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An explosion in Ecuador is seen as gangs asserting power after inmates take hostages

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Criminal groups in Ecuador used explosives Friday to damage a bridge, authorities said, demonstrating their grip on the South American country where prison inmates took dozens of law enforcement officers hostage less than two days earlier. Government officials described the violent acts as the work of criminal groups with members in prisons responding to efforts by authorities to regain control of several large correctional facilities by relocating inmates, seizing weapons and other steps. Four car bombs and three explosive devices went off across the country in less than 48 hours. The latest explosion with dynamite happened early Friday on a bridge linking two cities in the coastal province of El Oro, National Police commander Luis García told The Associated Press.Hours earlier, a domestic gas tank with wads of dynamite attached exploded under a different bridge in Napo province of Napo, located within Ecuador’s portion of the Amazon rainforest.During th...

Parenting advice YouTuber Ruby Franke charged with aggravated child abuse of 2 children

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

A Utah woman who gave online parenting advice via a once-popular YouTube channel was charged Friday with six felony counts of aggravated child abuse after two of her children were found abused and malnourished, authorities said.Ruby Franke, whose now-defunct channel “8 Passengers” chronicled her family life, was arrested Wednesday night in the southern Utah city of Ivins. She was taken into custody at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt, who owns a counseling business that she says teaches people to improve their lives by being honest, responsible and humble. Hildebrandt was also arrested Wednesday and faces the same six abuse charges.Franke appears in YouTube videos with Hildebrandt that were posted online by Hildebrandt’s counseling business, ConneXions Classroom.Prosecutors allege Franke and Hildebrandt either caused or allowed someone to torture Franke’s 12-year-old son and injure her 10-year-old daughter. Both children were starved and harmed emotionally, prosecutors said. Both women ...

Another Canadian who served in Afghanistan files discrimination lawsuit against feds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is asking a judge to combine two separate lawsuits, after another Afghan Canadian alleged Canada discriminated against Afghan refugees by treating them differently than they did Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.A former Canadian language and culture adviser who served NATO in Afghanistan filed a lawsuit at the end of July alleging the government has not allowed his family in Afghanistan to seek refuge in Canada.That followed a case filed in May by two other former language and culture advisers who served in the Canadian military. They similarly accuse the government of insisting their families don’t qualify for programs bringing Afghan refugees to Canada.They all accuse the government of offering advantages to Ukrainians that were not offered to Afghans hoping to escape the Taliban takeover in 2021.Canada allowed an unlimited number of Ukrainians and their family members to come to Canada on an emergency visa for three years to work and s...

Drug task force in Northwest Indiana seizes more than 138 pounds of marijuana products

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

HOBART, Ind. — Authorities with the Lake County Drug Task Force seized more than 138 pounds of marijuana products, guns and drugs during a search warrant Friday morning.Around 7 a.m. Friday, officers served the warrant in the 500 block of South Lawrence Street in Hobart after receiving a tip on the Tip411 mobile app. 2 teens charged 6 months after 13-year-old boy shot, killed outside Gary church They seized nearly $50,000 of cash, 3 pistols, 3 rifles, about 50 pounds of marijuana, 5 pounds of pre-rolled marijuana products, 38 pounds of edibles, 45 pounds of concentrated THC wax, half a pound of mushrooms and 1,010 THC vape cartridge, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.A 20-year-old man was arrested and charges haven't been filed yet by prosecutors.

Asylum-seekers, migrants move into Chicago Lake Shore Hotel as city struggles to meet housing needs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

CHICAGO — Around 120 people have moved into a Chicago hotel as the city works to accommodate asylum-seekers and migrants who are being sent to the city.Women, men and children left school buses on Friday as they carried their belongings into the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel.The Hyde Park location first served as a temporary shelter earlier in the year and is now at the center of the latest debate over how the city is addressing the worsening crisis."If the community doesn’t have a say in it, they’re going to have an uproar. I can’t just park in your parking spot without your permission," South Shore Community Church Senior Pastor Tony Brown said. New proposed shelter site for migrants is former Marine Corps facility on NW Side Since Aug. 31, 2022, more than 13,000 migrants and asylum seekers have been sent to Chicago, in need of shelter in a city already unable to meet the needs of unhoused people."When I walk over to Whole Foods, all I see is homeless men, mentally ill Black men. Who...

Proud Boy claims 'Trump won' after sobbing for mercy and receiving 10-year sentence: reports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

(The Hill) – Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola sobbed in a Washington, D.C., courtroom on Friday, as he asked a federal judge for leniency in his Jan. 6 sentence and vowed to stay out of politics in the future.However, after receiving a 10-year prison sentence, Pezzola reportedly raised his fist and shouted, “Trump won,” as he left the courtroom, according to WUSA.The 46-year-old, who smashed a Capitol window with a stolen police riot shield, stood trial alongside four other members of the Proud Boys earlier this year in one of the most high-profiles cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The group faced seditious conspiracy charges for leading efforts to disrupt Congress' certification of the 2020 election, following former President Trump’s loss to then-candidate Joe Biden. Proud Boy Ethan Nordean sentenced to 18 years in prison, tying for highest Jan. 6 sentence Pezzola, a recent Proud Boy recruit, was the only one of the five to be acquitted of seditious conspi...

A wrestling fan event returns to Chicago - and it includes a Bulls Hall of Famer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — An event that caters to professional wrestling fans that started in the Chicago area is back in 2023 with a guest that many in the area will recognize.Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is one of a number of attendees for STARRCAST, which is taking place Friday through Sunday at the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg. Over 50 superstars from past and present from a number of domestic and international wrestling companies will be on hand for the event. They will take part in meet-and-greets, and autograph signings, along with other panel discussions for fans to watch.Conrad Thompson, a well-known wrestling promoter and podcast host, created the event in 2018, with that event also taking place in Schaumburg."It was described as almost like a 'Woodstock of Wrestling'," said Thompson to WGN News Now of STARRCAST. "It was a band of independent fellas who sort of bet on themselves and they decided they wanted to build something with the fans for the fans, and I was happy a...

'8 Passengers' YouTube parenting coach Ruby Franke charged with aggravated child abuse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah (KTVX) – Utah mother and YouTube creator Ruby Franke was officially charged with child abuse in the Fifth District Court in St. George Friday.Franke and business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were each charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse following the discovery of two of Franke’s children in conditions of neglect and abuse on Wednesday, August 30. ‘8 Passengers’ mom Ruby Franke arrested for alleged child abuse Franke was made famous by her YouTube channel “8 Passengers” where she chronicled her parenting techniques, which often came under public scrutiny.Hildebrandt is the creator of the mental health company “Connexions Classroom” and cohost of Moms of Truth with Franke, all of which she said were designed to “treat those lost and stranded in the darkness of distortion.”Police arrested the two women after Franke’s son escaped through a window of a house owned by Hildebrandt and fled to a neighboring home looking for food and water, according to an...

Man stuck in mud was 'extremely dangerous' Oregon State Hospital escapee: Police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Christopher Lee Pray, who escaped from Oregon State Hospital this week, was discovered stuck in mud near the Portland Expo Center on Friday, authorities said.On Friday morning, Portland Fire and Rescue shared on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that a person had been stuck in mud in a Portland pond for over 12 hours and crews were attempting to rescue him. Wanted man found passed out in stolen Subaru: Milwaukie PD Fire crews spent the next hour pulling him from the mud, authorities said. After he was out, he was cleaned and taken to the hospital, authorities said.It was at the hospital that an employee recognized Pray, who police said had given a fake name.Pray was taken back into custody, police said.On Thursday, state authorities announced Pray, who they warned the public to be considered "extremely dangerous," had escaped the custody of Oregon State Hospital and state police while shackled in a state van and was last seen heading south on Inter...

6th Street mass shooting suspect's friends testify about moments leading up to, during and after shots fired

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:12 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Describing a night out on Austin's Sixth Street in 2021, Assiah Howard stood up in the witness box to reenact what she saw.She showed a jury what she remembered: a teen in a different friend group "purposefully" pulling up his shirt to "flash" his gun from the waistband of his pants. She testified, "I really felt like he was going to shoot the gun." She went on to say, "It would have been us." BACKGROUND: Austin 6th Street mass shooting suspect pleads not guilty Shots were fired, but Howard's friend De'Ondre White, 21, is the person accused of firing them into a crowd after a confrontation between the two friend groups. 25-year-old bystander, Douglas Kantor, was hit and later died; more than a dozen others were injured in the mass shooting. White has been charged with one count of murder and 14 counts of aggravated assault. He pleaded not guilty in court earlier this week. On the fourth day of his trial, the jury heard from Howard and White's other friend, Heaven...