Federal law makes it a felony to “willfully or maliciously injure[ ] or destroy[ ] any of the works, property, or material of any radio, … or other means of communication, operated or controlled by the United States, or used or intended to be used for military or civil defense functions ….” I’m not sure I agree with the locals that this would apply to WJLX’s 200-foot-tall radio tower in Jasper, Alabama, but either way, whoever stole it is gonna be in big trouble. The theft was reported by a “bush hog” crew sent to mow the area on February 2. It’s unclear how long WJLX kept transmitting before it learned it no longer had a tower. It’s also unclear how somebody stole a 200-foot radio tower without anyone noticing.
Have lawyers learned not to rely on “generative AI” yet? Nope! Many more examples to come.
The man who was the face of now-defunct crypto enterprise HyperVerse told The Guardian he had no role in the company and was just an actor paid to pose as its CEO. Stephen Harrison was “a freelance television presenter engaged in unpaid football commentary” when he got the job, which he said entailed appearing in videos and speaking “generally” about opportunities available to investors. He wanted to make clear he had no other role in HyperVerse, probably because it turned out to be a total fraud. Investors lost at least $1.3 billion when the scheme collapsed. Harrison was paid about $5,000 and got a free suit. “I do feel bad about this,” he said. But hey—free suit.
The Official State Crap series has not yet reached Maryland (I’m only up to Georgia), but it looks like there’ll be plenty to talk about when we get there. The latest: an official fruit.
A Spanish “organic farmers’ association” (a phrase I will let stand without a hyphen) has lodged a formal complaint against French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal, upset with her criticism of their tomatoes. Calling los tomates Hispanicos “inedible,” Royal claimed they “do not meet French standards and should not be on shelves.” Spain’s prime minister has invited Royal to come and taste the fruit and/or vegetable in question, saying that if she does she “will see that the Spanish tomato is unbeatable.”
Kentucky state Rep. Nick Wilson said “an inadvertent change” during the drafting process was the reason that House Bill 269, which he sponsored, would have removed “first cousin” from the list of familial relationships that could result in a charge of … well, you know. The purpose of the bill, he said, was to expand the law to provide more protection for victims. But “[d]uring the drafting process,” he said, “there was an inadvertent change which struck ‘first cousins’ from the list of relationships …, and I failed to add it back in.” He has withdrawn the original bill and refiled it “with the ‘first cousin’ language intact.” Wilson did not explain how someone inadvertently deleted just one specific clause in a list of fifteen, or who inadvertently did that.
“Acorn?” Deputy Hernandez asked. “Acorn,” the investigator responded. They were discussing what had been responsible for the sound that spooked Deputy Hernandez into dropping to the ground, doing a combat roll, and emptying his firearm into his own vehicle, prompting his partner to do the same. Hernandez seems to have thought that the suspect sitting in his vehicle had fired at him, but the video confirmed it was just an acorn falling оn the car’s roof. Even less explicable was Hernandez’s shout, “I’m hit!” during the incident. He had not in fact been hit, even by the acorn. Somehow, no one was hit by any bullets, either.
