PREPARING FOR CORONAVIRUS:
Getting ready for the possibility of major disruptions is not only smart; it’s also our civic duty

This applies to all “prepping” as a general concept. The better you can look after yourself and yours, the less of a drain you are on emergency resources. The press wants to treat prepping as selfish, but it’s actually the opposite.

As the new human coronavirus spreads around the world, individuals and families should prepare—but are we? The Centers for Disease Control has already said that it expects community transmission in the United States, and asked families to be ready for the possibility of a “significant disruption to our lives.”

Be ready? But how? It seems to me that some people may be holding back from preparing because of their understandable dislike of associating such preparation with doomsday or “prepper” subcultures. Another possibility is that people may have learned that for many people the disease is mild, which is certainly true, so they don’t think it’s a big risk to them. Also, many doomsday scenarios advise extensive preparation for increasingly outlandish scenarios, and this may seem daunting and pointless (and it is). Others may not feel like contributing to a panic or appearing to be selfish.

Forget all that.

Preparing for the almost inevitable global spread of this virus, now dubbed COVID-19, is one of the most pro-social, altruistic things you can do in response to potential disruptions of this kind.

We should prepare, not because we may feel personally at risk, but so that we can help lessen the risk for everyone. We should prepare not because we are facing a doomsday scenario out of our control, but because we can alter every aspect of this risk we face as a society.

That’s right, you should prepare because your neighbors need you to prepare—especially your elderly neighbors, your neighbors who work at hospitals, your neighbors with chronic illnesses, and your neighbors who may not have the means or the time to prepare because of lack of resources or time……

Staying home without needing deliveries means that not only are you less likely to get sick, thus freeing up hospitals for more vulnerable populations, it means that you are less likely to infect others (while you may be having a mild case, you can still infect an elderly person or someone with cancer or another significant illness) and you allow delivery personnel to help out others.

A second case of coronavirus found through spread in California.

California reported its second case of community transmission of the coronavirus in two days — this one, a 65-year-old woman in Santa Clara County who has no known history of travel to countries hit hard by the outbreak, people familiar with the situation said Friday.

That means the virus appears to be spreading among at least two separate communities, about 90 miles apart, according to people who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details. On Wednesday, health authorities revealed the nation’s first case of community transmission, a woman in Solano County, California.

There is no apparent connection between the new patient and anyone else with the disease, known as covid-19.

“I think there’s a strong possibility that there’s local transmission going in California,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “In other words, the virus is spreading within California, and I think there’s a possibility other states are in the same boat — they just haven’t recognized that yet.”

Two students in Palo Alto, a city of 67,000 in the northwestern corner Santa Clara county, also may have been exposed to the virus, according to a letter to parents from the school’s superintendent Friday.


Republicans Walk Out of Coronavirus Briefing After Democrats Play Politics With the Crisis

Several House Republicans walked out of a closed-door briefing on the coronavirus by Trump administration health officials after a Democratic chairman railed against the White House response to the crisis.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the leading House health appropriator, kicked off the briefing by criticizing the administration for being disorganized and lacking urgency in its response. Several GOP members started to boo before most Republicans got up and walked out.

“If I wanted to hear the politics of it, I’d read Politico or something, let’s be serious,” said Rep. Paul Mitchell of Michigan. Even Democrats were uncomfortable with DeLauro’s tirade.

Politico:

DeLauro’s comments were indicative of the growing political tensions around the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus response. President Donald Trump, who has publicly tried to downplay the virus through a series of misleading claims, just after midnight took to Twitter to complain that Democrats were pinning the crisis on him.

But at least one Democrat also left the briefing irritated. Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), who led the health department under President Bill Clinton, said DeLauro’s diatribe missed the purpose of the meeting.

“No one wanted to hear that, either the Democrats or Republican. We just wanted to hear the substance,” she said.

DeLauro was unapologetic.

DeLauro, the leading House health appropriator, accused the administration of a lack of urgency and warned that there were several crucial questions that remained unanswered about the coronavirus response. As lawmakers transferred to a bigger room to accommodate all the attendees, a visibly frustrated DeLauro told colleagues she didn’t “give a rat’s ass” and about the reaction and that members needed answers from the administration.

“I feel that the issue on resources and current expenditures has been less than adequate and that these are some of the questions that we have to get answered,” she told reporters afterward, and her office later released a transcript of her remarks. “I quite frankly don’t worry about people who may have a concern. I just know that the questions are right.”

The questions are stupid.

How can the White House possibly have any idea how much will be needed to combat the crisis? Scientists don’t even know how the darn thing spreads. As far as current expenditures are concerned, maybe the people who could figure that out are a touch busy at the moment doing actual, you know, work on the crisis, and not looking for a club to beat Republicans with.

Internal documents, whistleblowers point to alleged underreporting of crime by DC Police
Whistleblowers claim assault, theft cases being downgraded to improve department’s crime stats.

WASHINGTON — Two D.C. police officers have accused their MPD superiors of rigging crime stats to make them look better. Now, WUSA9 has obtained internal documents the whistleblowers say proves their case.

On a hot summer afternoon in August 2019, a woman standing outside a liquor store in Petworth asked a man to buy her some water, according to one of the police reports reviewed by investigative reporter Eric Flack.

What happened next, according to that police report, was unimaginable. The man allegedly slashed the woman’s face and neck with an unknown object, sending her to the hospital.

That might sound like an “assault with a dangerous weapon,” a felony charge that can get you 10 years in prison.

But that’s not the way D.C. Police reported it; instead classifying the alleged crime as a “simple assault” – a misdemeanor that only carries a maximum of 6-months in jail.

In a second case, in the early morning hours on December 25, a night of drinking between a man and his boyfriend ended in an alleged case of domestic violence inside a Columbia Heights apartment.

According to that police report, the suspect grabbed his partner and held a knife to his neck while screaming profanities. But once again the police report says officers did not record the incident as an assault with a dangerous weapon, or even an aggravated assault, which is also a felony.

Instead, the police report shows investigators once again opted to classify the alleged attack as a misdemeanor “simple assault.” In the end, those police reports show neither case ended up being prosecuted.

So why would MPD seemingly downplay crimes in the District by labeling them less serious than they actually were?

Two veteran officers say it is all by design. And they have the documents they say prove it.

“I’m a sergeant for the Metropolitan Police Department, and I’m a whistleblower,” D.C. Police Sgt. Charlotte Djossou said in public testimony January 16 before DC Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety.

WUSA9 has now obtained the internal police reports and emails Sgt. Djossou and Officer Knight handed over to Councilmember Charles Allen, the committee chairman, as evidence of their claims that some D.C. Police supervisors are ordering investigators to downgrade crime classifications from more serious crimes to less serious ones.

The goal, the officers say, is to make the city’s crime stats look better.

In addition to those two assault cases, the paperwork obtained by WUSA9 includes evidence that non-violent crimes are being downplayed as well.

An email from an MPD captain in the Fourth District dated March 12 instructs officers to stop using the classification of theft in the second degree where the value of the property stolen is under $25.

Instead, the captain writes that officers should use a charge most people have never heard of: “taking property without right.” It’s an obscure crime designation that carries a maximum of three months in jail rather than the six-month sentence that could come with a theft charge.

Subsequent emails show three separate cases where officers followed that captain’s directive reclassifying theft charges to that lesser known “taking property without right” charge. In two of the cases, those emails cited a lack of “solvability factors” as the reason.

That didn’t sit well with Sgt. Djossou and Officer Knight, and apparently it didn’t sit well with the district commander either. Months later, he stepped in to reverse that captain’s order in another email discontinuing use of classification “taking property without right” altogether.

So why does how a crime is classified matter?

“It sends the message that this is insignificant,” said Sandra Jackson, executive director of the House of Ruth, which shelters and advises victims of domestic violence……..

 

Support the Constitutional Carry Bill in Louisiana

Maybe Louisiana and Tennessee will be added to the list of permitless carry states this year.

House Bill number 72 is the “Louisiana Constitutional Carry Act of 2020.” H.B. 72 says that you may carry a concealed firearm unless you are a prohibited person under state and federal law. This is commonly called constitutional carry or permitless carry. In short, if it was legal for you to get a permit and carry in public then the bill allows you to carry in public. If it was illegal for you to carry in public, then it remains illegal for you to carry in public.

The usual objection to constitutional carry is that we’ll have more accidents if untrained people carry in public. We have not seen more firearms accidents after constitutional carry when we look at the data. Where we have been able to measure it, we see people take more firearms classes once we remove the minimum state requirements to carry in public. The state permit acted as an artificial floor for training. Gun owners drove themselves to higher levels of training and competence when that floor was removed. It is past time for us to remove the firearms prohibitions that have their roots in the civil war.

Thomas Massie: If Voter ID Is a Tax on Voting Rights, Firearm Licensing Is a Tax on 2A Rights

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) used a Wednesday hearing to suggest that if Voter ID is a tax on voting rights, then firearm licensing is a tax on Second Amendment rights.

Massie made this point while cross-examining Voter ID opponents, contending that their arguments break down if they oppose issuance of ID’s for one constitutional right but look the other way when ID’s are required for the exercise of a a different right.

Fox News reported Timothy Jenkins, a witness in the hearing and board member of Teaching for Change, criticized Massie for bringing up licensing for gun rights during a discussion about licensing for voting rights.

Jenkins said:

Let me tell you this: that the whole business of being able to vote is not intermeshed with the business of bearing arms. You are taking the time that we’re trying to deal with a constitutional right to be a citizen and turning it into something else. Use another forum! We don’t have many opportunities to get a right to vote. We don’t have an opportunity to talk about the whole business of the way in which the Constitution has been distorted. And don’t take us off on some rabbit trail to talk about arms.

Jenkins also said, “Let the record show, that nobody has died because of their being deprived of bearing guns.”

Massie interjected:

What you’re saying, Mr. Jenkins, is absolutely incorrect. I had a staffer … who worked for me. She watched her husband be gunned down in front of her in a gun-free zone, because her firearm — she followed the law and left her firearm in the vehicle. So do not tell me, and do not tell her that nobody has ever died because they were deprived of their right to keep and bear arms.

In a separate but pertinent example, Breitbart News reported Carol Bowne applied for a license to possess a gun for self-defense in April 2015 and was stabbed to death on June 3, 2015, while waiting for the state of New Jersey to issue the license.

The Courier-Post reported Bowne sought state’s permission to have a gun so she could protect herself from a former boyfriend. It was he who was charged with stabbing Bowne to death as she waited for the state to grant her a license for gun ownership.

Really Big News About the Coronavirus in the United States Just Dropped

The CDC has announced that there is a newly confirmed coronavirus case in northern California, and authorities have no idea how the victim was exposed to the virus.

This particular individual had not traveled to a foreign country lately and also had not had any contact with a known infected patient. In other words, it appears that this individual was infected by someone that the CDC does not know about yet. As soon as this news dropped, financial markets started freaking out and there was an explosion of speculation on social media. Have the efforts to contain the coronavirus in the United States failed? And if people are going this crazy even though not a single American has died from this virus yet, what is going to happen if people start dropping dead in the streets?

The global tipping point we have been waiting for has now arrived. The number of new coronavirus cases outside of China is now surpassing the number of new coronavirus cases being reported inside China each day, and this virus continues to pop up in even more countries. On Wednesday alone, Norway, Greece, Romania, North Macedonia, Pakistan and Brazil all reported their very first cases. In fact, the case in Brazil was the very first to be reported in all of South America.

But most Americans don’t care too much about what is going on in the rest of the world. What they do care about is what is happening within our own borders, and a lot of people are extremely concerned that there is now a confirmed case of “unknown” origin in northern California…

Gov. Bill Lee’s (Tennesee) permitless carry bill set to bolster penalties for stealing guns

Standing in a building that prohibits guns while surrounded by dozens of Republican lawmakers, Gov. Bill Lee announced Thursday plans to introduce legislation that would let Tennesseans carry handguns without first obtaining a permit while increasing penalties for illegal gun possession and thefts.

The governor’s sudden support for such legislation is a reversal from his previous public statements, a significant departure from his predecessor and a signal of Tennessee’s tilt toward the more conservative wing of the Republican Party.

“The Second Amendment’s clear and concise and secures the uninfringed right of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms,” Lee said inside the Old Supreme Court chamber at the state Capitol in Nashville. “Today, I’m announcing that we will be joining 16 other states in this nation by introducing a constitutional carry law in the state of Tennessee.”

Lee and his legislative colleagues presented the measure as one that would make Tennessee safer, a claim immediately met with pushback from critics.

The initiative would allow for both open and concealed carrying of handguns for people 21 and older. The permitless carry right would also be extended to military members who are 18 to 20.

The governor said the legislation is aimed at making theft of a firearm a felony, an offense that is currently a misdemeanor in Tennessee. It will also mandate a six-month incarceration sentence for the crime, up from the current 30-day requirement.

If approved, sentencing will be enhanced when a gun is stolen from a car, as well as for providing a handgun to a juvenile and unlawful possession of a handgun by a felon.

80-year-old Arkansas man shoots teen breaking into his home

HUGHES, Ark. — A burglary suspect is recovering after being shot while another is on the run after they tried to break into a man’s house twice.

Thieves broke into 80-year-old Fred Burkes’ home two nights in a row.

Early Monday morning, he heard noises and found two men taking his 55-inch flatscreen TV.

“They ran out the house,” Burkes said. “And then I looked again, and my TV was gone.”

Burkes boarded up his front door with a wooden board, hoping it would prevent a future break-in.

Neighbors say they saw two men circling the block just hours later. One neighbor said they were watching Burke’s house very closely.

Burkes says the thieves struck again around 2 a.m. on Tuesday. They climbed through a back window and he says they tried to get into his bedroom. Burkes says they started asking him where his money was.

He began pushing against the door to keep them out but when they started threatening him, he took action.

“I reach and got my shotgun …” Burkes said.

Burkes shot one suspect in his bedroom doorway while the other ran off.

Hughes police says both suspects are juveniles with histories of prior break-ins. The one who was shot is still recovering.

Burkes will not face charges but is sad local teens are resorting to crime.

“I don’t feel good at all,” Burkes said. “I’m 80 years old. If he had gotten in there, I don’t know what he would’ve done.”

His neighbors say they will be keeping an eye out for Burkes.

At this time, no charges have been filed in this case.


 

The Coronavirus Outbreak: How Democratic Taiwan Outperformed Authoritarian China.
Taiwan’s example proves that the free flow of information is the best treatment for the coronavirus outbreak.

The novel strain of coronavirus (officially dubbed COVID-19) that originated in Wuhan, China has spread to almost 30 countries, including regional neighbors like South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, and countries as far away as the United States, Canada, and Brazil. As of February 26, more than 81,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide, and the death toll has surpassed 2,700, mostly in China. The epicenter of the virus crisis, China, has been suffering socially and economically not only on account of the virus, but also because of the Chinese government’s problematic policies.

The Chinese government has been working to tackle the coronavirus outbreak by using multiple measures to contain the spread of the virus as well as information about the outbreak. Most famously, the government imposed an extreme quarantine in Wuhan on January 23, which is still in place over a month later. Many cities in Hubei province and elsewhere in China have also implemented lockdowns or restrictions while cases of infection continue to increase.

Besides these measures in the physical world, the Chinese government has attempted to quarantine discussion of the epidemic in the realm of public opinion. From the first appearance of the new virus last December to the lockdown of massive cities in mid-January, the Chinese authorities chose to restrict public access to the information about the epidemic by silencing people, most famously the whistleblower Doctor Li Wenliang. In the early stages of the outbreak, the Chinese government issued a statement asserting that “the disease is preventable and controllable,” and announcements sent by Chinese officials to World Health Organization (WHO) office in Beijing claimed that there was no evidence of the disease being transmitted between humans.

But the Chinese scientists writing in The Lancet medical journal later revealed that the first patient known to have contracted the novel coronavirus had no link to the Wuhan seafood market that the Chinese government pointed to as the source of the outbreak. This would suggest that the virus all along was spreading via human-to-human transmission – and that the government was lying to the public from the very beginning of this catastrophe.

Chinese news outlet Caixin covered the story of Dr. Li Wenliang, who became famous after being detained for posting about the new virus online. Li later died of the coronavirus himself, inspiring rare public anger against China’s censorship system. “There should be more than one voice in a healthy society,” Li told Caixin. When his death was reported, Chinese social media platforms were flooded with netizens’ anger and calls for freedom of speech. It seemed for a moment that the Chinese media and civil society had won more space for free speech, granted by the Chinese government as a safety valve for the pressure building from the bottom up.

But in fact, the central government began tightening its media and online controls soon, after a short period of tolerance. In February 2020, two Chinese citizen journalists disappeared after continuously reporting stories about the outbreak and posted them online. The Chinese government then expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters, taking advantage of accusations of racism over an editorial headline. In the meantime, China’s top cyber regulator required online technology companies to “create a good online atmosphere” for fighting the virus, and many social media apps and accounts were removed because of their posts of so-called harmful content. The Chinese propaganda department guided the domestic media to cover only positive stories on the coronavirus crisis relief work being done by Chinese authorities. The central government even dispatched journalists to the center of outbreak to accomplish this mission.

Whether China is stepping up propaganda or strengthening media and cyber controls, its primary goal is to maintain regime stability and social control, not to contain the virus outbreak.

On the contrary, Taiwan, a country that has been excluded from the WHO for decades thanks to China’s political pressure, has demonstrated that the better way to contain the coronavirus is not to quarantine news about epidemic, but to make it easier and more convenient for people to access relevant information………..

Bloomberg Tries To Control Others Because He Can’t Control Himself

He’s an arrogant snob, but we already knew that.

There used to be a social stigma against believing and behaving as if one is entitled to tell perfect strangers how to speak, what to do, or how to live.

Sadly, that stigma is all but gone today. More people than ever are willing to use the force of government to compel their fellow citizens to comply with their own changing set of mandates.

I am fascinated by the causes that have compelled so many Americans to lose perspective on this fundamental principle of freedom.

Take Michael Bloomberg, please! What drives this man with the freedom to enjoy his wealth in 65 billion different ways, to spend his time trying to curtail the freedoms and choices of others, even down to the size soda they drink and the amount of salt they ought to be allowed to sprinkle on their spinach?

Coloradans know all too well that the former New York Mayor and Democratic Presidential Candidate spent boatloads of cash pushing state legislators to clamp down on their God-given right to defend themselves and their families. He has pushed freedom-sucking and blatantly biased “Red Flag” bills in numerous other states around the country.

Mayor Busybody simply can’t stop telling others what to do. It seems to be an obsession with him—or maybe, a compulsion too. I gained insight into this when I returned to a New York Times article from 2009 that described Bloomberg’s eating habits.

“He dumps salt on almost everything, even saltine crackers. He devours burnt bacon and peanut butter sandwiches. He has a weakness for hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and fried chicken, washing them down with a glass of merlot. And his snack of choice? Cheez-Its.”

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is about control. Controlling one’s out-of-control thoughts, feelings and behavior by attempting to control his external environment. Consciously or unconsciously, those afflicted do this in vain, to the point where they feel unable to control the compulsion as well (as in excessive hand-washing).

Most sufferers aren’t dangerous unless they have 65 billion dollars and a God-complex.

The Times went on to report this delicious insight:

“…he (Bloomberg) is known to grab food off the plates of aides and, occasionally, even strangers. (“Delicious,” he declared recently, after swiping a piece of fried calamari from an unsuspecting diner in Staten Island.)”

Behavior like this exhibits a staggering and extreme lack of boundaries. The Times seems to only snicker at this, but it’s painfully clear that Bloomberg has great difficulty respecting the basic boundaries of civil society. No wonder it’s so easy for him to help himself to your freedoms and your choices, when he can’t stop helping himself to your calamari.

As a rule of thumb, the most flawed and arrogant people are most likely to believe they know what’s best for everyone else and should be allowed to trample on our freedoms. Those who are secure and comfortable in their own skin do not have a need to control others. They have the basic self-confidence to tolerate and even enjoy the uncertainty of others’ choices and behavior. They reserve more extreme action for times in which there has been the actual commission of a crime.

These cultural underpinnings of freedom have been essential to what is America. Socialists have been systematically unraveling these norms in a big way. They have not only been more open about their ideology, they have been working feverishly to put it into practice and prepare more Americans to accept it.

How can we put an end to the presumptuousness of these troubled, would-be tyrants? First, we can return the stigma attached to telling other adults what to do and how to live.
 We can once again elevate the notion that the right to think one’s own thoughts, make one’s own choices, and live one’s own life is sacrosanct, regardless of how flawed, unpopular or even offensive those choices might be.

The imperative of Liberty requires that the individual take responsibility for his own successes and failures so he can learn from his mistakes. In protecting others’ freedoms, he protects his own. We used to know this but it has been unlearned.

As for Michael Bloomberg, he has begun to help our side more than he could have imagined. His off-the-scale ignorance and arrogance was hilariously exposed in his first Democrat primary debate.

If we play our cards right, Bloomberg could help us take a “Big Gulp” toward returning a sensible social stigma of proclaiming oneself as lord and master over the rest of us.

It’s a reasonable strategy, and it shouldn’t cost 65 billion dollars.

Coronavirus infects woman in Japan for the second time, a first in the country

Okay, this is either 1, when the woman was tested clear, it was a ‘false negative’, or 2, she was reinfected by someone, or 3, the bug has ‘crypto’ capability, the ability to hide within the body, then spring forth anew.

A woman in Japan tested positive for the coronavirus for the second time on Wednesday, as the country grips with 190 cases separate from the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak, according to multiple reports.

The tour bus guide in her 40s first tested positive in late January and was released from the hospital after recovering. She was readmitted after having a sore throat and chest pains, according to the local government.

It’s a first known case of a second positive test in Japan, which prompted Health Minister Katsunobu Kato to inform Japan’s central government of the need to review previous patient lists and monitor the condition of those previously discharged, according to Reuters.

“Once you have the infection, it could remain dormant and with minimal symptoms, and then you can get an exacerbation if it finds its way into the lungs,” said Philip Tierno Jr., professor of microbiology and pathology at NYU School of Medicine, according to the news organization.

The virus can reportedly spread without symptoms showing up, which forces officials to play catch up and makes it far more difficult to manage.

Health officials analyzed the implications of a patient testing positive after having an initial recovery. Second positive tests have been reported in China.

“I’m not certain that this is not bi-phasic, like anthrax,” Tierno Jr. said in regards to the disease being able to go away before reappearing.

MARINE CORPS TAPS TRIJICON VCOG AS NEW USMC SQUAD COMMON OPTIC

Trijicon VCOG

The U.S. Marine Corps this month selected Wixom, Michigan’s Trijicon to supply the service’s new Squad Common Optic.

The Marines describe the SCO as a “magnified day optic that improves target acquisition and probability-of-hit with infantry assault rifles.” Using a variable power non-caliber-specific reticle with an illuminated or nonilluminated aim-point, users can identify their targets from farther distances than the current RCO standard– the Trijicon ACOG 4×32.

“The SCO supplements the attrition and replacement of the RCO Family of Optics and the Squad Day Optic for the M27, M4 and M4A1 weapon platforms for close-combat Marines,” said Tom Dever, interim team lead for Combat Optics at Marine Corps Systems Command.

The glass selected for the SCO program is Trijicon’s VCOG 1-8×28. The waterproof (to 66 feet) optic has a 7075-T6 aluminum housing and a first focal plane reticle that allows subtensions and drops to remain true at any magnification.

Guns and behavior

Dear elected representative, I am Angie from TC High and we are learning more about guns and school shootings and speaking our opinions about it and I guess we are now writing to you. So I gotta start somewhere.

This gun situation needs to be brought up more in schools, anywhere it can influence a person to not do this type of thing. I remember in middle school we talked a lot about opioids and discussed almost every day. And have checkups on kids psychologically and do more studies to see the red flags for this behavior.

But don’t take away guns. It’s not the guns killing people; it’s the people killing people. The Second Amendment says we have a right to keep and bear arms so you can’t really take away our guns. Help the people who are thinking of doing this thing. We have to keep America safe if we want to have better lives and a better future.

Angie Maddasion

Traverse City

Today, February 27, 1917, Congress Heights District of Columbia

John Moses Browning, with executives of Colt’s Patent Firearms,  demonstrated his working model of the ‘Automatic Rifle‘ to U.S. government leaders and high ranking military officers.

And off we went to the races.

The production version, the Model 1918 was manufactured in sufficient quantity to outfit the U.S. army’s 79th Division for World War 1 combat use in September of that year.

 

Alleged burglar charged with murder after accomplices are shot down in attempted home invasion

Austin police have charged a man with murder after police said he and two of his accomplices tried to rob two roommates at their northeast Austin apartment on Feb. 18. That robbery left his alleged accomplices dead.

Octaviano R. Rodriguez, 30, along with Casaundra Hernandez, born in 1989, and Emilio Maisonet, born in 1990, attempted to rob a residence at the Creekside on Parmer Lane apartments located at 5401 E. Parmer Lane at around 10:30 p.m., according to Austin police.

The roommates in the apartment told police that Rodriguez, Hernandez and Maisonet knocked on their door and claimed to be with the City of Austin when one of the residents asked who they were. The affidavit said Rodriguez was wearing a hardhat and a construction vest.

The resident who opened the door told officers a man, who police identified as Rodriguez, forced his way into the apartment and put a pistol to the back of the resident’s head.

The other resident told officers he went to his bedroom to grab his handgun. He told officers that two or three people had entered the apartment and that the intruders fired a shot in his direction before he returned fire.

The resident who returned fire told police he saw Rodriguez flee the apartment. Additionally, the affidavit said one of the residents was able to identify Rodriguez in a photographic line-up.

According to the affidavit, officers heard Rodriguez screaming for help behind some bushes. Police said Rodriguez had a gunshot wound to the leg and was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police said they found Hernandez, who was unresponsive and had multiple gunshot wounds in a breezeway in the complex. Police found a handgun underneath Hernandez’s body, according to the affidavit. Hernandez was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m., according to the affidavit.

Police located Maisonet as well, who police said also had an apparent gunshot wound. According to the affidavit, Maisonet was pronounced dead at 10:48 p.m.

Rodriguez is being held at the Travis County jail on a $250,000 bond for a first-degree felony murder charge. According to the affidavit, Rodriguez “committed an act clearly dangerous to human life … which resulted in the unintended deaths of Casaundra Hernandez and Emilio Ortiz.”


Car owner’s boyfriend shoots suspected car burglar in Sand Springs

Police are piecing together a shooting investigation in Sand Springs from Tuesday night that landed a man in the hospital.

Officers were called to a neighborhood near 6th and Main around 7:30 p.m. after someone caught a man breaking into their car in a back alley.

Police say the homeowner went outside to start her car when she saw 28-year-old Brent Mikott Sloan sitting inside her car.

The homeowner’s boyfriend came out and chased after Sloan before getting in a fight with him.

He says while he was holding Sloan and waiting for police, Sloan lunged at him.

He shot Sloan in the knee.

Paramedics rushed Sloan to the hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Neighbors say they’ve had problems with car burglaries in the area.

Sloan is facing charges for auto burglary. The district attorney’s office will decide if charges will be filed against the shooter.

Trump Says Coronavirus Vaccine Coming Along ‘Rapidly, ‘ Appoints Pence to Head Task Force

As fears spread of a possible coronavirus outbreak in the U.S, President Trump addressed the nation in a Wednesday evening news conference at the White House to discuss how his administration was handling the virus threat — saying that a vaccine is being developed “rapidly” and “coming along very well.”

However, Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said later at the press conference that a vaccine would not be applicable to the epidemic for a “year to a year and a half,” due to delays from testing, development, production and distribution.