Plane so stuffed with cocaine it crashed during take-off
A small plane stuffed with $80 million in cocaine crashed en-route to Australia — possibly because it was laden with drugs to fly, police said.
The drugs were allegedly found packed on the aircraft after it crashed upon takeoff in Papua New Guinea last week, Australian network 9News reported.
Five members of a Melbourne-based crime syndicate were arrested on Monday, shortly after the plane was dispatched from the Aussie state of Queensland to nearby Papua New Guinea to collect the drugs, cops said.
The craft crashed later that day between 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. while allegedly attempting to fly 500 kilograms of coke out of a remote air-strip on the island nation.
“The Australian Federal Police (AFP) alleges greed played a significant part in the [crime] syndicate’s activities and cannot rule out that the weight of the cocaine had an impact on the plane’s ability to take off,” a police statement read.
Papua New Guinea authorities discovered the downed Cessna 402C plane empty shortly after the crash. Sniffer dogs identified trace amounts of cocaine at the scene, which led cops to the contraband after a four day search.
No one was found in the partially burned wreckage, according to Sky News.
The pilot turned himself in to the Australian consulate in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday and was charged with immigration offenses.
A truck had allegedly been waiting for the plane in Queensland, with plans to transport the drugs south.
The alleged Aussie co-conspirators had been under police surveillance for two years, according to ABC News.
The five men arrested in Australia — ages 31, 31, 33, 33 and 61 — have ties to the Italian mafia, police said. They face life in prison for their role in the alleged scheme.
“These arrests send a clear message that PNG will not tolerate transnational crime syndicates using our nation as a transit point for illicit commodities intended for Australia,” said David Manning, Papua New Guinea’s police chief.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/02/plane-so-stuffed-with-cocaine-it-crashed-during-take-off/
Photo Credit: EPA/AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE HANDOUT
Florida man buys Porsche with fake check printed from home computer
A man in Florida reportedly purchased a brand new Porsche with a check he printed on a home computer — and then decided to splurge on some watches.
Casey William Kelley, 42, cashed in the nearly $140,000 check at a local car dealership on Tuesday but was taken into custody one day later when he attempted to buy several Rolex watches at a jeweler in Miramar Beach with more bogus checks, according to the Palm Beach Post.
He was subsequently arrested for grand theft of a motor vehicle and uttering a false bank note.
After selling the car, a Porsche 911 Turbo, the dealership unsuccessfully tried to cash Kelley’s check and then reported the vehicle as stolen.
The jeweler, however, opted to keep both the check and the watches until the money cleared.
When the check came back as false, the cashier reported the crime to police — though Kelley was already in custody.
He later admitted to authorities that he had printed the checks at home, police said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/03/florida-man-buys-porsche-with-fake-check-printed-from-home-computer/
Photo Credit: Walton County Sheriff’s Office
Teachers bring coffins, guillotine while protesting NYC schools reopening plan
Teachers brought along visual aids, including handmade coffins and a guillotine, while protesting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s schools reopening plan in Lower Manhattan on Monday afternoon.
About 200 protesters — many of them educators, parents and students — marched from the United Federation of Teachers Headquarters to the NYC Department of Education offices near Foley Square.
“We demand safe schools,” they chanted.
The crafty group lugged a DIY yellow guillotine, with “DOE” painted on the blade and “US” written where the head would go.
They also carried at least two boxes designed to look like coffins, with black cloth draped over them, and three handmade body bags.
“Children cannot focus on schoolwork if their family members or teachers are in the hospital or dying,” said Frankie Cook, a kindergarten teacher at PS 261 in Brooklyn.
“Children cannot learn if they’re dead.”
The protesters were up in arms about the mayor’s plan for a partial reopening of the country’s biggest school system amid the coronavirus pandemic, asserting that the current model does not go far enough in terms of safety or logistical specificity.
“Hey-hey, ho-ho, Bill de Blasio has got to go!,” the group roared.
Under Hizzoner’s plan, “Schools will be like prisons,” said Cook, adding “Teachers’ main focus will be on enforcing health and safety because one slip could cause someone their lives.”
Anthony Bautista-Ramil, another Brooklyn educator whose colleague, Kimarlee Nguyen, died of COVID-19 in May, added that “The plan does not prioritize safety.”
The mayor has vowed to reopen schools in September as long as city coronavirus infection rates remain below 3 percent and City Hall has rolled out broad safety protocols for the upcoming year.
City Hall’s model will encourage, but not require, teachers to get tested just before the September start of the school year and will provide expedited testing and results for them at 34 centers.
But the United Federation of Teachers has pushed back and called for more stringent safety measures, including mandatory random testing throughout the year to guard against exposures.
The mayor defended the plan on Monday, claiming that: “It’s all about health and safety first.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/03/teachers-get-creative-while-protesting-nyc-schools-reopening-plan/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Dan Herrick
Georgia camp hit with coronavirus outbreak didn’t require masks
Test results were available for 344 people and 260 of them — about three-quarters — were positive.
A Georgia overnight camp hit by a coronavirus outbreak took many precautions but didn’t make campers wear masks or have proper ventilation in buildings, according to a government report released Friday.
The camp followed disinfecting rules and required staff to wear masks, but campers didn’t have to wear face coverings. Health officials said “relatively large” groups of kids slept in the same cabin where they regularly sang and cheered, likely leading to spread.
Nearly 600 people were at the overnight camp, which was not named in the report by Georgia health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Media outlets reported a large outbreak occurred at the time at a YMCA camp at Lake Burton in Rabun County, near the state’s northern border with North Carolina.
Campers ranged in age from 6 to 19, and many of the staffers were teenagers. Cabins had between 16 to 26 people. The report said this was “relatively large” but doesn’t clearly say if it was too many. Health investigators did fault the camp for not opening enough windows and doors to increase circulation in buildings.
The report said a teenage staff member developed chills on the evening of June 22 and left the camp the following day.
The camp began sending campers home two days later when the staffer got a positive test result for coronavirus. The camp notified state health officials and closed the camp on June 27.
Test results were available for 344 people and 260 of them – about three-quarters – were positive.
The percentage of campers infected was higher among younger kids than older kids, the report found. It also was higher in kids who were at the camp for longer periods of time.
Officials recorded information about symptoms for only 136 kids. Of those, 100 reported symptoms – mostly fever, headache and sore throat.
Inslee requests federal funding for National Guard through end of year to help with COVID response
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee has asked the federal government to continue paying for the use of National Guard soldiers through the end of the year to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
Inslee’s request Monday comes as cases of coronavirus have begun to climb across Washington and hospitalizations involving the virus have also started creeping back up.
The governor’s request, made in a letter to the U.S. Department of Defense, seeks an extension through Dec. 31 of federal funding currently paying for the more than 1,000 guard members assisting with various parts of the COVID-19 outbreak response.
“They are critical to our efforts to slow the spread of the virus by supporting COVID-mapping missions, assembling test kits, and operating community-based test sites,” Inslee wrote in the letter.
“Additionally, uniquely skilled National Guard planners are assisting my COVID-19 food security team and other state agencies to ensure that we meet the health and welfare needs of Washingtonians through our phased re-opening plan,” Inslee added.
The current federal funding is set to expire Aug. 21, according to Inslee spokeswoman Tara Lee.
Even without federal reauthorization, the state could still deploy Guard members at the request of local governments, Lee wrote in an email.
“However, they’d need to be on State Active Duty and the cost burden would shift to the state and local level,” she wrote.
Guard members have been a part of Washington’s pandemic response since early April.
At that time, 130 members deployed to help staff food banks in King, Pierce, Chelan, Franklin and Walla Walla counties. In Issaquah, for example, Guard members unloaded deliveries, repackaged food and then staged 44-pound boxes so food supplies were ready for distribution.
The state has also trained more than 720 National Guard members to help with contact tracing, also known as COVID mapping. Those members call people who have tested positive for the virus, to learn who they have been in close contact with.
Then, in an effort to halt the spread of the virus, contact tracers call those people and encourage them to get tested and to quarantine for two weeks.
In her email, Lee wrote that some food banks are now able to have volunteers return, which could cut down on the need for Guard members in that role.
But, “we anticipate more will be needed to conduct the covid mapping mission,” Lee wrote, and, “Test kit assembly and the operation of community based test sites will be an ongoing need.”
Also on Monday, Inslee participated in a call between governors and members of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response efforts, including Vice President Mike Pence. The call came after Trump on Saturday appeared in public for the first time wearing a mask.
On the call, Inslee told Pence that he appreciated that the president wore a mask, according to an account of the call provided by Inslee’s office.
Pence responded by saying that the administration would keep using masks whenever possible, according to the account, and that he would be wearing a mask when he disembarked on Tuesday from Air Force Two during a schedule stop in Louisiana.
Original Article here???? https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/inslee-requests-federal-funding-for-national-guard-through-end-of-year-to-help-with-covid-response/
U.S. Navy’s 1st Black female tactical jet pilot gets her ‘wings of gold’
The US Navy’s first Black female tactical aircraft pilot, Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle, received her “wings of gold” on Friday, marking a historic milestone for naval aviation.
Swegle was named a naval aviator and awarded her gold naval aviator wings with 25 classmates during a small ceremony at Naval Air Station Kingsville in Texas, according to the Navy.
“I’m excited to have this opportunity to work harder and fly high performance jet aircraft in the fleet,” Swegle said. “It would’ve been nice to see someone who looked like me in this role; I never intended to be the first. I hope it’s encouraging to other people.”
Swegle became the Navy’s first Black female strike pilot after completing tactical strike training at NAS Kingsville on July 7. A strike pilot flies the Navy’s strike aircraft, including fighter jets like the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, or the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft.
“Lt. j.g. Swegle has proven to be a courageous trailblazer,” said Vice Adm. DeWolfe “Bullet” Miller III, the commander of Naval Air Forces. “She has joined a select group of people who earned Wings of Gold and answered the call to defend our nation from the air. The diversity of that group — with differences in background, skill and thought — makes us a stronger fighting force.”
Swegle’s landmark accomplishment follows the footsteps of other groundbreaking women and minorities in the US Navy, like Rosemary Mariner, who became the first female jet pilot in 1974, and Brenda Robinson, the first Black woman to become a Navy flight instructor, evaluator and VIP transport pilot in the 1980’s, according to the non-profit organization Women in Aviation International.
“I think representation is important because we are a very diverse nation,” Swegle said in a video released by the Navy earlier this week. “I would like everyone to believe that they can achieve whatever they want to do.”
Swegle graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2017 and completed initial flight screening at NAS Pensacola. She completed primary flight training at NAS Corpus Christi and finished her advanced strike training at NAS Kingsville. She completed her aircraft carrier qualifications in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast on May 20.
Swegle will now report to Electronic Attack Squadron 129 at NAS Whidbey Island in Washington to begin training as an EA-18G Growler pilot. The squadron trains new naval aviators, naval flight officers, and naval aircrewmen in electronic warfare tactics, techniques, and procedures in preparation for their fleet assignments, according to the Navy.
The EA-18G Growler is an electronic warfare aircraft, a specialized version of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet, and is based on US aircraft carriers.
Photo Credit: wrcbtv.com
‘Get your knee off our necks’ protest held in NYC
NEW YORK — These protesters come with extraordinary pain, as their loved ones were killed at the hands of police.
Eric Garner‘s mother Gwen Carr, Sean Bell’s widow, Nicole, Breonna Taylor’s family and George Floyd’s brother Terence, all moving through midtown full steam ahead,
It was a peaceful march called “get your knees off our necks,” which means more than just how Floyd died.
“Gets your knees off our necks on everything, it means black women being killed in hospitals giving birth, that goes into foster care systems, that goes into ending gun violence,” said protester Larry Michael Smith Jr.
The families were joined by about hundred marchers who started out in Times Square and went up to Trump Tower. Their demands were clear, they want an end to police brutality and equality on all levels.
“We are tired of being sick and tired,” said Rev. Kevin McCall of the National Action Network. “We don’t want just legislation, we want everything to change.”
Protesters admit they have had some success with police reform but say they must keep the momentum going.
Garner’s mother has been outspoken since her son died 6 years ago.
”Even the laws have been passed but they’re still pushed back, they’re trying to overturn those laws that have already been established,” said Carr.
Through support, a commitment for change and their voices, these protesters are hopeful.
At one point Floyd’s brother took a moment to add his handprint to a painting in honor of his brother.
“My brother was about community and giving back,” said Terence Floyd.
That’s why the pain is still heavy and these families say time can’t heal what they feel, only justice can.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/take-your-knee-off-our-necks-protest-held-in-nyc
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Missouri woman sentenced to life for beating officer with handcuffs
A central Missouri woman has been sentenced to life in prison for repeatedly beating a Rolla police officer with handcuffs, leaving the officer with a traumatic brain injury.
Nicole Poston, 30, of Rolla, Mo., was sentenced Wednesday for an attack in August 2019 on Officer Leann Robertson. Poston was convicted in January of first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer and armed criminal action.
Prosecutors said Poston somehow slipped out of her handcuffs after being arrested and used them to strike Robertson several times in the face. The attack left Robertson with long-term symptoms, such as severe headaches and dizziness.
More than 50 officers attended the sentencing to support Robertson.
“They all know what a tremendous asset she is to her community, and I sincerely hope the effects of this brutal assault subside with time so that Officer Robertson can continue to serve our community for years to come,” Phelps County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Brad Neckermann said.
Photo Credit: Phelps County Prosecutor’s Office
Magic’s Jonathan Isaac Only Player to Stand, Not Wear ‘Black Lives Matter’ Shirt for National Anthem
Ahead of the Orlando Magic-Brooklyn Nets game on Friday, Magic forward Jonathan Isaac stood out among the rest by being the lone player to stand while the national anthem played. Isaac was also the only player to not wear the Black Lives Matter shirt adorned by others during pregame.
“Absolutely I believe that Black lives matter,” Isaac said after the game. “A lot went into my decision…kneeling or wearing a ‘Black Lives Matter’ t-shirt don’t go hand in hand in supporting Black lives. I do believe that Black lives matter, I just felt like it was a decision I had to make, and I didn’t feel like putting that shirt on and kneeling went hand in hand with supporting Black lives.”
Isaac is, so far, the only player at the NBA’s restart in Orlando to not kneel for the anthem or wear the Black Lives Matter shirt. He explained his reasoning in response to a question from Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks:
“I don’t think that kneeling or putting on a T-shirt for me, personally, is the answer. For me, Black lives are supported through the gospel, all lives are supported through the gospel,” Isaac said. “We all fall short of God’s glory, and at the end of the day, whoever will humble themselves and seek God and repent their sins, then we could see our mistakes and people’s mistakes and people’s evil in a different light, and that it would help bring us closer together and get past skin color, get past anything that’s on the surface that doesn’t really deal with the hearts of men and women.”
The Magic released a statement supporting their players’ right to protest following the national anthem. Magic coach Steve Clifford said he and the rest of the team’s players supported Isaac’s decision, per ESPN’s Marc J. Spears.
Isaac finished the game with 16 points and six rebounds in 16 minutes as the Magic won, 128-118.BY
via: https://www.si.com/nba/2020/07/31/magic-jonathan-isaac-stands-during-anthem-black-lives-matter
Photo Credit: thedailyreformer.com