St. Paul man charged with killing girlfriend’s estranged husband, who allegedly shot him last year

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A 32-year-old who was allegedly shot and wounded by his girlfriend’s estranged husband last summer is now accused of fatally shooting the man in St. Paul this week.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged James Edward Hagen, of St. Paul, on Wednesday with murder in the Monday night shooting of Jonathan Diaz, 35, in the Payne-Phalen area.

James Edward Hagen (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

A woman told police that she and Diaz were still married, but had been separated for four years and she’d been dating Hagen for three years.

Last Aug. 29 at 2:30 p.m., officers were sent to Hagen’s residence on York Avenue off Arcade Street. Hagen had gunshot wounds to both his legs. He told police he was outside working on a vehicle when someone came up and shot him, but he said he didn’t know who the shooter was or why anyone would shoot him.

Hagen’s girlfriend told police that her estranged husband, Diaz, shot Hagen out of jealousy, but she and Hagen wouldn’t speak further to an investigator, according to the complaint.

Police arrested Diaz the next day. Officers didn’t find a gun on him or in his car, and neighbors and other witnesses were too far away to identify the shooter.

“Charges were not brought against (Diaz) with regards to the shooting because the case could not be proved against him beyond a reasonable doubt due to the spousal privilege and a lack of cooperation from Hagen,” Wednesday’s complaint said.

Monday night homicide

On Monday at 8:25 p.m., police were called again to Hagen’s address about a shooting. Officers found Diaz’s estranged wife giving Diaz CPR near a detached garage. St. Paul Fire medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Witnesses told police Hagen was the shooter and he left on a small bicycle before abandoning it and running away, the complaint said.

A friend of Diaz’s told police they drove past Hagen’s home earlier in the day and Diaz greeted his son who was outside. Diaz later returned to the home, with his friend dropping him off. She heard gunshots as she drove away and tried to call Diaz to see if he was OK.

Police spoke to Diaz’s estranged wife’s 13-year-old daughter, who said she saw the incident but didn’t want to get her mother in trouble. She said it sounded like her mother was “switching it up” when talking to police and saying she didn’t know who shot Diaz, according to the complaint.

The teen said she knew Diaz and Hagen didn’t get along, and Hagen had said he’d kill Diaz the next time he saw him. But she “didn’t think Hagen would actually do it,” the complaint said.

She and her mother were in the kitchen when they heard more than 10 loud bangs and ran outside. Her mother ran toward Diaz and Hagen yelled, “I told you I was going to kill him!,” the complaint said of what the girl told police. Her mother yelled at Hagen, “Are you serious right now?” and he responded, “Dead serious, (expletive)!,” the complaint said.

Diaz’s estranged wife told investigators that Diaz would drive by the York Avenue address to see his child. Hagen found out he’d driven by earlier Monday, and she and Hagen argued about it, the complaint said. She said Hagen left.

After hearing the bangs and finding Diaz on the ground, the woman told police she hadn’t seen Hagen there.

Police arrested Hagen on Tuesday and he declined to speak with investigators. He is being held in the Ramsey County jail. An attorney for Hagen wasn’t listed in the court file as of Wednesday.

An autopsy found Diaz had been shot six times.

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Defense for Bob Menendez rests without New Jersey senator testifying

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By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — The defense for Sen. Bob Menendez rested Wednesday without the New Jersey Democrat testifying at his New York bribery trial.

Lawyers for Menendez called several witnesses over two days in an effort to counter seven weeks of testimony and hundreds of exhibits and communications introduced by Manhattan federal prosecutors.

Menendez, 70, maintains he is not guilty of charges that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold and cash from 2018 through 2022 in exchange for using his clout in the Senate to deliver favors to the benefit of three New Jersey businessmen.

Two of the businessmen — Fred Daibes and Wael Hana — are on trial with him. A third, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty to charges and testified against the trio during the trial.

Daibes and Hana also have pleaded not guilty and were given an opportunity to present a defense, though Judge Sidney H. Stein told jurors that the burden is on prosecutors and a defense was not required. Lawyers for Daibes rested at the same time as Menendez without presenting a defense. Hana’s lawyers were to start presenting their case.

Prosecutors took seven weeks to present their case before resting last Friday. They offered evidence to show that Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, served as a go-between most times to connect the senator and the businessmen.

Nadine Menendez, 57, who began dating the senator in 2018, has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, but her trial has been postponed as she recovers from breast cancer surgery.

Lawyers for Bob Menendez have argued that his wife hid her financial troubles from him, including an inability to afford mortgage payments on her Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home, along with many of her dealings with the businessmen. They’ve also said she inherited gold found in her bedroom during a 2022 FBI raid on their home.

An FBI agent testified earlier in the trial that he directed that more than $486,000 in cash and over $100,000 in gold bars be seized in the raid because he suspected that a crime may have occurred.

Among witnesses called by Menendez’s lawyers was his sister, Caridad Gonzalez, 80, who told the jury that members of her family routinely stored large amounts of cash at their homes after Menendez’s parents fled Cuba in 1951 with only the money they had hidden in the secret compartment of a grandfather clock.

“It’s normal. It’s a Cuban thing,” she said.

Bob Menendez was born after the family arrived in Manhattan.

Menendez has pleaded not guilty to bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. After the charges were announced in September, he was forced out of his powerful post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He has resisted calls to resign from the Senate and a month ago filed papers to run for reelection as an independent.

Prosecutors allege that Daibes delivered gold bars and cash to Menendez and his wife to get the senator’s help with a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund, prompting Menendez to act in ways favorable to Qatar’s government.

They also say Menendez did things benefiting Egyptian officials in exchange for bribes from Hana as the businessman secured a valuable deal with the Egyptian government to certify that imported meat met Islamic dietary requirements.

A previous corruption prosecution of Menendez on unrelated charges ended with a deadlocked jury in 2017.

Timberwolves agree to one-year deal with Joe Ingles

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A day after losing Kyle Anderson to Golden State, Minnesota agreed to terms with another veteran with playmaking chops to potentially take his place.

The Timberwolves and forward Joe Ingles have agreed to a one-year deal, a source confirmed to the Pioneer Press. ESPN first reported the deal.

Ingles — who will be 37 years old by the start of next season — is a smart veteran who’s capable of running an offense if needed and also knocks down the deep ball at a high clip.

The 6-foot-9 forward is a 41 percent 3-point shooter for his career on 4.2 attempts per game. He had a slightly diminished role last season in Orlando — with his minute load dipping to 17 per game — but he did shoot 44 percent from three for the Magic.

The second-unit playmaking will likely be something Wolves coach Chris Finch relies upon. It was one of the main reasons Finch adored Anderson. Ingles isn’t nearly the defender Anderson is, but he’s a far superior shooter, which was a much-have addition for Minnesota this offseason as opponents continue to bog down the paint against Anthony Edwards.

Ingles also comes with the benefit of significant experience with Minnesota’s existing veterans. He played with Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert for numerous years in Utah, joining them for multiple playoff runs. Ingles knows how to successfully utilize Gobert’s abilities to enhance the overall offense.

And while Rob Dillingham — who the team moved up to No. 8 in last month’s NBA Draft to select — is in the team’s immediate plans as a scoring punch off the bench, Ingles can potentially take some ballhandling and playmaking duties off the 19-year-old’s shoulders as he acclimates to the NBA.

New Vegas attraction lets you become a player in a video game world

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Jason Bracelin | Las Vegas Review-Journal (TNS)

LAS VEGAS — A joystick with a pulse, that’s what we’ve become.

An orb of light shoots our way, heading toward our toes.

Kick it!

Contact made, it rockets back in the other direction, where a team of four returns fire.

Back and forth it goes as we volley the pulsating sphere, trying to boot it past each other in order to score a goal.

It’s a Friday afternoon, and we’re engaged in a quick session of “Light Hockey.”

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The game — which is kind of like playing air hockey while standing atop the table; also, you’re in cyberspace — is one of dozens featured here at the Electric Playhouse, a high-tech new attraction that opened in June at the Forum Shops at Caesars, where nearly nearly surface pulses with visuals so brightly colored and enveloping, it feels like our eyeballs have been swallowed by a herd of hungry rainbows.

The 10,000-square-foot venue, which bills itself as “a social gaming destination,” is designed to be a bridge between digital and physical realms, one that poses the question: Instead of merely playing a video game, wouldn’t it be more fun to inhabit one?

“You can get lost in a video game — they’re just so immersive,” notes Brandon Garrett, Electric Playhouse’s CEO and co-founder. “And so to me, as a parent, what better way to convince my kids to get off an iPad or off the screen than to say, ‘Why don’t we just literally, physically step into that world?’ ”

People play light hockey by kicking light projections with their feet at Electric Playhouse, a new high-tech social gaming place opening soon at The Forum Shops at Caesars on June 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

The outdoor space overlooking the Strip at Electric Playhouse, a new high-tech social gaming place opening soon at The Forum Shops at Caesars on June 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

Co-Founder and Senior Design Programmer Luke Balaoro, left, with CEO/Co-Founder Brandon Garrett speak at Electric Playhouse, a new high-tech social gaming place opening soon at The Forum Shops at Caesars on June 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

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‘Infinite’ experiences

Think of it as a VR experience without the goofy headset.

That’s kind of what it feels like navigating the Electric Playhouse, which is posited on state-of-the-art body-mapping technology utilizing around 110 projectors and 50 sensors throughout the venue.

“What we’ve done is installed a series of sensors throughout the entire facility that basically tracks your motion and creates what we call a point cloud,” Garrett explains. “It’s basically an avatar of yourself. And so you become a player in a video game world.”

As you move through the place, the walls, floors and tables react to your movements with 360-degree projection-mapping following your every step.

“I’ve been wandering all over the Strip, seeing a bunch of pre-rendered content,” notes Luke Balaoro, Electric Playhouse’s senior software architect and co-founder. “What’s really cool — and what differentiates us — is our real-time rendering. We’re taking in a lot of sensor data, we’re processing it, and we’re making it react to people, making games out of it.”

The gaming layout is divided among numerous “pods,” designed for one to two players who can choose from around 12 different games that range from “Crystalius,” where alien spaceships are targeted, to “Paint Pong,” where you create your own artwork.

Then there’s the larger arena area, where we play “Light Hockey,” and which can accommodate around two dozen players.

Guests pay by the hour and have access to all the games, which are created in-house in order to maintain a fresh, ever-growing selection.

“We build everything,” Garrett says. “And so, as we’re adding to the library, every time you come back it could be a completely different experience. It’s one physical footprint, but almost an infinite amount of experiences that we can pack into this facility.”

Projections of colorful cords cover the floor and walls at Electric Playhouse, a new high-tech social gaming place opening soon at The Forum Shops at Caesars on June 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

CEO/Co-Founder Brandon Garrett stands in a game pod being calibrated at Electric Playhouse, a new high-tech social gaming place opening soon at The Forum Shops at Caesars on June 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

Financial Controller Patricia Garrett sets up an electronic reader board near the entrance at Electric Playhouse, a new high-tech social gaming place opening soon at The Forum Shops at Caesars on June 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS)

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From New Mexico to new digs

The tables and walls flutter with butterflies, swarm with cartoon bugs and pulse with ocean waves, as if we’re plunging through some aquatic depths in the desert, somehow.

We’re in one of three party rooms at the Electric Playhouse, which are designed to host everything from birthday celebrations to corporate events to ticketed dining experiences (the Electric Playhouse’s culinary program is set to debut this summer).

“The magic here is the tabletop itself is actually interactive,” Garrett explains with a swoop of the hand, making the aforementioned bugs scatter.

This is the Electric Playhouse’s second location, having been launched in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in early 2020, just six weeks before the pandemic hit.

“For us, Vegas just made sense,” Garrett says of the company’s westward expansion, “because we’re trying to build our own brand, and what better place to do that than the world stage in Vegas?”

There are some unique-to-the-market flourishes here, namely an outdoor balcony offering killer views of the Strip and a new twist on an old staple: the Vegas wedding.

“We see huge opportunity for weddings within this space,” Garrett says. “You want to get married in the clouds or some total fantasy thing and make it a true destination?”

In the meantime, there are more games to build, more “Light Hockey” goals to be scored.

“There’s just so many ways we can kind of continue to bridge this physical/digital realm,” Garrett says. “I feel like a kid in a candy store every day. I mean, we’re constantly like, ‘Oh, my God, we can do that?’”

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