Florida wants to severely restrict prisoners’ visitation hours
ORLANDO, Fla. — Visiting hours to prisoners in Florida are a crucial way they connect with loved ones, but a new rule being proposed by the Florida Department of Corrections could cut those hours in half.
On Wednesday, FDC proposed a set of new modifications to its visiting procedures, including adopting a rotation schedule for prisoners that would limit visitation days to every other weekend at certain correctional institutions deemed necessary by the department.
“This would be devastating to my family,” Catherine Hemperley said.
She visits her husband every Sunday at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach. He is 30 months away from serving a 15-year sentence. Together they have a 23-year-old daughter and 4-month-old grandson who visit every other weekend.
Currently, FDC’s standard practice allows weekly visitation hours between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on each Saturday and Sunday, as well as on major holidays.
A rotation schedule that allows visitations to take place only every other weekend would cut the hours spent with loved ones in half, according to Denise Rock with the Florida Cares Charity Corp., a nonprofit that works with incarcerated people and their families.
A representative at FDC was not immediately available to comment on the most recent proposals.
—Orlando Sentinel
Wildfire in Yosemite grows; area could face evacuation
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A fire that closed down a portion of Yosemite National Park grew to an estimated 250 acres, according to an update Friday.
The Washburn fire was reported Thursday afternoon near the lower Mariposa Grove close to the Washburn Trail.
The grove was evacuated and, along with Mariposa Grove Road, remains closed until further notice, according to the National Park Service.
The fire was mapped at 46 acres Thursday night, but grew by five times, according to the update from Yosemite Fire. Additional resources have been ordered into the area, including engines, crews and aircraft. A Type 2 Incident Management Team has also been ordered, which is typical for major fires.
No evacuation orders or warnings have been issued, but all areas in Wawona should prepare for potential evacuation, Yosemite Fire said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Mariposa Grove is home to some 500 giant sequoia trees, which can grow to more than 250 feet tall. Grizzly Giant, the most well-known tree in the Mariposa Grove, is 209 feet and one of the largest trees in the world. It is estimated to be between 2,000 and 3,000 years old.
It’s not clear if any sequoias have been burned.
—The Sacramento Bee
Kentucky man gets prison term over fraudulent COVID loans
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A central Kentucky businessman who submitted false information to receive $1.3 million in coronavirus relief loans and used some of it for gambling debts has been sentenced to three years and six months in federal prison.
Randall “Rocky” Blankenship Jr. also must pay a $30,000 fine, according to a news release from the office of U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV.
U.S. District Judge Karen C. Caldwell sentenced Blankenship on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to commit wire fraud.
Blankenship, 49, of Versailles, operated a business called KY Bluegrass RV and Camping LLC but also had four shell companies, according to court records.
The shell companies were Blankenship RV Finance Solutions LLC, RSGG Properties LLC, RSGG Holdings LLC, and RSGG Investments LLC.
Those companies didn’t have any employees, but Blankenship claimed they did and used them to apply for four loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP.
That was a program Congress rushed through in March 2020 to help businesses weather the economic downturn resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The loans were intended to keep employees on the payroll and were designed to be forgiven if the recipient used them for approved purposes.
With the help of an accountant, Blankenship created fake documents showing payroll costs totaling $1,323,829 at the businesses, when in fact they had no payroll costs, according to his plea agreement.
—Lexington Herald-Leader
8-year-old paralyzed by gunshot at Highland Park massacre
CHICAGO — An 8-year-old boy who was shot in the chest at the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park is now paralyzed from the waist down, his family said Friday through their spokesman.
Cooper Roberts, one of the Roberts family’s twin boys, had remained in critical condition for several days with a severed spinal cord. His condition has been upgraded to serious, the spokesman said.
On Friday, Cooper was removed from the ventilator and was conscious for the first time, but it was confirmed that the boy is paralyzed from the waist down, close friend and family spokesman Anthony Loizzi said in a statement.
“Cooper is asking to see his 8-year-old twin, Luke, and his dog, George,” the statement said.
On a Zoom call Thursday, Loizzi told reporters that the family feared that the child would never walk again due to the severity of his injuries.
Keely Roberts, who is superintendent of Zion Elementary School District 6, and her husband, Jason Roberts, attended the Fourth of July parade with Cooper and Luke.
Keely Roberts was shot in the foot and leg and Luke was wounded in the leg by shrapnel. They are expected to fully recover, Loizzi said.
—Chicago Tribune
