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San Jose: Police bust 7 underground casinos, yielding guns, drugs, nearly $300k in cash

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

A large-scale police operation serving search warrants in seven alleged illegal underground casinos on April 20 — including six within San Jose city limits — yielded hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, guns and illegal drugs, according to authorities.Working with numerous other agencies, including Santa Clara Police, the Department of Motor Vehicles and U.S. Postal Inspectors, San Jose police raided seven different underground casinos that they said acted as a conduit for illegal gambling and black market sales of drugs and stolen property.The locations of the casinos in San Jose were at the 2000 block of Whittington Drive, the 1000 block of Commercial Court, the 400 block of East Williams Street, the 200 block of Prairiewood Court, the 3000 block of Capewood Lane and the 1800 block of Harbor View Avenue. An additional casino was in the Merced County city of Los Baños.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Palo Alto man interrupts burglary at his home Crime ...

Why the 155mm Howitzer round is key to Ukraine war

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

By Tara Copp | Associated PressWASHINGTON — The 155 mm howitzer round is one of the most requested artillery munitions of the war in Ukraine. Already the U.S. has shipped more than 1.5 million rounds to Ukraine, but Kyiv is still seeking more.A look at why this particular munition is so commonly used, and why it’s been so critical to the war in Ukraine.WHAT IS THE 155 MM?Essentially, the 155 mm round is a very big bullet, made up of four parts: the detonating fuse, projectile, propellant and primer.Each round is about 2 feet (60 centimeters) long, weighs about 100 pounds (45 kilograms), and is 155 mm, or 6.1 inches, in diameter. They are used in howitzer systems, which are towed large guns that are identified by the range of the angle of fire that their barrels can be set to.The 155 mm shells can be configured in many ways: They can be packed with highly explosive material, use precision guided systems, pierce armor or produce high fragmentation.Past variants have included smo...

Victim who died in North Beach shooting was attempting to rob other victims, arrest made

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- An arrest has been made in a shooting outside the Condor Club in North Beach on Sunday Night that left one person dead, according to the San Francisco Police Department. The shooting, which happened shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday night, has been described as targeted by SFPD. Underground casino ring shut down in San Jose The victim in the shooting was identified as 23-year-old Isaiah Thomas of Suisun City. He was declared dead at the scene. Two other victims were described as 24-year-old men from Sacramento County. The other two victims were identified as a 22-year-old Malachi Lefiti of Oakland and a 20-year-old female from Contra Costa County.SFPD investigators interviewed all the involved parties and several witnesses. An investigation revealed that Thomas and Lefiti were attempting to rob the other three victims at gunpoint. During the attempted robbery, an altercation ensued, resulting in Thomas, Lefiti and the three victims being shot.Lefiti was taken i...

SFPD makes string of narcotics busts seizing 15.5 pounds of drugs in past week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

(KRON) -- The San Francisco Police Department's Tenderloin Station has had a run of narcotics busts and arrests over the past week, according to officials. This includes the seizure of about $8,000 in cash during the arrest of a suspect for possession of opiates for sale along with a Polymer 80 pistol on Wednesday, April 19.SFPD arrested one person for suspected possession of opiates and seized thousands in cash and a gun. (SFPD)On Thursday, April 20, officers seized more than three pounds of suspected narcotics while narcotics and plainclothes officers executed a search warrant.SFPD officers seized more than three pounds of narcotics on April 20. (SFPD)On Friday, April 21, officers made a narcotics arrest and seized more than six pounds of methamphetamine, about 1.1 pounds of fentanyl and several other narcotics including suspected oxycodone, heroin and Xanax while making an arrest.SFPD officers seized more than 1 pound of suspected fentanyl on April 21. (SFPD)SFPD officers seized ...

Clarence Thomas Billionaire Benefactor Harlan Crow Bought Citizenship in Island Tax Haven

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

Harlan Crow, the billionaire GOP donor who paid for luxury travel on his private jet and yacht for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was a dual citizen of the U.S. and the island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis as recently as last year, according to recently unearthed documents.In 2012, Crow and his family were granted passports for St. Kitts and Nevis, a tax haven known for impenetrable financial secrecy, through a cash-for-citizenship scheme. Documents provided to the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation by a whistleblower as part of its Passport Papers investigation and reviewed by the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, and The Intercept suggest Crow and his brother Trammell S. Crow paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the passports. Financial transparency experts say the island’s tax regime would make tracking Crow’s assets, including gifts to Supreme Court justices, extremely difficult.The documents were leaked from Henley and Partners, a London-based firm known for...

Second grand jury to probe fatal police shooting in Virginia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A prosecutor has requested a special grand jury investigate the fatal police shooting of an unarmed shoplifting suspect outside a northern Virginia shopping mall after an earlier grand jury refused to issue an indictment.Carl Crews, an attorney for the family of Timothy McCree Johnson, said he was informed Tuesday by Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano that a judge had approved the prosecutor’s request to empanel the special grand jury.Descano confirmed Tuesday in a short statement that he requested the special grand jury but declined further comment.The use of special grand juries is rare. In Fairfax County, the only other time Descano sought a special grand jury was in the case of another fatal police shooting — the 2017 shooting of Bijan Ghaisar by U.S. Park Police officers after a stop-and-go highway chase. The charges in that case were ultimately dismissed by a federal judge.The empanelment of the special grand jury in the J...

Chicago Golden Gloves shines spotlight on female boxers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Claire Quinn fell in love with boxing when she started taking lessons to help her get back in shape following knee surgery.Now 30, she is one of the top-ranked amateurs in her weight class and has her sights set on turning pro and fighting on local cards. Like Quinn, Jessie LaFree trains at Unanimous Boxing Gym in Chicago. At 34 and with a busy career as an architect, she isn’t looking to box on the biggest stages. Quinn and LaFree were among the 40 women entered in this year’s Chicago Golden Gloves tournament. The storied event that celebrated its 100th anniversary this month counts Joe Louis, Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali when he was known as Cassius Clay as past champions. But it has also given women a chance to show what they can do in the ring since 1994.“One thing that I really like about boxing in general is that I’m one of those people that constantly wants to learn something, and there’s always something to learn in the sport,” said Quinn, tied fo...

Want to hear some ‘Jazz in the Garden’ in DC this summer? Weekly lottery will determine whether you get in

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

“Jazz in the Garden” is a popular summer tradition that typically brings large crowds to the grounds of the National Gallery of Art’s sculpture garden along D.C.’s National Mall.Starting this year, citing high demand, organizers are rolling out a free weekly lottery system for passes to attend performances.The National Gallery of Art announced the change Monday in a news release that also contains this year’s line-up of summer concerts.“Last year, we did have tickets available online. They opened at a specific time and we saw those passes go extremely quickly, just a couple minutes after they were available online,” Grace Murray, head of public programs at the National Gallery of Art, told WTOP.The weekly Friday evening concerts begin May 19 and last through Aug. 4.The gallery said it’s launching the lottery system “so that anyone interested in attending Jazz in the Garden has an equal chance to participate.”“We wanted to make this cha...

‘Joint’ venture: Ben from Ben & Jerry’s starts pot nonprofit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

WILLISTON, Vt. (AP) — One of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s has gone from ice cream to ‘blunts,’ promising a line of marijuana products with a social mission. Ben Cohen has started Ben’s Best Blnz, a nonprofit cannabis line with a stated mission of helping to right the wrongs of the war on drugs. The company says on its website that 80% of its profits will go to grants for Black cannabis entrepreneurs while the rest will be equally divided between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the national Last Prisoner Project, which is working to free people incarcerated for cannabis offenses.“The War on Drugs (first so named by President Richard Nixon) has targeted lower income Black and Brown people thru over policing, discriminatory prosecution, and discriminatory sentencing,” the website states. “That’s why despite using pot at the same rate, Black people are 4 times more likely to be arrested than Whites.”Ben’s Best Blnz, or B3, says it licenses its formulas,...

Pakistani health officials confirm first case of monkeypox

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani man has tested positive for monkeypox, becoming the country’s first confirmed case of the disease, authorities said Tuesday. Health officials provided no additional details about the man. Officials said airport authorities and hospitals have been alerted to watch for more monkeypox cases.According to the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan, relatives of the person who tested positive for the disease were being screened and advised to self-quarantine to ensure the virus does not spread.Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that typically begins with flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes and progresses to a rash on the body. Most people recover within weeks without requiring hospitalization.Source