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Life sentences for 4 in slaying of Md. man held for $7,000 ransom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

Four men from D.C. and Maryland have been sentenced to life in prison for murder and other charges related to the 2018 kidnapping and killing of a Bowie, Maryland, man.Darin Moore, Jr. 29, of Bowie, and the three other defendants from D.C. — Gabriel Brown, 33; John Sweeney, 29; and James Taylor, 33 — were all involved in the kidnapping of 28-year-old Andre Simmons Jr., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.Officials said the group held Simmons for ransom before killing him.On June 19, 2018, Simmons was abducted at gunpoint, bound with zip ties and forced into a vehicle by Moore and Sweeney in Maryland, according to the investigation conducted by the FBI Washington Field Office and D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.The investigation found that several ransom calls were made from Taylor’s phone to the victim’s family over the next few hours. Simmons’ family delivered $7,000 in cash to a drop location, as instructed by the kidnappers, and Brown picke...

Search continues for missing person in Lake Cochituate in Natick

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

Emergency crews are searching Lake Cochituate in Natick for a missing person after another person was rescued from the lake after their boat capsized on Saturday, officials said.Dive teams were still working into the night to locate the person.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Preparations underway for annual Walk for Peace in Dorchester

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

Scores of area residents are set to take part in the 27th annual Walk for Peace in Dorchester on Sunday. The event is aimed at promoting peace in parts of the city that are hardest hit by street violence.Preparations were underway on Mother’s Day morning for the annual event, with the area decked out in purple and white balloons as crews were setting up the stage.This year’s theme is Cultivating Cycles of Peace.The event is aimed at turning cycles of violence into more frequent cycles of peace by empowering survivors and supporting returning community members and their families and investing in “Generation Peace.”The fundraising goal this year is $600,000.To donate visit: https://www.mothersdaywalk4peace.org/This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Candlelit vigil held in Washington, DC to honor fallen Mass. state trooper

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

WASHINGTON, DC — (WHDH)A candlelit vigil was held in Washington, D.C. to honor fallen Massachusetts State Police Trooper Tamar Bucci.Bucci, 34, died in a traffic crash in Stoneham last year when a tanker truck hit her cruiser as she pulled over to help a motorist in a disabled vehicle on Interstate 93 north.Bucci was the 22nd trooper in the department’s history to die in the line of duty.

Chicago Bears spring storylines: ‘The No Excuses Tour’ for Justin Fields, Roschon Johnson’s ‘it’ factor and a big bet on Tremaine Edmunds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

The 2023 Chicago Bears schedule was revealed Thursday and will reconvene as a full team for practices at organized team activities May 23. This is an important and exciting phase for a team with an infusion of new talent. The Bears must use the next month as a runway toward training camp. As the offseason program continues, here’s the inside slant on three notable storylines1. Calendar chatterSave the dates. The NFL schedule is on the table with the Bears set to jump onto the prime-time stage four times, including twice on Amazon Prime’s Thursday night package.The Bears will open against the rival Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. And they’ll close with the Packers, too, in the Week 18 finale at Lambeau Field.At first glance, with only five games against teams that qualified for the playoffs last season, the Bears should see a window of opportunity to accelerate their return to relevance.And for starting quarterback Justin Fields, this fall now becomes “The...

AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters: ‘We’re not prepared for this’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap, powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, video and audio that was realistic enough to fool voters and perhaps sway an election.The synthetic images that emerged were often crude, unconvincing and costly to produce, especially when other kinds of misinformation were so inexpensive and easy to spread on social media. The threat posed by AI and so-called deepfakes always seemed a year or two away. No more. Sophisticated generative AI tools can now create cloned human voices and hyper-realistic images, videos and audio in seconds, at minimal cost. When strapped to powerful social media algorithms, this fake and digitally created content can spread far and fast and target highly specific audiences, potentially taking campaign dirty tricks to a new low.The implications for the 2024 campaigns and elections are as large as they are troubl...

Election at UN migration agency pits its European chief against his American deputy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — He’s European. She’s American. He runs the U.N. migration agency. She wants his job.International Organization for Migration director-general Antonio Vitorino of Portugal faces what could be a tight race against his Biden administration-backed deputy, Amy Pope, as member countries of the Geneva-based agency choose its chief for the next five years on Monday.The election comes as migrants have been on the move like never before, driven from their homes by factors including conflict, economic distress and the growing impacts of climate change.The U.S. and the European Union — both major funders of IOM — are facing challenges with migration. Critics fault the EU for failing to do more to prevent often-deadly trips by migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from north Africa to Europe by boat. The U.N. refugee agency and others have expressed concern about how changes to U.S. migration law will affect people trying to cross the Mexican border into the United States.But ...

Kerry challenges oil industry to prove its promised tech rescue for climate-wrecking emissions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and gas producers talk up technological breakthroughs they say will soon allow the world to drill and burn fossil fuels without worsening global warming. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says the time is here for the industry to prove it can make the technology happen — at scale, affordably and quickly — to stave off climate disaster.And Kerry says he has “serious questions” whether it can.Kerry’s comments came in an interview with The Associated Press on one of the most crucial topics in the fight to slow global warming: the argument from oil and gas producers that they will soon have technology in place to extract the climate-damaging gases that make fossil fuels the main culprit in climate change, allowing companies to keep pumping crude and natural gas worry-free.Kerry said the ideal solution is a fast global switch to renewable energy, but oil and gas states and companies have a right to give their claim of technological rescue a try.“If you’re ab...

Serbia: 13,500 weapons collected in amnesty, including rocket launchers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian authorities on Sunday displayed many of around 13,500 weapons they say people have been handed over since this month’s mass shootings, including hand grenades, automatic weapons, and anti-tank rocket launchers.The authorities have declared a one-month amnesty period for citizens to hand over unregistered weapons or face prison sentences as part of a crackdown on guns following the two mass shootings that left 17 people dead, many of them children.Populist President Aleksandar Vucic accompanied top police officials on Sunday for the weapons’ display near the town of Smederevo, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital, Belgrade. Vucic said the approximately half of the weapons collected were illegal while the other half were registered weapons that citizens nonetheless handed over. He added the weapons will go to Serbia’s arms and ammunitions factories for potential use by the armed forces.“After June 8, the state will respon...

Quebec avian flu cases higher than expected as bird deaths near 1 million: expert

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:49 GMT

MONTREAL — Poultry farmers in Quebec are grappling with a series of outbreaks of deadly avian flu, as the number of birds that have died or been euthanized due to the disease since early last year nears the one million mark. Sylvain Junior Henrie, who co-owns Ferme La Caboche in Rimouski, Que., said poultry farmers are all taking extra precautions. At his farm northeast of Quebec City, people change boots and coveralls before entering any buildings. He’s waiting until later in the year to put his flock outside, and he’s invested in mobile shelters and a series of tarps and canvas to ensure that wild birds can’t mix with his organic chickens, ducks and turkeys.“The important thing is not to bring something from the outside into our breeding areas,” Henrie said.Henrie and others farmers in his region have so far been spared, but the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus is having a widespread impact on poultry farming in the province, from anxiety for farmers to a...