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Porch pirate escape: Suspect hides in storm drain, apprehended in Fayette County pursuit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. – A suspected porch pirate’s attempt to evade law enforcement took an unexpected twist as he sought refuge within a storm drain, only to be apprehended following a determined effort by officers. Lavern Vereen, 31, found himself in a tight spot after allegedly stealing packages and attempting to hide from pursuing officers in a storm drain located in Fayette County, Georgia.The chain of events led to an encounter that began with a vehicle crash involving Vereen’s car. As responding officers arrived at the scene, Vereen fled on foot and prompted a search operation. Sheriff Barry Babb of Fayette County said authorities had reason to suspect Vereen of package thefts prior to the crash.“It started as a vehicle crash, and as responding officers arrived, the subject fled on foot,” he said.As officers scoured the neighborhood, Vereen managed to enter a storm drain and attempted to make his escape by crawling deep underground. With over 50 ya...

EU condemns assassination of Ecuador presidential candidate 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, denounced on Thursday the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. “This tragic act of violence is also an attack against the institutions and democracy in Ecuador,” Borrell said, demanding “the perpetrators and organizers of this heinous crime must be brought to justice.” Villavicencio was shot and killed Wednesday during a political rally in Ecuador’s capital Quito. Nine people were injured and the alleged killer was badly injured, local media reported. Villavicencio was a former journalist who had worked at Ecuador’s national oil company Petroecuador. After becoming a political adviser, he was elected to Ecuador’s National Assembly in 2021. Villavicencio was running as a presidential candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement in the upcoming elections on August 20. He was known for speaking up against drug cartels, organized crime and corruption. The upcoming election...

Boston receives permit to reconstruct Long Island Bridge, part of effort to restore recovery facilities on island

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

The City of Boston has received a state permit vital to its efforts to restore addiction recovery services on Long Island in Boston Harbor.Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced on Thursday that a Chapter 91 License had been granted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), allowing for the reconstruction of the Long Island Bridge.The bridge’s reconstruction, a project Wu’s administration hopes to complete within four years, is one of several hurdles the city faced as it looks to restore a 35-acre campus on the island that would provide long-term addiction treatment services and housing to those in need.The bridge once connected the Boston-owned island with Quincy and was closed in 2014 due to safety reasons, ending access to the island where transitional housing and drug addiction treatment programs were offered.With a new permit to rebuild the structure, Wu said the city was ready to move ahead.“This is about people and the opportunity for an...

Financial adviser who stole from client with dementia, others, sent to prison

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A financial adviser who stole about $1.2 million from the retirement accounts of his mostly older victims, one of whom had dementia and another of whom had a traumatic brain injury, has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.Paul McGonigle, 67, of Middleborough, starting in 2015 pretended to be his clients on calls with their annuity companies and signed their names on forms requesting withdrawals from their annuities, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said Wednesday.He also induced victims to give him money to invest on their behalf, which he used for personal and business expenses, prosecutors said.When clients began to ask questions, McGonigle concealed his fraud by assuring clients that their investments were growing, prosecutors said.“What Paul McGonigle did is despicable,” Christopher DiMenna, acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston office said in a statement. “He preyed on his elderly and vulnerable clients, betrayed their trust,...

Maui launches mass evacuation effort for people stranded north of wildfire. Follow live updates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

By REBECCA BOONE (Associated Press)Follow live updates about wildfires racing across part of Maui in Hawaii, destroying sections of a historic town on the island and forcing some to flee to the relative safety of the ocean, where the Coast Guard rescued them. The fires forced evacuations in some areas, including the popular tourist spot of Lahaina. The National Weather Service says Hurricane Dora, which is passing south of the island chain at a safe distance, was partly to blame for strong winds driving the flames, knocking out power and grounding firefighting helicopters.A mass evacuation effort will resume Thursday morning for visitors and residents stranded just north of a historic town in Maui that was destroyed by a wildfire this week, officials said. Buses will pick up people in Kaanapali, north of Lahaina, taking visitors directly to the Kahului Airport and residents to a shelter in central Maui, the county of Maui announced on Facebook.The wildfires, driven by strong winds f...

Western officials: Niger junta warned they’d kill deposed president after any military intervention

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s junta told a top U.S. diplomat that they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if regional countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press.Representatives of the junta told U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.A U.S. official confirmed that account, also speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Bazoum was deposed by coup leaders on July 26 and says he is being held hostage at his residence.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.West African heads of state began meeting Thursday on next steps after Niger’s military junta defied their deadline to reinstate the nation’s deposed president, but analysts say the bloc...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises with hopes that inflation will keep cooling

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rising Thursday as Wall Street lets out a bit of an exhale following the latest update on inflation across the U.S.The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher in midday trading and on track for just its second winning day in the last eight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 231 points, or 0.7%, at 35,455, as of 11:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.Thursday’s highly anticipated report showed U.S. consumers paid prices that were 3.2% higher in July than a year earlier. That’s a touch milder than the 3.3% inflation rate economists expected to see and down sharply from last summer’s peak above 9%. Beneath the surface, underlying trends for inflation were also within expectations.The readings bolstered hopes among investors that the Federal Reserve’s campaign to grind down inflation is progressing and that maybe it could even be done hiking interest rates. High rates undercut inflation by slowing the entire economy and hurting investment ...

Virgin Galactic flies its first tourists to the edge of space

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) — Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists Thursday, including a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean.The space plane glided back to a runway landing at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert, after a brief flight that gave passengers a few minutes of weightlessness.Cheers erupted from families and friends watching from below when the craft’s rocket motor fired after it was released from the plane that had carried it aloft. The rocket ship reached about 55 miles (88 kilometers) high. Richard Branson’s company expects to begin offering monthly trips to customers on its winged space plane, joining Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the space tourism business.Virgin Galactic passenger Jon Goodwin, who was among the first to buy a ticket in 2005, said he had faith that he would someday make the trip. The 80-year-old athlete — he compet...

Toronto, GTA gas prices expected to hit highest price of year on Friday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

Gas prices are expected to hit their highest price of the year across the Greater Toronto Area on Friday, spiking an additional three cents to 173.9 cents a litre according to En-Pro.The previous high for 2023 sits at 170.9 — the level it soared to in both July and early August.But sadly, it’s expected to get worse.Some experts are forecasting that the price at the pumps could tickle $2 a litre this fall.“$1.90 or $1.85 is very possible, and more importantly. We’re going to stay there,” said Dan McTeague, President of Canadians for Affordable Energy.McTeague blames supply issues for the surge.“We’re seeing supply continually dwindling and the fact that OPEC has in no small way contributed to this by saying ‘we’re gonna cut back a million barrels a day’ on top of the million that Saudi Arabia has committed to, it means that it’s leaving the world short about a million-and-a-half barrels a day compared to demand at any time.”The we...

No joke: Satirical websites get caught up in Meta’s quest to block news in Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:59 GMT

OTTAWA — Satirical websites are getting caught up in Meta’s quest to remove all news from its Facebook and Instagram platforms in Canada, which the publications say could threaten their survival. Luke Gordon Field, editor-in-chief of The Beaverton, says the site’s satirical content began getting blocked from Canadian eyeballs this week.He says most of his website’s traffic comes from Facebook, and it would be a disaster if access is not restored — one that could even result in the publication’s demise.Scott Slute, who runs the satirical site The Toronto Harold, had his content blocked by Meta last month, which he said similarly affected his business. Slute says he contacted Meta and the company determined the removal of the content was an error.Meta says it’s removing news for Canadians in response to the Online News Act, and its phased approach aims to ensure the process works as expected. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, ...