Latest news with #Rawlings
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Man sentenced for string of armed robberies targeting Trinidad construction workers
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A D.C. man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for a series of armed robberies that prosecutors said targeted construction workers in the Trinidad neighborhood. The U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO) for the District of Columbia said that Franco Rawlings Jr., 24, was charged with two counts of armed robbery, one count of robbery and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to the charges. Fairfax County police searching for 3 involved in burglary, attempted burglary Court documents said that Rawlings and a co-conspirator worked together to rob Hispanic construction workers (whom they called 'Migos' in their texts) at gunpoint. According to evidence, on April 18, 2023, Rawlings approached a welder who was working at a home in the 1400 block of Montello Ave., NE, pointed a gun at him and demanded money. He stole the victim's wallet, which had $700 inside. On May 30, 2023, Rawlings and the co-conspirator approached two victims installing a deck in the 1300 block of Montello Ave. NE. They 'forced the victims into the basement, then to the ground at gunpoint.' The pair robbed the victims and then left. On June 27, 2023, Rawlings and the co-conspirator once again approached construction workers in Northeast D.C. Prosecutors said that they confronted three workers who were remodeling a home in the 1100 block of Owen Pl. NE. Rawlings was armed with a gun and ordered the victims to raise their hands. The duo stole money from the victims before escaping. DC Public Schools to ban cell phone use starting in 2025-26 school year One day later, on June 28, 2023, officers with the Metropolitan Police Department arrested Rawlings. They found a loaded handgun and clothing matching the clothing from surveillance footage during the robberies at his home. Rawlings has been in custody since then. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Los Angeles Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Corki's Embroidery closing after almost 60 years of personalizing gear and garments for the Newport Beach community
Corki's Embroidery took on a lot of custom jobs the other half-dozen or so other shops in the Newport Beach area wouldn't, which meant that over the years the business had many clients approach them with special orders carrying deep sentimental value. Employees recall one woman who came in carrying the wedding tuxedo of her husband, who had died at a young age. 'She wanted this inscription that we made inside the coat so he would be buried with her thoughts, that they would meet again. Stuff like that comes through the door, and you just sort of, 'Oof!'' seamstress Linda Pierce exclaimed. 'Yes, of course we'll do it!' Other memorable jobs were blankets customized with the names of children cared for by an orphanage and the sewing of American flags onto to the gear of beach volleyball pros April Ross and Jen Kessy ahead of their silver medal finish in the 2012 Olympics. Their work has helped people commemorate weddings, graduations, as well as countless other special moments and people over the course of their decades in business. Owner Barbara 'Corki' Rawlings told the Daily Pilot she has reveled in her role in the Newport Beach community. After celebrating her 90th birthday in 2024 and running her shop for 59 years, she's decided to close it at the end of June and settle into retirement. But that doesn't mean she's done sewing. She'll move her favorite vintage Singer 401A Slant-O-Matic from the store workshop to her desk at home alongside three other similar machines, she said. Rawlings has sold the building tucked away on Old Newport Boulevard she had been doing business out of. The commercial sized machine they used for high-volume orders will pass into the ownership of another local seamstress. 'I thought maybe somebody would buy the property and allow me to stay for a couple years while they're getting permits for tearing it down,' Rawlings said. 'And when I turned 90, I guess I just thought, 'Why?' And for me it was the right decision. No regrets.' Sewing is something threaded into the core of the business owner's upbringing. Some of Rawlings' earliest memories involved making garments 'at my mother's knee.' 'I worked the pedals on her sewing machine,' she said. 'She made all our kids' clothes. I made all my kids' clothes, drapes, everything.' Her mother was a teacher who eventually settled in Santa Ana. Through sewing and living in Orange County, Rawlings became involved in the boating community. She used to help the original owner of Nikki's Flags with orders for many of the yacht clubs in the Newport Beach area, and eventually bought that business in 1966. Rawlings sold the flag shop in 1994, but continued the embroidery store under her own name. 'The nautical part of it, I won't say came naturally; I had to learn it' Rawlings said. 'But it was easy. I loved the water. I loved the boating. And then it kind of turned into coaching.' She moved to a home at the Newport Sea Base in 1974, and became a scout leader for the Sea Scouts. She was also a volunteer for the Coast Guard, and has been a referee for NCAA rowing events for 26 years. She'll be in New Jersey as a guest referee for the Division I Women's championship in June. Two of her sons, Billy Rawlings and Bob Rawlings, help run the Newport Aquatic Center and the Sacramento State Aquatic Center, respectively. Another, Brian Rawlings, helped design Icebreaker Argus, a 68.5 meter long vessel built to explore polar waters. Yacht clubs have remained some of Rawlings' most loyal customers. Other longtime clients include local fire and police departments, as well as rowing teams and other aquatics programs at practically every high school in Coastal Orange County. So it's not unusual for Rawlings, Pierce and a third seamstress who has also been working with them for decades, Joyce Brownell, to find garments they personally stitched while they're out and about in the community. 'With the Junior lifeguard backpacks — I live on the Peninsula, so I can see [junior lifeguards] riding by on their bicycles, and I can go, 'Hey! I did that one!'' Pierce said. Pierce, Rawlings and Brownell take pride in their work, and have personally sacrificed to ensure everything that leaves their shop meets their standards. They've eaten the cost to replace garments inadvertently damaged by equipment malfunctions. And even when a swimming or rowing team shows up with a couple hundred blankets and polo shirts that need to be finished in a week or so, it's hard for them to say no and disappoint their clients. 'I spent many a night here, locked the doors and kept sewing,' Rawlings said. 'And I still love sewing. It's my own fault when that happens because I've said yes to something that was overwhelming or too much, and had to get it done.' 'But look at this! And look at these!' she continued while proudly holding up backpacks customized for the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguards and a folder of elaborately stitched designs in blue, gray, gold and practically every possible color of thread. Rawlings said their personal investment into each piece they make, and the relationships she built with the people she serves have been the key to her shop's longevity. She considers most of them her friends. 'I am obviously, and still, not very much of a businesswoman,' the founder of a store that has lasted almost six decades said. 'Friends brought in business, and it just expanded from there.' Humble beginnings founded on meaningful connections led Rawlings to a finale in a career she can bow out of proudly. In some ways, her decades in business mirrored the process of crafting a fine garment. 'A lot of the finished project depends on how you start; how you hoop, the backing you use, the overlay you use, whatever the material you're embroidering on requires,' she said. '... No puckering. you don't want pucker.'
BBC News
16-04-2025
- BBC News
Devon sculptor delighted as stolen animal heads found
A sculptor says it is "unbelievable" several pieces of artwork which were stolen from a farm have been found in "fairly good nick". Brendan Rawlings created a set of wooden animal head sculptures for a walking trail on Darts Farm in Topsham, Devon, which were then removed from their plinths in July 2024.A search for the artworks - which had been displayed at Glastonbury Festival before being taken to the farm - had been Rawlings said he was delighted when he received a phone call on Tuesday saying four of the nine heads had been found in a bin in Exeter. Mr Rawlings told BBC Radio Devon a man who ran a residential housing complex had found them in black plastic bags stuffed into a waste disposal unit."I then got a call from a mate of mine who is a police officer who said 'we've got four of your sculptures here', so they have found four of them," Mr Rawlings said."Where they've been for a year, I don't know, but we've got four out of nine which is a start."He added the heads appeared to be in "fairly good nick" and was looking forward to their return.
BBC News
13-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Blind Date with a Book business moves to shop after TikTok boom
A couple who set up an online business offering readers a "Blind Date with a Book" are opening a shop after going viral on Fir and Matt Rawlings, from Bournemouth, set up the Mysterious Bookcase in 2022, offering surprise gift-wrapped books based on reader's Rawlings said things really "blew up" when they began livestreaming their order and packaging process, with customers posting their own unboxing videos in couple say, as well as being able to meet customers, the new shop will mean they will get their house back, which is currently full of books. The service started out offering used books, but now offers a choice of new and old editions, all wrapped and packaged with tea, chocolates and a Fir said, in 2023, they tried out the TikTok Shop live broadcast feature and "it absolutely changed our lives".Mr Rawlings said: "People can place an order while we're live - we don't show them what the book is - I wrap it off screen, I pass it to Ali and she'll decorate it in front of the customer."They sometimes do an unboxing video that they will post on the TikTok shop, and it's just exploded from there."He said the business had developed from a "side-hustle" to a full-time business."There are so many people who want to see us and wander around a bookshop," he Fir said: "First and foremost, we will be a bookshop, people will be able to come and browse our shelves. "I think we will have a bookcase dedicated to our blind-date-with-a-book packages."They'll probably have little clues on the covers rather than just be decorated."The pair hope to continue their live streams when the shop opens in Westbourne in the Rawlings said: "At the moment we've got books everywhere at home, it will be nice to have that separation... and then we can come home and we've got our house back." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
The Onion
14-03-2025
- General
- The Onion
Report: More Americans Moving Away From Urban Areas For Rural Life Where They Have Escalating Feud With Beaver
CAMBRIDGE, MA—Suggesting the reversal of a longstanding historical trend towards urbanization, a report published Tuesday by researchers at Harvard University revealed that more Americans were moving away from cities to pursue a rural life where they have an escalating feud with a beaver. 'Our findings indicate there has been a 15% increase in Americans who trade the hustle and bustle of metropolitan life for an agrestic existence in which they dismantle a small beaver dam on their property, leading the determined rodent to seek retribution,' said the report's lead author, Keith Rawlings, noting that rising rents and concerns about crime had driven even long-term city dwellers to purchase a secluded woodland home whose walls, cabinets, and tables would ultimately be gnawed into a series of elaborate booby traps by the vengeful beaver and his family. 'More U.S. citizens are leaving behind the nightlife and cultural events of large urban centers, preferring to spend their disposable income on a faulty beaver-trapping kit, an eccentric exterminator who will end up poisoning himself, and a two-barrel shotgun they will use to destroy their remaining possessions in a desperate pursuit of the elusive semiaquatic mammal. While many say they miss the convenience and variety of cities, they nonetheless prefer a country life in which they realize the beaver would make the perfect mascot for the big ad campaign they've been working on and ultimately learn to live in peace with the creature.' Rawlings added that, by contrast, a relatively negligible number of Americans were choosing to leave rural areas in pursuit of an urban life in which they befriend a wise-cracking pigeon.
