3rd body pulled from New Orleans hotel
NEW ORLEANS -- Crews have recovered the body of a construction worker trapped in debris for more than 10 months after the collapse of a Hard Rock Hotel under construction in New Orleans.
The remains of Jose Ponce Arreola, 63, were recovered just before 4 p.m. Monday, New Orleans Fire Department Chief Tim McConnell said in a news release. McConnell and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell then attended a private service honoring Arreola's remains with his family.
The remains of Quinnyon Wimberly, another construction worker killed during the collapse in October, were recovered earlier this month. At that point, authorities said crews had yet to reach the area on the eighth floor of the structure where they expected to find Arreola's body.
"We are grateful to finally have some measure of closure for both families, who had to experience an intolerable delay," Cantrell said in the news release.
Both bodies were originally supposed to be recovered in July. Bad weather and issues with the robots needed to safely clear the debris forced delays, McConnell previously said.
The remains of Anthony Magrette, the third worker killed, were removed the day after the partial building collapsed Oct. 12.
Jet hauling firearms, ammo intercepted
MIAMI -- U.S. customs officers intercepted a Venezuela-bound private jet in south Florida loaded with 82 firearms, including a sniper rifle, as well as 63,000 rounds of ammunition, U.S. authorities said Tuesday.
Two Venezuelan pilots -- Luis Alberto Patino and Gregori Mendez -- were arrested Saturday and charged with smuggling bulk cash and goods from the U.S. and illegally possessing firearms as aliens, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release. The plane and its cargo were seized, the statement said.
Customs agents "observed that the aircraft was fully loaded, from the cockpit back to the lavatory, with cases and boxes of weapons, ammunition and household goods," Jared Rine, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said in an affidavit. When agents arrived for a customs inspection shortly before its scheduled takeoff, they found a ground crew removing some 50 boxes from the aircraft, it said.
The arrest comes as tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have escalated in recent months, including allegations that opponents of President Nicolas Maduro had been seeking the support of a former U.S. Green Beret to violently overthrow the socialist leader.
$40,000 to settle handcuffed-boy suit
FLINT, Mich. -- A Michigan city and a business group have agreed to pay $40,000 to settle a lawsuit over the handcuffing of a 7-year-old boy at an after-school program in 2015.
The boy, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, had kicked a cart and was running on bleachers when Flint police were called. His hands were cuffed behind his back and remained that way for more than an hour because the officer didn't have a key, according to the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan on behalf of the boy and his mother.
"What happened ... is highly alarming, and we don't want any other child in Flint to have a similar experience," Mark Fancher, of the ACLU, said Tuesday.
Flint and the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce are each paying $20,000, according to a settlement filed last week in federal court. The business group sponsored the after-school program.
Flint police officers will be encouraged to no longer get involved in school disciplinary issues, the ACLU said.
S.D. reports 460,000 vehicles at rally
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- This year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally drew more than 460,000 vehicles during the 10-day event, according to a count South Dakota transportation officials released Tuesday.
The count represents a decrease of nearly 8% from last year but showed that many were undeterred by the coronavirus pandemic. Sturgis officials said they expected fewer people to show up this year, estimating that they would see between 250,000 and 300,000 people during the 10-day event.
Most people didn't take significant precautions against covid-19 infections at this year's rally. A few people wore masks and some said they were avoiding crowds, but many others packed close together at bars and rock shows.
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The South Dakota Department of Health issued a warning Tuesday that one person who spent several hours at a bar on Main Street in Sturgis has tested positive for covid-19 and may have spread it to others.
People traveled to the rally from all over the country, raising concerns that it could become an epicenter of infections that are hard to track, but spread quickly as rallygoers travel home.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports