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Dominican appeals court to hear arguments on Franco’s conviction
Law Firm Press Release |
2025/11/10 08:13
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Wander Franco’s attorneys pushed to have the suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop’s sexual-abuse conviction and sentencing overturned Tuesday.
Franco in June was convicted of sexually abusing a minor, and he then received a two-year suspended sentence. Meanwhile, prosecutors are seeking a five-year sentence.
The court of appeals in Puerto Plata, where the case was heard, said it would issue a ruling on Dec. 9 after hearing arguments from prosecutors and Franco’s lawyers.
Franco was arrested last year after being accused of having a four-month relationship with a girl who was 14 at the time, and of transferring thousands of dollars to her mother to consent to the illegal relationship.
Franco was once Tampa Bay’s star shortstop, signing an 11-year, $182 million contract in November 2021.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic announced in August 2023 they were investigating him for an alleged relationship with a minor.
In January 2024, Franco was arrested in his home country. Six months later, Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list.
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Republican US Rep. Elise Stefanik is running for governor of New York
Legal Information |
2025/11/07 08:51
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U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a close Republican ally of President Donald Trump, announced Friday that she’s running for governor of New York, a place she depicted in a campaign launch video as being “in ashes” because of lawlessness and a high cost of living.
In her video, a narrator declares “The Empire State has fallen” as it painted a grim picture of crime and economic crisis in New York City, though her message appeared to be aimed at other, more conservative parts of the state that she will need to win over next year.
“Under Kathy Hochul’s failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation with the highest taxes, highest energy, utilities, rent, and grocery prices crushing hardworking families,” Stefanik said in a statement.
Stefanik, who represents a conservative congressional district in upstate New York, has for months teased a run, leveling heavy criticism at incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul and more recently toward Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City.
Last year, Trump picked Stefanik to be the administration’s ambassador to the United Nations, but later rescinded the nomination over concerns about Republicans’ tight margins in the House.
Though any Republican faces long odds of winning the governor’s mansion in New York, Stefanik’s campaign will bring solid name recognition, fundraising prowess and deep ties to the White House. Her campaign announced Friday that she has received the backing of nearly three-quarters of the state’s county Republican chairs.
In a statement, Hochul campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika called Stefanik “Donald Trump’s number one cheerleader in Congress.”
“Apparently, screwing over New Yorkers in Congress wasn’t enough — now she’s trying to bring Trump’s chaos and skyrocketing costs to our state,” Chitika said.
The Republican primary field remains unclear ahead of the 2026 race. U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler had been contemplating a run and was considered a potentially strong candidate, but said earlier this year that he would instead seek reelection in his battleground House district in the New York Hudson Valley.
Hochul faces a contested primary, with her own lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, running against her.
Stefanik, a Harvard graduate, was 30 when she was first elected to the House in 2014. She entered Congress as a moderate Republican but soon attached herself to Trump, reshaping her persona into more of a brash, outspoken MAGA disciple.
Her national profile got a big boost after she aggressively questioned a group of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses, leading to two of their resignations and winning praise from the Republican president.
Democrats have a major voter registration edge in New York. The last Republican governor in the state was former Gov. George Pataki, who left office about two decades ago. Still, Republican Lee Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman and current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, made a serious run for the office in 2022, coming within striking distance of upsetting Hochul. |
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Kimberly-Clark buying Tylenol maker Kenvue in $48.7 billion deal
Legal Information |
2025/11/01 08:53
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Kimberly-Clark is buying Tylenol maker Kenvue in a cash and stock deal worth about $48.7 billion, creating a massive consumer health goods company.
Shareholders of Kimberly-Clark will own about 54% of the combined company. Kenvue shareholders will own about 46%.
The combined company will have a large stable of household brands under one roof, putting Kenvue’s Listerine mouthwash and Band-Aid side-by-side with Kimberly-Clark’s Cottonelle toilet paper, Huggies and Kleenex tissues. It will also generate about $32 billion in annual revenue.
Kenvue has spent a relatively brief period as an independent company, having been spun off by Johnson & Johnson two years ago. J&J first announced in late 2021 that it was splitting its consumer health division from the pharmaceutical and medical device divisions.
The deal announced Monday is among the largest corporate takeovers of the year.
Kenvue was thrust into the national spotlight last month when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. reasserted the unproven link between the pain reliever Tylenol and autism, and suggested people who opposed the theory were motivated by hatred for President Donald Trump.
During a meeting with Trump and the Cabinet, Kennedy reiterated the connection, even while noting there was no medical proof to substantiate the claim.
In July Kenvue, announced that CEO Thibaut Mongon was leaving in the midst of a strategic review with the company under mounting pressure from activist investors. Board member Kirk Perry is serving as interim CEO.
“We will serve billions of consumers across every stage of life,” Kimberly-Clark Chairman and CEO Mike Hsu said in a statement.
Hsu will be chairman and CEO of the combined company. Three members of the Kenvue’s board will join Kimberly-Clark’s board at closing. The combined company will keep Kimberly-Clark’s headquarters in Irving, Texas and continue to have a significant presence in Kenvue’s locations.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of next year. It still needs approval from shareholders of both both companies.
Kenvue shareholders will receive $3.50 per share in cash and 0.14625 Kimberly-Clark shares for each Kenvue share held at closing. That amounts to $21.01 per share, based on the closing price of Kimberly-Clark shares on Friday.
Kimberly-Clark and Kenvue said that they identified about $1.9 billion in cost savings that are expected in the first three years after the transaction’s closing.
Shares of Kimberly-Clark slipped more than 15% before the market open, while Kenvue’s stock jumped more than 20%.
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Kamala Harris leaves door open for 2028 presidential run
Legal World News |
2025/10/25 16:04
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Kamala Harris isn’t ruling out another run for the White House.
In an interview with the BBC posted Saturday, Harris said she expects a woman will be president in the coming years, and it could “possibly” be her.
“I am not done,” she said.
The former vice-president said she hasn’t decided whether to mount a 2028 presidential campaign. But she dismissed the suggestion that she’d face long odds.
“I have lived my entire career a life of service and it’s in my bones. And there are many ways to serve,” she said. “I’ve never listened to polls.”
She’s recently given a series of interviews following the September release of her book, “107 Days.” It looks back on her experience replacing then-President Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee after he dropped out of the race.
She ultimately lost to Republican President Donald Trump.
In an interview with The Associated Press last week, Harris, 60, also made clear that running again in 2028 is still on the table. She said she sees herself as a leader of the party, including in pushing back against Trump and preparing for the 2026 midterms.
Asked in an Oct. 17 interview with AP whether she had plans for a 2028 bid, Harris said, “I haven’t decided. Sincerely. I have not decided. I may or I may not. I have not decided.”
Asked specifically whether she still wanted to do the job itself, she used the past tense, saying, “It’s a job I wanted to do.” But she noted that the only way to do it “is to run” and win.
Meanwhile, political jockeying among Democrats for the 2028 presidential contest appears to be playing out even earlier than usual.
Several potential candidates are already taking steps to get to know voters in key states, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, term-limited Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and California Rep. Ro Khanna. Upwards of 30 high-profile Democrats could ultimately enter the primary.
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