Just after midnight on Sept. 11, 2017, three shots ripped through the front door of a Black family’s Sandy Ridge Drive home. The next night a Black man was fatally shot at a Florida Street bus stop. Another Black man was shot to death two nights later walking to his shift at Louie’s Cafe.

Kenneth Gleason, a White man who lived on Sandy Ridge Drive in Baton Rouge, was quickly booked and indicted in the homicides and attempted killings, and on Monday morning jury selection is set to begin in the alleged serial killer’s long-anticipated trial.

Gleason, 27, is being tried on a first-degree murder count in the second of the killings, but evidence relating to the other homicide and the non-fatal shooting also will be introduced into evidence.

He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted as charged. The verdict must be unanimous.

The trial is expected to last two weeks, including several days of jury selection. State District Judge Beau Higginbotham will preside over the trial.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said Friday his office is confident that after a full presentation of the evidence — subject to cross examination and inspection — “justice will prevail.”

“We are prepared to present the state’s case against Mr. Gleason and bring justice and closure to the families who have been tragically affected,” he added.

Gleason’s attorney, Ashly Van Earl, said his client maintains his innocence.

“I believe the state has a heavy burden in this case, and this will be a great judge of whether you’re innocent until proven guilty,” Earl said.

Gleason was indicted on two counts of attempted second-degree murder in the Sept. 11, 2017, incident in which he allegedly fired several shots into the home of the only Black family on the Sandy Ridge Drive block where he lived several doors down with his parents.

Two men were inside the house but not injured. One of the bullets traveled through a couch, under a chair, out a back window and through a wall into a back storage shed.

Gleason also was indicted with second-degree murder in the Sept. 12, 2017, killing of Bruce Cofield, a homeless man, and first-degree murder in the Sept. 14, 2017, slaying of Donald Smart. The homicides occurred five miles apart.

Authorities have said the three shootings were apparently random and possibly racially motivated.

Cofield, 59, was shot as he sat at a bus stop on Florida Street near South Acadian Thruway.

A Baton Rouge police detective testified in 2019 during a hearing in the case that a witness told police a White male got out of his car and shot Cofield, who then rolled into the street. The shooter then stood over Cofield and fired more shots. The detective, Saundra Watts, said 10 bullets were recovered from the victim’s body, and 13 shell casings were recovered from the scene.

Smart, 49, was killed at the Alaska Street BREC park near the north side of the LSU campus while walking to his overnight shift at Louie’s, where he was a dishwasher.

Two LSU students in the park at the time told police a man drove up in a red car and shot Smart. The shooter then got out of his car, walked over to the victim and continued shooting. Four bullets were taken from Smart’s body, Watts said, and 10 shell casings were discovered at the scene.

Authorities have said Gleason is linked to Cofield’s killing and the nonfatal shooting through DNA evidence, and to both fatal shootings and the nonfatal incident through ballistics evidence.

Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty against Gleason after consulting with Smart’s family.

The Louisiana State Police Crime Lab determined that the casings recovered from all three shooting scenes were fired from the same 9 mm gun. The firearm used in the shootings has not been found.

An East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s detective testified at the 2019 hearing that nine hours after the Sandy Ridge shooting, a worker at a Coursey Boulevard Jiffy Lube a half-mile away saw a White man in a red car remove a gun from a mulched area at the store.

Lt. Scott Henning said the worker later identified the man as Gleason.

Watts testified at the same hearing that nine hours before Cofield was gunned down, employees of a surveillance firm spotted a White man with a gun in a parking lot removing the license plate from a red car and putting duct tape over the car’s identifying markings.

When Gleason was taken into custody, the red car he was driving had the same dent in the back bumper and an American flag sticker shown on the Custom Security surveillance video, Moore said previously.

Gleason is not charged with a hate crime, but prosecutor Dana Cummings said last week during a hearing that his cellphone records, which will be used at the trial, contained “repeated references” to Adolf Hitler and to cleansing.

Gleason’s lawyer said during the hearing that Gleason studied German at LSU.

A sketch of a swastika was found in Gleason’s holding cell in 2017, but Cummings said the drawing won’t be shown to the jury because it had been misfiled in the case record and was only recently handed over to the defense.

The Associated Press reported in September 2017 that law enforcement found a copy of a Hitler speech during a search of Gleason’s home. The wire service attributed that information to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing at the time.

Gleason grew up in Baton Rouge and graduated cum laude from Baton Rouge Magnet High School, a selective program often referred to as the city’s flagship public school.

He became an Eagle Scout in 2012, completing a construction project at St. John’s United Methodist Church to earn the title — an achievement shared by only about 5% of all Boy Scouts, according to the organization.

Gleason attended LSU for one year starting in the fall of 2012.

Two-time Olympic beach volleyball medallist April Ross has a rare opportunity to relax with 100 days to go before the Tokyo Games.

That doesn’t mean she will.

Ross and partner Alix Klineman are the No. 1 team in the Olympic qualification rankings and the only Americans who have already clinched one of four likely spots for U.S. beach teams in the pandemic-delayed 2020 Games. While other twosomes are still fighting for spots in Tokyo — including Ross’ partner in Rio, three-time gold medallist Kerri Walsh — Ross and Klineman can work on other things without worrying about their spot in the standings.

But work they will.

“We have to hold onto it for a couple of months. We feel like we have a lot of work to do,“ Ross said in a conference call on Thursday. “It’s just a blessing to be qualified already.”

Ross, 38, won a silver medal at the 2012 Games in London, losing in the championship to Walsh and fellow triple-champion Misty May Treanor. Four years later, Ross teamed up with Walsh to earn bronze in Rio.

Now Ross is headed back to the Summer Games with her third partner in as many tries. Klineman, 31, only moved from the indoor game to the sand in 2017, winning rookie of the year honours on the AVP domestic beach tour before teaming up with Ross the next year to make a run at Tokyo.

Having only played the outdoor sport for a few seasons, Klineman thinks the pandemic delay could pay off with an extra year of experience and bonding with Ross. Kleinman has also fought shoulder problems, and used the time to get healthy.

“Alix is pretty new to the beach, relatively speaking,“ Ross said. “She was given more time to work on her game.”

Most beach volleyball teams qualify for the Olympics by earning points on the world tour that was shut down for the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A quota limits each country to a maximum of two men’s teams and two women’s.

Heading into a three-tournament mini-bubble in Cancun, Mexico, Ross and Klineman are too far ahead of either the other U.S. teams to be knocked out. Walsh and her new partner, Brooke Sweat, are fifth in the world rankings overall but 3,000 points behind the leaders; Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes, and Kelley Kolinske and Emily Stockman are also mathematically in the hunt.

Taylor Crabb and three-time Olympian Jake Gibb are the top U.S. men’s team, followed by Nick Lucena and 2008 gold medallist Phil Dalhausser, with Trevor Crabb and Tri Bourne still hoping to move up.

Ross and Klineman were second in the rankings before the COVID-19 shutdown, then they won the first event back last month in Doha, Qatar, to move to No. 1 overall. Although their Tokyo berth is secure, the top ranking would earn them a No. 1 seed in the Olympic tournament, which could mean an easier path to the medal round.

“I know we are in a great place going into Tokyo, but I still feel like there’s a lot to learn,” Klineman said.

Still that’s less important to them than remaining healthy and peaking at the right time.

“We have the ability to rest when we want to rest, and make sure that we are physically strong and ready,” Ross said. “Health is a priority, for sure. And there are some other things we want to integrate into our game that we’ve been working on that we haven’t been able to push because we’ve been going for that spot.“

___

More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

•Tells Nigerians: We feel your pains but blame FG, govs for strike
•‘Our hazard allowance is N5,000, each senator collects N1.2m’

By Chioma Obinna

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, convened an extraordinary National Executive Council meeting on April 7, 2021 to review their ongoing strike and the offers of the Federal Government so far.

The NEC, attended by over 100 members from more than 60 centers across the country via zoom after deliberations, voted unanimously that the “total and indefinite strike”, which started on April 1, be continued until the federal and state governments meet their demands.

Sunday Vanguard spoke with the National President of NARD, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, who said that, despite efforts of the national officers of NARD to ensure that the Federal Government does the needful to prevent the strike, government has continued in their insincerity of promises hence the current stalemate.

Excerpts:

Why NARD is on strike

It is no longer news that government appointees have continued to renege on the MOU signed by them over the years. This has culminated in fatigue among our ranks and has further worsened brain drain in our country.

NARD gave a two -month ultimatum before declaring her industrial action when it became apparent that the Ministry of Health was not interested in any form of settlement to avert the avoidable action. This is at variance with the falsehood being peddled by the Honourable Minister.

The Memorandum of Action, MOA, signed was after 12 midnight on March 31, 2021 when the ultimatum had elapsed. Without prejudice to our labour laws and other extant laws of the land, the industrial action had already begun before the MOA was signed and, as such, not tenable.

For over 30 years, NARD has had to contend with harsh working conditions, poor infrastructure and poor remunerations and brain drain. In 2020, the country was hit by pandemic, causing health workers to lay their lives for humanity. This was applauded the world over because everyone knows the poor health indices in Nigeria and Africa at large.

Again, our demands are legitimate and government has acknowledged that. The Hon Minister of State for Health, Dr Mamora, wholeheartedly agreed that all the issues raised by NARD are germane and legitimate. He admitted that bureaucratic bottlenecks in government led to delay/ non-implementation of previous memoranda signed with NARD.

What are these demands?

Our first contact to any sickness or disease who we call House Officers have been working tirelessly and, for four months now, they have not been paid salaries knowing the harsh economic realities in the country, worsened now by COVID-19. This was caused by the ineptitude of the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.

Our members on the payment platform called GIFMIS otherwise known widely as non-regular payment platform has not been paid for over four months. Is this not the height of wickedness? During the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, Nigerians called on doctors to help combat the spread, this we did with zeal. In this process, we lost 17 of our members while in the frontline of the menace caused by the pandemic. So, we said “please pay the loved ones they left behind”, but all we hear is government has released money and yet none of these loved ones have been paid.

We cried out and said our hazard allowance is just a paltry sum and the worst in the country. People are paid 1.2million for hardship allowance where they sit down and do nothing, yet the ones who face the real day-to-day hazard are paid nothing if you ask me. The specialist allowance for our specialist cadre is still not paid despite the MOU signed in 2017. These are just a few of our demands and government has reneged on them despite being told since 2017.

Our members in the state tertiary health institutions are impoverished. We said this is an emergency and government has done absolutely nothing. How do you owe over 20 months short payment and you expect our members to keep quiet? Abia owes 20 months, Imo is owing several months, how do you reconcile that? The strike has been total and indefinite and our members have been compliant. We are demanding immediate payment of all salaries owed to all house officers including March salary (regardless of quota system) before the end of business on March 31, 2021.

As of today, although payment has been made to some of them, the payment is marred with so many irregularities. Most of them are still not paid. Also, we want immediate payment of all salary arrears including March salaries for our members in all federal (GIFMIS platform) and state tertiary health institutions across the country. None of these doctors who have worked for over four months has been paid.

Our members in ABSUTH (Abia), IMSUTH (Imo) and UNIMEDTH (Borno) are still asking for upward review of the current hazard allowance to 50 per cent of consolidated basic salaries and payment of the outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance. The hazard allowance has remained N5, 000 for over 30 years. For the Honourable Minister of Labour & Employment to feign ignorance of this on national television leaves a lot to be desired.

This is an all-time low coming from someone who has been in the Senate where the monthly hardship allowance for senators is N1,242,122.70. For the government to be asking for five weeks for its review despite the ongoing strike is really shameful. A sincere government should immediately call all stakeholders together to address these issues once and for all.

We are also demanding payment of death in service insurance for all health workers who died as a result of COVID-19 infection or other infectious diseases in the country. This legitimate demand has been left unattended. On the payment of salary shortfalls of 2014, 2015 and 2016 to our members in federal institutions including state-owned institutions as earlier agreed with NARD, nothing has been done in this regard.

Again, there is the issue of the universal domestication/implementation of the 2017 MRTA by all federal and state-owned training institutions to ensure proper funding of residency training in the country as stipulated by the Act. Nothing has been done about this especially by state governments. For the records, the Medical Residency Training Act was signed into law in 2017. Our members have been crying since then that they should pay us the incomplete sum they signed and no government has not done that.

In 2020, following the intervention of Rt Hon Femi Gbajiabamila, we had N4 billion approved to kick-start the process of payment. Now, this payment was epileptic and we approached them and asked it be looked into because we have our members from 2017 till 2020 who weren’t paid. They said they couldn’t pay the backlog we met and agreed and we said pay from 2019 till now but nothing has been paid. Our members are due for exams now in 2021 and yet they have not been paid. We are also demanding the abolition of the exorbitant bench fees paid by our members on outside postings in training institutions across the country with immediate effect.

This is the only positive result from the conciliatory meeting with government, but there is no circular yet to back the abolition. We asked for immediate payment of 2019, the balance of 2020 and 2021 Medical Residency Training Funds (MRTF) to our members including those under state government employment.

Despite our constant engagement with the Federal Ministry of Health on this issue, it was shocking to us that it took the conciliatory meeting by the Ministers of Labour and Health to be instructed to go and check if funding for residency training was captured in the 2021 budget. We were disappointed over the misinformation spewed out by the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment.

For the avoidance of doubt, NARD is not a financial arm of government and, therefore, not involved in any form of payment of residency training funding as was alleged in the meeting called at the instance of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. To set the record straight, the offices and officers involved are the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and her Registrar as well as the Office of Hospital Services and her Director. When the errors in payment were noticed, NARD informed both bodies appropriately for further action as may be necessary.

READ ALSO: Tertiary institutions will reopen very soon — Minister

We also demanded the immediate review of the Act regulating Postgraduate Medical Training in Nigeria in line with international best practices to remove the unnecessary rigours in residency training in Nigeria, one of the factors attributed to brain drain in the health sector. Nothing also has been done here. The reintroduction of medical super salary structure and specialist allowance for all doctors as already approved for some other health workers, no mention was made about this very germane demand of our members. We view this as insincerity amongst government officials which has stalled meaningful negotiations in the wake of the current impasse.

You said some of the demands have been there for 30 years. What exactly has government done to address the issues?

This is the question we enjoin well-meaning Nigerians to ask government. Government appointees signed MOU, the people pleaded with doctors to resume, we listened and suspended strike, then government goes back to sleep. This has been a recurring decimal. Government claiming to be doing something is laughable and should be featured in a comedy skit. They have acknowledged that the demands are legitimate but have not done what they ought to do hence the stalemate we are having.

Are resident doctors paid abroad?

The world over, resident doctors are paid while they provide services and take their exams. In the USA, the Graduate Medical Education Budget is as high as 150 billion dollars. They recruit doctors into residency which has over 31,000 spaces. In England, there are about 16, 000 residency spaces, all these are in cyberspace, you can look it up for proper investigation. They even pay rural allowances in far north of England for over 15, 000 GBP. So, let’s not be disturbed by falsehood spewed by government appointees when they show gross ignorance.

On the threat to fine members in state hospitals should they fail to join strike

The NEC fined all her members nationwide should they fail to join the strike, it is normal union practice to keep at bay erring behaviours. The state institutions are badly hit. We have had meetings with state governors to domesticate and implement the MRTA and yet they have not, only a few state governors like Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in Delta have done it. Governor Fayemi (Ekiti) has also done well and our engagements with him have been fruitful. Governor Makinde of Oyo State is also doing well. So we enjoin other governors to follow in that trajectory.

Doctors in the states joining the strike will definitely affect patients and thereby removing the only olive branch to cushion the effects. What alternative is left for them?

The masses include you and me and our relatives. We know the pains they feel but let’s not forget that doctors are also human, they have children, parents and loved ones they care for too. We also need to be emotionally, physically, and financially stable to give top quality health care to the masses as well. Their hardship is from the failure of government appointees.

Shortage of doctors and brain drain currently affecting health services, how many resident doctors do we have in Nigeria?

Nigeria should have nothing short of 40,000 resident doctors but what we have now is around 16, 000; this has led to burn out and fatigue among doctors. For each tertiary hospital, the strength is dependent on the capacity of the hospital vis a vis bed space and consultants for training. The major cause of physician burn out and fatigue stems from acute shortage of doctors in these health facilities.

Still on your meeting with government, will you say government has handled issues regarding hazard allowance well in the face of a pandemic?

The answer stares at you in the face. Government appointees rake in millions from our commonwealth while those confronting the real hazards get a paltry N5, 000. HIV, hepatitis, Lassa fever and COVID-19 stare at us in the face on daily basis.

What is the way forward?

The cost of the strike is both on us and the people of Nigeria who we provide health care amidst the austere working conditions. We have told government our minimum requirements; when they do that, we will return to doing what we do best which is saving lives.

Many of your members are leaving the country after training. How do we reconcile this?

This again comes from insecurity, harsh economic realities and poor infrastructure. This is what we are crying out for. Government should do the needful to keep doctors here.

Despite the COVID-19 challenge and the fact that you are on strike, President Buhari went overseas for treatment. What is your take?

You should look at the scenario. The high and the mighty enslave and impoverish us. When we take ill, we are left to the poor health care facilities. When they are sick, they go to the UK, their wives to Dubai, their daughters give birth in Dubai, their sons seek healthcare in Germany.

These are real-time issues, corruption is our major issue, if they invest in health care in Nigeria, trust me people won’t emigrate. President Joe Biden seeks help in America, PM Boris Johnson had COVID-19 and was treated in a public facility in the UK because, over the years, they have built good health systems and are still largely investing in public facilities. We continue to push on.

Vanguard News Nigeria

SINGAPORE – Ms Ellen Neo, 29, and her fiance, operation executive Felix Lua, 36, were supposed to receive the keys to their three-room Build-To-Order (BTO) flat last December, and move in early this year.

The couple, who have been together for six years, got a unit in Pine Vista in Geylang on their third try in 2017. They first balloted in 2015.

But last June, Ms Neo, an administrative executive, was told the flat delivery would be delayed to the second quarter of this year.

Ms Neo said: “I was really looking forward to seeing my finished home as it has been years in the making. I have been looking through Pinterest for home decor ideas and talking to my neighbours about them.”

She was hoping against hope that their project would not be one of the delayed ones but it was not to be. “Part of the reason I liked Pine Vista was that I could get it earlier than the others (in the area). But it seems like it doesn’t matter any more.”

Last Monday, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said in a parliamentary reply that about 85 per cent of the 89 ongoing BTO projects are around six to nine months behind schedule .

National Development Minister Desmond Lee said on Wednesday the Covid-19 pandemic was making it difficult for construction firms to bring in manpower, and supply chains were disrupted.

Hence, about 43,000 households will get their keys to their BTO flats late.

The Housing Board has assisted around 240 affected households with interim rental flats.

Project manager Matthias Mar, 34, rented a unit in Punggol through the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) with his wife recently. The delivery of the newlyweds’ four-room BTO flat in Ubi Grove has been delayed from the fourth quarter of this year to the third quarter of next year.

They spent almost $8,000 to furnish the PPHS flat, including buying furniture and a portable air-conditioner, which will eventually be disposed of or given away when they move out. The monthly rent is $500, excluding utility bills.

Mr Mar said: “The rental rates are way lower as compared to the open market but, of course, the money could be better spent on the BTO flat instead.”

Most of the eight affected couples The Sunday Times spoke to are staying with their parents and have delayed having children.

One of them is special education teacher Kayyathiri Elango, 31. She was supposed to collect the keys to a four-room flat in Alkaff Oasis in Bidadari last September with her husband, police officer Puvaneswran Letchumanan, 33, but it has been delayed to June this year.

The couple, who got married this February, have been staying with her parents since. They would like to have children only after moving into their flat.

Ms Kayyathiri, who found out about the delay one month before they were due to collect the keys, said: “Our original plan was to move into our home straight after getting married and to start a family immediately. Our age is catching up; that’s one of our worries.”

National University of Singapore (NUS) sociologist Tan Ern Ser said the delays could be disruptive for those who planned to set up a marital home or have a bigger place for a growing household.

He added that the delays might affect the total fertility rate if couples postpone their intentions to have a child or another one.

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Mr Nicholas Mak, head of research and consultancy at ERA Singapore, said the uncertainty about completion dates of new BTO flats has led some buyers to turn to HDB resale flats.

He noted that prices have increased quite steadily, partly due to the delay in BTO flat completion. Last year, prices climbed by 5 per cent, according to the official HDB resale price index.

This was more than twice the 2.2 per cent rise in the prices of private residential properties last year.

But Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice-president of research and analytics, said the subscription rate for BTO flats is likely to remain firm, as they are still the most affordable housing option with HDB resale flats now more expensive.

Dr Sing Tien Foo, director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies at NUS, said the delays affecting current BTO projects are more manageable than those linked to new developments, with the latter possibly needing five to six years before they are completed.

He encouraged households to plan with their designers and contractors to ensure that renovation works would not be further held up.

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Some affected home owners are looking on the bright side.

Audio-visual specialist Sofian Abdul Manan, 42, was looking forward to upgrading – from his four-room flat to a five-room one in Rivervale Shores in Sengkang – with his family of five in the second quarter of next year.

They applied under the Third Child Priority Scheme and the process is now delayed by nine months.

He said: “We wanted a bigger flat because the children are growing up and we felt the need for a bigger study space. But we feel fortunate we still have a roof over our heads.”

This article was first published in The Straits Times . Permission required for reproduction.

Liem will take over the position from Susan Polgar, former women’s World Champion, who has decided to retire after nine years on the job, citing health reasons and wanting to spend more time with her family in Florida.

Polgar and husband, a former Wesbter coach-assistant, have helped the university win eight out of nine most recent national chess competitions.

The Vietnamese GM used to be a team captain when he was a student at the university. He helped the team win four inter-school championships before graduating in 2017 with bachelor’s degrees in finance and management.

“Studying at Webster is one of the best decisions of my life,” Quang Liem wrote on his personal page on April 9.

“Susan and Paul consider me family. I have learned a lot from them, both in terms of chess expertise and real life. I am honored to accept this position, and begin working with students from Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE).

He said that his new assignment will not affect his dedication to Vietnamese chess.

“I will balance my schedule. For important and official tournaments like SEA Games, World Chess Cup and the Chess Olympiad, I will still be a Vietnamese representative.”

Quang Liem had been invited to the Tepe Sigeman chess tournament at the end of this month, where he could have competed with chess legend Anatoly Karpov. But the tournament in Sweden was canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the latest International Chess Federation (FIDE) ranking, Liem is 31st in the world with an Elo rating of 2,709.