Rise in homicides, other violent crimes in the Las Vegas Valley

MAY 21, 2015
 
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (FOX5)

Crime is on the rise in the Las Vegas Valley. In fact, it's gotten so bad the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday held a press conference to ask for the public's help.

“2015 is shaping up to be a very violent year in our community,” said Tom Roberts with Metro's Investigative Services Division.

There have been more than 250 shooting in Metro's jurisdiction so far this year, up 30 percent over this time last year.

“The first 16 days of this month, 13 people lost their lives in our community,” Roberts said.

Las Vegas police have investigated 45 homicides this year, many of them domestic.

“Family members and significant others know that there are issues in the home, but we as police don't, and so it's important for folks to bring that to the attention of the police or other advocates,” Roberts said.

There has also been a rise in gun violence. A third of the homicides police have investigated involved a firearm. Surprisingly, police attributed some of the violence to an improved economy.

“When we had the recession, we actually saw crime drop, and I think our economy is getting better and sometimes crime goes up,” Roberts said.

In response, police called for what they are calling a Season of Peace.

“We want people to come together in houses of worship, in fire stations, in places where they can come and gather and really have conversations that will lead us toward a peaceful outcome,” said Lt. Sasha Larkin with Metro's Gangs and Narcotics Bureau.

From June 8 through 15, Metro officers will meet with community members as part of Season of Peace efforts.

Police further said drug-related crimes have doubled since this time in 2014.

1 CONSTRUCTION WORKER KILLED, ANOTHER SERIOUSLY INJURED IN COVINGTON, LOUISIANA TRENCH COLLAPSE

MAY 21, 2015

COVINGTON, LA (WVUE)

One worker was killed and another was trapped but rescued Thursday following a trench collapse in Covington.
The incident happened at about 12:30 p.m. on Pinnacle Parkway just off of Highway 21. The workers were digging a 10-foot trench to be used for sewer and water when, for unknown reasons, it collapsed.  

 Most likely there were no braces to keep the walls from collapsing.  This is a contractor’s fault and he/she will be in serious trouble for this death and injury of the poor workers.

Baton Rouge resident Isidro Cigarroa Martinez, who turned 24 last week, was killed. Firefighters and other emergency responders worked for hours to recover his body from the site. An autopsy will be performed Friday.

The surviving man was airlifted to University Hospital. Coroner Charles Preston said he was alert and talking and will likely be OK. His name has not been released.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are investigating the incident.

Unfortunately contractors always cut corners to either save money or to expedite the work because they are behind, and so on.  The poor workers are the ones who pay the price with their own blood.  RIP.

ALMOST 40 MILLION BIRDS KILLED AND COUNTING. AVIAN FLU OUTBREAK TAKES POULTRY PRODUCERS INTO UNCHARTED TERRITORY.

MAY 21, 2015

The announcement from the USDA:

Since December 2014, the United States Department of Agriculture has confirmed several cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 in the Pacific, Central, and Mississippi flyways (or migratory bird paths). 

The disease has been found in wild birds, as well as in a few backyard and commercial poultry flocks. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections to be low. 

No human cases of these HPAI H5 viruses have been detected in the United States, Canada, or internationally.

An avian flu outbreak is sweeping across the Midwest at a frightening pace, ravaging chicken and turkey farms and leaving officials stumped about the virus's seemingly unstoppable spread.

Now reaching to 15 states, the outbreak has been detected at 174 farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Because there's no vaccine, infected and even healthy birds must be killed to try to stop the virus, forcing the killing of 38.9 million birds and counting, the USDA says.

The particular strain of avian flu, highly pathogenic H5N2, was first confirmed in a backyard flock in Washington state. While chickens and turkeys are highly susceptible to it, it is considered a low risk for transmission to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now officials are scrambling, trying to figure out how to dispose of millions of dead birds. Most of them are in Iowa, the largest egg producer in the U.S. and the one hardest hit by the outbreak. At one farm alone, Rembrandt Enterprises, some 5.5 million birds had to be destroyed.

"I've been in the landfill business probably 26 years, and I've never ever seen this kind of volume," said Randy Oldenkamp, director of the Northwest Iowa Area Solid Waste Agency. "And I hope I never do again."

Oldenkamp is accepting 100 loads of the birds for disposal at 15 tons a load. But other landfill managers are turning away the birds, fearing contamination and neighbors' complaints.

"It is a catastrophe," said Billy Duplechein, who works with Clean Harbors, the contractor hired by the federal government to do the cleanup. "Nobody wants to see this kind of stuff, but something has to be done."

The USDA believes the virus was brought to the Midwest by migratory water fowl via the Mississippi Flyway. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has admitted that the ongoing and quick spread could be "laterally spread" by people.

"We've had circumstances recently where folks have been using pond water, for example, to feed and to water their birds. Well, that's a problem because the pond water could be contaminated," Vilsack said. "We've had situations where folks are supposed to shower before they go into the facility, but the shower doesn't work, so they go in anyway."

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the poultry industry is in uncharted territory. The virus is "doing things we've never seen it do before," so scientists' understanding is very limited, he says.

"Influenza viruses have thought in the past to be transmitted by birds to birds in close contact and that it was only through that kind of transmission that we need to be concerned," Osterholm says. "Now we surely have a very dynamic situation in the Midwest. It's also a situation where we no longer can assume it's just migratory birds."

Other theories on the virus's rapid transmission include small rodents infiltrating facilities, contaminated feed and water or that the virus could even be airborne.

Vilsack and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad took to the media this week, begging landfills to take the birds before any more can be exposed. Farms are also burying the birds, composting them with wood chips and corn stover and burning them in five large mobile incinerators brought in by Clean Harbors. 

Officials are also considering taking mobile incinerators from farm to farm.

Northwest Iowa is hardest hit, thanks to its large egg-laying operations, and workers in white and yellow Tyvek suits, protective gear with a respirator, could be seen discarding the birds from barns.

Neighbors in the remote rural communities say they have noticed more trucks at the farms. And they've certainly noticed the putrid smell.

Dawn Cronk lives just a mile and a half south of Sunrise Farms, near Harris, Iowa, and drives home at midnight from her job working the late shift at a nursing home.

"I have the window down and all of a sudden there's just that distinct dead animal smell," she says. "And it's not just one dead animal, it's like you walked into a ... a decomposing lot. It's just that strong."

A huge incinerator is being set up at the Cherokee County landfill, and officials there plan to fire it up this week and have it burning for 24 hours a day. 

Although some hold out hope that the outbreak will die down this summer, when its harder for the virus to live in hot temperatures, others guess that states could be cleaning up for months or even years to come.

"That's the million-dollar question," Duplechein says. "We really don't know."

This story comes to us via Harvest Public Media.

2003 HARLEY DAVIDSON MOTORCYCLIST TRAVELING AT EXTREMELY HIGH SPEED AND NO HELMET CRASHES INTO A TREE AND REACHES HIS FINAL DESTINATION IN PORTLAND, MAINE

MAY 21, 2015

PORTLAND, MAINE (NEWS CENTER)

Portland Police Department officials confirmed a motorcyclist died when he crashed into a tree on Brighton Avenue Thursday morning.

Police said 38-year-old John Fontaine of Biddeford was driving his 2003 Harley Davidson when he crossed the center line and hit a tree.

Just before the crash, police said an officer saw a motorcyclist traveling at a very high speed on Brighton Avenue. The officer attempted a traffic stop, but lost sight of the motorcycle and shut off his sirens. Moments later, witnesses alerted the officer to the crash near Bradley Street.

Fontaine was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and that the 2003 Harley Davidson caught fire and was destroyed.

BLIND DRIVER? SEVERAL PEOPLE WERE HURT THURSDAY MORNING WHEN A CAR REAR-ENDED A STOPPED RIPTA BUS IN PROVIDENCE, RI

MAY 21, 2015

PROVIDENCE, RI

Several people were hurt Thursday morning when a car rear-ended a RIPTA bus in Providence.

It was the second accident involving a RIPTA bus in two days.

A car rear-ended the RIPTA bus while it was stopped at a red light at Dave Gavitt Way and Washington Street at about 11 a.m. Several passengers were rushed to a hospital with neck and back injuries.

Witness said the bus was stopped at traffic light, waiting to make a right turn when it was hit.

"I was at the red light, waiting for the red light, and then I just hear a noise and the guy hit the back of the (bus)," said Lamand Monchery, the RIPTA bus driver.

"I saw this bus just making a turn. That car over here came too close to the bus and he hit the bus. That car hit the bus," said John St. George, who witnessed the crash.

A woman was critically injured Wednesday afternoon when she became trapped under a RIPTA bus on Broad Street. Bobbie Moore of Coventry is being treated at Rhode Island Hospital. Her condition was unavailable Thursday.

A 9-year-old Providence girl on her way to school was struck and killed by a RIPTA bus in March. The bus driver was found not to be at fault.