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Police are searching for a suspect after a deadly shooting at a Florida mall

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

(CNN) — Police continue to search for the person suspected of opening fire inside an Ocala, Florida, mall, on Saturday, killing one person and wounding another on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken on Saturday said police believe the shooting was a targeted act of violence. One man – identified as 40-year-old David Nathaniel Barron – was found dead from gunshot wounds in a common areainside the mall, police said, while a woman wounded in the leg is expected to survive.The suspect fled the mall on footafter the shooting, police said Saturday, and Balken described him as a Black man wearing black pants, a hoodie and a black mask.The incident unfolded at the Paddock Mall just two days before Christmas, on a day analysts expected to be second only to Black Friday thanks to consumers doing their last-minute shopping – further underscoring how pervasive gun violence has become in America as it seeps into nearly every venue of day-to-day life.Indee...

Florida woman celebrated for over 50 years as McDonald’s employee

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WSVN) – A Florida woman worked for McDonald’s since the 1970s and she’s lovin’ it. Now, she was celebrated for her years of service.Inside a Fort Pierce McDonald’s, there’s a one-of-a-kind treasure on the Treasure Coast.Barbara Cramer has worked for the company for 53 years.“We are proud to have you as part of our family,” Ricky Wade, owner of the Fort Pierce franchise. “We are honored to celebrate this special moment with you.”A celebration of service was held on Thursday as Cramer showed love for those who make this restaurant run.When asked what it all meant to her, Cramer got emotional. “Everything,” she said. “Sorry, I just love it here.”Cramer’s beginnings started there in 1970.“I just applied for the school board and then the next day I applied here at this store and they called me first,” said Cramer. “So I came here and I winded up you know, working ...

Cardinal O’Malley joins Pine Street Inn residents for Christmas Eve: ‘We never turn anyone away’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

While millions of Americans travel to gather with family and friends or wait for relatives to arrive in order to ring in the Christmas holiday, there are thousands of Bostonians who spent Christmas Eve away from loved ones and in a homeless shelter.It’s the exact same position into which Jesus Christ was born, Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley said Sunday before he went into the Pine Street Inn‘s Harrison Avenue location to feed the hundreds of men and women without anywhere else to go on Christmas.“Christmas time, of course, is a very symbolic time. Our savior was born in homelessness: there was no room at the inn in Bethlehem. Thank god, there is always room at the Pine Street Inn,” O’Malley said.According to volunteers at the Inn, they will provide over 1,000 meals to their various properties this holiday season. For many, this year’s dinner of lasagna al forno, Caesar salad, fresh baked garlic bread, and assorted pies, may be the only meal they will get to enjoy i...

The Menino family toy drive celebrates 30 years: More than 300 families receive gifts on Christmas Eve

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

The annual Menino family toy drive celebrated 30 years on Sunday, as more than 300 families received gifts on Christmas Eve.In honor of Boston’s late Mayor Thomas M. Menino, city leaders, community members and institutional partners joined the Menino family and marked the 30th year of giving to neighbors in the Bowdoin-Geneva area of the city.The toy drive on Sunday distributed gifts to more than 300 families at the Catholic Charities Teen Center at St. Peter’s in Dorchester.Dorchester’s Shanya Dos Santos smiles with Santa at the 30th year of the Menino annual toy drive held at Catholic Charities Teen Center in Dorchester on Sunday. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)Milford’s Lily Falarano takes a quick break from volunteering after the rush at the toy drive. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)Dorchester’s 4-year-old Eros Da Silva smiles as he carries the large bag of gifts he picked up from the toy drive. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)Canton̵...

Minor earthquakes rattle Hawaii’s Big Island, Puget Sound area, with no damage reported

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

Hundreds of people reported feeling minor earthquakes of similar intensity on Hawaii’s Big Island and on the Olympic Peninsula northwest of Seattle, but no damage was reported.The earthquakes Saturday afternoon in Hawaii and Sunday morning in Washington state were over 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) apart and apparently unrelated.A magnitude 4.1 quake struck around 4:30 p.m. Saturday nine miles (14 kilometers) southwest of Volcano off the southeastern coast of the island of Hawaii.The quake was too small to generate a tsunami, according to the National Weather Service U.S. Tsunami Warning System.However, dozens reported feeling it through the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was in the area of Kilauea, a volcano that erupted for several weeks before quieting in September.Shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday, dozens more people in the Puget Sound area reported feeling a magnitude 4.0 quake centered on the northeastern Olympic Peninsula 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Seattle.A ma...

Thousands join migrant caravan in Mexico ahead of Secretary of State Blinken’s visit to the capital

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — A sprawling caravan of migrants from Central America, Venezuela, Cuba and other countries trekked through Mexico on Sunday, heading toward the U.S. border. The procession came just days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Mexico City to hammer out new agreements to control the surge of migrants seeking entry into the United States.The caravan, estimated at around 6,000 people, many of them families with young children, is the largest in more than a year, a clear indication that joint efforts by the Biden administration and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government to deter migration are falling short. The Christmas Eve caravan departed from the city of Tapachula, near the country’s southern border with Guatemala. Security forces looked on in what appeared to be a repeat of past tactics when authorities waited for the marchers to tire out and then offered them a form of temporary legal status that is used by many to contin...

Police in Serbia fire tear gas at election protesters threatening to storm capital’s city hall

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Police in Serbia fired tear gas to prevent hundreds of opposition supporters from entering the capital’s city council building Sunday in protest of what election observers said were widespread vote irregularities during a general election last weekend. The country’s populist authorities have denied rigging the vote. President Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday that those claims were blatant ”lies” promoted by the political opposition. Shielded riot police barricaded themselves inside Belgrade’s city hall, firing tear gas as hundreds of opposition protesters broke windows on the entrance of the downtown building.The protesters shouted “Open the door” and “Thieves,” as they also pelted the building with eggs. Some chanted “Vucic is Putin,” comparing the Serbian president with Russia’s leader.There were no immediate reports of injuries.The Associated Press

Three men shot in New Orleans’ French Quarter

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Three men were shot and wounded early Sunday in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The New Orleans Police Department said the gunfire rang out at 2:09 a.m. at an intersection in the busy neighborhood frequented by tourists, WVUE-TV reported. Two of the men were shot in the legs and a third was shot in the back.Police said the shooting began after a fight between the men who were shot and a fourth man. It was not immediately clear whether police had identified or apprehended the shooter.The group separated initially, but the fourth man followed the others and another argument began, police told the news outlet. The fourth man then took out a gun and fired at the other three men. The shooting victims were transported to a hospital for treatment. Police did not disclose the ages of the men or the status of their condition. The Associated Press

Evictions ‘catastrophic’ for B.C. seniors who lose affordable homes: seniors advocate

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia seniors who face eviction from long-term, affordable rental housing face “catastrophic” consequences and a growing number of older residents are at risk of becoming homeless, says the province’s seniors advocate. Everyone deserves to be adequately housed, Isobel Mackenzie said in an interview with The Canadian Press, but she noted the growing need for homes earmarked for seniors has become particularly dire for those with low, fixed incomes during what should be their golden years. Data compiled and released by Metro Vancouver this month show the BC Housing wait-list for social housing has 18,865 households on it, with seniors and families in most need. That’s a 27 per cent jump from 2022, and although the BC Housing wait-list doesn’t provide the full picture across the province for social housing needs, the increase doesn’t surprise Mackenzie.  She said as more people retire and start collecting old age security, Canad...

Officer hosts annual toy giveaway on Christmas Eve

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:47 GMT

CHICAGO — For 15 years, Chicago Police Department Officer Daliah Goree Keys has hosted a giveaway.It's an off-duty extension of on-duty service that began covering the Englewood district. 10th annual ‘Breakfast with Santa’ takes place in Garfield Park "We started off small," Goree Keys said. "What happened is that we started to get close to the women in the shelter and so we just picked up the idea that we would do Christmas every year for the women and it just went from shelters to out on the streets to my pastor opened his doors."The event is now a tradition and much larger.On Christmas Eve, 2,000 donated toys were given away at APC Morgan Park to hundreds of kids. "We want them to pick what they want, just to tell the parents to stand back and let them pick what they want cause that's what they want to play with," Goree Keys said. "And we tell them Santa brought it. Santa's out in the air so Mrs. Claus is coming to help Santa." Northwest Side church hosts Christmas party for ...