Latest news with #Sifuentes
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man wanted for drugs, firearms turned over to Mexican authorities at Stanton Bridge
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – A Mexican fugitive wanted in his home country for possessing methamphetamine and firearms was removed by deportation officers on Thursday, May 22, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a news release. ICE said that Miguel Sifuentes Jimenez, 36, was turned over to Mexican authorities on Thursday on top of the Stanton Street Bridge at the international boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. Sifuentes last illegally entered the U.S. in 2021 by walking across the U.S.-Mexico international boundary east of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, ICE said. ICE said that the following day, he was processed for removal and presented for prosecution. Upon time served, he was released by the Luna County Detention Center in Deming, New Mexico. Sifuentes was first ordered removed from the U.S. in 2013 and was removed to his home country days later from Calexico, California, ICE said. ICE said his criminal history in the U.S. includes convictions in California for felony robbery in 2008, for which he was sentenced to almost a year in jail; aggravated battery/spouse, a misdemeanor, in 2009, for which he was sentenced to serve 60 days in jail; and inflicting corporal injury spouse/cohabitation, a felony, in 2011, for which he received a two-year sentence. On Monday, May 12, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deportation officers encountered Sifuentes at the Eddy County Detention Center in Carlsbad, New Mexico, where he was serving time after being convicted for aggravated battery against a household member/strangulation or suffocation, ICE said. ICE said ERO lodged a detainer and arrested him when he was released from jail that same day. The following day, on May 13, he was charged with being in the country illegally. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Yahoo
Docs: Man kills wife, dumps body in Juarez due to affair
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – A 47-year-old man was recently arrested and charged with murder for allegedly strangling his wife to death and dumping her body in Juarez after knowing she 'cheated on him,' according to court documents obtained by KTSM. El Paso Police: Man charged with murder after woman's body found in Juarez According to court documents, Jorge Mares Raygoza, 47, was arrested on Friday, March 28, for killing his wife, later identified as Coral Llamas Sifuentes, 45. Sifuentes' body was found in a desert area off the side of a roadway near Mirador Camino Real — approximately 23 miles from the Ysleta port of entry — which is a park located in Juarez. Raygoza was charged with murder under a $1.25 million bond, El Paso Police said. According to court documents, on March 28, detectives from the El Paso Police Department's Crimes Against Persons unit were advised of a death investigation by the FBI. FBI investigators informed detectives of an unidentified body found in Juarez the morning of March 22, which showed signs of being strangled and sexually assaulted with 'an unknown object,' according to court documents. According to court documents, FBI investigators were notified by Mexican authorities after Raygoza came forward and said that the unidentified person was his wife. Raygoza said he was able to identify his wife after seeing a news release and identifying her shoes. Investigators found that Raygoza resides in Hobbs, New Mexico, while Sifuentes and their children live in El Paso. Raygoza was known to come to El Paso on the weekend to visit his family, according to court documents. According to court documents, investigators found that Sifuentes had been having an affair with an individual for around two years. Investigators were able to identify and interview the individual who said Raygoza recently knew of the affair on March 18. Sifuentes and the individual rented a hotel room together, and Raygoza began a video call with his wife. The video call alarmed Sifuentes as Raygoza 'had never called her using the video call feature,' according to court documents. According to court documents, after Sifuentes didn't answer the phone, she and the individual went their separate ways when Raygoza sent her a photograph of her vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel during the time she was with the individual. Later that same day, Sifuentes texted the individual, saying that Raygoza was aware of the affair. The individual said that his last contact with Sifuentes was on March 21, when they exchanged text messages, according to court documents. According to court documents, through investigation, it was found that Raygoza was captured via the Ysleta POE border crossing cameras at 5:49 p.m. on March 21, crossing into Juarez and driving Sifuentes' vehicle. The vehicle appeared to be clean as it drove into Juarez. Raygoza was then seen driving back into El Paso at 7:48 p.m., and Sifuentes' vehicle appeared to have been driven through desert terrain as it had dirt on the tires and appeared dusty, according to court documents. According to court documents, investigators further obtained screenshots of Raygoza's Google search history showing he was searching for a specific 'El Diario de Juarez' news article eight separate times between March 22-23. Raygoza later told investigators that he was not aware of the news article until March 25, when he was told by family members. Investigators with Crimes Against Persons met with Raygoza at his residence, and he voluntarily agreed to meet with investigators at the El Paso Police Department headquarters, according to court documents. According to court documents, Raygoza told investigators that on March 18, he tracked Sifuentes' location and learned that her vehicle was at a hotel. Raygoza asked a friend of his to drive to the hotel to take a picture of Sifuentes' vehicle, which was in the parking lot. Raygoza said he called Sifuentes through the video call feature for about 30 minutes, but she didn't answer, according to court documents. According to court documents, Raygoza said he continued tracking Sifuentes' location, which moved to a gym. Raygoza then sent Sifuentes the picture of her vehicle at the hotel and told her he knew what she was doing, and that they would talk about their future when he came back to El Paso. Raygoza said he arrived in El Paso on March 21 and drove directly to his residence. He said that the main reason for his return to El Paso was because of a job interview he had secured to be closer to his family, according to court documents. According to court documents, Raygoza said that he and Sifuentes 'engaged in sexual intercourse.' After the encounter, both of them walked into the living room and began to talk about Sifuentes' affair. Raygoza brought up the individual with whom Sifuentes was involved and wanted details of their relationship. However, Raygoza said Sifuentes didn't want to talk about the affair, which enraged Raygoza, and he 'lost it,' according to court documents. According to court documents, Raygoza told investigators that he strangled Sifuentes to death with both his hands for about 30 minutes due to all the rage and frustration he had against her. Raygoza said Sifuentes was unclothed when he killed her, and he dressed her fully to take her out of the residence, according to court documents. According to court documents, Raygoza said that he placed Sifuentes into the backseat of her vehicle in a seated position and left her in the driveway throughout the day. After returning home from his job interview, Raygoza said that he got into Sifuentes' vehicle and drove across the Ysleta POE into Juarez. He said he destroyed Sifuentes' phone and smart watch and threw them in Juarez, according to court documents. According to court documents, Raygoza said that he drove to a park located in Juarez where he dumped Sifuentes' body. After that, he proceeded with errands in the area, then drove back into the U.S. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
07-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Houston gets its 1st romance bookstore
Love stories have a new home in Houston. Mossrose Bookshop, the city's first bookstore dedicated to romance, opens Saturday. Why it matters: What began as a pop-up last spring has found a permanent home, marking a local success story and a nod to the rising popularity of romance books — and romance bookstores — nationwide. Zoom in: Mossrose Bookstore opens in Iron Works, the mixed-use business hub in the East End, offering a cozy space filled with indie titles, books in Spanish and romance across a variety of genres. Behind the scenes: Owner Andrea Sifuentes grew up on Moss Rose Street in the East End. She moved around in her adult years, and when she returned to Houston last year, she was shocked to see the lack of a bookstore in her neighborhood. "The whole time growing up, there was never a bookstore in my area, so I fully expected for things to have changed," Sifuentes says. "It really hadn't changed much. There weren't really new bookstores, none geared toward romance, none with an emphasis on any kind of Latina culture." So Sifuentes started a pop-up, making sure to include books in Spanish — and it was a hit. Now, Houston's romance readers will have a dedicated space to shop. Between the lines: Sifuentes prioritized diverse reads for her bookstore. Alongside mainstream titles, she highlights indie authors — especially those from Houston — seeking out books with strong representation of main characters and narratives. She also curates translated works and stories that explore family dynamics and platonic relationships. What they're saying: Sifuentes knows people read e-books and buy online, but she thinks there's still something special about browsing for your next read in person. "Seeing a book sitting in your home and reminding you of whatever it is that that book triggered for you, I think can be such a good moment, and I think also coming into a bookstore to find one of those books — that's the kind of a feeling that a lot of people resonate with," Sifuentes tells Axios. The big picture: Print sales of romance books have more than doubled in the last few years, with many people turning to the comfort and escape of a love story during the pandemic. Bookstores dedicated to the genre have been popping up from Dallas to Minneapolis and Denver. Now, even more niche shops are emerging, like a romantasy bookstore in Cleveland. The intrigue: Mossrose isn't Houston's first genre-specific bookstore. Murder By the Book, one of the nation's oldest and largest mystery-focused bookstores, has been a local staple since 1980. Stop by: Sifuentes is an attorney by day and a bookstore owner on the weekend, so Mossrose will initially open Saturdays and Sundays from 10am-6pm, with Friday afternoon hours likely to be added soon. The 300-square-foot shop will launch with over 500 books. Sifuentes hopes to add a listening station — a nod to the old-school Barnes & Noble days — and host events with authors, starting with a series of local author signings on opening weekend. Go deeper: Check out Sifuentes' book recommendations.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Yahoo
Glacier, Yellowstone notch second-highest visitation years on record
A NPS ranger monitors a packed parking lot at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park. (Image via NPS) Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park both welcomed the second highest number of visitors on record last year, according to visitation data released by the National Park Service late last month. More than 3,208,755 visitors passed through one of Glacier's entrances during 2024, nearly 300,000 more than in 2023. It was just the fourth year the number of visitors has eclipsed 3 million and came close to the 2017 record of 3.3 million. The boost in recreation visits came outside of the traditional busy season, with Glacier recording all-time record numbers in May, as well as in September and October, following the end of the vehicle reservation system that manages access to the popular destination and was in place between Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend. The reservation system, first adopted in 2021 to relieve pandemic-era congestions, has been widely deemed a success by park officials for helping staff manage numbers during the peak summer months. During its banner year in 2017, Glacier saw more than 1 million visitors in July and more than 900,000 in August. In 2024, those numbers moderated to 750,000 and 790,000 respectively. September and October numbers, however, have jumped 60% compared to 2017. 'The vehicle reservation pilot was able to manage the larger number of visitors in September by allowing visitors without a vehicle reservation to explore the Apgar area, enter through the St. Mary Entrance, where the park is less congested, and go to Two Medicine. Allowing visitors to access Apgar and the St. Mary Entrance spread visitors throughout the park, instead of visitors primarily accessing the West Entrance,' Glacier spokesperson Autumn Sifuentes told the Daily Montanan last year Glacier saw a substantial increase in visitation beginning in 2016, and park officials instigated the vehicle reservation system in 2021 as a pilot program. The reservation system has changed each year as officials have solicited feedback from visitors, concessionaires and local business owners, and different entrances and timeframes that require reservations have been tested in various iterations. In 2024, the pilot program removed the St. Mary entrance on the park's east side from the reservation system, and moved the check point to access Going-to-the-Sun Road on the west side past the Apgar Visitor Center, allowing visitors access to some park facilities and park shuttles without needing a reservation. Roughly half of the park's visitors enter through the West Entrance. 'Moving the vehicle reservation check point to the Apgar check point ... meant more visitors entered through the West Entrance,' Sifuentes told the Daily Montanan. 'The St. Mary Entrance had a larger spike in visitors than previous years, as a vehicle reservation was not required in 2024. Even with the increase in visitors, we were able to manage congestion issues without any closures.' In 2025, visitors will only need advanced reservations to access the North Fork area at Polebridge and the West Glacier entrance to the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Reservations will be required from June 13 through Sept. 28, to reflect shifting visitor patterns. There will also be a shift toward timed entry reservations at the Park's western entrances, letting visitors enter during a specific time block to further reduce congestion. Yellowstone National Park hosted 4,744,353 visitors last year, also the second highest year on record, according to National Park Service data. That marked a 5% increase from 2023 and was just 115,000 lower than in 2021, the park's record-setting year. Similar to Glacier, Yellowstone received a boost in visitor numbers beginning in 2015 and has recorded more than 4 million visitors every year since with two exceptions — 2020, when COVID-19 limited park operations, and in 2022 when historic flooding shut down the park during June. The popularity of Montana's two national parks helps anchor the state's recreation economy, which provided a more than $1.3 billion economic boost to to communities near the parks in 2023, according to a report released by the NPS last year. More data on park visitation, including how that National Park Service calculates these numbers, is available on the NPS Stats website.
CBS News
04-02-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Rejection rates are rising for loans and credit. Here's how to boost your approval odds.
ROCHESTER, Minn. — As interest rates and inflation remain high, more Americans are finding it tougher to get approved for new loans or credit. Rejection rates for credit cards, mortgages and auto loans all rose in 2024, and are all well above pre-pandemic levels. Rochester resident Ali Sifuentes knows what it's like to be denied credit. "It was surprising, I was very surprised," Sifuentes said. "I went through the paperwork of submitting my pay stubs and getting my credit checked." He was unable to get a car loan from his credit union with a credit score of 690. He's among a growing number of Americans who have been rejected. In the past 12 months, 48% of applicants faced a rejection on at least one loan application, according to a new Bankrate survey. Digging into these numbers, 45% of applicants with scores between 670 and 799 — which is considered to be good or very good credit — are being denied. So why is this happening? WCCO spoke with Sarah Foster, an analyst with Bankrate. "It's coming from the lender's side, where lenders are getting a little bit pickier about who they approve for loans," Foster said. "Lenders are seeing that they might be overleveraged right now. It could be why you're seeing those with good credit scores still facing a tougher lending environment and it could be why you're starting to see some lenders pull back just facing that risk." So, how are these denials affecting those trying to borrow? "Sixty-five percent of Americans who were rejected say that it negatively impacted their finances, and some of the sticking points for me that were really worrisome were 22% said they felt more stressed about their finances, 14% even said that they pursued alternative financing like a payday loan, buy-now-pay-later or cash advances," she said. "What we really see here is that a lot of Americans aren't turning to debt to finance frivolous spending, especially those at the lower income spectrum. They're relying on credit to make ends meet right now." If you've recently been denied a loan or are trying to improve your chances at future borrowing, here's what experts say you can do: Pay your debts on time and keep credit utilization low. Using no more than 30% of your credit limits is a good guideline. Check your credit report for errors once a year. This is to ensure you aren't getting dinged for something that isn't your fault. Boost your income and pay down debt. Reevaluate how much money is leaving your wallet and how much money is coming in. Go beyond your credit score. Synchrony uses an underwriting system called PRISM that considers up to 9,000 data points on an applicant's financial and credit habits including total monthly spending. This model has helped people who might traditionally be declined by showing that they hold onto enough of their money each month to make their payments. As for Sifuentes, he never got a reason from the credit union as to why he wasn't approved — and he should have. If a lender rejects your application, they're obligated under a couple of consumer protection acts to inform you of the specific factors that led to your denial. Typically, this comes in the form of a letter.
