Man named Henry Ford wanted for stealing cars

A Detroit Man named Henry Ford is wanted for stealing vehicles in and around the Motor City.

WXYZ in Detroit reports that the 49-year-old Ford has served prison time for the crimes, but recently cut off his tether and mailed it back to the Michigan Department of Corrections when he decided he should be off parole.

Most recently, he is accused of stealing tires off a Ford Ecosport. Evidence of his thefts was also found in his F-150, according to WXYZ.

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According to state records, Ford has an extensive criminal record that includes receiving stolen property, assault with a deadly weapon - felonious assault, possession of burglary tools and larceny of motor vehicles

"The time for small ideas is over": Warren at the California Democratic Convention

Not the best audio, but:

'Aggressive' 11-foot alligator breaks into Florida home

An 11-foot alligator broke into a Florida house and stunned its human inhabitants when they woke up Friday morning to be greeted by the massive reptile, police said.

The unwanted overnight visitor broke through low windows at the home in the Eagles Landing neighborhood and broke four bottles of wine, homeowners told NBC affiliate WFLA.

Clearwater police spokeswoman Joelle Castelli called the alligator "aggressive."

Warren helping clean up after someone spilled their drink

Elizabeth Warren has seen a solid polling bump. Here's why.

Warren has withstood the entry of 20-some competitors, and after mediocre polling led to media insinuations she couldn’t sustain a campaign, she still ranks in the top handful of candidates. She has two supremely obvious things in her favor: She’s very well-known and Democratic primary voters like her. Warren has distinguished herself with a very thoroughly prepared policy platform.

She’s positioned herself solidly to the left of the frontrunner Biden and already taken some oblique shots at the former vice president. If the rest of the Dem field comes down to Biden rivals and Biden replacements, as Kyle Kondik at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics is starting to expect it will, Warren is emerging as a top Biden rival. That puts her and Sanders in direct competition, and they do seem to be splitting the progressive wing’s vote.

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“She’s one of the more famous members of the Democratic Senate caucus, and she’s led the way on a number of prominent policy positions in the Democratic field. It’s not surprising that she’s typically among the polling leaders, although far off the lead,” Kondik says. “When and if Biden or Sanders falls off, she could potentially benefit.”

Warren has a clear reason for her candidacy — scaling back corporate power and putting better checks on capitalism while delivering more benefits for middle and lower-income Americans — and a very detailed policy agenda for how she would do it. She has embraced the “I have a plan for that” meme. In Iowa, according to a new 2020 survey from Change Research, Warren had the highest “very favorable” rating of any 2020 Democrat, up at 40 percent, edging out Biden and Sanders.

Brewery offers free beer for info on stolen van; 42 minutes later, it was located

Police officers around the country may want to take note on what gets people to start talking to police when they know a crime has been committed.

The Unknown Brewing Company in Charlotte, North Carolina took to social media Monday to ask for help in finding the company’s delivery van after thieves stole it. In return for the information, the company offered to throw a party for the person who first identifies where the van was.

“Please help us find it. Share with all of your friends. Who ever finds it, Brad will buy you a keg party ! If you stole it and bring it back,you will also get a keg party (smile for the camera). Please DM us if you see it,” the company wrote on its Facebook page.

Sure enough, more than a dozen tips came in and 42 minutes after the post went public, the company had found their missing van.

Ecuador Amazon tribe win first victory against oil companies

Ecuador's Waorani indigenous tribe won their first victory Friday against big oil companies in a ruling that blocks the companies' entry onto ancestral Amazonian lands for oil exploration activities.

After two weeks of deliberations, a criminal court in Puyo, central Ecuador, accepted a Waorani bid for court protection in Pastaza province to stop an oil bidding process after the government moved to open up around 180,000 hectares for exploration.

The lands are protected under Ecuador's constitution that establishes the "inalienable, unseizable and indivisible" rights of indigenous people "to maintain possession of their ancestral lands and obtain their free adjudication."

Federal judge, civil rights icon Damon Keith dies at age 96

Source: Detroit Free Press

Damon J. Keith, the federal judge whose rulings in a string of high-profile cases over three decades catapulted him to the status of national civil rights icon, has died.

He was 96.

Keith, a grandson of slaves who rose from humble beginnings in Detroit to become an internationally-revered champion for justice and a much-loved father-figure who launched countless legal careers, died early Sunday morning.

Lawyers and legal scholars from all over the nation were drawn to his Detroit chambers, a place adorned with photos of the many famous people whose lives he touched, including Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and President Barack Obama.

Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2019/04/28/damon-keith-district-judge-civil-rights-icon/3608409002/

BYU valedictorian comes out during commencement speech

A valedictorian at the most prominent Mormon college in the United States, Brigham Young University, came out during his graduation speech yesterday.

Matty Easton shared several of his own struggles with his class during the heavily attended graduation ceremony, including realizing that being gay is part of who he is supposed to be.

“I stand before my family, friends, and graduating class today to say that I am proud to be a gay son of God,” he said.

“I am not broken. I am loved and important in the plan of our great creator. Each of us are.”

Pope sends aid to migrants stranded at the US border

Pope Francis has donated 500,000 dollars to assist migrants in Mexico. The funds, from the Peter’s Pence collections, will be distributed among 27 projects promoted by sixteen Mexican dioceses and religious congregations, which requested assistance in continuing to provide food, lodging, and basic necessities to the migrants.

According to a statement from Peter’s Pence, “In recent months, thousands of migrants have arrived in Mexico, having travelled more than 4,000 kilometres on foot and with makeshift vehicles from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Men and women, often with young children, flee poverty and violence, hoping for a better future in the United States. However, the US border remains closed to them.”

In particular, the aid is intended to assist the more than 75,000 people who arrived in Mexico in 2018, in six migrant caravans. “All these people were stranded, unable to enter the United States, without a home or livelihood”, the statement reads. “The Catholic Church hosts thousands of them in hotels within the dioceses or religious congregations, providing basic necessities, from housing to clothing”.