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Californian man stands trial for killing his lover’s husband

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

Trial began Thursday for a man accused of killing his lover’s husband, who was found beaten and stabbed at a Westminster apartment in 2014 in what prosecutors allege was a murder for financial gain.Roberto Saavedra-Gallardo is charged with conspiring with Olga Vasquez-Collazos in order to carry out the special-circumstances murder of 58-year-old Adrian Zapata.Prosecutors allege that Saavedra-Gallardo and Vasquez-Collazos wanted Zapata out of the way so that they could carry on their own relationship, and to obtain a penthouse condominium Zapata owned in his native Peru, along with his retirement and insurance money.Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera told an Orange County Superior Court jury that Saavedra-Gallardo was the one who actually killed Zapata, who was found dead in his bed. The prosecutor alleged that Saavedra-Gallardo hit Zapata at least twice in the back of his head, fracturing his skull, before stabbing him at least seven times in the neck and shoulder.Saavedra-Galla...

California pair found dead at luxury Mexico hotel

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — A man and woman from Newport Beach were found dead in their luxury hotel room in Baja California Sur, authorities in Mexico said.Their bodies were discovered at the Hotel Rancho Pescadero in El Pescadero on Tuesday. The town is located between Todos Santos and Los Cabos.The victims were from Newport Beach, Baja prosecutors said. Local media gave their names as Abby Lutz, 28, and John Heathco, 41. The nutritional supplements company LES Labs, based in Covina, lists Heathco as its founder.Their cause of death was “intoxication by substance to be determined,” the Baja attorney general’s office said in a statement.The pair had been dead for about 10 hours when they were found, prosecutors said. Their bodies reportedly bore no signs of violence.“We can confirm the death of two U.S. citizens in Baja California Sur, Mexico on June 14. We offer our sincerest condolences to the families on their loss,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said Thursday.“We are closel...

Mathews: Nation needs Newsom’s gun amendment to the Constitution

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

Gavin Newsom’s new campaign for a 28th Amendment is the most important political idea in the country today.But you wouldn’t know that from reading media reports following the California governor’s proposal to enshrine four popular gun control measures in a new federal constitutional amendment.Instead, political opponents dismissed Newsom’s proposal in several ways — as a distraction from his job, as a stunt in his rhetorical war with red states, and as crazy because it’s so hard to change the constitution.In truth, such objections are far crazier than Newsom’s amendment. The governor is doing his job, with urgency — by taking on both violence and a U.S. Constitution that limits his ability to keep Californians safe.It’s hard to think of a policy this country needs more than constitutional controls on firearms. The United States is awash in guns — Americans own nearly half of the 800 million civilian-held guns on earth. The U.S. has a gun homicide rate more than 25 ...

Opinion: By U.S. treasury secretary’s definition, we’re in recession

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

Last month, the Department of Commerce released troubling data on the anemic economy, showing that gross domestic income (GDI) shrank in the previous six months. That’s no surprise to half of Americans who believe we’re currently in a recession, but the data refute President Joe Biden’s claim that the economy is “strong as hell.”And according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s own words from last year, the economy is back in recession.There are different ways of measuring the health and size of the economy, like gross domestic product (GDP) and GDI. While GDP measures total production, GDI measures total income. In theory, GDP and GDI should be the same because they measure the two sides of every transaction. In practice, though, there are slight differences in how the data are collected, which leaves some room for interpretation.In the first half of last year, GDP shrunk for two consecutive quarters — a classic recession indicator — but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen...

City of Miami Police need public’s help identifying hit-and-run driver

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

The City of Miami Police Department’s Traffic Homicide detectives have thoroughly investigated an incident and now need the public’s help in identifying the driver behind the wheel of a hit-and-run crash that left one man critically injured. According to a news release from the department’s public information officer, around 1:30 a.m. on July 23, 2022, police responded to a call of a pedestrian that was hit by a car on Northwest 20th Avenue and 36th Street. Surveillance video showed the man who crossed Northwest 36th Street getting struck by an SUV that was headed west without making any attempt to stop after the collision. The victim was seriously injured and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. The victim is still slowly recovering from his numerous injuries.

Night owls may die younger, but more than sleep is to blame

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

(CNN) — People who prefer to go to bed and get up later — a sleep chronotype known as being a night owl — may die early from bad habits they develop when they stay up late, according to a new study.“The increased risk of mortality associated with being a clearly ‘evening’ person appears to be mainly accounted for by a larger consumption of tobacco and alcohol. This is compared to those who are clearly ‘morning’ persons,” said study first author Christer Hublin, a researcher from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki, in a statement.The study, published Friday in the journal Chronobiology International, was a follow-up to the 2002 Finnish Twin Cohort study. The new study followed nearly 24,000 twins from 1981 to 2018 in an effort to tease out the causes of health-related behaviors and disease.When the study originally began, each twin was asked to pick one answer from the following questions: I am clearly a morning person; I am to some extent a morning person; I am...

Boris Johnson calls off the dogs ahead of Commons vote on damning Partygate report

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to swerve a humiliating Commons vote next week after urging his supporters not to oppose a damning report on his conduct.Parliament was set to vote on the Commons privileges committee’s finding this week that he repeatedly misled MPs about whether lockdown parties took place in Downing Street under his watch.A small number of his die-hard supporters were preparing to vote against the report in a show of affection for their hero.But Johnson told them to stand down — meaning the report is all-but certain to pass without a vote on Monday.“I don’t think there is going to be a vote,” James Duddridge, a former aide to Johnson and one of his most ardent supporters, told POLITICO. “I think people just want to move on.”Those around Johnson argue it would be pointless to push the report to a vote. But his critics argue that the ex-PM simply does not want to highlight how few supporters he has.Fewer...

Fox News finalizing settlement with former producer who accused network of coercion and rampant sexism

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

(CNN) — Fox News is on the verge of settling another major lawsuit.Abby Grossberg, the former network producer who filed an explosive complaint against the company earlier this year, is in the final stages of ironing out a settlement with the company, people familiar with the matter told CNN.The settlement will mark the fourth case in a string of lawsuits that the billionaire owners of Fox News, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, have moved to put an end to in recent months. The Murdochs, facing scrutiny on a number of fronts, have sought to disentangle themselves from a web of legal threats.Representatives for both Grossberg and Fox News declined to comment on Thursday. While the deal is close to being finalized, last-minute hiccups are always possible. The terms of the agreement were not known.Grossberg, a former top producer for the right-wing hosts Maria Bartiromo and Tucker Carlson, made a series of stunning claims against the network in a lawsuit filed in March just as Dominion ...

Senate passes nearly $600 million tax cut plan, setting up conflict with House

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

The state Senate unanimously approved their version of a tax cut plan last night, a significantly pared down set of reform proposals than that which was previously offered by the House, setting up a second summer of conflict over how the Commonwealth can balance competitiveness and the cost of living.Coming in at around $590 million, the Senate’s “An Act to improve the Commonwealth’s competitiveness, affordability, and equity” offers the sort of progressive tax cuts that Sen. Pres. Karen Spilka has maintained for years she would support, without including some changes sought by the business community.“The scope of the House bill is more responsive to the cost of competitive challenges,” Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, told the Herald. “We’re still going to crunch the numbers, but the hope would be that the final package would include good ideas from both proposals.”The Senate opted against lowering the short term capital gains tax from ...

Why ‘Playoff Jimmy’ Butler adds more pressure for the Chicago Bulls to find success with Zach LaVine

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:51:47 GMT

Although it once again didn’t end with a ring, the 2023 NBA playoffs added another chapter to the lore of ”Playoff Jimmy.”That nickname has hovered around Jimmy Butler throughout his 11-year streak of playoff appearances — and apropos of any memes or jokes, his postseason impact is undeniable.Over the last four seasons, Butler has averaged 24.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists in the postseason while leading the Miami Heat to 38 playoff wins and two Finals — the best record in the league during that span.And this season, Butler powered every step of the Heat’s improbable run starting with the play-in tournament. After holding off the Bulls with a 13-point fourth quarter to advance, he dropped 56 points in a clinching Game 4 performance as part of a herculean effort to overwhelm the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.Butler has joined a unique class of players in NBA history to record a higher average of points, rebounds, ass...