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A decade after vigilante uprising, extortion and threats against lime growers return to west Mexico

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The kind of mass threats and extortion of lime growers in the western Mexico that sparked a civilian vigilante uprising a decade ago have returned, and growers say they can’t get their crops to market. One lime grower who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons said Thursday that the local drug cartel had increased the price of protection payments five-fold in the space of weeks.The government of Michoacan state said Wednesday that it had launched a criminal investigation into the shake-downs. The situation threatens a mainstay of Mexican cuisine, and recalls the darkest days of the country’s 2006-2012 drug war.The grower said that in the last week to 10 days, the cartel has increased its demands from just over a penny per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of limes to about 6 cents. It may not sound like much, but that could be a quarter of the prices farmers are paid. On Tuesday, Carlos Torres, the Michoacan state interior secretary, said the government was launching ...

Billie Jean King’s push for equal prize money in 1973 is being celebrated at this US Open

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — When Billie Jean King won the U.S. Open in 1972, she didn’t make the usual remarks about hoping to win again. Instead, she threatened to not play at all the next year — and added that no other women would, either.That’s because she earned $10,000 for her championship, $15,000 less than what Ilie Năstase won for his.“I said: ‘This really stinks,’” King recalled Thursday. “And, of course, deep down in my heart of hearts, in my brain, I’m going, ‘I haven’t talked to them yet. You sure you’re doing the right thing here?’ This is the other voice in my head: ‘What if they don’t agree with you on this? I think they do, because we talk about it all the time, but we didn’t talk about this move.’ And so I said, ‘The heck with it. I don’t think we’ll be back.’”That led the U.S. Tennis Association to make the 1973 U.S. Open the first sporting event to offer equal prize money to female and male competitors. The 50th anniversary of that seminal moment will be celebrated this year ...

Video of fatal Tennessee traffic stop shows car speeding off but not deputy’s shooting of driver

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Videos released Thursday of a Tennessee traffic stop that ended in a fatal shooting shows a deputy holding on to the car’s steering wheel and being carried away as the vehicle speeds off, but does not show the moment when the deputy shot the driver.Jarveon Hudspeth, 21, was shot and killed June 24 by a Shelby County Sheriff’s Office deputy after the deputy approached his car and tried to stop it from leaving the scene, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.The situation escalated and Hudspeth drove off and “dragged” the deputy about 100 yards (91 meters), the bureau said in a statement, and at some point the deputy fired his gun at least once and hit the driver. The car stopped about a half-mile later (nearly a kilometer).The videos released by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office are from the deputy’s in-car and body-worn cameras, and a neighbor’s doorbell camera.The body camera video shows the deputy stopping a white two-door car in a res...

Judge OKs updated Great Lakes fishing agreement between native tribes, state and federal agencies

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday approved an agreement between four Native American tribes and state and federal regulatory agencies to revise a fishing policy covering parts of three of the Great Lakes.The deal extends for 24 years a system overseeing commercial and sport fishing in sections of lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior covered by an 1836 treaty. Those areas are entirely within the U.S. and under Michigan’s jurisdiction.The agreement “respects and promotes tribal fishing rights and opportunities, yet it also preserves the Great Lakes fishery and recognizes the shared nature of the resource,” U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney said in a written opinion.He overruled objections from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians — which refused to join the talks because it contends the state has no authority over its fishing operations — and a sport fishing coalition that argued the deal would allow excessive catches of struggling species, particularly wh...

New York City police sergeant throws cooler at motorcyclist, causing deadly crash

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A man fleeing New York City police officers on a motorcycle died Wednesday after a sergeant hurled a plastic picnic cooler at his head from close range, causing a violent crash, authorities said.The sergeant, Erik Duran, was suspended without pay just hours after the death of Eric Duprey, 30, in the University Heights section of the Bronx, police said.Surveillance video viewed by The Associated Press showed Duprey driving the gas-powered motorcycle on a sidewalk toward a group of people, including the sergeant, who was not in uniform.As he approached, the video shows Duran pick up a red object — the picnic cooler — and throw it. Duprey is struck hard. He loses control, then is tossed toward a tree as the motorcycle veers into the street. The bike smashes into a metal barricade before coming to rest against a parked car.Duprey was pronounced dead at the scene minutes after the crash, which happened around 5:30 p.m.Police said Duprey tried to flee on a friend’s m...

OAS human rights body demands protection for apparent Guatemalan election winner amid plot rumors

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The Organization of American States’ human rights commission asked Thursday that Guatemala provide protection for Bernardo Arévalo, the winner of the country’s Aug. 20 elections, after reports emerged of a possible plot to kill him. The commission said in a statement Thursday that there were reports of “at least one” plan to harm or kill Arévalo and his running mate, Karin Herrera. The Guatemalan government said it has offered protection, and Arévalo told journalists in Guatemala that he was coordinating with the government on protective measures. But the commission wrote in a statement that “nonetheless, there is concern about information on at least one possible plan to attack the life and welfare” of Arévalo and Herrera. “At least thee sources within the government that are considered highly reliable have warned about the existence of a plot codenamed ‘Colosio,’” the commission said, an apparent reference to the 1994 assassination in Mexico of ruling-p...

Connecticut officer submitted fake reports on traffic stops that never happened, report finds

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Hartford police officer quit the force earlier this year while facing allegations that he reported a traffic stop that never happened to get an arrest warrant, according to an internal affairs report released Thursday.Michael R. Fallon, whose late father was the chief of Connecticut State Capitol Police, also was accused of inflating his overall enforcement stats for last year, overreporting nearly 200 traffic stops that couldn’t be verified and claiming 31 more traffic citations than he actually issued, the report said.A judge issued the arrest warrant in March 2022 for a man Fallon claims fled a traffic stop that never occurred. The man was never arrested, and the judge later invalidated the warrant after being notified by Hartford police of the false report, the investigation found. Why Fallon wanted the man arrested was not disclosed.Fallon admitted to falsifying records, and the internal affairs probe substantiated misconduct allegations against h...

Denver weather: Heavy rain Friday, Pinpoint Weather Alert Day

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — A Pinpoint Weather Alert day has been issued for Friday for the risk of heavy rainfall that could lead to flooding. A flood watch is in effect in the Denver weather forecast. After a long streak of 90-degree days, the remnants of Tropical Storm Harold will bring big temperature drops and heavy rain to the Front Range.The flood watch is in place for Friday and Saturday. During this time, there will be widespread rainfall. Rainfall rates could reach or exceed 1 inch per hour at times and could lead to localized flooding.Weather tonight: Clouds, breezyThunderstorms will clear out Thursday evening, leaving behind a mainly cloudy and breezy night, with wind gusts reaching around 25 mph. Low temperatures will stay on the warm side and only fall to the mid-60s. Weather tomorrow: Heavy rainfall, much coolerFriday will start with clouds and much cooler temperatures, only reaching highs in the 70s. Rain showers will be possible through the day, but the heaviest rainfall will ...

Live: Trump arrives at Atlanta jail to surrender on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 election loss

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump arrived Thursday at a jail in Atlanta to surrender on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, a county jail booking expected to yield a historic first: a mug shot of a former American president.Trump’s surrender to law enforcement authorities has become by now a familiar election-season routine in a way that belies the unprecedented spectacle of a former president being booked, in four different cities, on felony criminal charges.But his visit to Atlanta is notably different than the three past surrenders, unfolding at night rather than requiring him to visit a problem-plagued jail — rather than a courthouse — and unfolding not in a liberal bastion like New York or Washington but rather in the heart of a battleground state vital to the 2024 presidential election. And unlike in other cities that did not require him to pose for a mug shot, Fulton County officials have said they expect to ta...

Denver Mayor Johnston announces 11 potential short-term housing sites

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:05:47 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — On Thursday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced a preliminary list of 11 potential sites for short-term housing for those experiencing homelessness.Following an encampment sweep at 17th and Logan earlier that day, Johnston provided an update on the homelessness state of emergency. Mayor Mike Johnston declares emergency over homelessness in Denver During the conference, Johnston shared the 11 locations for the potential sites:1498 N. Irving St. - micro-community 5500 E. Yale Ave. - micro-community 1380 S. Birch St. - micro-community 950 W. Alameda Ave. - micro-community 2301 S. Santa Fe Drive - micro-community 4595 N. Quebec St. - hotel 12033 E. 38th Ave. - hotel/micro-community 3700 Galapago St. - micro-community 1199 N. Bannock St. - micro-community 1375 N. Elati St. - micro-community 5000 Tower Road - micro-communityMayor Mike Johnston announced a preliminary list of potential sites for micro-community and hotel unit locations for persons experiencing homelessn...