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17 BSO deputies accused of stealing about $500,000 in pandemic relief funds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP/WSVN) — Seventeen Florida sheriff’s deputies appeared in court Thursday on charges that they stole about half a million dollars in pandemic relief funds.The Broward County deputies, who are charged separately, are accused of a range of crimes, according to court records. Most are charged with wire fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, though one deputy is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which has a maximum sentence of five years.The eight law enforcement deputies and nine detention deputies have been suspended, Sheriff Gregory Tony said during a news conference. He said his office is going through the legal process of firing them.“At the end of the day, they will be gone,” Tony said.The 17 deputies who were charged include the following: Stephanie Diane Smith, 53Katrina Brown, 46,Alexandra Acosta, 37La’Keitha Victoria Lawhorn, 41Jewell Farrell Johnson, 46Carolyn Denise Wade, 48Rorie Brown, 42Alexis Monique Gr...

The close-knit kibbutz that became home to a massacre

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

Dead Sea, Israel (CNN) — People from Be’eri sometimes used to say the reason the Israeli kibbutz was so close to the Gaza Strip was because otherwise, it would be too perfect.“It was a joke, something we used to say because Be’eri is so beautiful. It’s the place where you want your kids to grow up. The sunset is beautiful, the fields are green, it has everything you want from a vacation spot,” Lotan Pinyan told CNN on Wednesday.Be’eri’s proximity to Gaza, which is only a few kilometers away, means the liberal community has been a frequent target of Hamas rockets fired from the enclave – usually intercepted by Israeli defenses. The rockets were the one downside of the otherwise idyllic spot, Pinyan and his friends would say. “It’s not a joke now,” he said.Early on Saturday morning, Hamas militants stormed Be’eri and left behind a devastation of unimaginable scale.They murdered more than 120 of its residents, including children, and kidnapped others. They set people’s h...

BSO seeks public’s help in locating missing 55-year-old woman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

The Broward Sheriff’s Office Missing Persons Unit is seeking assistance from the public to locate a missing 55-year-old woman. Vivian Alicea has been missing since Thursday, Sept. 14. Alicea was last seen in the 900 block of North Federal Highway in Pompano Beach around 5 p.m.She is described as standing 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing approximately 175 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Detectives are urging anyone with information to contact BSO Detective Leonard Charla at 954-321-4274 or the BSO non-emergency number at 954-764-HELP (4357).

Macron calls for unity in France after Hamas attacks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron urged the French to “stay united” Thursday as the country has seen a spat of antisemitic violence since Hamas launched its attacks against Israel.During a televised address, the French president condemned Hamas’ attacks, which have claimed some 1,200 lives, saying “the scale, barbarity and inhumanity” has “no precedent” in Israel’s history. Macron also addressed fears that the conflict would be exported to France, which has large Muslim and Jewish populations. He said the country’s “first duty” was to protect French Jews from attacks and discrimination.There have been over 100 antisemitic acts recorded in France since Saturday, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, and police have been deployed to protect Jewish schools and places of worship. The Speaker of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet, who is Jewish, has been granted police protection.“I see the fear ...

Man accused of robbing Falmouth bank, zip-tying customers and employees pleads guilty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

An Edgartown man arrested and charged with robbing a bank in Falmouth earlier this year has pleaded guilty in federal court, according to officials.The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on Thursday that Petar Petyoshin, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of armed bank robbery.The latest development came months after Petyoshin was first arrested on state charges, after authorities said he allegedly robbed the Rockland Trust Bank in Falmouth on April 8.In a summary of the incident, the U.S. Attorney’s Office described how after arriving in Woods Hole via a ferry that day, Petyoshin entered the bank and placed an alleged “bomb” on the counter of a teller while showing a gun.“Petyoshin pointed the firearm at the tellers and customers, telling one bank employee, ‘I’m robbing you,’ before having the customers and bank employees zip-tie each other’s hands together,” officials said.The suspect was able to make off...

New therapy to alleviate peanut allergies in children shows signs of success, researchers say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

Peanut allergies, which are one of the most common causes of severe allergy attacks, can affect all aspects of a child’s life.Dr. Sandra Hong with Cleveland Clinic is one of the authors of a study researching how one treatment may help. Oral immunotherapy is where researchers expose young children under the age of 1 who have been diagnosed with a food allergy to allergens. Hong said that of the children who took part in their peanut oral immunotherapy study, 91% resulted in being able to tolerate large amounts of peanuts without a severe reaction. She said the rest were still able to be exposed to multiple peanuts at a time.“We get very tiny amounts slowly built up into their system and we need to do it in our offices,” Hong said. Hong said food allergies can also lead to isolation or even bullying.“They can spend a lot of time worried about having a true allergic, life-threatening, allergic reactions. It can be really difficult for these kids,” Hong said. “We ...

Temperatures cool into the weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

It’s been another mild afternoon! Some towns got back near 70°. Temperatures cool overnight into tomorrow. We’ll stay close to/below average over the next seven days. More importantly, the drier trend for the weekend continues to hold!A cold front will pass through overnight. There won’t be much moisture with it, but its passage will bring cooler and breezy conditions. Overnight, temperatures will fall into the low/mid forties for MetroWest. Temperatures will be near 50° on the South Shore, Cape and Islands. We’ll start off clear tomorrow morning and gain some fair-weather clouds through the day. The breeze will be the most noticeable change! It’ll be out of the northwest and usher in a cooler air mass. Temperatures will reach the upper 50s and low 60s but it’ll likely feel cooler.We’ve been watching an area of low pressure, continuing its way across the country and over the Plains as of this writing, for the potential of weekend rain. It...

22-year-old Israeli soldier killed while protecting innocents, leaving behind wife from Brookline

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

Serving in the Special Forces unit of the Israeli Army, 22-year-old Yosef Guedalia immediately jumped into action to protect innocent people when Hamas attacked on Saturday.“They actually get to a civilian, an elderly man that is critically wounded for 4 hours. He’s bleeding to death. Yosef gets out of the car with his friend,” Yosef’s brother Asher said. “They pack him up in the vehicle. They give him first aid, check he’s okay, bandage him and they drive him out, bring him out and go right back to fight.”But during an exchange of gunfire, Yosef was struck and killed, leaving behind his young wife from Brookline, Massachusetts.“Just a few hours ago he was with his wife. He said ‘goodbye, I’m going. I’ll see you soon,” he said to her.  ‘I’ll see you soon’, like the other times he went out,” Asher said. “He didn’t know what he was getting into.”Just five days before, Yosef and his wife Senai celebrated their first wedding anniversary.“They actually just went on Friday on a tand...

American Airlines adding flights to Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard: ‘Terrific for our community’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

Cape Cod residents and tourists who don’t want to drive to and from Boston for a flight will have another airline option on the Cape next summer.American Airlines has announced that it will be adding daily summer flights from New York LaGuardia Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport to Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Hyannis.The airline will also add daily summer service from LaGuardia to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The other New England and Canadian routes that American Airlines announced on Thursday were LaGuardia to: Portland, Maine; Bangor, Maine; and Halifax, Canada.Passengers on all of these new flights will be traveling on 76-seat Embraer E-175 aircrafts.The airline’s service to the Cape will give year-round residents and tourists another travel option, Cape Cod Gateway Airport Manager Katie Servis told the Herald on Thursday. American will be joining JetBlue and Cape Air at the Hyannis airport.“This will be absolutely terrific for our communi...

Hard-line Republicans won’t back Scalise for speaker and frustration grows as the House sits idle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:35 GMT

By LISA MASCARO, FARNOUSH AMIRI and STEPHEN GROVES (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Nominated to be House speaker, Rep. Steve Scalise on Thursday ran straight into a familiar, intensifying Republican problem: Skeptical GOP colleagues are refusing to give their support, denying him the majority vote needed to win the gavel.Frustrations mounted as the crisis deepened and Republicans lost another day without a House speaker. Scalise must peel off more than 100 votes, mostly from those who backed his chief rival, Rep. Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman favored by hard-liners, who announced he was no longer in the running and tossed his vote to Scalise.But many hard-liners taking their cues from Donald Trump have dug in for a prolonged fight to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy after his historic ouster from the job. They argue that Majority Leader Scalise is no better choice, that he should be focusing on his health as he battles cancer and that he is not the leader they will sup...