US News – Pima Post

Two weeks notice: midterm election looms, here are your AZ debates

25Oct

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

2022 Midterm Election Cycle, Arizona News, IG, News, Politics, Top Stories, US News

Two weeks notice: midterm election looms, here are your AZ debates

This combination of photos shows Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters, left, and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., before a televised debate in Phoenix, Oct. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)Members of the media watch Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, left, and his Republican challenger Blake Masters, right, during a debate in Phoenix, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)Republican Senate challenger Blake Masters smiles on stage prior to a televised debate with Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and Libertarian candidate Marc Victor in Phoenix, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, left, smiles as he stands on stage with Republican challenger Blake Masters, right, prior to a televised debate in Phoenix, Thursday, Oc...

A ‘coward’ and a ‘conspiracy theorist’ walk into a bar and ask for your vote

25Oct

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

2022 Midterm Election Cycle, Arizona News, News, Politics, Top Stories, US News

A ‘coward’ and a ‘conspiracy theorist’ walk into a bar and ask for your vote

Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake arrives to a former President Donald Trump rally, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs speaks at a roundtable event in Phoenix, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. Hobbs announced Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, that her office's review of signatures turned in a week ago to refer the expansion of the state's private school voucher law to the ballot came up short of the nearly 119,000 that were needed. Hobbs is a Democrat running for governor who opposed the plan. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) Pima Post The Citizens Clean Elections Commission sponsors statewide and legislative debates. This Arizona election cycle has not lacked drama. Much of the dramatics were stirred up over the gubernatorial...

20Oct

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Briefs, DOJ, News, Top Stories, US News

BRIEF: Son convicted in shocking NYC murder-for-hire conspiracy over family real estate business

A federal jury in Brooklyn on Wednesday convicted Anthony Zottola, Sr. and Himen Ross of murder-for-hire conspiracy and murder-for-hire in the Oct. 4, 2018 killing of Sylvestor Zottola, 71, according to a DOJ press release. Bushawn Shelton, an additional co-conspirator, pleaded guilty to the same charges in August. The elder Zottola was killed as he waited for a cup of coffee at a McDonald's drive-thru in the Bronx. “Over the course of more than a year, the elderly victim, Sylvester Zottola, was stalked, beaten, and stabbed, never knowing who orchestrated the attacks. It was his own son, who was so determined to control the family’s lucrative real estate business that he hired a gang of hit men to murder his father,” said US Attorney Breon Peace. The release goes on to include t...

20Oct

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Arizona News, Briefs, DOJ, News, Top Stories, US News

BRIEF: former Tucson insurance agent sentenced for ‘elder fraud’

The DOJ announced Wednesday that Tucsonan Koreasa Maria Williams, 47, was sentenced on Sept. 30 after defrauding an 80-year-old client of over $1 million. Williams then used those funds in an effort to avoid criminal charges stemming from a previous annuity fraud scheme she was running. Williams' sentence includes 136 months in prison and requires restitution to be paid to her victims. This sentence will run concurrently with a 51-month sentence for her earlier annuity fraud scheme. More details are available in the full press release from the DOJ.

10Oct

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Finance, News, US News

FBI: Beware of SIM swapping

Brooke Brennan and Kevin SmithFBI Phoenix(623) 466-1999 ARIZONA—The FBI Phoenix Field Office wants to educate the public about the dangers of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) swapping by criminals to steal money from virtual currency accounts. How the scam works—Criminals first identify a victim who is likely to own large amounts of digital currency and obtain their phone number and mobile carrier. They then socially engineer a customer service representative to port the victim’s phone number to a SIM card and phone in their control. Once they obtain control, they will change the passwords to all accounts (email, cloud storage, and social media accounts) by using the password reset option. Criminals can defeat any SMS-based or mobile two-factor authentication on any user accounts...

10Oct

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Briefs, News, US News

BRIEF: Texas man drops contraband into prison via drone, pleads guilty

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham announced a man from Smithville, Texas has pleaded guilty to the charge of attempting to provide contraband to a prisoner. Bryant LeRay Henderson, 42, now faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Using drones to deliver contraband is a growing issue for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. A 44-year-old Houston man was charged for allegedly operating a drone over FCI Beaumont in east Texas. April saw a 30-year-old former inmate conspire to smuggle phones and tobacco into FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey. Last fall, three Atlanta men were sentenced to a year each in federal prison for smuggling contraband into Telfair State Prison using drones. “Contraband drone deliveries are quickly becoming the bane of prison officials’ existe...

BRIEF: Dow drops as grizzly markets get worse

26Sep

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Briefs, Business, News, Top Stories, US News

BRIEF: Dow drops as grizzly markets get worse

A red bear illustrating a downtrending stock market. (Courtesy of Encik Tekateki under license.) The last holdout of major indexes of the U.S. stock market has gone grizzly as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell into a bear market Monday. All other indexes continued to drop, extending a 5-day decline. According to NerdWallet.com, "a bear market is defined by a prolonged drop in investment prices — generally, a bear market happens when a broad market index falls by 20% or more from its most recent high." The Associated Press reports, "The S&P 500 fell 38.19 points to 3,665.04. The Nasdaq dropped 65 points to 10,802.92. The Dow lost 329.60 points to close at 29,260.81. It's now 20.5% below its all-time high set on Jan. 4. A drop of 20% or more from a recent peak is what Wall ...

BRIEF: Snowden granted Russian citizenship

26Sep

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Briefs, News, Politics, Top Stories, US News, World News

BRIEF: Snowden granted Russian citizenship

Edward Snowden receives the Sam Adams award for Intelligence Integrity on November 7, 2013, in Moscow. (Photo courtesy McZusatz under Attribution 3.0 Unported) Multiple sources are reporting Edward Snowden has been granted Russian citizenship. It has been 9 years since material leaked by Snowden was used by The Guardian in 2013 to reveal a top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) granted an order requiring Verizon to hand over data on all telephone calls in their system to the FBI over a 3-month period. According to the Guardian, "Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are n...

BP reaches $2.75M deal over Indiana refinery pollution

15Sep

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

AP, Business, News, Politics, Science, Top Stories, US News

BP reaches $2.75M deal over Indiana refinery pollution

FILE - The BP Whiting refinery in East Chicago, Ind., is shown on Sept. 21, 2017. Oil titan BP reached a $2.75 million settlement Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, over air pollution from its largest refinery after environmentalists complained of repeated emissions violations at the Whiting facility in Indiana. (DroneBase via AP, File) By JOHN FLESHERAP Environmental Writer TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Oil titan BP reached a $2.75 million settlement Thursday over air pollution from its largest refinery after environmentalists complained of repeated emissions violations at the Whiting facility in Indiana. The agreement is the second in the past year between advocacy groups and BP involving the refinery on the southwestern Lake Michigan shoreline between Hammond, Indiana, and Chicago. Both ...

Official: Idaho computer chip plant makes US more resilient

15Sep

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

AP, Business, News, Politics, Science, Top Stories, US News

Official: Idaho computer chip plant makes US more resilient

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony for Micron's planned $15 billion semiconductor plant in Boise, Idaho, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, and said that America needs to start making things with American parts and American labor. Granholm took part Monday in the groundbreaking for what by the end of the decade is expected to be the largest chipmaking cleanroom in the United States, covering 10 football fields and creating 17,000 American jobs. (AP Photo/Keith Ridler) By KEITH RIDLERAssociated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Chipmaker Micron's planned $15 billion investment in a new factory in the company's hometown of Boise will help protect the United States from the vulnerabilities of a globalized semiconductor market, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm sa...