Four Members of Sophisticated Burglary Crew Plead Guilty in Multi-Million Dollar Simi Valley Heist

Kraig Pakulski 0 17 Article rating: No rating
 Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced that four members of a sophisticated burglary crew have pled guilty to charges stemming from a  coordinated commercial burglary that occurred on May […]

The post Four Members of Sophisticated Burglary Crew Plead Guilty in Multi-Million Dollar Simi Valley Heist appeared first on edhat.

E.P. Foster Library to Temporarily Close For Renovations Until Fall 2027

Kraig Pakulski 0 22 Article rating: No rating
The E.P. Foster Library in downtown Ventura will temporarily close beginning March 23, 2026, for a $13 million renovation to transform the facility into a modern, accessible space for the community and install a new […]

The post E.P. Foster Library to Temporarily Close For Renovations Until Fall 2027 appeared first on edhat.

Former Olympic snowboarder and FBI Most Wanted fugitive Ryan Wedding arrested

Kraig Pakulski 0 13 Article rating: No rating
This February 2002 photo shows Ryan Wedding of Canada competing in the men's parallel giant slalom snowboarding event during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.

By Josh Campbell, Eric Levenson, CNN

(CNN) — Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding has been arrested, a law enforcement source familiar with the capture tells CNN.

Wedding was one of FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” fugitives, with a $15 million reward for his capture, after being indicted for allegedly running a criminal enterprise, cocaine trafficking and murder in an operation stretching across the US, Canada, Mexico and Colombia.

Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said Wedding’s operation was responsible for more than $1 billion a year in illegal drug proceeds. Officials had believed Wedding to be somewhere in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel.

Competing for Team Canada, Wedding finished as the 24th-best parallel giant slalom snowboarder in the world at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Wedding’s arrest was first reported by NBC.

Not Wedding’s first case

This won’t be the first time Wedding has faced a judge.

In June 2008, Wedding was arrested along with two other people and accused of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, according to a criminal complaint.

The arrest came after Wedding and associates traveled from Canada to San Diego, California, to buy cocaine as part of a drug trafficking organization based in Vancouver, according to an affidavit. The operation was a sting, though, and FBI agents arrested the trio after the deal was done, the affidavit states. Investigators allegedly found $100,000 in cash in their hotel room, the affidavit states.

His two co-defendants pleaded guilty, according to court records, but Wedding took the case to trial. He was found guilty in November 2009, and in 2010, was sentenced to four years in prison, per court records.

At his sentencing hearing, Wedding invoked his sports background in speaking to the court, saying it was his personal goal to rebuild his reputation.

In October 2024, however, federal prosecutors released a superseding indictment charging Wedding with running a criminal enterprise, cocaine trafficking and murder in an operation stretching across the US, Canada, Mexico and Colombia. The indictment says the enterprise began around 2011, when Wedding was released from prison.

The crimes Wedding is accused of now, though, are even more serious.

Prosecutors accuse him, along with another man, of ordering the killings of several people. They say he directed the November 2023 murders of two members of a family in Ontario “in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment” and of ordering the murder of another person in May 2024 over a drug debt.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The post Former Olympic snowboarder and

What is the Donbas, the piece of Ukrainian land that Putin wants so badly?

Kraig Pakulski 0 30 Article rating: No rating

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN

(CNN) — The United States, Russia and Ukraine rarely agree on anything. But as their delegations meet in Abu Dhabi for their first trilateral meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the three parties seem to have come to the same conclusion: Only one issue remains to be resolved.

That issue is territory, namely the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas. And based on their comments coming into the meeting, it is unlikely to be resolved.

“It’s all about the eastern part of our country, it’s all about the land,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said, pointing to Russia’s long-standing – and previously rejected – demand that Kyiv gives up the parts of the Donbas it still controls.

While US President Donald Trump has touted a deal being close, Zelensky reiterated Thursday that Ukraine was not ready to hand over parts of its territory to Russia. And speaking after a meeting with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov made it clear Russia was also not willing to compromise.

He warned that there wouldn’t be any long-term settlement “without resolving the territorial issue,” repeating the threat that Russia would continue to pursue its goals “on the battlefield” until an agreement is reached.

What is the Donbas region?

Collectively known as the Donbas, the two coal-rich eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk used to be Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

A steel manufacturing powerhouse, the region is well connected to the Sea of Azov by rivers and man-made canals. It is also known for its fertile agricultural ground and rich mineral deposits.

Why does Putin want it?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made no secret of the fact that he doesn’t believe Ukraine has the right to exist as an independent country – dismissing the sovereignty it gained in 1991 following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

He has claimed that Ukraine and Ukrainians are part of a larger “historical Russia” and has repeatedly – without any evidence – accused Kyiv of conducting “genocide” against Russian speakers in Ukraine.

Historically the Donbas was the most “Russian” part of Ukraine, with a significant Russian-speaking population living there. And it was in the Donbas that Putin’s mission to destabilize and conquer Ukraine started in 2014.

How did the conflict start?

In 2014, Russia illegally annexed the southern Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, following a covert military operation led by highly trained Russian soldiers who were not wearing any insignia.

At the same time, Russia began backing and supplying pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas, helping them seize control of parts of Luhansk and Donetsk, including their regional capitals, from what was then an ill-prepared and poorly motivated Ukrainian military.

Russia has long maintained that it had no soldiers on the ground there, but United States, NATO and Ukrainian officials all say the Russian government supplied the separatists, provided them with advisory support and intelligence, and embedded its own officers in their ranks.

In one particularly horrific incident, the separatists used a Russian-provided Soviet-era Buk surface-to-air missile to shoot down a civilian flight MH17, killing 298 people. Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility, but a Dutch court found two Russians and a separatist Ukrainian guilty of m

Still don’t have a REAL ID? Get ready for a $45 fee

Kraig Pakulski 0 27 Article rating: No rating

By Alexandra Skores, CNN

(CNN) — Travelers will need to have a REAL ID to board their next US domestic flight or face a $45 fee from the Transportation Security Administration beginning on February 1.

Last year, TSA started enforcement of its REAL ID requirement. Several months later, it proposed charging a fee to travelers who haven’t obtained a REAL ID.

Now, TSA is rolling out ConfirmID, a process to streamline the identification check and fee payment for those without a REAL ID. Travelers without a REAL ID can input their information online and pay the fee, set at $45, before heading to the airport to streamline a potentially lengthy compliance process.

The REAL ID Act, which was passed by Congress in 2005, enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the federal government enhance security standards for identification.

CNN sat down with Steve Lorincz, deputy executive assistant administrator of TSA to discuss what changes travelers might see beginning in February.

Here’s some of what he had to say, along with some additional details about the new policy.

What happens on February 1?

“February 1 is really the next phase of REAL ID compliance enforcement. We rolled out REAL ID in May of 2025. About 94% of the population, or the passengers that transit through a TSA checkpoint today, have a REAL ID compliant driver’s license or an acceptable form of ID, like a passport. So that leaves us about 6%,” Lorincz said.

That 6% has a couple of options now. Of course, those travelers can go to the Department of Motor Vehicles, or wherever their state issues IDs, and obtain a REAL ID. But for those travelers who haven’t done that by February 1, TSA ConfirmID is an online system where they can enter their name and travel start date and pay a $45 fee.

“Once they pay that $45 fee, they will get a receipt. They will bring that receipt to a TSA checkpoint,” Lorincz said, where a TSA agent will use that receipt, plus a government ID, to process the traveler through the security checkpoint.

At the checkpoint, travelers should be prepared to provide their legal name, address and date of birth to complete the ConfirmID verification process.

TSA ConfirmID is designed to streamline identity verification for air travelers who do not have an acceptable form of ID, according to the TSA website. The identification process takes an average of 10-15 minutes, TSA said. However, it could take 30 minutes or more.

How do travelers know that they have a REAL ID?

When you look at your driver’s license, there’s usually an indicator at the top of the driver’s license, which is a star,” said Lorincz. “Some states, like California, have the golden bear. So look at that, make sure that you might have a compliant REAL ID driver’s license. If you’re not sure, there’s also a lot of information on the sites for both the DMVs and Secretary of State offices as far as that.”

Are passengers without REAL IDs expected to pay $45 every time they go through a checkpoint?

The $45 fee is good for 10 days from the date of travel,” Lorincz said. “But if you have future dates of travel coming up, I would encourage those individuals to make sure that they spend some time at the DMVs and Secretary of State offices to get their REAL ID-compliant driver’s license.”

In other words, travelers have 10 days from the star

RSS
First36483649365036513653365536563657Last