Two men have been arrested in connection with the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart, authorities said Tuesday. Paul Flores, 44, was taken into custody and charged with murder. No bail has been set.
His father, Ruben Flores, 80, was also arrested Tuesday and booked on suspicion of accessory and faces a $250,000 bail.
Investigators have not yet discovered Smart’s body but they remain hopeful, said Sheriff Ian Parkinson of San Luis Obispo County. “I believe we will find Kristin,” he said. “We will continue to focus on finding her remains regardless of any court action.”
On May 24, 1996, Smart was 19 when she disappeared while returning to a dorm at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Flores, who had been considered a prime suspect, was also a student at the school.
London (CNN)Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has held her first in-person engagement since the death of her husband, Prince Philip, last Friday.
The 94-year-old monarch hosted a ceremony on Tuesday within the confines of Windsor Castle for Earl Peel, who recently left his post as Lord Chamberlain.
The Lord Chamberlain’s Office orchestrates the Queen’s program of ceremonial events, including everything from garden parties and state visits to royal weddings and the state opening of Parliament.
By Yuliya Talmazan, Charlene Gubash and Arata Yamamoto
A mammoth cargo ship that blocked the Suez Canal last month is being held in the waterway as authorities pursue a $916 million compensation claim against its owner, according to the vessel’s insurer.
The UK Club, an insurer for the Ever Given, said in a statement Tuesday that the ship’s Japanese owners received a claim from the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), which runs the canal, on April 7. The claim includes $300 million for “loss of reputation.”
The company said a “generous offer” was made to the SCA to settle their claim on Monday, without elaborating on the sum.
“We are disappointed by the SCA’s subsequent decision to arrest the vessel today,” the company’s statement added.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Some renters continue to struggle to make ends meet, but a new statewide program hopes to ease some of that burden.
Renter Lee McCrorie told KDKA that she wishes she could just buy a house.
“I was paying $1,193, plus gas and water and all that and they just upped it to $1,200 a month,” said McCrorie.
She lives in Seven Fields and just learned about the Emergency Renter’s Assistance Program. She hopes it’ll help with her rent and piled up late fees.
“I have a lot of other bills that have been sliding and plus that one month that I was late, my sister paid it for me, so I have to pay her back,” said McCrorie.
The state sounded the alarm Tuesday, saying it doesn’t want renters to miss out on this money because they didn’t know about the program.
“This program is deliberately designed to help people dig out of what may be some very deep holes,” said Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller. “It doesn’t matter if your monthly rent is $500 or $2,500 as long as you meet the eligibility criteria.”
There’s $847 million up for grabs across 67 counties. Allegheny County created a website for applications, which can be found here.
WASHINGTON — The White House says President Joe Biden will accompany his wife, Jill Biden, early Wednesday morning to an appointment where she will undergo a “common medical procedure.”
The White House says both Bidens will then return to the White House and “resume their normal schedule.”
Later Wednesday, the president is set to address the nation on his plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. He will then visit Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place of many American service members who lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The White House did not immediately detail the nature of the first lady’s procedure.
His new late-night Fox News show is a ratings success, but former colleagues and on-air pals say Gutfeld has morphed from iconoclast to dutiful pro-Trump company man.
These days the 56-year-old Gutfeld, whose eponymous 11 p.m. weeknight programGutfeld! debuted on Fox News last week to largely hostile reviews but robust ratings, has, by some appraisals, morphed from zany rebel to company man, and from rule-breaking joker to handsomely compensated ideologue (at a rumored $4 million a year).
The second Fox News offering with his name in the title—the first aired on Saturday nights for six years starting in 2015—Gutfeld’s latest show thus far has largely consisted of crude parodies of rival personalities on other networks, sneering attacks on Joe and Hunter Biden, repeated warnings about the lying mainstream media, and an amen corner of familiar Fox News panelists, including new hire and former Trump mouthpiece Kayleigh McEnany, attempting variations on owning the libs.
The Pentagon unveiled a coronavirus microchip that it claims can detect illness and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“The tiny green thing in there, you put it underneath your skin and what that tells you is that there are chemical reactions going on inside the body. And that signal means you’re going to have symptoms tomorrow,” retired Col. Matt Hepburn, an army infectious disease physician said.
The implant was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which claimed the device can not be used for surveillance purposes.
“I haven’t called Daunte Wright’s family, but my prayers are with the family. It’s really a tragic thing that happened,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office of Wright’s death Sunday. “The question is, was it an accident? Was it intentional? That remains to be determined by a full-blown investigation,” he said, describing the body-camera footage of the shooting as “fairly graphic.”
Wright, 20, was shot and killed by a police officer on Sunday after he was pulled over in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. According to Wright’s mother, who’d spoken to her son before the shooting, he was pulled over for allegedly having an air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota.
(CNN)Multiple officers have been shot in Georgia during a police chase early Monday that ended in Carroll County, according to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.
The chase was initiated by the Georgia State Patrol, and “multiple agencies joined the pursuit,” said Ashley Hulsey, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
“There were multiple officers shot resulting in multiple injuries,” Hulsey told CNN Monday.
The sheriff’s office did not immediately provide information on what led to the police chase.
Daunte Wright, 20, who is Black, was shot dead by cops outside Minneapolis during a traffic stop, triggering unrest across the city already on edge over Derek Chauvin’s trial.
Police in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center fatally shot the Black 20-year-old man during a traffic stop on Sunday afternoon, setting off a string of violent protests amid tensions over the Derek Chauvin murder trial.
The victim’s mother spent much of Sunday afternoon at the scene of the fatal shooting, pleading with officers to remove the body of her son, Daunte Wright, from the pavement.
Pittsburgh police were investigating after a young man was found shot and killed in the doorway of a home in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood a little after 2 a.m. Monday on the 1700 block of Termon Avenue.
No arrests have been announced concerning the victim who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.
PITTSBURGH —One man was injured after an explosion from a manhole Sunday morning.
Pittsburgh police and EMS responded to the 2800 block of New Beaver Avenue for reports of an explosion just before 11:15 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Duquesne Light’s full statement below:
“Earlier today at approximately 10:40 a.m. a Duquesne Light employee working in an underground manhole on New Beaver Avenue on the North Side was injured when a cable failed. The employee was transported to Mercy Hospital where he is being treated. The safety of our employees and customers is always our top priority and our thoughts go out to this employee, his family and his colleagues. An investigation into the cause of the accident is currently underway. At this time there is no evidence of live electrical contact. This was an isolated issue— no one else was injured and no customers are out of power.”
In news from Hawaii, a standoff at a hotel is over after an armed man barricaded inside killed himself following a 10-hour lockdown, Honolulu police said.
Honolulu police said SWAT teams entered the room at the Kahala Hotel and Resort where the man was holed up at 3:30 a.m. Sunday and found him dead with self-inflicted wounds, according to CNN affiliate KITV.
No other injuries were reported, KITV said.
The initial call about shots fired at the hotel first came around 5:40 p.m. local time Saturday, Honolulu police Capt. Brian Lynch told KITV.
About five shots were fired from inside a guest room on the 4th floor, Lynch told KITV. The gunman shot through the door of one of the rooms when hotel security responded.
Police negotiatorshad tried communicating with the man, Lynch told KITV.
The suspect might have family members staying at the resort, but he was alone in the room when police entered Sunday, Lynch said. The hotel and immediate area had been evacuated during the standoff, the Kahala Hotel and Resort said in a statement.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred last night on our property and we are focused on supporting our guests and employees at this time,” the hotel said.
The hotel said staff are working with law enforcement as they conduct their investigation.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal apprehension is investigating after a Brooklyn Center police officer fatally shot a driver during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon.
According to the Brooklyn Center Police Department, officers pulled a car over for a traffic violation just before 2 p.m. near 63rd Avenue North and Orchard Avenue in Brooklyn Center.
Police say the officers determined the driver had an outstanding warrant, and the driver tried to get back in the vehicle while they were trying to make an arrest.
At that point, an officer then shot the driver, and the car kept driving for several blocks before crashing into another vehicle.
Israel appeared to confirm claims that it was behind a cyber-attack on Iran’s main nuclear facility on Sunday, which Tehran’s nuclear energy chief described as an act of terrorism that warranted a response against its perpetrators.
The apparent attack took place hours after officials at the Natanz reactor restarted spinning advanced centrifuges that could speed up the production of enriched uranium, in what had been billed as a pivotal moment in the country’s nuclear program.
The shutdown happened hours after Natanz reactor’s new centrifuges were started
Small asteroid 2021 GW4 will pass extremely close to Earth on Monday, April 12, 2021. It’ll pass just 12,313 miles (19,816 km) from Earth’s surface, or about 5% the Earth-moon distance. Amateur astronomers using telescopes can see it passing the galaxy Messier 95 on the night of Sunday, April 11.
Republicans are reacting with anger and disbelief to a proposal by the Biden administration to send cash payments to Central America as a way to combat the migrant crisis — describing the plan as “madness.”
Reuters reported Friday that the U.S. is considering a “conditional cash transfer program” to address what the White House believes are the economic woes that lead migrants to make the journey to the U.S. southern border. The plan also involves sending COVID-19 vaccines to the countries in Central America.
The sage advice that “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is older than Joe Biden, but apparently he never heard of it. Or doesn’t think much of it.
The president is on a tear, as in tearing up arrangements that were achieving their objectives. His early results are disastrous.
In an act of astonishing foolishness, Biden created a humanitarian and public safety crisis on our southern border by dismantling a successful policy structure that took years to achieve. In the Mideast, he looks determined to undo the Arab-Israeli alliance Donald Trump forged by returning to the failed policies Biden helped to implement in the Obama-Biden administration.
If that were all, it would be more than enough. But it’s not all.
Biden also wants to end the Senate filibuster and took the first step toward packing the Supreme Court. Those two moves are so destructive that even Sen. Mitt Romney, who usually saves his criticism for fellow Republicans, drew the line.
CHAMPION, Pa. —A skier at Seven Springs Mountain Resort lost control and hit two spectators Saturday.
According to a Seven Springs spokesperson, the skier was the last of the day at their annual end of season pond skim event.
The skier skied off the course, broke through a fence and hit the two spectators. They were both taken to local hospitals. Their conditions are currently unknown.
Full statement below:
“At our annual end of season pond skim event, our last skier of the day lost control and skied off the course, broke through a fence and hit two spectators. Our ski patrol swiftly attended to them. The spectators were taken to local hospitals. Our entire Seven Springs family extends our thoughts, prayers and support to all those involved.”
NEW YORK — Ramsey Clark, the attorney general in the Johnson administration who became an outspoken activist for unpopular causes and a harsh critic of U.S. policy, has died. He was 93.
Clark, whose father, Tom Clark, was attorney general and U.S. Supreme Court justice, died on Friday at his Manhattan home, a family member, Sharon Welch, announced to media outlets including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
After serving in President Lyndon Johnson’s Cabinet in 1967 and ’68, Clark set up a private law practice in New York in which he championed civil rights, fought racism and the death penalty, and represented declared foes of the United States including former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. He also defended former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
New York civil rights attorney Ron Kuby, who worked with Clark on numerous cases, called the death “very, very sad in a season of losses.”
“The progressive legal community has lost its elder dean and statesman,” Kuby said. “Over many generations, Ramsey Clark was a principled voice, conscience and a fighter for civil and human rights.”
An online gamer successfully pretended to be a White House reporter and even managed to pose questions to President Biden‘s press secretary, according to a new report.
A person who created an online profile as “Kacey ‘Lego’ Montagu” and presented herself as a correspondent for the fictitious “White House News” duped legitimate members of the White House press corps into asking her questions at briefings at least four times, according to a report from Politico.
If you go to a gun show and buy a firearm from a federally licensed seller, you will have to pass a background check, just as if you went to a bricks-and-mortar gun store. You would only escape a background check at a gun show if you bought from a seller who isn’t federally licensed.
While the data is incomplete, federally licensed sellers have been found to make up a substantial share, and perhaps a majority, of gun show vendors.
In a Rose Garden event, President Joe Biden announced several actions his administration will take to address what he called an “epidemic” of gun violence.
Biden repeated his call for Congress to pass legislation to expand background checks. The House voted largely along party lines to pass a pair of background check bills this year, but they haven’t moved forward in the Senate.
“These bills, one, require background checks for anyone purchasing a gun at a gun show or an online sale,” Biden said at the April 8 event. “Most people don’t know it, you walk into a store and you buy a gun, you have a background check. But you go to a gun show, you can buy whatever you want, and no background check.”
When it comes to background checks for gun purchases, what matters is who sells the guns, not where the guns are sold — and when a federally licensed seller is a vendor at a gun show, they have to run a background check just as they would if they were back at a bricks-and-mortar gun store.
The White House told PolitiFact that Biden wasn’t suggesting that every gun transaction at a gun show would take place without a background check. Instead, he meant that sales without background checks could occur in some cases.
However, that’s not what he said.
What the laws say about sales at gun shows
Advocates for stricter gun control measures often talk about the “gun show loophole,” though some observers say the term is a misnomer. The phrase itself doesn’t explain who is and isn’t required to run background checks at gun shows.
Federal law requires that people in the business of dealing in firearms be licensed by the federal government.
Specifically, the law says that a license is required if “a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms.”
The law specifically rules out a required license if a person “makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.”
This can sometimes be a fuzzy distinction, but it means many sellers of guns do need to have a license.
“Every federally licensed retailer, whether they are selling a gun at a brick and mortar store, a gun show or the sale starts online,” must complete a signed background check form from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and get approval from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system, said Mark Oliva, a spokesperson for the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
New York man faces a federal drug charge after drug task force officers arrested him Thursday morning following a brief chase Downtown near the Greyhound station.
Demensio McCall was in U.S. custody this afternoon on a cocaine possession count.
(CNN)A gunman killed one person and wounded at least five others — four of them critically — at a cabinet manufacturer in Bryan, Texas, on Thursday afternoon, police said.
The gunman, who is believed to be an employee of the company, Kent Moore Cabinets, fled before police arrived but was later taken into custody, Bryan Police said.
A trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety was shot while pursuing the suspect, the department tweeted. The trooper is in stable condition at a local hospital, DPS Lt. Craig Cummings said at a news conference Thursday night.
Bryan Police Chief Eric Buske said it’s not known how long the suspect had been working at the company, located inside an industrial park, or what the motive is. Police are not naming the suspect.
The gunman used a handgun and acted alone, Buske said.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — A Cambria County man is accused of assaulting a woman after he borrowed her car and crashed it into her home.
Trevor Madison, 32, of Johnstown, was arrested at about 1 am. Tuesday after Johnstown police responded to a home on the 500 block of Dorothy Avenue to find Madison forcing a bleeding woman into a running shower, according to the charges.
When officers arrived, they saw a 2010 Mazda sedan that looked as if it had been driven into the front of the home. A blood trail led to the open front door and police could hear a woman screaming upstairs.
