Latest news with #Croft
Yahoo
an hour ago
- General
- Yahoo
Lakeland police, volunteer groups working to find man who went missing May 13
LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Lakeland police and a group of volunteers are working to find a man who has been missing for weeks. Frederick Blackwelder, 71, spent most of his time in south Lakeland, where he and other family members live, according to Lakeland Police. '[He] just visits family and attends church so that's the area that he usually stays in,' said Officer Stephanie Kerr, public information officer at Lakeland Police Department. In the wee hours of May 13, police said, Blackwelder was driving toward Bartow on 98 South at 540A. It was the last time his vehicle, a 2006 white Toyota Scion TC with Florida tag number 665-3VY, was seen. 'If the public could just review their videos and see if it's possible that he had been in the area, it would certainly help us in locating him,' Kerr said. Pinellas man blames error on state report for uptick in car insurance rates Volunteer search and recovery group, We Are The Essentials, is also helping to locate him in coordination with the police department. 'These areas in yellow are areas that we've searched,' said Shelley Croft, private investigator and volunteer with We Are The Essentials, pointing to a map app on her phone. Croft said the group uses a mapping system to track where they've gone and where they still need to go, starting at the missing person's last known location. 'We don't just go rogue and go out and start searching because you have to have a starting point,' said Croft. This weekend, We Are The Essentials partnered with Sunshine State Sonar to search 30 bodies of water but found no sign of Blackwelder. 'Everybody deserves that closure,' Croft said. 'The unknown is heartbreaking and devastating for families when they don't know where their loved one is.' Police said Blackwelder was reported missing May 24th after his family members returned from vacation and could not locate him. 'Somebody who is very close to him reported him missing, cares for him and loves him and would like to see him found,' Kerr said. She said no foul play is suspected at this time. Anyone with information and/or videos of Blackwelder's vehicle is urged to contact the Lakeland Police Department at 863-834-6966. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
West Australian
2 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
STORE WARS! Coles takes discounts fight to rival Woolworths with 12-week winter savings campaign
Coles is taking the fight for shoppers' stretched budgets back to rival Woolworths with a new winter savings campaign that looks set to escalate the supermarket store wars. The launch comes just weeks after Woolworths announced it would slash prices on hundreds of popular grocery items in a major cost-of-living move aimed at cutting into Coles' market. On May 14 it introduce a long-term campaign to lower shelf prices on almost 400 essential products both in-store and online, promising a family spending $150 on their weekly shop was likely to save about $15 each week when purchasing from the discounted range. Coles will respond to the price challenge on Monday when it will unveil plans to cut prices on 307 products under its Down Down promotion for 12 weeks across meat, bakery, dairy and pantry staples, with average savings of 19 per cent. The products includes Coles-branded lamb, pork, beef and chicken, Chobani and Danone yoghurts, Charlotte's Bakery pies, Kleenex tissues and Dove conditioner. The discounts, which the grocer says adds to more than 200 products already on Down Down prices, start from Wednesday. It will sweeten the deal to lure shoppers with its first Flybuys Activate Bonus Campaign that will give customers 10 times the points on more than 800 products in June, along with a range of cross savings promotions through its network of Liquorland stores. Coles chief commercial officer Anna Croft said the savings would help Australians find more value on their favourite products. 'This winter we're investing in bringing prices down to deliver immediate relief at the checkout to our customers,' Ms Croft said. 'Whether it's a leg of lamb roasting in the oven, a freezer full of batch-cooked meals, or a simple stir-fry to feed hungry mouths, Coles is helping households make meals they love at lowered prices.' The campaign aims to build on a continued preference for home cooking over dining out as consumers show few signs that recent interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank have given them greater confidence to loosen the purse strings. Coles will be hoping it also arrests a fall in the amount shoppers are spending on their weekly shop, a pattern experienced by both supermarket giants While delivering a 3.4 per cent jump in group-wide revenue to $10.4 billion for the March quarter in April, Coles chief executive Leah Weckert noted cash-strapped customers were cutting back on treats and buying less meat and bottled water. 'Our most popular and well-performing specials every week would be the ones that are the 40 and 50 per cent off,' she said. 'We are very aware that it's about two thirds of customers that are still battling to balance the household budget each week . . . and it's those customers that are really changing their behaviour.' Woolworths reported a similar rise in group-wide sales for the quarter but said cost-of-living pressures remained front of mind for shoppers. 'We're certainly seeing customers really resonate with those (promotions) that are deeper, so over the 40 per cent off mark is particularly popular,' chief executive Amanda Bardwell said at the time. Excluding fruit and vegetables and tobacco, average prices across its store network declined by 1.2 per cent in the first three months of 2025. But higher meat prices offset falls in the cost of long life categories such as pantry, snacking, freezer and everyday needs. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week showed inflation in the year to the end of April remained flat at 2.4 per cent but core inflation — which strips out price volatility — ticked up from 2.7 per cent to 2.8 per cent. The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages dipped in the 12 months to April to 3.1 per cent — down from 3.4 per in March — helped by a big fall in the cost of meat and seafood. Fruit and vegetable prices also dropped sharply in the month.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Bid to build 95 new homes in Croft given go ahead
Eleven acres (110, 000sq m) of fields south of the village of Croft in Leicestershire have been earmarked for 95 new homes, despite objections from residents. Estate agent Savills applied to Blaby District Council on behalf of developer Bellway Homes for outline planning permission to construct the new homes. The council received 18 objections to the plan, with concerns raised about the impact the extra homes would have on traffic in the small village, local services, wildlife and the environment. The authority has granted permission for the homes to built in principle, but the developer will need to submit more detailed plans to the council before any construction work can start. Agricultural land which will be lost to make way for the new homes is not considered high enough quality to block the application, the council said. The developer will be asked to make payments of more than £260,000 to support local services which will be put under extra pressure by the new homes. The contributions include £167,122 towards a new sports pitch, £73,568 to support GP services, £9,456 towards secondary schools, £2,267 towards refuse collection and £5,064 for the police.
The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Trump says he'll look at pardoning Whitmer kidnapping plot convicts
The Justice Department charged 14 people from an anti-government group called the Wolverine Watchmen in a plot to kidnap Whitmer for her role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and nine were convicted or pleaded guilty. Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Bear, Delaware, described as a ring leader of the group, got the longest prison sentence at more than 19 years. "I'll be honest with you," said Trump. "It looked to me like some people said some stupid things, you know, they were drinking and I think they said stupid things." Defense lawyers for Croft and Adam Fox, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence for kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, have accused the FBI of engaging in entrapment by infiltrating the group as informants and undercover agents. Last week, the Justice Department's new pardon attorney, Ed Martin, said he is going to take a "hard look" at the prison terms of Croft and Fox and describing the incident as "fed-knapping." "On the pardon front, we can't leave these guys behind," Martin said during an interview with The Breanna Morello Show. "In my opinion, these are victims just like January 6." On his first day in office for his second term, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 of his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol during a deadly riot on Jan. 6, 2021, aimed at stopping the certification of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden. Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump will 'take look' at pardons in Whitmer kidnapping plot
May 28 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday that he will consider pardoning four men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 because of tough COIVD-19 restrictions in the state. When asked in the White House's Oval Office, Trump said: "I'm going to look at it. It's been brought to my attention. I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I'll be honest with you." Trump added: "It looked to me like some people said some stupid things. They were drinking and I think they said stupid things. But I'll take a look at that, and a lot of people are asking me that question from both sides, actually. A lot of people think they got railroaded, and probably some people don't." On Oct. 8, 2020, the Justice Department arrested 13 people from an anti-government group called the Wolverine Watchmen in a plot to kidnap Whitmer. One week later, a 14th suspect was arrested and charged in Michigan state court. Six suspects were charged in federal court. The others can't be pardoned or have their sentences commuted by Trump because they are state cases. Typically, the Office of the Pardon Attorney reviews and investigates applications for clemency submitted to the Justice Department. The DOJ's new pardon attorney, Ed Martin Jr. said last week that he will take a "hard look" at two men serving long prison terms in this case: Barry Croft Jr. serving 20 years and Adam Fox serving 16 years. They are being held in a prison in Colorado. "On the pardon front, we can't leave these guys behind," Martin, who previous was one of Trump's personal attorneys, said on The Breanna Morello Show. "In my opinion, these are victims just like January 6." On his first day in office on Jan. 20, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 of his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol during a deadly riot on Jan. 6, 2021. They wanted to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden. Testimony during the federal trial revealed Fox, Croft and others, including FBI informants, went to northern Michigan, where they "cased" Whitmer's vacation home. The two men were convicted of conspiracy in federal court in 2022. Croft, a truck driver from Delaware who was considered the ringleader, also was convicted of a weapons charge. Defense lawyers for Croft and Fox have accused the FBI of engaging in entrapment by infiltrating the group as informants and undercover agents. In April, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed sentences for the two men. Other federal sentences were for Ty Garbin for 2 1/2 years and Kaleb Franks for four years. Bradon Caserta and Daniel Harris were found not guilty. Three others were convicted in state court in 2022 -- Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico. Bellar, who is the son-in-law of Musico, was given a seven-year sentence. Musico's sentence was 12 years and Morrison's 10 years. Two others pleaded guilty: Brian Higgins was given was a three-year sentence and Shawn Fix a minimum of three years. Not guilty were Eric Molton, Michael Null and William Noll in state court. Whitmer has not commented on the possible pardons. In 2020, Whitmer blamed some of the men's actions on Trump's rhetoric during his first term. She said Trump "refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups like these two Michigan militia groups" during a debate with Biden. The Democrat met with Trump at the White House on March 13 to discuss jobs. Trump praised her for "doing an excellent job." They also appeared a few weeks later to announce a new fighter jet mission at Selfridge Air Force Base, in Macomb County, Mich.
