Latest news with #RollingThunder
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Hundreds of motorcyclists undertake the Ride for Freedom
DIMONDALE, Mich. (WLNS) — Hundreds of motorcyclists rode from Dimondale to the State Capitol over the weekend for an event called 'Ride for Freedom,' a nationwide initiative bringing awareness to veterans, prisoners of war, and those who are missing in action. Rolling Thunder hosted the event, and just after noon, the bikers arrived at the Capitol to show the spirit of remembrance and unity. The Veterans Memorial Freedom Ride is a time to honor those who are lost. 'But there's one man here in town, Arthur Wright, disappeared Feb. 21, 1967,' said Doug Pickle, organizer of the event. 'He's still unknown, since then and right up till now, we're still keeping his name out there because he's unaccounted for.' But it goes deeper than that. The event is also an opportunity to hear the stories of those we have lost in the line of duty and a message to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice—that they deserve to heal from the pain of their past. Pickle, the organizer, says the event is designed to educate people about these veterans. 'And this is an area that everybody forgets. Nobody even knows what a POW is, to be honest with you. So, Rolling Thunder is here today,' said Pickle. 'To teach people what our POWs and MIAs, prisoners of war and missing in action, go through—what the families are going through. This is the importance of this rally today and this ride today. We're honoring everybody who's killed in the line of duty.' He also says he wants to give people a way to remember. 'Michigan POW/MIA memorial, and it's going to be in Mount Pleasant, Michigan,' said Pickle. 'It's gonna be every Michigan resident who was ever taken as a prisoner of war or missing in action from the Civil War all the way to present.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
City leaders defend crime-fighting efforts after FBI Director comments
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Police and some community leaders are responding this week after the FBI director called Memphis the 'homicide capital of America.' Just days after the FBI director Kash Patel dubbed the City of Memphis the homicide capital of America, questions arise as to how the city will respond to crack down on crime. 'I'm not going to misrepresent the issues; I want to be clear. We know that we have a crime problem in our community, but I also want everybody to know that we're turning the ship,' Memphis Mayor Paul Young said. City leaders and MPD top brass are rolling out the results of a sweeping law enforcement operation called Operation Rolling Thunder. They call it precision policing, resulting in the arrests of 160 people, including 50 known gang members. To the residents of Memphis, we hear you and we're taking action,' Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis said. 'Not with words, but with results.' 29 of 49 Rolling Thunder suspects already out of jail From MPD to a grassroots effort to stop crime. Community leaders from several different organizations are calling for a Memorial Day cease-fire and a campaign known as 'Put the Gun Down. And Stop the Killing.' 'It's affecting everyone from southeast Memphis, Cordova, Downtown, Midtown, everywhere. Everyone is getting affected by this senseless crime,' said Cam Mtenzi, founder of the House of Mtenzi. 'But I can say this. I'm a strong believer of hope. Faith!' 'Well, we are losing the battle. We have lost three, four generations to senseless gun violence, lack of education, drugs. And I feel like. It's time we must stand now. Our backs are against the wall,' said Keith Leachman, founder of Stop the Killing/Cut the Beef Community Development. Memphis mayor: 'The era of unchecked violence in our city is over' But some other leaders question some of the recent crime-fighting displays and efforts by MPD. Dr. Earl Fisher, senior pastor with Abyssinian Baptist Church, says he and others will be watching closely the actions of MPD as it tries to fight crime. 'We have to be careful and cautious not to confuse public safety with public relations,' Fisher said. 'I know many of us are cautious when we think about task forces, when you think about the specialized units and the history of what happened with Tyre Nichols, knowing that the DOJ is no longer investigating or providing oversight of the police department.' Fisher says the answer to crime and violence is not just hiring more police, but also addressing problems such as poverty and inequality. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Search for missing woman continues in Arkansas county
GREENE COUNTY, Ark. — The search for a former Tipton County woman reported missing continues. Jessica Paige Kemp, 32, who now lives in Paragould, Arkansas, was last seen alive on May 5, camping alone near Lake Ashbaugh in northeast Arkansas. 'We've searched everything. We've searched all those woods, we've searched all those woods,' said her mother, Sandy Kemp. Sandy Kemp was exhausted and frightened for the safety of her daughter, who is originally from Munford, Tennessee. Firefighter accused of domestic assault in Tipton County 'The last known read message was on May 5th. I texted her again, May 6, 6:30 in the morning, she has not opened a message since then,' said Sandy. Police found Kemp's abandoned car, and inside the car were her purse with items scattered. Her phone was recovered, but there was no sign of Kemp. 'We didn't hear anything from her. She stopped using her debit card, no responses from her to anybody, and we've always been a very, very close family, so we knew something was wrong,' Sandy said. 29 of 49 Rolling Thunder suspects already out of jail Jessica, also known as Paige, has been the focus of an intensive search effort over this 25,000-acre Wildlife Management Area. 'I'm very worried, very concerned, I'm sad and I'm missing my sister very much,' said Darnell Kemp, younger brother of Jessica. 'We're physically exhausted with the situation. We're just trying to get any help we possibly can to help bring her home,' said Paden Raburn, Jessica's fiancé. 'Somebody may have taken her at this time, we just don't know. I just want her found alive and I want her to come home,' said Sandy. According to Sandy Kemp, her daughter may be going through some emotional issues. Authorities are examining Jessica's cell phone for more information. If you know the whereabouts of Jessica Paige Kemp, you are urged to contact the Green County Sheriff's Office at 870-239-6343. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Memphis mayor: ‘The era of unchecked violence in our city is over'
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mayor Paul Young and Police Chief C. J. Davis touted results of recent crime-fighting operations in Memphis on Wednesday. 'The era of unchecked violence in our city is over,' Young said in a news conference focused on arrests made in the city's Rolling Thunder operation. City officials said Operation Rolling Thunder, which ran from April 23 to May 10, resulted in: Over 160 arrests, including 50 known gang members 15 illegal firearms seized, including a Glock switch and extended magazines Seizures of fentanyl and other dangerous narcotics 10 individuals indicted on federal charges, including six gang members A significant decrease in gang-related crimes during the operation's active period 'We don't plan on stopping here. This is just the beginning,' Chief Davis said. Young said the city began seeing a sharp increase in crime and homicides that resulted in 398 homicides in 2023. However, those numbers are down this year. 'We have a crime problem in our community. But I also want everyone to know that the ship is turning, and it's a very big ship,' Young said. Memphis Murder Map 2025 The news conference comes a few days after FBI Director Kash Patel told a Fox News host that Memphis was the 'homicide capital of the U.S.A,' and his agency would be sending additional resources to the city. It also comes on the same day that the Department of Justice announced it has closed its 'Biden-era' investigation into the Memphis Police Department and retracted its findings of constitutional violations. WREG tracked previously covered cases and found that at least 15 apprehended accused gang members have been charged with violent crimes once. In 2021, Tremayne Scales was 15 years old at the time. He was arrested after 16-year-old Emmit Beasley was killed during a funeral procession in north Memphis. Online records show Scales' charges were later dismissed, but the reason is unknown. Recently, two cousins, Martavious Jenkins and La' Cameron Jenkins, were arrested in a deadly domestic violence shooting in Cleoford last month. Young addressed the DOJ's decision at the news conference, saying, 'It really reaffirms the approach that we have embarked upon. It really doesn't change anything as far as our commitment to integrity in policing.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Los Angeles Times
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
In Pico Rivera senior league, where love of the game never gets old, softball is ‘better than medicine'
Infielder Eddie Castorena, 75, wore two braces under his Old Spice uniform, one for his knee and one for his back. Big Red catcher Tony Spallino, 67, was moving pretty well behind the plate, hoping he won't need a second hip replacement. His teammate Agustin Quezada, 83, limped through the dugout between innings, leaning on his bat as if it were a cane. 'When I first started, it was like, man, it smells like Bengay here,' said Big Red utilityman Ruben Enriquez. But there is no glory in compromise, and no thrill like blasting a ball into the gap and circling the bases, no matter how many paramedics it might take to get you home. So the games go on every Thursday at Smith Park in Pico Rivera, home of the Go-Getter softball league. 'I never played baseball before. Never. I learned here, and I love it,' said Isabel Enriquez, 73, who plays several positions for Big Red and made a sure-handed catch of a towering fly ball to left in a game against the Force. Reflexes are generally good and the bats still have some pop in them, for the most part, especially for players closer to 50 than 80. When it comes to chasing after a ball or sprinting the basepaths, the effort is there, even if the feet can't always deliver what the heart desires. 'I hope when I'm their age … I'll be flexible and be able to run down the basepath like that,' said Pico Rivera Mayor Johnny Garcia, who stopped by to take in some of the action in a league that's more than 30 years young. Lorenzo Sanchez, who pitched Rolling Thunder to a 14-2 win over the Warriors, wore a boyish smile and looked nothing like 83. He said that in 15 years of lacing up his cleats, he could only recall one minor muscle pull. 'I'm in good condition,' Sanchez boasted. 'I try to emphasize to my new players, go out with the grandkids, do some running and throw the ball back and forth,' said Rolling Thunder manager Gil Perez, 76. 'Some of them do and some of them don't.' Perez and his wife, Deborah, 71, who plays catcher, work out regularly. 'I'm doing 2½-minute planks,' said Deborah, referring to the exercise in which you get into a push-up position and hold it for as long as you can. 'So my core is pretty tight.' Several players encouraged me to get out of the press box and onto the field. I'd love to, I said. But I've had two knee replacements. That drew a sharp, one-word response from Dichosa 'Dee' Quezada, Agustin's wife and a loyal spectator who watches every game from a lawn chair behind the backstop. 'So?' she asked with a withering glare. I wouldn't be the first, Dichosa told me, saying there was a guy with two knee replacements on a team from Anaheim. In years past, one former Go-Getter used a walker to get to the field, swung a mean bat, and let a pinch-runner take over after she banged out a hit. And then there's Spallino, with the hip replacement, who told me he tried to come back too soon after his 2017 surgery. A little more rest did the trick and that hip is still holding up, Spallino said, 'but I'm having problems with the other one now.' The players have a sense of reassurance in knowing that former softballer Lupe Diaz, a retired registered nurse, comes to all the games with her first aid kit. Once, several years ago, there weren't enough tools in that kit. 'I remember it like it was yesterday,' Diaz said. 'I was catcher, and I was getting ready to throw the ball back when I saw this player lying on the ground in the outfield.' Diaz raced out and began CPR on the fallen fielder, whose heart had given out, while someone called 911. 'I brought him back and they carried him to the dugout,' she said. The player recovered at the hospital but died about two weeks later, as Diaz recalls. On Thursday, Big Red outfielder Art Montano, 77, swung at a pitch and missed. He ended up hammering a sharp single to right, but he was still frustrated by the earlier whiff. 'My vision's not like it used to be,' Montano said, and sometimes the brain isn't reacting quickly enough to messages sent by the eyes. 'Let's say the ball is pitched, and you're waiting on it, and the brain is telling you it's right there, but you can't pull the trigger.' In the Rolling Thunder rout of the Warriors, outfielder Uvaldo Davila showed off a slick glove and a strong arm, and after banging out a hit, he scampered around the bases to score. But back in the dugout, he said he's been battling a big challenge. 'I was diagnosed with Parkinson's about eight years ago,' said Davila, 64, who told me his hand tremors are getting worse, and his neurologist told him he may soon have some balance issues. 'I'm taking medicine,' Davila said, and he intends to keep playing as long as he can, because softball is 'better than medicine.' The Force, this season's strongest team, showed no mercy on Thursday, routing Big Red by a score of 21-1 to improve to 8-0. 'We have a lot of good hitters and no drama,' said Force journeyman Lee Wabash, 75. 'In the past, there were a lot of arguments. But this team has it together.' At one point, with nobody on base, a Force batter hit a routine grounder. Big Red's second baseman fielded it cleanly, but threw to second instead of first. 'Senior moment,' a disappointed Big Red teammate muttered in the dugout. In the sixth inning, several Big Red players noticed that their pitcher had gone missing. They looked around and spotted him in the parking lot, pedaling away on his bicycle. 'Rick!' one player called out, to no avail. 'He's going home,' said another. But two games remain in the regular season, so there's still time to find a groove. And then all six teams qualify for the playoffs. Anything can happen, said Ruben Enriquez, and just showing up to get some exercise and be with friends is a victory in itself. 'Better to play,' he said, 'than to rot away at home.'
