Latest news with #Herrera
New York Post
3 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
My ‘puppy paws' trick works like a charm when I can't sleep — other people call them ‘T-Rex arms'
Who sleeps deeper or sweeter than a puppy? This essential truth is at the heart, or paw, of a viral sleeping hack. Pablo Herrera demonstrated the canine-inspired trick — also known as 'T-Rex arms' — on TikTok. Looking restless in his frightfully bright bedroom, the influencer rose, removed his pillow, and, folded his hands into paw position, tucking his wrists under his chest and settles down for sleep. 'This works like a charm, I don't know why,' he wrote in the caption for the video, which has amassed more than 2 million likes. Pablo Herrera demonstrated the canine-inspired trick — also known as 'T-Rex arms' — on TikTok. @pabloherreratk / TikTok But sleep experts have some thoughts on why puppy paws may pave the way to slumberland. 'If this position reduces anxious thoughts about sleep, it may be a helpful distraction,' psychiatrist and sleep medicine specialist Dr. Alex Dimitriu, MD, founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine, told The Post. 'Anything that has a calming effect, and takes your mind off of the 'why can't I fall asleep!??!' type of thinking is helpful.' Changing positions when you're feeling fitful can often operate as a reset button for the central nervous system, relieving pressure on joints and muscles, disrupting spiral thinking, and bringing the focus back to the body. The puppy paws position can be accessed by lying on the stomach or side and mimics the feeling of being contained and restrained as swaddled infants, creating a sense of comfort and subverting the body's stress response. Similar to the effects of a weighted blanket of gentle pressure therapy, puppy paws puts light compression on the torso, which can activate the body's 'rest and digest' mode. The hack is inspired by the deep, unbothered sleep of pups. shellybychowskishots – While Herrera ditches his pillow in pursuit of puppy paws, the hack is bettered by a bolster. To sleep max with the power of the paws, experts recommend placing a thin pillow or blanket under the arms to reduce wrist pressure and eliminate neck strain. Paw participants should unclench their fists, allowing their hands to relax. The hack is particularly effective for stomach sleepers who don't require as much mid-sleep shuffling to assume the puppy paws position. However, experts warn that there are drawbacks, or barks, to the benign-sounding puppy paws hack. 'Sleeping on your stomach is the most risky for breathing — the airway can be blocked and the diaphragm cannot move as well,' dentist and sleep expert Dr. Stephen Carstensen told The Post. He noted that the tucked-in hand positioning can cut off blood flow, leading to painful cramping or tingling. In that vein, experts caution the puppy paw curious to be mindful about excessive strain or pressure on the wrists. Indeed, the comments section of Herrera's post is rife with reports of waking up with numb hands and sore wrists, with some users suggesting the pose can contribute to the very real nightmare of arthritis and carpal tunnel. When it comes to puppy paw sleeping, if it doesn't feel right, it isn't right for you. 'There is little harm in this approach. However, it has not been studied or proven,' cautioned Dimitriu. He recommends that those struggling to sleep follow the protocol for more proven methods like Yoga Nidra meditation and the lauded military method.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Mexico State Ethics Commission settles with Cuba mayor
The New Mexico State Ethics Commission has reached a settlement with the mayor of the village of Cuba over alleged violations of the Governmental Conduct Act. 'Following an investigation, the Commission found reason to believe that [Mayor Denny Herrera] improperly benefitted from a village directive requiring employees to exclusively refuel Village vehicles' at a gas station Herrera owns, the commission wrote in a news release announcing the settlement Wednesday. Herrera, who is serving his first term as mayor, said in an interview Wednesday the directive was issued by 'prior administrations.' 'I should've caught it sooner, since Day 1,' he said. 'It's something that slipped by me, and it shouldn't happen.' Herrera said the village has long had a charge account at his gas station. 'Once this was brought up, I issued credit cards to everybody in the whole city and released an internal statement stating that they could purchase fuel at any location that accepted WEX cards,' he said. 'All we did was recommend that they purchase it within city limits if they could to keep the fuel tax in the city.' As part of the agreement, Herrera formally notified the village May 14 of his ownership interest in DDH Inc. Fuel Service Station 'and clarified that village employees are free to purchase fuel from any station that accepts WEX cards, in compliance with state and local procurement rules,' the news release states. Herrera also agreed to pay $2,500 to the state and $1,000 to the village within seven days of the agreement's execution. 'New Mexico's Governmental Conduct Act broadly prohibits a public officer from using the powers and resources of their public office to obtain a private benefit, and the Act specifically forbids public officers from selling goods, services or construction to public employees under their supervision,' the release states. 'The Commission works so that New Mexicans can trust that public officers will adhere to those basic principles.'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Man reportedly fires gun during road rage incident, Dalton police say
The Brief Dalton police arrested 22-year-old Alfredo Herrera, Jr. after he allegedly fired multiple shots during a road rage incident Friday afternoon. The confrontation began after Herrera performed a burnout near a pickup truck, prompting the driver to approach him before shots were fired. Herrera was quickly apprehended by police and is now facing two counts of aggravated assault and one count of discharging a firearm within city limits. DALTON, Ga. - A Dalton man is facing multiple charges after police say he fired several gunshots during a road rage incident in the downtown area Friday afternoon. What we know According to the Dalton Police Department, 22-year-old Alfredo Herrera, Jr. of Old Grade Road was arrested following the shooting, which occurred around 3 p.m. on East Morris Street near the railroad tracks. Investigators say the incident began after Herrera left the Crescent City Tavern in a Ford Mustang and began "laying drag" — spinning his tires and performing a burnout — on Depot Street. A man driving a pickup truck with his wife told police their vehicle may have been hit either by rocks kicked up from the burnout or by the Mustang itself. When the man got out to confront Herrera, he said Herrera pulled a handgun and racked the slide as if chambering a round. The driver returned to his vehicle, and Herrera allegedly fired several shots. Four shell casings were recovered from the scene. The victims were not injured and were unsure whether the shots were fired at them or into the air. Herrera fled the scene but was stopped at a traffic light on Glenwood Avenue moments later. Thanks to a 911 call from the victims and the proximity of a patrol officer, police were able to pull Herrera over and take him into custody without further incident. He is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of discharging a firearm within city limits.
The Herald Scotland
26-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Trump's border crackdown already delivering results. Will it last?
But there was no sign of smugglers or migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border that morning. Only two U.S. soldiers in a pick-up watching a downslope into Mexico littered with water bottles and clothes, the debris of a massive wave of migration that has all but dried up. "We were averaging 2,700 individuals a day," Herrera told USA TODAY, recalling the height of apprehensions in 2023. "Right now, just to give you a comparison, we're averaging between 60 and 70 individuals." President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal migration is evident everywhere at the U.S.-Mexico border, especially in Border Patrol's now-quiet El Paso Sector, which stretches 264 miles from West Texas through New Mexico. This used to be one of the busiest sections. Two years ago, at this hour, Herrera's radio would have crackled with intel as agents tracked migrants through the desert around Sunland Park, New Mexico, just outside El Paso, Texas. Groups were scaling the 30-foot steel border fence with rope ladders, or crawling through gaps sawed into the old steel mesh fencing, hundreds of people a day in a 20-mile stretch starting at the rugged mountainside of Mt. Cristo Rey. But Trump's mix of policies - deploying the military to the border, restricting asylum, publicizing deportations - have all made for powerful messaging. So far, it's held migration at bay. Herrera stopped to survey the landscape, beside an old obelisk monument marking the borderline. There are now 6,800 soldiers working alongside 17,000 Border Patrol agents at the southern border. In El Paso Sector, the soldiers staff half a dozen Stryker vehicles, whose high-tech optics let them surveil the desert terrain for miles. Even the land itself now belongs to the military, after Trump declared nearly 110,000 acres of New Mexico borderland a "national defense area." Sharp decline in border crossings At 6:49 a.m., a voice came through Herrera's radio - a possible migrant sighting at the base of the mountain. He jumped back into the driver's seat. Seconds later, the voice identified the suspect as a local resident. Agents aren't processing asylum-seekers anymore, Herrera said, not since President Joe Biden restricted access to asylum at the border in June 2024. That's when crossings at the border first began their sharp decline, a trend that accelerated after Trump took office. Since then, illegal crossings have plunged to the lowest level since record-keeping began. U.S. Border Patrol reported roughly 8,400 migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in April, the latest month for which data is available. A year ago, agents were apprehending roughly that many people every two days, and encounters nearly hit 129,000 in April 2024. In the El Paso Sector, where Herrera patrols, migrant encounters fell 93% in April to under 2,000 from more than 30,000 a year ago, he said. "We used to see groups of, you know, 20, 30 individuals just on the other side of the border," Herrera said. All quiet on the southern front Back then, he said, smugglers standing on high ground would "just watch whatever Border Patrol was doing and where our vehicles were deployed, so they can push migrants illegally into the country." Now, some agents are complaining of boredom, Herrera said jokingly - though the quiet radio made his point. He drove the borderline west, hugging the 30-foot fence where it begins at the base of the mountain. A black hen strutted in Mexico south of the steel bollards, in a neighborhood of Ciudad Juarez where some houses are built of plywood and palettes. An elaborate altar to the skeletal icon Santa Muerte faced north. Looking west, the fence climbed a mesa where soldiers in a Stryker vehicle surveilled the border. In good conditions, the vehicle's thermal optics are powerful enough to spot a mouse a mile away. Since Trump took office on Jan. 20, the military deployment at the southern border has cost some $525 million, according to The New York Times. Herrera pulled the Suburban to a stop west of the Santa Teresa port of entry, in a stretch of desert far from the urban footprint of Sunland Park. Soldiers had posted red-and-white warning signs roughly the size of a sheet of notebook paper, in English and Spanish, affixed to metal posts in the sand about 30 yards north of the border fence. "This Department of Defense property has been declared a restricted area," the signs read in tiny print. Migrants who cross illegally here can be charged with trespassing on what is now a military installation. On a stretch of borderline nearby, a rebar-and-rope ladder hung atop the 30-foot steel barrier, unbothered. Too soon to know if it will hold Smugglers and migrants often respond to significant policy shifts by adopting a wait-and-see approach. Migrant traffic dropped early in the first Trump administration, too, though not as dramatically, before climbing again. "It is definitely very, very early to know what's going to happen," Herrera said. "But the fact is," he said, "we need to always have this perfect balance between infrastructure, technology and personnel to address the different challenges we have with illegal immigration and any other illegal activity happening at the border." His radio buzzed again after 9 a.m. There were signs that a group of eight migrants had entered illegally the night before, during a dust storm that swept through El Paso and southern New Mexico. Thirteen hours later, they still hadn't been apprehended. "We're seeing a significant drop in comparison to the previous fiscal year in encounters," Herrera said. "But we haven't gained 100% control of the operations here for the El Paso Sector." Herrera drove past a stretch of southern New Mexico where the 30-foot steel bollards give way to 18-foot steel mesh. The cutouts made the shorter fence look like a patchwork quilt. Criminal organizations have been hurt by the border crackdown, he said. Migration "has become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise for the cartels," he said. "Their inability to cross individuals illegally, it's affecting them every single day." South of the fence, a man with a ski mask and hoodie quietly collected steel mesh squares, the ones that had been sawed out of the wall and discarded in the sand. Herrera said Border Patrol has a contractor whose job it is to repair the border fence all day. Meanwhile, the man loaded the squares onto the seat of his bike. He'd sell them for scrap, he said. Lauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@
USA Today
25-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Quiet on the southern front: A border agent's slow day shows Trump effect
Quiet on the southern front: A border agent's slow day shows Trump effect Illegal crossings at the southern border have declined by over 90% from a year ago. Show Caption Hide Caption How has Trump's border fared during his first 100 days? What we know. President Donald Trump promised 'mass deportations' during his campaign. Here's what we know about them 100 days in. SUNLAND PARK, N.M. ‒ Border Patrol agent Claudio Herrera steered his green-and-white Suburban up a rocky hillside, to an outcropping where migrant smugglers once lurked. It was 6:15 a.m. on a weekday in mid-May – a peak hour in what should have been peak season for illegal migration in southern New Mexico. But there was no sign of smugglers or migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border that morning. Only two U.S. soldiers in a pick-up watching a downslope into Mexico littered with water bottles and clothes, the debris of a massive wave of migration that has all but dried up. "We were averaging 2,700 individuals a day," Herrera told USA TODAY, recalling the height of apprehensions in 2023. "Right now, just to give you a comparison, we're averaging between 60 and 70 individuals." President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal migration is evident everywhere at the U.S.-Mexico border, especially in Border Patrol's now-quiet El Paso Sector, which stretches 264 miles from West Texas through New Mexico. This used to be one of the busiest sections. Two years ago, at this hour, Herrera's radio would have crackled with intel as agents tracked migrants through the desert around Sunland Park, New Mexico, just outside El Paso, Texas. Groups were scaling the 30-foot steel border fence with rope ladders, or crawling through gaps sawed into the old steel mesh fencing, hundreds of people a day in a 20-mile stretch starting at the rugged mountainside of Mt. Cristo Rey. But Trump's mix of policies – deploying the military to the border, restricting asylum, publicizing deportations – have all made for powerful messaging. So far, it's held migration at bay. Herrera stopped to survey the landscape, beside an old obelisk monument marking the borderline. There are now 6,800 soldiers working alongside 17,000 Border Patrol agents at the southern border. In El Paso Sector, the soldiers staff half a dozen Stryker vehicles, whose high-tech optics let them surveil the desert terrain for miles. Even the land itself now belongs to the military, after Trump declared nearly 110,000 acres of New Mexico borderland a "national defense area." Sharp decline in border crossings At 6:49 a.m., a voice came through Herrera's radio – a possible migrant sighting at the base of the mountain. He jumped back into the driver's seat. Seconds later, the voice identified the suspect as a local resident. Agents aren't processing asylum-seekers anymore, Herrera said, not since President Joe Biden restricted access to asylum at the border in June 2024. That's when crossings at the border first began their sharp decline, a trend that accelerated after Trump took office. Since then, illegal crossings have plunged to the lowest level since record-keeping began. U.S. Border Patrol reported roughly 8,400 migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in April, the latest month for which data is available. A year ago, agents were apprehending roughly that many people every two days, and encounters nearly hit 129,000 in April 2024. In the El Paso Sector, where Herrera patrols, migrant encounters fell 93% in April to under 2,000 from more than 30,000 a year ago, he said. "We used to see groups of, you know, 20, 30 individuals just on the other side of the border," Herrera said. All quiet on the southern front Back then, he said, smugglers standing on high ground would "just watch whatever Border Patrol was doing and where our vehicles were deployed, so they can push migrants illegally into the country." Now, some agents are complaining of boredom, Herrera said jokingly – though the quiet radio made his point. He drove the borderline west, hugging the 30-foot fence where it begins at the base of the mountain. A black hen strutted in Mexico south of the steel bollards, in a neighborhood of Ciudad Juárez where some houses are built of plywood and palettes. An elaborate altar to the skeletal icon Santa Muerte faced north. Looking west, the fence climbed a mesa where soldiers in a Stryker vehicle surveilled the border. In good conditions, the vehicle's thermal optics are powerful enough to spot a mouse a mile away. Since Trump took office on Jan. 20, the military deployment at the southern border has cost some $525 million, according to The New York Times. Herrera pulled the Suburban to a stop west of the Santa Teresa port of entry, in a stretch of desert far from the urban footprint of Sunland Park. Soldiers had posted red-and-white warning signs roughly the size of a sheet of notebook paper, in English and Spanish, affixed to metal posts in the sand about 30 yards north of the border fence. "This Department of Defense property has been declared a restricted area," the signs read in tiny print. Migrants who cross illegally here can be charged with trespassing on what is now a military installation. On a stretch of borderline nearby, a rebar-and-rope ladder hung atop the 30-foot steel barrier, unbothered. Too soon to know if it will hold Smugglers and migrants often respond to significant policy shifts by adopting a wait-and-see approach. Migrant traffic dropped early in the first Trump administration, too, though not as dramatically, before climbing again. "It is definitely very, very early to know what's going to happen," Herrera said. "But the fact is," he said, "we need to always have this perfect balance between infrastructure, technology and personnel to address the different challenges we have with illegal immigration and any other illegal activity happening at the border." His radio buzzed again after 9 a.m. There were signs that a group of eight migrants had entered illegally the night before, during a dust storm that swept through El Paso and southern New Mexico. Thirteen hours later, they still hadn't been apprehended. "We're seeing a significant drop in comparison to the previous fiscal year in encounters," Herrera said. "But we haven't gained 100% control of the operations here for the El Paso Sector." Herrera drove past a stretch of southern New Mexico where the 30-foot steel bollards give way to 18-foot steel mesh. The cutouts made the shorter fence look like a patchwork quilt. Criminal organizations have been hurt by the border crackdown, he said. Migration "has become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise for the cartels," he said. "Their inability to cross individuals illegally, it's affecting them every single day." South of the fence, a man with a ski mask and hoodie quietly collected steel mesh squares, the ones that had been sawed out of the wall and discarded in the sand. Herrera said Border Patrol has a contractor whose job it is to repair the border fence all day. Meanwhile, the man loaded the squares onto the seat of his bike. He'd sell them for scrap, he said. Lauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@
