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California man sentenced to over 6 years in prison for $8.7 million cow manure Ponzi scheme, US attorney’s office says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

(CNN) — A man from California who ran a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme where he claimed to turn cow manure into green energy has been sentenced to over six years in prison, the US attorney’s office for the Eastern District of California announced this week.Ray Brewer, 66, stole over $8.7 million from investors, court records from between March 2014 and December 2019 showed.Brewer’s scam involved convincing investors he could build anaerobic digesters – large machines that create methane through microorganisms breaking down biodegradable material – on dairies in several California and Idaho counties, the US attorney’s office said in a news release. This methane can “then be sold on the open market as green energy,” the release stated.Brewer’s investors were meant to receive tax incentives and 66% of all net profits as part of the scheme, authorities said.Brewer gave the investors tours of the dairies where he claimed he’d build the digester machines and “sent them fo...

Holiday weekend warmth, humidity and rain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

7Weather- Welcome to the long holiday weekend! Saturday is mainly dry, warm and muggy. We’ll get increasing humidity along with storm chances returning Sunday afternoon/evening. There will be breaks between rain/storm chances on Monday and Tuesday. We woke up to areas of dense fog. In some spots it’s been slow to clear with an easterly wind. The July sunshine will continue to break apart the cloud cover by midday/early afternoon. We’ll see sun and clouds. It’ll be warm once again in the low 80s inland. Temperatures along the coast stay in the mid/upper 70s with an onshore breeze. Other than some leftover drizzle on the Cape this morning, we’ll be dry. High clouds increase later today ahead of some changes into tomorrow.An area of low pressure to our west will promote rain and storm chances the rest of the holiday weekend. Dew points will tick up, and you’ll notice a more tropical feel to our air mass. Tomorrow, we wake up to more cloud cover, but ...

Big Tobacco posts warning signs at 220,000 US stores, wrapping up ongoing lawsuit since 1999

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

New York (CNN) — The largest tobacco manufacturers will have to post eye-catching warning signs about cigarette smoking in over 200,000 stores across America beginning Saturday, one of the final major steps in a lawsuit the Justice Department filed against Big Tobacco in 1999.The signs will be installed in stores between July 1 and September 30, and must be displayed until June 30, 2025. The signs must be in English and also Spanish in regions where there is a significant population of Spanish speakers.The 17 distinctive statements were “specified by the court many years ago,” according to a press release from a consortium of anti-smoking groups. It applies to Altria and its Phillip Morris US subsidiary, RJ Reynolds and ITG Brands.An example of a corrective sign shows a large asterisk icon with the statement, “Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans. Every day.” The signs will be either 144 or 348 square inches and will be posted in “highly...

Mental, physical battles molded Carlos Rodón and his wife, Ashley, long before delayed Yankees debut

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

In a place like Covington, Ind., everybody knows one another.With a population of less than 3,000 people, it’s a tight-knit community, said Carlos Rodón, who resides in the small town despite being born in Miami and choosing employment in New York City. “Everybody knows everyone’s business,” the Yankees pitcher continued, “whether you like it or not, for good and for bad.”Recently, the bad has included tragedy.“We’ve had a few people that have kind of gone down the wrong road and made some choices,” Rodón told the Daily News as he searched for appropriate words. “They decided to end their lives.”One such person, a younger boy, grew up a baseball player and fan. He frequented a youth group run by Rodón’s cousin, a pastor, but Rodón didn’t want to disclose specifics out of respect. Rodón’s wife, Ashley — who has lived in Covington her whole life — added that her fam...

Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara crashed car into Jamaica Plain house; hit with court summons: BPD

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

City Councilor Kendra Lara crashed her car into a house in Jamaica Plain Friday afternoon, causing injury to her child that triggered a 51A child-neglect alert, according to a draft police report shared with the Herald by three separate highly placed sources.UPDATE: A full police report on that exact JP crash sent to the Herald Saturday morning following a public records request states the driver will be summoned to West Roxbury District Court on one count of operation of a motor vehicle after suspension. The report redacts victims’ names.Lara, 33, who represents Jamaica Plain as the District 6 councilor, could not be reached for comment after multiple attempts Friday evening.Boston Police Officer Stephen McNulty, a spokesman for the department, confirmed that a car crash happened at 8The scene at 803 Center where it is alleged that City Councilor Kendra Lara had a car accident on July 1, 2023 in , BOSTON, MA. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)03 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain shor...

European telescope launched to hunt for clues to universe’s darkest secrets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A European space telescope blasted off Saturday on a quest to explore the mysterious and invisible realm known as the dark universe.SpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory toward its ultimate destination 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away, the Webb Space Telescope’s neighborhood. It will take a month to get there and another two months before it starts its ambitious six-year survey this fall.Named for antiquity’s Greek mathematician, Euclid will scour billions of galaxies covering more than one-third of the sky. By pinpointing the location and shape of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away — almost all the way back to the cosmos-creating Big Bang — scientists hope to glean insight into the dark energy and dark matter that make up most of the universe and keep it expanding.Scientists understand only 5 percent of the universe: stars, planets, us. The rest is “still a mystery and an enigma, a huge frontier in mode...

Russian attacks in Ukraine leave 3 killed, 17 wounded. Spain highlights European support for Kyiv

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials reported more civilian casualties from Russian shelling in the country’s east and south on Saturday, as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez began a visit to Kyiv as a show of continuing support from Madrid and the European Union for Ukraine’s fight to dislodge invading Russian forces.In an address to Ukraine’s parliament that received several standing ovations, Sánchez said, “We’ll be with you as long as it takes.”“I am here to express the firm determination of the European (Union) and Europe against the illegal and unjustified Russian aggression to Ukraine,” he said on the day that Spain took over the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-nation EU.At a later news conference with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sanchez announced Spain would deliver more heavy weaponry to Ukraine including four Leopard tanks and armored personnel carriers, as well as a portable field hospital. He also said Spain will provide an additional 55 million e...

Russian media watchdog blacklists outlets linked to Wagner mercenary chief

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

Russia’s media watchdog blacklisted at least five media outlets affiliated with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and blocked their websites in Russia. The move came after Wagner fighters took control of a Russian military headquarters and advanced on Moscow in what appears to have been an attempted insurrection.As of Saturday, websites of the RIA FAN news agency and four online news portals controlled by Prigozhin’s Patriot media holding company “People’s News”, “Neva News”, “Politics Today” and “Economy Today” — were listed on a register of blacklisted sites maintained by the communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor. Unconfirmed reports in Russian news outlets Friday claimed that Prigozhin himself had ordered a shut down of St. Petersburg-based Patriot. Prigozhin has not directly confirmed or denied the reports. Patriot, founded in 2019 to bring together Prigozhin’s media and internet assets, included the Internet Research Agency, the so-called “troll farm” l...

US forest managers urge revelers to swap fireworks for Silly String, but some say not so fast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Smokey Bear said it best: “Only you can prevent wildfires.”Following in the footsteps of their famous mascot, U.S. Forest Service managers in the drought-stricken Southwest are urging people to swap their fireworks this Fourth of July for glow sticks, noisemakers and cans of red, white and blue Silly String. Not so fast, say some environmentalists. While it’s worth encouraging folks not to use fireworks amid escalating wildfire danger, they say it’s kind of silly that federal land managers would suggest using aerosol cans of sticky party string out in nature. The advice began to pop up in recent weeks, with regional forest officials and the New Mexico State Forestry Division pumping out public service announcements offering alternatives aimed at curbing human-sparked blazes.They used a template that echoed similar advice from the National Fire Protection Association and even American Red Cross chapters in others states.“These are alternatives for...

Prime Minister Trudeau strikes optimistic tone in annual Canada Day message

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:06 GMT

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is striking an optimistic tone in his annual Canada Day message.He says Canada is the envy of the world, and we should all be proud to be Canadian.“Wherever our flag flies, it’s recognized as a symbol of democracy, of freedom, and of hope,” Trudeau said. “It represents the values we all hold dear. And it is a promise. A promise of a country where newcomers are welcomed with open arms, where differences are celebrated and diversity is embraced, a country where you’re free to be who you are and love whom you love, where everyone has a real and fair chance at success, and a country where we acknowledge historical wrongs and learn from the past in order to build a better future – for everyone.”Trudeau noted that Canada has withstood incredible challenges throughout its history and it will continue to do so by “staying true to our values.”“We are from far and wide, but united we are 40 million strong – and there is no challenge ...