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White House press secretary has violated rule against politics on the job, watchdog says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

CHRIS MEGERIAN | Associated PressSince taking on the role of White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre has become known for frequently dodging questions by citing the Hatch Act. The law bars civil servants from politicking during their day jobs, and Jean-Pierre uses it to deflect reporters’ questions involving campaigns.But apparently she wasn’t careful enough. The Office of Special Counsel, a government agency that enforces the Hatch Act, said in a recent letter that Jean-Pierre violated the law before last year’s midterm elections.Her offense: Making frequent references to “MAGA Republicans” during White House briefings.According to a letter from the Office of Special Counsel, Jean-Pierre “made those references to generate opposition to Republican candidates” and “accordingly, making the references constituted political activity.”The letter was posted online by The Washington Post. It was first reported by NBC News.Penalties for Hatch Act violations are unc...

Cases of check fraud escalate dramatically

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

NEW YORK — Check fraud is back in a big way, fueled by a rise in organized crime that is forcing small businesses and individuals to take additional safety measures or to avoid sending checks through the mail altogether.Banks issued roughly 680,000 reports of check fraud to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN, last year. That’s up from 350,000 reports in 2021. Meanwhile the U.S. Postal Inspection Service reported roughly 300,000 complaints of mail theft in 2021, more than double the prior year’s total.Early in the pandemic, government relief checks became an attractive target for criminals. The problem has only gotten worse and postal authorities and bank officials are warning Americans to avoid mailing checks if possible, or at least to use a secure mail drop such as inside the post office.Check usage has been in decline for decades as Americans have largely switched to paying for their services with credit and debit cards. Americans wrote rou...

Henderson School staff member hospitalized after being assaulted by student

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

A staff member from the Henderson K-12 Inclusion School was hospitalized after being assaulted by a student Tuesday morning, the head of school said in a letter to parents.“This morning, a student engaged in a physical assault of a staff member which multiple students witnessed,” Interim Head of School Stephanie Sibley began the letter. “The staff member sustained injuries as a result of the incident.”Boston Police confirmed officers responded to a report of a disturbed person at the Dorchester school at 11:52 a.m., and a Boston EMS spokesperson said they responded to the school “with no associated transports” Tuesday morning.Both school staff and BPS safety services “quickly assisted with de-escalating the incident,” Sibley said. The staff member was taken to the school nurse before being transported to the hospital.Sibley said the student will face disciplinary action “in accordance with the BPS Code of Conduct,” which st...

AWS outage causes some websites to go dark

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

Amazon’s cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services experienced an outage on Tuesday, affecting publishers that suddenly found themselves unable to operate their sites.The company said on its website that the root cause of the issue was tied to a service called AWS Lambda, which lets customers run code for different types of applications.Roughly two hours after customer began experiencing errors, the company posted on its AWS status page that many of the affected AWS services were “fully recovered” and it was continuing to recover the rest.Amazon said it had experienced multiple error rates for AWS services in the Northern Virginia region where it clusters data centers. The company said customers may be dealing with authentication or sign-in errors when using some AWS services, and experiencing challenges when attempting to connect with AWS Support. The issue with Lambda also indirectly affected other AWS services.Patrick Neighorn, a company spokesperson, declined to provide additiona...

Seven men found dead inside truck with California plates in Tijuana; Mayor moving to army base after threats made on her life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

SAN DIEGO (Border Report) -- Seven bodies were found inside a pickup on Monday morning in a neighborhood on the east side of Tijuana.Tijuana police officials say officers chased the vehicle, which had California license plates, to the parking lot of a gas station.When the white Ford F-150 finally stopped, officers discovered one body wrapped in a blue blanket inside the pickup.Police reportedly found the other six bodies in the truck bed, along with wooden planks and several tires.According to police, a steel drum filled with gasoline was also recovered, and they believe the suspects intended to set fire to the bodies and the truck.All the victims were men. U.S. warns of violent crime at popular tourist destination "Two officers intercepted and called for help, state and national guard officers responded and when they got to the vehicle they found seven bodies," said Montserrat Caballero, Tijuana's Mayor.Two men were arrested in connection with the discovery of the bodies."We've d...

Frozen fruit sold at Costco recalled

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

CLOVIS, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Wawona Frozen Foods is issuing a voluntary recall for year-old Organic DayBreak Blend, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.According to federal officials, Wawona Frozen Foods says they are voluntarily recalling year-old packages of its Organic DayBreak Blend distributed to Costco Wholesale stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, and Washington from April 15, 2022, to June 26, 2022, because the DayBreak Blend includes organic frozen strawberries grown in Mexico which may have the potential to be contaminated with Hepatitis A.Wawona Frozen FoodsWawona Frozen FoodsWawona Frozen FoodsThere have been no illnesses associated with this voluntary and precautionary recall, according to Wawona Frozen Foods.Organic DayBreak Blend was distributed to Costco stores last year, they have “Use By” dates of 09/23/2023, 09/29/2023, 09/30/2023, and 10/18/2023 therefore consumers are urged to check their freezers for the recalled blend, not to consume i...

Regal theaters to show kids movies for $2 this summer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Looking for something to do with the kids this summer when school is out? Why not take them to see a movie at an affordable price.The Regal Summer Movie Express will be showing $2 kids movies all summer long at participating locations across San Diego County."Shrek," "Sonic the Hedgehog," "Puss in Boots" and "Kung Fu Panda" are just a few of the family-favorite characters that you can see on the big screen.The promotion will run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the first showing of the day. How to get discounted movie tickets at AMC this summer Each week their will be two movies eligible for the promotion. Both movies will play on both days and each theater will have the same options available.For example, on Tuesday, June 20 and Wednesday, June 21 you can see either "Minions: The Rise of Gru" or "The SpongeBob SquarePants" movie on either day at all participating theaters for $2 for the first showing of the day.The following locations are participating in the Regal Summ...

3 Kosovo police officers injured during arrest of alleged organizer of Serb protests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Three police officers in Kosovo were injured during the arrest of an alleged organizer of Serb protests in the country’s north, including one in which 30 NATO-led peacekeepers were injured, the country’s interior minister said Tuesday.Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said one of the heads of Civil Protection, an organization operating in Serb-majority areas of northern Kosovo, was arrested in the city of Mitrovica. The Kosovar government has accused the group of engaging in criminal activity which “for years has terrorized our citizens.”The minister identified the person arrested as Milun Milenkovic-Llune. After he was taken into custody, a small group of Serbs gathered in Mitrovica hurled objects at police, according to Kosovar media.Petar Petkovic, director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, denounced the arrest of “a prominent fighter for Serbian national interests and Serb’s rights” while “surrounded by eigh...

Mayor of Mexican border city of Tijuana living at army base after receiving threats

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The mayor of the Mexican border city of Tijuana said she has decided to live at an army base for her own safety, after she received threats.Mayor Montserrat Caballero announced the decision after confirming that police had found seven dead bodies stuffed in a pickup truck on Monday.Police said they found the pickup truck parked at a gas station in Tijuana with the doors open; on the back seat of the cab lay a body wrapped in a blanket. Hidden under tires and wooden boards were six more bodies.“I have received threats, so I am going to live at the base,” Caballero said. Local media reported the army base is on the southern edge of Tijuana, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the city hall.Caballero did not say who the threats had come from. The Tijuana city government said in a statement the threats were related to her administration’s “strong results in weapons seizures and arrest of violent suspects.”It is well known that several drug cartels are waging turf ...

At least 103 wedding guests killed when boat capsizes in northern Nigeria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:25 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A boat returning from a wedding capsized in northern Nigeria, killing at least 103 people, including children, officials said Tuesday. Residents and police were still searching for dozens of people who were on the overcrowded boat that capsized early Monday on the Niger River in the Pategi district of Kwara state, which is 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Ilorin, the state capital, according to police spokesman Okasanmi Ajayi. He said 100 people had been rescued so far.Most of those who drowned were relatives from several villages who attended the wedding together and partied late into the night, according to Abdul Gana Lukpada, a local chief. They arrived at the ceremony on motorcycles but had to leave on the locally made boat after a downpour flooded the road, he said.“The boat was overloaded and close to 300 persons were in it. While they were coming, the boat hit a big log inside the water and split into two,” said Lukpada.The wedding was held in the village...