. 13, court records show. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to 21 felonies, including sexual assault, kidnapping and producing and possessing videos of child sexual abuse, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported.
Prosecutors are now able to move forward with their case because Chasing Horse was again indicted last month following a Nevada Supreme Court decision that his original indictment be dismissed. The high court’s order left open the possibility for the charges to be refiled, and prosecutors quickly took their case before another grand jury.
The high court said in its September order that prosecutors had abused the grand jury process when they provided a definition of grooming as evidence of Chasing Horse’s alleged crimes without any expert testimony. But the justices also made clear in their ruling that their decision was not weighing in on Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence, saying the allegations against him are serious.
Best known for portraying the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 movie “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
After starring in the Oscar-winning film, according to prosecutors, Chasing Horse began promoting himself as a self-proclaimed Lakota medicine man while traveling around North America to perform healing ceremonies.
Prosecutors said he used his authority to gain access to vulnerable women and girls for decades until his arrest in January near Las Vegas. He has been jailed ever since.
Chasing Horse’s arrest reverberated around Indian Country as law enforcement in the U.S. and Canada quickly followed up with more criminal charges. In Montana, authorities there said his arrest helped corroborate long-standing allegations against him on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders banished Chasing Horse from the reservation in 2015 amid allegations of human trafficking.
His latest indictment in Las Vegas includes new allegations that Chasing Horse filmed himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was younger than 14. Prosecutors have said the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.
Judge orders Oakland airport to stop using ‘San Francisco’ in name amid federal lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge ordered the Port of Oakland to stop using San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport as its airport’s new name while a lawsuit by the city of San Francisco is ongoing.
San Francisco sued in April over what it says is a trademark violation and asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction, arguing that the airport’s new name is confusing people who want to fly to the San Francisco International Airport and violates copyright infringement.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson on Tuesday issued an order agreeing with the copyright violation argument, saying San Francisco spent millions to develop its brand. The judge also ordered Oakland’s airport to remove any signs with the new name.
Port of Oakland spokesperson Robert Bernardo said officials were reviewing the ruling and considering their options, including appealing it.
The Board of Commissioners for the Port of Oakland in May finalized the approval to change the Oakland International Airport’s name over the objections of San Francisco officials who said the name would cause confusion and affect SFO financially.
Oakland airport officials have said travelers unfamiliar with the region fly into San Francisco’s airport even if their destination is closer to the Oakland airport across the San Francisco Bay. Modifying the name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport will change that, they say. The airport’s three-letter code OAK would not change.
“We are standing up for Oakland and the East Bay,” Port Commission President Barbara Leslie said in a statement after the vote. “This name will make it clear that OAK is the closest major airport, for 4.1 million people, three national laboratories, the top public university in the country, and California’s Wine Country.
Vermont
Man found fit to stand trial over shooting of 3 Palestinian college students
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The man charged with shooting and wounding three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont last year has been declared fit to stand trial, according to the judge presiding over the case.
The findings from a psychological evaluation of 49-year-old Jason Eaton were discussed during the hearing Tuesday, and the judge also gave defense attorneys more time to collect depositions.
Authorities say Eaton shot and seriously wounded Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad in Burlington on the evening of Nov. 25, 2023, as they were walking in his neighborhood near the University of Vermont.
The students, all age 20 at the time, were conversing in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, police said. The students say the shooter approached them and fired without saying a word.
Threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the U.S. since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Eaton pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, and has been held without bail since he was arrested last year at his Burlington apartment. The three students’ families say the shooting should be treated as a hate crime, but prosecutors say they don’t have enough evidence to support that.
On Tuesday, Eaton’s attorney Peggy Jansch asked the court to push the deadline for depositions to June 2025, saying she wouldn’t be able to finish by the original Dec. 16 deadline.
Judge John Pacht set a May 31 deadline to conduct depositions. A status hearing was scheduled for early March.
Nevada
Trial set for ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor in newly-revived sex abuse case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse is set to stand trial early next year in Las Vegas on charges that he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls, a significant development in the sweeping criminal case after more than a year of stalled court proceedings while he challenged it.
His trial in Clark County District Court is currently scheduled to begin on Jan. 13, court records show. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to 21 felonies, including sexual assault, kidnapping and producing and possessing videos of child sexual abuse, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported.
Prosecutors are now able to move forward with their case because Chasing Horse was again indicted last month following a Nevada Supreme Court decision that his original indictment be dismissed. The high court’s order left open the possibility for the charges to be refiled, and prosecutors quickly took their case before another grand jury.
The high court said in its September order that prosecutors had abused the grand jury process when they provided a definition of grooming as evidence of Chasing Horse’s alleged crimes without any expert testimony. But the justices also made clear in their ruling that their decision was not weighing in on Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence, saying the allegations against him are serious.
Best known for portraying the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 movie “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
After starring in the Oscar-winning film, according to prosecutors, Chasing Horse began promoting himself as a self-proclaimed Lakota medicine man while traveling around North America to perform healing ceremonies.
Prosecutors said he used his authority to gain access to vulnerable women and girls for decades until his arrest in January near Las Vegas. He has been jailed ever since.
Chasing Horse’s arrest reverberated around Indian Country as law enforcement in the U.S. and Canada quickly followed up with more criminal charges. In Montana, authorities there said his arrest helped corroborate long-standing allegations against him on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders banished Chasing Horse from the reservation in 2015 amid allegations of human trafficking.
His latest indictment in Las Vegas includes new allegations that Chasing Horse filmed himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was younger than 14. Prosecutors have said the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.
