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2 North Bay residents arrested in nationwide human trafficking bust

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

(KRON) -- Two residents of the North Bay were arrested as part of Operation Cross Country, a nationwide operation targeting suspects willing to pay juveniles for sex and victims of child sex trafficking. The San Rafael Police Department said the arrests had been made in cooperation with the Marin County Sheriff's Office, Novato Police Department, Central Marin Police Authority, Marin County District Attorney's Office and the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center.In the North Bay, two men were arrested during the operation, San Rafael PD said, and one adult sex worker was provided with resources. Alleged Lake Tahoe foot fondler identified, arrested in NorCal The suspects arrested requested via phone calls and text messages to engage in sex acts with minors in exchange for money. One of the men arrested arrived at a location after agreeing to meet with a minor for sex. Another arrived after agreeing to meet with an adult for sex.The first man, Simeon Ramirez-Lopez, 25, of...

Emeryville police seek person of interest in May slaying

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

(BCN) -- Emeryville police on Thursday asked for the public's help in locating a person of interest in an investigation into a slaying in May. Oakland resident Ryan Belser, 40, is a person of interest in a slaying that occurred May 26 at 41st Street and San Pablo Avenue. Hundreds of boxes of hazardous chemicals found at San Pablo home Anyone with information on Belser's whereabouts is asked to please call Emeryville police at (510) 596-3700. Police will provide anonymity to anyone who provides information that helps officers locate Belser. Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

San Jose flooring company owner failed to pay $1 million in overtime

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

(KRON) -- The owner of a San Jose flooring company was sentenced to county jail and ordered to pay over $580,000 in restitution for fraud. Martin Helda, 35, failed to pay his employee $1 million in owed overtime, as well as lowballed his payroll to avoid paying insurance premiums, Santa Clara County prosecutors said. Helda, who owns the company All Bay Floor, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud. He was convicted of committing wage theft, workers compensation premium fraud, and Employment Development Department fraud. District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Thursday, "Whatever you think you might be saving in the short term will cost you a lot more than money in the long term. Fraud doesn’t pay."Last week a judge sentenced Helda to serve four months in county jail and 200 hours of community service.The investigation began after an insurance audit revealed that Helda’s payroll did not match the number of people he had working for him. The DA's Workers’ Exploitation Task Force, the Depar...

Review: ‘Heartstopper’ returns on Netflix for believable coming-of-age romance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley reviews 'Heartstopper' (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); Double strikes by the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild currently have new Hollywood productions on hold, but thankfully for viewers, a few beloved series return for your enjoyment this week.On Wednesday, “Reservation Dogs” returned for its third and final season on both cable (FX) and streaming ...

US challenges world to tell Russia to stop using Ukrainian grain as `blackmail’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken challenged all countries Thursday to tell Russia to stop using the Black Sea and Ukraine’s grain as “blackmail” and stop treating the world’s hungry and vulnerable people as leverage in its “unconscionable war.”America’s top diplomat lashed out at Russia at a U.N. Security Council meeting for ignoring the world’s appeals and pulling out of the year-old deal that allowed Ukraine to ship more than 32 tons of grain from Black Sea ports to needy countries. “And what has Russia’s response been to the world’s distress and outrage? Bombing Ukrainian granaries, mining port entrances, threatening to attack any vessel in the Black Sea,” he said.Blinken was chairing the signature event of the United States’ council presidency this month on conflict as a key driver of hunger and famine. He announced that the United States, which has provided more than $17.5 billion since January 2021 to address famine and food insecurity, will g...

The Miami-Dade police chief and his wife argued before he shot himself, bodycam footage shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Police officers responding to a report of someone with a gun threatening to “end it all” outside a downtown Florida hotel discovered the person in question was the director of the Miami-Dade police force.Newly released bodycam footage provides a fresh look at the July 23 incident, which happened hours before Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez stopped his vehicle, with his wife, Jody Ramirez, inside, along Interstate 75 south of Tampa and shot himself in the head.Jody Ramirez frantically called 911, and the police chief was rushed to a Tampa hospital, where he remained in stable condition Thursday after surgery last week, news outlets reported. A person who answered the phone at the hospital on Thursday said the police director’s name was not on a list of registered patients. Messages seeking updates were left Thursday with police and at the office of Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.Tampa police were initially called around 6:30 p.m. that Sunday evening...

Islamic State group says its leader was killed by al-Qaida-linked militants in Syria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group announced Thursday the death of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, who had been heading the extremist organization since November. It did not say when he was killed.Al-Qurayshi is the fourth IS leader to be killed since the group was founded by Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014 before its defeat years later.IS spokesman Abu Huthaifa al-Ansari said in an audio message that al-Qurayshi “was martyred” in rebel-held northwestern Syria. He added that al-Qurayshi was killed by members of Syria’s al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when they tried to detain him in the province of Idlib. “He fought them until he succumbed to his wounds,” al-Ansari said of al-Qurayshi, adding that the al-Qaida-linked group detained some IS members who were with the late leader, including Abu Omar al-Muhajir, another spokesman, and that they are still being held. In Apr...

“Dime cuándo y dónde”: los gobernadores de Florida y California acuerdan participar en un debate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

El gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, quien se postula para la nominación presidencial republicana, le dijo a Sean Hannity de Fox News el miércoles que estaría dispuesto a debatir en vivo con el gobernador demócrata de California, Gavin Newsom.“Absolutamente. Estoy dispuesto. Hagámoslo. Sólo dime cuándo y dónde. Lo haremos”, dijo DeSantis a Hannity.La idea surgió en junio, cuando Hannity entrevistó a Newsom y le preguntó si estaría dispuesto a debatir con DeSantis.“Totalmente. Cuenta con ello”, dijo Newsom en ese momento.“¿Harías un debate de dos horas con Ron DeSantis?”, le preguntó Hannity. “Que sea de tres”, dijo Newsom. Trump puede ser candidato a unas elecciones imputado, incluso si acaba en prisión Obama le dijo a Biden en privado que haría todo lo necesario para apoyar su reelección El miércoles, Hannity enmarcó la idea como un “debate basado en políticas” entre el líder de un estado ro...

Drag artists and LGBTQ+ advocates sue to block Texas law expanding ban on sexual performances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A group of drag performers and LGBTQ+ rights advocates have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block a new Texas law that expands what is considered an illegal public performance of sexual conduct, arguing it is meant to target drag shows and could also criminalize ballet and even cheerleading.The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. district court in Houston by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of plaintiffs, contends that the law is unconstitutional and threatens the “livelihood and free expression of many Texans, including drag performers across our state.” It seeks to block the from taking effect Sept. 1. The law approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature was part of a broader effort in Texas and other conservative states to crack down on drag shows and limit LGBTQ rights. Such laws have already run into trouble in other states, including Florida and Tennessee, where judges put drag performance bans on hold.Like Texas, Arkansas has a new law re...

US judge blocks water pipeline in Montana that was meant to boost rare fish

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:54 GMT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A U.S. judge blocked a proposed water pipeline through a wilderness area in southwest Montana that was intended to help a rare fish species that’s in sharp decline due to habitat loss, warming temperatures and other pressures.The mile-long pipeline was intended to move oxygenated water that’s beneficial for fish from a creek to a lake in the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness — winter home for one of the last few populations of Arctic grayling in the Lower 48 states. The fish are prized by many anglers and known for their sail-like dorsal fins.U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said in a Wednesday ruling that environmentalists who sued to stop the pipeline raised valid concerns that its construction would disturb the wilderness area, where motor vehicles, roads or structures are largely prohibited under federal law.The number of grayling in Montana’s Centennial Valley, which includes the Red Rock Lakes area, plummeted from 1,131 fish in 2015 to 73 fish...