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Ringleader of 'minivan crew' sentenced for role in $1M residential burglary series

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The wheels are off for the self-titled “minivan crew” after their ringleader was sentenced to prison Monday for a series of residential burglaries stretching across multiple California counties.According to San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan's office, 48-year-old George Boozer was handed a 56-year prison stay for pleading guilty in June to 72 criminal counts, including burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime.Officials say Boozer led a group of eight other defendants to burglarize 43 homes over 18 months, "effectively terrorizing communities."“These criminals not only stole cash and valuables from the victims, but they also stole their peace of mind, their safety and their security,” said Stephan. “I’m proud of the police investigation and of our prosecution team for their outstanding work in obtaining justice.”Boozer's sentencing doesn't mean the others involved are off the hook. Here's a breakdown of what kind of cell time the co-pilots of the "minivan...

Guatemala’s top court upholds suspension of president-elect’s party. His supporters block roads

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Activists blocked roads Friday in surging demonstrations to support President-elect Bernardo Arévalo after Guatemala’s highest court upheld a move by prosecutors to suspend his political party over alleged voter registration fraud. Arévalo has denounced the suspension as a “coup” aimed neutralizing him before he takes office in January, and his supporters are demanding the resignation of the prosecutors responsible. Street blockades that started this week grew from 14 on Monday to 58 road and highway blockages Friday.Arévalo and electoral authorities had challenged the suspension of his Seed Movement party in late August, arguing that the allegations of voter or registration fraud are criminal charges and that by suspending the party the prosecutors were intruding on electoral issues.The Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that even though the case involves criminal accusations, prosecutors can impose measures that have electoral effects. Without his part...

TSX, U.S. markets rise Friday despite stronger-than-expected labour market data

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index gained more than 100 points Friday, led by strength in energy, technology and base metals, while U.S. markets also rose, as investors on both sides of the border reacted to the latest labour market data. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 108.26 points at 19,246.07.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 288.01 points at 33,407.58. The S&P 500 index was up 50.31 points at 4,308.50, while the Nasdaq composite was up 211.51 points at 13,431.34.Markets on both sides of the border dipped to start the day before rising. “It’s a pretty meaningful reversal from the knee-jerk reaction that we saw in the morning,” said Angelo Kourkafas, an investment strategist at Edward Jones.That knee-jerk reaction was to the latest jobs data, which came in hotter than expected for both countries. The Canadian economy added 64,000 jobs, more than three times economist expectations, and its unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 per cent. The U...

No funding available to buy new Line 2 TTC trains as current ones near end of life

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

While construction begins on the newest subway lines across Toronto, the future of the key Line 2 that carries residents east and west of the city is up in the air.The trains currently operating from Kipling to Kennedy are close to the end of their useful life, with the oldest ones having been in operation for 27 years. The price to replace them is expected to be $2.5-$3 billion based on last estimates for 80 new trains plus more needed for an extended Line 1.However, a delay in securing the required funding is stopping them from being able to purchase the necessary trains. “We had an Request for Proposals in the field but we had to pull that because we didn’t have the committed funding,” said TTC spokesperson Stuart Green.Green said the trains right now are in good shape. “They do require a little TLC as you can imagine when a car, a house, anything ages it requires a little extra attention.”The current cost of the new trains could also change based on...

Biden says a meeting with Xi on sidelines of November APEC summit in San Francisco is a possibility

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Friday that he could potentially meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.“There has been no such meeting set up, but it is a possibility,” Biden told reporters when asked about the prospects of a face-to-face meeting with the Chinese leader.Biden and Xi have not spoken since their meeting last November of the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. White House officials have previously made clear that they hoped the two leaders would soon hold talks, and administration officials have been working to get the Chinese to agree to a meeting.Relations between the world’s two largest economies have faced no shortage of strain over the last year.The Biden administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the continental U.S. earlier this year. The Chinese government hacked the emails of Commerce Secretary Gina Rai...

Police bodycam video shows arrest of ‘Keffe D,’ suspect in 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The man charged with murder in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur had little to say when he was arrested near his home outside Las Vegas. But Duane “Keffe D” Davis knew the gravity of it, according to police body camera footage released Friday. “So what they got you for, man?” an officer out of the frame later asks Davis, 60, while they’re sitting in a police car parked outside the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s headquarters.“Biggest case in Las Vegas history,” Davis, who is handcuffed, replied and recounted the date that Shakur was gunned down — “September 7th, 1996.”Police and prosecutors allege Davis was the mastermind behind the drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. Shakur was shot multiple times and died a week later. He was 25.“I ain’t worried about … I ain’t did (expletive),” Davis told the officer as his voice trails off.The four videos released Friday, totaling more than an hour of footage, show Davis arrested on Sept. 29 while o...

Alaska fishermen will be allowed to harvest lucrative red king crab in the Bering Sea

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab, the largest and most lucrative of all the Bering Sea crab species, for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change.There was no such rebound for snow crab, however, and that fishery will remain closed for a second straight year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday.“The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery for the prior two seasons were closed based on low abundance and particularly low abundance of mature-sized female crabs,” said Mark Stichert, the state department’s ground fish and shellfish management coordinator,“Based on survey results from this year, those numbers have improved, some signs of modest optimism in terms of improving abundance in Bristol Bay red king crab overall and that has allowed for a small but still conservative fishery for 2023 as the total population size is still ...

2nd suspect arraigned in shooting that claimed life of baby delivered after mother was shot on bus

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A second suspect was arraigned on murder charges Friday after a pregnant woman who was hit by gunfire on a bus in Holyoke, Massachusetts, delivered a baby that later died.Johnluis Sanchez, 30, of Holyoke, appeared in court via Zoom for his alleged involvement in Wednesday’s shooting, investigators said. Other charges are expected to follow. Sanchez was shot during the incident and hospitalized.Another suspect, Alejandro Ramos, 22, of Holyoke, was arraigned in Holyoke District Court on Thursday. Ramos is also facing murder charges with other charges expected to follow. Both Ramos and Sanchez were ordered held without bail and are both due back in court on Nov. 3.A lawyer for Sanchez did not immediately return a call. An attorney for Ramos did not immediately respond to an email and a phone call.A Hampden District Attorney’s Office office spokesman said a “not guilty” plea would be automatically entered. Typically murder cases in Massachusetts are later brought into supe...

Rocket perfume, anyone? A Gaza vendor sells scents in bottles shaped like rockets fired at Israel

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — In Gaza, a perfume vendor has found an unusual way to show his defiance of the Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. Rocket-shaped vials line the fragrant shelves of his Hijaz perfume shop in the Al-Saha market of Gaza City. Customers seeking a new fragrance can choose a “KN-103” scent, or perhaps spring for a “Buraq-100” — it depends which militant group’s rocket they’d like to display in their boudoir.Shopkeeper Hamza Abu Saraya, the owner of the popular perfumery in the besieged Gaza Strip, said he first came up with idea to design perfume bottles shaped like militant rockets during the Israel-Gaza war in 2021 — the fourth since the militant group Hamas seized control of the area in 2007.The war involved exchanges of airstrikes and rocket attacks between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, leaving over 250 Palestinians dead. Thirteen people were killed in Israel. Militant groups in Gaza including Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired hundreds...

Trump’s New York civil fraud trial rolls on after an appeals judge declines to halt it

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:02:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial will roll ahead next week after he lost a bid Friday to postpone it.Trump wanted to halt the trial while he fights a pretrial ruling that could strip him of control of such assets as Trump Tower. An appeals judge rebuffed the request for a pause but agreed that control over the holdings will stay as-is for now. Friday’s decision came five days into the closely watched trial, which drew Trump to the courthouse to observe — and fulminate — for days this week. Trump’s lawyers had asked the state’s intermediate appellate court to suspend the trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit and prevent Judge Arthur Engoron from enforcing a ruling he made last week. Engeron’s decision revokedthe Republican presidential frontrunner’s business licenses and puts a court-appointed receiver in charge of his companies.“This is a massive error. It is irreparable,” Trump attorney Christopher Kise to...