Author: Freddie Lloyd

Kerwin Butler was trying to build something special: a fulfilling career. What he was doing just didn’t fly. “Being a flight attendant got repetitive,” said Butler, a Jersey City native. “I felt like I didn’t have as much growth and I couldn’t utilize my imagination to the fullest. But being a carpenter, I can literally create whatever I put my mind to.” Butler, along with fellow carpenter apprentices Darius Gwyn and Brian Brown, are celebrating their signing day. They didn’t commit to a sports program, but rather a career in union carpentry. “I wish I had gotten into it a…

Seven people have been charged in a federal grand jury indictment, accusing them of a conspiracy to steal $11 million from 50 victims in west Michigan and around the country, authorities announced Tuesday. Most of the victims were senior citizens, said Mark Totten, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan in a statement. “Elder fraud schemes prey on some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” he said. “It’s critical to raise awareness of elder fraud to help protect our older loved ones from these types of crimes. My office is committed to fighting all types of elder abuse in…

Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection is considering new clean vehicle standards that are supported by environmental organizations but opposed by other groups. A hearing on the standards is scheduled for next month. The Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Council of Maine, and Sierra Club petitioned the board to set cleaner emissions standards for new vehicles by incorporating California Advanced Clean Cars II regulations. This would require an increasing percentage of new cars to be zero emission vehicles, starting in model year 2027, with a goal of 82% by model year 2032. A separate petition sets standards for trucks. Jack Shapiro…

It’s been seismically active in the eastern half of the United States in recent days, with two earthquakes hitting New York, one in Ohio, one in Arkansas, and two in Tennessee. Even Canada got into the action, with an earthquake hitting in Ontario province north and west over the border from New York state’s latest quake. A large population has been rattled by these quakes, with hundreds of reports coming into USGS from people feeling shaking in Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. The first of the recent earthquakes struck just north of New York City…

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Cedric Lodge, age 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, Katrina Maclean, age 44, of Salem, Massachusetts, Joshua Taylor, age 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, Denise Lodge, age 63, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, and Mathew Lampi, age 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota, were indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods charges.  Additionally, Jeremy Pauley, age 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, was charged by Criminal Information, and Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Arkansas, was previously indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas. According…

“The most important thing is to maintain peace in the country,” says one prominent Moldovan politician, a seemingly sensible stand given Moldova’s front-row seat to war in Ukraine. Many Western politicians worry about an attack on Moldova from Transnistria, the narrow breakaway region backed by the Kremlin. However, the real problem may be internal destabilization and the hybrid threat from Russia. The prospect of leveraging public unrest to replace the pro-European government in Chisinau is a preferred scenario for Moscow. As soon as a social issue emerges, like power outages from the war in Ukraine, Moldova’s pro-Western government becomes anxious. The fear is that…

A video has emerged showing a car in Georgia flying through the air after launching off the ramp of a tow truck while traveling at a high rate of speed. The incredible accident caught on bodycam footage happened May 24 while deputies from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office were responding to the scene of a crash along Highway 84 in the southern part of the state. The video begins with police standing on one side of highway’s center median next to a vehicle that appeared to have flipped over. As a deputy walks toward that wreck, a car could be seen…

A third man has been charged over the murder of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay, prosecutors in New York have confirmed. Jay Bryant, 49, from Queens, who was in custody already on unrelated federal drug charges, denies the charges. In 2020, two other men, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr, were charged with his murder. They previously pleaded not guilty and are due to face trial in January 2024. Jam Master Jay was shot in the head in his studio by a masked man in 2002. The death of the hip-hop trailblazer, whose real name was Jason Mizell, had remained an unsolved…

WESTERLY, R.I. (WJAR) — A Westerly family is recovering after being hit by a driver allegedly under the influence of drugs in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Steven Sojkowski, his wife Stephanie, and their two children, were hit by a driver in Greenfield while driving home from a ski trip in the Northwestern part of the state. NBC 10’s Molly Levine speaks with a Westerly man involved in a violent car crash in Massachusetts along with his wife and two children. According to The Greenfield Recorder, the driver was allegedly impaired and reportedly admitted to using drugs before the crash. “I’m so fortunate we’re…

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches the one-year mark, speculation is mounting that Moscow will soon launch a major new offensive. Indeed, some commentators believe this offensive may already have begun, with reports emerging in recent days of Russian troops attempting to advance at numerous points along a frontline stretching hundreds of kilometers across southern and eastern Ukraine. This widely anticipated offensive is an attempt by Moscow to regain the initiative following months of battlefield defeats and humiliating retreats in Ukraine that have undermined Russia’s reputation as a military superpower. Vladimir Putin is now desperate to demonstrate that his…