Federal government turns over evidence from the shooting death of Renee Good for court review

MINNEAPOLIS — The federal government has turned over evidence from the shooting death of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross to a magistrate judge in U.S. District Court for Minnesota, according to an attorney involved in a case tangential to Ross.

Eric Newmark said that the federal government informed him it had turned over a digital drive with the evidence to comply with an order issued by Judge Jeffrey Bryan. The deadline to turn over the evidence was May 1.

Newmark represents Roberto Carlos Muñoz-Guatemala, who was convicted of assaulting Ross last year in a traffic incident in Bloomington, Minnesota. Newmark has not seen the evidence and said he remains skeptical of whether the government will provide everything that was requested, or stay with its public stance that it is not investigating Ross for the killing of Good.

Last week, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Ross “acted according to his training and in a manner that ensured his own safety and that of his fellow officers and bystanders” when Good was killed. That statement came in response to a question of whether Ross has returned to work as a federal agent in a different state.

This is the first known instance of the federal government supplying its own investigative evidence to the courts from any of the three shootings that took place in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

Where is Kristin Smart? Search warrant served at killer's mother's property after remains detected

LOS ANGELES — Nearly three decades after Kristin Smart disappeared, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's investigators on Wednesday served a search warrant at the home of her killer's mother and prepared to scan and sample the grounds for her remains.

The Arroyo Grande home belongs to Susan Flores. Her son, Paul Flores, was the last person seen with Smart as the two walked toward her dormitory at Cal State San Luis Obispo after a 1996 Memorial Day weekend party. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison three years ago for Smart's murder. But her body has never been found.

Three years ago, a group of scientists working from Susan Flores' neighbors' backyard using soil vapor sampling detected the presence of volatile organic compounds that they say may be associated with decomposing human remains.

A sheriff's detective served Susan Flores with the search warrant shortly after 7 a.m., and also have access to a neighboring home where the scientists in 2023 detected the volatile organic compounds. The grounds have been searched before. Sources familiar with the investigation said the search is expected to last two days.

"The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office is conducting an additional investigation into the property in the 500 block of East Branch Street in Arroyo Grande. This investigation is related to the Kristin Smart disappearance," the Sheriff's Department said in a statement. "This activity is the result of a search warrant signed by a Superior Court judge. The Sheriff's Office remains committed to bringing Kristin home to her family."

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson, along with investigators and experts in ground-penetrating radar and soil science, appeared at the home Wednesday morning. Sheriff's officials confirmed a search warrant is being served. The department said it won't be commenting beyond the statement.

—Los Angeles Times

RFK Jr. clears path for minors' use of tanning beds, much to the dismay of dermatologists

Days before the 2024 presidential election, future Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a statement on X promising to end the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "aggressive suppression" of such alternative therapies as raw milk, ivermectin, psychedelics and, somewhat perplexingly, "sunshine."

While the post did not explain how the FDA was limiting Americans' access to the sun, many dermatologists were dismayed when Kennedy abruptly withdrew a proposed FDA rule that would have banned minors from using devices that mimic sunlight — indoor tanning lamps.

The rule, which was withdrawn March 16, would have also required indoor tanning facility users to sign a form acknowledging the risk of cancer, early skin aging and other health effects.

Kennedy's action comes at a time when many adherents of his Make America Healthy Again movement have adopted regular sun exposure as a core principle of wellness, with social media influencers encouraging followers to abandon sunscreen and build up their "solar callus," or sun tolerance, instead.

The trend has frustrated many dermatologists, who warn that the damage of frequent sunburns and tans accumulates over a lifetime, and those acquired early in life appear to play a disproportionate role in later risk of skin cancer. The Skin Cancer Foundation notes also that you cannot build up a tolerance to sun exposure and "there is no such thing as a 'solar callus.'"

—Los Angeles Times

Israel hits Hezbollah commander in first Beirut attack since ceasefire

BEIRUT — The Israeli Air Force has carried out a strike in a suburb of Beirut for the first time since a ceasefire took effect three weeks ago, targeting a commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit, officials said.

In a joint statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the operation on Wednesday was aimed at “eliminating” the commander.

Israeli Channel 13 reported, citing Israeli sources, that the Radwan commander Malek Balut, his deputy and several other fighters were killed in the strike. Hezbollah sources confirmed to dpa that a commander was killed.

The attack took place at around 8 p.m. local time after the air force received specific intelligence, the report said. Balut was believed to have been hiding in an apartment in the Haret Hreik area of the densely populated Dahieh suburb, where Israeli jets dropped around 10 heavy bombs.

Residents in Beirut reported loud explosions, with witnesses describing scenes of panic in the southern suburbs and beyond. Many people abandoned their cars by the roadside, while others fled the area. “When we heard the explosions, we ran down the stairs and fled,” one resident told dpa. Many residents had only recently returned to their homes in Dahieh following the ceasefire.

According to Israeli officials, the United States was informed ahead of the strike and approved the operation. Northern Israel has been placed on heightened alert in anticipation of possible escalation.

Despite an official ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, cross-border violence has continued on a near-daily basis.

—dpa