Por Chris Isidore, CNN

Los conductores estadounidenses notan el aumento vertiginoso de los precios de la gasolina. Pero otro combustible –el diésel– también está en alza, y a un ritmo mucho más rápido.

Aunque probablemente nunca hayas comprado un galón de diésel, sigue siendo motivo de preocupación. Eso se debe a que gran parte de la economía mundial –desde bienes de consumo hasta la comida que comes– llega gracias al diésel.

Desde que comenzaron los enfrentamientos con Irán, hace una semana, los precios de la gasolina han subido 47 centavos, o 16 %, hasta US$ 3,45 por un galón de gasolina regular, según el informe del domingo de la AAA. Pero eso no es nada comparado con el aumento de 84 centavos, o 22 %, en los precios del diésel, llevando un galón de ese combustible crítico a US$ 4,60.

La razón por la que el diésel sube mucho más rápido que la gasolina es que ya había una menor oferta antes de este shock en el precio de la energía, dijo Tom Kloza, un analista independiente de petróleo y asesor de la compañía petrolera global Gulf Oil. Él predice que el diésel podría llegar a US$ 5 por galón este mes.

El invierno gélido creó una gran demanda de combustible para calefacción en el noreste de EE.UU., donde sigue siendo una fuente común de calefacción residencial. El combustible para calefacción doméstica y el diésel son esencialmente productos idénticos.

Eso significa mayores costos de combustible para calefacción. Pero el verdadero riesgo para los consumidores son los mayores costos para transportar los productos que compran todos los días.

Casi todos los artículos en tu hogar estuvieron en un camión en algún momento, y la mayoría de estos camiones funcionan con diésel.

Para las empresas de transporte más pequeñas, un aumento repentino del diésel puede ser catastrófico.

Kareem Miller, quien comenzó a operar su empresa de transporte con sede en Chicago, Strong Pact Trucking, hace unos tres años, utiliza diésel en sus tres camiones.

“He visto fluctuar los precios del diésel, pero nunca subir tan rápido”, dijo a CNN la semana pasada. “Fue horrible.”

Miller dijo que pronto podría tener que aumentar sus tarifas para compensar los costos. Pero las empresas de transporte más grandes no están esperando. Todas ellas tienen esquemas de recargos por combustible que suben o bajan según el precio del diésel.

UPS, la empresa de transporte más grande de Estados Unidos, ya aumentó su recargo semanal por combustible. Es probable que lo haga de nuevo el lunes.

No solo los camioneros están aumentando sus tarifas de transporte. Las compañías de envío de contenedores y otros transportistas de carga, que usan un combustible similar al diésel, también han comenzado a imponer recargos por combustible.

El diésel también es un combustible clave para la agricultura, y este es un momento crítico del año, justo antes de la temporada de siembra de la primavera boreal.

Los agricultores dependen del diésel para alimentar sus tractores y cosechadoras, además de para transportar el fertilizante que necesitan para cultivar y llevar sus productos al mercado. Los precios de las materias primas como el maíz, trigo y soja ya han empezado a subir, aunque no al ritmo de los precios del combustible.

“Ahora es cuando más lo necesitamos [el diésel]”, dijo Curt Hoobler, un agricultor de Kansas a KWCH, filial de CNN en Wichita, la semana pasada. Hoobler también está lidiando con el aumento del costo del propio fertilizante, que en parte se suministra desde Medio Oriente.

“Va a ser mucho más difícil para un agricultor salir adelante este año,” dijo.

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Samantha Delouya, de CNN, contribuyó con este informe

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By Nicki Brown, CNN

(CNN) — Over the last two weeks, jurors in Kouri Richins’ murder trial have heard wide-ranging testimony about troubles in her marriage, her secret affair and the millions of dollars she owed in debt – all factors prosecutors say led her to fatally poison her husband.

Prosecutors say the Utah mother of three killed her husband, Eric Richins, with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022. She is also accused of attempting to kill him by lacing his sandwich on Valentine’s Day, weeks before his death.

Nearly 40 witnesses have testified so far, including the woman who allegedly gave Richins the drugs, friends who said they had heard about the couple’s marital problems and the man with whom she was having an affair.

“The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,” Brad Bloodworth, chief prosecutor in the Summit County Attorney’s Office, said in his opening statement. “More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privileged affluence and success.”

Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges, with her defense arguing she has been wrongfully blamed for Eric Richins’ death and that prosecutors are unable to prove how the fentanyl entered Richins’ body. If convicted of the most serious charge, she could face up to life in prison.

“They’re going to spend weeks in this trial trying to convince you that Kouri had reasons to kill her husband, because they can’t show you that she did kill her husband,” defense attorney Kathy Nester said in her opening statement.

With prosecutors expected to conclude their case in the coming days, here are five key revelations from their witnesses so far:

Kouri Richins dreamed of future with another man, texts show

Robert Josh Grossmann, the man with whom Kouri Richins had a yearslong affair, wiped his eyes and put his head down as their affectionate text messages were displayed in court.

“I do want a future together. I do want you. Figure life out together,” Kouri Richins texted Grossmann roughly two weeks before her husband died. “If he could just go away and you could just be here! Life would be so perfect!!! I love you.”

Grossmann worked on houses Kouri Richins bought for her real estate business, he said, and their relationship became romantic around early 2020. She let him live in a home she was flipping, bought him two trucks and gave him money whenever he needed it, Grossmann said. He loved her, he testified, and believed she loved him, too.

The jury saw dozens of texts where the two expressed their love and dreamed about being together in the future – though both acknowledged the idea was more fantasy than reality.

Grossmann and Richins planned to get brunch together on March 4, 2022, to celebrate her closing on a valuable property, he testified. The night before, he sent her a GIF – a type of animated image – of two people kissing with the caption, “love you,” according to messages shown in court.

Hours later, Eric Richins was dead.

The two stayed together for several months after Eric Richins’ death, Grossmann said. About a month after her husband died, Kouri Richins texted Grossmann, “I think I want you to be my husband one day.”

But their relationship soon ended. Grossmann said, “Things changed after Eric passed.”

Kouri Richins appeared to be grieving after Eric Richins died, Grossmann said on cross-examination.

Under questioning by defense attorney Wendy Lewis, Grossmann said after Richins’ arrest in May 2023, he spoke with a private investigator hired by Eric Richins’ family. The P.I., Grossmann said, told him Richins had killed her husband.

“I was blown away,” Grossmann said, “and then I’m like, l

By Chris Isidore, CNN

(CNN) — American drivers notice soaring gas prices. But another fuel – diesel – is also on the rise, and at a much faster pace.

While you’ve likely never bought a gallon of diesel, it’s still worth worrying about. That’s because much of the world’s economy – from consumer goods to the food you eat – gets to you thanks to diesel.

Since the fighting started in Iran a week ago, gasoline prices are up 47 cents, or 16%, to $3.45 for a gallon of regular, according to Sunday’s AAA reading. But that’s nothing compared to the 84 cent increase, or 22% rise in diesel prices, taking a gallon of that critical fuel to $4.60.

The reason diesel is rising so much faster than gasoline is that it was in shorter supply heading into this energy price shock, said Tom Kloza, an independent oil analyst and an advisor to global oil company Gulf Oil. He predicts diesel could hit $5 a gallon this month.

The freezing cold winter created huge demand for heating oil in the Northeast, where its still a common source of residential heating. Home heating oil and diesel are essentially identical products.

That means higher heating oil costs. But the real risk to consumers are higher costs to transport the goods they buy every day.

Nearly every item in your home was on a truck at some point, which mostly runs on diesel.

For smaller trucking companies, a diesel spike can be catastrophic.

Kareem Miller, who began operating his Chicago-based trucking business, Strong Pact Trucking, about three years ago, uses diesel for all three of his trucks.

“I’ve seen diesel prices fluctuate, but never spike that quick,” he told CNN last week. “It was bad.”

Miller said he may have to raise his rates soon to offset costs. But the larger trucking companies aren’t waiting. They all have schedules of fuel surcharges that raise or lower based on the price of diesel.

UPS, America’s largest trucking company, already increased its weekly fuel surcharge. It will likely do so again Monday.

It’s not just truckers who are raising transportation rates. Container shipping companies and other cargo carriers, which run on a fuel similar to diesel, have also started to impose fuel surcharges.

Diesel is also a key fuel for agriculture, and this a critical time of year, just ahead of the spring planting season.

Farmers depend on diesel to power their tractors and combines, as well as deliver the fertilizer they need to grow crops and get their product to market. Commodity prices for corn, wheat and soybeans have already started to climb, although not nearly at the pace of fuel prices.

“Now’s when we need it (diesel) the most,” Curt Hoobler, a Kansas farmer, told CNN affiliate KWCH in Wichita last week. Hoobler is also dealing with the rising cost of fertilizer itself, which is partly supplied from the Middle East.

“It’s going to make it a lot tougher for a farmer to make it through this year,” he said.

– CNN’s Samantha Delouya contributed to this report

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By Cindy Von Quednow, CNN

(CNN) — Oscar Freemond Fowler was a free man for only four days.

The convicted felon, whose federal prison sentence was commuted during the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency, was released from custody on February 19, only to be rearrested for the same crime less than a week later — this time on state charges.

In October 2023, Fowler was charged with possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon and for possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute it after a 9mm pistol, 29 rounds of ammunition, cocaine and methamphetamine were found in his Florida home.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. About two years later, Fowler was one of nearly 2,500 people whose sentences Biden commuted.

Once he was released, however, his freedom did not last long.

What happened to Fowler is not new, and it’s a move that has happened before, most famously to former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

That’s in part because federal pardons and commutations don’t cover local charges, meaning defendants can be charged again for the same crime under state law, experts say.

“It’s completely plausible to be arrested for the same underlying acts on the state level as on the federal and to be pardoned on the federal level, but not the state,” said Bernadette Meyler, a law professor and associate dean at Stanford University. “The presidential pardon power under Article Two (of the Constitution) covers only federal offenses, so it extends to someone’s liability within the federal government.”

There’s nothing legally or constitutionally wrong with charging someone with state charges after their sentence was commuted on the federal level, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said.

“It depends a bit on the nuances, but in general — and the Supreme Court reaffirmed this in 2019 — it does not violate double jeopardy for a person to be prosecuted separately in two separate cases by the state and then by the federal authorities,” he said.

Here’s how the Constitution and a Supreme Court ruling make that possible.

‘Dangerous repeat offender’ rearrested

Before Fowler’s release, the Oversight Project, a conservative watchdog group, warned officials that a “violent repeat offender and career criminal” was about to be set free.

There are more than 60 cases listing Fowler as a defendant in Pinellas County, Florida alone. His criminal record there — which ranges from simple traffic violations to aggravated assault — dates back to 1991, court records show.

In a news release announcing Fowler’s rearrest, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier called Fowler a “dangerous repeat offender” with a lengthy criminal record.

“The Biden administration’s use of the autopen is putting Floridians at risk by allowing dangerous felons back on the street, but we won’t put up with it,” Uthmeier said. An autopen — a device that writes the president’s signature for him — was used to sign Fowler’s commutation, a point of contention to those who opposed his release, as they argue it is not valid.

The Oversight Project later applauded Fowler’s rearrest.

“Florida is safer because

Por Zachary Cohen, Sean Lyngaas, Kristen Holmes, Tierney Sneed y Jeremy Herb, CNN en Español

Kurt Olsen se convirtió en una figura clave en algunos de los planes más inverosímiles del presidente Donald Trump para subvertir las elecciones de 2020 porque creía “que algo no estaba bien” en la forma en que veía a los funcionarios electorales manejar el recuento presidencial en el condado de Fulton, Georgia, y en otros lugares.

Cinco años después, vuelve a terreno conocido: en la voz de Trump y centrado en el condado de Fulton. El hombre que una vez describió su búsqueda de fraude electoral como un esfuerzo para “salvar el país” ahora tiene línea directa con el presidente, lo que le da más influencia que nunca.

Tras colaborar con algunos de los negacionistas electorales más destacados de 2020 mientras Trump estaba fuera del cargo, Olsen lo nombró director de Seguridad e Integridad Electoral de la Casa Blanca en octubre. Desde su nuevo cargo, Olsen redactó la remisión penal al Departamento de Justicia que condujo a una incautación sin precedentes por parte del FBI de las papeletas electorales de 2020 del condado de Fulton en enero.

Olsen tiene acceso a Trump a través de su cargo y lo llama directamente, según informaron a CNN fuentes familiarizadas con las deliberaciones internas de la Casa Blanca. Si bien existe una iniciativa más amplia de la Casa Blanca relacionada con la “integridad electoral” y la votación, centrada en elecciones futuras, las fuentes afirman que el trabajo de Olsen se centra principalmente en una línea separada: reexaminar las elecciones de 2020, que Trump sigue afirmando falsamente que fueron fraudulentas. Las iniciativas de Olsen en 2020 también se solapan con las de la directora de Inteligencia Nacional, Tulsi Gabbard, cuya presencia en la búsqueda del FBI en el condado de Fulton ha suscitado numerosas preguntas sobre su participación.

“Simplemente está haciendo lo suyo”, dijo un funcionario de la Casa Blanca a CNN.

Olsen no respondió a las solicitudes de comentarios de CNN.

La confiscación de las papeletas de Fulton alarmó a los funcionarios electorales estatales que temen lo que la administración está planeando para las elecciones intermedias en medio del llamado de Trump a “nacionalizar” las elecciones y sus planes declarados de emitir un nuevo decreto relacionada con la votación.

“He investigado a fondo los argumentos legales aún no articulados ni examinados sobre este tema, y ​​muy pronto presentaré uno irrefutable. ¡Habrá identificación de votantes para las elecciones de mitad de período, sea aprobada o no por el Congreso!”, escribió Trump en una publicación en Truth Social el mes pasado.

El Gobierno federal también ha estado presionando a los estados para que entreguen sus registros de votantes, lo que ha llevado incluso a algunos funcionarios estatales republicanos a oponerse.

La confiscación del condado de Fulton ha puesto de relieve la falta de frenos legales en esta administración, ya que los tipos de abogados de la primera administración Trump que se interpusieron en el camino de Trump y Olsen (evitando que el Gobierno federal se involucrara en las tácticas más flagrantes del