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Banners purportedly from Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel say gang has sworn off sales of fentanyl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Banners appeared Monday in northern Mexico purportedly signed by a faction of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel claiming that the gang has sworn off the sale and production of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.But experts quickly cast doubt on the veracity of the claim, saying that fentanyl — which has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States — remains one of the cartel’s biggest money makers.Prosecutors in Sinaloa confirmed that the banners appeared on overpasses and near roadways, but could not say whether they were authentic or who had hung them up. The machine-printed banners purportedly signed by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman claim they have prohibited the sale or production of fentanyl in the northern state of Sinaloa. The sons are known as “the Chapitos” after their famous father. “In Sinaloa, the sale, manufacture, transport or any other business dealing with fentanyl, is strictly prohibited, including the sale of che...

95-year-old painter threatened with eviction from Cape Cod dune shack wins five-year reprieve

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. (AP) — A 95-year-old painter and his family threatened with eviction from the Provincetown, Massachusetts, dune shack they have helped care for and occupy for nearly eight decades have won a reprieve.A legal team representing the painter worked out an agreement with federal officials that allows Salvatore Del Deo and his family to continue to live in and maintain the shack for five years, according to his son Romolo Del Deo.The shack is one of a number dotting the more remote reaches of the Cape Cod National Seashore, located within the Peaked Hill Bars Historic District in Provincetown and Truro. The isolated shacks have no electricity or indoor plumbing and are prized for their uninterrupted solitude.The family was abruptly evicted by the National Park Service during the summer when the agency opted to start a bidding process to let the public apply for up to 10-year-leases to occupy eight of the shacks. The shack occupied by the Del Deos was not among the eigh...

Northern California seashore searched for missing swimmer after unconfirmed report of a shark attack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities searched a remote section of California’s Point Reyes National Seashore on Monday for a swimmer missing since a possible shark attack during the weekend.The swimmer was reported missing late Sunday morning near Point Reyes, northwest of San Francisco Bay, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Hunter Schnabel.The Coast Guard suspended its search Monday morning. “We didn’t find the individual so there’s no way for us to confirm whether or not it was a shark attack,” Schnabel said.The National Park Service continued a search along the shore of Wildcat Beach and by watercraft, said Christine Beekman, the Point Reyes public information officer.Beekman said other swimmers reported the disappearance. The missing person’s identity had yet to be positively confirmed, she said.The Associated Press

Woman charged with attempted abduction of boy, 4, in Hamilton

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

Police in Hamilton have charged a woman in the attempted abduction of a four-year-old boy who was with his mother at the time of the alleged incident.Officers were called to the Jackson Street West and MacNab Street South area just before 7 p.m. on Oct. 1.It’s alleged that a female suspect approached a four-year-old boy while he was with his mother. The woman hugged the boy and then walked away with him in her arms.Police said when the mother confronted her, she placed him back on the ground and left the area. The suspect was arrested a short time later.The boy was not harmed.Authorities noted that the accused and the mother and boy are not known to each other. They identified the woman as 37-year-old Simithy Mansaray of Hamilton.She’s been charged with the abduction of a person under 14.A Hamilton police spokesperson said that “given the nature of the incident,” the woman’s photo was released to the public.

Hundreds join search for 9-year-old girl who vanished during camping trip in upstate New York park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

MOREAU, N.Y. (AP) — Hundreds of law enforcement officers, forest rangers and others searched an expanding swath of upstate New York on Monday for a 9-year-old girl who vanished during a camping trip over the weekend.Charlotte Sena disappeared while riding her bicycle Saturday evening in Moreau Lake State Park, about 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Albany, according to the state police. Police fear she may have been abducted.The girl’s family pleaded with the public for help in finding Charlotte, including providing any tips to the state police.“We just want her returned safely like any parent would,” the family said in a statement. “No tip is too small, please call if you know anything at all.” About 400 people took part in the search Monday, up from more than 100 the day before, state police said. The searchers included state and local police, forest rangers, local volunteer firefighters, and some private search and rescue groups, officials said. Authorities also requ...

House Republican duo calls for fraud probe into federal anti-poverty program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The federal government should investigate potential fraud in one of its largest anti-poverty programs, two Republican members of Congress say. In a Sept. 20 letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodoro that was made public Monday by Mississippi’s state auditor, U.S. Reps. Jason Smith, of Missouri, and Darin LaHood, of Illinois, said the Government Accountability Office should review non-assistance spending in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.The TANF program provides about $16.5 billion in federal funding to states for services intended to help families who cannot afford their basic needs.Smith chairs the House Committee on Ways and Means, and LaHood chairs the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare. The congressional Republicans linked their concerns about fraud to Mississippi’s sprawling corruption scandal in which authorities say $77 million in federal welfare funds intended to help some of the nation’s poorest people were diverte...

Brazil’s government starts expelling non-Indigenous people from two native territories in the Amazon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government on Monday began removing thousands of non-Indigenous people from two native territories in a move that will affect thousands who live in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.The South American nation’s intelligence agency ABIN said in a statement that the goal is to return the Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacaja lands in Para state to the original peoples. It did not say whether or not the expulsion of non-Indigenous people has been entirely peaceful.The territories are located around the municipalities of Sao Felix do Xingu, Altamira, Anapu and Senador Jose Porfirio in Para state. Brazil’s government said the country’s Supreme Court and other judges had ordered the operation.Indigenous groups estimate more than 10,000 non-Indigenous people are living inside the two territories. ABIN said as many as 2,500 Indigenous people live in 51 villages within.“The presence of strangers on Indigenous land threatens the integrity of the Indigenous (people) a...

Mohawk Mothers worry evidence of human remains at McGill work site will be destroyed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

MONTREAL — After losing their bid to halt construction at the site of a former Montreal hospital, a group of Indigenous women who believe there may be unmarked graves at that location say they’re worried evidence could be jeopardized if work continues.Workers want to move piles of material — without sifting through them — that were excavated from an area where sniffer dogs have indicated remains could be located, a spokeswoman for the group known as the Mohawk Mothers told reporters Monday.Moving that material without analyzing it first risks making the search for potential bodies more difficult at the site, where McGill University is expanding its downtown campus, said Kwetiio, who uses one name.“You want to take remains that need to be sifted, need to be investigated and you just want to pick them up and throw them in a truck and move them somewhere else,” she said. “Well, what happens when you find something in that pile somewhere else? You will have already sta...

Police search for suspects in Near West Side armed robberies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Police Department is searching for suspects involved in multiple armed robberies on the city's Near West Side Sunday night and early Monday morning.According to one of the victims, they said three suspects, between the ages of 18 to 22-years-old, attacked him near the Phoenix STEM Military Academy on the 140 block of South Campbell Avenue.Nearby, a 24-year-old man was walking on the 100 block of South Western Avenue, when two men got out of a white sedan and took his bag and other items at gunpoint. Gunfire erupts amid armored car robbery attempt near Walmart in Country Club Hills Earlier in Chicago's Greektown neighborhood, a 28-year-old woman walking on the 200 block of South Halsted Avenue just before 1 a.m. was robbed reportedly by a man and woman who were also in a white sedan. The 28-year-old's purse and cell phone were taken at gunpoint.These armed robberies are still under investigation.The CPD Area Three Commander said their current solve rate on ro...

Trump seethes through start of trial in New York lawsuit accusing him of lying about his wealth

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:03:45 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Aggrieved and defiant, former President Donald Trump sat through hours of sometimes testy opening statements Monday in a fraud lawsuit that could cost him control of Trump Tower and other prized properties.“Disgraceful trial,” he declared during a lunch break, after listening to lawyers for New York Attorney General Letitia James excoriate him as a habitual liar. The state's lawsuit accuses the business-mogul-turned-politician and his company of deceiving banks, insurers and others by misstating his wealth for years in financial statements.“They were lying year after year after year,” Kevin Wallace, a lawyer in James' office, said as Trump sat at the defense table. He looked straight ahead, arms crossed, facing away from a screen that showed details of Wallace's presentation.Trump denies wrongdoing and voluntarily attended a trial that he called a “sham,” a “scam,” a waste of the state’s time and “a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time...