Author: rpnadmin

NEW YORK — The estranged husband of a prominent New York City art dealer was convicted Friday of hiring a hitman to kill him in Brazil. Daniel Sikkema, 55, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Brent Sikkema, 75, was found stabbed to death in his Rio de Janeiro townhouse in January 2024. Daniel Sikkema, a U.S. and Cuban citizen who lived in New York, was arrested in April 2024. He was convicted in federal court in Manhattan of charges including murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death. The alleged hitman was arrested in Brazil, where he remains jailed. “Amid contentious…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Authorities said Friday that fentanyl and methamphetamine were found at a home where first responders answering a call about suspected overdoses in a rural New Mexico county became sick. Three people who were found inside the house died Wednesday. A fourth person who was in the house and one of the emergency responders who became sick were still being treated at a hospital Friday. A doctor who saw the responders exhibiting symptoms including nausea and dizziness said their symptoms most closely resembled fentanyl exposure. However, the investigation into how the exposure happened and what caused it was…

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — About 40,000 people were under evacuation orders and schools shut down Friday in Southern California after a storage tank continued to leak a hazardous chemical used to make plastic parts that officials said could rupture or explode. A storage tank holding between 6,000 and 7,000 gallons (22,700 and 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate overheated Thursday and began venting vapors into the air at an aerospace plastics facility in Garden Grove, a city in Orange County, the county’s fire authority said. Officials ordered residents in Garden Grove to leave and expanded evacuations orders Friday to some residents…

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – There are no immigrants waiting for rulings anymore at San Francisco’s main immigration court, no lawyers making arguments. The court, which had 21 judges when President Donald Trump was sworn in last year, had only two left when it closed May 1. The rest had been fired, retired or resigned amid a White House purge of federal immigration judges. The closing is one more reflection of the turmoil that has upended the immigration court system as the administration looks for ways to churn through its massive backlog of 3.8 million asylum cases and deport as many…

Officials at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport pushed back the reopening of a runway closed due to a sinkhole to Saturday as inspections and repairs continue. LaGuardia officials said on X that ground-penetrating radar was used Thursday to find possible problem spots, which were then “proactively repaired.” Airport crews are looking to see if other areas have structural problems, and officials said they expect those inspections and any further repairs to be done by 6 a.m. Saturday. Officials have repeatedly delayed the reopening, starting with Thursday morning, then noon that day. About 90 minutes before that deadline, officials pushed it…

A United Airlines flight bound for Guatemala City was forced to make an unplanned landing at Washington Dulles International Airport on Thursday night after a passenger allegedly attempted to open a cabin door at cruising altitude and assaulted a fellow traveler, federal authorities said. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that United Flight 1551 departed Newark Liberty International Airport and landed safely at Dulles at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Thursday after the crew reported a passenger disturbance. Air traffic control audio obtained by ABC News captured the exchange between the flight crew and Potomac Approach controllers. “What door did the passenger…

A Texas Democratic congressional candidate who drew widespread condemnation for calling to imprison “American Zionists” in a converted ICE detention facility is now blaming journalists and her own party for the furor — while doubling down on the core of her remarks. Maureen Galindo, a sex therapist and housing activist, is running in the Tuesday Democratic primary runoff for Texas’ 35th Congressional District — a seat redrawn by Republican legislators in 2025 to favor the GOP, stripping the district of its Austin base and reconfiguring it around San Antonio and outlying eastern counties. Ms. Galindo set off a firestorm with…

As the nation’s 250th birthday approaches, pollsters, researchers and media outlets have focused attention on the future via the hopes and aspirations of young Americans. For example, a Harvard Institute of Politics survey found that 59% of young Americans say the country is on the wrong track, 13% say it’s on the right track and 26% are unsure. The nationwide survey of 2,018 Americans between 18 and 29 years old was conducted March 26-April 3. Meanwhile, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace survey found that 64% of Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) say it would be better…

new video loaded: Why This Ebola Outbreak Could Be One of the WorstAn Ebola outbreak is spreading in parts of Africa with over 170 deaths and about 750 infections, according to the World Health Organization. Our global health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli explains how the suspension of vital channels of U.S. aid is turning a bad situation much worse.By Apoorva Mandavilli, Alexandra Ostasiewicz, Stephanie Swart, Rafaela Balster, Nikolay Nikolov and Luke PiotrowskiMay 22, 2026 Source link

D.C. authorities are bracing for a summer of teen takeovers of public spaces in the absence of an emergency juvenile curfew law, as federal prosecutors consider charging the parents of criminal youths. Swarms of teenagers repeatedly wreaked havoc this spring in neighborhoods such as Navy Yard. The incidents resulted in arrests connected with robberies, assaults and at least one shooting, as well as calls for more policing, focused restrictions and parental responsibility. Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said she intends to make parents account for their children’s crimes. She cited a teen-fueled melee last weekend inside…