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St. Louis man sentenced to 33-years in prison for sexting teens

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A St. Louis man has been sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison for sex offenses involving teens. Vallie Zeller, 46, was caught by an FBI agent posing as a 15-year-old online.The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Illinois says that Zeller started messaging someone he thought was a teen in June 2020. The conversations with the agent posing as a girl lasted four days. He asked her for nude photos and other sexually explicit content. Zeller then crossed state lines to meet her in Collinsville. Man targets several St. Louis-area Walmarts, steals $64K in sleight-of-hand scheme Evidence presented at trial says that Zeller had previously been accused of having sexual contact with two minors in Florida. Agents found another instance of him sexting a minor on his phone.“The defendant is a child predator, and our communities are better off with him spending time in federal prison,” states U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe.Zeller is one of 14 suspects c...

Mayor Johnston’s first Denver budget calls for record spending, more than $240 million for homelessness and housing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s efforts to combat homelessness in Denver have relied heavily on one-time federal dollars. But even as that source of money is expected to dry up soon, his first proposed budget as mayor, unveiled Thursday, would commit to investing another $242 million on homelessness resolution and prevention as well as housing initiatives. While much of that money will replenish existing city-funded programs, a healthy chunk will pay for a rapid-rehousing initiative he has launched since taking office in July.Johnston has said repeatedly at town hall meetings focused on his emergency homelessness efforts that he views getting people living on Denver’s street out of tents and into safer environments as a moral issue. His first city spending plan — which soon will be the focus of City Council budget hearings — reflects that.“Every budget is a moral document, it is an affirmation of our values and a roadmap to deliver a city that lives up to ...

Lancaster creates new police department

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

The Antelope Valley has a new chief in town.Lancaster is creating its own police department to help support Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and to protect the community from crime.Chief Rod Armalin, was sworn in this week.The creation of the agency is a first for the Antelope Valley, which has never had its own police department.The Sheriff’s Department has been the main law enforcement agency in the area that also includes Palmdale.The effort to create a separate agency was spearheaded by Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, who wanted to make the community safer.“It’s my obligation to keep the families in Lancaster safe,” the mayor told the Los Angeles Times. “Quite frankly I do not care who I offend. You cannot defund the police and have a safe society.”Armalin told the newspaper that his new department will initially hire eight officers, with the goal of eventually hiring up to 20 to 30. The city budgeted “several million” dollars for the department, which include funds for four...

1 dead, several ill from botulism outbreak in France tied to sardines

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

By Alex Turnbull | Associated PressPARIS — Matt Jackson was riding an electric bike through Bordeaux wine country when he started feeling strange. Nine days later, he’s on a breathing machine in a French intensive care unit, unable to open his eyes, communicating only via notes on a whiteboard —- and infected with botulism.Jackson was among the first of a dozen people who ate preserved sardines in a Bordeaux wine bar last week to be hospitalized with what French authorities believe is the rare and potentially fatal illness.One, a 32-year-old woman from the Paris region, has died.Officials issued an appeal around France and beyond to find others who might have eaten the suspicious sardines and might be at risk. Among those sickened have been visitors from the U.S., Ireland, Canada, Germany and Spain, according to the regional health authority ARS.Jackson and his partner Kristy Benner, on vacation from Hermosa Beach, California, stopped by the Tchin Tchin Wine Bar on Sept. 4, an...

The 6-hour waits are over. Ready now to try Valley Fair’s hip new Korean BBQ?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

The hip, communal Korean grilling experience Baekjeong — the name translates to butcher, and it’s pronounced “peck-jong” — has been a hit on both U.S. coasts since it landed in Los Angeles’ Koreatown in 2012, and then expanded two years later to New York City, where it’s a celebrity favorite.LA Weekly called it “the restaurant Koreatown didn’t know it needed,” praising its “impeccably sharp service and top-tier meat.”Bay Area diners got their chance to check it out a month ago, when the long-awaited first Bay Area location opened at Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara. It’s been packed since then, with six-hour waits and reservations booked well ahead of time.We finally snagged a weeknight reservation. Here’s our report:GETTING IN: This is still the hottest reservation in Silicon Valley, so we’ll share some advice from our attempts to eat here and from the patient, informative hosts outside the entrance. (FYI, they guard that door like Club...

Single family residence in Danville sells for $2.3 million

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

263 Arency Court – Google Street ViewA 3,053-square-foot house built in 1987 has changed hands. The spacious property located in the 200 block of Arency Court in Danville was sold on Aug. 17, 2023, for $2,265,000, or $742 per square foot. This two-story home boasts a generous living space with four bedrooms and four baths. The home’s exterior showcases roofing materials crafted from wood shake roofing / shingles. Inside, a fireplace adds character to the home. The property is equipped with forced air heating and central A/C. Additionally, the house includes an attached three-car garage, ensuring ample room for parking and storage.Additional houses have recently been purchased nearby:On Arends Drive, Danville, in April 2023, a 3,383-square-foot home was sold for $2,135,000, a price per square foot of $631. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.In July 2023, a 2,277-square-foot home on Still Creek Place in Danville sold for $2,130,000, a price per square foot of $935. The home has 4...

Oakland man gets 15 years for city’s first homicide of 2022

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

OAKLAND — An Oakland resident has been sentenced to 15 years in state prison for killing a man during an argument in 2022, in a shooting that occurred after the victim allegedly punched the suspect’s car.Marcus Reedquinn, 25, was sentenced last month after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter. He was transferred Sept. 1 to North Kern State Prison, a facility used as a classification center for incoming inmates.Reedquinn had been charged with murder in the death of 28-year-old Cameron Windom. Alameda County prosecutors dropped the murder charge as part of a plea agreement.Windom was Oakland’s first of the city’s 120 homicide victims in 2022. He was shot and killed around 9 p.m. Jan. 1, 2022, on the 1400 block of 34th Street. Police say Windom punched Reedquinn’s car after an argument, and that Reedquinn responded by making a U-turn, pulling a firearm and shooting Windom.Police later tracked the car to the Extended Stay in Emeryville. When office...

Angry McCarthy finds even impeachment won’t placate hard right

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

By Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri | Associated PressWASHINGTON — Angry, frustrated and unable to lead a fractured and unruly Republican majority, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday told the colleagues threatening to oust him: Do it.The embattled Republican leader essentially dared his hard-right flank to quit holding the risk of a vote to remove him from the job.If you’re going to do it, go ahead and try, McCarthy told the Republicans behind closed doors.“File the f——- motion,” McCarthy said, using a profanity for emphasis, according to those in the private meeting.With a government shutdown looming, McCarthy is confronting the same stubborn problem that has driven Republicans before him from the speaker’s job — trying to lead a ruptured GOP majority that’s split between what’s left of the traditional party and a harder-right element largely allied with former President Donald Trump.Even his decision to launch an impeachment inquiry against...

Man stabbed in front of ATM at Chase Bank in Berkeley

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

(KRON) -- A man was stabbed early Thursday morning in front of a Chase Bank on Shattuck Avenue, according to the Berkeley Police Department. Around 3:36 a.m., officers responded to the scene and located a man inside the ATM vestibule with several stab wounds. Berkeley police say the man was stabbed in front of the ATM on the outside of the building before going inside the vestibule to call authorities. The victim, who is in his 50s, was taken to Highland Hospital and is listed in stable condition, police said. Car impounded after alleged sideshow activity on Bay Bridge The suspect has not been identified or located. BPD is still at the scene as they conduct their investigation.

Republican Disarray Delays House Vote to Ban Cluster Bomb Transfers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

A renewed congressional effort to ban U.S. transfers of cluster weapons could be one casualty of Congress’s inability to agree on spending bills ahead of a looming government shutdown.Led by Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., a bipartisan group of House members are pushing an amendment to the annual defense appropriations bill that would ban the transfer of cluster munitions to all countries. The effort comes as the United States has been transferring such weapons to Ukraine, following a controversial decision by President Joe Biden in July.While the House Rules Committee was slated to vote to advance the defense spending bill on Wednesday, House Republicans put those plans on hold because they did not have the votes to pass it in its current form. The bill must make it through the Rules Committee before individual amendments can be voted on. And even as Congress has to pass 12 funding bills before the next fiscal year begins on October 1, House Republicans this we...