New York man convicted of fatally stabbing EMS worker as she walked to a store to get food
The victim, Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, 61, was ambushed while heading to a corner store in her uniform to get something to eat. One of the first responders to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, she was months away from a planned retirement when she died.
Peter Zisopoulos, 37, was convicted on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He's scheduled to be sentenced on June 30 and faces 25 years to life in prison, according to prosecutors.
There was no indication Russo-Elling knew Zisopoulos, who fled to his apartment and was arrested after locking himself inside. Zisopoulos' lawyer previously said his client 'has a past psychiatric history going back to 2018.'
District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement she hopes the conviction 'brings Alison's family, friends and coworkers solace as we continue to grieve her loss.'
Russo-Elling was posthumously promoted to captain.
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Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Things to know about the release of federal documents related to MLK's assassination
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal records related to the investigation into the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were released on Monday, following the disclosure in March of tens of thousands of documents about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In January, President Donald Trump ordered the release of thousands of classified governmental documents about Kennedy's assassination, while also moving to declassify federal records related to the deaths of New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and King more than five decades ago. Trump ordered Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Attorney General Pam Bondi to coordinate with other government officials to review records related to the assassinations of RFK and King, and present a plan to the president for their 'complete release.' Some 10,000 pages of records about the RFK assassination were released April 18. Justice Department attorneys later asked a federal judge to end a sealing order for the records nearly two years ahead of its expiration date. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King led, is opposed to unsealing any of the records for privacy reasons. The organization's lawyers said King's relatives also wanted to keep the files under seal. Scholars, history buffs and journalists have been preparing to study the documents to find new information about the civil rights leader's assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. The King family's statement released after Trump's order in January said they hoped to get an opportunity to review the files as a family prior to its public release. King's family, including his two living children, Martin III and Bernice, was given advance notice of the release and had their own teams reviewing the records ahead of the public disclosure. In a statement released Monday, King's children called their father's case a 'captivating public curiosity for decades.' But they also emphasized the personal nature of the matter and urged that 'these files must be viewed within their full historical context.' 'We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family's continuing grief,' the statement said. Here is what we know about the assassination and what scholars had to say ahead of the release of the documents. In Memphis, shots ring out King was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, heading to dinner with a few friends, when he was shot and killed. King had been in Memphis to support a sanitation workers strike protesting poor working conditions and low pay. The night before the assassination, King delivered the famous 'Mountaintop' speech on a stormy night at the Mason Temple in Memphis. An earlier march on Beale Street had turned violent, and King had returned to Memphis to lead another march as an expression of nonviolent protest. King also had been planning the Poor People's Campaign to speak out against economic injustice. The FBI's investigation After a long manhunt, James Earl Ray was captured in London, and he pleaded guilty to assassinating King. He later renounced that plea and maintained his innocence until his death in 1998. FBI documents released over the years show how the bureau wiretapped King's telephone lines, bugged his hotel rooms and used informants to get information against him. 'He was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign,' the King family statement said. King family's response to the investigation Members of King's family, and others, have questioned whether Ray acted alone, or if he was even involved. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, asked for the probe to be reopened, and in 1998, then-Attorney General Janet Reno directed the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department to do so. The Justice Department said it 'found nothing to disturb the 1969 judicial determination that James Earl Ray murdered Dr. King.' Dexter King, one of King's children, met with Ray in prison in 1997, saying afterwards that he believed Ray's claims of innocence. Dexter King died in 2024. With the support of King's family, a civil trial in state court was held in Memphis in 1999 against Loyd Jowers, a man alleged to have known about a conspiracy to assassinate King. Dozens of witnesses testified, and a Memphis jury found Jowers and unnamed others, including government agencies, participated in a conspiracy to assassinate King. What will the public see in the newly released documents? It's not clear what the records will actually show. King scholars, for example, would like to see what information the FBI was discussing and circulating as part of their investigation, said Ryan Jones, director of history, interpretation and curatorial services at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. 'That's critical given the fact the American public, at that time, was unaware that the FBI that is involved in the investigation, was leading a smear campaign to discredit the same man while he was alive,' Jones said. 'They were the same bureau who was receiving notices of assassination attempts against King and ignored them.' Academics who have studied King also would like to see information about the FBI's surveillance of King, including the extent they went to get details about his personal life, track him, and try to discredit him as anti-American, said Lerone A. Martin, director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. However, Martin said he does not expect that the documents will have a 'smoking gun that will finally say, 'See, this is 100% evidence that the FBI was involved in this assassination.'' 'We have to view these documents with an eye of suspicion because of the extent the FBI was willing to go to, to try to discredit him,' Martin said. Why now? Trump's order about the records release said it is in the 'national interest' to release the records. 'Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth,' the order said. However, the timing has led to skepticism from some observers. Jones questioned why the American public had not been able to see these documents much earlier. 'Why were they sealed on the basis of national security, if the assassin was in prison outside of Nashville?' he said. Jones said there are scholars who think the records release is a 'PR stunt' by a presidential administration that is 'rewriting, omitting the advances of some people that are tied to people of color, or diversity.' The Pentagon has faced questions from lawmakers and citizens over the removal of military heroes and historic mentions from Defense Department websites and social media pages after it purged online content that promoted women or minorities. In response, the department restored some of those posts. Martin said Trump's motivation could be part of an effort to shed doubt on government institutions. 'It could be an opportunity for the Trump administration to say, 'See, the FBI is evil, I've been trying to tell you this. This is why I've put (FBI director) Kash Patel in office because he's cleaning out the Deep State,'' Martin said. Another factor could be the two attempts on Trump's life as he was campaigning for a second presidential term, and a desire to 'expose the broader history of U.S. assassinations,' said Brian Kwoba, an associate history professor at the University of Memphis. 'That said, it is still a little bit confusing because it's not clear why any U.S. president, including Trump, would want to open up files that could be damaging to the United States and its image both in the U.S. and abroad,' he said.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
There are many illegal marijuana farms, but federal agents targeted California's biggest legal one
LOS ANGELES (AP) — There are thousands of illegal marijuana farms around the country. But when the federal government decided to stage one of its largest raids since President Donald Trump took office in January, it picked the biggest legal grower in California. Nearly two weeks later, the reason for the federal raid at two Glass House farm sites northwest of Los Angeles remains unclear and has prompted speculation. Some say the raid was intended to send a chilling message to immigrants in the U.S. illegally — but also to rattle the state's legal cannabis industry. Meanwhile, the Republican Trump administration has been feuding with heavily Democratic California over funding for everything from high-speed rail construction to wildfire relief, so it's also possible Glass House was pulled into a broader conflict between the White House and Sacramento. 'There are plenty of other places they can go to find illegal workers,' said political consultant Adam Spiker, who advises cannabis companies. 'A lot of people believe there is a hint of politics in this. It's federal enforcement coming into California to go after cannabis.' What happened during the raids? On July 10, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents executed a search warrant for Glass House's farms in Carpinteria and Camarillo, court filings show. At the Camarillo site, armored vehicles blocked the road, which is lined with fields and greenhouses, as masked agents deployed onto the property. One farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof while running to hide later died from his injuries. Outside the farm, officers faced off with demonstrators and fired tear gas to disperse them, a federal agent wrote in court filings. One demonstrator threw a gas canister back at Border Patrol officers, according to the agent. Another demonstrator, who is sought by the FBI, appeared to fire a gun. More than 360 people were arrested, most suspected of being in the country without legal status. Those arrested included four U.S. citizens, including U.S. Army veteran George Retes, 25, who works as a security guard and was held for three days. The operation came more than a month into an extended crackdown across Southern California that was originally centered in Los Angeles, where local officials say the federal actions are spreading fear in immigrant communities. Why Glass House? No cannabis was seized and the criminal search warrants used to enter the farm sites are under court seal. Authorities refused to share them with The Associated Press. The government said the business was being investigated for potential child labor, human trafficking and other abuses. Agents found 14 children at one site. No information has been released about the minors. The company has not been charged. Federal and state laws allow children as young as 12 to work in agriculture under certain conditions, though no one under age 21 is allowed to work in the cannabis industry. Company officials did not respond to calls or emails. In a brief statement on the social platform X, Glass House said it complied with immigration and naturalization warrants and 'has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.' Some believe the raid was aimed at the legal marijuana market After the raid, United Farm Workers — the country's biggest farm worker union — posted an urgent message to its social media accounts warning that because marijuana is illegal under federal law, workers who are not U.S. citizens should avoid jobs in the cannabis industry, including state-licensed facilities. 'We know this is unfair,' it said, 'but we encourage you to protect yourself and your family.' Industry experts point to unwelcome publicity the company received after rival Catalyst Cannabis Co. filed a 2023 lawsuit alleging that Glass House 'has become one of the largest, if not the largest, black marketers of cannabis in the state of California.' The lawsuit, formally filed by Catalyst parent 562 Discount Med Inc., was dismissed last year but the headlines might have drawn the interest of federal investigators. Who runs the Glass House farm sites? The company was co-founded by Kyle Kazan, a former Southern California police officer and special education teacher turned cannabis investor, and Graham Farrar, a Santa Barbara tech entrepreneur. Glass House started growing cannabis in a greenhouse in Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County when once-thriving cut flower operations were being reduced. It later bought property in Camarillo in neighboring Ventura County for $93 million that had six greenhouses and was being used to grow tomatoes and cucumbers. To date, two of the greenhouses have been converted to grow cannabis. Workers' relatives said tomatoes are still being grown in other greenhouses at the location. How did Glass House do it? The raids have put the spotlight on a company that is alternately admired and reviled because of its meteoric rise in the nation's largest legal market. Glass House is the state's biggest legal cultivator, dwarfing its nearest rivals. Glass House Farms is part of the broader company Glass House Brands, which has other businesses that make cannabis products. 'There is no farmer in California that can compete with them at scale,' Sacramento-based cannabis consultant Sam Rodriguez said. Many legal operators have struggled despite the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016 — which was seen as a watershed moment in the push to legitimize and tax California's multibillion-dollar marijuana industry. In 2018, when retail outlets could open, California became the world's largest legal marketplace. But operators faced heavy taxes, seven-figure start-up costs and for many consumers, the tax-free illegal market remained a better deal. But as other companies folded, Glass House took off, fueling envy and suspicion by rivals over its boom at a time when much of the state's legal market was in crisis, in large part because of competition from the robust underground market. In a recent call with investors, Kazan said company revenue in the first quarter hit $45 million — up 49% over the same period last year. He said he remained hopeful for a federal shift that would end marijuana's classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD. But 'we are a company that does not require federal legalization for survival,' Kazan said. Glass House's sales grew as many others around the state declined. 'I remain steadfast in the belief that it is not if but when the cannabis industry becomes America's next massive normalized industry, and I'm excited to participate along with investors in the corresponding reward that that change will bring,' he said.
Toronto Star
5 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Venezuela investigating alleged mistreatment of migrants Trump sent to El Salvador
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's attorney general's office said on Monday that it has opened an investigation into El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele for alleged mistreatment and human rights violations against Venezuelan migrants. The migrants in question spent months detained in a maximum-security prison in the Central American country after being deported by the United States.
