Category: Politics
Outrage after Oregon city appoints convicted killer to police oversight panel
Officials in Salem, Oregon, are facing a public backlash after appointing a man convicted of murdering a teenage girl to a city public safety and police oversight board.
Kyle Hedquist was convicted in 1994 of killing 19-year-old Nikki Thrasher and served 28 years of a life sentence without the possibility of parole before then-Gov. Kate Brown (D) granted him clemency in 2022.
‘Oregonians… are you tired of this kind of leadership yet? Are you ready to show up and vote these criminals out?’
Hedquist was 17 at the time of the crime. Prosecutors said he drove Thrasher to a wooded area, shot her in the back of the head, and left her body on a remote logging road. They described the killing as an “execution-style” murder.
According to prosecutors, Hedquist believed Thrasher had discovered he had stolen items from his aunt and killed her to prevent her from reporting him. Thrasher had asked him about the stolen items, which prosecutors said he interpreted as a threat.
Two years after his release, the Salem City Council appointed Hedquist to the city’s Community Police Review Board, which oversees police conduct and public safety matters. The council recently reappointed him to the position, prompting renewed backlash.
Some city officials have defended the decision, citing Hedquist’s rehabilitation and community involvement since his release.
Others strongly disagree. Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson criticized the appointment, calling it inappropriate for a public safety role.
“While I acknowledge there are appropriate ways for those who have completed their sentences and demonstrated rehabilitation to give back to our community, this is not one of them,” Clarkson said. “Our police and fire professionals have a right to expect better from city leadership.”
The Oregon Republican Party also condemned the decision in a statement, calling it “absurd” to place a convicted murderer on a board overseeing public safety and policing.
“Oregonians… are you tired of this kind of leadership yet? Are you ready to show up and vote these criminals out?” said a commenter on social media.
At the time of Hedquist’s release, Thrasher’s mother said the governor’s office did not notify her that clemency was being considered.
“He took the life of my daughter — in cold blood!” she told KOIN-TV. “He planned it!”
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The Oregon Justice Resource Center, an organization that opposes mass incarceration, defended Hedquist’s appointment. In a statement on social media, the group said Hedquist has spent years contributing to his community and advocating for systemic reform.
“That kind of experience brings value to public institutions,” the group said in a statement, adding that criticism of Hedquist was “misdirected.”
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Migrant from Ghana hid in Nativity scene to avoid police, mayor says
A bizarre scene unfolded in a small town in southern Italy when the mayor said that he noticed that one of the “three wise men” figures in the public Nativity scene appeared to be moving.
Galatone Mayor Flavio Filoni wrote about the incident in a post on Facebook on Dec. 10. He says that he was admiring the Nativity scene set up by the town’s tourism office when he made the startling discovery.
Rather than a wise man, the man was a foolish criminal migrant from Ghana, according to Filoni.
“I noticed a presence I had initially mistaken for part of the scene. A detail that seemed harmless, but turned out to be decisive,” Filoni wrote.
A comical image of the scene shows the man trying to blend in among the mannequins of the holy display.
Rather than a wise man, the man was a foolish criminal migrant from Ghana, according to Filoni. He had previously been sentenced by a court in Bologna to nine months in prison but reportedly fled before completing his time. When he hid in the scene, the man was being sought for allegedly assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.
Filoni said law enforcement officials were able to capture the man without difficulty.
“A result that confirms, once again, how fundamental it is to place full confidence in the day-to-day work of those who guarantee safety and legality,” added the mayor.
RELATED: ‘Why would somebody have such hate?’ Churchgoers stunned at Nativity display vandalism
“A sincere thank you to all the women and men who guard our territory with competence, attention and dedication,” Filoni said.
Galatone is a small town of about 15,000 residents in the Lecce province of southern Italy.
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Trump says US struck drug-linked site in Venezuela: ‘We hit them very hard’
President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. military carried out a strike on Venezuelan territory, which he described as the first land-based attack in an escalating conflict tied to alleged narco-terrorism.
Trump made the remarks to reporters at the White House before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said the strike targeted a dock area that he claimed was used to load boats transporting drugs.
‘Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.’
“It doesn’t matter, but there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area,” Trump said. “It’s the implementation area — that’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
When asked by a reporter whether additional strikes had occurred inside Venezuela, Trump declined to comment.
The Pentagon provided no details and referred all questions to the White House.
The president offered further details during a radio interview with WABC, saying the strike occurred two nights earlier and targeted what he described as a major shipping facility.
“We just knocked out — I don’t know if you read or you saw — they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”
The operation would represent the first direct U.S. strike on Venezuelan land during the current confrontation. The Trump administration has previously ordered strikes against vessels it says are operated by narco-terrorist groups smuggling drugs into the United States.
Critics of the administration have questioned those allegations and accused the U.S. government of acting unlawfully, including claims by human rights organizations that the strikes could constitute war crimes. Administration officials have rejected those accusations.
Tensions escalated earlier after the United States seized a Venezuelan oil tanker that administration officials alleged had violated U.S. embargo restrictions. Trump later ordered what the administration described as a full blockade of tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.
RELATED: Venezuelan freedom fighter wins Nobel Peace Prize — and immediately dedicates it to Trump
In response, Venezuelan officials announced military exercises that they said were intended to prepare the country to defend against a possible U.S. invasion aimed at removing President Nicolás Maduro from power.
Trump has previously said the United States could take military action to reclaim oil interests that were nationalized by Venezuela’s socialist government decades ago.
“It’s about — they took our oil, they took it, and they also sent millions of people in here from jails into our country,” Trump said in the WABC interview. “Some of the worst people on Earth.”
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Patel: Convicted Somali fraudsters face loss of citizenship as DHS probes Minnesota
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday said the federal government is launching a “massive” investigation into alleged fraud schemes and shared video footage from Minnesota. Earlier, FBI Director Kash Patel said Somali immigrants convicted of fraud could face possible denaturalization and deportation.
‘These criminals didn’t just engage[] in historic fraud, but tried to subvert justice as well.’
In a statement Sunday, Patel said the FBI previously dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme involving COVID-19 relief funds intended to provide meals for children in Minnesota.
Patel said the case resulted in 78 indictments and 57 convictions. He identified several defendants — including Abdiwahab Ahmed Mohamud, Ahmed Ali, Hussein Farah, Abdullahe Nur Jesow, Asha Farhan Hassan, Ousman Camara, and Abdirashid Bixi Dool — who were charged with crimes ranging from wire fraud to money laundering and conspiracy.
“These criminals didn’t just engage[] in historic fraud, but tried to subvert justice as well,” Patel said. He added that Abdimajid Mohamed Nur and others were charged with attempting to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash. Those defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced, including one individual who received a 10-year prison term. Courts also ordered nearly $48 million in restitution in related cases, Patel said.
Patel described the scheme as the “tip of a very large iceberg,” adding that the FBI would “continue to follow the money and protect children” and that the investigation remains ongoing.
Noem said Homeland Security Investigations agents are currently operating in Minneapolis as part of what she described as a “massive” investigation into alleged child-care fraud and other fraud schemes.
Video shared by the DHS showed investigators questioning a man outside a facility, while another clip depicted agents entering what the DHS described as a “suspected fraud site.”
“MASSIVE fraud in Minnesota is finally being exposed. Time for accountability,” the White House wrote in a post on social media.
RELATED: News outlet is getting wrecked for story on Somali migrants’ economic impact on Minnesota
The increased scrutiny followed the publication of video by independent journalist Nick Shirley, in which he is seen confronting proprietors of day-care centers in Minnesota. Shirley blamed Gov. Tim Walz, the failed 2024 Democrat vice presidential candidate, for overseeing the state while the alleged fraud schemes flourished.
A spokesperson for Walz pushed back by noting that the state had investigated the fraud claims and that the governor had spent years working to “crack down on fraud.”
Nevertheless, a group of former state health workers have accused Walz of obstructing efforts to uncover the scams.
“Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud, but no, we got the opposite response,” read a statement from the group.
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