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HARTFORD, CT - Authorities in New York arrested a pair of illegal Venezuelan migrants with alleged gang ties in connection to the murder of a 59-year-old man.
Police in Rensselaer, New York, arrested Moises Alejandro Candollo-Urbaneja, 22, and Gregory Marlyn Galindez-Trias, 24, last week, according to The National News Desk. An investigation into the couple revealed that they are from Venezuela and in the United States illegally. Police also believe the couple are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the members of which have been involved in high-profile crimes across the U.S.
“Our investigation revealed both parties are in this country illegally from Venezuela,” Rensselaer Police Chief Warren Famiglietti said in a statement, according to Fox News. “Both parties are believed to be affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization from Venezuela.”
Candollo-Urbaneja and Galindez-Trias were detained after they allegedly attempted to use the credit card of 59-year-old Angel Samaniego, who was fatally shot at a Super 8 Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut. The Venezuelan couple were found with Samaniego’s credit card at an Amtrak train station in Rensselaer. Click here to read more.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Hennepin County officials have fired a courier who left several boxes of ballots unsecured outside of Edina City Hall on Friday.
The discovery led to an immediate response from the county and city officials, who say it’s been confirmed no ballots were tampered with.
Hennepin County is describing those boxes as “sealed transfer cases” that were inside a courier vehicle parked at Edina City Hall.
Surveillance video released by the city shows the rear door of the van open for about eight minutes. That footage can be viewed in the video above.
A photograph taken by a man walking by shows those cases unsecured, in plain sight. The photo was later posted on X by user SD50MNGOP. Click here to read more.
ALEXANDER, Maine (WMTW) - A 72-year-old Maine woman was rescued after spending four nights in the woods where she and her 82-year-old husband got lost while walking their dogs. Rescuers also recovered her husband’s body.
Pamela Helmstadter, 72, was rescued Thursday after spending four nights in the woods in Washington County, Maine. Her ordeal started Sunday when she and her husband, 82-year-old John Helmstadter, went for a walk with their two dogs and ended up lost. Sadly, he died in the incident.
Game wardens say the couple went off trail during their walk, and that’s when John Helmstadter fell and was unable to get up. Neither of them had their cell phones, so Pamela Helmstadter went for help. She got disoriented and couldn’t find her way home.
“She was more physically capable than he was, and they made the decision for him to stay put and her to try and go out and find help,” said Sgt. Josh Beal with the Maine Warden Service. Click here to read more.
SPRINGFIELD, OH - The story in this town is not about cats or dogs. It’s about mules. It’s a twin tragedy of migrant workers from Haiti exploited and locals from Springfield marginalized.
Just about every week since 2019, First Diversity Staffing Group Inc. has shuttled vulnerable Haitian migrants in unmarked white Ford and Chevy vans from Florida to Ohio, where they are allegedly exploited for cheap labor by companies like Dole Food Company Inc.
It is a secretive and sinister operation that has gone unchecked for more than five years. The mastermind behind this scheme lives in a $1.35 million mansion on Pawleys Plantation Court.
His name is George Ten, but in that underworld, his nickname is "King George," because of his opulent lifestyle of luxury cars, cash handouts and fast-talk. For years, he has operated his reign of alleged exploitation openly and freely out of a former mansion on E. High Street. Click here to read more.
NEW YORK, NY - Despite the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 50 basis points last month, mortgage rates continue to climb. But why?
The average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage surged to 6.44% from last week’s 6.32%, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey which was released on Thursday.
The average rate on a 30-year loan was 7.63% a year ago.
The Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates, it only influences them, according to Norada Real Estate Investments.
Mortgage rates are largely impacted by the yield on the 10-year Treasury bonds.
"This yield is a benchmark used by investors to determine the return they expect to earn from government bonds compared to the risk profile of other investments like mortgages," according to Norada.
Other factors impacting increasing rates
But it’s not just the yield from the 10-year Treasury bonds that are impacting mortgage rates.
Mortgage lenders need to cover themselves to ensure their businesses remain profitable, so they add margins on top of whatever the Treasury yield is, according to an NPR report. Click here to read more.
