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Cover Five: With pressure rising, Matt Rhule delivers Nebraska a bowl bid in Year 2Article content A Vancouver leather goods artisan is pleading for help after a thief broke into her studio, stealing more than a thousand dollars worth of handcrafted bags. Last Sunday around 9:30 a.m., a man broke into Maxine Young’s Gastown workspace, Mameyo Goods, while the small business owner was at a market selling her hand-made accessories. “Yesterday was my last market of the year, and to come back to a broken-in studio was heartbreaking,” Young posted in an emotional plea shared on social media Tuesday. “This is a huge hit to my small business, not only financially, but also I’ve lost security in one of my favourite places to be.” Surveillance footage shows the thief taking several handbags valued at approximately $1,500. But one in particular — the very first bag Young ever made — cannot be replaced. Young is appealing to the public for help in recovering The Penny bucket bag, which she describes not just as a product, but as the prototype that sparked the creation of her small business. “It is the very first bag that I made, and it’s the one that started off the whole business,” said Young, who designs and handcrafts each bag in her Gastown workshop from leather sourced as a by-product of the meat industry. “This is the one that I want back.” While the Vancouver Police Department confirmed Thursday that it is investigating the Dec. 8 break-in, no arrests have been made, Sgt. Tania Visintin said in an email. Since sharing her story on social media, Young said she has been overwhelmed with support, but has received no leads about the thief’s identity. She is, however, warning people not to approach him. Walley Wargolet, president of the Gastown Business Improvement Association, said break-ins and thefts have long been a concern for local businesses, as thieves increasingly target the historic neighbourhood with troubling frequency. Vancouver’s Central Business District, including Gastown, has the highest rate of thefts, break-ins, and weapon-related crimes in the city, according to the latest crime data. In October, the downtown district reported three times as many robberies (423) as Vancouver’s other neighbourhoods. According to Vancouver police crime map data, there were 27 break-ins reported at businesses just in the past four weeks. “We know one particular case in the neighbourhood where the suspect has 90 individual arrests of shoplifting and is still out on the street,” said Wargolet. However, the business representative said he believes the solution does not solely lie in increasing police presence in the neighbourhood. “Focusing solely on putting more police on the street is not going to fix the problem,” said Wargolet. “Many of the people committing these crimes are in real need of mental health and addiction support.” In September, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim promised to tackle Gastown’s problem of violent robberies linked to repeat shoplifters by establishing a community policing centre in the neighbourhood. “These plans are progressing,” said Wargolet, noting that the Gastown Business Improvement Association has a meeting with police and city officials next week.Ducks forward Trevor Zegras has surgery on torn knee meniscus, will be out for 6 weeks
A video posted to social media by a Texas lieutenant in the Department of Public Safety shows a young girl at the U.S.-Mexico border standing alone. She has traveled from El Salvador, and holds just a Post-It note with a phone number on it. "How old are you?" a trooper asks. The girl holds up two fingers. A second video posted by the same lieutenant shows 60 migrant children who journeyed by themselves to the U.S. arriving in Eagle Pass, Texas. Another image shows an accused smuggler running across the border with a 5-year-old in his arms, reportedly paid to bring the girl to her mother already in the states. The Texas Department of Public Safety, under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, openly supports President-elect Donald Trump's push to dramatically tighten immigration. Lt. Chris Olivarez began posting photos and videos of child migrants around the time Tom Homan, Trump's point-person on the border, visited Eagle Pass. "I guarantee some are in forced labor, some are in sex trades," Homan said. "We're going to save those children." RELATED STORY | Trump announces former acting ICE Director Tom Homan as new 'border czar' The arrival of unaccompanied minors is not a new phenomenon. Thousands have journeyed across the Mexican border each year, including during the first Trump term, according to a Scripps News review of data from the Department of Health and Human Services. The flow of unaccompanied minors, however, reached record highs during the first years of the Biden administration, as undocumented immigration soared. The numbers have fallen since 2022 but remain elevated today. The federal government tries to quickly place child migrants with a sponsor already in the country, usually a parent or other close family member. The sponsor pledges to care for the minor while ensuring they go through immigration proceedings. However, it is an approach that does not always work. RELATED STORY | Trump's mass deportation plan targets specific groups of immigrants A 2023 joint investigation by Scripps News and the Center for Public Integrity found many children end up disappearing from their sponsor homes. Thousands of unaccompanied minors run away, some winding up in dangerous illegal child labor jobs, or worse. "They've simply vanished into a dark underworld of sex and drug trafficking, forced labor, gang activity and crime," said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-California, during a November congressional hearing. McClintock and other Republicans say the Department of Health and Human Services is to blame for failing to properly vet sponsors. A 2023 report by a Florida grand jury obtained by Scripps News found some sponsor addresses were in fact empty lots or a strip club. One address listed 44 kids assigned to it. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says they are doing the best they can with a limited budget. "What we don't do is short-change the vetting process," Becerra said at a November hearing on Capitol Hill. "We make sure that we follow best practices in the child welfare field. "We do background checks on every individual," he added. RELATED STORY | The struggle to locate migrant children missing from US homes Just how many migrant children have disappeared from their sponsors is in dispute. Becerra says a frequently cited estimate of 85,000 missing kids is too high and doesn't account for many children who are safe but just not reachable by HHS officials who make three attempts to contact them. "They may be at school, they may be at a doctor's appointment, they may not have a phone working anymore," Becerra said. Homan and the rest of the Trump administration have not yet laid out what their policy will be for those children who make the perilous journey to the U.S. alone.UN watchdog to conduct probe into sexual misconduct allegations against top international prosecutor
No, the president cannot change Social Security