Orchard Path, a Presbyterian Homes & Services senior living community in Apple Valley, is adding 75 independent living apartments to its campus, along with an outdoor patio and a large community room.

The project will be finished by next summer, according to Pamela Belz, senior development manager at Senior Housing Partners, part of Presbyterian Homes & Services.

“This expansion provides another choice for senior living within Apple Valley,” Belz said. “There are [community] members that have been in the community a long time and want to stay.”

Adults over 65 made up about 16.5% of the population in Apple Valley in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Orchard Path current units are typically 99% to 100% occupied, said Jon Fletcher, president and CEO of Presbyterian Homes & Services, in a press announcement.

The senior living community currently offers 175 independent living apartments, 58 assisted living apartments and 20 memory care apartments.

Belz said Orchard Path’s last expansion project was a 60-apartment expansion in 2021, and the apartments opened full.

“There certainly continues to be demand and interest for this location,” Belz said. “We’re expecting a strong response from the community.”

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The jury foreman in the Karen Read retrial is calling on the FBI to rip open the case and start from scratch.

“There are so many holes that need to be filled,” Juror #1 told the Boston Herald Tuesday. “Now that the FBI knows Karen Read is not a suspect, something happened, and multiple jurors feel that way.”

Multiple jurors in the murder trial of Read have come forward to comment about the case since a jury returned a not guilty verdict.

Read, 45, was charged with second-degree murder by authorities who said she intentionally hit Boston police officer John O’Keefe with her car after dropping him off outside a party following a night of drinking in the Massachusetts suburbs.

The high-profile case culminated in a not guilty verdict on murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene charges. The jury found Read guilty of operating a vehicle while under the influence.

Karen Read gestures to supporters as the jury entered another day of deliberations in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

Juror #1, who first spoke to the Herald exclusively Friday, is now urging the FBI to “get justice for John O’Keefe.” It has already been announced that federal investigators did look into the web of police connections to the case and did not charge anyone.

But the foreman, who asked that his name be withheld, said that’s not good enough.

“No one local should be involved in the investigation,” he said Tuesday. “It was lazy police work … and we should start some type of investigation of what went on in that house.”

The FBI in Boston “declined comment” on the juror’s appeal for a new probe.

As the foreman has already said, the fact that investigators didn’t swarm the house at the murder scene on 34 Fairview Road in Canton during a nor’easter is a glaring “red flag” in this murder case.

The juror, a 45-year-old married father of three who grew up in Boston, says he is haunted by the belief that “something went on inside that house.” He doesn’t want to give up after more than two months put into this trial.

“We just need to find justice for John,” the foreman added, “and get his mother some peace.”

The Karen Read jury foreman, Juror #1, wants the FBI to reopen their probe. (Photo courtesy of Regan Communications)

Investigator, jurors speak out after verdict

Several jurors and the lead investigator have spoken out about the case in aftermath of not guilty verdict.

The trial centered in part on lead investigator Michael Proctor, who defense attorneys described as biased against Read from the beginning. The Massachusetts State Police trial board found Proctor guilty of sending crude and defamatory text messages about Read while leading the investigation into her. He was fired and has drawn ire from Read supporters who believe he played a key role in a cover-up to frame her.

Proctor told NBC’s “Dateline” that the idea he is corrupt and framed Read is a “ridiculous” accusation. He specifically said an accusation that he cracked Read’s taillight to make it look like she backed into O’Keefe is “absolutely not” true.

“I laugh because it’s such a ridiculous accusation,” Proctor told the program. “There’s not one piece of evidence or fact to support that because it did not happen.”

The judge in the case announced via court papers that the jurors’ names would be sealed from public view due to safety concerns. But one of the jurors, who identified himself only as “Jason” in an interview with TMZ, said he did not believe Read collided with O’Keefe. He also said he did not think investigators planted taillight pieces at the scene to frame Read.

“I don’t really know if there was a cover-up or not. I know that’s the big conspiracy about it but I don’t really know. All I know is there was a lot of holes in their investigation,” the juror said.

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Another juror, Paula Prado, told local news stations her mind changed about the case over the course of the last three weeks. At first, she thought Read was guilty of manslaughter, but her opinion changed as the case progressed.

“As the weeks passed by, I just realized there was too many holes that we couldn’t fill. And there’s nothing that put her on the scene in our opinion, besides just dropping John O’Keefe off,” Prado told media.

A third juror, Janet Jimenez, told WCVB-TV that she changed her mind about Read’s guilt during deliberations. Jimenez told WCVB she felt there were holes in the investigation, and ultimately she decided Read was not guilty.

“I was hoping that my fellow jurors could help me go through all of this, so I went in with a very open mind but definitely leaning toward that she was guilty,” she said.

Massachusetts State Police said in a statement that it extends its “sincerest condolences to the loved ones of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.” The statement said the events of the last three years have “challenged” the department to review its actions and improve accountability and oversight.

“Under my direction as colonel, the state police has, and will continue to, improve in these regards. Our focus remains on delivering excellent police services that reflect the value of professionalism and maintain public trust,” Colonel Geoffrey Noble said in the statement.

The jurors, state police and Proctor are not the first to speak out about the verdict. Upon leaving court, Read told a crowd of reporters and onlookers: “No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have.”

Her father, Bill Read, said that he was “thankful that it’s over.” He added: “We always knew Karen was innocent. I’m glad she is free of this mess. Just a weight off our shoulders. The power of the state is immense, and we were able to fight it.”

Some of the key witnesses in the trial also released a joint statement in which they called the not guilty ruling a “devastating miscarriage of justice.”

The joint statement was issued by several people including Brian Albert, who owned the home where the party took place, and Jennifer McCabe, Albert’s sister-in-law, who was with Read and O’Keefe on the night of O’Keefe’s death.

Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said only: “The jury has spoken.”

Joseph Dwinell of the Boston Herald and Patrick Whittle of the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Grocery giant Kroger revealed during its first-quarter earnings call this month that it will shut down about 60 underperforming stores over the next 18 months. At the same time, the company intends to open new locations throughout this year and the next.

“We’re simplifying our business and reviewing areas that will not be meaningful to our future growth. Unfortunately, today, not all of our stores are delivering the sustainable results we need,” said Kroger Chairman and Interim CEO Ronald Sargent in the June 20 earnings call.

“We don’t take these decisions lightly, but this will make the company more efficient, and Kroger will offer roles in other stores to all associates currently employed at affected stores.”

The specific stores targeted for closure have not been officially confirmed.

Kroger is the parent company to King Soopers and City Market. King Soopers has 120 grocery stores in 37 cities in the state, while City Market has 32 grocery stores in 27 cities, according to their websites.

When asked if any Colorado locations would be affected, a Kroger representative told The Post that there are no further details to share at this time.

Other media outlets have already identified several locations facing closures in Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Texas, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.

United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400, representing 35,000 members in retail food, health care, department stores, food processing, and other sectors across Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, announced that four of their represented stores will be closing.

“The communities served by our members at these stores will suffer as a direct result of Kroger prioritizing Wall Street investors over their customers and hard-working employees,” said UFCW Local 400 Union President Mark Federici in a statement.

“Closing these stores will not only result in fewer good, union job opportunities, it will further limit food access in rural areas where there are few if any alternatives to buy groceries – all for a purported ‘modest financial benefit’ to the company.”

Looking forward, Kroger also expects new store openings in 2026 and beyond.

Though it was not revealed where these new stores will be opening, company leaders said they will consider sites across the country, focusing on areas where they have competitive advantages or growth potential.

On Feb. 1 of this year, Kroger operated more than 2,700 stores. The planned closures account for about 2.2% of its total locations.

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The company said Kroger held off on closing stores amid efforts to merge with fellow grocery giant Albertsons.

Kroger and Albertsons first proposed the merger in 2022. They argued that combining would help them better compete with big retailers like Walmart and Costco.

However, the Federal Trade Commission and two states, Washington and Colorado, sued to block the merger last year, saying it would raise prices and lower workers’ wages by eliminating competition.

The company expects the closures to have a “modest financial benefit” overall and plans to reinvest the savings from the closures into improving customer experience.

By MIKE CATALINI

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing her of assaulting and interfering with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center during a congressional oversight visit at the facility.

“They will not intimidate me. They will not stop me from doing my job,” she said outside the courthouse in Newark after the brief hearing.

McIver, a Democrat, was charged in a complaint by interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, following the May 9 visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility as a detention center.

This month she was indicted on three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials. Habba said two counts carry a maximum sentence of up to eight years in prison. The third has a maximum of one year.

During Wednesday’s hearing, McIver stood and told U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper: “Your honor, I plead not guilty.” The judge set a Nov. 10 trial date.

Outside the courthouse, McIver warned that anyone who pushes back against the Trump administration will find themselves in a similar position.

McIver’s lawyer, former U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman, said McIver pleaded not guilty because she is not guilty. He said federal agents created a risky situation at Delaney Hall.

The indictment is the latest development in a legal-political drama that has seen the Trump administration take Democratic officials from New Jersey’s largest city to court amid the president’s ongoing immigration crackdown and Democrats’ efforts to respond. The prosecution is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption.

During the same visit to the detention center, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on a trespassing charge that was later dropped. Baraka is suing Habba over what he called a malicious prosecution.

A nearly two-minute video clip released by the Department of Homeland Security shows McIver at the facility inside a chain-link fence just before Baraka’s arrest on other side of the barrier, where other people were protesting. McIver and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor.

The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police.”

It is not clear from police bodycam video if the contact was intentional, incidental or the result of jostling in the chaotic scene.

The complaint alleges that she “slammed” her forearm into an agent and then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him.

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The indictment also says she placed her arms around the mayor to try to stop his arrest and says again that she slammed her forearm into and grabbed an agent.

Democrats including New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, who were with McIver at the detention center that day, have criticized the arrest and disputed the charges.

Members of Congress are legally authorized to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill spelling out that authority.

McIver, 39, first came to Congress in September in a special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in the 10th District. She was then elected to a full term in November.

A Newark native, she was president of the Newark City Council from 2022 to 2024 and worked in the city’s public schools before that.