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Feds charge Oakland man with possessing unregistered short-barrel rifle, claim he’s a suspect in two shootings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

OAKLAND — A Bay Area man has been charged in federal court with being a felon in possession of ammunition and illegal possession of an unregistered short barrel rifle, court records show.Tredell Smith, 32, of Oakland, was charged in late April in a two-count criminal complaint. The charges carry up to 15 and 10 years in federal prison, respectively. For now, Smith remains in federal custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, but is being evaluated for placement in a halfway house, court records show.Prosecutors, though, are moving to keep Smith in jail by arguing that he’s a suspect in a May 2019 fatal shooting in Oakland. But the evidence prosecutors cite amounts only to this: Smith and a suspected Oakland gang member, armed with a pistol, were seen driving a Toyota Highlander near Booker’s Liquor Store two days after the same type of vehicle was captured on surveillance footage at the scene of a fatal shooting.The May 22, 2019 shooting claimed the life of Hadiyah Loud...

Apple engineer on ‘need to know’ project stole secrets, fled to China after agents visited Mountain View home: feds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

An Apple software engineer working on a secretive autonomous-driving project stole thousands of sensitive documents and fled to China five minutes before midnight the day law enforcement agents visited his Mountain View home, federal authorities claim.Apple only gave access to information about the project on a “need to know” basis, and Weibao Wang was one of fewer than 4% of the firm’s full-time employees with knowledge of the project, and one of 2% who could get into its databases, federal prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed Tuesday.Wang’s prosecution arose from the work of a multi-agency federal “Disruptive Technology Strike Force” charged with combating “efforts by hostile nation-states to illicitly acquire sensitive U.S. technology to advance their authoritarian regimes and facilitate human rights abuses,” the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.Apple in 2016 hired Wang, a Chinese citizen who is now 35, to work on algor...

NC GOP takes first step to override veto of 12-week abortion limit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

By Hannah Schoenbaum, Gary D. Robertson and Denise Lavoie | Associated PressRALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Senate voted Tuesday to override the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy in the first of two steps necessary to enact the policy over Gov. Roy Cooper’s opposition.The vote came as abortion rights in the U.S. faced another tectonic shift with lawmakers debating laws to sharply limit abortion in North and South Carolina, two of the few remaining Southern states with relatively easy access.Nebraska joined North Carolina and South Carolina in debating abortion restrictions Tuesday that are possible because the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a nationwide right to abortion.Under another bill up for a vote Tuesday, in the South Carolina House, abortion access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy. T...

Former Apple employee charged with theft of trade secrets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

(KRON) -- A former Apple Incorporated employee was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly stealing and sharing trade secrets from the technology giant, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. 15-month old struck by gunfire in Oakland Weibao Wang, 35, was charged with theft and attempted theft of trade secrets in connection to activities dating back to 2016. Apple hired Wang in March of 2016 as a software engineer, according to the indictment. Apple trained Wang on company expectations in regards to secrecy when handling confidential materials, and the company also established rules which prohibited sharing that information. Wang worked for a team that developed and designed autonomous systems for various applications, which can include self-driving cars. By Nov. 2017, Wang accepted a full-time role as a Staff Engineer with a U.S.-based subsidiary of a company that was headquartered in the People's Republic of China. Wang didn't inform his managers at ...

Video: Santa Rosa home engulfed in flames

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

(KRON) -- Firefighters responded to a single-family home in Santa Rosa that caught fire Tuesday afternoon around 1:36 p.m., according to the Santa Rosa Fire Department. The structure fire was contained to a single home. 15-month-old child struck by gunfire during attempted robbery in Oakland A portion of the home was well involved with fire and smoke, which impacted northern Santa Rosa, firefighters said. Five engines, a ladder truck, a battalion chief and a fire investigator were assigned to the blaze. Video of the fire (which can be viewed in the above player) showed flames and a massive amount of smoke emanating from a single-story home with firefighters engaged on the ground and on the rooftop.

Suspect who allegedly stole $3K in merchandise from San Ramon Target arrested

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

(KRON) -- A suspect who police say stole over $3,000 in merchandise from a Target store in San Ramon has been arrested, according to the San Ramon Police Department. The department received a call from Target loss prevention agents alerting them that a shoplifter was in the store. TikTok content moderators force-fed gruesome videos allowed to sue Patrol units were dispatched to the area and the suspect identified by store staff was detained as he left the store, police said. An investigation determined the suspect had stolen over $3,000 in merchandise.He was arrested and booked into the Martinez jail on felony charges.

7 children battling serious injuries after truck crashes into school bus in Australia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Seven children remain hospitalized with serious injuries after a truck struck a school bus carrying as many as 45 students on the outskirts of Melbourne in southeastern Australia, authorities said Wednesday.The truck hit the rear of the school bus and caused it to overturn Tuesday afternoon at an intersection in Eynesbury, a semi-rural community west of Melbourne, police said. Head injuries, arm amputations and suspected spinal injuries were reported by a hospital official.A total of 21 children where initially taken by ambulance from the scene for medical care and seven of them remained hospitalized Wednesday.One of the children was in intensive care, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne chief executive Bernadette McDonald said, noting the children range in age from 5 to 11 years old.“The children have suffered multiple and traumatic injuries including partial and complete amputations of arms, multiple crushing injuries, severe lacerations of the head and...

Danny Masterson used drugging, Scientology to get away with rape, prosecutor says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Danny Masterson drugged women’s drinks so he could rape them, then relied on his prominence in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences for years, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday in closing arguments at the actor’s trial. “The defendant drugs his victims to gain control. He does this to take away his victims’ ability to consent,” Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson told the jury of seven men and five women. “You don’t want to have sex? You don’t have a choice. The defendant makes that choice for these victims. And he does it over and over and over again.”The 47-year-old former star of “That ’70s Show” is on rape trial for a second time after the first ended in a mistrial in December, with a jury hopelessly deadlocked on all counts. Masterson has pleaded not guilty to raping three women at his home between 2001 and 2003. His attorney, Philip Cohen, who briefly began his own closing and will continue in the afternoon, told jurors that inconsiste...

Guardians place Ramírez on bereavement list, recall Rocchio from Triple-A

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The Cleveland Guardians placed All-Star third baseman José Ramírez on the bereavement list Tuesday and recalled hot-hitting infielder Brayan Rocchio from Triple-A Columbus.The team made the moves ahead of a three-game series against the White Sox.Manager Terry Francona said Ramírez isn’t expected to rejoin the Guardians until they play the Mets in New York for a three-game set starting Friday. Ramírez, who is batting .285 with four homers and 22 RBIs, traveled to the Dominican Republic following the death of his grandmother.“She had a big hand in raising him,” Francona said. “So as much as we miss him, our thoughts and prayers are with him.”Josh Naylor, who has been on a hitting tear lately, will take Ramírez’s No. 3 spot in the batting order, while Gabriel Arias will start at third in the series opener. Naylor has homered in three straight games — all go-ahead shots in the eighth inning.This will be Rocchio’s second stint with Cleveland. Howev...

Man arrested for armed sexual assault, robbery on Md. hiking trail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:20 GMT

Montgomery County, Maryland, police arrested a man who is accused of armed rape and robbery Tuesday in Silver Spring.The incident happened shortly before 3 p.m. in the 10700 block of Columbia Pike, police said.Police said their preliminary investigation found that the man approached a woman on the Northwest Branch Trail, displayed a weapon, sexually assaulted her and stole her property. He then left the scene of the crime, according to officials.Police said they established a perimeter in the area and eventually caught the suspect on Devere Drive.This is a developing story. Stay with WTOP for the latest.Source