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Alameda county board of supervisors launches investigation into Sophia Mason case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to authorize an independent investigation into the county’s handling of the case of Sophia Mason, an 8-year-old Hayward girl whose tragic death last year highlighted systemic failures in the way that the county’s Department of Child and Family Services handles reports of suspected child abuse.“This is not a situation any of us want to be confronted with,” said supervisor Elisa Marquez, whose district includes Hayward. “We can learn from this huge loss and do better.”The recommendation for an investigation — which will also “review best practices for conducting child welfare investigations” — was presented by District 1 Supervisor Lena Tam and passed unanimously.The vote — which comes nearly a year after the Bay Area News Group published its original investigation into DCFS’s slipshod handling of Sophia’s case — marked the first time that supervisors have discussed Sophia in a public meeting.County su...

Bay Area man charged with murdering pregnant Hayward woman in front of her 5-year-old son

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

OAKLAND — A 33-year-old man has been arrested after fleeing the Bay Area, where he allegedly killed the mother of his 5-year-old son and wounded her new romantic partner in front of the young boy, court records show.Vaughn Boatner, who has addresses listed in Suisun City and San Mateo, was charged with murder in the killing of 30-year-old Monique Aldrige and attempted murder for shooting her 28-year-old boyfriend, an Oakland resident who survived.Boatner, arrested Monday in Washington, was also charged with child abuse for allegedly subjecting the child to the horrifying crime scene, and with a felony count of illegal gun possession, court records show.Police say that while still hospitalized, the 28-year-old Oakland man told authorities why he believed Boatner committed the brazen shooting: Boatner had recently found out Aldrige was pregnant by her new beau and became enraged. An autopsy report confirmed she was in the early stages of pregnancy, according to court records.Boa...

Transcripts of Kissinger’s Calls Reveal His Culpability

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

President Richard Nixon was in rare form, though in reality, it was none too rare. “The whole goddamn Air Force over there farting around doing nothing,” he barked at his national security adviser Henry Kissinger during a phone call on December 9, 1970. He called for a huge increase in attacks in Cambodia. “I want it done!! Get them off their ass and get them to work now.”As Nixon rambled and ranted — calling for more strikes by bombers and helicopter gunships — Kissinger’s replies were short and clipped: “Right.” “Exactly.” “Absolutely, right.” We know this because, while Nixon was fuming about “assholes” who said there was a “crisis in Cambodia,” the conversation was being recorded. It wasn’t the secret White House taping system that finally laid Nixon low as part of the scandal that came to be known as Watergate, but Kissinger’s own clandestine eavesdropping system. Later, it was up to Kissinger’s secretary Judy Johnson to transcribe that night’s exchange and add in the sing...

U.S. Blamed the Press for Military Looting in Cambodia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

In September 1966, two U.S. helicopters crossed the border of South Vietnam and flew 20 miles into the neutral kingdom of Cambodia. Near the town of Snuol, they blasted a Cambodian army outpost with eight rockets, killing one soldier and wounding four others. The air assault was blamed on “pilot error,” and it was just one of many lethal U.S. helicopter attacks in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Three and a half years after the errant airstrike, U.S. forces would again attack Snuol, but this time it was no mistake. Instead, U.S. troops deliberately assaulted the town as part of America’s “Cambodian incursion,” an ill-fated invasion that President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, hoped would win the Vietnam War.A previously unrevealed military investigation — declassified in the 1980s but buried deep in the files of Vietnam War-era inspector general’s documents in the nation’s archives — shows that after U.S. soldiers were caught looting Snuol in May...

Notorious 1973 Attack Killed Many More Than Previously Known

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

Ny Sarim had lived through it all. Violence. Loss. Privation. Genocide.Her first husband was killed after Pol Pot’s murderous Khmer Rouge plunged Cambodia into a nightmare campaign of overwork, hunger, and murder that killed around 2 million people from 1975 to 1979. Four other family members died too — some of starvation, others by execution.“No one ever even had time to laugh. Life was so sad and hopeless,” she told The Intercept. It was enough suffering for a lifetime, but it couldn’t erase the memory of the night in August 1973 when her town became a charnel house. Ny was sleeping at home when the bombs started dropping on Neak Luong, 30 tons all at once. She had felt the ground tremble from nearby bombings in the past, but this strike by a massive B-52 Stratofortress aircraft hit the town squarely. “Not only did my house shake, but the earth shook,” she told The Intercept. “Those bombs were from the B-52s.” Many in the downtown market area where she worked during the ...

Survivors of Kissinger’s Secret War in Cambodia Reveal Unreported Mass Killings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

TA SOUS, Cambodia — At the end of a dusty path snaking through rice paddies lives a woman who survived multiple U.S. airstrikes as a child.Round-faced and just over 5 feet tall in plastic sandals, Meas Lorn lost an older brother to a helicopter gunship attack and an uncle and cousins to artillery fire. For decades, one question haunted her: “I still wonder why those aircraft always attacked in this area. Why did they drop bombs here?”The U.S. carpet bombing of Cambodia between 1969 and 1973 has been well documented, but its architect, former national security adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who will turn 100 on Saturday, bears responsibility for more violence than has been previously reported. An investigation by The Intercept provides evidence of previously unreported attacks that killed or wounded hundreds of Cambodian civilians during Kissinger’s tenure in the White House. When questioned about his culpability for these deaths, Kissinger responded with sarcasm and...

Cotton Nash, 3-time All-American at Kentucky who played in the NBA and MLB, dies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Charles “Cotton” Nash, a three-time All-America forward at Kentucky who played in the NBA, ABA and Major League Baseball, has died. He was 80.The school announced Nash’s death on Tuesday after being informed by his son, Patrick, but did not specify a cause.Nicknamed “Cotton” as a child in reference to his bright blond hair, the versatile Nash averaged 22.7 points and 12.3 rebounds over 78 games from 1962-64. His 1,770 points ranked first in school history at the end of his collegiate career and currently stand ninth. His 962 rebounds rank fifth.Nash went on to become one of just 13 players to appear in the NBA and the majors. Drafted 14th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1964, he played there and for the San Francisco Warriors during the ’64-’65 NBA season. Nash later played for the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels in 1967-68.Nash played nine seasons of professional baseball, including three in the majors with the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins as a first bas...

González hits 2-run double, Grandal homers as White Sox rally to top Guardians 4-2

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Romy González’s two-run double broke a seventh-inning tie and sent the Chicago White Sox to a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night.González snapped a 2-2 tie with his hard hit off rookie Logan Allen (1-2), who was probably left in the game one batter too many by manager Terry Francona.Yasmani Grandal homered for the White Sox, who started 7-21 but have won six of eight to stay within striking distance in the wide open and winnable AL Central.Chicago’s rally helped Dylan Cease (3-3) win for the first time since April 10 — a span of eight starts. The right-hander went six innings, Keynan Middleton and Joe Kelly pitched an inning apiece and Kendall Graveman worked the ninth for his fourth save.Rookie Will Brennan hit a solo homer for the Guardians.Josh Naylor’s RBI double in the sixth gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead, but the White Sox countered with three runs in the seventh.Allen gave up a leadoff single to Andrew Vaughn and Andrew Beninte...

NFL expects fewer kickoff returns with new fair catch rule inside 25

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The NFL has pushed the kickoff return further toward irrelevance with a priority on player safety.The existence of the kickoff itself remains under careful review. League owners voted Tuesday for a one-year trial of an enhanced touchback rule that will give the receiving team the ball at its own 25 with a fair catch of a kickoff anywhere behind that yard line. “There’ll be a lot more work to be done about how we can continue to evolve going forward,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “Can we continue to keep this play in an exciting way, but more importantly in a safe way? There’s a lot of work that’s going to be need to be done.”The proposal passed despite strong pushback from coaches and players across the league who argued the rule change will create uglier plays with squib and corner kicks that make fair catches impossible.“I’ve been in this for a long time. I’ve seen these type of health and safety discussions,” said Atlanta Falcons chief executive offi...

Más de 450 clérigos católicos abusaron de casi 2.000 menores en Illinois, según un informe estatal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:25 GMT

(CNN) — Más de 450 clérigos católicos adultos abusaron de casi 2.000 menores en el estado de Illinois durante un periodo de cerca de 90 años, según un informe publicado este martes por el fiscal general de Illinois, Kwame Raoul.“Este informe revela nombres e información detallada de 451 clérigos católicos y cofrades religiosos que abusaron de al menos 1.997 niños en todas las diócesis de Illinois”, escribió Raoul en un mensaje que acompañaba al informe.El papa Francisco amplía la ley de abusos sexuales de la Iglesia católica a los líderes laicosLa investigación identificó a 275 clérigos y cofrades presuntamente abusadores en la arquidiócesis de Chicago; 43 en la diócesis de Belleville; 69 en Joliet; 51 en Peoria; 24 en Rockford; y 32 en Springfield. Algunos acusados de abusos trabajaron en varias diócesis, lo que supone un total “discreto” de 451 acusados, según el informe.El informe afirma haber identificado a 149 agresores individuales que anteriormen...