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Miami Police give drivers gift cards during traffic stops

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

Miami Police are giving drivers a traffic stop surprise ahead of the holidays.On Monday afternoon, officers pulled over people across the city. But instead of issuing citations, officers, as well as the chief, handed out $100 gift cards.“As we stop motorists, recognize them and letting them know, ‘Hey, listen, you did x violation, however, we’re spreading some joy and giving some positive reinforcement,'” said Miami Police Chief Manny Morales. “I don’t know how to react right now, I’m like shocked,” said Sophia Gonzales. “All I did was make a right, and I saw a hand to pull over, and I’m like what did i do? But, you know, things happen for a reason.”The department teamed up with iHeart Radio and said that they put together this event to give back to the community they serve and to spread some holiday cheer.

Thieves make off with $900k in cash, jewelry from NW Miami-Dade business; 2 subjects detained

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

A heist captured on camera has left the owner of C4G Jewelers counting the cost after two, possibly three, individuals backed a flatbed tow truck into the business, making away with a safe containing approximately $900,000 in cash and jewelry.Surveillance footage revealed the thieves inside the establishment, skillfully using a tow truck to hook a line around the safe before pulling it through the front door. The meticulously planned robbery unfolded on the 7500 block of Miami Gardens Drive.A blue and white van was also involved in the crime. The perpetrators reportedly initiated their scheme by breaking into a neighboring nail salon around 2 a.m. on Monday. Over the next four hours, they diligently worked to breach the wall connecting the two businesses, gaining access to C4G Jewelers, a cash-for-gold establishment.The store’s owner, Oscar Zegarra, only learned of the incident at 9 a.m. when contacted by the police, as the alarm system reportedly failed to alert him. Zegarra ...

Lula invites Putin to Brazil, sidesteps on war crimes arrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

BERLIN — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday that he will invite Vladimir Putin to G20 and BRICS summits in Brazil next year, but added it would be up to the judiciary to decide whether the Russian president is arrested if he decides to show up.Putin faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Ukraine, which earlier this year deterred him from travelling to a G20 meeting in India and a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in South Africa.But Lula said he would welcome the Russian leader if he decided to attend the next G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024 as well as the next BRICS summit, which Brazil may also host next year.“Putin is invited to attend the G20 and the BRICS summit in Brazil,” Lula told reporters in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.“Whether he goes or not, he faces prosecution. He has to assess the consequences,” Lula went on, adding it was unclear wheth...

Boston police looking for group wanted for attacking people in Mission Hill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

Boston police asked for the public’s help Monday in efforts to identify a group of teens accused of attacking people at random in Mission Hill. Police shared photos and descriptions of several suspects linked to the attacks.A Boston police report provided additional information about one attack on a young man with special needs who had been sitting outside a TGI Fridays location in Roxbury on Friday night.Police said the victim had a difficult time remembering the incident but told investigators at least three teens started punching and kicking him as he was sitting by himself. Police continued, saying security video showed six teens attacking the victim without provocation, kicking him in the head area with shoes on. The victim was left bleeding from his ear, according to police, and had dried bloodstains on his clothes when authorities reached him. Police said the victim also had large welts on his head and visible shoe impressions on his face and forehead. Bos...

1 person stabbed, 2 in custody after large fight in Chelsea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

One person was stabbed and two people were taken into custody in connection with a large fight in Chelsea Monday afternoon, officials said. Police on scene said authorities first responded after receiving a 911 call reporting a fight involving multiple people and baseball bats on Hawthorne Street around 3:45 p.m.One person suffered multiple stab wounds and was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. While the injured person received treatment, officials said investigators began canvassing the area, eventually leaving the scene shortly before 6 p.m.“We have the people that we believe were responsible for this individual’s injuries in custody,” one police official told 7NEWS.The official said there was no further danger to the public.“We don’t have any other indication that there were other people involved,” the official continued. “But we’re still going to be following up throughout the night to determine those things, canvassing the area for...

Battenfeld: Will Democrats accept 2024 election results if Trump wins?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

While Democrats launch their latest attack on Donald Trump – calling him a dictator who will refuse to leave office – the real question is will Democrats accept Trump as president?History and comments from Democratic operatives suggest the answer is no.There is no way Democrats will go along with a Trump victory and treat him as commander-in-chief. There will be endless protests, upheaval and legal attempts to deny Republicans the win.They’ve tried indictments, that hasn’t worked yet. They tried to tie Trump to the insurrection and that hasn’t worked.Now Dems are arguing that he will destroy democracy.Just check out what former U.S. Rep. and Democratic darling Liz Cheney has to say. The defeated congresswoman has been on a book tour and working in academia – which is what happens when voters throw you out.She told NBC that Trump will refuse to leave office and use the military if necessary to install himself as a permanent president if he’s elected.“People have to recognize that a v...

Boston city councilor rejects opposing panel on immigrant rights voting proposal, Republican leader says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

A local Republican leader says a progressive Boston city councilor reneged on her promise to allow a panel of opponents to testify at an upcoming hearing weighing voting rights for immigrants with “legal status” but without full citizenship.Kendra Lara, the city councilor pushing for the policy change, said that’s not the case — her commitment, she said, was to allow time for the opponent to speak during public testimony in the first hour of a Tuesday afternoon Council hearing.The matter stems from an exchange on WBZ NewsRadio’s “Nightside with Dan Rea,” where Lara, a progressive Democrat, was a guest last Thursday. Lou Murray, chairman of Ward 20 Republican Committee of West Roxbury, called into the program to ask whether Lara would “allow someone who’s in opposition to put a panel together and testify” against her proposed home rule petition.“What happens, people that don’t know, politicians in Massachusetts hold a hearing,” Murray said on the radio segment. “They staff the thing ...

Man charged in killings of 3 homeless people and a suburban LA resident, prosecutors say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors charged a man Monday with four counts of murder in the fatal shootings of three homeless men in Los Angeles and a suburban resident last month.Jerrid Joseph Powell was also charged with one count of residential robbery and one count of being a felon with a firearm, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. He also faces special circumstances of committing multiple murders, murder in the course of a robbery, as well as personal use of a firearm allegations, the statement said. Powell, 33, was scheduled to appear in court for arraignment later in the day. Efforts during the weekend to determine if he had a lawyer were unsuccessful. Powell was initially arrested last week as a suspect in a deadly shooting during a robbery at a home in the community of San Dimas east of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles resident was then identified as a suspect in the killings of the three homeless men when a firearm found in his car was...

‘I give the public what the public wants’: How Al Capone established a gambling underworld

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

One thing Chicagoans consistently crave is satisfaction of their fascination with gambling, notes Joseph Epstein, a retired Northwestern University professor and student of local mores.So, as dice start to roll legally in the Windy City, we’re looking back at the city’s underworld history. The Chicago Tribune’s archives are replete with accounts of the illicit gambling and casinos over the decades when Al Capone and Chicago were synonymous the world over. Entrepreneurial hoods saw the potential windfall from running gambling operations. Dividing the loot often led to violence.Al Capone (1899 – 1947) signing Uncle Sam’s $50,000 bail bond in the Federal Building, Chicago. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)[ Read the story: As dice start to roll legally in Chicago, a look back at the city’s underworld gambling history ][ More: Al Capone’s final days, death in Florida and burial in Chicago – and why we remember it ]Capone, for one, inherited...

Ticker: Uber set to join the S&P 500; Spotify axes 17% of workforce 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:41 GMT

Uber’s stock is set to join the S&P 500 index later this month, the latest sign that the ride-hailing and delivery company is turning its business around after struggling through much of the pandemic.The San Francisco company will be added to the benchmark index prior to the opening of regular trading on Dec. 18, S&P Dow Jones Indices said late Friday.Inclusion in the S&P 500 can be a big boost for a stock because the index is widely tracked by many funds designed to mirror the holdings of the S&P 500, which is at the heart of many 401(k) accounts. That translates into more demand for stocks in the index, driving up their price.Shares in Uber Technologies Inc. rose 2% Monday to close at $58.63. That’s not far from their all-time high of $63.18 per share set in February 2021. The stock is up more than twofold so far this year.The strong rally marks a major turnaround from as recently as the summer of 2022, when the stock was at $20.46.Spotify axes 17% of w...