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5 men charged with orchestrating $1.1M heist of San Ramon jewelry store

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

(KRON) -- Five men have been charged for their alleged roles in a March jewelry heist that happened in San Ramon, the United States Department of Justice said. Approximately $1.1 million in jewelry and watches were stolen from a family-owned store. Sunia Mafileo Faavesi, 30, Ryan Kentrell Montgomery, 35, Paul Christopher Tonga, 33, John Ioane Tupou, 30, and Kyle Vehikite, 34, are the five defendants. Walnut Creek serial burglary suspect arrested According to a criminal complaint, the five men surveyed Heller Jewelers, located at 6000 Bollinger Canyon Rd Suite 1506, a week before the robbery and returned on March 17 to commit it. Eleven people, some of whom were armed, took part. According to the DOJ, some participants were inside the store during the robbery, and others acted as lookouts and getaway drivers. It happened in the middle of the afternoon at City Center Bishop Ranch, a mall in San Ramon. Bystanders fled as the armed and masked robbers carried out the crime. There were...

CHP struggling with statewide staffing shortages

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

(KRON) -- It has become a struggle to fill vacant positions in the field of law enforcement. Police departments are hiring throughout the Bay Area. One law enforcement agency is looking to fill 1,000 openings throughout the state.The California Highway Patrol is hiring, and they have more than a few openings."We're currently trying to fill one thousand vacant officer positions across the state of California," said CHP spokesperson Andrew Barclay.But Barclay said that's not all. Student found unresponsive at San Jose pool has died: police "We are hiring for much more than just officer positions," Barclay said. "We are in need of professional staff here in our offices. We are in need of dispatchers in our communications centers."Being a statewide law enforcement agency, it is not uncommon for the CHP to have more openings than a local police department, but Officer Barclay said this number of open jobs can’t be attributed entirely to retirements."It's kind of a lot of factors, wheth...

Wings beat the Storm 76-65 in showdown between Ogunbowale and Loyd

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale scored 27 points, hitting five 3-pointers, Satou Sabally added 18 points and nine rebounds, and the Dallas Wings beat the Seattle Storm 76-65 on Wednesday night. Seattle star Jewell Loyd had 31 points, also hitting five 3’s, but it wasn’t enough. In the last series meeting in June, Loyd and Ogunbowale combined for 80 points. Ogunbowale scored Dallas’ opening 10 points of the third quarter, including a 3-pointer to make it 52-38. Sabally had a personal 5-0 run to begin the fourth for a 70-55 lead.Loyd pulled Seattle within 74-65 with 3:08 remaining in the fourth, but the Storm didn’t score again.Teaira McCowan added 12 points and Natasha Howard grabbed 12 rebounds for Dallas (15-11), which has won seven of its last nine games. Ogunbowale set a franchise record with 341 career made 3-point field goals, passing Deanna ‘Tweety’ Nolan.Ogunbowale scored 12 points in the first quarter to help build a 22-19 lead. Ogunbowale finished the half...

Ian Happ homers twice to help Cubs rout Reds 16-6

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Ian Happ homered twice and the Chicago Cubs easily overcame an early deficit to beat the Cincinnati Reds 16-6 on Wednesday night.Cristopher Morel, Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki also went deep to help push the Cubs within three games of the NL Central lead and two games back in the wild-card race.Morel and Gomes each extended their hitting streaks to 10 games, and Michael Fulmer (2-5) pitched 1 2/3 innings of no-hit ball in relief of Drew Smyly.“I think the (most) impressive part is getting down early and fighting back … it’s not just the homers,” Happ said. “Getting on base, (hitting) the singles that lead to getting pitchers deep in pitch count, and then being able to take advantage of it.”Joey Votto hit two homers off Smyly, who allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings. Spencer Steer and TJ Friedl also homered for Cincinnati.Reds starter Brandon Williamson gave up five runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out a season-high seven batters. Buck Farmer (3-5) was th...

Woman’s escape from cinder block cell likely spared others from similar ‘nightmare,’ FBI says

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A woman who escaped her kidnapper by punching her way out of a homemade cinder block cell at a home in southern Oregon likely saved other women from a similar fate, authorities said, by alerting them to a man they now suspect in sexual assaults in at least four more states.Negasi Zuberi posed as an undercover police officer when he kidnapped the woman in Seattle, drove hundreds of miles to his home in Klamath Falls and locked her in the garage cell until she bloodied her hands breaking the door to escape, the FBI said Wednesday. Zuberi, 29, faces federal charges that include interstate kidnapping, and authorities said they are looking for additional victims after linking him to the other assaults. Authorities have not yet said publicly in which states those attacks took place. “This woman was kidnapped, chained, sexually assaulted, and locked in a cinderblock cell,” Stephanie Shark, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland field office, said ...

Lawsuit filed against DougCo School Board for racial discrimination

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A group of parents is suing the Douglas County School District for racial discrimination, a lawsuit obtained by FOX31 said.The parents claim their children have been the target of repeated acts of bullying and harassment because of their skin color.The allegations in the 45-page complaint are disturbing. It states that Black and biracial students at Castle Rock Middle School have been called racially offensive names on a regular basis. It also mentions that they were the targets of violent conversations -- like lynchings and shootings.FOX31 investigated the concerns of one parent in May who claimed her son has been a victim of constant harassment and bullying since 2018. She is one of the parents named in this federal lawsuit, among others. Castle Rock mom alleges bullying, racism in school district The lawsuit also describes racial profiling of Black students by teachers and staff, and zeros in on a Snapchat group filled with over 100 students.Screenshots show th...

US orders pull-out of many embassy personnel in Niger

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

The U.S. government is ordering many U.S. embassy personnel to temporarily leave Niger amid the country’s military coup.The State Department announced Wednesday evening that it was ordering “non-emergency U.S. government personnel” and their families to leave Niger. A core group of staffers will remain, and the facility will not close. But the embassy has “suspended routine services, and is only able to provide emergency assistance to U.S. citizens in Niger.” Such orders typically apply primarily to American citizens and it was not immediately clear if it would apply to non-U.S. citizens employed by the embassy.The decision was made “out of an abundance of caution,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in the announcement. He noted that “commercial flight options are limited.” It was not clear how or exactly when the embassy personnel and their relatives could be taken out, but chartered flights are a potential option.The decision to pull U.S. diplomats out of the West ...

Rishi Sunak could get mobbed (and bag a trade deal) when he heads to India

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak might struggle to set pulses racing at home. But Downing Street hopes for a different story when the U.K. prime minister visits India next month.His ascent has already been hailed by the country’s press. “Indian son rises over the empire” read a headline by major broadcaster NDTV as Sunak entered Downing Street last year. The Times of India ran a piece on the shift “from age of empire to Rishi Raj.”As Sunak prepares to travel to India for the first time since he took office, U.K. officials believe the prime minister — born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent and with strong family ties there — will receive a warm welcome.“There’s going to be enormous excitement about Rishi,” a senior member of the U.K. government who has already travelled to India for G20 meetings this year said.“Every single Indian person I spoke to asked about Rishi — they regard it as a sort of reverse takeover, having been the subject of colonial rule by Britain. Now some...

Orioles lose to Jays, 4-1, after Fujinami plunks 2 with bases loaded in sloppy 6th: ‘I wanted to get an out so bad’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

Shintaro Fujinami, the Orioles’ lone bullpen addition ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, brings tremendous upside. Wednesday’s outing showed his downside.Inheriting two runners from rookie starter Grayson Rodriguez with two outs in the sixth of Baltimore’s matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays, Fujinami issued a four-pitch walk, then hit consecutive batters, allowing both of Rodriguez’s runners to score before an error by shortstop Jorge Mateo brought in another. The three scores in a hitless inning provided the final margin in Baltimore’s 4-1 defeat at the Rogers Centre.“I wanted to get an out so bad,” Fujinami said through interpreter Issei Kamada. “Grayson was doing a great job today. I didn’t want to give up a run, and I just put too much pressure on myself.”At the cost of sending No. 30 prospect Easton Lucas to the Oakland Athletics, Fujinami was a tantalizing acquisition for the Orioles (66-42), with his high-veloc...

Chicago White Sox snap their scoreless streak at 26 innings, but still suffer 11-1 blowout loss to the Texas Rangers: ‘We have to figure it out’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:00:38 GMT

Dylan Cease didn’t make it out of the second inning.Pedro Grifol was ejected in the third.The Chicago White Sox offense, meanwhile, put up zero after zero for the third straight game.It was another tough night for the Sox, who were blown out by the Texas Rangers 11-1 on Wednesday in front of 28,735 at Globe Life Field.“It was a rough one,” Cease said of his start. “Not enough strikes, not enough execution and they did a good job of hitting it.”The Sox lost for the ninth time in 11 games and are a season-high 23 games under .500 at 43-66.The rough times continued for the Sox offensively as they saw a scoreless streak extend to 26 innings before Seby Zavala hit a home run with two outs in the eighth.“We’re hitting too many groundballs,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “They’re pitching us down in the zone and we’re hitting too many groundballs. We chased quite a bit today, too. We’re not putting good swings on hittable...