Mexico ( Young Female blogger - undercover tells her stories of the Mexican drug war )

Mexico's Blog del Narco Author is Revealed as a Young Woman

| Borderland Beat ReporterHavana Pura

Borderland Beat

Vaya Con Dios, "Lucy!" y Blog del Narco!

This story was produced in partnership with the Guardian, where a version of this story also appears.

Guardian version Rory Carroll , Texas Observer Melissa del Bosque

For three years Blog de Narco has chronicled Mexico's drug war with graphic images and shocking stories that few others dare show, drawing millions of readers, acclaim, denunciations – and speculation about its author's identity.

Blog del Narco, an internet sensation dubbed a "front-row seat" to Mexico's agony over drugs, has become a must-read for authorities, drug gangs and ordinary people because it lays bare, day after day, the horrific violence censored by the mainstream media.

The anonymous author has been a source of mystery, with Mexico wondering who he is and his motivation for such risky reporting.

Now in their first major interview since launching the blog, the author has spoken to the Guardian and the Texas Observer – and has revealed that she is, in fact, a young woman.

"I don't think people ever imagined it was a woman doing this," said the blogger, who asked to use pseudonym Lucy to protect her real identity.

"Who am I? I'm in my mid-20s, I live in northern Mexico, I'm a journalist. I'm a woman, I'm single, I have no children. And I love Mexico."

This is the first time Lucy has spoken directly about the motivations for running a blog which could cost her her life. In the early days, her male colleague who manages the technical side engaged in a few short, anonymous email exchanges with reporters, but neither has spoken out since.

The telephone interview was arranged through an anonymous intermediary. The Guardian then took steps to verify that Lucy was in control of the blog.

Iran News ( Mother pleads to UN to stop Iran from Executing her Son )

Iranian mother pleads to UN to stop Iran executing her son

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Published on Friday, 05 April 2013 11:22

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NCRI - A desperate Iranian mother has written to the United Nations begging them to try to overturn the 'unjust and tyrannical' death sentence on her political prisoner son.
Married father-of-one Gholamreza Khosravi, 47, is currently facing execution after almost six years in Tehran's Evin prison for giving financial support a to the Simaye Azadi television network.
His mother Beigom Yadi, 70, has now written to Ahmad Shahid, the UN's Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, urging him to try to save her son's life.
She wrote: "I thank you for your truthful report on Gholamreza and your efforts to solve his problem.
"However, these efforts haven’t had any results so far and the officials haven’t cancelled his unjust and tyrannical death sentence.
"As you mentioned in your report, should someone who has financially supported a television network be sentenced to death? Should his six year imprisonment be changed into a death penalty?
He has been in prison for over 5 years and considering his previous sentence, he must be released any time soon. However, he has been denied any visits and leave from prison.
"I request you and every person who respects the life of human beings to return Gholamreza to me and his family. I can assure you that if I was healthy enough, I would follow up his case but unfortunately I'm old and sick and live in the city of Isfahan."
In a separate letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Mrs Yadi added: "I thank you and your reporter Ahmad Shahid.
"He has been cruelly treated. He has spent 40 months in solitary confinement and sentenced to death confirmed by officials for financially providing a small amount to a television.
"The Iranian officials do not care for me and his family and we are not worth anything to them.
"Gholamreza’s life is at stake and my life is bound to him. I ask you to return him to me and his family. He has a wife and a 16-year-old son."

TUCSON Az ( Armed Citizen patrol - Free Shotguns handed out ) Walking Tall

Activist To Hand Out Shotguns In High-Crime Areas

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March 27, 2013 |

Photo via simonov/Flickr.

A Tucson, Ariz., activist said he plans to hand out free shotguns in three high-crime neighborhoods to help citizens and police deter criminal activity.
Shaun McClusky told the Tucson Weekly citizens will receive the shotgun, slugs, and a cleaning kit. They will undergo a background check and training class. McClusky said he has raised $12,000 for the program and plans to hand out three dozen break-action scatter guns.
McClusky is working with the Armed Citizen Project and said he will target the neighborhoods of Pueblo Gardens, Midvale Park, and Grant-Campbell. Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik, who lives in Campbell-Grant, called the plan "absolute lunacy," adding that "these people have lost their minds."
McClusky has questioned the city's funding level for the Tucson Police Department, calling for greater resources for officers.

Texas ( Big pot bust - 3.9 tons of Marijuana confiscated by Highway Patrol )

3.9 tons of marijuana confiscated by Texas Highway Patrol

By Mike Krumboltz, Yahoo! News

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By Mike Krumboltz, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 4 hrs ago

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Marijuana confiscated by the Texas Highway Patrol. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

For highway patrol officers, there's no such thing as a routine traffic stop. That adage was again proven true when a Texas Highway Patrol trooper pulled over a gas tanker to perform a routine visual inspection and discovered the tanker was carrying 3.9 tons of marijuana. It's unclear how the trooper was able to make the discovery.
[Related: Anonymous drug war blogger speaks about dangers of reporting]
In a news release, the Texas Department of Public Safety estimated the value of the confiscated pot at around $3.4 million. The truck driver was arrested and charged with possession. He's being held on $1 million bond. According to DPS spokesperson Sgt. Johnny Hernandez, more arrests may be forthcoming.
[Related: Connecticut drug bust nets about 100 suspects]
Hernandez told NBC News that the bust was "a big, significant seizure" and among the largest in recent memory. Earlier this year, federal law enforcement seized more than 14,000 pounds of marijuana along the Arizona-Mexico border. The estimated street value of the drugs was between $7 million and $12 million, according to News 4 Tucson.

San Diego ( A 24 yr old San Diego man dies at the dentist office in Temecula )

Man Dies After Wisdom Teeth Removed

By GILLIAN MOHNEY | ABC News – 2 hours 54 minutes ago

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  ABC News - Man Dies After Wisdom Teeth Removed (ABC News)

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The family of a 24-year-old California man who died unexpectedly after having had his wisdom teeth removed is questioning the medical care he received during the routine oral procedure.

After the surgery last month Marek Lapinski, a software developer from San Diego, experienced complications. According to the patient care report released by American Medical Response, Lapinski woke up coughing during the procedure and was given the powerful anesthetic propofol.
But his condition quickly deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospital, where he died three days later. His family and friends have questioned the treatment he received from Dr. Steven Paul, an oral surgeon in Temecula, Calif.
"What's most shocking is the healthy 24-year-old goes in for an operation as routine as having his wisdom teeth removed and dies in the process," Tony Keiser, a friend of the Lapinski family, told ABCNews.com. "It's inconceivable."
According to the patient care report, the paramedics said that Paul had told them that Lapinski woke up during the procedure, started coughing and was given propofol. When Lapinski stopped breathing, CPR was started and the paramedics were called.
After they arrived, according to the report, the paramedics found two pieces of surgical gauze in Lapinski's airway as they tried to intubate him.
"I really pray to God that there's a hell of an investigation on this," Keiser said.
Lapinski's mother, April Lapinski, told ABCNews.com that Paul had come to the hospital to apologize for what had happened.
"He did come, and he, you know, he said he was sorry," she said. "He didn't have any other explanations for me."
Paul has not commented on the case, but his attorney, Clark Hudson, released a statement that said in part: "Dr. Steven Paul has always provided the highest level of oral surgery care to his patients. ... However, safe as oral surgery is in today's environment, no surgical procedure is without risk."
According to the statement, immediate measures were taken to revive Lapinski after his condition began to deteriorate.
"The reason for the patient's decompensation is unknown. However, all standard protocols were followed," Hudson said.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office has scheduled an autopsy for later today.
April Lapinski told ABCNews.com that the family was waiting for the coroner's report before deciding if it would pursue legal action.
"Now we wake up every morning and can't believe it," she said. "it's just one big bad dream."

Federal Judge retires ( Montana Judge retires after sending racist E-mail about Obama )

Chief Judge Richard F. Cebull / AP

Written by

John S. Adams

Tribune capital bureau

HELENA — Former Montana Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull will fully retire on May 3, according to a statement published on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ website on Tuesday.
Cebull, who stepped down from full active service on March 18 to take senior status, was under investigation by a special committee of the 9th Circuit after he sent a racist email from his court chambers about President Barack Obama. The email contained a “joke” that implied that Obama’s mother had sex with a dog.
After the Great Falls Tribune uncovered the email Cebull admitted to sending it and later publicly apologized. Cebull subsequently asked 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski to initiate an investigation into whether his transmittal of the email constituted misconduct under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act.
Kim Abbott, of the Montana Human Rights Network, welcomed the news that Cebull would be fully stepping down next month. The network last year filed an official judicial misconduct complaint against Cebull and circulated a petition calling on the judge to resign.
“We filed the complaint because we believed the email Cebull sent called into question his ability to perform his duties impartially and he did violate judicial conduct rules,” Abbott said Wednesday. “We're happy that Montanans will be able to appear before a different judge, because Montanans deserve fairness. Women and people of color would have valid concerns appearing before judge Cebull.”
According to the statement published on the 9th Circuit’s website, the special committee conducted “a thorough and extensive investigation, interviewed numerous witnesses, considered voluminous documentation, including emails, and conducted an interview with Judge Cebull.”

Colorado ( District attorney shoots and kills intruder at home ) WTH?

Intruder shot dead at home of rural Colorado prosecutor

By Keith Coffman | Reuters – 14 hrs ago

By Keith Coffman

 

 

DENVER (Reuters) - An intruder who forced his way into the mountain home of a Colorado deputy district attorney was shot dead by either the prosecutor or her police officer husband, authorities said on Tuesday.
The shooting, shortly before midnight Monday, comes two weeks after Colorado's prisons director was slain as he answered the front door to his home, and two days after the district attorney of Kaufman County in Texas was found shot to death with his wife.
An assistant prosecutor in the Kaufman County district attorney's office was shot to death on January 31, and authorities have said both Texas murders and the March 19 slaying of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements appeared to be targeted killings rather than random acts of violence.
In light of the three previous cases, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is leading the probe into the latest shooting, which occurred in Hot Sulphur Springs, about 95 miles northwest of Denver.
"There are no apparent ties to recent shootings; however, investigators continue to pursue all possible leads and background information on this (dead) person," the bureau said in a written statement.
Authorities did not immediately release the names of the deputy prosecutor and her husband in connection with Monday night's shooting.
The deputy district attorney made a 911 emergency call and reported that a man was at her door "behaving very erratically," police said.
The prosecutor then told dispatchers that the stranger forced his way into her home. An altercation ensued inside and shots were fired, leaving the unidentified man dead, police said.
A spokeswoman for one of the agencies investigating the incident told Reuters that the prosecutor and her husband, himself a sheriff's deputy, both fired at the intruder, but it is too early in the probe to know who fired the fatal shot.
The Colorado prosecutor and her husband both suffered minor injuries and have been placed on paid leave pending the results of the investigation.
Clements, the state's prisons chief, was shot to death on March 19 when he answered the front door of his home near Monument, Colorado, about 45 miles south of Denver.
Authorities have matched the handgun used in Clements' slaying to the weapon used by a recent Colorado parolee, 28-year-old Evan Spencer Ebel, in a gun battle with police following a high-speed chase through Decatur, Texas, last month.
Investigators have named Ebel, a member of a white supremacist prison gang, as a suspect in the killing of Clements and in the death of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon, 27, who was found dead in suburban Denver two days earlier.

Ebel was killed in the shootout with Texas police. A search of his car turned up a pizza deliverer's shirt, visor, pizza box and heat bag.