Latest news with #Weiland
Epoch Times
24-05-2025
- Epoch Times
US Offers up to $2 Million for Arrest of One of South America's Most Wanted Fugitives
On May 21, the U.S. government issued a reward offer of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of one of South America's most wanted fugitive drug traffickers. Sebastian Enrique Marset Cabrera, 34, a Uruguayan citizen also known as Gabriel de Souza Beumer or Luis Paulo Amorim Santos, is money laundering in the United States and drug trafficking in Paraguay and Bolivia. 'The United States is also soliciting anyone with direct knowledge of Marset's drug trafficking, money laundering, and acts of violence (actual or threatened) to contact the tipline,' the State Department said on Wednesday. Marset was indicted on March 7, 2024, in the United States for money laundering involving proceeds from his organization's drug trafficking through U.S. financial institutions, the department in a wanted bulletin. In August 2023, Bolivian authorities announced a $100,000 reward for the capture of the Uruguayan national. Marset's wanted notice comes after an investigation into organized crime carried out by the Paraguayan government in conjunction with the Uruguayan Ministry of the Interior, Europol, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Asunción, Paraguay, the State Department reported. Related Stories 5/22/2025 2/6/2025 The investigation linked a criminal network led by Marset to more than 16 tons of cocaine that were seized in Europe, including the seizure of 11 tons in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in April 2021 and another 4.7 tons in Paraguay. F. Cartwright Weiland, a senior official at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, said during an online press conference that Marset could be in Venezuela. 'He is one of the most wanted fugitives in the entire Southern Cone,' Weiland said. The region includes Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. 'Marset shamefully hides behind his movie villain persona while competing in sports car races and buying a soccer team,' he added. 'His wealth is stained with blood, with the suffering he has spread from Montevideo to Miami.' 'We know today that [Marset's] location may be in Venezuela,' the official. Although 'it is not confirmed,' he added. Weiland also mentioned Gianina García Troche, Marset's wife, also a Uruguayan citizen, who was arrested at the Madrid airport in July 2024 and extradited to Paraguay after a red notice was issued by Interpol for her alleged involvement in Marset's crimes. On May 21, in a separate , the DEA reported that Federico Ezequiel Santoro Vassallo, a close associate of Marset, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a money laundering conspiracy involving millions of dollars from drug trafficking. According to the DEA, Santoro directed the movement of at least $8 million from drug trafficking through U.S. banks in less than five months.
CBS News
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Point State Park fountain won't be operational this summer amid major upgrade project
Point State Park's iconic fountain in Pittsburgh is undergoing major upgrade work and won't be operational this year as the park itself is getting a multi-million dollar facelift. It's not an accident that the fountain hasn't been turned on yet this spring and it's not the only change you should expect at Point State Park this year. 2025 is becoming a transition year for Pittsburgh in a lot of ways and the fountain itself is a symbol of that transition. The plume of the fountain reaching high above the confluence with its three side jets representing Pittsburgh's three rivers has long been the city's greeting card -- but today it sits dormant. "We're going to start a project with Allegheny City Electric," said Jake Weiland, Director of Point State Park. "They won the bid to actually replace all the fountain lighting this year." Weiland says it's a little hard to change lights if they're underwater, which is why the fountain hasn't been turned on. "We are changing all the lights out," Weiland said. "There's 280 uplights in the fountain. And we're also changing all the conduit, all the wiring, all the controls within the pump house, so we have a fully operating fountain come 2026." Events in Pittsburgh next year include America250PA, Pennsylvania's celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, and the 2026 NFL Draft, among others. As the fountain gets its upgrade, so will Point State Park, to the tune of $3.4 million. "The site improvement project is a much larger, much longer project that's that's actually going to impact a great deal of our operations, to include all events this year, after the month of May," Weiland said. There won't be any summer events in the park, including 4th of July fireworks, but recognizing the walking, jogging, and biking nature of the park, Weiland says they'll try to keep the walkways open. "However, we're going to be removing all the black top, milling the black top down, and replacing the black top," Weiland said. "We're going to be replacing all the benches and the water fountains. There's a great deal of work to be done." If all goes according to plan, Weiland hopes the fountain will be ready for testing this fall. "So we can exercise the fountain, run the lights for several weeks before the end of the year, because we know in April 2026 we're going to hit ground running," Weiland said. When it comes to where all the normal events for the park are going to be relocated to, those will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawsuit filed against new petition deadline law
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A lawsuit has been filed against a new petition deadline passed by state lawmakers and signed into law last week by Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. Jury chosen in DSS embezzlement trial House Bill 1184 passed the House 59-9 and passed the Senate 19-15 before being signed into law by Rhoden on March 25. The bill amends the filing deadline for proposed ballot measures from six months ahead of a November election to nine months ahead of a November election. Attorney Jim Leach, Rick Weiland and Dakotans for Health filed a lawsuit against South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson in federal court on Tuesday asking a judge to stop the nine month deadline from going into effect. A notice of the lawsuit has also been sent to Johnson's office. 'The rollback means that petition circulators must seek final signatures nine months before an election instead of six months before an election, when there is less interest in political matters because the election is farther away,' the lawsuit said. No deadlines or hearings have been set in this case. You can view the complaint in the document below. Johnson-lawsuitDownload 'We believe in the power of the people, and the people of South Dakota have consistently used the initiative process to bring about important reforms, from healthcare access to minimum wage increases,' Weiland said in a news release. 'This new law is just another effort to silence the voices of South Dakotans and deny them the right to make decisions that impact their lives.' The lawsuit cites a previous ruling in the case SD Voice v. Noem where South Dakota's 12-month deadline was struck down as a violation of the First Amendment. Weiland and Dakotans for Health have won in court against state lawmakers before with a state law requiring registration for paid petition circulators. In proponent testimony in favor of House Bill 1184, Republican Rep. Jon Hansen said courts struck down the 12-month deadline, but the state's six-month deadline, passed in 2023, wasn't long enough to complete petition signature verifications. 'We're not going outside of the bounds of what's currently being conducted in other states,' Hansen said in a House State Affairs Committee meeting on Feb. 7 in Pierre. Hansen helped South Dakota lawmakers pass a law allowing people to remove a signature from a petition. Zebadiah Johnson, a lobbyist with the Voter Defense Association, testified only the state of Florida would have an earlier filing deadline for direct initiative ballot measures. In a news release announcing HB 1184 was signed into law, Rhoden also announced his veto of another petition-related bill in HB 1169 and that he signed 20 other election-related bills. 'South Dakota continues to be an example of free and fair elections. Our election system has integrity, and these bills improve our already strong system,' Rhoden said in a news release. 'America is founded on the principle of freedom, and I am proud that we live in a nation and a state where we can choose our leaders.' Rhoden said a reason for issuing a veto on HB 1169 was because he was concerned the bill wouldn't 'withstand scrutiny in the courts.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How grocery stores are combatting SNAP benefit thefts in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — NBC4 Investigates is hearing from people who are being robbed; people using SNAP benefits, once known as food stamps, are logging in to their accounts to find their money is gone. Now, we are getting a look at the first line of defense: the stores where we all shop. A Columbus market on the north side showed how it keeps customers safe — by using a device that blocks others from tampering with their credit card machines. These by no means are everywhere and SNAP cards are an easier target because they don't have the microchip technology, which became widely used in 2015. That means millions of dollars are being stolen from those relying on this money to survive. 'It kind of hurt my feelings badly because that's all I had for that week,' SNAP fraud victim Kaiden Bickmeyer said. 'I cried. I mean, I'm struggling and it's not fair to my kids,' SNAP fraud victim Mindy Hurley said. Those are just two of the victims we spoke with who have experienced snap theft potentially through skimming. A skimmer is a device that steals your card information. It's something that Weiland's market in North Columbus keeps an eye out for. How security upgrade could help Ohioans who have SNAP benefits stolen 'We have anti-skimming devices at all the pin pads. So what that does when someone puts in their card it then scrambles the information. So if someone does try to come in and skim information from it, there's nothing to get,' Weiland's Market Co-Owner Daniel Phillips said. He's had them at his store for about a year. 'If I was using SNAP benefits, I would kind of hope and assume that businesses would have implemented it by now,' Phillips said. NBC4 Investigates checked with other central Ohio grocery stores and gas stations. One told us they check their devices every morning, another said they don't have any protections. 'It used to be a gas station problem. Right? Well, now it's anywhere and everywhere. And these scammers have gotten more and more intelligent,' Ohio Grocers Association CEO Kristin Mullins said. The Ohio Grocers Association is a lobbying organization that represents mostly independent grocery stores. 'Grocers across the state, probably across the country are doing what they can to protect that,' Mullins said. Scams to get your card information can look very different; it could be a small device stuck onto a card reader or someone could be using sleight of hand to run your card through another device, before charging it. 'We found over 600 credit cards inside of just one of these two devices,' Whitehall Division of Police Deputy Chief Dan Kelso said. Whitehall Police caught a man using this skimmer at a gas station. They said he took customers' cards and ran them through this before charging them on the store device. 'We've got a call from a victim who stated, hey, my credit card was used at your target, but it's still in my hand. What's going on?' Kelso said. Surveillance video and license plate readers helped Whitehall Police track down the suspect, and arrest him, with the devices on him. Deputy Chief Dan Kelso says to keep an eye out for anything that looks like it may have been stuck onto a credit card machine and try not to hand your card over to anyone. 'Give us a call. Let us come check that out right away. I mean, you might be saving a lot of financial heartache to people,' Kelso said. Despite chip-based card technology gaining in popularity a decade ago in the United States, only three states have made progress in updating SNAP cards too. Now, Ohio might join that list and the upgrade would pay for itself in less than a year. Two state representatives have introduced legislation that would require the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to add chip technology to all Ohio SNAP cards over the next two years. In Ohio last year, nearly 27,000 people reported their SNAP benefits stolen, almost $14 million dollars of taxpayer money, gone. This bill could stop a majority of those thefts. The Republican representative who co-introduced it calls it a no-brainer. 'We have two paths forward, one independent legislation which we have introduced and then secondarily where we have tried to put it in the budget as a budget amendment. So again, just working with the leadership team in the House and the Senate to get that through,' Rep. Kellie Deeter (R-Norwalk) said. If this moves forward the state would be investing about five million dollars in this security upgrade. The other half would come from the federal government. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Scott Weiland's Son Noah covers Stone Temple Pilots' classic Sex Type Thing
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Noah Weiland, son of the late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, has recorded a cover of STP's debut single Sex Type Thing, originally released as the first single from their debut album Push in 1993. Weiland Jr.'s cover of Sex Type Thing is stripped back and acoustic, with guitar courtesy of Violet Saturn guitarist Spencer Carr Reed. "Filmed this about a dream I had long ago about seeing my father again," says Weiland. "It's hard for me to stay in the moment sometimes, but I try." The video features Weiland interacting with a Chucky doll, with captions explaining the dream as the story unfolds, and how it relates to his father. "There was so much I wanted to tell him," reads one caption, "like how much has changed on Earth without him." Last year, Weiland and Reed worked together on Time Will Tell, an updated version of a recording initially made by Scott Weiland as a solo track, claiming they were only releasing it following an extortion threat made by an anonymous blackmailer. In late 2020, Weiland joined the sons of Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash and Metallica bassist Robert Trujilo in Los Angeles band Suspect208, but parted ways with them the following year due to alleged drug use. "As many of you know, we let our singer, Noah, go," said the band in a statement. "We were really close to him and it is the last thing we would've ever wanted to do, but it had to be done for his safety, as well as the longevity of the band. This decision was made by the band because it was the last thing we could do to keep going." Suspect208 disbanded shortly after.
