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Defense lawyers say retired police officer who held Pleasant Hill cops at bay during two standoffs ‘did not intend to kill anyone’

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

MARTINEZ — A retired Pittsburg police officer who held Pleasant Hill police at bay during two standoffs over a 36-hour period is a “polite, pleasant, kind, calm” man who was spiraling downward during a mental health crisis and not a monster who wanted to kill police, his attorneys said Thursday.“This is a textbook mental health case,” Chunliam Saechao’s defense attorney, Curtis Briggs, said Thursday outside the A.F. Bray Courthouse.A Pleasant Hill police officer watches from his police vehicle while parked in a gas station near a home where police had held a standoff with a suspect in Pleasant Hill, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. Authorities would return to the same home a few hours later, eventually arresting a man who fired at police vehicles. Defense attorneys for the suspect, retired police officer Chunliam Saechao, questioned whether Pleasant Hill police exacerbated the situation during two standoffs with Saechao last week in the Sherman Ac...

Supervisors name Yuba County official as new treasurer-tax collector

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

(BCN) -- The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors this week appointed Dan Mierzwa as the county's next treasurer-tax collector, effective Jan. 1. Mierzwa replaces Russell Watts,' who announced his retirement earlier this month, county officials said Tuesday. New California laws bring changes to housing in 2024 Mierzwa is currently serving the same role in Yuba County and must submit proof of residency and voter registration in Contra Costa County before he assumes the office. "I'm honored by the opportunity to help during this transition in leadership and am committed to maintaining the levels of transparency and accountability with sound financial practices that serve the best interests of the public," he said in a statement. "We will also continue improving our online payment and business license application services and explore ways to save and recover costs to deliver our services." The treasurer-tax collector's office acts as the county's bank, providing financial servic...

Md. state’s attorneys introduce legislative priorities before upcoming General Assembly session

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

Aisha Braveboy and Ivan Bates, Democratic prosecutors who represent two of Maryland’s largest jurisdictions, held a joint press conference Thursday in Annapolis to unveil legislative priorities for the upcoming General Assembly session.Braveboy, state’s attorney for Prince George’s County, and Bates, state’s attorney for Baltimore, summarized those at Lawyers’ Mall and in a glossy pamphlet: public safety enhancements, juvenile justice reform, criminal justice reform and restorative justice reform and community resources.Both prosecutors said they want people who are charged with serious crimes to receive tough but fair sentences. They also want to provide those who are incarcerated with resources to be rehabilitated and to become productive citizens when they are released.“But it all starts with accountability,” said Braveboy, a former state delegate who represented the county’s 25th legislative district. “We believe that there is an appetite here in Annapolis for change.”One of the...

2 attacks launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels strike container ships in vital Red Sea corridor

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel, authorities said. The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalate a maritime campaign by the Iranian-backed Houthis. The attacks also endanger ships traveling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean.The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country’s war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue. “The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the (Red Sea) until they bring ...

¿De qué murió Andre Braugher, estrella de “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”? ¿Qué problemas de salud tenía?

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

(CNN) — El actor Andre Braugher, quien murió a principios de esta semana a los 61 años, había sido diagnosticado con cáncer de pulmón unos meses antes de que falleciera, dijo este jueves a CNN su publicista Jennifer Allen.La noticia fue reportada inicialmente vez por el diario The New York Times.En el momento en que se anunció la muerte este lunes, Allen afirmó que Braugher había sufrido una “breve enfermedad” y precisó este jueves que se trataba de cáncer de pulmón.Recordado por su papel en “Homicide: Life on the Street”, que lo llevó a ganar un Emmy, y por sus dotes cómicos en “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” de NBC, Braugher era un actor querido y conocido por muchos.Muere Andre Braugher, estrella de “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” y “Homicide: Life On The Street”, a los 61 añosTras su impresionante debut como soldado en la película de la época de la guerra de 1989, “Glory”, Braugher participó en decenas de producciones de cine y televisión a lo largo de su carrera.Braugher obtu...

Missing at age 11, found six years later in France: British teenager pops up on a dark, rainy night

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The vehicle’s headlights silhouetted the exhausted teenager walking alone in the rain in deepest rural France, with a skateboard tucked under his arm. “I said to myself, ‘That’s strange. It’s 3 am in the morning, it’s raining, he’s all by himself on the road between two villages,” delivery driver Fabien Accidini recounted. From there, the story gets stranger still. The youngster, it turned out, was Alex Batty, a 17-year-old from Britain who had been missing since 2017.U.K. police confirmed Friday that the teenager found by Accidini this week appears to be the boy who vanished at age 11 on a family holiday in Spain. The police said they are “relieved and overjoyed” he’s been found. But there’s still a heap of unanswered questions, notably: Where has he been all this time? Accidini, who spotted Batty on a roadside on Wednesday night in a remote area of the Aude region of southwest France, got a few clues. Intrigued to see the teen alone in the rai...

Kremlin foe Navalny was moved from a prison east of Moscow, his allies say, but new site is unclear

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Allies of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny said his lawyer was told in court on Friday that he had been moved from the penal colony east of Moscow where he has been serving time but was not told where he was taken.The disclosure that Navalny was moved out of Penal Colony No. 6, in the town of Melekhovo in the Vladimir region, came at a hearing on a lawsuit he had filed against officials at the maximum security facility. The hearing was adjourned after that. The whereabouts of Navalny, 47, have been unknown since his lawyers lost touch with him after Dec. 6. Navalny spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said the politician’s lawyer was told in court that the politician “left the Vladimir region” on Monday.“Where exactly (he was moved to) — unclear,” she wrote on X, formerly called Twitter.The independent news outlet Sota reported that a document from the Vladimir branch of the State Penitentiary Service was read at the hearing, stating that Navalny l...

Apagón en NYC: breve falla eléctrica dejó a residentes sin luz y causó caos

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

Un cortocircuito nocturno en una subestación de la compañía eléctrica Con Edison en Brooklyn provocó una breve, pero impactante pérdida de energía en gran parte de la Ciudad de Nueva York la madrugada del viernes.ConEd explicó que una falla en una línea de transmisión de alta tensión provocó una caída en el poder.“Se produjo una falla en una línea de transmisión de alta tensión en una subestación de Con Edison en Brooklyn aproximadamente a las 11:55 pm de anoche”, dijo la compañía eléctrica en un comunicado. “Es posible que los clientes hayan experimentado una caída o un aumento en la energía en ese momento. Las cuadrillas están investigando y trabajando para hacer las reparaciones necesarias”.El servicio eléctrico se restableció a todos los clientes a las 3 a.m., dijo ConEd. Pero el apagón causó una serie de problemas en toda la Ciudad de Nueva York.La Oficina de Manejo de Emergencias dijo que realizó alrededor de 10 rescates en ascensores en toda la ciudad....

Formidable storm to slam Florida and then strengthen as it rakes the East Coast this weekend

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

(CNN) — A storm will form in the Gulf of Mexico Friday evening, crash into Florida on Saturday and strengthen as it tracks up the East Coast through the weekend, unleashing heavy rainfall, gusty winds and coastal hazards along the way.A blockbuster snowstorm is not expected, despite the time of year, but this very warm, wet and blustery storm could still snarl early holiday travel and knock out power.The storm’s track is becoming clearer as more of the computer models which inform forecasts now show it hugging the Atlantic coast on Sunday and Monday after moving through Florida on Saturday.Here’s what to expect each day:Saturday: Florida takes a blowHeavy rain will arrive in parts of southern and western Florida by mid-morning Saturday and increase in scope and intensity throughout the day. By Saturday night, heavy rainfall will drench almost the entire state and spread into the Southeast.A Level 2 out of 4 risk of excessive rainfall is forecast for a majority of Florida and far sou...

Lead contamination in applesauce pouches may have been ‘intentional act,’ FDA official tells Politico

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:24:19 GMT

(CNN) — Lead contamination in cinnamon applesauce pouches that sickened dozens of young children may have been an “intentional act,” a US Food and Drug Administration official told Politico.In an interview published on Thursday, Jim Jones, FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, said the agency is still investigating the lead-tainted cinnamon applesauce pouches, “but so far all of the signals we’re getting lead to an intentional act on the part of someone in the supply chain and we’re trying to sort of figure that out.”There have been at least 65 reports of illnesses linked to apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches sold under the WanaBana, Weis and Schnucks brands, the FDA said this week. To date, all confirmed adverse events have been in children under 6 years old.The agency has said it’s conducting an on-site investigation at the Austrofood facility located in Ecuador and is working with Ecuadorian authorities to gather information about Negasmart, the supplier of cinnamon to Austr...