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Maui fire evacuees moving out of shelters and into hotels where they could live for months

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui residents whose homes burned in a wildfire that incinerated a historic town and killed more than 100 people are steadily filling Hawaii hotels that are prepared to house them and provide services until at least next spring, officials said Thursday. Authorities hope to empty crowded, uncomfortable group shelters by early next week and move displaced people into hotel rooms, said Brad Kieserman, vice president for disaster operations with the American Red Cross. Hotels are also available for eligible evacuees who have spent the last eight days sleeping in cars or camping in parking lots, he said. “We will be able to keep folks in hotels for as long as it takes to find housing for them,” Kieserman said at a media briefing. “I am confident we’ll have plenty of rooms.” Contracts with the hotels will last for at least seven months but could easily be extended, he said. The properties will be staffed by service providers who will offer meals, counseling, financi...

Execution set for Florida man convicted of killing two women he met at beach bars in 1996

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of killing two women he met at beach bars in the Florida Panhandle in 1996 is set to be executed under a death warrant signed Thursday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.Michael Duane Zack III’s lethal injection is scheduled for Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. It’s the sixth execution scheduled in Florida this year after a break dating back to 2019.The scheduled execution of Zack, 54, would be the eighth under DeSantis. Though Florida has been executing death row inmates at a far slower pace than under its previous governors, DeSantis has made tougher, more far-reaching death penalty laws an issue in his presidential campaign.According to court records, Zack went on a crime spree across the Florida Panhandle in June 1996. He had been living in Tallahassee when he borrowed a bartender’s car and never returned it, authorities said. Zack made his way toward Panama City, where the owner of a local construction business allowed Zack to stay in his...

Colorado fugitive takes plea deal in connection with dramatic Vegas Strip casino standoff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A fugitive from Colorado who was arrested after a spectacular standoff last month that had furniture flying from a window at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip has taken a plea deal that is expected to send him to his home state to serve any prison sentence, his attorney said Thursday.Matthew John Ermond Mannix, now 36, pleaded guilty to felony property destruction and misdemeanor negligence charges and has agreed to pay nearly $55,300 in restitution, attorney David Roger said.The judge in Nevada could also fine Mannix up to $12,000 and sentence him to one-to-five years in prison concurrent with a 364-day jail term.Prosecutors agreed to drop more serious felony kidnapping and coercion charges, according to court documents. A conviction in Nevada on the kidnapping charge can carry the possibility of life in prison.Mannix is from Golden, Colorado. Roger said his client would be transferred after sentencing Sept. 28 to Colorado and serve his Nevada sentence with any...

Authorities charge 10 current and former California police officers in corruption case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Authorities have charged 10 current or former police officers at two Northern California departments in a federal corruption investigation, they said Thursday as they outlined a range of allegations from engaging in fraud aimed at boosting pay to violating residents’ civil rights.Ismail J. Ramsey, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, announced the charges against current or former officers of the police departments in Antioch and Pittsburg, two San Francisco Bay Area cities. Arrest warrants were served Thursday in California, Texas and Hawaii, said Robert Tripp, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office.“Any breach the public’s trust is absolutely unacceptable,” Tripp said while discussing charges against Antioch officers that include using their official positions as officers to deprive people of their rights.Tripp said the arrests were the result of a two-year investigation. Authorities said early in the news...

2 Nigerian brothers plead not guilty to sexual extortion charges after death of Michigan teenager

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) — Two Nigerian brothers pleaded not guilty Thursday to sexually extorting teenage boys and young men in Michigan and across the country, a prosecutor said. Samuel Ogoshi, 22, and Samson Ogoshi, 20, of Lagos, Nigeria, entered the pleas during their arraignment in US. District Court in Marquette, Michigan, U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a news release.A detention hearing has been scheduled for next Wednesday, Totten said.The Ogoshis are accused of running an international sextortion ring in which they posed as a woman and which resulted in the suicide of 17-year-old Jordan DeMay of Marquette, in the Upper Peninsula, on March 25, 2022.Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading victims to send explicit photos online then threatening to make the images public if the victim doesn’t pay money or engage in sexual favors.The two men each face single counts of conspiracy to sexually exploit minors, conspiracy to distribute child sexual abuse images and consp...

REVIEW: Blue Beetle blasts his way into superhero history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

Superhero films have become a complicated genre, one that’s becoming more self-reflexive with every entry. With the invention of the cinematic universe superheroes began to interact with each other and grow together. And with the unfortunate innovation of the multiverse, it’s become quite common for fans to expect superheroes of different eras and franchises to pop up together. One day, there will be a studio that tries to get Spider-Man to fight Batman. It’s become incredibly exhausting to be even a casual enjoyer of superhero cinema because of all this homework the viewer needs to do to keep up. So when a film like Blue Beetle comes around, that’s not so concerned with it’s place in the superhero landscape, it feels like a breath of fresh air.Xolo Maridueña in Blue Beetle, courtesy of Warner Bros.Blue Beetle tells the tale of young Latino college graduate Jaime Reyes (played by Xolo Maridueña from Cobra Kai). He returns home from college to find his f...

Identifying victims of the Maui wildfire will be a challenging task. Here’s what it entails

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The challenge is formidable: identifying the remains of more than 100 victims as agonized loved ones yearn for information about those missing in Maui after the United States’ deadliest wildfire in more than a century. It is a painstaking process, and one that other communities have endured following disasters and mass casualties. The advent of DNA technology and subsequent advances have provided powerful tools. But finding remains, zeroing in on genetic material or other clues and amassing the information needed to get a match still takes time — if certainty comes at all. As Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said this week when asked about the death toll: “You want it fast … We’re going to do it right.” Here’s a look at how the work of identification unfolds.WHAT IS KNOWN SO FAR? As of Thursday afternoon, the toll stood at 111, though the search continues, and Gov. Josh Green has warned scores more could be found. Maui County said nine victims have been i...

'I feel good': More than 80 Chicago CRED graduates receive diplomas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

CHICAGO — Dozens of Chicago CRED students are taking center stage Thursday as they receive their high school diplomas and embark on bright futures.The graduation took place drive-thru style, there was a DJ and a red carpet. How one anti-gun organization is helping in fight against violence amid pandemic After dropping out of high school, Leneaha Gist, 27, never thought she would return to school.But on Thursday, she proudly received her high school diploma."I feel good," Gist said. "I'm happy. I'm excited."Gists is just one of more than 80 graduates taking center stage on the red carpet for earning their high school diplomas.Chicago CRED, with sites on Chicago's West and South sides, works with young men and women at high risk for gun violence.By looking at her, you wouldn't know. But Gist was shot 11 times last year."I was like depressed, PTSD, going through a lot and the program helped me come out that shell," Gist said. "They helped me get my diploma and I'm going to college."R...

7-year-old accidentally shoots himself inside home in Humboldt Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

CHICAGO — A 7-year-old boy is hospitalized Thursday evening after accidentally shooting himself in the hand inside a home in Humboldt Park, according to police.Chicago Police Department officers were called to the shooting around 5:30 p.m. in the 4000 block of West North Avenue. Teen, 15, critical after shooting in Palatine: police According to police, the boy was inside a bedroom handling a gun when he accidentally shot himself.He was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, police said.Two firearms were recovered at the scene.No arrests have been made.The incident is still under investigation by Area Five detectives.

Federal appeals court rules in favor of abortion pill restrictions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – A federal appeals court handed down a ruling Wednesday that restricts mifepristone, one of the two main drugs used for medication abortion in the United States.The ruling says the Food and Drug Administration should roll back the use of the abortion drug mifepristone, but the new rules won’t take effect until the Supreme Court decides the next step in the case.The Alliance Defending Freedom argued the lawsuit before the court.“The court ruled that the FDA is required to protect their health by having common sense safeguards,” said Julie Blake, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.Blake applauds the ruling and the restrictions, including “things like requiring a doctor, having office visits before receiving these pills and not letting them be given out through the mail.”The court ruling also says the abortion pill can't be prescribed after seven weeks of pregnancy or via telemedicine.In a statement, Vice President Kamala Harris slammed the latest c...