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South Florida artist inspires community and serves his country as first rapper in US Army Field Band

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

He chased his dream and became a full-time rap artist, but where he’s doing it is making history. 7’s Karen Hensel has today’s 7 Spotlight.They are soldiers clad in camouflage, serving their country with discipline, determination, and … rap?Kervens Jackson, Piper High School band director: “A rapper in the Army? Is that real?”It is now. Meet Staff Sgt. Lamar Riddick, an artist who rhymed his way into the ranks of the Army and hails from South Florida.Lamar Riddick, U.S. Army Field Band rapper: “It’s so amazing to do this full time and to serve the country.”Since 1946, the Army Field Band has allowed soldiers to serve their country through song. Now, for the first time ever, they’re bringing hip-hop to the center stage.Lamar Riddick: “It didn’t dawn on us until, I think, after we got the job that we were the first in military history.”Riddick was a Christian rapper before joining the Army.Lamar Riddick: ...

Hialeah man found guilty for role in Jan. 6 Capitol breach

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (WSVN) – A Hialeah man was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder for his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, the United States Department of Justice said in a news release. The disruption occurred during a joint session of the U.S. Congress to certify the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.According to officials, Gilbert Fonticoba, 49, a member of the “Vice City” chapter of the Proud Boys in Miami, participated in the illegal entry of the Capitol grounds and building, helping dismantle barricades and advancing with the mob. He was arrested by the FBI on Oct. 26, 2021, in Miami.Fonticoba’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2024. The felony obstruction charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, along with potential financial penalties.Over 1,100 individuals have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach, with more than 400 facing charges of a...

Police found 115 bodies at Colorado ‘green’ funeral home while investigating putrid smells

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (AP) — At least 115 decaying bodies were found at a storage facility for a “green” funeral operator, after neighbors reported abhorrent smells emanating from the location in rural southern Colorado, police said Friday, calling it a “disturbing discovery.”The owner tried to conceal the improper storage of corpses and claimed he was doing taxidermy at the facility, according to a suspension letter sent to him by state regulators that was made public Friday. No one has been arrested or charged yet.The Return to Nature Funeral Home facility in the small town of Penrose had been unregistered with the state for 10 months on Wednesday when owner Jon Hallford spoke by phone with a state regulator the day after the smells were reported and police launched an investigationHallford acknowledged that he had a “problem” at the property, though the Colorado Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration document obtained by The Associated Press didn’t explain what Hallf...

Saturday showers, some Sunday sun

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

In writing this blog title, I realized I’ve used that same line recently. When you crunch the numbers, this will be the 15th weekend since June 1st (of the last 19 weekends) we’ve had rain one or two of the days. Grab the rain jacket for Saturday, but the fall sweater for Sunday. We’ll hold on to the cool temperatures for most of next week.The wet weather is from a cold front to our west and tropical moisture leftover from Philippe. Philippe became post tropical today. No matter the definition, there will still be tropical moisture that could bring excessive rainfall to Northern New England. The above pictures show where the heaviest rainfall is expected- western New England from the cold front and Maine from Philippe. Heads up, the rain and breeze could bring down some leaves and potentially cause some storm drains to clog.The HREF model above usually has a good handle on the rain. Starting out tomorrow, some of us will have light showers and others will have over...

Election denier and ‘MyPillow Guy’ Mike Lindell confirms he’s out of money, can’t pay legal bills

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

By STEVE KARNOWSKI (Associated Press)MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys who’ve been defending MyPillow chief executive and election denier Mike Lindell against defamation lawsuits by voting machine companies are seeking court permission to quit, saying he owes them unspecified millions of dollars and can’t pay the millions more that he’ll owe in legal expenses going forward.Lindell confirmed in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he’s out of money and said he understands his lawyers are people who need to make a living.Attorney Andrew Parker wrote in documents filed in federal court on Thursday that his firm and a second firm representing MyPillow in lawsuits by Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems can’t afford what it would cost to represent Lindell and MyPillow through the rest of the litigation. Continuing to defend him would put the firms “in serious financial risk,” he wrote. It’s the latest in a string of ...

Narges Mohammadi is the 5th Nobel peace laureate to win while imprisoned. Here are the others

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee urged Iran to release imprisoned peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi and let her accept the award at the annual prize ceremony in December.Such appeals have had little effect in the past.Mohammadi, an Iranian human rights activist, is the fifth peace laureate to get the prize while in prison or under house arrest. In none of the previous cases did the prize result in the recipient’s release. Two of them remained in captivity until they died.Here’s a look at previous Nobel laureates who were in detention:CARL VON OSSIETZKYThe 1935 Nobel Peace Prize to German journalist Carl Von Ossietzky so infuriated Adolf Hitler that the Nazi leader prohibited all Germans from receiving Nobel Prizes.Ossietzky had been imprisoned for exposing secret plans for German rearmament in the 1920s. He was released after seven months but arrested again and sent to a concentration camp after the Nazis took power in 1933.Despite a campaign to set...

At least 16 migrants killed, 29 injured in a bus crash in southern Mexico

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — As many as 18 migrants from Venezuela and Peru died early Friday in a bus crash in southern Mexico, authorities said.Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said the dead include two women and three children, and that 29 people were injured. There was no immediate information on their condition.Prosecutors in the southern state of Oaxaca later said there had been an overcount due to some of the bodies being dismembered, and that the real death toll was 16. They also said some of the dead were from Haiti, not Peru. The Immigration Institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy.Photos distributed by the institute showed the bus rolled over onto its side on a curvy section of highway in the southern state of Oaxaca. The cause of the crash on the town of San Pablo Huitzo, near the border with the neighboring state of Puebla, is under investigation.The institute said a total of 55 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, were aboard the...

Disability advocates warn eligibility for federal dental-care plan may be cumbersome

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government’s new dental insurance plan has yet to be introduced, but advocates are warning the eligibility criteria for people with disabilities could be cumbersome and may not capture everyone who should have access to the program.The details of the insurance plan are expected to be announced this fall, with a goal to eventually provide dental benefits to qualifying kids under the age of 18, seniors and people with disabilities.The Liberals promised in their supply-and-confidence agreement with the NDP that dental coverage will ultimately be offered to all people with a household income under $90,000 per year by the end of 2024.The government hasn’t said how people will be required to prove that they’re disabled in order to qualify for the insurance plan. But it typically relies on the list of people who access the disability tax credit to determine who should receive other disability-related programs, said Disability Without Poverty national ...

Former US intelligence officer charged with trying to give classified defense information to China

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — A former U.S. Army intelligence officer has been charged with attempting to provide classified defense information to the Chinese security services during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic — including some listed in a Microsoft Word document titled “Important Information to Share with Chinese Government.”Authorities on Friday arrested former Sgt. Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, at San Francisco International Airport as he arrived from Hong Kong, where he had been living since March 2020, the Justice Department said. A federal grand jury in Seattle returned an indictment Wednesday charging him with retention and attempted delivery of national defense information.A public defender assigned to represented Schmidt at a brief appearance at U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Friday pending his transfer to Washington state did not immediately return an email seeking comment. U.S. District Court records in Seattle did not list an attorney representing Schmidt on the charg...

It’s the final day of a massive health care strike over pay and staff shortages. No deal is in sight

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:51 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A massive health care strike over wages and staffing shortages entered its final day on Friday without a deal between industry giant Kaiser Permanente and the unions representing the 75,000 workers who picketed this week.The three-day strike carried out in multiple states is set to officially end Saturday at 6 a.m., and workers were expected to return to their jobs in Kaiser’s hospitals and clinics that serve nearly 13 million Americans.The most recent bargaining concluded midday Wednesday. Additional sessions were scheduled by the parties for Oct. 12 and 13, the unions announced Friday.The decision to walk off an important job was very difficult, said Josephine Rios, 55, a nurse attendant who takes in patients for surgery at a hospital in Irvine, California.“Unfortunately, it’s a financial burden for us that live paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “We can’t afford to strike a long time, but it’s a double-edged sword. We can’t afford not to strike.”A fal...