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Father of Wakefield teen charged in alleged terrorist financing scheme calls son ‘a loyal American’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

Paul Ventura was about to leave his Wakefield home Thursday morning when the FBI showed up looking for his 18-year-old son Mateo.Hours later, the dad opened up to reporters for more than 20 minutes outside the federal courthouse in Worcester about how he believes the feds are entrapping his son, whom he repeatedly called a “loyal American.”Mateo Ventura was arraigned Thursday afternoon on charges that he allegedly provided support to terrorism in the form of a string of gift cards to a supposed ISIS agent for resale on the dark web, according to federal authorities.Paul Ventura said it was all a shock.“He is a soft-hearted kid. He wants to help people,” Paul Ventura said of Mateo. “He’s not afraid to tell me anything. If he did something wrong, he would’ve said ‘Dad, I did something wrong.’ If he did it, he did it unintentionally.”Mateo Ventura was charged with one count of concealing terrorist financing by the US. Attorney’s office in Boston.Ventura provided  “multiple gift cards t...

Massachusetts teen accused of buying $1,670 in gift cards to support ISIS; he allegedly tried to get $10 million from the FBI

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

A Wakefield teenager is accused of buying $1,670 in gift cards to support ISIS and the terrorist organization’s fighters, allegedly sending the gift cards to an undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS supporter.Related ArticlesCrime & Public Safety | Father of Wakefield teen charged in alleged terrorist financing scheme calls son “a loyal American” Mateo Ventura, 18, who told the undercover agent that he wanted to fight with ISIS, also reportedly tried to get $10 million from the FBI in exchange for information about an ISIS terror attack.The FBI on Thursday arrested Ventura, and he was charged with knowingly concealing the source of material support or resources that he intended to go to a foreign terrorist organization.While Ventura was still a juvenile, he gave 26 gift cards to the undercover agent — donating $965 that was intended to support ISIS. Then after Ventura turned 18 years old, he gave 16 gift cards to the agent earlier this ye...

Child rapist Patrick Rose’s victims sue him, city of Boston, Massachusetts agency over sexual abuse

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

Two victims of child rapist Patrick Rose Sr. have filed suit against him, the City of Boston, the police union, the state Department of Children and Families and more than two dozen other named and unnamed individuals they say allowed the abuse to happen.Rose, who was the president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association from 2014 to 2018, pleaded guilty last year to 21 counts of child rape and sexual assault that occurred over a 27-year period.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston on Thursday, from plaintiffs John Doe and Jane Doe, along with a spouse, states that Rose abused both the victim plaintiffs through the 1990s and that he also abused four minor family members from at least 1990 through 2020.DCF, however, received its first complaint that Rose was sexually abusing a child in 1992, 30 years before Rose’s guilty plea. It was while he was under investigation for such abuse, the lawsuit’s complaint states, that Rose was first hired as a police officer.And DCF woul...

Luis Severino gives up 3 home runs as White Sox beat Yankees in first game of doubleheader

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

The Yankees lost the first game of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox, 6-5, under hazy conditions caused by the Canadian wildfires.Chicago’s designated hitter Jake Burger got his team on the board first with a two-run home run in the top of the second inning.The White Sox followed up in the third with Luis Robert Jr. and Yoan Moncada hitting solo shots to center field to make the score 4-2.Moncada wore a neck gaiter over his nose during the first game Thursday. The third baseman most likely wanted to take precaution and not directly inhale polluted that is blanketing the New York City area.The air quality improved from Thursday, when Major League Baseball decided to postpone the second game of the series between the two teams. At the time, the ballpark was under an orange haze and the air quality index came in at over 300, which the EPA considers “very unhealthy.”Thursday’s AQI during first pitch was at 156, which is considered unhealthy.While down ...

Donald Trump says he’s been indicted in classified documents case

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Donald Trump says he’s been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.The Justice Department had no immediate comment or confirmation.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and his aides are bracing for a potential indictment in the classified documents investigation as prosecutors handling the probe were spotted Thursday at a Miami courthouse where a grand jury has been hearing from witnesses.The former president's lawyers have been told he is a target of the investigation, the clearest indication yet that criminal charges could be coming soon, according to two people familiar with the matter. In an effort to get ahead of a potential indictment, aides over the last two days have been reac...

Wildfire triggers evacuation order for Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

VANCOUVER — An encroaching wildfire has set off an immediate evacuation order Thursday for residents of the British Columbia District of Tumbler Ridge, a community of 2,400 people in northeastern B.C.The district said in a message issued by the B.C. Emergency Alert system that residents needed to leave the area immediately due to the risk to life. The wildfire, called the West Kiskatinaw River fire, was only discovered on June 6 but has grown to 96 square kilometres in size.Joline Couture, a Canadian Ranger living in Tumbler Ridge, said in an phone interview that smoke was heavy as she prepared to go door-to-door to ensure people were aware of the alert and had started to leave.“We’re remote, surrounded by forests all over. I think the town is well rehearsed on how to take fire orders because there’s no chaos, there’s no speeding,” she said. “It seems that everybody is remaining calm.”Couture said the remote community is surrounded by forest...

Biden picks longtime transportation official as acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has picked a longtime government official and current top aide in the Transportation Department to serve as acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.The White House said Thursday that Polly Trottenberg replaced Billy Nolen, who indicated in April that he planned to leave the FAA.Trottenberg held a high-ranking job in the Transportation Department during the Obama administration and has most recently been deputy to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. She headed the New York City Transportation Department from 2014 to 2020 and worked as a U.S. Senate aide and at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.The FAA, which manages air traffic throughout the nation, has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since March of last year, when Stephen Dickson resigned halfway through his five-year term. Since then, the agency has faced understaffing of air traffic controllers, a technical outage that grounded flights nationwide in...

James Watt, sharp-tongued and pro-development Interior secretary under Reagan, dies at 85

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — James Watt, the Reagan administration’s sharp-tongued, pro-development interior secretary who was beloved by conservatives but ran afoul of environmentalists, Beach Boys fans and eventually the president, has died. He was 85.Watt died in Arizona on May 27, son Eric Watt said in a statement Thursday.In an administration divided between so-called pragmatists and hard-liners, few stood as far to the right at the time as Watt, who once labeled the environmental movement as “preservation vs. people” and the general public as a clash between “liberals and Americans.”In that sense, Watt foreshadowed combative Interior secretaries like Ryan Zinke and David Bernhardt, who, like Watt, aggressively pushed to grant oil, gas and coal leases on public land, increase offshore drilling and limit expansion of national parks and monuments. “While no one’s death should be celebrated, he was the worst of MAGA before it was invented,” tweeted David Donger of the environmental...

Utah man sues Alaska troopers, says his job offer was yanked after revealing HIV status

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A Salt Lake City man who says his job offer to become an Alaska State Trooper was rescinded after he disclosed he was HIV positive filed a lawsuit in state court Thursday to get his position on the statewide police force and to prevent others from suffering similar alleged discrimination.The lawsuit was filed electronically by Anchorage civil rights attorney Caitlin Shortell on behalf of a man only identified as John Doe, whose HIV is undetectable and untransmissible. “There are no reservations about his ability to do the duties of the job, and he is completely fit,” Shortell said, adding he can work without accommodations. Doe “seeks to challenge the constitutionality of the Alaska State Troopers’ rescission of a job offer based on his being a person who lives with HIV, in light of medical advancements that render HIV status irrelevant to a person’s ability to meet the criteria for entry and service at Alaska State Troopers in any capacity,” the lawsuit sta...

Future interest rate decisions will be taken one at a time, says BoC deputy governor

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:08:02 GMT

OTTAWA — After announcing a rate hike this week, Bank of Canada deputy governor Paul Beaudry says the central bank plans to take future interest rate decisions one at a time. Beaudry made the comments in a news conference on Thursday, which followed a speech he delivered to the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.The deputy governor’s public appearance comes one day after the central bank announced it was raising its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, ending its pause on rate hikes and bringing the rate to 4.75 per cent.The move fuelled speculation among economists that another rate hike is on the way next month, but Beaudry said nothing is predetermined.“Every decision is taken one at a time at this point,” Beaudry said.“There’s a set of data that we’ll be looking at, we made that clear. And then we let the markets make their bets.”The decision to raise interest rates again wasn’t completely unexpected, given a rec...