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Puppies being exploited at San Ysidro border crossing, say animal rights' advocates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

SAN DIEGO (Border Report) -- In recent weeks, animal rights activists in Tijuana say they are seeing more and more vendors selling puppies to border commuters at the San Ysidro Port of Entry."It's all out of control," said Xochtil Zamora, an animal rights advocate and frequent border commuter. "The other day, a young man offered me a French bulldog for $3,500."Zamora told Border Report it's not just one person doing it, but many.Carmen Villarreal, an animal rights attorney in Tijuana, has also taken notice."We've seen a rise in the sale of dogs at the international border," said Villarreal. "This is a network of systematic exploitation of the animals."And according to Villarreal, the puppies being sold are often sick and carry diseases, fleas, and ticks."They are ill and will likely infect other dogs north of the border," she said.Puppies that were for sale at San Ysidro Port of Entry. (Courtesy: City of Tijuana)The practice is illegal, according to Tijuana Police, who have started ...

Man, 30, identified in weekend Brampton homicide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

Peel Regional Police identified a man fatally shot in Brampton over the weekend.Investigators said they were called to St. Roch Catholic School, located at 200 Valley Way Drive in Brampton, around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, for reports of a shooting.Officers located a man who had been shot and was without vital signs. The victim was rushed to a trauma centre and was later pronounced dead.The victim was identified as 30-year-old Anthony Putzu of Toronto.Peel Regional Police believe the shooting was targeted. No suspect information was provided by investigators.

Adrenaline isn’t the only lure for professional high divers at the world titles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) — Matt Cooper has no illusions about the hazards of diving from a 27-meter platform — about 90 feet, or as high as a nine-story building — into the sea, a lake, or a diving tank.“Even if it’s a good dive, the impact you have from 27 meters is like a car crash going 85 kilometers per hour (50 mph),” said Cooper, who’s preparing for the high-diving competition this week at the World Aquatics Championships in southwestern Japan.Cooper is dented up. He pulverized his left heel in Australia diving into a pool that was too shallow. The heel’s now fastened together with metal plates, screws, and rods.In Switzerland he was rescued by scuba divers who pulled him unconscious from a lake after a belly flop.“I basically landed on my chest and my chin and got an uppercut punch,” the American said. “I didn’t get knocked out immediately. But I remember thinking — ‘Oh, that didn’t feel good.'” His Dutch wife Ginni van Katwijk — yes, she’s also...

Fukushima residents worry nuclear plant’s wastewater release in a few weeks will be another setback

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

IWAKI, Japan (AP) — Beach season has started across Japan, which means seafood for holiday makers and good times for business owners. But in Fukushima, that may end soon.Within weeks, the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is expected to start releasing treated radioactive wastewater into the sea, a highly contested plan still facing fierce protests in and outside Japan.Residents worry that the water discharge, 12 years after the nuclear disaster, could deal another setback to Fukushima’s image and hurt their businesses and livelihoods.“Without a healthy ocean, I cannot make a living.” said Yukinaga Suzuki, a 70-year-old innkeeper at Usuiso beach in Iwaki about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the plant. And the government has yet to announce when the water release will begin. While officials say the possible impact would be limited to rumors, it’s not yet clear if it will be damaging to the local economy. Residents say they feel “shikataganai” — me...

Ex-USC dean sentenced to home confinement for bribery of Los Angeles County supervisor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former dean at the University of Southern California was sentenced to 1 1/2 years of home confinement on Monday for bribing a Los Angeles County supervisor in exchange for renewal of a lucrative contract.Marilyn Flynn also was ordered to pay $150,000. U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer said she considered sending Flynn to prison but decided instead on home confinement, noting that the former academic had quickly taken responsibility for her actions.Flynn, 84, was dean of USC’s School of Social Work from 1997 to 2018. She pleaded guilty last year to a federal bribery charge. Prosecutors said that in 2018, she concocted a scheme to funnel $100,000 that Mark Ridley-Thomas provided from campaign funds through the university to a nonprofit run by his son.Ridley-Thomas offered to support county contracts for USC’s School of Social Work that could potentially bring the institution millions of dollars in new revenue in return for helping his son, prosecutors said. Seba...

A maternity ward in Oregon is the scene of fatal gunfire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Gunfire erupted in a maternity unit of an Oregon hospital over the weekend, fatally wounding an unarmed security guard and leading to renewed calls Monday to protect health care workers from increasing violence.Gun violence in America has hit supermarkets, churches, a synagogue, schools — and now a birthing center.Police were summoned Saturday morning to Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland, with callers reporting that a man with a gun was threatening hospital workers, Portland Police Sgt. Kevin Allen said. By the time the officers arrived, shots had been fired and security guard Bobby Smallwood lay mortally wounded. Another hospital staffer was hit by fragments.Police feared the worst.“Officers believed this had the possibility of being an active shooter incident, so they converged on the hospital from all corners of Portland in a full-city response to address the shooter, assist with a possible mass casualty event, and evacuate those in harm’s way,” ...

Officer who put woman in police car hit by train didn’t know it was on the tracks, defense says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado police officer accused of putting a handcuffed woman in a parked police car that was hit by a freight train did not know the car was parked on the tracks, the officer’s lawyer said in court Monday.While evidence will show Officer Jordan Steinke stood on the railroad tracks during a night traffic stop on Sept. 16, 2022, she did not know that an officer she was assisting had parked his patrol car on the tracks, defense lawyer Mallory Revel said in opening statements in state court in Greeley. The woman inside, Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, suffered extensive injuries, including a traumatic brain injury. The tracks were completely flush with the road, nothing to trip over, and there were no illuminated crossing signs or gates at the railroad crossing in the rural area, just two reflective signs on either side of the tracks, Revel said. Prosecutors will not be able to prove that she acted recklessly by leaving the woman in the patrol car, Revel said. “You cannot d...

Florida Supreme Court reprimands judge for conduct during Parkland school shooting trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Supreme Court publicly reprimanded the judge who oversaw the penalty trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz on Monday for showing bias toward the prosecution.The unanimous decision followed a June recommendation from the Judicial Qualifications Commission. That panel had found that Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer violated several rules governing judicial conduct during last year’s trial in her actions toward Cruz’s public defenders. The six-month trial ended with Cruz receiving a receiving a life sentence for the 2018 murder of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after the jury could not unanimously agree that he deserved a death sentence. The 15-member commission found that Scherer “unduly chastised” lead public defender Melisa McNeill and her team, wrongly accused one Cruz attorney of threatening her child, and improperly embraced members of the prosecution in the courtroom after th...

‘Young, very sweet’: Residents react to woman’s death after body found in Port Credit high rise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

A 21-year-old woman whose body was located inside her Mississauga apartment building was identified as community members and fellow tenants describe the aftermath of the shocking discovery.Peel Regional Police were called to an apartment building at 28 Helene Street North in Port Credit around noon on Thursday, July 20, for a wellness check of a female resident.Investigators identified the victim as 21-year-old Pitch Phaunpa.Following an investigation, Phaunpa’s death has been deemed a homicide, and police believe she was killed sometime between July 17 and July 18.Tenants from the building say police were present for several days, combing through evidence as investigators attempt to decipher what led to Phaunpa’s death.“She was walking into the elevator, and that’s when she ran into this person,” one tenant, who wished to remain anonymous, told CityNews. “[She was with] a couple of guys.”Police have not confirmed that family members called ...

Singer Tori Kelly hospitalized after passing out at LA restaurant: reports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:42 GMT

(KTLA) - Grammy award-winning singer Tori Kelly is being treated for blood clots after passing out at a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday night, multiple media outlets have reported.First reported by TMZ, a source close to Kelly said the 30-year-old singer is receiving treatment for blood clots found around her lungs and legs. Doctors are also trying to determine if she has blood clots around her heart.The singer reportedly noticed that her heart was beating very fast before passing out. A source close to the singer told TMZ she was “out for a while” before being transported to a hospital.Kelly's friends opted not to call an ambulance for the singer to make sure she wasn’t taken to a hospital in the downtown area, and instead received care from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, one of L.A.’s topped-rated facilities. ARC Music Festival announces After Dark lineup The unidentified source also told TMZ that Kelly is currently in the ICU and has been in and out of consciousness ...