The UK and the EU have agreed to hit Russia with a raft of new economic sanctions after hopes of a ceasefire with Ukraine came to nothing. One French minister commented that it is time to “suffocate” the Russian economy.
Since the country’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, that economy has certainly suffered. Sanctions on Russia have already led to a depreciation of the rouble, high inflation, very high interest rates and a stagnating economy.
But it remains unclear what effect any new measures will have. And Vladimir Putin has a history of riding out economic hardship.
When he became president of Russia just over 25 years ago, the country’s economy was in dire straits. Attempts by his predecessors Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to build a more open and capitalist system had not worked well for most Russian citizens.
Instead, a rapid wave of privatisations, which reformers hoped would build strong institutions, had mostly benefited a small group of oligarchs who exploited a weak and corrupt state to seize key oil, gas and mineral assets.
Those oligarchs resisted legal reform, moved wealth abroad, failed to invest in the domestic economy, and gradually gained control of major corporations and media, expanding their political influence. By 1995, nearly half of Russians were living in poverty.
The 1998 crisis worsened the situation, as a global recession and falling commodity prices led to fiscal imbalances and doubts about Russia’s ability to service its debt and uphold the fixed exchange rate. The central bank raised interest rates to 150% to try and stabilise the rouble, but this failed.
It eventually allowed the rouble to float, and the currency lost about two-thirds of its value. When he came to power in 2000, Putin was then confronted with the challenge of rebuilding the Russian economy.
Luckily for him, between 2000 and 2008, an oil and gas boom drove GDP growth, increasing incomes, and allowing for early repayment of national debts. Putin – and national pride – received a boost.
Rising energy revenues helped stabilise the economy and enabled the state to tighten its grip on the energy sector. By 2006, Gazprom accounted for 20% of government tax revenue.
Putin then shifted his focus to Europe. With German support, the Nord Stream pipeline was completed in 2011, enabling direct gas exports to western Europe while bypassing Ukraine. This increased European dependence on Russian energy.
But Putin’s oil and gas-driven economic model struggled to sustain growth, and by 2013, his approval ratings had fallen to their lowest point since 2000.
However, these accomplishments did little to address Russia’s core economic problems, particularly its failure to build a diversified economy.
By 2018, Russia’s economy was again stagnant, with a weak currency and declining living standards, and Putin’s popularity fell in part due to unpopular budget-saving reforms, including raising the retirement age.
There was widespread doubt about Putin’s model of lasting prosperity, which relied on state-led growth, but was marked by instability, resource dependence and growing geopolitical ambition.
In this light, Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 appeared to be a familiar tactic to boost support. Indeed, his approval jumped to 83% after invading Ukraine, matching levels seen after the 2014 Crimea annexation. His ratings have remained high since, with recent polls still showing approval levels above 80%.
But the Russian economy will still be a worry. Sustaining a “war economy”, where manufacturing and investment are focused on conflict cannot go on forever, particularly as the manufacturing product is being rapidly depleted as the Russian military uses it the field. And reliance on commodities has amplified the impact of sanctions, hitting key banks and energy firms such as Gazprom and Rosneft.
Meanwhile, the US has significantly expanded its presence in Europe’s energy market, supplying nearly 50% of the EU’s liquid natural gas imports after tripling exports between 2021 and 2023.
Major Russian pipeline projects such as Nord Stream 2 and Power of Siberia 2 remain in limbo. And the decline in oil prices in April 2025, the biggest since November 2021, poses further risks.
If a ceasefire is agreed, a pause in the war could offer Russia the chance to regroup and recover economically. Sanctions are often temporary, and global demand for oil and gas remains strong. Some countries may re-engage in trade.
But future economic stagnation could once again fuel aggression. Unless Russia undertakes structural reforms and redefines its role in the global economy by reducing reliance on resource exports and engaging more constructively with global markets, the cycle of confrontation may repeat itself, with far-reaching global consequences.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The policy of appeasement – strategic concessions to an aggressor that are designed to avoid war – is generally most closely associated in the UK with the Conservative leader Neville Chamberlain, prime minister between May 1937 and May 1940.
When Chamberlain moved into 10 Downing Street, Adolf Hitler’s willingness to ignore international agreements was already apparent, having broken the Versailles treaty with a massive expansion of Germany’s armed forces, the occupation of the Rhineland.
Faced with the prospect of Germany moving on Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain continued to work to appease Hitler by agreeing to territorial concessions in his favour. He believed that by appeasing the Führer, Europe could avoid war and save lives.
Chamberlain’s failure, and the subsequent outbreak of the second world war after Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939, are recognised as evidence that the appeasement of expansionist nationalists always fails. Such leaders will simply take all that is offered and demand more.
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There are parallels with the relationship between the current US president, Donald Trump, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Trump and his senior officials have also repeatedly suggested that Ukraine should secure a peace deal by acquiescing to Putin’s demands, including for sovereign Ukrainian territory and assurances that Ukraine won’t be allowed to join Nato.
This makes it seem as if Trump believes that peace can be achieved by appeasing Putin. Like Chamberlain at Munich, Trump has suggested offering the sovereign territory of an independent nation to appease a bully.
Trump is not the first American president to make this mistake. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served between March 1933 and April 1945, also tried to appease Hitler. The historian Frederick W. Marks III notes that “the keynote of his approach … beginning in 1933 was appeasement”.
Before he was inaugurated, Roosevelt sought to persuade Sir Ronald Lindsay, the British ambassador to the US between 1930 and 1939, that Poland should be persuaded to concede the Polish Corridor to Germany. When German troops seized the Rhineland, Roosevelt’s White House made no protest.
Between 1935 and 1937, Roosevelt made speeches condemning autocracy – but his actions did not match his words. In 1938, he appointed the appeaser Joseph Kennedy as US ambassador to the UK. Kennedy assured the German ambassador in London that he “sympathised not only with Germany’s racial policy but also with her economic goals”.
In Berlin, the US ambassador, Hugh Wilson, insisted that defence of Czechoslovakia’s borders would be unrealistic. The Czechs should surrender the Sudetenland to Germany. Roosevelt continued his efforts to arrange a compromise peace when German forces seized Poland in September 1939.
Echoes of the past
The parallels continue. Confronted by Russia’s invasion of its democratic neighbour and relentless attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities, Trump’s response, shortly after taking office, was to bully the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and negotiate directly with Russia. This approach signally failed and the killing continued and even intensified.
Now, following his two-hour conversation with Putin on Monday, Trump has abandoned his insistence on an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. He now insists that the war is not his to fix. The US will step back. It is another hard blow to Ukrainian hopes for negotiation and compromise.
To a much greater extent than Roosevelt, Trump appears to treat weakness as evidence of moral inadequacy. In a recent essay, Ivan Mikloš, the former deputy prime minister of Slovakia who has advised successive Ukrainian governments in various capacities, writes of what he sees as Trump’s “affinity for the Kremlin boss”. Miklos believes that Trump admires Putin, and concludes that:
President Putin, of course, sees that Mr Trump has a soft spot for him. This does not deter him in his maximalist demands, it encourages him even more.
The US president’s treatment of Zelensky in the Oval Office at the end of February, and repeated statements since, suggest he lacks the patience for diplomacy – a concern that has been widely reported. Trump is said to admire Putin because the Russian president exercises power with minimal restraint.
Meanwhile, Zelensky must plead for the military and financial support he requires to continue fighting a foe with a population four times larger.
Lessons from history
There is scant evidence that Trump pays attention to history. He should, because for Putin, history is central to strategy. A graduate of law who studied at Leningrad State University, graduating in 1975, Putin appears to have embraced an idealist version of his homeland as it operated in his youth as the Soviet Union – under the hardline leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.
That Soviet Union included all of the territory of modern Ukraine. Putin aspires to recapture it. His vision is a Russia restored to a status comparable to that of the Soviet Union during the cold war years of his youth.
Trump appears to forget that throughout the cold war, the Soviet Union’s powerful armed forces and ideological hostility to democracy cost the US an average of 3.6% of its GDP in defence spending each year. It’s one thing for Trump to demand that the European members of Nato must increase their defence budgets. It’s another to imagine that Nato can immediately provide a reliable deterrent to Russian aggression without US involvement.
Trump’s newly appointed defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, suggested at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Brussels in February that the US would reorientate its security policy away from Europe, saying Europe must “take ownership of conventional security on the continent”.
This is essential, Hegseth said, because China is the real threat, and the US lacks the military resources to face in two directions simultaneously. It was a confession of weakness that places both America and Europe at increased risk.
The philosopher George Santayana is credited with the warning: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”. Chamberlain’s version of appeasement failed to prevent Adolf Hitler’s aggression in the 20th century. Trump’s version appears equally incapable of deterring Vladimir Putin’s territorial ambitions in the 21st.
Tim Luckhurst has received funding from News UK and Ireland Ltd. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Society of Editors and the Free Speech Union
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Thomas Hainey, Senior Lecturer/Programme Leader of Computer Games Development, University of the West of Scotland
The survival horror game genre is very much like the survival horror-movie genre. It is a niche genre which appeals to people who crave good scares and want to get their adrenaline pumping. Some of the most popular games, such as Resident Evil – a game so influential it spawned an 11-film franchise – have raked in millions of dollars.
In the summer of 2024, along came Still Wakes the Deep, developed by The Chinese Room, a British video game developer based in Brighton that is famous for exploration games including Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. A creepy thriller set on a Scottish oil rig, Still Wakes The Deep was nominated for eight Bafta games awards.
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Last month it scooped three of them (including two for best performance for Scots actors Alec Newman and Karen Dunbar), even though it was up against titles appealing to a far wider audience such as Astro Bot and Helldivers 2. The third Bafta was for new intellectual property which is awarded to the best game not part of an established series.
December 1975. Disaster strikes the Beira D oil rig off the coast of Scotland. Navigate the collapsing rig to save your crew from an otherworldly horror on the edge of all logic and reality.
The setting is probably the most realistic oil rig in any game I’ve seen. It a state of dank disrepair, the rig feels totally authentic in its 1970s period details. Just walking around is perilously treacherous and keeps players on edge.
Players adopt the persona of Glaswegian electrician Cameron “Caz” McCleary. It’s Christmas and he’s dodging the police and an angry wife after a bar fight. To top it off he’s just been fired by the rig boss for his sins.
Despite the unsafe nature of the rig and a storm threatening, the rapacious manager insists on drilling deeper which unleashes a nameless, timeless terror that infects the workers who soon start turning into hideous mutants. Caz is running desperately back and forth, fighting against the storm, fires, and the bloodthirsty mutant creatures.
Level design (the structuring of the game’s spaces and environments) is creative. The spaces inside are dark and claustrophobic. Those outside are chaotic, as the rig starts collapsing above a roiling North Sea. The use of a linear narrative is executed well, and Caz is desperately trying to save himself and his crew by either launching lifeboats or making it to the helicopter pad. But absolutely nothing is going to plan.
The graphics and aesthetics are beautifully crisp and the attention to detail even in the crew quarters and mess is really something, not to mention the particle effects (such as fire and electrical sparks). Looking over the edge at the North Sea or at the rain drumming against the window is pretty realistic.
The level design is intuitive for experienced and novice gamers alike and players can customise the experience with “hints” which you can turn off, for example, if you want a more challenging time. The hints are usually marked in yellow paint and show you where to go, where to hide and how to solve puzzles.
Obstacles include former crew who have transformed into terrifying creatures. The linear narrative and the atmosphere ramp up the tension as players try to make it stealthily past the monsters. The game requires “well-ordered” problem solving which makes the experience both nerve racking and “pleasantly frustrating”, as academic James Gee describes the process in his paper Learning by Design: Good Video Games as Learning Machines.
Digital games-based learning uses computer games for education and training. Highly realistic, problem-solving games such as Still Wakes The Deep present immersive environments that can provide an authentic experience that could be used in supplementary training.
Imagine, for example, learning about safely launching lifeboats in a crisp 3D environment like this, with no risk from weather or water (or mutants). Video games can be tailored to teach a plethora of skills that can shape careers. They don’t have to just be about entertainment.
But entertainment this definitely is. Still Wakes The Deep keeps players on edge like an interactive narrative horror movie with a fair share of jump scares and plenty of death-defying leaps, as Caz hangs by his fingernails or bolts for his life.
The game plays on a number of psychological fears including burning, fear of drowning, vertigo, infection and being munched by now fully mutated, tendril-dragging ex-crewmates.
It has a touch of Resident Evil and Aliens, and one YouTube walkthrough hails it it as “every fear in one horror game”. In a column praising the game’s brilliance, Neil Mackay of the Glasgow Herald said: “Let me deliver a quick kill-shot to the notion that games are somehow a substandard art form in comparison to the novel, theatre, film or visual arts. In many ways today the best games combine the best of each discipline.”
The Guardian’s Melinda Hetfield described it as “the Thing, but on a Scottish oil rig in the 1970s”. Which just happens to be the original pitch by Dan Pinchbeck, the studio’s co-founder. So safe to say – mission accomplished.
For me, the Scots actors really bring it to life. Bafta winners Alec Newman (famous for his portrayal of Paul Atreides in the Dune series) and comedian Karen Dunbar give fantastically convincing performances that help to build the atmosphere of dread.
It’s good to see working-class Scottish voices in all their sweary glory here, as they are not commonly represented in games. Diversity is an area that many developers are seeking to address with better representation. Some of the Scots vernacular might cause a few lost-in-translation moments for players from other countries (subtitles may be needed), but there is much grim humour to be enjoyed here that just adds to the terrifying fun.
Thomas Hainey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Simon Valle, Conservation Planning Officer at IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group & Honorary Lecturer in Conservation Science, Bangor University
The Bahama warbler, a species which suffered greatly as a result of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.David Pereira
When a major cyclone tears through an island nation, all efforts rightly focus on saving human lives and restoring livelihoods. However, these storms have permanent consequences for other species that are often forgotten.
As the world continues to heat, cyclones are expected to become more frequent, intense and unpredictable. The International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority on biodiversity, lists storms as one factor threatening species. But just how much of a threat is still poorly understood.
The effects of cyclones on biodiversity are easily neglected because the damage is sudden, scattered and hard to measure. Extinctions can be abrupt and go unnoticed. This largely overlooked extinction crisis is likely to worsen with climate change.
In a new study, we measured the threat posed by tropical cyclones on the diversity of land-based mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles globally. We mapped all severe tropical cyclones that occurred between 1972 and 2022 and checked how many overlapped with areas widely recognised to be exceptionally rich in species, otherwise known as biodiversity hotspots.
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We focused on severe cyclones only – those with wind speeds exceeding 130 mph – as historically, it is these that have caused species to severely decline or go extinct.
What we found surprised us: three-quarters of all severe cyclones struck hotspots which are entirely comprised of islands. This seemed alarming. Islands have an inherently high extinction risk anyway because they support many species that are found nowhere else and which evolved in isolation. These species often have very small populations and nowhere to escape when disaster strikes.
Even more worrying, more than 95% of the severe cyclones that struck island biodiversity hotspots hit the same five ones. In descending order of cyclone frequency these are: Japan, Polynesia-Micronesia, the Philippines, Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands, and the Caribbean islands.
We clearly identified high-risk areas, but what does this mean for the animal species that live there? To find out we consulted the red list of threatened species which is compiled and regularly updated by the IUCN to see how many vertebrate species were noted for their vulnerability to storms.
One cyclone away from extinction
The hotspots experiencing the most severe cyclones are not necessarily those that have the most storm-threatened species. For example, Japan has the most storms but the fewest species at risk, whereas the Caribbean has fewer storms but over 128 species are threatened by them. This suggests that the frequency of cyclones alone does not determine the danger to each region’s biodiversity.
Other aspects are likely to play a role. In particular, the data indicates that species in island biodiversity hotspots made up of a lot of small islands are more at risk of local or global extinction.
The more we learned about the dangers posed by cyclones, the more concerned we became. Many species are so restricted in range that they could be entirely wiped out by just one cyclone. It has happened before. The Bahama nuthatch (Sitta insularis), a small forest-dwelling songbird, is thought to have gone extinct following the passage of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
One of the last known sightings of the Bahamas nuthatch.
Preparing for the unpredictable
To begin raising awareness and help conservationists prioritise their efforts, we compiled a watchlist of the species that are most at risk from tropical cyclones. This includes 60 storm-threatened species which are present only on a single location on a single island.
For each of these 60 species, the next severe tropical cyclone may be their last. A better understanding of the distribution and status of these species is only the beginning. Conservationists need to plan how to help them avoid a sudden demise.
The need to act quickly is clear. Of the 60 species on our list, only 24 are part of any active conservation effort and just six are in captive breeding programmes. Coordinated efforts are our best bet and we propose a task force under the IUCN to allow better preparation, rapid response and international support.
With the right knowledge and foresight, we can ensure human recovery and ecological survival for future generations.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Tom Martin, head of research at Operation Wallacea, contributed to this article.
Simon Valle and David Jorge Pereira do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointments.
Homes and a fisher along the Kenai River. Photo: Christian Thorsberg.
Seldovia, Alaska — a quintessential sleepy fishing town on the southern edge of the Kenai Peninsula — starts to wake up around late May.
By then, the first salmon are running. Water taxis come and go. Fishing charters fill. Bellies, too. During a busy year, the community of roughly 500 people doubles in size from the influx of tourists eager to soak up the Arctic sun.
The summer of 2019 began with its usual verve, and as May turned to June turned to July, the height of the busy season, the sleepy town was still dreaming. “The summer was great. I remember midway through, people were so happy,” says Cassidi Cameron, who at the time was Seldovia’s city manager. “We had all these visitors. Everybody had a smile on their face.”
But as inns brimmed, freezers filled, and coffers replenished, one site in town felt emptier. “And then it started to dawn on us,” Cameron says. “Wow, there hasn’t been very much rain.”
All of Seldovia draws its water from a single reservoir, which sits within city limits no more than 200 feet above sea level. A gravity-fed treatment facility rests below, and water flows naturally into a distribution system. The operation is entirely dependent on rainfall and melting snow, and summer is a time of increased water usage. But between June and August of 2019, fewer than three inches of rain had fallen, roughly half a foot behind seasonal averages.
Early signs of water shortages began to reveal themselves, though they could be explained away by leakages, which were a common occurrence in town. “Alaska’s infrastructure is very much aged-out, and we were having several issues with our water lines deteriorating and breaking or just plain not working,” Cameron says. Some of Seldovia’s oldest residents didn’t seem too worried, either. They recalled the 1970s and ‘80s, when a booming fish cannery industry meant frequent water overconsumption.
But as the pleasurable string of sunny days turned to unseasonable warmth, Cameron remained diligent. She ordered an underwater scan of the reservoir to check for leaks in its bed. She monitored the water usage of the state ferry, which was still docking in Seldovia three times each week and taking 20,000 to 50,000 gallons of water with each stop. Regular visits to the reservoir revealed it was losing several inches of surface water each day, both to usage and evaporation. By August, consumption spiked at more than 200,000 gallons per day. This seemed like a lot, but Cameron had no historical numbers for comparison. Seldovia held its breath for the reliable late-summer rainy season. But August came and went — nothing.
What had once seemed an impossibility to Cameron, who moved to the coastal community in 2008 from Idaho and began working for the city in 2009, was suddenly her problem to fix: “How could you have a drought and water shortages in Alaska?” she wondered.
This question was addressed at a standing-room-only town hall meeting — “I’ve never seen one so well-attended,” Cameron recalls. Many residents were well-aware that the reservoir in neighboring Nanwalek had recently been reduced to mud. That Wrangell, too, was running dry. As a potential Day Zero loomed locally, community members were cautioned to limit their showering, cooking, and cleaning. Library hours were shortened. Restaurants switched to disposable utensils. Pallets of drinking water were imported and delivered door-to-door for several weeks.
The city received a permit to pump water from a regional creek and set up a non-potable tank of gray water for public use. Still, Suzie Stranik, the chair of the Seldovia Arts Council, recalls shutting down her greenhouse early and flushing her toilets sparingly. “It was quite a time here in our community,” she says.
Looming above town, the reservoir dwindled. At its lowest point, it held just 14 days of water.
Today, Cameron works as the executive director of the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District. When she recalls that stressful summer, it is above all the massive learning curve, and the lack of readily available science, that floats to the top of her mind.
“It was a bigger situation than what we were prepared for,” she says. “I needed a crash course in hydrology. It was a reality check.”
Cameron’s experience is not unfamiliar to many leaders in small communities across the Kenai Peninsula and Alaska more broadly. Often, they have few resources — and little time — to prepare for potentially life-altering weather events. Had September not brought rains and cooler temperatures, a bad situation could easily have been worse.
“I wish there were more resources and data back in 2019 to help me understand our water situation and reservoir capacity,” she says. “A good rule of thumb for the future would be: get a baseline understanding, get familiar with your water source.”
A Beaver Creek Baseline
Three years later and roughly 80 miles north of Seldovia, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists Josh Koch, Meg Haserodt, and Andy Leaf eased their kayaks through the freshwater lowlands of the peninsula’s northwestern bogs. Marshes and muck marked the peaty landscape, many hidden ponds threatening to overtop their waders and bows.
Compared to 2019, the summer of 2022 was significantly wetter. Mosquitos swarmed as the trio installed wells in the shallow peat. For weeks, they measured the interactions of surface water and groundwater, temperature, and vegetation cover along the narrow banks of Beaver Creek.
As he was pounding in a well, USGS scientist Andy Leaf (right) lost his wedding ring. “It’s still out there, as far as I know,” he says. “An archaeologist will find it one day.” Photo: Meg Haserodt.
A 10-mile-long tributary of the mighty Kenai River, Beaver Creek is a critical watershed for the city of Kenai, the peninsula’s most populous community. Nearly all of its 7,500 year-round residents depend heavily on pumped groundwater for clean drinking water, and thousands of Pacific salmon — the lifeblood of the community’s economy and staple of its meals — have spawned in its gravel for generations.
“If you live in Kenai, Beaver Creek is your backyard,” says Ben Meyer, an environmental scientist and water quality coordinator with the Kenai Watershed Forum, and a Kenai resident. “For both people and wildlife, it’s a crucial place where water needs intersect.”
Beaver Creek is one of the many watersheds in the Cook Inlet region that is currently intact yet sensitive to shifting climate regimes. Laying within a rain shadow, the area averages only 19 inches of precipitation each year. From May through September, 64 percent of the watershed’s slow-moving streams are supplied by groundwater flows.
“Nineteen inches of precipitation is not a lot,” Leaf says. “Some people have talked about the possibility of the wetlands drying up due to climate change.” Koch adds: “We anticipate these lowland streams to be the ones most potentially impacted by changes to the climate, namely temperature and precipitation.”
On the upper Kenai Peninsula, the annual average temperature is expected to increase by roughly 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, according to the Scenarios Network for Arctic Planning (SNAP). Greater rainfall is also possible, with SNAP models projecting 45 percent more precipitation in spring alone. But deluges may be interspersed with long, dry stretches — a “more rain, more drought” phenomenon expected to affect many parts of south-central and southeast Alaska by mid-century.
“As average air temperatures warm, we anticipate more summers like 2019 could happen,” Meyer says. “It behooves us to be prepared.”
Hot Pockets and Salmon Refugia
With an uncertain climate in mind, USGS and the Kenai Watershed Forum collaborated on a recently published study that establishes baseline streamflow and temperature measurements and future scenarios for Beaver Creek. The team projects that the volume of groundwater and streamflow discharge will remain about the same through 2050. Atmospheric warming, however, will almost certainly affect the water’s quality.
“By far the biggest concern is rising temperatures,” Leaf says. “Both from an acute standpoint, like heat waves, but also warmer temperatures for longer periods of time.”
Between 1950 and 2009, the average summer temperature on the upper Kenai Peninsula was 53.6 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the team’s models, by mid-century, waters near the mouth of Beaver Creek will experience 34 to 63 extra days each year with average weekly temperatures above 55.4 degrees, and 14 to 81 extra days above 59 degrees.
Extended periods of warmth are likely to produce at least some negative impacts on Pacific salmon incubation, spawning, rearing, and migration. The team also projects “routine exceedances” of 68 degrees — the water temperature at which salmon succumb to disease and heat stress.
“On the Kenai, as for so much of Alaska, important hydrologic questions are related to salmon and salmon habitat,” Koch says.
Fishers on the Kenai River. Photo: Christian Thorsberg.
While identifying areas of concern, the team also looked for bright spots. Their report identifies several streams in the basin that, despite warming air temperatures, are expected to remain cool enough for salmon to thrive or rest within during days of extreme heat. Because Beaver Creek flows through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, the team hopes these potential areas of salmon refugia will benefit from dedicated habitat conservation.
Coho and king salmon, which both migrate through and spawn in lowland waters like Beaver Creek, have seen precipitous declines in the Kenai River watershed in recent years. According to preliminary data from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the watershed’s king salmon late run escapement last year was a mere 6,630 — well below the 15,000 – 30,000 goal range — even with no permitted harvest. And while coho escapement is not monitored, their 2024 commercial harvest estimate of 24,750 was 86 percent below the recent 20-year average.
These findings again contribute to a baseline understanding of the watershed’s health, Meyer says, as no escapement, for any salmon species, is currently measured in Beaver Creek specifically.
“It was exciting to see that our model could find and identify those safer locations,” Koch says. “Hopefully, that’s information that land managers can use to think about preservation of important habitat.”
Future Stressors
By 2046, the city of Kenai is expected to see its population grow by 13.3 percent, relative to 2015. Nearby Soldotna, home to about 4,500 people, is likely to grow at a similar rate. The researchers don’t anticipate water shortages from this alone, though local development could bring additional water demands.
If built, the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline — which would transport natural gas 800 miles through the heart of Alaska, from the North Slope to the Kenai Peninsula — would likely cross through and then terminate adjacent to the Beaver Creek watershed near Nikisi. The area would also host the pipeline’s liquefaction plant, where natural gas is condensed for export. The facility, Meyer says, could potentially draw from the municipality’s water supply.
An active petroleum exploration project is also underway near the last few miles of Beaver Creek, just outside the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, though drilling is occurring below the water table. Oil and gas impacts were not considered as part of this study.
“Our goal was not to assign value between different uses, but to simply demonstrate how the water moves and how that might change in the future,” Koch says. “We’re hopeful that we’ve provided new information that can be used by the community to weigh those trade-offs and manage those resources.”
The Kenai River in late September, the tail end of the seasonal salmon run. Photo: Christian Thorsberg.
Resource considerations are magnified on the 25,000 square-mile peninsula, where roughly 60,000 people call home. Every community — from Seldovia to Seward, from Kenai to Hope — is connected to Anchorage and the rest of Alaska by just a single road and several small airports.
Sustainable living is equally sensitive to both longer-term climate changes, Cameron says, as it is to sudden events.
“It isn’t all about drought,” she says. “How do you manage your resources in the event of a catastrophe, or something significant that affects basic living needs? Water is one of them, and we need to raise awareness for planning and preparation.”
The peninsula’s unique geography and location makes it susceptible to natural disasters including landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, and the expected eruption of Mt. Spurr, a stratovolcano just 60 miles from Kenai. Such events can suddenly make any given town, possibly in crisis, unreachable. Having reliable science during times of need is crucial, the researchers say. They hope similar studies will be a priority for other Kenai communities soon.
“Generating baseline data sets can be challenging to convince people to fund,” Haserodt says. “But they’re really useful. They’re an investment in our understanding of the future of our water resources and ability to make data-driven management decisions.”
This news announcement was written by Christian Thorsberg, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Read the original post on the Alaska CASC website: Kenai Peninsula Communities Struggle for Baseline Water Data Amid Climate Uncertainty | AK CASC
United States Attorney Clint Johnson today announced the results of the May Federal Grand Jury 2024-B Indictments.
The following individuals have been charged with violations of United States law in indictments returned by the Grand Jury. The return of an indictment is a method of informing a defendant of alleged violations of federal law, which must be proven in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt to overcome a defendant’s presumption of innocence.
Alejandro Aldave.Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Distribute (Counts 1 and 2); Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premises (Count 3); Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime (Count 4). Aldave, 36, of Tulsa, is charged with knowingly possessing more than 500 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute. He is additionally charged with maintaining a residence to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. The Drug Enforcement Administration Tulsa Resident Office, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and the Tulsa Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam D. McConney is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-173
Daniel Allen Ash; Amber Dawn Murphy.Second Degree Murder in Indian Country (Count 1); Child Neglect in Indian Country (Counts 2 through 5); Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Minor Under 12 Years of Age in Indian Country; (Count 6); Second Degree Murder in Indian Country (Count 7); Child Neglect in Indian Country (Counts 8 through 11) Possession of Child Pornography in Indian Country (Count 12) (superseding). Both from Commerce, Ash, 32, and Murphy, 30, a member of the Cherokee Nation, are charged with unlawfully killing a minor child in Sep. 2024 and willfully neglecting the health, safety, and welfare of four minor children. Ash is further charged with engaging in a sexual act with a minor child under 12 years old. Additionally, he is charged with possessing visual images depicting the sexual abuse of at least one prepubescent minor. The FBI and Quapaw Nation Marshal Service are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alicia Hockenbury is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-088
David Moses Castro-Rivera.Unlawful Reentry of a Removed Alien. Castro-Rivera, 22, a Honduran national, is charged with unlawfully reentering the United States after having been previously removed in June 2021. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas Field Office is the investigative agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Dill is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-183
Javier Cortez Banda.Unlawful Reentry of a Removed Alien. Banda, 36, a Mexican national, is charged with unlawfully reentering the United States after having been previously removed in Sep. 2020. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas Field Office is the investigative agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Whipple is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-184
James Devon Davis.Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition; Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition After Conviction for a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence. Davis, 29, of Tulsa, is charged with possessing a firearm and ammunition, knowing he was previously convicted of a felony and a domestic violence misdemeanor. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Tulsa Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Dewhurst is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-177
Bradley Ray Dick.Child Abuse in Indian Country. Dick, 47, of Claremore and a member of the Cherokee Nation, is charged with willfully and maliciously injuring a child under the age of 18. The FBI and the Claremore Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara Heign is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-176
Stephen Dale Homer.Production of Child Pornography; International Production of Child Pornography; Possession of Child Pornography. Homer, 57, of McAlester and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is charged with using a minor child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of child sexual abuse material. He also coerced a minor child to engage in sexually explicit conduct outside of the United States for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the sexually explicit conduct. This visual depiction was then transported to the United States. Additionally, Homer is charged with possessing visual images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children under 12 years old. The FBI Tulsa, FBI Charlotte, the Federal Air Marshal Service, the Tulsa Police Department, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Robert is prosecuting the case with assistance from the Western District of North Carolina USAO. 25-CR-171
Robert Marcus Johnston.Assault of an Intimate/Dating Partner by Strangling and Attempting to Strangle in Indian Country. Johnston, 19, of Tulsa and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is charged with assaulting a minor victim by strangulation. The FBI and Sapulpa Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Weems is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-169
Kaci Anne-Rene Lima.Bank Fraud (Counts 1 through 3); Aggravated Identity Theft (Counts 4 through 6). Lima, 36, of Tulsa, is charged with fraudulently obtaining funds from the victim’s bank account without permission. Further, Lima used the victim’s identity while committing a felony. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Catoosa Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Buscemi is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-179
Jorge Antonio Lopez Vasquez.Unlawful Reentry of a Removed Alien. Lopez Vasquez, 39, a Mexican national, is charged with unlawfully reentering the United States after having been previously removed in July 2018. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas Field Office is the investigative agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Dewhurst is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-180
Olajuwon Hasan Myers.Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute. Myers, 39, of Phoenix, Arizona, is charged with knowingly possessing more than 500 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. The Drug Enforcement Administration Tulsa Resident Office and the Tulsa Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mandy Mackenzie is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-178
Ricardo Plateado-Martinez; Rosa Maria Olmos; Rafael Gonzalez; Joel Rosales Pina.Drug Conspiracy; Conspiracy to Commit International Money Laundering; Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premises; Conspiracy to Import a Controlled Substance (third superseding). Plateado-Martinez, 34, of Broken Arrow; Olmos, 35, of Broken Arrow; Gonzales, 31, of Beaumont; and Pina, 40, a Mexican National are charged with conspiring to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine. Plateado-Martinez, Olmos, Gonzalez, and Pina are charged with conspiring to move money internationally with the intent to promote methamphetamine distribution and the conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Pina is further charged with maintaining a residence to distribute drugs. Gonzalez, and Pina are charged with conspiring to import more than 500 grams of methamphetamine from Mexico. The Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas Field Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Tulsa Police Department, Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, Broken Arrow Police Department, and Oklahoma City Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. Nasar is prosecuting the case. 24-CR-131
Jordan Frazier Payne.Second Degree Murder in Indian Country; Child Neglect in Indian Country. Payne, 31, of Grove, is charged with unlawfully killing the minor victim by blunt force trauma to the head. Further, Payne is charged with willfully failing to provide medical care for the minor victim. The FBI, the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, the Grove Police Department, and the Jay Police Department are the investigative agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Valeria Luster and Emily Dewhurst are prosecuting the case. 25-CR-168
Adan Orozco-Godines.Unlawful Reentry of a Removed Alien. Orozco-Godines, 38, a Guatemalan national, is charged with unlawfully reentering the United States after having been previously removed in Dec. 2016. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas Field Office is the investigative agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Harris is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-182
Lekeith Deshawn Russell.Use of a Communication Facility in Committing, Causing, and Facilitating the Commission of a Drug Trafficking Felony (Counts 1 and 2); Attempted Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute (Count 3). Russell, 38, of Tulsa, is charged with attempting to possess methamphetamine through the mail. He is further charged with attempting to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the investigative agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tyson McCoy is prosecuting the case. 25-CR-172
LOS ANGELES – Southern California Edison (SCE) has agreed to pay the United States $82.5 million – the largest-ever wildfire cost recovery settlement by the United States in the Central District of California – to resolve claims on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service to recoup costs and damages associated with the 2020 Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest, the Justice Department announced today.
The Bobcat Fire ignited in September 2020 and burned more than 114,000 acres – approximately 175 square miles – of which nearly 100,000 acres were in the Angeles National Forest.
“This record settlement against Southern California Edison provides meaningful compensation to taxpayers for the extensive costs of fighting the Bobcat Fire and for the widespread damage to public lands,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “My office will continue to aggressively pursue recovery for suppression costs and environmental damages from any entity that causes harm to the public’s forests and other precious national resources.”
The United States filed a lawsuit in September 2023 on behalf of the Forest Service against SCE and Utility Tree Service to recover costs incurred fighting the Bobcat Fire and for the extensive damages that it caused to the Angeles National Forest.
The United States alleged that the Bobcat Fire ignited when trees that were not properly maintained by SCE and its tree maintenance contractor came into contact with power lines, causing the blaze to ignite. The wildfire started on September 6, 2020, and resulted in damage to public lands. It caused years of closure of more than 100 miles of trails and numerous campgrounds. It also had a detrimental impact on habitats and wildlife, including to the federally endangered wildlife-mountain yellow-legged frog, federally threatened fish and birds, and irreplaceable cultural and heritage resources.
SCE agreed to pay the $82.5 million settlement within 60 days of the effective date of the settlement agreement, which was May 14, without admitting wrongdoing or fault.
“These settlements are essential in restoring our landscapes after wildfires,” said Acting U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Jason Kuiken.
“We are grateful to receive these settlement funds, which mark an important step toward recovery and restoration,” said Deputy Forest Supervisor Tony Martinez of the Angeles National Forest. “These resources will help us rehabilitate burned areas, restore wildlife habitats, and strengthen our forests’ resilience to future wildfires.”
The United States Forest Service investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Sarah Quist and Joseph Tursi of the Complex and Defensive Litigation Section negotiated the settlement in this case.
GREAT FALLS – A Havre man who admitted trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl while possessing a firearm on the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation was sentenced yesterday to 66 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
Bradley Lynn Perkins, 25, pleaded guilty in January 2025 to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances (methamphetamine and fentanyl) and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.
The government alleged in court documents that on February 15, 2023, in Hill County, the Tri-Agency Task Force arranged a controlled purchase of roughly 27 grams of methamphetamine from the Perkins.
One week later, Perkins was in state custody on other narcotics charges. He was interviewed by law enforcement and admitted he bought 500 fentanyl pills from someone on February 18, 2023, and he had previously purchased meth from the same person. Perkins also said he had been selling fentanyl pills for the last month or two and estimated he sold about 100 pills for $10 each. In March 2023, two witnesses said they had purchased fentanyl pills from Perkins. Another witness described selling between 500 and 700 fentanyl pills to Perkins between August and December 2022.
On May 17, 2023, the Task Force and FBI arranged another controlled purchase of about 30 grams of methamphetamine from Perkins.
On December 13, 2023, an FBI agent interviewed a witness who had gotten methamphetamine from Perkins and had previously paid him for meth. The witness also said Perkins gave them a shortened shotgun prior to a probation search; the FBI seized the shotgun and found the barrel was less than 18 inches in length. Perkins claimed ownership of the gun, and it had not been registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Tri-Agency Task Force.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.
MISSOULA – A homeless man with ties to Kalispell admitted today that he threatened to blow up the Flathead County courthouse, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
Kermit “Ty” Poulson, 46, pleaded guilty to interstate communication of a threat to damage property by means of fire or explosive, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years, a potential fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto presided and District Judge Dana L. Christensen will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing was set for September 18, 2025. Poulson was detained pending further proceedings.
The government alleged in court documents that on April 25, 2023, an attorney in Flathead County, Montana received the following email from Gmail account jerryleebishipjr@gmail.com:
The attorney reported receiving the email to the FBI and disclosed that he/she had previously represented defendant Poulson in a matter in Kalispell. The attorney recalled Poulson had a history of making similar threats.
The FBI obtained subscriber information from Google for Gmail account jerryleebishopjr@gmail.com, which listed another associated Gmail account of typoulsonia@gmail.com. The FBI obtained subscriber information for Gmail account typoulsonia@gmail.com, which named the subscriber of that account as Poulson. Criminal records checks show Poulson was previously the subject of an FBI investigation in Portland, Oregon. In that case, he was investigated, arrested, and convicted of threatening to set the Portland Mayor’s house on fire with Molotov cocktails. See United States v. Poulson, Case No. 3:18-CR-00622-SI-1 (D. Or. 2018). He also claimed in that case that he had ties to Antifa.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Starnes is prosecuting the case. The investigation was conducted by the FBI.
Source: United States Small Business Administration
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding eligible small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in South Dakota of the June 23 deadline to apply for low interest federal disaster loans to offset economic losses caused by drought beginning Oct. 15, 2024.
The disaster declaration covers the South Dakota counties of Bennett, Jackson, Jones, Lyman, Mellette, Todd and Tripp.
Under this declaration, SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and PNPs impacted by financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.
EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills not paid due to the disaster.
“Through a declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “We’re pleased to offer loans to small businesses and private nonprofits impacted by these disasters.”
The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.25% for PNPs with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.
To apply online, visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
Submit completed loan applications to the SBA no later than June 23.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
Source: United States Small Business Administration
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding eligible small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in Montana of the June 23 deadline to apply for low interest federal disaster loans to offset economic losses caused by drought beginning Oct. 15, 2024.
The disaster declaration covers the Montana counties of Big Horn, Custer, Dawson, Garfield, McCone, Musselshell, Petroleum, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Treasure, Wibaux and Yellowstone.
Under this declaration, SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and PNPs impacted by financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.
EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills not paid due to the disaster.
“Through a declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “We’re pleased to offer loans to small businesses and private nonprofits impacted by these disasters.”
The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.25% for PNPs with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.
To apply online visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
Submit completed loan applications to the SBA no later than June 23.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
Source: United States Small Business Administration
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding eligible small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in Kansas of the June 23 deadline to apply for low interest federal disaster loans to offset economic losses caused by drought beginning Oct. 15, 2024.
The disaster declaration covers the Kansas counties of Bourbon, Butler, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cowley, Crawford, Elk, Labette, Neosho, Sedgwick and Sumner as well as the Missouri counties of Barton, Jasper and Vernon and the Oklahoma counties of Kay and Osage.
Under this declaration, SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and PNPs with financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.
EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills not paid due to the disaster.
“Through a declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “We’re pleased to offer loans to small businesses and private nonprofits impacted by these disasters.”
The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.25% for PNPs with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.
To apply online, visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
Submit completed loan applications to the SBA no later than June 23.
###
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
Source: United States Small Business Administration
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding eligible small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in Colorado of the June 23 deadline to apply for low interest federal disaster loans to offset economic losses caused by drought beginning Oct. 15, 2024.
The disaster declaration covers the Colorado counties of Boulder, Clear Creek, Eagle, Gilpin, Grand, Jackson, Larimer, Routt and Summit.
Under this declaration, SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and PNPs impacted by financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.
EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills not paid due to the disaster.
“Through a declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “We’re pleased to offer loans to small businesses and private nonprofits impacted by these disasters.”
The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.25% for PNPs with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.
To apply online visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
Submit completed loan applications to the SBA no later than June 23.
###
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
President Trump and Secretary Noem are getting vicious criminals out of our country while activist judges are fighting to bring them back onto American soil
WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today released records on the eight convicted murderers and rapists that an activist judge halted their deportation. All eight of these barbaric criminal illegal aliens have final orders of removal and have been convicted in a court of law. These records reveal even more details about these illegal aliens’ heinous crimes.
“Today, DHS released the rap sheets for eight of these uniquely monstrous, criminal illegal aliens who have final deportation orders that the U.S. government is actively trying to deport. The American public should know the heinous crimes of these murderers, rapists, and pedophiles that this activist district court judge is trying to bring back to American soil,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “As he spits in the fact of victims, this Massachusetts district court judge is stalling the final removal of these barbaric individuals from the country and wants taxpayers to continue to foot the bill to keep these criminals in DHS custody overseas. It is deranged.”
Below are excerpts of the rap sheets of each of the criminal illegal aliens, detailing heinous crimes.
Nyo Myint: Convicted sexual assault of a mentally disabled woman
Nyo Myint, an illegal Burma and registered sex offender was arrested by ICE St. Paul on February 18, 2025. Myint is convicted of first-degree sexual assault involving a victim mentally and physically incapable of resisting; sentenced to 12 years confinement. Myint is also charged with aggravated assault-nonfamily strongarm. He was issued a final order of removal on August 17, 2023.
Enrique Arias-Hierro, an illegal alien from Cuba, was arrested by ICE Miami on May 2, 2025. His criminal history includes convictions for homicide, armed robbery, false impersonation of official, kidnapping, robbery strong arm. He was issued a final order of removal on September 13, 1999.
Tuan Thanh Phan: Convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree assault
On May 3, 2025, ICE Seattle arrested Tuan Thanh Phan, an illegal alien from Vietnam. Phan is Convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree assault; sentenced to 22 years confinement. Prior to that, he was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on a school facility as a juvenile in 1999. He was issued a final order of removal on June 17, 2009.
Jose Manuel Rodriquez-Quinones: Convicted of first-degree murder
On April 30, 2025, ICE Miami arrested Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones, an illegal alien from Cuba. He has been convicted of attempted first-degree murder with a weapon, battery and larceny, cocaine possession and trafficking. Additionally, he was charged with attempted first-degree murder, trafficking and possessing cocaine, assault, credit card fraud, and theft. He was issued a final order of removal on December 4, 2012.
Dian Domach: Convicted of robbery
Dian Domach is an illegal alien from South Sudan that ICE first encountered in 2011 and was charged as a deportable alien. While in the U.S. Domach was convicted of robbery and possession of a firearm, of possession of burglar’s tools and possession of defaced firearm and driving under the influence. He was arrested by ICE on May 8, 2024, and was issued a final order of removal on July 19, 2011.
Thongxay Nilakout: Convicted Murderer Sentenced to Life in Prison
Thongxay Nilakout, an illegal alien from Laos, was arrested by ICE Los Angeles on January 26, 2025. Nilakout was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery; sentenced to life in prison. He was issued a final order of removal on July 12, 2023.
Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez: Convicted murderer sentenced to life in prison
On May 12, 2025, ICE Miami arrested Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, an illegal alien from Mexico. He is convicted of second-degree murder; sentenced to life confinement. He was issued a final order of removed on June 16, 2005.
Kyaw Mya: Convicted of rape of a child
Kyaw Mya, an illegal alien from Burma was arrested by ICE St. Paul on February 18, 2025. Mya is convicted of Lascivious Acts with a Child-Victim less than 12 years of age; sentenced to 10 years confinement, paroled after 4 years. He was issued a final order of removal on March 17, 2022.
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
HOUSTON – A 29-count indictment has been unsealed following the arrests of nine individuals for their roles in a drug trafficking organization. Some are also charged with related gun offenses.
Houston residents James Michael Brewer aka Creeper, 33, Jonathan Alvarado aka Joker, 28, Alexis Delgado aka Chino, 28, Hector Luis Lopez aka Capulito, 23, Kylie Rae Alvarado, 24, Ruby Mata, 31, Victor Norris Ellison, 35, Mexi Dyan Garcia aka Mexi, 31, and Jesus Gomez-Rodriguez aka Jr., 33, made their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Yvonne Ho, at which time the indictment was unsealed.
Also charged are Enzo Xavier Dominguez aka Smiley, 32, William Alexander Lazo aka Miclo, 21, and Alfredo Gomez aka Fredo, 26. They are currently in custody and expected to make their initial appearances in the near future.
Three others are considered fugitives and warrants remain outstanding for their arrests – Mexican national Jose Francisco Garcia-Martinez aka Paco, 29, Guatemalan national Marcos Rene Simaj-Guch aka Taco Man, 41, as well as Jose Eduardo Morales aka Primo, 22, Houston.
“The defendants are alleged to have engaged in a multi-drug narcotics distribution ring, and, as often seen in the drug trade, are also alleged to have used illegal firearms to facilitate their enterprise,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “Some of the charges indicate methamphetamine was alleged to have been sourced from Mexico, and thus this investigation highlights why this office’s enforcement efforts on the border are so critical. The Southern District of Texas will do everything it can to prevent narcotics from entering our country and will be relentless in apprehending those that would distribute drugs in our communities.”
“As alleged, this drug trafficking organization imported methamphetamine directly from Mexico and used the U.S. mail, a taco truck, and homes in different Houston neighborhoods to distribute and sell methamphetamine and other dangerous drugs,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Several of the defendants are also alleged to have used firearms in furtherance of their narcotics trafficking and illegally possessed firearms despite having previously been convicted of felonies. The Criminal Division, along with our federal, state, and local partners, will continue to work tirelessly to combat the scourge of drug trafficking in communities.”
“For years, the transnational criminal organization allegedly operated by these gang members has brazenly flooded our local communities with deadly narcotics,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz. “Working in conjunction with the Houston Police Department (HPD) and our Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) partners, we were able to expose and dismantle their drug trafficking scheme, eliminating a significant contributor to violent crime in the area and saving an untold number of Houstonians from becoming addicted.”
The indictment, returned under seal May 14, alleges all were members of a drug trafficking organization that distributed methamphetamine, powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, Xanax psylocibin mushrooms and marijuana. They are alleged to have used several drug houses and a food truck to store illegal drugs and conduct drug transactions. In one notable instance in June 2023, authorities seized 29 kilograms of methamphetamine that one defendant was attempting to transport into the United States, according to the charges.
With the exception of Simaj-Guch who faces up to 40 years, the rest could receive up to life, upon conviction. Brewer, Alvarado, Lopez, Gomez and Ellison are further charged with firearms offenses which carry up to another 15 years.
ICE-HSI and the HPD led the investigation with the assistance of the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Texas Board of Criminal Justice-Office of the Inspector General.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Rodriguez is prosecuting the case along with Trial Attorneys Ralph Paradiso and Amanda Kotula of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s OCDETF and Project Safe Neighborhood.
This case is also part of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime Initiative to prosecute violent crimes in Houston. The Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas have partnered, along with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, to confront violent crimes gang members and associates have committed through the enforcement of federal laws and use of federal resources to prosecute the offenders and prevent further violence.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 23, 2025 —The Government of Canada is using every tool at its disposal, leveraging technology, innovation and partnerships, to build homes at a scale and speed not seen since the Second World War.
To that end, the Governments of Canada and Nova Scotia have finalized a 10-year agreement under the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF), to get more homes built in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia will receive $170.9 million to invest in foundational infrastructure – including drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste systems – necessary to unlock sustainable, long-term housing supply.
As part of this agreement, Nova Scotia will extend the freeze on development charges announced on November 10, 2023. Reducing development charges makes the housing market work better by bringing down costs for builders, making it easier to build more homes.
As we build a strong Canadian housing sector, purposeful collaboration between all orders of government will be essential. The Government will make housing more affordable by unleashing the power of public-private cooperation, catalysing a modern housing industry, and creating new careers in the skilled trades.
[. This includes record investments in equipment and personnel, as well as targeted strategies to enhance local firefighting capacity, readiness and resilience.
Alberta’s government is responding proactively to wildfire threats by funding six local fire departments through the Wildland Urban Interface Program to boost wildfire preparedness and response capabilities. This initiative quadruples the number of existing Wildland Urban Interface teams, ensuring a stronger, more coordinated effort to protect communities from potential wildfire emergencies.
“Alberta’s government continues to make critical investments to strengthen the way emergencies are handled. We are effectively quadrupling the number of Wildland Urban Interface teams in Alberta to ensure the safety of Albertans’ businesses, neighbourhoods and critical infrastructure during wildfires.”
“Firefighting teams like this can truly make the difference when it comes to protecting Alberta’s communities. Having more Wildland Urban Interface teams improves our capabilities and adaptability when our wildland firefighting teams are fighting fires across Alberta.”
The Wildland Urban Interface Program targets zones where developments such as homes, farms or industrial sites border or mix with natural vegetation at risk from wildfire. Fires that occur in these transitional areas between forests, grasslands and populated communities are often challenging and demand the expertise of both wildland and structural firefighters. Wildland Urban Interface teams consist of firefighters who have the specialized training and equipment needed to respond to wildfires that enter a community or where developed areas meet wildland areas.
This program is a partnership between the provincial government and local authority fire services and includes funding from Natural Resources Canada. The province is responsible for coordination and funding, while local fire departments contribute personnel, firefighting equipment and resources. The expansion of this program will enhance the overall deployment of specialized resources across the province and improve municipal fire service capacity through additional training and technical support.
“The announcement of almost $7 million in funding to quadruple the number of Wildland Urban Interface teams will strengthen Alberta’s wildfire preparedness and significantly improve safety for Strathmore residents. As the local MLA, I am proud to support the growth of these versatile teams, which are deployed across the province to support municipalities like ours and reinforce our local firefighting capabilities.”
“Strathmore’s firefighters have repeatedly shown their skill, commitment and leadership during emergency deployments. Participation in the WUI Program allows us to strengthen those capabilities, enhance regional partnerships, and help build a sustainable response model for our community and province.”
Each new Wildland Urban Interface Team will receive $1.09 million over two to three years for personnel costs, administrative support, equipment, maintenance and travel costs to help develop and expand the program’s training and operational capacity.
The local authorities receiving funding are:
Town of Strathmore
Town of Hinton
Town of Slave Lake
Lac La Biche County
Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council
Kananaskis Improvement District
There are two existing teams based out of Clearwater County and the Town of High Level.
Quick facts
Funding for the Town of Hinton, Town of Slave Lake, Lac La Biche County and Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council is shared equally between Natural Resources Canada and Alberta Forestry and Parks.
Funding for the teams based in the Town of Strathmore and Kananaskis Improvement District will be provided by the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
Each team will receive a total of $1.09 million for a combined total of close to $7 million.
EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officers on May 22 removed a previously removed Mexican national wanted in his home country for possessing methamphetamine and firearms.
Miguel Sifuentes Jimenez, 36, was turned over to Mexican authorities on the top of the Stanton Street Bridge on the international boundary between the United States and Mexico.
Sifuentes last illegally entered the United States on May 3, 2021, by walking across the U.S.-Mexico international boundary east of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The following day, he was processed as a reinstatement of prior order of removal and presented for prosecution. Upon time served, he was released to the streets by the Luna County Detention Center in Deming, New Mexico.
He was first ordered removed from the United States on Jan. 9, 2013, and removed to his home country on Jan. 28, 2013, from Calexico, California. His criminal history in the United States includes convictions in California for felony robbery in 2008, for which he was sentenced to 364 days in jail; aggravated battery/spouse, a misdemeanor, in 2009, for which he was sentenced to serve 60 days in jail; and inflicting corporal injury spouse/cohab, a felony, in 2011, for which he received a two-year sentence.
On May 12, Enforcement and Removal Operations deportation officers encountered Sifuentes at the Eddy County Detention Center in Carlsbad, New Mexico, where he was serving time after being convicted for aggravated battery against a household member/strangulation or suffocation. ERO lodged a detainer and arrested him when he was released from jail that same day.
On May 13, he was charged with alien inadmissibility and alien previously removed as an arriving alien, which is an aggravated felony.
Jefferson City — Today, Governor Mike Kehoe announced that President Donald J. Trump has approved two of Missouri’s requests for a major disaster declaration in response to the severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding that impacted the state from March 14-15 and March 30-April 8.
The additional request for April 29 storms is still under review, and the process to request a major disaster declaration for May 16 storms is still underway.
“This is important and very welcome news for the Missouri families and communities hit hard by the devastating storms and tornadoes that began in March and have affected so much of our state,” Governor Kehoe said. “The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) will be working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to move the federal assistance process forward, which will provide millions of dollars in much needed recovery support for individuals, families, and local jurisdictions. We appreciate the work of our federal congressional delegation in advocating for these requests and future assistance for Missourians.”
Individual Assistance:
The President’s action makes Individual Assistance available to eligible residents in 18 counties impacted by the March 14-15 storms, including: Bollinger, Butler, Camden, Carter, Franklin, Howell, Iron, Jefferson, Oregon, Ozark, Perry, Phelps, Reynolds, Ripley, St. Louis, Wayne, Webster, and Wright counties.
Individual Assistance allows eligible residents to seek federal assistance with temporary housing, housing repairs, replacement of damaged belongings, vehicles, and other qualifying expenses.
Individuals who sustained damage or losses due to the March 14-15 severe weather may now apply for FEMA disaster assistance online at www.disasterassistance.gov or by calling FEMA’s toll-free application line at 1-800-621-3362 from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. They can also download the FEMA app to apply. Affected individuals are encouraged to document losses, photograph damage, and retain receipts. The faster Missourians register with FEMA, the faster they may be able to receive assistance.
The deadline for most Individual Assistance programs is 60 days following the President’s major disaster declaration. Disaster assistance to eligible individuals generally falls into the following categories:
Housing Assistance may be available for up to 18 months for displaced persons whose residences were heavily damaged or destroyed. Funding also can be provided for housing repairs and replacement of damaged items to make homes habitable.
Disaster Grants are available to help meet other serious disaster related needs and necessary expenses not covered by insurance and other aid programs. These may include replacement of personal property, and transportation, medical, dental, and funeral expenses.
Low-Interest Disaster Loans are available after a disaster for homeowners and renters from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to cover uninsured property losses. Loans may be available for repair or replacement of homes, automobiles, clothing, or other damaged personal property. SBA loans are also available to businesses for property loss and economic injury. Businesses can visit sba.gov or call 1-800-569-2955.
Other Disaster Aid Programs include crisis counseling, disaster-related unemployment assistance, legal aid and assistance with income tax, Social Security, and veterans’ benefits.
Public Assistance:
The President’s action also makes the FEMA Public Assistance program available to local governments and qualifying nonprofits for the repair of damaged roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure as well as reimbursement of emergency response costs.
For the March 14-15 storms, public assistance is available in the following 20 counties: Bollinger, Butler, Callaway, Carter, Dunklin, Franklin, Howell, Iron, Madison, NewMadrid, Oregon, Ozark, Perry, Phelps, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Shannon, Stoddard and Wayne.
The Governor’s April 2 request for March 14-15 storms included more than $26.9 million in qualifying expenses already identified.
For the March 30-April 8 storms, public assistance is available in the following 25 counties: Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Cooper, Douglas, Dunklin, Howell, Iron, Madison, Maries, Mississippi, New Madrid, Oregon, Ozark, Pemiscot, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Shannon, Stoddard, Texas, Vernon, Wayne, and Webster.
The Governor’s April 30 request for March 30-April 8 storms included more than $25.5 million in qualifying expenses already identified.
For more information on the federal disaster declaration process, visit this link.
For additional resources and information about disaster recovery in Missouri, please visit recovery.mo.gov.
SEMA continues to coordinate with local officials and volunteer and faith-based partners to identify needs and assist impacted families and individuals. Missourians with unmet needs are encouraged to contact United Way by dialing 2-1-1 or www.211helps.org or the American RedCross at 1-800-733-2767.
FEMA APPLY FOR IA GRAPHIC.jpg
The following outlines the current status of Governor Kehoe’s additional federal assistance requests:
April 29 Storms
Status: Awaiting Federal Disaster Declaration approval
Details: On May 19, Governor Kehoe requested that President Donald Trump approve a major disaster declaration to provide federal assistance to six counties that sustained major damage as a result of a cluster of severe storms that swept through the area and produced eight tornadoes on April 29.
May 16 Storms
Status: Awaiting Federal Emergency Declaration approval
Preliminary Damage Assessments for Individual Assistance have now been completed in the St. Louis region, and are ongoing in counties in southeast Missouri. The State anticipates requesting Preliminary Damage Assessments of damage to roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure in St. Louis City and Scott County in the near future in preparation for a request by the Governor for a federal Major Disaster Declaration for these areas.
Details: On May 19, Governor Kehoe made these requests to expedite federal assistance to Missouri following the severe storms and tornadoes that struck the state on May 16, causing seven deaths and widespread damage in the St. Louis region and areas of southeast Missouri.
. Damage resulted from a severe winter storm that impacted the state on March 18 and 19. The application for assistance was submitted in mid-April. Cost estimates from that storm exceeded $64.8 million – the bulk of which resulted from downed electrical lines and damaged utility poles.
Counties eligible under the declaration include Boone, Burt, Butler, Cass, Clay, Colfax, Cuming, Dodge, Douglas, Fillmore, Hamilton, Jefferson, Johnson, Lancaster, Nuckolls, Otoe, Platte, Polk, Saline, Sarpy, Saunders, Seward, Thayer, Thurston, Washington, Webster, and York.
“This was a significant storm, impacting more than 25 counties and leaving many people without power – some for several days. I appreciate President Trump’s attention to Nebraska and his approval of this disaster request,” said Gov. Pillen. “Federal funding will help cover the tremendous costs that were incurred as a result of this weather event.”
The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has begun working with local emergency managers and public entities now eligible for assistance under this declaration.
Defendant sold fentanyl to a cooperating witness while on probation for a 2019 drug conviction and on pretrial release for a separate pending drug charge
BOSTON – A Brockton man pleaded guilty yesterday to selling fentanyl to a cooperating witness during multiple controlled purchases. At the time of the controlled purchases, the defendant was on probation for a 2019 fentanyl conviction and on pretrial release for a separate March 2024 drug arrest.
Joshua Tavares, 29, pleaded guilty to three counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and fentanyl analogue. U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy scheduled sentencing for Sept. 9, 2025. In December 2024, Tavares was indicted by a federal grand jury.
During today’s hearing, Tavares admitted to conducting six sales of fentanyl and fentanyl analogue to a cooperating witness from September to November of 2024. Over the course of the six transactions, Tavares sold approximately 549 grams of fentanyl analogue to a cooperating witness. All of the transactions were captured on video recording.
After the controlled purchases, an arrest warrant and search warrants were executed on Dec. 3, 2024 at multiple residences and stash houses in Brockton. During the searches, approximately four kilograms of suspected fentanyl, cocaine, packaging materials for distribution of controlled substances and over $89,000 in cash were recovered. A .40 caliber Glock firearm and a 9mm Glock firearm with a machinegun conversion device were also located in the residence where Tavares was located.
A 9mm Glock firearm with a machinegun conversion device and a tactical laser sight was recovered from a stash location along with numerous rounds of ammunition and multiple loaded magazines, including a 50 round “drum” style magazine. Machinegun conversion devices, commonly referred to as “switches,” are designed to convert firearms into fully automatic weapons.
The charge of possession with intent to distribute 100 grams and more of fentanyl analogue provides for a sentence of at least 10 years and up to life in prison, five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $10 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Kimberly Milka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police and the Brockton Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.
Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Larry Anthony Brame, II (44, Lakeland) has pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking. Brame faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, between June and August 2023, Brame obtained a Glock 23 .40 caliber pistol and a DPMS Panther Arms AR-15 rifle which he later sold, knowing the purchaser had planned to smuggle the firearms into Canada. Brame purchased the Glock 23 from a firearms store in Clearwater and lied on the ATF Form 4473 in connection with that sale. Brame stated on the form that he was the actual transferee when he had obtained the firearm to transfer to another individual who planned to smuggle the firearm to Canada.
Further, Brame knew that the purchaser had planned to obliterate the firearms’ serial numbers and smuggle the firearms into Canada illegally. During the sale, Brame suggested ways to smuggle the firearms across the border to avoid law enforcement detection.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David W.A. Chee and Adam W. McCall.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R.-Mo.) announced that President Donald Trump has approved two major disaster declarations for Missouri to unlock federal aid. These disaster declarations will provide much-needed assistance for recovery and rebuilding from storms in March and early April.
President Trump’s approval comes after Senator Hawley’s Wednesday conversation with the President concerning Missouri disaster assistance.
Following our discussion Wednesday, President Trump has approved multiple disaster declarations for Missouri
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) May 23, 2025
Senator Hawley has also called for federal assistance for last week’s storms in Eastern Missouri and spent Monday touring the tornado damage.
Flowers, painted benches and handmade memorials surround a mural of George Floyd at George Floyd Square on May 18, 2025.Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images
On the evening of May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police outside a grocery store in Minneapolis.
From the outset, the incident became a battle of narratives. The local police initially reported Floyd was experiencing “distress” and died from a medical incident. A day later, bystander Darnella Frazier uploaded a video that showed the graphic details, including the police’s excessive use of force leading up to Floyd’s death.
Floyd’s murder, and Frazier’s documentation of it, spawned what by some measures was the largest protest movement in American history.
And that, too, became a contest of narratives, this time in the media. A focus on the aftermath of the events in Minneapolis, and elsewhere, were quickly supplanted by stories of lawlessness and violence by protesters.
Time and timeagain, colleagues and I have found that the bulk of news coverage of protests against police brutality tends to focus on protesters’ violence, disruption or sensational actions.
Protesters hold up their illuminated phones as they block a road beneath a highway in Missouri in June 2020. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
In so doing, these narrative changes provide essential opportunities to understand the complexity of journalism and social movements seen from different moments in time.
Following flames
Quickly after Floyd’s murder in 2020, it became clear that subjects such as the role of state violence, the sophistication of demands for change and community grief were less likely to make headlines than things such as rioting and lawlessness.
This pattern is part of what scholars call a “protest paradigm” that explores the relationship between protests, media and the public.
The paradigm holds that journalism often works against protest movements hoping to change the status quo. The news media’s tendency to emphasize the frivolous, violent or annoying actions of protests rather than the depth of protesters’ demands, grievances and agendas negatively shapes public opinion and affects the public’s willingness to support the movements behind them.
But it wasn’t just conservative media. On May 31, 2020, the local paper, the Star Tribune, described the governor’s “show of strength” – a term used to describe the massive deployment of the Minnesota National Guard to help quell the “days of lawless rampage.”
Most coverage at the time fit a familiar pattern of delegitimizing the protest movement.
But a good portion of today’s news also presents a different framing. In one five-year anniversary piece, The New York Times described George Floyd Square, the murder-site-turned-place-of-reverance for many activists and local residents, as a “site of protest, art, grief and remembrance.” Another article in The Minnesota Star Tribune describes preservation efforts of street art and murals made by activists after the murder. Other coverage described the complicated process of demanding change and the path that remains ahead.
A portrait of George Floyd painted on the pavement is at the center of a memorial surrounded by flowers, artwork and tributes outside a storefront at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 22, 2025. Photo by Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images
But from my standpoint as a media scholar, the coverage that does exist has gone from being dominated by an initial focus on the violent aspects of protest to, in the main, a more reflective look at the meaning — rather than the spectacle — of the unrest.
That legitimizing trend over time isn’t an isolated phenomenon. My colleagues Rachel Mourão and George Sylvie and I found something similar in previous research looking at the protests that followed the killings of Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012 and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
In our analysis of the protests following Brown’s death, we observed that the first weeks of coverage focused more on protesters, delegitimizing frames and episodic news – that is, the disruption, destruction and arrests.
But we saw a dramatic change by the third and fourth weeks of coverage. With the passing of time, more legitimizing frames emerged, describing the protest’s substance and demands, and more thematic and in-depth reporting became apparent.
We observed a similar trend when we looked out even further from the triggering events. After the trial of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch leader charged and then acquitted over the deaths of Martin, and the grand jury verdict not to indict police officer Darren Wilson over the death of Brown, news coverage of protests was more contextual and thematic. The coverage provided more space and voice to “nonofficial” sources such as protesters and family members.
A question of journalism
The protest paradigm’s persistence may be a function of journalistic bias − the adage of “if it bleeds, it leads” talks to the immediate reporting imperative of prioritizing violence and spectacle over issues and meaning. But it can also be a consequence of how journalism operates to inform the public.
George Floyd family attorney Ben Crump addresses media along with other attorneys and members of Floyd’s family outside the Hennepin County Government Center on March 29, 2021, in Minneapolis where the trial for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin began. AP Photo/Jim Mone
When uprisings against police brutality first begin, everything is new to the journalist and the public. The initial coverage tends to reflect this newsness and emphasizes breaking news and official narratives − which are often easier to obtain than the statements of protest groups. Police departments, for example, have well-established media relations departments with preexisting relationships with journalists.
These initial reports also tend to feature information that would have the biggest impact on wider communities − such as blocked highways and potential property destruction − than just the aggrieved community.
This translates to more coverage generally in the aftermath of a big event − and that reporting is more likely to delegitimize protests.
These are the first drafts of history, and they are typically incomplete.
But five years later in the case of George Floyd and protests of his death, coverage looks more complete and complex. That complexity brings more balance, from my perspective.
What journalists write years later are no longer the first drafts of history reported with limited perspectives. In these subsequent drafts, journalists have a little more time to think, learn and breathe. Immediacy takes a back burner, and journalists have had more time to collect information.
And it is in these collections of subsequent drafts that the protesters and social movements get a fairer shake.
Danielle K. Brown receives funding from Lumina Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
overnor Kathy Hochul today announced awards for a total of 28 transformational projects for the Mid-Hudson Region as part of two economic development programs: the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward. Thirteen projects were announced for White Plains, the Round 7 winner of a $10 million DRI award; ten projects were announced for Highland Falls, a Round 2 winner of a $4.5 million NY Forward award; and five projects were announced for Montgomery, also a Round 2 winner of a $4.5 million NY Forward award.
“Our downtowns are where New Yorkers unwind and our communities connect. Every downtown that we transform through the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward programs elevate the quality of life for residents and that is what we’re doing in the Hudson Valley,” Governor Hochul said. “When communities are invested in, they thrive — and we’re investing in the development of beautiful main streets and boosting our local economies, creating lasting change for New Yorkers all across the state.”
New York Secretary of State Walter T. Mosley said, “When we invest in our downtowns, we’re investing in the heart of our communities. Through the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward program, we’re not just funding projects — we’re fostering vibrant, walkable neighborhoods that spur economic growth, enhance quality of life for residents and preserve the unique character of each municipality and region. These signature programs exemplify our commitment to ensuring that every New Yorker, in every corner of our State, has the opportunity to succeed and thrive.”
Empire State Development President, CEO, and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “The Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward programs are transforming communities across New York State by turning local visions into bold investments to generate place-based economic development. These projects will create new opportunities for businesses, support vibrant public spaces, and attract residents and visitors alike — laying the foundation for sustainable growth and stronger regional economies.”
New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, “All across this State, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward programs are strategically prioritizing communities, growing economies with targeted awards, creating more housing opportunities that improve affordability for New Yorkers where it is most needed, and building on the diverse character of our neighborhoods. By working with local and municipal partners, these awards continue Governor Hochul’s commitment to developing the full potential of our downtowns as economic drivers and attractive places to live.”
City of White Plains
The White Plains DRI focuses on the City’s traditional urban core. The area is home to numerous multi-family developments, the soon to be redeveloped Galleria and City Center shopping malls, a thriving restaurant row and hospitality center, and a busy Metro North train station. DRI projects identified by the community focus on enhancing downtown buildings and community centers, public gathering spaces, safe and accessible pedestrian and bike infrastructure, and interconnectivity between the downtown and the adjacent neighborhoods.
The 13 White Plains DRI projects, totaling $9.7 million, include:
Build a Protected Bicycle Track and Implement Pedestrian Safety Improvements on Hamilton Avenue ($2,700,000): Establish a boulevard-style median on Hamilton Avenue, featuring a two-way protected cycle track and refuge islands at intersections to improve pedestrian safety, calm vehicle traffic and improve corridor appearance.
Create the “Water Street Connector,” a Linear Park Connecting Hillside Terrace to Downtown ($2,250,000): Transform the right-of-way between Water Street and Hillside Terrace into a linear park connecting Hillside Terrace to downtown.
Create and Implement a Comprehensive Branding and Wayfinding Initiative ($749,000): Develop a brand unique to White Plains and create wayfinding to direct residents and visitors to key locations and various points of interest.
Create a Pocket Park at 73 Waller Avenue ($745,000): Convert the municipal parking lot at 73 Waller Avenue into a new pocket park.
Implement a Small Projects Fund for Building Improvements and Public Art ($600,000): Create a Small Projects Fund to help advance a wide range of small downtown projects including exterior and interior building renovations, upper story residential improvements, permanent equipment acquisition and public art installations.
Improve the Thomas H. Slater Center ($600,000): Enhance and improve the Thomas H. Slater Center with a new ADA accessible bathroom and new windows to foster a sense of expansiveness and light, improve energy efficiency and enhance comfort in the building.
Enhance Streetscaping Throughout the DRI Area ($554,000): Create and implement an overall streetscaping vision throughout downtown.
Establish the ArtsW’s Makerspace at the ArtsWestchester Building ($500,000): Create the “ArtsW’s Makerspace,” a new multi-purpose education center, by expanding the footprint of the ArtsWestchester building.
Reimagine the White Plains Train Station Clock Tower ($270,000): Restore the White Plains Train Station clock tower into a vibrant landmark featuring community-driven art.
Enhance Curb Appeal at the Chester Apartments ($245,000): Enhance the visual impression of Chester Avenue with public art, landscaping and a creative ground floor façade at the Chester apartment building.
Install Decorative Lighting Throughout the Business Improvement District ($225,000): Enhance the public realm with decorative lighting installations that create a more festive and inviting environment throughout the Business Improvement District.
Revitalize the Mamaroneck Pedestrian Pathway ($132,000): Revitalize the pedestrian pathway from Mamaroneck Avenue to the municipal garage to create a safer, more enjoyable pedestrian experience.
Upgrade the Interior and Exterior of the Play Group Theatre ($130,000): Renovate the Play Group Theatre with new stage lighting, flooring, window shades and lighting. Upgrade the HVAC system and building façade.
Village of Highland Falls
The Village of Highland Falls has been identified in Orange County’s most recent comprehensive plan as a priority growth area, which makes it an ideal location for downtown revitalization. The Village’s NY Forward projects will build on and expand past incremental downtown improvements, including upgrading and renovating downtown buildings for mixed use; enhancing park and community spaces; completing wayfinding and branding initiatives; and creating new housing options.
The 10 Highland Falls NY Forward Projects, totaling $4.5 Million, include:
Redesign and Expand Ladycliff Park to Increase Usage and Offer New Amenities in Downtown ($1,300,000): Transform Ladycliff Park by expanding the park along Webb Lane and adding ADA accessible walking paths, tables and seating, an amphitheater to host community events and additional landscaping.
Improve and Restore Downtown Buildings with a Small Project Fund ($600,000): Establish a Small Project Fund that will enable business and property owners to improve building facades, enhance building interiors, purchase permanent equipment and enhance building exteriors with public art.
Renovate 441 Main Street to Add and Improve Residential Units and Make an Inviting Storefront ($405,000): Renovate existing apartments and construct new apartments on an additional story at 441 Main Street. Also, upgrade the storefront exterior with new signage and windows to make the restaurant more inviting to the public.
Highlight Downtown Highland Falls with a Comprehensive Branding and Wayfinding Initiative ($400,000): Create a branding strategy for downtown Highland Falls to attract and inform visitors about points of interest and downtown businesses; design and install custom wayfinding signage to facilitate navigation and inform visitors about the downtown.
Enhance South Gate Tavern Through Building Repairs and Capacity Upgrades ($314,000): Expand existing South Gate Tavern with second floor restaurant balcony to provide outdoor seating along Main Street. Restore the building’s exterior façade and perform interior upgrades.
Revitalize 447 Main Street to Add New Apartments and Modernize the Building Exterior ($400,000): Add a second story and renovate the exterior of 447 Main Street to modernize the façade and add new residential units.
Develop 285 Main Street into an Arts and Retail Space ($201,000): Reactivate 285 Main Street into an art center to provide opportunities for community arts programming, retail space and exhibit/event space.
Add New Residential and Commercial Spaces at 327 Main Street ($475,000): Renovate 327 Main Street to include an additional residential unit, reactivate the vacant commercial storefront, improve the existing grocery store with equipment and interior upgrades and enhance the building exterior.
Renovate 293 Main Street to Improve Interior and Exterior Conditions ($180,000): Enhance 293 Main Street by conducting façade upgrades, interior and exterior renovations and upgrades to mechanical systems.
Renovate 209 Main Street to Attract Commercial Tenants ($225,000): Conduct interior and exterior renovations to upgrade the building façade and enhance the functionality of vacant commercial space to make it rentable.
Village of Montgomery
The Village of Montgomery is a quaint historic village with a strong sense of community and a picturesque location along the Wallkill River. The NY Forward downtown area is compact and walkable, containing a high concentration of historic buildings, businesses and civic and cultural amenities. The NY Forward projects will develop new housing options; improve connectivity among the Village’s downtown parks and green spaces; improve streetscape safety and walkability; preserve historic structures; and expand childcare facilities.
The 5 Montgomery NY Forward Projects, totaling $4.5 Million, include:
Foster a Walkable Downtown Montgomery Through Streetscaping and Enhanced Connections ($1,500,000): Enhance the streetscape of the core downtown area, including sidewalk upgrades and the installation of street trees, lampposts, seating areas and crosswalks on up to six streets with a focus on Clinton and Union Streets.
Redesign and Upgrade Veterans Memorial Park to Meet the Needs of All Residents and Visitors ($961,000): Redesign Veterans Memorial Park to improve circulation, enhance accessibility, safety and aesthetics, and provide new and improved amenities for users of all ages, including new pedestrian and bicycle paths, play area amenities, new and improved athletic fields and improvements to the current teen center.
Construct a Mixed-Use Development on an Underutilized Parking Lot at 71- 73 Clinton Street ($950,000): Construct a mixed-use building at 71-73 Clinton Street that includes commercial space on the ground floor and residential apartments on the upper floors, as well as pedestrian improvements along Charles Street from Union to Bridge Street.
Expand Montgomery Nursery School to Meet the Demand for Additional Students ($589,000): Expand the Montgomery Nursery School to include additional classroom space and amenities, ensuring the facility is equipped to serve its students’ educational needs.
Establish a Small Project Fund to Provide Funding Opportunities for Capital Improvements and Small Business Assistance ($500,000): Establish a Small Project Fund dedicated to revitalizing downtown buildings by preserving their historic character and enhancing their overall quality, including façade upgrades and historic restoration, accessibility and safety enhancements and energy-efficiency improvements.
In the FY2025 Enacted Budget, Governor Hochul made the “Pro-Housing Community” designation a requirement for cities, towns and villages to access up to $650 million in State discretionary programs, including the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and New York Forward. To date, more than 300 municipalities across the State have become certified. To further support localities that are doing their part to address the housing crisis, Governor Hochul is creating a $100 million Pro-Housing Supply fund for certified Pro-Housing Communities to assist with critical infrastructure projects necessary to create new housing, such as sewer and water infrastructure upgrades.
MHREDC Co-Chairs Dr. Marsha Gordon and Dr. Kristine Young said, “These investments in White Plains, Highland Falls, and Montgomery underscore how targeted, community-driven projects can unlock long-term value. By enhancing cultural spaces, activating underused properties, and improving public infrastructure, DRI and NY Forward are enabling communities to build on their assets in ways that reflect local priorities and strengthen civic life.”
City of White Plains Mayor Tom Roach said, “Thank you Governor Hochul for recognizing the potential of White Plains and making a bold investment in our city’s future. The Downtown Revitalization Initiative will help us reimagine and reinvigorate the heart of our community – transforming key corridors, enhancing public spaces, improving pedestrian safety, and creating new cultural and recreational amenities. These projects will build on our momentum and ensure downtown White Plains continues to thrive as a dynamic, walkable, and inclusive hub for residents, visitors, and businesses alike.”
Village of Montgomery Mayor Michael R. Hembury said, “We are grateful to receive this grant from the state. It will be used to enhance the downtown and park areas in our beautiful and historic village. We are glad that New York State recognized that Montgomery village is a great place to live and raise a family.”
State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “I am thrilled that White Plains will receive nearly $10 million from the seventh round of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative to support 13 projects throughout the city. White Plains is a beautiful and vibrant community, and this funding will enable positive investments in downtown White Plains for its diverse community and will enhance our city’s arts and culture, tourism, and street safety. I am proud to represent White Plains, and I want to thank the Governor for her commitment to supporting our communities.”
Assemblymember Amy Paulin said, “Downtown revitalization has long been a driving force behind White Plains’ growth, and this new investment will help propel it forward. White Plains has been a leader in sustainable development, and these projects, including protected bike and pedestrian lanes, refuge spaces, and streetscaping, are essential to that mission. I thank Governor Hochul and White Plains Mayor Tom Roach for their leadership and commitment to these transformative efforts.”
Assemblymember Chris Burdick said, “I am delighted that the Mid-Hudson Region is the recipient of these terrific grants. Representing White Plains, I am particularly proud of the projects selected, which will have a significant positive impact on the vitality of this area, improving the safety, culture, and sense of community. Kudos to White Plains for having the initiative to go after these grants.”
Assemblymember Chris Eachus said, “These NY Forward projects for the Village of Highland Falls will be transformative for a region that so recently saw catastrophic flooding only two years ago. Enhancing streets and infrastructure, revitalizing Main Street with new cultural and economic centers, and sustainably developing new residential units in areas of need will all add to the already existing beauty of the area. Highland Falls is a gem on the shores of the Hudson River, neighboring the historic West Point, and I am proud to see it receiving the attention it deserves.”
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said, “On behalf of Westchester County, I want to thank Governor Kathy Hochul for this tremendous investment in White Plains — a city that is not only our County Seat, but a vibrant hub where people live, work, and play. These transformative projects will breathe new life into our downtown, support small businesses, enhance our arts and cultural spaces, and improve public infrastructure for residents and visitors alike. This bold commitment by Governor Hochul is a game-changer for White Plains and a powerful reminder of what’s possible when the State and local communities work together to build a stronger, more inclusive future.”
DRI and NY Forward communities developed Strategic Implementation Plans (SIPs), which create a vision for the future of their downtown and identify and recommend a slate of complementary, transformative and implementable projects that support that vision. The SIPs are guided by a Local Planning Committee (LPC) composed of local and regional leaders, stakeholders and community representatives, with the assistance of an assigned consultant and DOS staff, all of whom conduct extensive community outreach and engagement when determining projects. The projects selected for funding from the SIP were identified as having the greatest potential to jumpstart revitalization and generate new opportunities for long-term growth.
About the Downtown Revitalization Initiative
The Downtown Revitalization Initiative was created in 2016 to accelerate and expand the revitalization of downtowns and neighborhoods in all ten regions of the state to serve as centers of activity and catalysts for investment. Led by the Department of State with assistance from Empire State Development, Homes and Community Renewal and NYSERDA, the DRI represents an unprecedented and innovative “plan-then-act” strategy that couples strategic planning with immediate implementation and results in compact, walkable downtowns that are a key ingredient to helping New York State strengthen its economy, as well as to achieving the State’s bold climate goals by promoting the use of public transit and reducing dependence on private vehicles. Through nine rounds, the DRI has awarded a total of $900 million to 91 communities across every region of the State.
About the NY Forward Program
First announced as part of the 2022 Budget, Governor Hochul created the NY Forward program to build on the momentum created by the DRI. The program works in concert with the DRI to accelerate and expand the revitalization of smaller and rural downtowns throughout the State so that all communities can benefit from the State’s revitalization efforts, regardless of size, character, needs and challenges.
NY Forward communities are supported by a professional planning consultant and team of State agency experts led by DOS to develop a Strategic Investment Plan that includes a slate of transformative, complementary and readily implementable projects. NY Forward projects are appropriately scaled to the size of each community; projects may include building renovation and redevelopment, new construction or creation of new or improved public spaces and other projects that enhance specific cultural and historical qualities that define and distinguish the small-town charm that defines these municipalities. Through three rounds, the NY Forward program has awarded a total of $300 million to 60 communities across every region of the State.
Colchester County District RCMP is investigating a fatal motorcycle crash that occurred in Stewiacke.
On May 21, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Colchester County District RCMP, fire services, and EHS, responded to a report of a motorcycle crash on Hwy. 2, between Main St. and George St. RCMP officers learned that the motorcycle was travelling on the highway when it left the roadway and went into the ditch.
One rider, a 46-year-old woman from Salmon River, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The driver, a 61-year-old man from Shubenacadie East, was transported to hospital by EHS with life-threatening injuries.
A collision reconstructionist attended the scene; the investigation is ongoing.
The highway was closed for several hours but has since reopened.
Our thoughts are with the victim’s loved ones at this difficult time.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
MINSK, May 23 /Xinhua/ — The decision to introduce higher import customs duties of the European Union on Belarusian agricultural products and nitrogen fertilizers is trade protectionism and an expression of unfair competition, said Ruslan Varankov, press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, on Friday. The corresponding information was published by the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on the same day.
“One can only once again sympathize with the ordinary citizens of the EU member states who will be deprived of access to high-quality, inexpensive and competitive products of Belarusian origin – primarily agricultural products and nitrogen fertilizers,” noted R. Varankov.
According to him, with such decisions the EU punishes its own producers and consumers, adding fuel to the fire of social discontent instead of fighting the looming economic recession and inflation against the backdrop of a sharp increase in spending on the military-industrial complex.
“Belarus, as a reliable supplier, will continue to work on export diversification. The rationality of this strategy is confirmed by the growing volumes of deliveries, for example, to Russia, countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.
On May 22, the European Parliament approved protective duties on potash fertilizers from Russia and Belarus, despite concerns from major European agricultural producers about the negative impact of this decision on the EU market. –0–
ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison announced today the appointment of a new executive leadership team to guide the District of New Mexico’s mission, along with a restructuring of the Albuquerque office’s Criminal Division to best advance the Administration’s priorities.
Mr. Ellison named Kimberly Brawley as First Assistant U.S. Attorney, overseeing the Criminal, Civil, and Administrative Divisions. Ms. Brawley joined the office in 2007 and has worked across all sections of the Criminal Division. From 2013 to 2018, she supervised the General Crimes Section, which handled violent crimes, firearms offenses, narcotics, and immigration cases. Since 2018 she has prosecuted white collar, national security, and civil rights cases. Ms. Brawley earned her B.A. with honors from New Mexico State University and graduated cum laude from the University of New Mexico School of Law. Before becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she clerked for the office and practiced civil defense litigation in the private sector.
Christopher McNair will serve as Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney. Mr. McNair joined the office 2018 and has primarily handled firearms, violent crime, and immigration offenses. Mr. McNair graduated magna cum laude from the University of New Mexico School of Law and earned his B.A. from the University of New Mexico.
Roberto Ortega has been appointed as Chief of the Civil Division. Mr. Ortega has over 35 years of legal experience, including 25 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. He has prosecuted a wide range of federal criminal cases and now focuses on defending the United States in civil litigation. Mr. Ortega holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Stanford University and a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law. He is also an active community leader, having served on several local boards, including the UNM Alumni Association and the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation. He and his wife, Dr. Loretta Cordova de Ortega, have four children.
Niki Tapia-Brito will lead the Albuquerque Office’s Criminal Division as Chief. Ms. Tapia-Brito joined the office in 2011, after serving for 10 years as a prosecutor in the 7th and 2nd Judicial District Attorneys’ Offices. Throughout her career with the office, Ms. Tapia-Brito has prosecuted federal cases in the Indian Crimes, Violent Crimes, Civil Rights and Public Integrity sections. Ms. Tapia-Brito earned her B.A. from Stanford University and a JD at University of New Mexico School of Law.
In the Las Cruces Branch Office, Richard Williams will serve as Chief of the Criminal Division. He joined the office in 2001 as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 2002. From July 2008 to July 2022, Mr. Williams served in supervisory roles, including Deputy Branch Chief and Section Supervisor. Throughout his career with the office, he has led numerous criminal investigations and prosecutions involving immigration, firearms, narcotics, money laundering, murder and other violent crimes, white-collar offenses, and various federal violations. He has also argued multiple appeals before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, securing two successful topside appeals. In recognition of his appellate work, Mr. Williams received the EOUSA Director’s Award for Superior Performance in 2010. Before joining the office, he practiced commercial litigation as an associate at Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. in Houston, Texas. Mr. Williams earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law and his B.A. cum laude from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. He grew up in Fort Worth, Texas.
Paige Messec will continue to serve as the Chief of the Appellate Division, which she has headed since 2018. Ms. Messec joined the office in 2008 and served in the Immigration, General Crimes, and White Collar sections of the Criminal Division before moving to the Appellate Division in 2015. She received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Georgetown University and law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School. Before joining the office, she clerked for Judge Harris L Hartz on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jeremy Peña has been appointed as Senior Litigation Counsel for the Albuquerque Criminal Division. Mr. Peña joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2011, starting in the General Crimes Section and moving to the White Collar Section that same year. In 2014, he received the U.S. Attorney’s Award for the trial conviction of Sheriff Thomas Rodella. He has prosecuted some of the Office’s most complex cases, including Ayudando Guardians and the recent trial conviction of Solomon Peña. Mr. Peña graduated from Pomona College and the University of Chicago Law School. He was an Assistant District Attorney for five years before becoming an AUSA.
In the Las Cruces Branch Office, Terri Abernathy will continue to serve as Senior Litigation Counsel for the Criminal Division, a position she has held since 2010. In this role, Ms. Abernathy is responsible for coordinating the training of Assistant U.S. Attorneys and Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Las Cruces Office. She has been with the office since 2000 and serves as the District’s Border Security Coordinator. Over her 25-year career, Ms. Abernathy has prosecuted complex narcotics cases and more than a thousand immigration cases. Before joining the office, she clerked for Circuit Judge Bobby R. Baldock of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and is a graduate of Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri.
In addition to his executive leadership team, Mr. Ellison announced a restructured Criminal Division in the Albuquerque Office, now organized into four sections:
Narcotics and Organized Crimes: Led by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Elaine Ramirez and Deputy Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Lou Mattei.
White Collar Crimes: Led by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Federici.
Violent and General Crimes: Led by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Hurtado and Deputy Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Mysliwiec.
Indian Country Crimes: Led by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew McGinley.
The Las Cruces Branch Office is organized into two sections:
Organized and General Crimes: Led by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Joni Stahl.
Violent and General Crimes: Led by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Armijo.
Public safety and a secure border are the top priorities for the District of New Mexico. With this new leadership team in place, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to vigorously enforcing the law, protecting our communities, and upholding the rights of all New Mexicans. The office will continue to collaborate closely with local, state, tribal, and federal partners to address violent crime, combat drug trafficking, and strengthen border security.
Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces the return of an indictment charging Hilario Diaz-Velazquez (32, Mexico) with illegal reentry after deportation and possession of a firearm by an illegal alien. If convicted, Diaz-Velazquez faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
According to court records, on March 30, 2025, the Palmetto Police Department responded to a call for service regarding shots fired on 14th Street in Palmetto. An officer from the Palmetto Police Department witnessed gunshots from a vehicle, and officers arrested the vehicle’s occupants. The occupants were arrested on state charges and two firearms were seized from the vehicle. One of the occupants was identified as Diaz-Velazquez. A review of Diaz-Velazquez’s immigration history showed that he was previously deported from the United States on November 26, 2012.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Palmetto Police Department, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, and Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam W. McCall.
Jefferson City — Today, Governor Mike Kehoe announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has agreed to participate in joint assessments of damage to public buildings and infrastructure as well as the cost of debris removal in St. Louis City and St. Louis and Scott counties as a result of the May 16 severe storms and tornadoes.
“The joint preliminary damage assessment (PDA) teams that reviewed the damage to homes and personal property this week worked extremely efficiently to document the destruction that we are confident will lead to a federal Major Disaster Declaration to assist individuals and families,” Governor Kehoe said. “Now, we will be jointly cataloguing the same type of evidence to support a potential request to FEMA for necessary funding to rebuild and restore the infrastructure our citizens rely on.”
Joint PDA teams are made up of representatives from FEMA, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and local officials in each community. Beginning Wednesday, May 28, six teams will survey and verify damage to determine if Public Assistance can be requested from FEMA. Public Assistance to local governments and qualifying nonprofits helps with the cost of debris removal; the repair of damaged roads, public buildings and other public infrastructure; and the reimbursement of emergency response costs.
SEMA continues to coordinate with local officials and volunteer and faith-based partners to identify needs and assist impacted families and individuals. Missourians with unmet needs are encouraged to contact United Way by dialing 2-1-1 or www.211helps.org or the American RedCross at 1-800-733-2767.