State ‘in good shape’ to consider charging federal agents in slayings of Good, Pretti, Moriarty says

MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Wednesday that with or without federal cooperation, state prosecutors are in “good shape” to make charging decisions against the federal agents who shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

While noting that her office continues to lack crucial evidence taken by the federal government, including the gun reportedly taken off Pretti before he was shot and the car Good was driving when she was shot, Moriarty said at a news conference on Feb. 18 that a trove of investigative materials remains available to state law enforcement.

“These cases, there’s no mystery about how these people died, right?” Moriarty said. “They were shot to death.”

In announcing that her office had sent additional Touhy letters to the federal government — the letters represent the formal demand and process for obtaining records and evidence from federal agencies — Moriarty said state investigations into the killings by her office, the Minnesota Attorney General and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension continue.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

University of Texas to vote on how race, gender can be discussed in classrooms

The University of Texas System Board of Regents will meet Wednesday during its quarterly meeting to discuss a policy that will decide how universities are allowed to teach “controversial topics” like race, gender and LGBTQ areas of study.

The University of Texas System, which includes University of Texas at Arlington and UT Dallas, decided to vote on guidance on teaching such topics after the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents passed a similar ordinance late last year. Professors at A&M are now required to have their course syllabuses reviewed by department heads.

Several A&M syllabuses have been rejected for including course content related to race and gender theory, the Star-Telegram previously reported. One professor’s syllabus was rejected for including readings from Plato. Another had his class canceled just days before the spring semester for failing to submit his syllabus for review.

According to the UT Board of Regents meeting agenda, university leaders believe the guidance will “foster classroom cultures of trust in which all students feel free to voice their questions and beliefs, especially when those perspectives might conflict with those of the instructor or other students.” The guidance would also prohibit professors from including course material that is not considered “relevant” to the course.

—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Mark Zuckerberg testifies in LA trial over claims social media makes kids addicted

Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg made an extended, pugnacious appearance in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, defending his company from the witness stand against a lawsuit that alleges social media harms children.

The Meta boss appeared in a dark suit and gray tie, his signature chestnut curls slightly mussed, darting occasional nervous looks at the jury and the 20-year-old plaintiff, who sat in the courtroom gallery.

"I'm not —I think I'm actually sort of well known to be very bad at this," Zuckerberg told the young woman's attorney, Mark Lanier, when pressed about the professional polish of his testimony.

In a dramatic moment late in the morning, Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl sharply warned anyone in the courtroom against wearing Meta's AI glasses. "If your glasses are recording, you must take them off," the judge said. "It is the order of this court that there must be no facial recognition of the jury. If you have done that, you must delete it. This is very serious."

—Los Angeles Times

A ‘fun’ friendship: Emails in Epstein files detail his links to Venezuela’s elite

Francisco D’Agostino, a Venezuelan businessman once sanctioned by the United States for helping Caracas evade oil restrictions, maintained a close relationship with disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein, pitching business deals, offering political intelligence and proposing introductions to some of Venezuela’s most powerful figures, newly released records show.

Emails made public by the U.S. Justice Department reveal that D’Agostino — brother-in-law of veteran opposition leader Henry Ramos Allup — communicated frequently with Epstein beginning in 2012, as Venezuela grappled with uncertainty over President Hugo Chávez’s declining health – and after Epstein had been arrested on state felony charges of procuring a minor for prostitution and solicitation of a prostitute.

The correspondence shows D’Agostino positioning himself as a bridge between Epstein and Venezuela’s political and financial elite between 2012 and 2018, before Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on the country’s oil industry.

The relationship appears to have begun after D’Agostino visited Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, later central to federal sex-trafficking allegations against the financier.

—Miami Herald