By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Nation news briefs
Placeholder Image

DHS EMPLOYEE BEHIND RACIST WEBSITE: WASHINGTON (AP) — A Homeland Security employee is the operator of a racist website predicting and advocating a race war, a department official said Thursday.

Ayo Kimathi, who is an acquisitions officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, operates the site, War on the Horizon, which includes descriptions of an "unavoidable, inevitable clash with the white race." Kimathi is black.

The DHS official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

While many of the postings on Kimathi's site are inflammatory, it was not immediately clear whether they cross the legal threshold into unprotected hate speech, and the posts may not violate DHS policies if he does not curate the website at work or espouse the ideologies in the office.

Kimathi, who identifies himself online using a pseudonym, did not respond to phone calls and emails from The Associated Press to his home and office. According to the ICE acquisitions website, Kimathi is a small business specialist responsible for purchasing handcuffs, guns and other law enforcement equipment and services.

In a brief written statement, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said the agency "does not condone any type of hateful rhetoric or advocacy of violence of any kind against anyone. Every ICE employee is held to the highest standard of professional and ethical conduct. Accusations of misconduct are investigated thoroughly and if substantiated, appropriate action is taken."

5 INDICTED FOR TRAFFICKING METH IN DRINK BOTTLES: DENVER (AP) — Federal and Colorado authorities say they've stopped a major methamphetamine ring that imported a liquid version of the drug from Mexico in factory-sealed drink bottles and windshield wiper fluid.

The indictments of 15 people accused of participating in the ring were announced Thursday in Denver. Eleven have been arrested and the others are still being sought.

Barbra Roach of the Drug Enforcement Administration says about 35 pounds of liquid meth brought to Colorado through El Paso, Texas and San Diego. Once in Colorado, the liquid, colored to look like an energy drink, was turned into crystalized meth.

Two kilograms of cocaine was also found in the oil pan of a Jeep Wrangler headed from Cuidad Juarez  to Denver during the investigation, nicknamed "Thirst Quencher".

SPONTANEOUS GOAT MANURE FIRE STINKS UP VT. TOWN: WINDSOR, Vt. (AP) — A pile of goat manure spontaneously caught fire, spreading stench and wrinkling noses through a Vermont town but causing no damage, officials said.

The odor evoked "a damp kind of burning leaves or brush fire," Windsor Town Manager Tom Marsh said.

A worker on her way to milk goats discovered the fire in the 120-cubic-yard manure pile around 3 a.m. Wednesday, said George Redick, owner of the 800-goat Oak Knoll Dairy. He and others put out the flames with water from a hose but the pile continued to smolder. He planned to call the fire department later in the morning, but firefighters were already searching for the source of the smell by 6:30 a.m.

Marsh said he could smell the fire at his hilltop home five miles away. He called it "a little disconcerting, because it was a very strong smell."

Redick says the manure would typically have been spread around the farm earlier in the year, but the rainy season and other factors kept that from happening.

COLO. BOARD ADDRESSES VET ACCUSED OF TREATING MAN: DENVER (AP) — Police say four people have come forward regarding a Colorado veterinarian who is accused of providing care to a man who later had to have three toes amputated.

The Colorado Medical Board on Thursday issued a cease and desist order for the unlicensed practice of medicine to Fran Freemyer.

Greeley police say Freemyer was ticketed last week with practicing medicine on humans without a license, after a man said his foot worsened after the vet gave him ointment for a foot ailment.

Freemyer has said he was treating a dog for skin cancer, and the dog's owner gave some of the medicine to a neighbor without Freemyer's knowledge.

Greeley police say four other people have contacted detectives regarding Freemyer and treatment they received.

2 SHARKS CAUGHT AT MOUTH OF POTOMAC RIVER: SCOTLAND, Md. (AP) — Fishermen have caught two bull sharks at the mouth of the Potomac River in Maryland about 200 yards from a spot where people had been swimming.

John "Willy" Dean caught the 8-foot, male sharks weighing about 220 pounds each in nets on Tuesday near Point Lookout State Park where the Potomac meets Chesapeake Bay. The catch comes three years after Dean captured the first bull shark recorded in the Potomac in 37 years.

The first shark had drowned while caught in the net. The second was alive and thrashing when hauled on board by Dean and three other fishermen.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fact sheet says bull sharks live off the Atlantic coast and are common in lagoons, bays and river mouths. They can be found where fresh water meets salt water.

COURT RULES AGAINST PHOTOGRAPHER IN GAY BIAS CASE: SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A commercial photography business owned by opponents of same-sex marriage violated New Mexico's anti-discrimination law by refusing to take pictures of a gay couple's commitment ceremony, the state's highest court ruled Thursday.

In an unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court said the business's refusal in 2006 to photograph the ceremony involving two women violated New Mexico's Human Rights Act "in the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of different races."

The court's ruling came after the Dona Ana County clerk on Wednesday began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, although state law doesn't explicitly prohibit or authorize gay marriage.

Elaine Huguenin, who owns Elane Photography with her husband and is the business's principal photographer, refused to photography the ceremony because it violated her religious beliefs.

The court rejected arguments that the anti-discrimination law violated the photographer's right to free speech and the free exercise of religious beliefs.