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Contra Costa County task force arrests 7 accused sexual predators

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

By Tony Hicks | Bay City NewsA Contra Costa task force arrested seven people during a weeklong “Operation Spring Cleaning” that also rounded up 40 illegal firearms and impounded five vehicles.Brentwood police announced Friday it hosted the Contra Costa County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force for a week-long operation targeting adults who were seeking to meet minors for sex, with the goal of identifying victims of child sexual abuse.Fifteen law enforcement agencies logged more than 1,200 law enforcement work hours throughout the week of May 31, Brentwood police said Friday.The ICAC Task Force also seized 39 electronic devices and executed eight search warrantsAuthorities arrested 29-year-old Nhouel Dulay of Oakley, 42-year-old Michael Patterson of Brentwood, 43-year-old Jeffrey Pallesen of Stockton, 25-year-old Carlos Vera of Brentwood, 21-year-old Edward Stinson of Merced, 54-year-old Robert Stearns of San Ramon, and 29-year-old Randall Alston of Berkel...

Fact check: Debunking Trump’s blizzard of dishonesty about his federal indictment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

By Daniel Dale | CNNWashington  — Former President Donald Trump has responded to his federal indictment the way he has responded to various other crises – with a blizzard of dishonesty.In posts on his social media platform and in Saturday speeches in Georgia and North Carolina, Trump made numerous false or misleading claims about his handling of classified documents, the FBI’s conduct in the related investigation, the Presidential Records Act, his dealings with the federal government prior to the search of his Mar-a-Lago club and residence, and President Joe Biden’s own handling of documents.Here is a fact check of 10 of the indictment-related claims Trump has made since the 37 federal charges against him were unsealed on Friday.A toppled box at Mar-a-LagoIn his speech in Georgia on Saturday, Trump mentioned a photo that was included in the indictment. The photo, which was taken at Mar-a-Lago, shows a toppled box from which papers had spilled out onto the floor.Trump said: “I looked...

Saratoga resident carjacked in garage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

MAY 29Identity and mail theft, felon in possession of stun gun, burglary tools and controlled substance, suspended license: At 3:52 a.m., deputies stopped a motorist at Parker Ranch Road and Vista Arroyo Court for equipment violations. An investigation revealed the driver and passenger were in possession of stolen mail, personal identifying information not belonging to either suspect, burglary tools, a stun gun and methamphetamine. Further investigation revealed that the driver was on parole and had a suspended license, and the passenger had two outstanding warrants. Both suspects were arrested and booked into main jail.MAY 31Carjacking, robbery: At 9:15 p.m., three suspects entered the open garage of a residence in the 12000 block of Fredericksburg Drive shortly after the victim arrived home and parked inside the garage. The suspects brandished a firearm and stole the victim’s car, cell phone, keys and wallet for a total loss of $21,030.JUNE 3Disturbing the peace, damage communicat...

Trump Is a Predator Who Feeds on Lackeys

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

Walt Nauta, aid to former President Donald Trump, follows Trump carrying clothing as they board his airplane at Palm Beach International Airport on March 13, 2023.Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesIn every Trump scandal, there is a Trump lackey. Every one of them has served as a proxy for the biggest lackey of them all: the Republican Party.The newest lackey is Walt Nauta, Donald Trump’s “body man,” who was indicted last week, along with his boss, in the classified documents criminal case.But he is just the latest in a long line of lackeys who have faced ruin, thanks to their close ties to Trump. Some are low-level employees like Nauta, while others are well-paid professionals, like attorney Michael Cohen or former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, both of whom ended up in prison as a result of their loyalty.The Republican Party today is dominated by weak personalities, easily swayed by Trump’s demagoguery and eager to be told wha...

Door open for Real Madrid to try signing Mbappé after he decides not to extend PSG contract

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The door is open for Real Madrid to try signing Kylian Mbappé because the France superstar decided not to extend his Paris Saint-Germain contract into 2025.Karim Benzema’s sudden departure from Madrid leaves the Spanish giant short of a star striker, and Mbappé perfectly fits the bill.It could be third time lucky for Madrid, after Paris Saint-Germain rejected an offer of 180 million euros ($190 million) for Mbappé in 2021. Madrid missed out again last year when Mbappé — amid frenzied speculation that Madrid would get him to join — signed a new deal with PSG.It included an option for an extra year. Now he’s told the club he will not trigger the 12-month extension on his contract, which expires at the end of next season.The France superstar confirmed his decision in a letter to PSG, a person with knowledge of the correspondence told The Associated Press on Monday. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also said PSG would not allow Mbappé to leave as a...

Justice Department settles with Kentucky school district over racial harassment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky school district has agreed to make “institutional changes” to settle a federal investigation into complaints of widespread harassment of Black and multiracial students, the U.S. Justice Department announced.The investigation of the Madison County school district, launched in October 2021, uncovered numerous cases of race-based harassment in which Black and multiracial students were subjected to derogatory racial comments by their peers, the Justice Department said in a news release Monday. It found that the district failed to “consistently or reasonably” address the problems, including racial taunts and intimidation, at times reinforced by displays of the Confederate flag, the department said.When the district did respond, it often failed to follow its own anti-racial harassment policies and ineffectively addressed the “broader hostile environment,” the department said. The situation deprived Black and multiracial students of equal access to educatio...

Panic, yelling as tour boat capsizes inside Erie Canal water tunnel in western New York

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

LOCKPORT, N.Y. (AP) — A passenger thrown from a boat that flipped over with 29 people aboard during a tour of a dimly lit cavern system said he fought to breathe in the chilly water under the capsized craft.The flat-bottomed boat carrying local hospitality workers capsized Monday during a tour of an historic underground water tunnel off the Erie Canal in the western New York city of Lockport, killing one person.“By the time I realized what happened, the boat was on top of me and I couldn’t find any air pockets or anything. And I’m just trying to, like, breathe because I’m underwater,” survivor Daniel Morrissette told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview aired Tuesday.The unidentified person who died also was trapped after the boat operated by Lockport Cave Tours capsized. Eleven people were brought to hospitals, mostly with minor injuries, according to officials.Elizabeth Morrissette told GMA people were panicking and yelling loudly as they were thrown into the water, ...

Outside of Miami court where Trump will appear, media so far outnumber protesters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Hundreds of journalists from around the world were gathered Tuesday outside the courthouse in downtown Miami where former President Donald Trump is scheduled to make his first appearance on criminal charges he improperly held on to classified documents.Protests were scheduled for later in the day by Trump backers who have criticized the felony charges, though the number of Trump supporters and those opposing him were a fraction of the crowd compared with the media in attendance Tuesday morning. Journalists from China, the UK, Australia, France, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Germany and Switzerland were among the hundreds of journalists who have converged on the courthouse. Some of them have spent several days camped out in the muggy heat.Security was tight. A yellow-tape police line and about a half-dozen federal police vehicles formed a barricade, keeping people from a palm tree-lined breezeway and the public entrance to the modern, largely glass Wilkie D. Ferguson federal ...

Officers announce ‘all-clear’ after investigating suspicious device outside federal courthouse in Miami

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

The City of Miami Police officers investigated a suspicious device outside the federal courthouse where former President Donald Trump is set to arrive, Tuesday. Less than an hour later officers gave the all-clear.https://twitter.com/nlinsalataon7/status/1668645339308466177?s=20Officers were on the scene as they searched a flat-screen television outside of the building that had suspicious wires poking out of the back. https://twitter.com/nlinsalataon7/status/1668631739596681216Officials said the TV was tied to a pole before they began their inspection.The City of Miami Police assisted Homeland Security in the investigation.https://twitter.com/MiamiPD/status/1668642303131492366?s=20The City of Miami Police Department gave the all-clear just before noon.

CIA warned Ukraine not to blow up Nord Stream, reports say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

The CIA warned Ukraine not to destroy Nord Stream months before an attack on the gas pipelines, after receiving a tip from Dutch military intelligence, according to media reports.The Netherlands’ military intelligence agency, MIVD, received information about an “imminent attack” on Nord Stream from an unnamed source in Ukraine in June, three months before a series of underwater explosions hit the pipes last September, a joint investigation by Dutch and German news outlets published Tuesday shows.According to the plan received by MIVD, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, was in charge of the operation against Nord Stream, which involved a small team of divers traveling on a sailing boat and was supposed to take place mid-June 2022.The Dutch intelligence services then informed the U.S., who made contact with Ukraine via the CIA to warn them off, the reports say.The Dutch government and MIVD declined to comment to NOS, Die Ze...