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Accused Cape Verdean killer tried to renew US passport while on the run, feds say

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

A Brockton man faces up to a decade in prison as feds say he applied for a new U.S. passport at an overseas embassy while he was on the run for murder charges in Cape Verde, but lying that he had lost it during Christmas dinner.Johnny Brandao, 40, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Cape Verde, was indicted on one count of passport fraud this week after having previously been charged with criminal complaint for the same offense on May 7, for which he was arrested two days later. He will appear in federal court in Boston on the charge at an unscheduled date.“It is alleged that on March 27, 2014, together with another defendant, Brandao shot an individual in the head using a .45 caliber revolver, took one million and five hundred thousand Cape Verdean Escudo, and then dumped the victim’s body on the side of the road,” Special Agent Daniel Starr of the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service wrote in a May 7 affidavit supporting the charges.“It is further alleged that on July 26, ...

Serial thief gets 7 years for robbing Hyde Park bank with BB gun

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

A Hyde Park man with a significant history of robbery will spend seven years in prison for robbing a neighborhood bank of about $13,600 with just a BB gun.Paul Whooten, 59, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to one count of armed bank robbery back in January and on Wednesday was sentenced to seven years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.“Give me all your money,” Whooten allegedly told a Hyde Park Rockland Trust Bank four days before Christmas in 2019. He carried what appeared to be an assault-style rifle and was decked out in a distinctive outfit of a long, cark coat over a yellow and black reflective jacket with a bright yellow hood, as well as sunglasses, a black knit cap, a mask and gloves.Whooten walked out of the bank with $13,603 from the till. A Boston Police officer stationed inside the bank broadcasted Whooten’s description and the direction he fled, and he was soon — mere “minutes later” according to the defense’s sentencing memo — found b...

Big names in fashion, tech, entertainment rub shoulders at White House dinner for India’s Modi

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Titans of business, fashion, entertainment and more made the guest list for Thursday’s big White House dinner in honor of India’s Narendra Modi, with the likes of designer Ralph Lauren, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and tennis legend Billie Jean King rubbing shoulders with tech leaders from Apple, Google and Microsoft.Shyamalan powered past reporters as he arrived, declaring it “lovely” to be at the White House. Lauren, who paired his tuxedo with gray New Balance sneakers, revealed he’d designed first lady Jill Biden’s off-shoulder green gown, calling her style “chic and elegant.” And violinist Joshua Bell, part of the after-dinner entertainment, said the evening was a “little different than anything I’ve done before.”“I’ll skip out and practice for half an hour” during dinner, Bell said. He said he wished he could perform first and then have some wine. Saris — some thoroughly modern and including a Barbiecore hot pink one — and sequins were prominent am...

2.5M Genworth policyholders and 769K retired California workers and beneficiaries affected by hack

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The country’s largest public pension fund says the personal information of about 769,000 retired California employees and other beneficiaries — including Social Security numbers — was among data stolen by Russian cybercriminals in the breach of a popular file-transfer application.It blamed the breach on a third-party vendor that verifies deaths. The same vendor, PBI Research Services/Berwyn Group, also lost the personal data of at least 2.5 million Genworth Financial policyholders, including Social Security numbers, to the same criminal gang, according to the Fortune 500 insurer.The California Public Employees Reitrement system said they were offering affected members two years of free credit monitoring. Genworth said in a statement posted online it would offer credit monitoring and ID theft protection.The breach of the MOVEit file-transfer program, discovered last month, is estimated by cybersecurity experts to have compromised hundreds of organizati...

Brazil’s president offers to try to win release of bishop imprisoned in Nicaragua

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered Thursday to help try to gain the release of a Roman Catholic bishop imprisoned in Nicaragua. Lula made the comments after visiting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Bishop Rolando Álvarez was jailed by the regime of President Daniel Ortega for supposedly helping anti-government protesters. The bishop was sentenced to 26 years in prison, and he later refused to board a plane bound for the United States in February. “I want to talk to Daniel Ortega about freeing the bishop,” Lula said, adding, “I am going to try to help, if I can help.”“The only thing the church wants is for Nicaragua to free the bishop so he can go to Italy,” Lula said.There was no immediate reaction from the Ortega government. Relations between Ortega and the church have frayed to near non-existence since Nicaragua’s government began jailing opponents and clergy and expelling church-related groups.Since anti-government street protests bro...

B.C. vineyards devastated by winter freeze, slashing wine output up to 56%: growers

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

KELOWNA, B.C. — Wine growers in British Columbia say a bitter cold snap last winter has devastated vineyards, causing irreparable damage to almost half of the province’s planted acreage that may force some producers out of business. The fallout from last December’s freeze, that saw temperatures in the Okanagan dip to minus 30 C, has the potential to cut this year’s grape and wine production by between 39 per cent and 56 per cent, with direct revenue losses of up to $145 million, said Miles Prodan, Wine Growers B.C. president.The extent of the weather damage was only realized this spring when growers were able to examine their budding vines, he said Thursday at a news conference at a Kelowna winery.The impact would be severe, immediate and long-lasting, he said, hitting harvests, output, revenue and jobs.“Following bud break, our industry-wide research concluded that our worst fears were realized with a 54 per cent reduction in 2023, and 45 per cent of total p...

Two dead after shooting outside Florida McDonald’s, police say

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Two people were found dead following a shooting Thursday afternoon outside a McDonald’s restaurant in the Florida Panhandle, police said.Tallahassee police said in a Facebook post that they were conducting a double homicide investigation.When officers responded to the fast-food restaurant about 5 p.m., they reported finding two men dead in the parking lot.Police haven’t released the names of the victims or who might have killed them.No injuries were reported inside the restaurant.The Associated Press

‘Rust’ weapons supervisor charged with dumping drugs on day of Alec Baldwin shooting

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

The weapons supervisor charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of the Alec Baldwin film “Rust” was charged Thursday with evidence tampering for allegedly passing drugs to someone else on the day of the shooting. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed “did transfer narcotics to another person with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of herself.” the special prosecutors appointed in the case said in a Santa Fe County court filing. They gave no further details. Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles called the move “retaliatory and vindictive.” “It is shocking that after 20 months of investigation, the special prosecutor now throws in a completely new charge against Ms. Gutierrez Reed, with no prior notice or any witness statements, lab reports, or evidence to support it,” Bowles said in a statement. Gutierrez-Reed is the sole remaining defendant in the case after prosecutors in April dropped an inv...

Virginia jury acquits school spokesman of perjury in probe that was a focus of governor’s campaign

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — A jury on Thursday acquitted the longtime spokesman for a northern Virginia school system of perjuring himself during a high-profile investigation of two school-based sexual assaults.The jury took only about two hours to deliberate before acquitting Loudoun County Public Schools Public Information Office Wayde Byard on the sole perjury count lodged against him by a special grand jury.The perjury case was the first prosecution to go to trial from the special grand jury’s probe, commissioned by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares at the request of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The grand jury examined the school system’s handling of two sexual assaults at two different high schools in 2021. Youngkin made the assaults a major part of his successful gubernatorial bid that year, and he issued an executive order requesting the investigation on his first day in office.Youngkin’s critics accused him of exploiting the situation for political gain. The ...

N.W.T. RCMP warn against vigilante justice after assaults in Fort McPherson

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:46 GMT

FORT MCPHERSON, N.W.T. — Police in the Northwest Territories are warning residents not to take justice into their own hands after a group assaulted two men suspected of drug trafficking and stealing a vehicle in Fort McPherson.RCMP say they found a truck early Wednesday that had been reported stolen, but it refused to stop and sped away.Later that day, police say a group of residents swarmed two men just outside the community and assaulted them, resulting in injuries. Insp. Yannick Hamel says people involved in vigilante justice can put themselves and others at risk, impede investigations and face arrest.RCMP say during they investigation they recovered 43 bags of what is suspected to be crack cocaine and $2,230 from the truck.Nuno De Sousa and Zachary Sullivan from British Columbia face several charges.They are charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of proceeds obtained by crime, theft of a truck, dangerous operations, flight from a police officer, misch...