Celebrities and media personalities took to social media to express their shock and sadness over a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida that left “many” dead and at least 20 injured on Wednesday. “What now?” asked singer Gloria Estefan, a Miami icon, on Twitter. “Yet again senseless misery is inflicted on the loved ones of innocent victims whose only fear should have been not being able to finish their homework.” Cubs player Anthony Rizzo, who graduated …
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The Philippine president has offered a nearly $500 bounty for each communist rebel killed by government forces to save on anti-insurgency costs and says insurgents are easier to hit than birds because they have bigger heads. President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest crass remarks, which the government issued to reporters late Wednesday, came after human rights groups condemned him this week for saying troops should shoot female communist guerrillas in the genitals to render them “useless.” “You kill an NPA today and I’ll pay you 25,000” pesos, Duterte said in a speech at an air base in central Cebu city, referring to New People’s Army guerrillas. “I was computing that if this drags on for four years, … it’ll be very expensive because it’s war. If I’ll just pay 25,000 for a life, I can save about 47 percent,” he said to laughter from the crowd. There was no elaboration on how he came up with those figures and whether or how the government would pay for claimed kills. Backing up his offer, the brash-talking president encouraged state forces to go for the kill. “If you work really hard to crawl across the forest, you’ll surely be able to shoot even just one. If you can shoot a bird above you, then how much more an NPA whose head is so big?” the brash-talking Duterte said, again eliciting laughter from the crowd. Duterte’s incendiary remarks encourage government forces to commit war crimes instead of instilling a culture of accountability in accordance with international law, Human Rights Watch said. “Duterte’s pronouncements normalize the idea that government security forces can do as they wish to defeat their enemies, including committing summary executions and sexual violence,” said Carlos Conde of the U.S.-based rights group. The volatile president turned up the rhetoric against communist guerrillas after peace talks brokered by Norway collapsed last year when he protested continuing rebel attacks on government forces. When a rebel leader recently warned that the guerrillas could kill one soldier a day, Duterte countered by threatening to kill five rebels daily and offering to train tribesmen as militias and give them bounties to kill the insurgents. Duterte is already under international criticism and is facing a preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court for thousands of deaths in the war on drugs he initiated after become president two years ago. He has lashed out in his response, including asking why the ICC was focusing on him when atrocities were unraveling elsewhere. “There are Rohingyas who are being slaughtered, but they only chose to indict me. OK, you asked for it, let’s have a trial. I will cross-examine you,” Duterte, a former state prosecutor, said, referring to the Muslims fleeing from violence and persecution in Myanmar.
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Trump: ‘Totally Opposed to Domestic Violence’ With the White House still reeling from the Rob Porter scandal, President Trump finally addressed his stance on domestic violence on camera saying he’s “totally opposed to domestic violence and everyone knows it.” President Donald Trump at last broke his silence Wednesday to explicitly denounce domestic violence in the wake of allegations that a top White House aide had abused two former wives. Chief of staff John Kelly, under fire for mis…
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Authorities arrested 31 people Wednesday who they said are connected to a violent, drug-running multi-state street gang directed from inside one of California’s most notorious prisons. The massive sweep by more than 750 law enforcement federal, state and local officers netted 29 suspects on drug and weapons charges across 10 Northern California counties. Two others were arrested in Pittsburgh and the Medford, Oregon, area. The operation was directed by two inmate members of the Northern Structu…
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President Donald Trump at last broke his silence to explicitly denounce domestic violence in the wake of allegations that a top White House aide had abused two former wives. Chief of staff John Kelly, under fire for mishandling the matter, stayed largely out of sight, his future in doubt and the White House in tumult. The chaos surrounding the departure of aide Rob Porter put a harsh spotlight on Kelly, the retired general who was brought on last summer to instill military-like discipline in th…
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This week’s question to South Florida CEOs who are on the Miami Herald CEO Roundtable: Incidents of violence over the past several years haven’t been limited to public spaces. Has your company added or enhanced security measures recently in response to threats elsewhere? Why or why not? === To date, we have not employed additional security measures at the GHETC facility, but we believe that it is time to invest in heightened protection. We are in the process of evaluating surveillance syste…
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A chilling video apparently shows two kneeling, bound Mexican intelligence agents confessing supposed rights violations while surrounded by five masked gunmen pointing machine pistols and assault rifles at them. A federal official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said Monday the two men in the video are apparently the two agents of the federal Attorney General’s Office who went missing Feb. 5 in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit. The gunmen bear no identifying marks on their clothes…
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For four straight days last month, Rahim Muddinn watched, amazed, as Myanmar’s state-run newspapers published special supplements showing Rohingya Muslims accused of being terrorists — nearly 250 photos each day. For the 41-year-old Rohingya man, it was a surreal moment. He was born and raised in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city and far from the western state of Rakhine, where bloody military operations that followed Rohingya militant attacks in August have driven nearly 700,000 Rohingya into r…
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When Jennifer Willoughby and Colbie Holderness stepped forward to tell the story of how they were physically, verbally and emotionally abused by their ex-husband, who had since become a top White House aide, President Donald Trump had nothing but good things to say about the man they had accused of domestic violence. Rob Porter “did a great job while he was at the White House. And we hope he has a wonderful career,” Trump said Friday, adding that the aide had vehemently maintained his innocence…
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Police in Ohio say a veteran officer fatally shot a 25-year-old domestic violence suspect following a confrontation over the weekend. Columbus police on Monday identified the suspect and officer involved in the Saturday night shooting in the city’s Hilltop neighborhood. They say 25-year-old Steven Tyler Reed, of Columbus, was fatally shot by Officer Nathan Schwind, an 11-year veteran of the police division. Authorities say officers responded to a domestic-violence complaint at a home and were t…
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California must consider earlier parole for potentially thousands of sex offenders, maybe even those convicted of pimping children, a state judge said Friday. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner preliminarily ordered prison officials to rewrite part of the regulations for Proposition 57. The 2016 ballot measure allows consideration of earlier parole for most state prison inmates, but Gov. Jerry Brown promised voters all sex offenders would be excluded. That goes too far, Sumner …
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A Florida man who authorities say wielded a wine bottle in a brawl with flight attendants and passengers as he tried to open the door of a Delta Air Lines flight from Seattle to China has pleaded guilty to four felony charges. Joseph Hudek IV, 24, entered the plea Friday in federal court in Seattle to one count of interfering with a member of a flight crew and three counts of assault on an aircraft with a potential deadly weapon, The Seattle Times reported . The plea came after Hudek filed an a…
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The Nebraska men’s basketball team plans to take a public stand Saturday opposing the views of a university student who calls himself a white nationalist in a widely distributed online video. Coach Tim Miles said Friday the team will wear T-shirts reading “Hate Will Never Win” at the game against Rutgers in Lincoln. Players also were making a video rejecting racism and hate to be shown at Pinnacle Bank Arena. “The No. 1 thing, our guys realize they are in a place to make a great impact,” Miles …
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A spokeswoman for Maine Gov. Paul LePage says no allegations about domestic violence involving his former adviser David Sorensen were ever brought to the attention of the governor or his staff during Sorensen’s employment. Sorensen resigned his job as a White House speech writer Friday after his former wife accused him of abuse. He vehemently denies the claims. LePage spokeswoman Julie Rabinowitz says neither LePage nor his wife had any knowledge of a violent or abusive relationship involving S…
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YouTube has temporarily suspended all ads from video star Logan Paul’s channels after what it calls a pattern of behavior unsuitable for advertisers. In an emailed statement, YouTube said that the videos on Paul’s channels are also “broadly damaging to the broader creator community.” Late Friday, YouTube also updated a set of policies outlining new steps it could take against video creators who violate its guidelines. Those include shutting off ad support, deleting YouTube Original videos by th…
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Loved ones of a black man fatally shot by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and two law enforcement officers — one black and one white — who were ambushed and killed in the city 12 days later will take part in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day discussion. “I just feel like love is the key. If we just go about this loving one another and not judging one another, I feel as if things will be better,” said Trenisha Jackson, whose husband, Montrell Jackson, described the difficulties of being both a …
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  MIAMI, Florida – Over the weekend WSVN reported that bikers put on a dangerous demonstration while protesting gun violence. The station said several people were sent to the hospital and others were put behind bars because of the incident. The ‘Wheels up, guns down’ ride began a few years ago as a way to promote non-violence during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., holiday weekend, CBS Miami reported. Around 3:30 p.m. Monday riders took to the streets again and were caugh…
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Dozens of riders took to the streets of South Florida Monday for the annual “wheels up, guns down” ride, putting themselves and others at risk, CBS Miami reports. Around 3:30 p.m., riders were speeding through the streets of Miami, popping wheelies and driving recklessly on their motorcycles, dirt bikes and ATVs. Chopper 4 was over the riders as they made their way up NW 27thAvenue, narrowly missing cars and spotted them driving the wrong way on the Gratigny Expressway. That’s…
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For some of the law enforcement agencies that agreed to be on A&E Network’s real-time police show “Live PD,” the goal of being more transparent with their profession under increasing scrutiny clashed with concerns over public image. Police departments in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Streetsboro, Ohio, ended agreements to be on the program since it premiered in October 2016 as some local government leaders concluded the national spotlight on criminal activity overshadowed the positive things happening in their hometowns. Another department, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina, ended its run on the show in August, saying deputies needed a break from the cameras. The show, which airs Friday and Saturday nights, has live camera crews following officers in several police departments as they patrol. There is a delay of five to 20 minutes to prevent the airing of disturbing content or the release of information that could compromise investigations, the show’s producers say. “As the debate over the policing of America continues to be a part of the daily conversation across the nation, Live PD viewers get unfettered and unfiltered live access inside a variety of the country’s busiest police forces, both urban and rural, and the communities they patrol on a typical night,” the show’s website says. In Bridgeport, officials were pleased the program showed the hard work and bravery of city police officers, but complaints started rolling in from businesses, the University of Bridgeport and others interested in attracting people and investments to Connecticut’s largest city, said Av Harris, a spokesman for Mayor Joe Ganim. “If that’s the only thing that’s being publicized nationally about our city, it can have a negative impact,” he said. “We don’t have the Travel Channel doing anything on how wonderful all our economic development projects are.” Bridgeport, a city with pockets of deep poverty that saw homicides double to 23 last year, left the show in December 2016, less than two months after the series began. During the city’s short run on the program, a police sergeant was arrested on a domestic violence charge, which was later dismissed, shortly after she appeared on an episode warning viewers about the dangers of domestic violence. Two people shown on the show later filed lawsuits accusing police of brutality. Another sergeant responding to a call involving a dead baby was shown breaking down in his cruiser as he talked about it afterward, which drew media coverage and praise on social media for showing officers’ sensitive sides. Feedback from most of the two dozen police departments that have appeared on the show has been positive, said Dan Cesareo, creator and executive producer of “Live PD.” “Our only goal is to document policing across America,” said Cesareo, president of Big Fish Entertainment. “We very much are very neutral in terms of what we’re showing.” Concerns about the show appear to be mostly political and not coming from police officials, said Dan Abrams, the program’s host. “Putting a lens on the day-to-day work that police officers do is important. And some of it isn’t pretty,” Abrams said. “I think the notion that it is a bad thing is actually the wrong way to look at it. … You can say that the crimes that occurred are bad.” In Ohio, Streetsboro police left “Live PD” in November after appearing in six episodes. Chief Darin Powers said that while it was good for the public to see what his officers do, there were manpower and overtime issues because officers with “Live PD” crews with them didn’t have room in their cruisers to transport suspects. And local officials became worried about the city’s image. “I personally thought it portrayed our city in a negative light,” said John Ruediger, city council president. “I think every city has its share of problems, and I don’t think it’s always best to highlight those issues. I was personally concerned that any kid featured on the show could end up bullied … especially if their parent is on the show doing something bad.” But in Jeffersonville, Indiana, where police have been doing “Live PD” since April, the public response has been overwhelmingly positive, said Assistant Chief Michael McVoy. “For us, it’s humanizing the badge, No. 1,” he said. “For every 1,000 positive comments or likes or social media hits or fuzzy, warm feelings we get from across the country, there are always five or 10 that say, ‘Hey. Why are you arresting this guy for marijuana possession?’ Stuff like that. Some people don’t see eye to eye with what we do.”
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MIAMI — Serving his one-game suspension last week against the Indiana Pacers was difficult for Heat forward James Johnson, but there was a silver lining. “The hotel in Indiana didn’t have the game,” said Johnson, who was ejected from Tuesday’s 90-89 victory against Toronto following an altercation with the Raptors’ Serge Ibaka, and later suspended. He was not permitted to be in the arena during the Heat’s 114-106 victory over the Pacers on Wednesday. &#8220…
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Update: In a tweet, Devolver Digital confirmed that this Steam sale is being held in conjunction with charitable speedrunning organization Games Done Quick. Devolver says they’ll donate 10 percent of the sale’s revenue to GDQ. GDQ recently kicked off Awesome Games Done Quick 2018, a week-long speedrun marathon dedicated to breaking videogames every way possible and raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.  Original story: Publisher Devolver Digital is running a quick Steam sale to…
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Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter HOMESTEAD (CBSMiami) – A 17-year-old died over the weekend in a shooting at a Homestead park. Witnesses said a group of people was playing football in the park, in the 600 block of SW 14th Avenue, on Sunday around 5 p.m. when shots were fired. Jultavious Williams was hit and died at the scene. “It really hurts because kids can’t come outside and play. This is a park where you walk around and you exercise you bring the kids out to play an…
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PLANTATION, FLA. (WSVN) – Four people, including two minors, were injured after, officials said, shots were fired outside of a recreation hall in Plantation, Sunday morning. Police responded to the shooting at 5225 West Broward Boulevard, near East Acre Drive, just after 4:40 a.m. Investigators said the victims were leaving a private gathering when an unknown male assailant armed with a handgun approached them and opened fire. He then fled the scene and remains at large. According to Plantation…
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A fight outside a Winter Haven homeless shelter ended with a man who suffered fatal wounds to his face. Calvin Ross was arrested in the death of Johnathon Miller, who died of injuries in the fight. The weapon, say cops, was a pick hammer, a tool used mostly in construction or home improvement — one end is sharp, the other blunt. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, deputies took Ross, 27, into custody around 6:40 p.m. Saturday. Ross was charged with second-degree murder and violat…
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Handwritten letters show a neo-Nazi group leader hasn’t abandoned his “violent ideology” since his arrest on charges he stockpiled volatile explosive material in a Florida apartment where a friend killed their two roommates, federal prosecutors told the judge who will sentence the young man on Tuesday. In a court filing Sunday, prosecutors said 22-year-old Brandon Russell drew a diagram of how to make an explosive in a letter he apparently intended to deliver to another “Atomwaffen Division” member outside jail. The FBI obtained copies of other letters in which Russell drew plans for an “Airborne Leaflet Dropping Device” showing Nazi propaganda falling from the sky, prosecutors said. “In one letter, Russell attached a blurb about a 16-year-old Nazi who in 1962 told a judge, “I don’t care HOW long you put me in jail, your Honor, … as soon as I get out, I will go right back to fight for my White Race and my America!'” The FBI obtained the copies in August, just before Russell pleaded guilty to illegally storing volatile explosive material and possessing an “unregistered destructive device,” according to prosecutors. They’re urging a federal judge to sentence Russell to 11 years in prison — the maximum he faces after his guilty plea in September. “While Russell has a First Amendment right to his beliefs, the evidence shows that Russell’s beliefs cross the line between hateful ideology and hateful ideology that gives rise to violence,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Josephine Thomas. Devon Arthurs, Russell’s friend and former roommate, awaits trial in state court on charges he shot and killed their other two roommates, 18-year-old Andrew Oneschuk and 22-year-old Jeremy Himmelman, both of Massachusetts. Russell wasn’t charged in the May 2017 killings, which exposed the four roommates’ membership in an obscure neo-Nazi group that formed on the internet. Arthurs was co-founder of Atomwaffen, which is German for “atomic weapon,” but he allegedly told investigators he killed his roommates for teasing him about his recent conversion to Islam. Russell served in the Florida National Guard and was wearing his military uniform and crying when police arrived at the murder scene and found him standing outside the Tampa apartment. Arthurs told police that Russell didn’t know anything about the shooting. Arthurs also told detectives he killed his roommates to thwart a terrorist attack by Atomwaffen. He claimed Russell had materials in the house “to kill civilians and target locations like power lines, nuclear reactors, and synagogues,” prosecutors said. “I prevented the deaths of a lot of people,” Arthurs said in a rambling statement. Asked why his roommates would plan such an attack, he responded, “Because they want to build a Fourth Reich.” Russell’s attorney, Ian Goldstein, maintains his client has accepted responsibility for his crimes and is “dedicated to emerging from this situation a stronger person.” “As a 22-year-old former college student and member of the armed forces, the defendant has seen the future he once hoped for evaporate before his eyes,” Goldstein wrote in a Jan. 2 filing. “He has accepted responsibility for his offenses, and looks forward to serving his sentence and attempting to move forward with a productive and law abiding life.” Sentencing guidelines calculated by the court’s probation office call for a prison sentence ranging from 24 to 30 months. Russell’s lawyer asked the court for a more lenient sentence. Prosecutors, however, say the guidelines don’t adequately reflect the seriousness of Russell’s actions, or the danger he still poses. Inside Russell’s bedroom, authorities said they found several firearms, ammunition and a framed picture of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh on Russell’s bedroom dresser. Investigators also found a North Korean flag, multiple copies of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and other neo-Nazi and white supremacist propaganda in the apartment, prosecutors said. “Russell had a place of prominence for the picture of his idol, Timothy McVeigh, someone who turned his ideology into violent action,” wrote Thomas, the federal prosecutor. “A photographic journey through Russell’s apartment_the backdrop of the murder scene_is a chilling confirmation of Russell’s intent to follow in the footsteps of his hero.” Russell set up a “mini-lab” in the garage, where investigators found explosive material stored in a cooler, near homemade detonator components and several pounds of ammonium nitrate, according to Thomas. “Russell showed not an ounce of concern for his own life, his roommates’ lives, or his (neighbors’) lives,” Thomas wrote. In anonymous internet posts, Atomwaffen members hailed Oneschuk and Himmelman as fallen heroes, and assailed Arthurs as a race traitor. A tribute on IronMarch, a website for the “global fascist fraternity,” included swastika-stamped photos of the slain men. Relatives of the two slain friends have rejected those neo-Nazi labels and dismissed Arthurs’ claims as the self-serving rantings of a sociopath. But prosecutors say Russell — even after his arrest — has never disputed he was Atomwaffen’s leader. “The evidence of Russell’s violent ideology and his conduct while incarcerated shows that he has tightly held beliefs that he will continue to promote,” Thomas wrote.
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With a Twitter post threatening to cut off U.S. aid to the Palestinians, President Donald Trump has expressed his frustration over the lack of progress in his hoped-for Mideast peace push. But things could deteriorate even further if Trump follows through on the threat. Over two decades of on-and-off peace talks, the U.S., Israel and the Palestinians have created a situation of interdependence, with American mediation at the core of this system. A cutoff in aid would almost certainly harm the P…
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French President Emmanuel Macron came out strongly Wednesday in support of press freedom and announced a bill to combat the spread of fake news during election campaigns. In a speech to journalists at the Elysee Palace in Paris that laid out his agenda for 2018, Macron said that press freedom is “the highest expression of freedom.” He said he’s going to propose soon a new law to combat fake news on the internet during French election campaigns. Websites would have to say who is financing them a…
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The Latest on protests in Iran (all times local): 10:45 p.m. The leader of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group says President Donald Trump’s “hopes” that the protests in Iran will snowball and lead to regime change or chaos will be dashed along with the hopes of the Israelis and Saudis. In his first comments since protests in Iran broke out, Hassan Nasrallah said protesters with legitimate grievances have been exploited by political factions who attached political slogans to their protests…
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An Ohio prison unit housing about 430 inmates will be closed, the inmates moved elsewhere and employees offered jobs at other prisons, the state said Wednesday. Inmates will be transferred from Hocking Correctional Unit in southeastern Ohio by the end of March, according to the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The prison unit is Ohio’s most expensive, costing $65 a day per inmate to operate compared to $21 at similar facilities in Belmont, Richland and Trumbull counties, the state s…
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Sherin Mathews, the 3-year-old girl adopted from India and found deceased in a ditch in Richardson last year, died of “homicidal violence,” the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed on Wednesday. Richardson police issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying the medical examiner’s office listed the child’s cause of death as homicide and the manner of death as homicidal violence, though they didn’t elaborate further. Sherin’s body was found Oct. 26, more than two weeks after Wesley …
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For the first time in years, Indiana’s Republican supermajorities are returning to the Statehouse without a major legislative goal to accomplish during the annual session that begins Wednesday. That leaves a vacuum some plan to fill with contentious issues and debates that GOP leaders have in the past sought to contain. “There’s usually one overarching, bright shiny object that keeps attention focused. And it’s a little bit different this year,” House Speaker Brian Bosma recently told reporters…
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Rohingya refugees in Chicago are facing stress and anxiety after escaping violence in Myanmar. There’s an estimated 1,500 Rohingya Muslims currently living in the city amid the ongoing violence in the Southeast Asian nation, the Chicago Tribune reported . Hasan Korimullah, 15, is among those who have resettled in Chicago. He said he was about 8 or 9 when he witnessed his mother’s death. Hasan said that although he’s lived in the U.S. for two years, he still can’t forget the moment he lost his m…
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At least 81 reporters were killed doing their jobs this year, while violence and harassment against media staff has skyrocketed, the world’s biggest journalists’ organization says. In its annual “Kill Report,” seen by The Associated Press, the International Federation of Journalists said the reporters lost their lives in targeted killings, car bomb attacks and crossfire incidents around the world. More than 250 journalists were in prison in 2017. The number of deaths as of Dec. 29 was the lowes…
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LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Two people including a gunman were killed Friday and another was injured in a shooting at a Southern California law office that authorities called workplace violence. The wounded person was taken to a hospital, said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who described the person’s condition as stable. Authorities emphasized that it was not an active shooter situation, despite initial reports they received at about 2:25 p.m. Video showed people running from a two-s…
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New York, NY(Law Firm Newswire) December 29, 2017 – The New York Post has revealed that the girlfriend of Miami Dolphins star Jarvis Landry has recanted her domestic violence accusations. On the night of April 1, police received a call regarding an incident between Landry and Estrella Cerqueira, while their four-month-old child was in the car. At first, Cerqueira informed police that Landry had committed battery against her. However, she subsequently said they only had a verbal dispute. As a…
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A court in the Netherlands banned the Dutch branch of the Bandidos motorcycle club Wednesday, ruling in a civil case that the biker gang is a threat to public order. The ban “is necessary to protect society,” said the Central Netherlands Court. The court also banned members of overseas Bandidos chapters from operating in the Netherlands. Prosecutors hailed the ruling as a victory in efforts to clamp down on motorcycle gangs in the Netherlands. “We are very satisfied,” said Jirko Patist, a spoke…
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Ukraine on Wednesday criticized Russia’s decision to withdraw its military observers from a joint group monitoring the truce in eastern Ukraine, saying it could fuel hostilities. Russia announced the move earlier this week, saying that Ukraine was putting up obstacles and restrictions obstructing Russian officers’ work and recently introduced new demands that made their further involvement in the group impossible. The development is the latest sign of heightened tensions in the area, where figh…
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When she started an urban farm in one of Indianapolis’ roughest neighborhoods, retired chemist Aster Bekele wanted to teach at-risk kids how to garden, and maybe sneak in a little science. Then the city’s homicide rate started soaring, with most of the killings happening around the community center where Bekele and the teens tended their vegetables, chickens and compost piles. After her own son was killed last summer, she found herself teaching a different lesson: how to deal with death. A few miles away, another rough neighborhood was experiencing a change — equally dramatic but just the opposite. The Fountain Square section near downtown, which once saw nearly as many killings as Bekele’s area, was transforming into one of the city’s safer spots thanks to an influx of affluent people drawn to its hip restaurants, bicycle trails and art festivals. The contrast illustrates an Associated Press analysis of homicide data that showed some large cities seem to be getting safer and more dangerous at the same time. Slayings in Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis are becoming concentrated into small areas where people are dying at a pace not seen in years, if ever. Around them, much of the rest of the city is growing more peaceful, even as the total number of homicides rises. “There’s two different worlds,” said Anthony Beverly, who grew up in Indianapolis and now runs an organization called Stop The Violence. “Downtown is just popping. … We struggle.” The AP collected 10 years of homicide data from the cities that had the highest homicide rates in 2016. Reporters used spatial analysis to identify clusters of killings and track the changing geographic patterns over time. The neighborhoods enduring the most violence were largely poor and African-American, as were the killers and the victims. Researchers say the disparity may be linked to increased joblessness, segregation and the growth of the so-called wealth gap. Over the past three decades, the wealthiest Americans have grown markedly richer while low earners lost jobs and struggled and some turned to violence. The trend goes beyond the problem neighborhoods and trendy, low-crime enclaves that are found in almost every city. The inequality between the two realities deepened in recent years, allowing people in the same metropolis to live in one realm with little sense of the other and creating districts of despair where everyone has seen or had someone close to them shot or killed. Daniel Hertz, a Chicago-based policy analyst, has argued for years that citywide homicide statistics are “basically meaningless” because of the big differences. Looking at smaller geographic areas, he said, gives a far more accurate picture. “The conversation we are used to hearing is ‘Is a city safe?'” Hertz said. “But there’s no citywide statistic that tells you the story of a city.” The Rev. Marshall Hatch, whose church is in a West Side Chicago neighborhood that has seen a disproportionate number of homicides, said the findings reinforce the need to deal with the root causes of violence in what he calls “pockets of intense desperation.” “We know these problems tend to compound when they’re not addressed,” he said. “It’s going to be very problematic for cities, because people are not going to just stay in their neighborhoods and commit crimes.” Adding to the dilemma over what’s going on and what to do about it is that the narrowing homicide pattern isn’t happening everywhere. “What we have is an epidemic, and epidemics often happen in ways that are unpredictable,” said Charles Ransford, director of science and policy for Cure Violence, a Chicago-based group that works to stop the spread of violence by treating it as a public health issue. ___ RISING KILLINGS, SINKING INCOME Indianapolis, often called the “Crossroads of America,” is best known as the home of auto racing’s Indianapolis 500. The nation’s 15th largest city saw a record 149 homicides in 2016 and just surpassed that total this year. The most intense violence is happening in a relatively limited area. The city’s three deadliest ZIP codes in 2016 accounted for 43 percent of all homicides. More than 20 percent of the slayings occurred in a single ZIP code on the city’s northeast side, where Bekele lives. The predominantly African-American neighborhood grew steadily poorer in recent years. Lost working-class jobs, many from the shutdowns of plants run by Navistar and Carrier, were a possible factor. The city has 10,000 fewer manufacturing jobs today than in 2007. “All those manufacturing jobs have left so those neighborhoods have really died,” said Jim White, the former commander of a state police post in Indianapolis. “Folks without an education are just left out there.” The concentration of violence extends to Chicago, which ended 2016 with 762 homicides, the highest in two decades. The city has been described by President Donald Trump as resembling “a war zone.” But in almost a third of ZIP codes that have reported a homicide in the last decade, the trend has been fewer killings. Now 60 percent of the killings were in only 10 of the city’s roughly 58 ZIP codes. Chicago’s violence is fueled by gang factions that splintered from the major gangs of years ago. More factions mean more rivalries and more potential for violence. Police estimate the city has some 80,000 gang members, up from about 68,000 five years ago. They also point to gang competition to meet the growing demand for heroin and opioids. One ZIP code on Chicago’s “Heroin Highway,” so called because suburbanites use the expressway to drive into the city for drugs, had 54 homicides in 2016, up from 24 just a year earlier. Similar forces are at work in St. Louis, which had a record number of homicides in 2015, a spike that contributed to the overall U.S. homicide rate increasing more than 10 percent. But most of that increase came from just two ZIP codes, and in seven of the city’s 17 ZIP codes, homicides fell. The danger of the more concentrated violence, Hertz said, is that it can become easy for most people to ignore it, and that can intensify the problem. “It can create this sense of ‘Let’s wall it off,'” he said. People who can leave start to move out if they don’t feel safe, reducing a city’s tax base and the number of students in its schools and increasing the number of vacant properties in a particular neighborhood. It becomes a vicious cycle. A ONCE-DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD DRAWS NEW CROWDS Richard Campi bought his 1872 Italianate home in Fountain Square in 1983, when the neighborhood was one of the riskier ones. “It was a redneck area,” Campi says, recalling a streetscape of junked-out cars in yards, scrap metal businesses and rent-to-own stores. When he put ads in The Indianapolis Star advertising apartments to rent in the house, no one would even come take a look. But things started to change when nearby Fletcher Place, one of the city’s earliest neighborhoods, was designated a historic district and preservation buffs began moving in. A local couple bought the long-vacant Fountain Square Theatre, hoping to capitalize on the nostalgia of an old vaudeville showplace. They reopened the duckpin bowling lanes, and soon hipsters and old-timers started coming to knock over pins and drink craft beers. Galleries and independent businesses followed. In 2011, the Cultural Trail, an 8-mile bike and walking path that links downtown to cultural districts and entertainment hot spots, made its way to Fountain Square, and more college-educated young people with higher incomes streamed in. Bon Appetit magazine came to write about the restaurants. There’s still crime, but it’s not the same. In the Fountain Square ZIP code, homicides fell from nine in 2011 to four last year. The home Richard Campi bought for $23,000 is now worth about $500,000. A TRANQUIL NEIGHBORHOOD TURNS DEADLY The area of northeast Indianapolis where Aster Bekele and her husband bought their home almost 40 years ago used to be so peaceful they sometimes slept in the backyard with their kids. That’s hard to imagine that now, with all the shootings. The neighborhood is roughly 9 square miles of apartments, small homes, vacant storefronts, gas stations and liquor marts that double as grocery stores. “We’re right in the middle of it,” says Bekele, 64, who came to the U.S. from Ethiopia as a college student. Her son, Senteayehou Henry, got into trouble as a young man. In 2002, he went to prison for selling drugs. After he was released, he moved into the home next door and made a living flipping houses, she said. On Aug. 1, 2016, Bekele found her 40-year-old son dead on the floor of his house after his girlfriend arrived and saw the back door standing open. No one has been arrested. These days, Bekele doesn’t take meetings at night so she won’t have to walk from her car to her house in the dark. She can easily distinguish between the sound of gunshots and firecrackers. Twice in a recent three-week span she skipped gardening to take the teens to funerals for people close to them who were killed. While the city’s median household income has increased slightly, this area’s fell by 3.5 percent per year. More than a third of its residents have household incomes below the federal poverty level. THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS The shrinking geographic scope of the problem has made some crime-fighting approaches more feasible. With less ground to cover, authorities are better able to flood a zone with officers. High-tech tools can be effective on a small scale. Take Chicago, where police began using “ShotSpotter” technology, or sensors that monitor for the sound of gunfire and alert police. They say it’s contributed to a drop in shootings this year in some of their previous hot spots because officers can respond more quickly. The Cure Violence group in Chicago employs “interrupters” — often former gang members — who seek out people likely to commit a violent crime and intervene, potentially also stopping a string of retaliations. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett says he wants to put 150 more police officers on the street by the end of 2019, many on foot patrols in small areas. Police Chief Bryan Roach is aiming to have 80 such beats next year, up from 19 now. On the city’s troubled northwest side, a group of ministers and former gang members known as the Ten Point Coalition has earned national recognition for its efforts. Four nights a week, they walk their streets, talking to young people and trying to point them away from trouble. Sometimes that’s through a basketball league. Other times it’s introducing them to the Job Corps, where they can learn trades and later get work. In 2015, the ZIP code where they are focusing their efforts saw 24 homicides. Last year there were nine. “We can’t stop them from doing wrong,” says team leader Wallace Nash. “But we can encourage them to do something else.” John Hagedorn, a criminology professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the crime is driven by poverty, chronic joblessness and hopelessness, especially in black communities in the Rust Belt. Cities along the coasts with less violence have seen more investment citywide, not just in the downtowns. In those places, wealth is more widely distributed and there is less racial isolation, he said. “There’s a degree of hope that takes place in these communities where violence is low,” he said. “There’s a sense that life isn’t over.”
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XXXTentacion to be released from jail on house arrest The saga of XXXTentacion — whose rise as one of the year’s biggest breakout rappers is overshadowed by a felony domestic violence case — continues. He was released from jail days after being taken into custody for violating his bond. A judge ordered the MC to be released from custody and placed under house arrest on Wednesday, according to court records.   The South Florida native, born Jahseh Onfroy, had been sent back to jail on F…
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Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Denise Brown has something in common with all the parents whose children’s photos hang from her office wall. “There’s no getting over this. Ever,” she said. It was March 1, 2012, when Brown got the devastating news that her brother had died after a battle with cancer. Her grief still fresh, her phone rang again just a few hours later. This time the person on the other end told her son had been shot. “I…
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A cyberattack slowed county government to a crawl Wednesday in North Carolina’s most populous metro area as deputies processed jail inmates by hand, the tax office turned away electronic payments and building code inspectors switched to paper records. Data was frozen on dozens of Mecklenburg County servers after one of its employees opened an email attachment carrying malicious software earlier this week. County manager Dena Diorio said late Wednesday that the county will not pay the $23,000 de…
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Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez met with the media outside of Jackson Memorial Hospital, giving an update on the officer who was shot in a Walmart parking lot and a passionate plea to end gun violence. (Published 1 minute ago) Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez met with the media …
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BEIRUT (AP) — Muslims across the Middle East warned Wednesday of disastrous consequences after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but in a region more divided than ever, many asked what leaders can do beyond the vehement rhetoric. Arab powerhouses are mired in their own internal troubles, their populations tired of wars, and the days when Arab leaders could challenge the United States in a meaningful way are long gone. Beyond the eruption of protests and po…
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The House overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to kill a resolution from a liberal Democratic lawmaker to impeach President Donald Trump as most Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the move. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, said Trump had associated his presidency with causes rooted in bigotry and racism. To back his claim accusing Trump of high misdemeanors, Green cited incidents such as Trump’s blaming both sides for violence at a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his rec…
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Port St. Joe Jr./Sr. High School’s Student Government Association presented Tiffany Carr, President of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, with a check for $800 last week in Tallahassee. The money was raised through the sale of the 2017 Homecoming T-Shirts and will be used to assist children living in domestic violence shelters in the Miami/Key West area who were impacted by Hurricane Irma….
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Yemeni rebels killed their erstwhile ally Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s former president and strongman, as their forces battled for control of the capital, Sanaa, officials said. The collapse of their alliance throws Yemen’s nearly 3-year-old civil war into unpredictable new chaos. The circumstances of Saleh’s death were unclear but Houthi officials said their forces caught up with him as he tried to flee Sanaa. A video circulating online purported to show Saleh’s body, his eyes open but gl…
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A white nationalist who says he pepper-sprayed a demonstrator in self-defense on the campus of the University of Virginia has been granted bond. Local media outlets report that 37-year-old Christopher Cantwell of Keene, New Hampshire, was given $25,000 secured bond at a hearing Monday in Albemarle Circuit Court. He will have home electronic monitoring and must stay in Virginia. The Daily Progress reports that Cantwell will not be released until he can find a court-approved home in Virginia. Can…
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An unruly UM fan has struck a plea deal with authorities related to the violent altercation with an officer. NBC 6’s Jamie Guirola reports. A woman who was punched by an officer as she was being carried out of a Miami Hurricanes game at Hard Rock Stadium last month in a drunken incident that was caught on camera will be serving 50 hours of community service and must attend an anger management course as part of a deal reached with prosecutors Monday. Bridget Freitas, 30, will also pay a $100 fin…
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Part I: Reimagining Gender Violence Home > University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review > Vol. 5 > Iss. 2 (2015) Rashmi Goel Tamara R. Lave, University of Miami School of LawFollow Elizabeth MacDowell Adele Morrison Rashmi Goel et al., Panel on Problematizing Assumptions About Gender Violence (Transcript), 5 U. Miami Race & Soc. Just. L. Rev. 347 (2015) Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umrsjlr/vol5/iss2/12…
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Violence erupted in a Miami supermarket over the weekend after migrants campaigned against a peace process near a voter registration booth. A supporter of the opposition led by controversial former President Alvaro Uribe said in a video recorded at a local hospital that he would file charges over the incident. The peace process with the Marxist rebels is controversial, particularly among conservative voters. Opposition supporter Mario Gallo was the first to report the violence. He claimed secur…
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