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  • 4 killed, 6 injured: Florida attorney general investigating deadly incident in Cuba

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    Cuba’s government has accused a group of armed Cubans living in the U.S. of attempting to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism, following a deadly shootout near Cayos Falcones.The Cuban Embassy in the United States announced that its personnel engaged a speedboat registered in Florida when the boat entered Cuban territorial waters located a little more than 100 miles southeast of Marathon and east of Havana.Speedboat registered in FloridaThe Cuban Ministry of the Interior announced on social media Wednesday afternoon that on Wednesday morning, a speedboat with a Florida registration number of FL7726SH entered Cuban territorial waters.The speedboat approached one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Cayos Falcones, Corralillo municipality, Villa Clara province.According to Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior, when border guard troops approached the boat, the crew opened fire, prompting the soldiers to return fire, resulting in four deaths and six injuries.The Cuban government claims to have seized assault rifles, handguns, explosive devices, and Molotov cocktails from the boat.Public records indicate that the boat’s owner resides in Miami Lakes.Men identifying themselves as FBI agents were seen approaching the home and speaking with residents through a Ring camera, as reported by a sister station in Miami. “In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region,” the Cuban Ministry of the Interior said in a statement. “Investigations by the competent authorities continue in order to fully clarify the events.”Florida leaders and representatives respondRick Scott took to X and said a full investigation into this deeply concerning situation was needed. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stated on X that he’s directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to work with the federal, state and law enforcement partners to begin an investigation. “The Cuban government cannot be trusted, and we will do everything in our power to hold these communists accountable,” Uthmeier said.

    Cuba’s government has accused a group of armed Cubans living in the U.S. of attempting to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism, following a deadly shootout near Cayos Falcones.

    The Cuban Embassy in the United States announced that its personnel engaged a speedboat registered in Florida when the boat entered Cuban territorial waters located a little more than 100 miles southeast of Marathon and east of Havana.

    Speedboat registered in Florida

    The Cuban Ministry of the Interior announced on social media Wednesday afternoon that on Wednesday morning, a speedboat with a Florida registration number of FL7726SH entered Cuban territorial waters.

    The speedboat approached one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Cayos Falcones, Corralillo municipality, Villa Clara province.

    According to Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior, when border guard troops approached the boat, the crew opened fire, prompting the soldiers to return fire, resulting in four deaths and six injuries.

    The Cuban government claims to have seized assault rifles, handguns, explosive devices, and Molotov cocktails from the boat.

    Public records indicate that the boat’s owner resides in Miami Lakes.

    Men identifying themselves as FBI agents were seen approaching the home and speaking with residents through a Ring camera, as reported by a sister station in Miami.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    “In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region,” the Cuban Ministry of the Interior said in a statement. “Investigations by the competent authorities continue in order to fully clarify the events.”

    Florida leaders and representatives respond

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    Rick Scott took to X and said a full investigation into this deeply concerning situation was needed.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stated on X that he’s directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to work with the federal, state and law enforcement partners to begin an investigation.

    “The Cuban government cannot be trusted, and we will do everything in our power to hold these communists accountable,” Uthmeier said.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

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  • Justice Department under scrutiny for revealing victim info and concealing possible enablers in Epstein files

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    The Justice Department failed to black out identifying information about many of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims and redacted the details of individuals who may have aided the convicted sex offender, prompting an outcry from survivors who accuse DOJ of botching the release of more than 3 million documents last week.A CNN review of the Epstein documents identified several examples of people whose identities were blacked out possibly helping to connect him with women, including redacted co-conspirators in a much-anticipated draft indictment of Epstein from the 2000s.A redacted individual wrote in one 2015 email to Epstein: “And this one is (i think) totally your girl.”In another 2014 email in the files, a person wrote to Epstein: “Thank you for a fun night… Your littlest girl was a little naughty.” But the name of the individual who wrote that message is redacted.The Department of Justice on Friday released what it said was the last of the Epstein files that it was required to disclose by law, but the documents have prompted widespread outcry about a continued lack of transparency and justice for Epstein’s many survivors.Epstein survivors are up in arms about the mishandled redactions, including blacked out statements that victims made to the FBI.A DOJ official said in a statement that any fully redacted names are of victims. “In many instances, as it has been well documented publicly, those who were originally victims became participants and co-conspirators,” the official said. “We did not redact any names of men, only female victims.”FBI and law enforcement names were also redacted, the DOJ official said.Meanwhile, the Justice Department has been scrambling to fix the improper disclosure of victim information.The Justice Department narrowly avoided a hearing in federal court on Wednesday by reaching an agreement late Tuesday with lawyers for some of the Epstein survivors, who had accused DOJ of releasing information about nearly 100 Epstein victims in the files.Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged Monday that “mistakes were made” but argued that DOJ has moved expeditiously to correct any information unintentionally released.For Epstein survivors, the DOJ’s response is unacceptable.“To have pieces of my life be out there on display in that way, was really troublesome,” said Dani Bensky, who told CNN in a roundtable with Epstein survivors that her name, address and phone number were all initially in the files.“And I know that I’m public now, yes, it hurts me — but it really hurts our survivor sisters who are still ‘Jane Does’ even more,” she added.The furor over what is and isn’t included in the Epstein documents highlights how the department’s release of more than 3 million documents on Friday is hardly the end of the fight over the Epstein files — even as both Blanche and President Donald Trump have said they think it’s time to move on.Congress forced the disclosure of the Epstein documents after passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act last November over Trump’s initial objections. But the bipartisan group of lawmakers who pushed for the law’s passage say there are still millions of files that have not been released, which the DOJ argued fell within exceptions to the law not requiring their disclosure.Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who led the effort to release the files, have asked to view the unredacted files — and are still threatening Attorney General Pam Bondi with impeachment or contempt for failing to comply with the law if more are not disclosed.“The DOJ has protected the Epstein class with blanket redactions in some areas while failing to protect the identities of survivors in other areas,” Khanna said in a statement to CNN. “Congress cannot properly assess DOJ’s handling of the Epstein and Maxwell cases without access to the complete record.”‘There’s no reason to redact it’The documents released on Friday include the names of numerous high-profile men who interacted with Epstein — who died by suicide in 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges — a list that included Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and the former Prince Andrew, among many others. All have denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein and have never been charged by law enforcement with any crimes.But Epstein survivors say the files appear to shield those who specifically enabled the convicted sex offender’s abuse, as well as other men who may have been named in the survivors’ statements that were completely redacted.One Epstein survivor pointed to another FBI form contained in the files where full pages were blacked out.“It basically outlines everything that this person experienced and shared with the FBI. It was seven pages long and four of them looked like this,” Jess Michaels told CNN in an interview. “What happened to her and who did it is also redacted. So you cannot say in the same sentence: ‘There were no men, there was no list’ and redact this much of a statement. Because if there’s no men, then there’s no reason to redact it. There’s no other reason.”One of the most anticipated documents in the files was the controversial draft indictment from the Southern District of Florida from the 2000s, which would have charged Epstein, along with three others, who were described as having been “employed” by Epstein.The individuals are all described as having conspired to “persuade, induce, and entice individuals who had not attained the age of 18 years to engage in prostitution.” But their names are redacted.The files also include numerous email exchanges with Epstein that appear to describe the procurement of women.A redacted individual from a Paris modeling agency wrote in a 2013 email to Epstein: “New Brazilian just arrived, sexy and cute, 19yo .”The email appears in the files twice: In one version, the modeling agency’s name is redacted, but in another, the agency is not redacted from the sender’s email signature.In a 2018 email to Epstein, another redacted individual wrote: “I found at least 3 very good young poor.”“Meet this one,” the person continued. “Not the beauty queen but we both likes her a lot.”In a letter to Congress on Friday, the Justice Department detailed how it made redactions, saying it complied with the law by redacting victim information, child sex abuse materials and anything that would jeopardize an active investigation.DOJ also withheld 200,000 pages “covered by various privileges, including deliberative process privilege, the work-product doctrine, and attorney-client privilege,” according to the letter.At his press conference last Friday announcing the release of the files, Blanche said they did not contain information about evidence that would lead to the prosecution of any men who abused women.“I said this earlier, there’s this built-in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about that we’re covering up or that we’re choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case,” Blanche said. “I don’t know whether there are men out there that abuse these women.”Scrambling to scrub filesIn the hours after Friday’s DOJ release, CNN reported that multiple survivors, including anonymous “Jane Doe” victims, were seeing their names and information throughout the documents that were published.Attorneys for some of the survivors sent a letter saying the DOJ’s failure to properly redact victims’ information had triggered an “unfolding emergency,” asking two federal judges in New York for an “immediate judicial intervention.”Sunday’s letter included testimony from various anonymous “Jane Doe” victims who described receiving death threats and harassment from the media since the publication of the files.“When DOJ believed it was ready to publish, it needed only to type each victim’s name into its own search function. Any resulting hit should have been redacted before publication. Had DOJ done that, the harm would have been avoided,” the lawyers wrote.DOJ said in a response filed to the judges that it had removed all documents that victims or their lawyers identified, and a Justice Department spokesperson had said it had 500 reviewers looking at the files “for this very reason.”“Mistakes were made by – you have really hard-working lawyers that worked for the past 60 days. Think about this though: you’re talking about pieces of paper that stack from the ground to two Eiffel Towers,” Blanche said Monday on Fox News. “The minute that a victim or their lawyer reached out to us since Friday, we immediately dealt with it and pulled it down.”Epstein’s survivors say the release of names, even if corrected, is yet another example of how the Justice Department failed them.“Publishing images of victims while shielding predators is just a failure of complete justice,” Epstein survivor Sharlene Rochard told CNN. “There’s this deep sense of betrayal when the systems meant to protect you becomes the one causing all of this harm.”

    WASHINGTON —

    The Justice Department failed to black out identifying information about many of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims and redacted the details of individuals who may have aided the convicted sex offender, prompting an outcry from survivors who accuse DOJ of botching the release of more than 3 million documents last week.

    A CNN review of the Epstein documents identified several examples of people whose identities were blacked out possibly helping to connect him with women, including redacted co-conspirators in a much-anticipated draft indictment of Epstein from the 2000s.

    A redacted individual wrote in one 2015 email to Epstein: “And this one is (i think) totally your girl.”

    In another 2014 email in the files, a person wrote to Epstein: “Thank you for a fun night… Your littlest girl was a little naughty.” But the name of the individual who wrote that message is redacted.

    The Department of Justice on Friday released what it said was the last of the Epstein files that it was required to disclose by law, but the documents have prompted widespread outcry about a continued lack of transparency and justice for Epstein’s many survivors.

    Epstein survivors are up in arms about the mishandled redactions, including blacked out statements that victims made to the FBI.

    A DOJ official said in a statement that any fully redacted names are of victims. “In many instances, as it has been well documented publicly, those who were originally victims became participants and co-conspirators,” the official said. “We did not redact any names of men, only female victims.”

    FBI and law enforcement names were also redacted, the DOJ official said.

    Meanwhile, the Justice Department has been scrambling to fix the improper disclosure of victim information.

    The Justice Department narrowly avoided a hearing in federal court on Wednesday by reaching an agreement late Tuesday with lawyers for some of the Epstein survivors, who had accused DOJ of releasing information about nearly 100 Epstein victims in the files.

    Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged Monday that “mistakes were made” but argued that DOJ has moved expeditiously to correct any information unintentionally released.

    For Epstein survivors, the DOJ’s response is unacceptable.

    “To have pieces of my life be out there on display in that way, was really troublesome,” said Dani Bensky, who told CNN in a roundtable with Epstein survivors that her name, address and phone number were all initially in the files.

    “And I know that I’m public now, yes, it hurts me — but it really hurts our survivor sisters who are still ‘Jane Does’ even more,” she added.

    The furor over what is and isn’t included in the Epstein documents highlights how the department’s release of more than 3 million documents on Friday is hardly the end of the fight over the Epstein files — even as both Blanche and President Donald Trump have said they think it’s time to move on.

    Congress forced the disclosure of the Epstein documents after passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act last November over Trump’s initial objections. But the bipartisan group of lawmakers who pushed for the law’s passage say there are still millions of files that have not been released, which the DOJ argued fell within exceptions to the law not requiring their disclosure.

    Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who led the effort to release the files, have asked to view the unredacted files — and are still threatening Attorney General Pam Bondi with impeachment or contempt for failing to comply with the law if more are not disclosed.

    “The DOJ has protected the Epstein class with blanket redactions in some areas while failing to protect the identities of survivors in other areas,” Khanna said in a statement to CNN. “Congress cannot properly assess DOJ’s handling of the Epstein and Maxwell cases without access to the complete record.”

    ‘There’s no reason to redact it’

    The documents released on Friday include the names of numerous high-profile men who interacted with Epstein — who died by suicide in 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges — a list that included Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and the former Prince Andrew, among many others. All have denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein and have never been charged by law enforcement with any crimes.

    But Epstein survivors say the files appear to shield those who specifically enabled the convicted sex offender’s abuse, as well as other men who may have been named in the survivors’ statements that were completely redacted.

    One Epstein survivor pointed to another FBI form contained in the files where full pages were blacked out.

    “It basically outlines everything that this person experienced and shared with the FBI. It was seven pages long and four of them looked like this,” Jess Michaels told CNN in an interview. “What happened to her and who did it is also redacted. So you cannot say in the same sentence: ‘There were no men, there was no list’ and redact this much of a statement. Because if there’s no men, then there’s no reason to redact it. There’s no other reason.”

    One of the most anticipated documents in the files was the controversial draft indictment from the Southern District of Florida from the 2000s, which would have charged Epstein, along with three others, who were described as having been “employed” by Epstein.

    The individuals are all described as having conspired to “persuade, induce, and entice individuals who had not attained the age of 18 years to engage in prostitution.” But their names are redacted.

    The files also include numerous email exchanges with Epstein that appear to describe the procurement of women.

    A redacted individual from a Paris modeling agency wrote in a 2013 email to Epstein: “New Brazilian just arrived, sexy and cute, 19yo .”

    The email appears in the files twice: In one version, the modeling agency’s name is redacted, but in another, the agency is not redacted from the sender’s email signature.

    In a 2018 email to Epstein, another redacted individual wrote: “I found at least 3 very good young poor.”

    “Meet this one,” the person continued. “Not the beauty queen but we both likes her a lot.”

    In a letter to Congress on Friday, the Justice Department detailed how it made redactions, saying it complied with the law by redacting victim information, child sex abuse materials and anything that would jeopardize an active investigation.

    DOJ also withheld 200,000 pages “covered by various privileges, including deliberative process privilege, the work-product doctrine, and attorney-client privilege,” according to the letter.

    At his press conference last Friday announcing the release of the files, Blanche said they did not contain information about evidence that would lead to the prosecution of any men who abused women.

    “I said this earlier, there’s this built-in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about that we’re covering up or that we’re choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case,” Blanche said. “I don’t know whether there are men out there that abuse these women.”

    Scrambling to scrub files

    In the hours after Friday’s DOJ release, CNN reported that multiple survivors, including anonymous “Jane Doe” victims, were seeing their names and information throughout the documents that were published.

    Attorneys for some of the survivors sent a letter saying the DOJ’s failure to properly redact victims’ information had triggered an “unfolding emergency,” asking two federal judges in New York for an “immediate judicial intervention.”

    Sunday’s letter included testimony from various anonymous “Jane Doe” victims who described receiving death threats and harassment from the media since the publication of the files.

    “When DOJ believed it was ready to publish, it needed only to type each victim’s name into its own search function. Any resulting hit should have been redacted before publication. Had DOJ done that, the harm would have been avoided,” the lawyers wrote.

    DOJ said in a response filed to the judges that it had removed all documents that victims or their lawyers identified, and a Justice Department spokesperson had said it had 500 reviewers looking at the files “for this very reason.”

    “Mistakes were made by – you have really hard-working lawyers that worked for the past 60 days. Think about this though: you’re talking about pieces of paper that stack from the ground to two Eiffel Towers,” Blanche said Monday on Fox News. “The minute that a victim or their lawyer reached out to us since Friday, we immediately dealt with it and pulled it down.”

    Epstein’s survivors say the release of names, even if corrected, is yet another example of how the Justice Department failed them.

    “Publishing images of victims while shielding predators is just a failure of complete justice,” Epstein survivor Sharlene Rochard told CNN. “There’s this deep sense of betrayal when the systems meant to protect you becomes the one causing all of this harm.”

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  • Project R.I.D.E. offers equine therapy in Elk Grove

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    Project R.I.D.E in Elk Grove has been connecting riders and horses across the greater Sacramento area since 1979, offering equine therapy to people of all ages with special needs. “It’s hard to put in words unless you experience it,” Danny Ford, director of operations at Project R.I.D.E., said of the program’s impact. “I think it’s the happiest place on Earth. It’s better than Disneyland, in my opinion.”The nonprofit and therapeutic riding facility offers recreational riding to individuals with diagnosed physical, emotional and intellectual disabilities. The organization has a list of some of the diagnoses it accepts listed on its website.Five-year-old Rahi Parekh uses a wheelchair. KCRA 3 joined him for his lesson at Project R.I.D.E. late last month. He said he enjoys playing games while horseback riding and visiting with the barn cats, who also call the facility home.“I feel happy. Yeah. Happy. I feel happy,” he said.Ford noted horses have a special ability to connect with their riders.”They know completely how you’re feeling when you’re sitting in the saddle. They can actually sense and feel your heartbeat as well,” he said. “They will kind of match your senses, the way you’re feeling.”Ford began his work with the organization as a volunteer, but he first came through the barn doors as a dad. His son started riding at the facility as a toddler.”He’s now 21, has Down syndrome,” Ford said. “The sense of independence and that sense of control in life, I think, completely changes his life for 30 minutes, at least, every week.”For individuals who are unable to ride, Project R.I.D.E also has a fully interactive simulated horse, fondly named Buster Brady. “It’s hard to put into words exactly everything that we can do here, but it’s easy to see on the faces of our participants, I think, what the outcome of it all is,” Ford said.Project R.I.D.E. instructors are accredited through PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship.”Come and sit in the stands, watch a lesson, and it’ll completely change your life to see the joy and the reward that some of these people get from the time that they spend with us,” Ford said.The organization is currently preparing for its annual steak dinner fundraiser on April 18. It relies on donations and a team of dedicated volunteers to keep the program active.As part of our 70 Years of Service initiative, we’re highlighting organizations that are making a difference all year long. See more stories in the series here.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    ELK GROVE, Calif. —

    Project R.I.D.E in Elk Grove has been connecting riders and horses across the greater Sacramento area since 1979, offering equine therapy to people of all ages with special needs.

    “It’s hard to put in words unless you experience it,” Danny Ford, director of operations at Project R.I.D.E., said of the program’s impact. “I think it’s the happiest place on Earth. It’s better than Disneyland, in my opinion.”

    The nonprofit and therapeutic riding facility offers recreational riding to individuals with diagnosed physical, emotional and intellectual disabilities. The organization has a list of some of the diagnoses it accepts listed on its website.

    Five-year-old Rahi Parekh uses a wheelchair. KCRA 3 joined him for his lesson at Project R.I.D.E. late last month.

    He said he enjoys playing games while horseback riding and visiting with the barn cats, who also call the facility home.

    “I feel happy. Yeah. Happy. I feel happy,” he said.

    Ford noted horses have a special ability to connect with their riders.

    “They know completely how you’re feeling when you’re sitting in the saddle. They can actually sense and feel your heartbeat as well,” he said. “They will kind of match your senses, the way you’re feeling.”

    Ford began his work with the organization as a volunteer, but he first came through the barn doors as a dad. His son started riding at the facility as a toddler.

    “He’s now 21, has Down syndrome,” Ford said. “The sense of independence and that sense of control in life, I think, completely changes his life for 30 minutes, at least, every week.”

    For individuals who are unable to ride, Project R.I.D.E also has a fully interactive simulated horse, fondly named Buster Brady.

    “It’s hard to put into words exactly everything that we can do here, but it’s easy to see on the faces of our participants, I think, what the outcome of it all is,” Ford said.

    Project R.I.D.E. instructors are accredited through PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship.

    “Come and sit in the stands, watch a lesson, and it’ll completely change your life to see the joy and the reward that some of these people get from the time that they spend with us,” Ford said.

    The organization is currently preparing for its annual steak dinner fundraiser on April 18. It relies on donations and a team of dedicated volunteers to keep the program active.

    As part of our 70 Years of Service initiative, we’re highlighting organizations that are making a difference all year long. See more stories in the series here.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Police warn of dangerous TikTok ‘door-kicking’ challenge

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    Police in Pennsylvania are warning residents about a viral TikTok challenge where kids record themselves kicking in the front doors of people’s homes. Similar instances of door-kicking have been reported in other states.In Pennsylvania, Multiple police departments in the Susquehanna Valley have reported these incidents. The Lower Swatara Township Police Department said officers responded to a report of disorderly juveniles just before 3 a.m. on Sunday. Police reviewed video camera footage, which showed one juvenile kicking in a front door while recording on her phone before running off with two other juveniles. Watch: Ring camera footage of the incident Officers walked through the neighborhood and spoke to several residents who said the same incident had happened to them. Anyone who recognizes the individuals in this video is asked to contact Lower Swatara Township police. Police said this incident is likely related to a viral TikTok trend where kids are kicking in the front doors of people’s homes, warning that this challenge is very dangerous. Adams County Crime Stoppers reported a similar “door-kicking” incident where a male kicked the front door of a home in McSherrystown Borough, Pennsylvania, multiple times the night of Halloween, Oct. 31. Authorities said the male fled with two other individuals after causing damage to the door. Police released a photo of the male suspect. KCRA reports that police in the Sacramento, California, area have warned residents of an uptick in cases of kids kicking the front doors of strangers’ homes. In Baltimore, WBAL reported that two teenagers were arrested while carrying out the trend in July.In September, a “ding-dong ditch” prank in Houston, Texas, resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy when the homeowner exited the house and shot him.Anyone who experiences similar activity at their home is advised to call the police immediately.

    Police in Pennsylvania are warning residents about a viral TikTok challenge where kids record themselves kicking in the front doors of people’s homes.

    Similar instances of door-kicking have been reported in other states.

    In Pennsylvania, Multiple police departments in the Susquehanna Valley have reported these incidents.

    The Lower Swatara Township Police Department said officers responded to a report of disorderly juveniles just before 3 a.m. on Sunday.

    Police reviewed video camera footage, which showed one juvenile kicking in a front door while recording on her phone before running off with two other juveniles.

    Watch: Ring camera footage of the incident

    Officers walked through the neighborhood and spoke to several residents who said the same incident had happened to them. Anyone who recognizes the individuals in this video is asked to contact Lower Swatara Township police.

    Police said this incident is likely related to a viral TikTok trend where kids are kicking in the front doors of people’s homes, warning that this challenge is very dangerous.

    Adams County Crime Stoppers reported a similar “door-kicking” incident where a male kicked the front door of a home in McSherrystown Borough, Pennsylvania, multiple times the night of Halloween, Oct. 31.

    Authorities said the male fled with two other individuals after causing damage to the door. Police released a photo of the male suspect.

    KCRA reports that police in the Sacramento, California, area have warned residents of an uptick in cases of kids kicking the front doors of strangers’ homes.

    In Baltimore, WBAL reported that two teenagers were arrested while carrying out the trend in July.

    In September, a “ding-dong ditch” prank in Houston, Texas, resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy when the homeowner exited the house and shot him.

    Anyone who experiences similar activity at their home is advised to call the police immediately.

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  • Central Floridians sending help to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa

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    As Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica, individuals and organizations in Central Florida were getting ready to provide the help the island would most certainly need. “Now we’re seeing the complete devastation…” said attorney Dan Newlin. Newlin said in a matter of hours, he and his team were able to pull together about 500 pounds of supplies, including food, medicine, and diapers. He said two of his planes will fly to Jamaica on Thursday morning. He said first, they’ll make a stop in Miami to pick up recording artist Shaggy, a Jamaican American who has a charitable organization. “He is going to go into the devastation area and actually play a very personal role,” Newlin said. “He plans on staying there. I’m going to be doing the transporting of goods, so I’ll be coming back here and then go back while he actually works his way into the area that has the most destruction.”Newlin said he has a strong connection to Jamaica himself and has been working with an organization that helps kids needing heart surgery on the island for the last five years. He said for this mission, it will probably be three to five flights to bring all of the supplies they’ve gathered. Other organizations and individuals in Central Florida spent Wednesday stepping up too. Including Kissimmee vice mayor Angela Eady, who brought together a task force of groups wanting to help at Solid Rock Community Church on Wednesday night. She said her own experience after a hurricane compelled her to help. “I know every feeling that every single parent that’s over on that island that has children to take care of that they don’t know how they’re going to eat tomorrow, I was there,” Eady said. Their task force is still in the early stages, but she said they will be collecting supplies and donations at Solid Rock Church. “Anything that you’re willing to give, whether it’s your time, your talent, or your treasure, which is your finances, we will accept,” She said. As far as what supplies they’ll be collecting, the church said to keep an eye out for updates on their website here.

    ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —

    As Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica, individuals and organizations in Central Florida were getting ready to provide the help the island would most certainly need.

    “Now we’re seeing the complete devastation…” said attorney Dan Newlin.

    Newlin said in a matter of hours, he and his team were able to pull together about 500 pounds of supplies, including food, medicine, and diapers. He said two of his planes will fly to Jamaica on Thursday morning. He said first, they’ll make a stop in Miami to pick up recording artist Shaggy, a Jamaican American who has a charitable organization.

    “He is going to go into the devastation area and actually play a very personal role,” Newlin said. “He plans on staying there. I’m going to be doing the transporting of goods, so I’ll be coming back here and then go back while he actually works his way into the area that has the most destruction.”

    Newlin said he has a strong connection to Jamaica himself and has been working with an organization that helps kids needing heart surgery on the island for the last five years.

    He said for this mission, it will probably be three to five flights to bring all of the supplies they’ve gathered.

    Other organizations and individuals in Central Florida spent Wednesday stepping up too. Including Kissimmee vice mayor Angela Eady, who brought together a task force of groups wanting to help at Solid Rock Community Church on Wednesday night.

    She said her own experience after a hurricane compelled her to help.

    “I know every feeling that every single parent that’s over on that island that has children to take care of that they don’t know how they’re going to eat tomorrow, I was there,” Eady said.

    Their task force is still in the early stages, but she said they will be collecting supplies and donations at Solid Rock Church.

    “Anything that you’re willing to give, whether it’s your time, your talent, or your treasure, which is your finances, we will accept,” She said.

    As far as what supplies they’ll be collecting, the church said to keep an eye out for updates on their website here.

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  • Illinois inmate shot and killed at federal prison in Sumter County

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    Illinois inmate shot and killed at federal prison in Sumter County

    WESH TWO NEWS. ALL RIGHT, HALEY, THANK YOU. MEANTIME, A FAMILY SAYS THEY HAVE QUESTIONS AFTER THEY SAY ONE OF THEIR OWN WAS SHOT AND KILLED IN PRISON. THIS MAN, 33 YEAR OLD DWAYNE TOTTLEBEN, DIED ON OCTOBER 10TH. WESH TWO. TONI ATKINS IS LIVE AT FCC COLEMAN IN SUMTER COUNTY, WHERE TOTTLEBEN WAS SERVING TIME AND TONY. HIS FAMILY JUST WANTS TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. WELL, IT’S BEEN 12 DAYS SINCE THE INCIDENT HERE AT THE PRISON RIGHT BEHIND ME. THIS FAMILY, HOPING TO FIGURE OUT SOMETHING SOON. 33 YEAR OLD DWAYNE TOTTLEBEN OF ILLINOIS WAS SHOT AND KILLED WHILE INSIDE U.S. PENITENTIARY COLEMAN IN SUMTER COUNTY. LOVED ONES POSTING ON GOFUNDME SAYING THEY’RE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION. NBC NEWS REPORTS. TOTTLEBEN WAS SERVING 15 YEARS AT THE FEDERAL PRISON FOR POSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAMINE WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE. THE CHARGES, RELATED TO A 2020 TRAFFIC STOP IN SAINT LOUIS. THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS, WHICH ALSO SHARES INFORMATION ON INMATES DEATHS, HAS NOT RELEASED INFORMATION ABOUT TOTTLEBEN. IN THE MEANTIME, LOVED ONES SPOKE WITH NBC NEWS DWAYNE TOTTLEBEN SENIOR SAYS OFFICIALS INFORMED HIM HIS SON WAS SHOT. HE SAID, QUOTE, I WAS DISTRAUGHT. I DIDN’T KNOW IF SOMEONE STABBED HIM. I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING. THE PRISON SENT THIS STATEMENT TO NBC NEWS SAYING THE FACILITY WAS PLACED ON ENHANCED MODIFIED OPERATIONS ON OCTOBER 10TH, AND THAT WARDENS MAY ESTABLISH CONTROLS OR IMPLEMENT TEMPORARY SECURITY MEASURES TO ENSURE THE GOOD ORDER AND SAFETY OF THE EMPLOYEES AND THE INDIVIDUALS IN OUR CUSTODY. END QUOTE. TOTTLEBEN SENIOR TOLD NBC NEWS, QUOTE, WHEN PEOPLE GET INTO FIGHTS IN PRISON, THEY LOSE TIME, CREDIT. THEY DON’T LOSE THEIR LIVES. AND I ALSO REACHED OUT TO THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS TO SEE IF THEY HAD A STATEMENT ABOUT HIS DEATH. THEY I DID RECEIVE AN AUTO REPLY, AND IT SAID THAT THEY WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO RESPOND DUE TO A LAPSE IN APPROPRIATIONS, WHICH IS RELATED TO THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. FOR NOW, I’

    Illinois inmate shot and killed at federal prison in Sumter County

    Updated: 11:33 PM EDT Oct 22, 2025

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    Dwayne Tottleben, a 33-year-old inmate from Illinois, was shot and killed while inside U.S. Penitentiary Coleman in Sumter County, according to loved ones who are trying to understand the situation.Tottleben was serving a 15-year sentence at the federal prison for possession of methamphetamines with intent to distribute, stemming from a 2020 traffic stop in St. Louis.The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which often shares information about inmate deaths, has not released details about Tottleben’s death.Meanwhile, loved ones spoke with NBC News, with Dwayne Tottleben Sr. saying officials informed him his son was shot.”I was distraught. I didn’t know if somebody stabbed him. I didn’t know anything,” Tottleben Sr. said.The prison sent a statement to NBC News, indicating that the facility was placed on enhanced modified operations on Oct. 10.It stated that wardens may establish controls or implement temporary security measures to ensure the good order and safety of employees and individuals in custody.”When people get into fight in prison, they lose good time credit… they don’t lose their life,” Tottleben Sr. said.

    SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. —

    Dwayne Tottleben, a 33-year-old inmate from Illinois, was shot and killed while inside U.S. Penitentiary Coleman in Sumter County, according to loved ones who are trying to understand the situation.

    Tottleben was serving a 15-year sentence at the federal prison for possession of methamphetamines with intent to distribute, stemming from a 2020 traffic stop in St. Louis.

    The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which often shares information about inmate deaths, has not released details about Tottleben’s death.

    Meanwhile, loved ones spoke with NBC News, with Dwayne Tottleben Sr. saying officials informed him his son was shot.

    “I was distraught. I didn’t know if somebody stabbed him. I didn’t know anything,” Tottleben Sr. said.

    The prison sent a statement to NBC News, indicating that the facility was placed on enhanced modified operations on Oct. 10.

    It stated that wardens may establish controls or implement temporary security measures to ensure the good order and safety of employees and individuals in custody.

    “When people get into fight in prison, they lose good time credit… they don’t lose their life,” Tottleben Sr. said.

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  • 2 hurt, including a US Marshal, after an ICE agent’s weapon discharged in LA immigration operation

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    Two people were injured, including a US marshal, during an immigration enforcement operation early Tuesday in Los Angeles, a law enforcement source tells CNN.An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s weapon discharged after an individual apparently rammed into a vehicle that was part of a team of ICE and US marshals engaged in immigration enforcement, the source said.The suspect’s condition is not currently known. The law enforcement source previously told CNN the suspect was “gravely wounded.”The US marshal who was injured in the incident is currently in stable condition, the US Marshals Central District of California confirmed in a statement.DHS said the incident took place during a “targeted enforcement traffic stop.”“ICE law enforcement officers, assisted by U.S. Marshals, pulled the illegal alien over in a standard law enforcement procedure. The illegal alien weaponized his vehicle and began ramming the law enforcement vehicle in an attempt to flee,” the agency said in a statement. “Fearing for the safety of the public and law enforcement, our officers followed their training and fired defensive shots. The illegal alien was shot in the elbow and one law enforcement officer was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet. Both are in the hospital.”Investigators believe gunfire erupted after an ICE officer confronted the suspect’s vehicle and smashed a window with their service weapon, the law enforcement source said. While attempting to grab the suspect, authorities believe the agent’s weapon discharged, striking both the suspect and a deputy US marshal.CNN has reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department for more information.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    LOS ANGELES —

    Two people were injured, including a US marshal, during an immigration enforcement operation early Tuesday in Los Angeles, a law enforcement source tells CNN.

    An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s weapon discharged after an individual apparently rammed into a vehicle that was part of a team of ICE and US marshals engaged in immigration enforcement, the source said.

    The suspect’s condition is not currently known. The law enforcement source previously told CNN the suspect was “gravely wounded.”

    The US marshal who was injured in the incident is currently in stable condition, the US Marshals Central District of California confirmed in a statement.

    DHS said the incident took place during a “targeted enforcement traffic stop.”

    “ICE law enforcement officers, assisted by U.S. Marshals, pulled the illegal alien over in a standard law enforcement procedure. The illegal alien weaponized his vehicle and began ramming the law enforcement vehicle in an attempt to flee,” the agency said in a statement. “Fearing for the safety of the public and law enforcement, our officers followed their training and fired defensive shots. The illegal alien was shot in the elbow and one law enforcement officer was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet. Both are in the hospital.”

    Investigators believe gunfire erupted after an ICE officer confronted the suspect’s vehicle and smashed a window with their service weapon, the law enforcement source said. While attempting to grab the suspect, authorities believe the agent’s weapon discharged, striking both the suspect and a deputy US marshal.

    CNN has reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department for more information.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Here’s how Trump is changing the H-1B visa program

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    Here’s how Trump is changing the H-1B visa program

    The Trump administration is overhauling a visa program intended for high-skilled workers by hiking the application fee to $100,000 annually.

    Updated: 5:11 AM PDT Sep 20, 2025

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    President Donald Trump is overhauling a visa program intended for high-skilled workers by hiking the application fee to $100,000 annually from $215. It’s the latest step from the Trump administration aimed at limiting legal immigration. The move could shake up hiring strategies in major industries like technology, finance, health care and higher education. The H-1B visa program aims to bring in foreign workers for high-skilled, hard-to-fill jobs. Historically, these visas have been awarded through a lottery system. Opponents argue that businesses are abusing the program to pay overseas workers lower wages. At a press conference on Friday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the steeper application fee will incentivize companies to hire Americans instead. He predicted program usage will ultimately fall below the current 85,000 annual cap as a result. “Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” Lutnick said. This year, top recipients of H-1B visas included Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Google.In the past, debates over the future of the program have divided members of Trump’s coalition. Some have called for lower caps or eliminating H-1B visas entirely. Big Tech allies, like billionaire Elon Musk (a former H-1B recipient), contend the program plays a critical role in keeping American businesses competitive by attracting top talent from around the world.”The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” Musk posted in December during a social media spat on this topic. “Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win.” Also on Friday, Trump rolled out a new visa pathway that he’s calling the “Trump Gold Card.” It allows vetted individuals to pay $1 million in exchange for an expedited process and a pathway to lawful permanent resident status, according to the program’s website. Corporations sponsoring individuals would have to pay $2 million. “It’s going to raise billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars, which is going to reduce taxes, pay off debt, and other good things,” Trump said. Critics argue that Trump can’t take these steps without approval from Congress. The plan is expected to face legal challenges.

    WASHINGTON —

    President Donald Trump is overhauling a visa program intended for high-skilled workers by hiking the application fee to $100,000 annually from $215.

    It’s the latest step from the Trump administration aimed at limiting legal immigration. The move could shake up hiring strategies in major industries like technology, finance, health care and higher education.

    The H-1B visa program aims to bring in foreign workers for high-skilled, hard-to-fill jobs. Historically, these visas have been awarded through a lottery system.

    Opponents argue that businesses are abusing the program to pay overseas workers lower wages. At a press conference on Friday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the steeper application fee will incentivize companies to hire Americans instead. He predicted program usage will ultimately fall below the current 85,000 annual cap as a result.

    “Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” Lutnick said.

    This year, top recipients of H-1B visas included Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Google.

    In the past, debates over the future of the program have divided members of Trump’s coalition. Some have called for lower caps or eliminating H-1B visas entirely. Big Tech allies, like billionaire Elon Musk (a former H-1B recipient), contend the program plays a critical role in keeping American businesses competitive by attracting top talent from around the world.

    “The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” Musk posted in December during a social media spat on this topic. “Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win.”

    Also on Friday, Trump rolled out a new visa pathway that he’s calling the “Trump Gold Card.” It allows vetted individuals to pay $1 million in exchange for an expedited process and a pathway to lawful permanent resident status, according to the program’s website. Corporations sponsoring individuals would have to pay $2 million.

    “It’s going to raise billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars, which is going to reduce taxes, pay off debt, and other good things,” Trump said.

    Critics argue that Trump can’t take these steps without approval from Congress. The plan is expected to face legal challenges.

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  • What we know about ongoing manhunt for Charlie Kirk shooting suspect

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    What we know about ongoing manhunt for Charlie Kirk shooting suspect

    Good morning. I’m Bo Mason, commissioner for the Utah Department of Public Safety. I’d be remiss if we didn’t start off today to recognize the significance of, of the day, um. Historically on 9/11, law enforcement has come together as *** group to recognize and honor those that sacrificed. To preserve the ideals of this country, the freedoms of this country. And instead, we find ourselves today hunting *** murderer. We chose to violate our rights, the rights of an individual within this country. Just to recap yesterday’s events. At around 12:20 p.m. Political influencer Charlie Kirk was in Utah Valley University, participating in *** student sponsored event with Turning Point USA. Charlie was shot at that event. He was transported to *** local hospital where he later passed. Last night, his body was moved to the office, the state office of the medical examiner. We will continue to facilitate movements um to get him home today, um, and with his family. Yesterday during the investigative process we located *** couple of persons of interest. We interviewed those individuals. And after releasing them and after clearing them of being suspects. They face scrutiny. They face threats. We asked the public to be patient with the investigative process. These individuals were not suspects. They were people of interest. We ask that you do not impose into those those people and that investigative process. They don’t deserve that harassment for being subject to that. I’d like to thank all the investigators that are involved in this. They have worked around the clock all day yesterday through the night last night. Investigators from the State Bureau of Investigations, from county, from city agencies, the university, our federal partners with the FBI, the ATF, um, and many others. Those are just *** few of the people that we have involved in this. I’d like to thank all of them for their, for their strong work. Through all that work last night, we were able to make *** few, few breakthroughs. Um, we were able to track the movements of the shooter. Starting at 11:52 a.m. the subject arrived on campus shortly away from campus. We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to *** shooting location. After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building, and fled off of the campus and into *** neighborhood. Our investigators have worked through those neighborhoods, contacting anybody they can with doorbell cameras, witnesses, and thoroughly worked through those communities trying to identify any leads. We do have good video footage of this individual. We are not going to release that at this time. We’re working through some technologies and some ways to identify this individual. If we are unsuccessful, we will reach out to you as the media, and we will push that publicly to help us identify them, but we’re confident in our abilities right now and we would like to move forward in *** manner that keeps everyone safe and moves this process appropriately. Last night I communicated with Erica. The family is devastated. As Commissioner of Public safety. As *** father, as *** husband, I can only imagine what that family is going through. The heinous event that happened yesterday is not Utah. This is not what we’re known for. Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen the state come together to help families in mourning, come together as *** community to show what Utah is known for. For *** state of, of character. Of service, of camaraderie, of ***, of *** neighboring field. We will not stand for what happened yesterday. We are exhausting every lead. We have every officer invested in this, every investigator, every local agency. The outpouring of support from the law enforcement community has been astounding. We are, we are investing everything we have into this, and we will catch this individual. Having walked through the crime scene, through the hallways of this school, through the classrooms. I can’t imagine what the people on scene felt as well. *** horrific event where some of them barricaded in classrooms, some of them ran in fear. Can’t over over overstate. The tragedy and the horrific event that yesterday was. And how we will work to, to bring to justice the actions of one individual or any other individuals that assisted in that. Our state has gone through *** lot and we will come out successfully. With that, I’ll turn the time over to Special Agens charge. Good morning. My name is Robert Bows, and I’m the special agent in charge of the Salt Lake Field Office. Following yesterday’s tragic shooting of Charlie Kirk, FBI agents have been working around the clock in coordination with our law enforcement partners. We are and will continue to work nonstop until we find the person that has committed this heinous crime and find out why they did it. This morning, I can tell you that we have recovered what we believe is the weapon that was used in yesterday’s shooting. It’s *** high-powered bolt action rifle. That rifle was was recovered in *** wooded area where the shooter had fled. So the FBI laboratory will be analyzing this weapon. Investigators have also collected footwear impression, *** palm print, and forearm imprints for analysis. I understand there are *** lot of questions about motive. I assure you that all leads, tips, and tips are being fully investigated. As of this morning, we received more than 130 tests. We thank the community for that. The FBI has brought every resource to bear. And we will continue to do so throughout the course of this investigation. The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people. It’s to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Any attack on the First Amendment. is an attack on the very foundation of our democracy. That is why we will, we will relentlessly pursue this case and the shooter until we find him. We also continue to grieve with the family and the community. It’s our community. If you have any video or images from the shooting, we ask you to please submit them to our digital media tip website at www.FBI.gov/Utahvalley shooting. You can also call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. We truly rely on the public’s help in these types of cases, and no tip is too small or insignificant. Thank you. Um, Commissioner James Matthews from Sky News, can I ask, uh, about the shooter? There’s clearly information, uh, about him or her. You say you’re confident at this stage in terms of tracking down who they are. Can you talk to us about their movements, their demeanor? Do you think it’s *** man? And also, can I ask what were the security arrangements in place? Was that move. Being monitored, it’s *** question many people will have particular problem. So what I’ll release about the suspect is uh Suspect blended in well with, with the college institution. Um, we’re not releasing any details right now and then we, we will soon, um, but right now we’re not, but that, that individual um appears to be of, of college age, um. We are confident in our abilities to track that individual. If we’re unsuccessful in identifying them immediately, we will reach out to the public’s help and the media’s help in pushing those photos. That was *** new development overnight working through the night studying those cameras, so that’s something that’s new and that we’re working through right now. As far as the security, I cannot speak to that. Neither the Department of Public Safety nor the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in in the planning or security of this event, and that’ll have to be *** question later for other agencies. I wanted to ask you, you mentioned that you found the gun in *** wooded area. Do you believe that the suspect could be hiding in the woods, and is that suspect possibly still in this area? So that’s *** good question and it’s, it’s *** question that goes to the safety of the community, right? Um, no, not in those woods. We walked through those woods and secured it. Um, as to the community, I can tell you that this was *** targeted event. Um, we don’t believe the community is, is at risk. However, we’re exhausting every resource to find him, uh, and. We will, we will do so on the BBC from the images you have, can you see clearly the suspect’s face? You say he was college age, do you believe he was from this university, and how far do you think he may have gone in this time span? So I can’t comment specifically on his face or any details such as that, uh, as it’s continuing to be *** part of the investigation and, and again we’ll release that shortly. Uh, however, um, we’re, we’re doing everything we can to find him, and we’re not sure how far he’s gone. And you do? We, we have images of the of the suspects that you’ve been able to recover, do you believe you know who this person is, the person that you’re looking for at this point again, as part of the investigation, we’re not releasing any details fingerprints or DNA. We are, we are exhausting all of our resources to be able to collect those, uh, but that’s again part of the excuse me. You said you found the weapon. Have you been able to trace back the owner of that weapon or purchased it? We are working on that but again part of the of the FBI think that’s impacting. We’ve got complete and total support from everyone from the director on down and it’s been an incredible supportive environment so far. tweets like the one where I can say is that we’re working the investigation the best we have right now.

    What we know about ongoing manhunt for Charlie Kirk shooting suspect

    Updated: 11:02 AM EDT Sep 11, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A manhunt continues Thursday as law enforcement officials search for the suspect responsible for fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the Utah Valley University campus on Wednesday.Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA when he was shot and killed. Kirk was the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA.What we know about the shooterPolice are still working to identify the shooter.The suspect targeted Kirk, firing a single shot from a distant rooftop, according to Commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety Beau Mason. Authorities said the suspect “appears to be of college age” and “blended in” with students on the college campus.Authorities said the suspect arrived on campus just before noon. After firing the shot, the shooter jumped from the roof, moved through stairwells and ultimately fled from campus into a neighborhood. A high-powered, bolt-action rifle was found in a wooded area where the shooter fled, according to the FBI. The shooter is still on the run, and it is not clear how far the suspect may have gotten, but the nearby woods have been secured, authorities said.Officials are reviewing grainy security videos of a person in dark clothing. “We do have good video of this individual,” Mason said.Federal, state and local authorities were working what they called “multiple active crime scenes.” Are there other suspects?A person of interest was taken into custody Wednesday evening after the shooting, but has since been released, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said. No charges were filed. Officials have no information indicating a second person was involved, according to Cox. Two other people were detained Wednesday, but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, public safety officials said. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    A manhunt continues Thursday as law enforcement officials search for the suspect responsible for fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the Utah Valley University campus on Wednesday.

    Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA when he was shot and killed. Kirk was the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA.

    What we know about the shooter

    Police are still working to identify the shooter.

    The suspect targeted Kirk, firing a single shot from a distant rooftop, according to Commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety Beau Mason.

    Authorities said the suspect “appears to be of college age” and “blended in” with students on the college campus.

    Authorities said the suspect arrived on campus just before noon.

    After firing the shot, the shooter jumped from the roof, moved through stairwells and ultimately fled from campus into a neighborhood. A high-powered, bolt-action rifle was found in a wooded area where the shooter fled, according to the FBI.

    The shooter is still on the run, and it is not clear how far the suspect may have gotten, but the nearby woods have been secured, authorities said.

    Officials are reviewing grainy security videos of a person in dark clothing. “We do have good video of this individual,” Mason said.

    Federal, state and local authorities were working what they called “multiple active crime scenes.”

    Are there other suspects?

    A person of interest was taken into custody Wednesday evening after the shooting, but has since been released, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said. No charges were filed.

    Officials have no information indicating a second person was involved, according to Cox.

    Two other people were detained Wednesday, but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, public safety officials said.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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  • Critics fault Supreme Court for allowing immigration stops that consider race and ethnicity

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    WASHINGTON — Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that U.S. Border Patrol agents violated the Constitution when they stopped a car on a freeway near San Clemente because its occupants appeared to be “of Mexican ancestry.”

    The 4th Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches, the justices said then, and a motorist’s “Mexican appearance” does not justify stopping them to ask about their immigration status.

    But the court sounded a decidedly different note on Monday when it ruled for the Trump administration and cleared the way for stopping and questioning Latinos who may be here illegally. By a 6-3 vote, the justices set aside a Los Angeles judge’s temporary restraining order that barred agents from stopping people based in part on their race or apparent ethnicity.

    “Apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. “However, it can be a relevant factor when considered along with other salient factors.”

    Critics of the ruling said it had opened the door for authorizing racial and ethnic bias.

    UCLA law professor Ahilan Arulanantham called it “shocking and appalling. I don’t know of any recent decision like this that authorized racial discrimination.”

    Arulanantham noted that Kavanaugh’s writings speak for the justice alone, and that the full court did not explain its ruling on a case that came through its emergency docket.

    By contrast, he and others pointed out that the court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. prohibited the use of race or ethnicity as a factor in college admissions.

    “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” Roberts wrote for a 6-3 majority in 2023. That decision struck down the affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

    “Today, the Supreme Court took a step in a badly wrong direction,” Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor, wrote on the Volokh Conspiracy blog. “It makes no sense to conclude that racial and ethnic discrimination is generally unconstitutional, yet also that its use is ‘reasonable’ under the 4th Amendment.”

    Reports had already emerged before the decision of ICE agents confronting U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents before they have been able to prove their status, compelling many to begin carrying documentation around at all times.

    In New York on Monday, one man outside a federal court was pushed by ICE agents before being able to show them his identification. He was let go.

    Asked by The Times to respond to increasing concern among U.S. citizens they could be swept up in expanded ICE raids as a result of the ruling, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that individuals should not be worried.

    She added that immigration agents conduct targeted operations with the use of law enforcement intelligence.

    “The Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration’s right to stop individuals in Los Angeles to briefly question them regarding their legal status, because the law allows this, and this has been the practice of the federal government for decades,” Leavitt said. “The Immigration and Nationality Act states that immigration officers can briefly stop an individual to question them about their immigration status, if the officer has reasonable suspicion that the individual is illegally present in the United States. And reasonable suspicion is not just based on race — it’s based on a totality of the circumstances.”

    On X, the House Homeland Security Committee Democrats responded to Leavitt’s comments, writing: “ICE has jailed U.S. citizens. The Trump Admin is defending racial profiling. Nobody is safe when ‘looking Hispanic’ is treated as probable cause.”

    Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent pointed out that nearly half of the residents of Greater Los Angeles are Latino and can speak Spanish.

    “Countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground and handcuffed because of their looks, their accents, and the fact that they make a living by doing manual labor,” she wrote. “Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities.”

    At issue in the case was the meaning of “reasonable suspicion.”

    For decades, the court has said police and federal agents may stop and question someone if they see something specific that suggests they may be violating the law.

    But the two sides disagreed over whether agents may stop people because they appear to be Latinos and work as day laborers, at car washes or other low-wage jobs.

    President Trump’s lawyers as well as Kavanaugh said agents may make stops based on the “totality of the circumstances” and that may include where people work as well as their ethnicity. They also pointed to the data that suggests about 10% of the people in the Los Angeles area are illegally in the United States.

    Tom Homan, the White House border advisor, said that the legal standard of reasonable suspicion “has a group of factors you must take into consideration,” adding, “racial profiling is not happening at all.”

    It is a “false narrative being pushed,” Homan told MSNBC in an interview, praising the Supreme Court decision. “We don’t arrest somebody or detain somebody without reasonable suspicion.”

    Times staff writer Andrea Castillo, in Washington, contributed to this report.

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    David G. Savage, Michael Wilner

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  • ACLU filing: Sacramento Home Depot raid violated court order, high schooler among those arrested

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    A recent Border Patrol raid at a Home Depot parking lot in the south Sacramento area broke a court order, according to a newly filed court motion. | PREVIOUS COVERAGE ABOVE | Florin Road Home Depot raid | CBP boasts capturing serious criminal offenderThe documents also claim an 18-year-old high school student who was walking to a nearby Ross clothing store across the street was swept up in the raid. On July 17, masked Border Patrol agents conducted operations in Sacramento, leading to at least 11 arrests. At the time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the arrests included a dangerous serial drug abuser and a dealer with 67 previous charges. In a motion filed Aug. 29, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and United Farm Workers (UFW) claim Border Patrol violated a court order during the Home Depot raid. The motion was filed as part of a previous case focused on a Kern County raid earlier this year. In April, a federal district court judge issued a preliminary injunction, preventing Border Patrol agents from conducting stops without reasonable suspicion that the person is unlawfully in the country. Read the full filing here.According to the latest motion, ACLU and UFW claim, “…Border Patrol agents targeted individuals based on their apparent ethnicity, apparent occupation, and presence at or near a Home Depot with no reason to believe the specific individuals they stopped were in the country unlawfully, and arrested them without assessing flight risk.”The documents state that one of those arrested was 18-year-old Selvin Osbeli Mejia Diaz. In a declaration signed by Diaz, he said he was walking from home to the Ross store on Florin Road after his aunt gave him money to buy a new shirt and shoes. He said that while he was walking, a masked man “dressed like a soldier” jumped out of a Chevy Silverado truck and started chasing him. He said he ran for about 10 steps before the agent threw him to the ground, handcuffed him and put him in the truck. Diaz said the agent didn’t identify himself before driving him to the Stockton ICE processing center and taking his phone. He said that’s when he was placed in a cell with about 11 other people who were arrested in Sacramento. He said later that night, he was taken to a detention center in Sacramento, where he slept on the floor with an aluminum blanket. He said he kept asking to call his aunt, but agents wouldn’t let him until about two or three days later. According to his declaration, Diaz fled Guatemala when he was 16 years old and was seeking asylum. He said he was living in Sacramento with his aunt, uncle and cousins and was attending Valley High School. Diaz said he had never committed any crime and was concerned he would never see his family again. The Aug. 29 motion said that less than two weeks after the arrests in Sacramento, two of the 11 people arrested were still in ICE custody, leading the plaintiffs to believe the others had already been deported. RELATED | Leaders, officials react to Border Patrol operations in SacramentoThree days before the motion was filed, KCRA 3’s Ashley Zavala spoke with El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino via Zoom for a one-on-one interview. Bovino has been outspoken about the raids and has warned there will be more. Zavala asked him how Border Patrol was deciding which communities to focus on. “The communities that we go into and our law enforcement actions, like the one you saw in Sacramento, are based on what we call targeted enforcements,” Bovino answered. “We have predefined targets that we look to create a law enforcement function to go after. That’s what we did in Sacramento. That particular operation, there were some individuals that we were after. We did end up apprehending several individuals that were aggravated felons and some folks that you would not want walking the streets of your community with impunity … We go where the threat takes us.” He said Californians should expect to continue to see Border Agents on the street until more “dangerous felons” are taken off the street. Bovino also said the state’s sanctuary legislation is tying the hands of law enforcement and limiting cooperation between local agencies and federal immigration officials. KCRA 3 also reached out to DHS for a comment on the recent motion and has not received a statement. For more of Ashley Zavala’s conversation with Chief Bovino, along with a sit-down interview with Senator Alex Padilla responding to recent raids, watch California Politics 360 at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    A recent Border Patrol raid at a Home Depot parking lot in the south Sacramento area broke a court order, according to a newly filed court motion.

    | PREVIOUS COVERAGE ABOVE | Florin Road Home Depot raid | CBP boasts capturing serious criminal offender

    The documents also claim an 18-year-old high school student who was walking to a nearby Ross clothing store across the street was swept up in the raid.

    On July 17, masked Border Patrol agents conducted operations in Sacramento, leading to at least 11 arrests. At the time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the arrests included a dangerous serial drug abuser and a dealer with 67 previous charges.

    In a motion filed Aug. 29, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and United Farm Workers (UFW) claim Border Patrol violated a court order during the Home Depot raid. The motion was filed as part of a previous case focused on a Kern County raid earlier this year. In April, a federal district court judge issued a preliminary injunction, preventing Border Patrol agents from conducting stops without reasonable suspicion that the person is unlawfully in the country.

    Read the full filing here.

    According to the latest motion, ACLU and UFW claim, “…Border Patrol agents targeted individuals based on their apparent ethnicity, apparent occupation, and presence at or near a Home Depot with no reason to believe the specific individuals they stopped were in the country unlawfully, and arrested them without assessing flight risk.”

    The documents state that one of those arrested was 18-year-old Selvin Osbeli Mejia Diaz. In a declaration signed by Diaz, he said he was walking from home to the Ross store on Florin Road after his aunt gave him money to buy a new shirt and shoes. He said that while he was walking, a masked man “dressed like a soldier” jumped out of a Chevy Silverado truck and started chasing him. He said he ran for about 10 steps before the agent threw him to the ground, handcuffed him and put him in the truck.

    Diaz said the agent didn’t identify himself before driving him to the Stockton ICE processing center and taking his phone. He said that’s when he was placed in a cell with about 11 other people who were arrested in Sacramento. He said later that night, he was taken to a detention center in Sacramento, where he slept on the floor with an aluminum blanket. He said he kept asking to call his aunt, but agents wouldn’t let him until about two or three days later.

    According to his declaration, Diaz fled Guatemala when he was 16 years old and was seeking asylum. He said he was living in Sacramento with his aunt, uncle and cousins and was attending Valley High School. Diaz said he had never committed any crime and was concerned he would never see his family again.

    The Aug. 29 motion said that less than two weeks after the arrests in Sacramento, two of the 11 people arrested were still in ICE custody, leading the plaintiffs to believe the others had already been deported.

    RELATED | Leaders, officials react to Border Patrol operations in Sacramento

    Three days before the motion was filed, KCRA 3’s Ashley Zavala spoke with El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino via Zoom for a one-on-one interview. Bovino has been outspoken about the raids and has warned there will be more. Zavala asked him how Border Patrol was deciding which communities to focus on.

    “The communities that we go into and our law enforcement actions, like the one you saw in Sacramento, are based on what we call targeted enforcements,” Bovino answered. “We have predefined targets that we look to create a law enforcement function to go after. That’s what we did in Sacramento. That particular operation, there were some individuals that we were after. We did end up apprehending several individuals that were aggravated felons and some folks that you would not want walking the streets of your community with impunity … We go where the threat takes us.”

    He said Californians should expect to continue to see Border Agents on the street until more “dangerous felons” are taken off the street. Bovino also said the state’s sanctuary legislation is tying the hands of law enforcement and limiting cooperation between local agencies and federal immigration officials.

    KCRA 3 also reached out to DHS for a comment on the recent motion and has not received a statement.

    For more of Ashley Zavala’s conversation with Chief Bovino, along with a sit-down interview with Senator Alex Padilla responding to recent raids, watch California Politics 360 at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • A Trump donor, now a regulator, leads effort to accuse president’s foes of mortgage fraud

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    WASHINGTON — Behind a White House effort to saddle President Trump’s political foes with accusations of mortgage fraud is a 37-year-old home construction executive with a deep partisan past.

    Bill Pulte, a Florida native, rose in Trump’s orbit toward the end of his first term. After courting Trump for years on social media and through generous donations, he now runs the Federal Housing Finance Agency — a perch that has allowed him to target prominent figures who have crossed the president.

    In the last five months, Pulte has referred three claims of mortgage fraud against Trump’s foes to the Justice Department, leveled against Letitia James, the attorney general of New York; Adam Schiff, the Democratic senator from California; and this week, Lisa Cook, a governor on the board of the Federal Reserve.

    Each has denied wrongdoing. Trump announced on Monday night that he was moving to fire Cook.

    It is an unusual role for a director of the FHFA, which regulates Fannie Mae — the nation’s largest company by assets — and Freddie Mac. The two mortgage financing organizations, which support nearly half of the U.S. residential mortgage market, were taken over by the FHFA during the 2008 economic crisis.

    The grandson of one of Michigan’s wealthiest and most prolific homebuilders, Pulte made a name for himself on Twitter in 2019 with public cash giveaways to individuals in need. He dubbed himself the “inventor of Twitter philanthropy,” vowing to give two cars away in exchange for a Trump retweet that year, which he received. He subsequently built a following of over 3 million.

    Records show Pulte donated substantially to Trump, the Republican National Committee and related super PACs leading up to the 2024 election.

    Pulte’s letters to Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi have been tightly and cautiously written. But his social media posts, celebrating the targeted attacks, have not.

    “Trump becomes the first president ever to remove a sitting Federal Reserve governor,” he wrote on X, between retweets of right-wing commentators praising the move. “Mortgage fraud can carry up to 30 years in prison.”

    In another post on X, quoting a CNN headline, Pulte wrote that Trump’s firing of Cook was “escalating his battle against the central bank” — seeming to acknowledge that targeting Cook was motivated by Trump’s ongoing grievances with Fed leadership.

    Cook’s firing is legally dubious, and her attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that Cook plans on suing the administration while continuing to perform her duties for the Fed. Lowell also represents James in her defense against the Justice Department case.

    While the Supreme Court ruled in May that Trump may fire individuals from independent federal agencies, the justices singled out the Fed as an exception, calling it a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.” The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 states that the president may fire a member of its leadership only “for cause.”

    But cause has not been definitively established to fire Cook, with Pulte writing in his letter to Bondi that the Fed governor had only “potentially” committed mortgage fraud, accusing her of falsifying bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms.

    Pulte has accused Cook of listing two homes — in Ann Arbor, Mich., and in Atlanta — as her primary addresses within two weeks of purchasing them through financing. Cook said she would “take any questions about my financial history seriously” and was “gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”

    Pulte’s other accusations, against James and Schiff, have been similarly superficial, publicly accusing individuals of potential criminality before a full, independent investigation can take place.

    And whether those investigations will be impartial is far from clear. Earlier this month, Bondi appointed Ed Martin, a conspiracy theorist who supported the “Stop the Steal” movement after Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump in 2020, as a special prosecutor to investigate the James and Schiff cases.

    Pulte accused James — who successfully accused Trump of financial fraud in a civil suit last year — of falsifying bank statements and property records to secure more favorable loan terms for homes in Virginia and New York. He made similar claims weeks later about Schiff, who maintains residences in California and the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

    Schiff, who led a House impeachment of Trump during the president’s first term and has remained one of his most vocal and forceful political adversaries since joining the Senate, dismissed the president’s claims as a “baseless attempt at political retribution.”

    A spokesperson for Schiff said he has always been transparent about owning two homes, in part to be able to raise his children near him in Washington, and has always followed the law — and advice from House counsel — in arranging his mortgages.

    In making his claims, Trump cited an investigation by the Fannie Mae “Financial Crimes Division” as his source.

    A memorandum reviewed by The Times from Fannie Mae investigators to Pulte does not accuse Schiff of mortgage fraud. It noted that investigators had been asked by the FHFA inspector general’s office for loan files and “any related investigative or quality control documentation” for Schiff’s homes.

    Investigators said they found that Schiff at various points identified both his home in Potomac, Md., and a Burbank unit he also owns as his primary residence. As a result, they concluded that Schiff and his wife, Eve, “engaged in a sustained pattern of possible occupancy misrepresentation” on their home loans between 2009 and 2020.

    The investigators did not say they had concluded that a crime had been committed, nor did they mention the word “fraud” in the memo.

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    Michael Wilner

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  • Need a background check in California? Changes at the courts are causing long waits

    Need a background check in California? Changes at the courts are causing long waits

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    Significant delays in the processing of background checks are causing headaches across California, leaving applications for jobs and housing stuck in limbo while making it harder for employers and landlords to screen for criminal records.

    The situation stems from a state appellate court ruling more than three years ago, which industry experts say has blocked background screeners and any court researcher from using date of birth or driver’s license information to narrow down search results as they investigate an individual’s criminal history.

    The 2021 decision in All of Us or None of Us vs. Hamrick arose from a case brought by criminal justice reform advocates who have long argued that background checks lead to discrimination against formerly incarcerated people.

    A panel at the 4th District Court of Appeals determined that Riverside County’s Superior Court website, which allowed users to input dates of birth and driver’s license numbers while searching for criminal records, was in violation of a state court rule that says such information should be excluded from court “indexes” accessible to the public through “electronic means.”

    “After considering the text, history, and purpose” of the rule, the judges found that state courts should limit search criteria for the public, effectively eliminating the use of birth dates and license numbers.

    Those personal identifiers had long been used to match individuals to their records, and without them it has proved nearly impossible to conduct searches that involve common names, industry experts say.

    “This was an interpretation that no one had ever seen before or seen coming,” said Melissa Sorenson, executive director of the Professional Background Screening Assn. “Each of the courts is trying to figure out how to comply.”

    Delays are particularly bad in Los Angeles County, where background check firms receive about 100,000 screening requests each month.

    “Right now, L.A. County is an example of something that’s not sustainable,” Sorenson said.

    Residents with common names or those with a long history in the area may have to wait for months or even years for their background check to be completed, Sorensen said, if it’s possible for it to be completed at all.

    It has taken time for courts to adjust since the 2021 appellate ruling was handed down. The Superior Court of Los Angeles announced its changes in February.

    “All the background screener can do is plug in Jose Rodriguez, for example, and because it’s a relatively common name in L.A., you could get back hundreds to thousands of results,” Sorenson said. “We have no way to filter based on any other identifier.”

    Dates of birth are contained within physical court files, the Superior Court of Los Angeles said.

    “These restrictions require background checkers seeking information on commonly named individuals to visit the courthouse where the physical court file is located to determine if the information they obtained in an electronic criminal record search applies to the person about whom they are inquiring,” the court said in an email.

    The court limits the number of case files it will retrieve for a requester to five per day at any courthouse. For names with thousands of results, it’s not practical to check each physical file.

    At the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, the county’s busiest criminal clerk’s office, additional court service assistants have been assigned to assist with file viewing requests. The current wait time to pull multiple files at a time is three to five days, the court said.

    In a message reviewed by The Times, the background screening firm Sterling sent out a notice to clients explaining the situation earlier this year.

    “With this change, the L.A. County court has made it significantly more challenging to accurately identify individuals during background checks,” the firm said. “Delays for criminal checks in L.A. County are expected to increase. … Some searches were closed as unperformable.”

    Sterling did not respond to a request for comment. On the online forum Reddit, Los Angeles residents shared concerns that their background checks were not getting completed in time.

    “Sterling is not able to get it done!” one user wrote. “Seriously anxious and have been unemployed for a month now,” said another.

    In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 1262, which would have allowed court researchers to use date of birth to search for an individual without making the date publicly available.

    “This bill would override a 2021 appellate court decision and current court rules that strike a fair balance between public access to court records, public safety, and an individual’s constitutional right to privacy,” Newsom wrote after shutting down the bill.

    The nonprofit Legal Services for Prisoners with Children pushed for the veto, arguing the bill “was sponsored by commercial background check companies … with no regard for the interests of formerly incarcerated or convicted people.”

    Eric Sapp, a staff attorney at the Oakland-based organization, pointed out that when background checks are authorized and required by law, local authorities are obligated to provide the relevant information and assure compliance.

    “There’s no need for a background check company to intervene in those circumstances,” he said.

    “We definitely believe that background checks are overused and are often useless for the purposes for which they’re used,” he said. “The criminal background check as it currently exists today might not be a viable model in the near future.”

    Joshua Kim, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Hamrick case, said he wasn’t aware of holdups with housing and job applications — but said any such issues would be the fault of the background check industry, not the courts complying with the law.

    “If there is in fact a delay that affects people’s opportunity for housing and employment because of the background check company’s inability to do their job, then that could potentially create another legal liability for them,” he said.

    Thirty-seven states have adopted what is known as a “ban the box” policy that prohibits investigation into a job candidate’s conviction history before making an offer of employment, but many employers still seek to vet candidates, especially for jobs that require working with vulnerable populations or involve access to sensitive data.

    “The fundamental question that we’ve been asking in the reentry law community is whether background checks are effective in screening out dangerous employees,” Kim said.

    But some Angelenos have been frustrated by the current state of affairs.

    South Pasadena mother Erin Chang had been stuck waiting months for her disabled son’s summer camp aide to get approved for work. The background check had to clear in order for the state to cover the cost of the aide, Chang said.

    Although the check cleared just before camp began, Chang had to pay out of pocket for the aide and said she will seek reimbursement.

    “Camp is over next week, and we’re still not sorted out,” Chang said. “They offered the explanation that she had a common name and that there is a backlog.”

    Outside Los Angeles, other counties are making similar changes to comply with the court rules. San Luis Obispo County announced last month that it is redacting access to date of birth and driver’s license information in court search engines, and Orange County is rumored to be making the same move soon, said Sorenson of the background check trade group.

    “It is more than just an L.A. County issue,” she said. “If an employer has a candidate with California history, they may have to move on to a different candidate.”

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    Caroline Petrow-Cohen

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  • Austin Pets Alive! | How To Make a Fundraiser for Amplify Austin

    Austin Pets Alive! | How To Make a Fundraiser for Amplify Austin

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    Feb 15, 2022

    This year our goal is to raise $160,000 to save the lives of 533 pets, and we can’t do it without you. Our supporters like you, make our No Kill mission possible. If you’re all in for lifesaving, here are all the tools you need to create a fundraiser for APA!:

    1. Visit our Amplify homepage and click the “FUNDRAISE” button to get started.

    2. Follow the instructions here to set up your individual fundraiser.

    3. Share your fundraiser on social media! We’ve provided an array of graphics for you to use on any social media channel, including Instagram and Facebook stories.

    Be a champion for our most vulnerable pets! The nonprofit with the most Fundraising Champions signed up to support their cause by March 3rd will win $2,500. By raising just $100, you give us the resources to vaccinate a litter of puppies AND kittens!

    Don’t forget: thanks to a generous, anonymous donor, all gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $25K until March 2nd at 5:59 p.m. — including gifts made to your individual fundraiser!

    APA! runs on grassroots supporters. You make lifesaving possible. Amplify Austin is the perfect way to show just how much our community cares about the most vulnerable pets by rallying around APA!. We cannot wait to #AmplifyLifesaving together this year.

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