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Blythe man and woman suspected with several drugs, firearms plead not guilty
Fire roundup: Blazes erupt in Riverside, Lake Perris, elsewhere countywide
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M O N D AY, A U G U S T 14- A U G U S T 20, 2023
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Clarence Thomas’ 38 vacations: The other billionaires who have treated the Supreme Court justice to luxury travel By Brett Murphy and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica
Series: Friends of the Court: SCOTUS Justices’ Beneficial Relationships With Billionaire Donors upreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decadeslong friendship with real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and Samuel Alito’s luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer have raised questions about influence and ethics at the nation’s highest court. During his three decades on the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has enjoyed steady access to a lifestyle most Americans can only imagine. A cadre of industry titans and ultrawealthy executives have treated him to farflung vacations aboard their yachts, ushered him into the premium suites at sporting events and sent their private jets to fetch him — including, on more than one occasion, an entire 737. It’s a stream of luxury that is both more extensive and from a wider circle than has been previously understood.
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Like clockwork, Thomas’ leisure activities have been underwritten by benefactors who share the ideology that drives his jurisprudence. Their gifts include: At least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, typically perched in the skybox; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast. This accounting of Thomas’ travel, revealed for the first time here from an array of previously unavailable information, is the fullest to date of the generosity that has regularly afforded Thomas a lifestyle far beyond what his income could provide. And it is almost certainly an undercount. While some of the hospitality, such as stays in personal
homes, may not have required disclosure, Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts. Perhaps even more significant, the pattern exposes consistent violations of judicial norms, experts, including seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties, told ProPublica. “In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” said Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served for years on the judicial committee that reviews judges’ financial disclosures. “I think it’s unprecedented.” This year, ProPublica revealed Texas real estate billionaire Harlan Crow’s generosity toward Thomas, including vacations, private jet flights, gifts, the purchase of his mother’s house in Georgia and tuition payments. In an April statement, the justice defended his relationship with Crow. The Crows “are among our dearest friends,” Thomas said. “As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips.”
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Rescue personnel from Riverside County to deploy to fire-ravaged Maui By City News Service
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Justice Clarence Thomas. | Photo by Thomas Cizauskas (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
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The New York Times recently surfaced VIP treatment from wealthy businessmen he met through the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive nonprofit. Among them were David Sokol, a former top executive at Berkshire Hathaway, and H. Wayne Huizenga, a billionaire who turned Blockbuster and Waste Management into national goliaths. (The Times noted Thomas gives access to the Supreme Court building for Horatio Alger events; ProPublica confirmed that the access has cost $1,500 or more in donations per person.) Records and interviews show Thomas had another benefactor, oil baron Paul “Tony” Novelly, whose gifts to the justice have not previously been reported. ProPublica’s totals in this article include trips from Crow. Each of these men — Novelly, Huizenga, Sokol and Crow — appears to have first met Thomas after he ascended to the Supreme Court. With the exception of Crow, their names are nowhere in Thomas’ financial disclosures, See Clarence Thomas Page 14
earch and rescue personnel from Riverside County will be among others statewide deploying to Hawaii as part of the disaster response to the wildfires that have devastated parts of Maui, officials announced Thursday. Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he had mobilized members of Urban Search & Rescue units from Riverside, Alameda and Sacramento counties. “California stands with the people of Maui and all Hawaiians amid these horrific wildfires that have claimed lives and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina,” Newsom said. “Our state is sending resources to support our Pacific neighbors during their time of need.” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said early Thursday afternoon that 53 people were killed by the fires which started Tuesday night and swept through the west end of Maui. Nearly 300 homes and other structures, some of them landmarks, have been destroyed, officials said. Maui was under a Red Flag Warning due to a ridge of high pressure impacting the area, combined with winds gusting to 70 mph from Hurricane Dora, roughly 1,000 See Rescue personnel Page 28
Jury about to start deliberating in man’s fatal 2017 shooting in Banning By City News Service
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Cathedral City man killed another man in 2017 out of jealousy over a woman, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday as the defendant’s attorney insisted his client was never identified as the shooter. Ronald Dean Ricks, 37, is charged with one felony count of murder along with a special-circumstance allegation of discharging a firearm from a vehicle and a sentence-enhancing allegation of discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury, according to court records. The charges stem from the Jan. 16, 2017, shooting death of 32-year-old Banning resident Michael Gordon, who police found lying in the street in front of 1296 Wyte Way. Deputy District Attorney Josh DeGonia told jurors during closing arguments Wednesday that all the pieces of evidence in the case fall into a huge puzzle with one piece that will always be missing, Gordon’s voice. It all began when a white Dodge truck was rented See Shooting Page 27