Takedown Targets Open-Air Drug Market at L.A.’s MacArthur Park, Long an Area Run by Gang Members and Homeless Drug Users

handcuffing of a tattooed man

LOS ANGELES – Eighteen defendants, including two people law enforcement believes are the main sources of fentanyl and methamphetamine in Los Angeles’s gang- and drug-infested MacArthur Park, have been arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging them with a federal drug trafficking offense, the Justice Department announced today. The complaint charges 25 defendants with possession with the intent to distribute, and distribution of, a controlled substance.  At one defendant’s Calabasas residence, law enforcement seized approximately 18 kilograms (40 pounds) of fentanyl.

The defendants arrested today are expected to make their initial appearances tomorrow afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Seven defendants are considered fugitives. “Today, we begin reclaiming MacArthur Park from criminals and drug addicts to return this public space to the citizens of Los Angeles,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “Together with our federal and local law enforcement partners, we are executing multiple arrest and search warrants targeting those who are distributing drugs in and around the park.” “For far too long, MacArthur Park has been plagued by drug addiction, crime, and despair,” said Anthony Chrysanthis, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles Field Division.

“Today’s operation is only one step, taken by a handful of agencies working hard to alleviate the anguish and sense of hopelessness burdening MacArthur Park, local businesses, and the surrounding neighborhood. While this is a drug enforcement operation, it is also an effort to restore safety and wellness, and to return MacArthur Park back to the community.” “Today’s operation shows the strength of our partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell. “We witnessed drug activity return to MacArthur Park, and our teams acted quickly to disrupt both the dealers and the suppliers behind them.

Fentanyl remains one of the most dangerous threats to our community, and we are committed to keeping it off our streets. We will remain relentless, alongside our federal partners, in protecting the people of Los Angeles from dangerous drug activity.”      MacArthur Park, located west of downtown Los Angeles, is an area of the city characterized by high rates of poverty and homelessness. Many of the homeless in that area are drug users, and the park itself is a known location for drug users to purchase narcotics, including fentanyl and methamphetamine. It is surrounded by a densely populated, tightly packed area of apartments, offices, shops and other businesses.

The park and the immediate surrounding area are part of heavily contested gang territory. MacArthur Park’s northern area is considered territory of the 18th Street Gang, while the area of the park south of Wilshire Boulevard is considered territory of the Crazy Riders Gang, and territory considered belonging to Mara Salvatrucha, a.k.a. “MS-13,” is immediately west of the park. The complaint’s affidavit alleges that Mallaly Moreno-Lopez, 31, and her boyfriend, Jackson Tarfur, 28, both of the Westmont area of South Los Angeles, “serve as the, if not one of the main sources of supply of fentanyl powder and methamphetamine distributed in the Alvarado Corridor and MacArthur Park, generally on behalf of the 18th Street Gang.” Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur hand-delivered narcotics to the Alvarado Corridor near MacArthur Park for stashing in storefronts and subsequent distribution to street-level drug dealers.

Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur use their Westmont residence as a stash location for illegal drugs prior to delivering them to MacArthur Park.  Law enforcement also identified Yolanda Iriarte-Avila, 40, of Calabasas, as a source of supply of methamphetamine for Moreno-Lopez, via Iriarte-Avila’s boyfriend, Jesus Morales-Landel, 33, of the Exposition Park area of South Los Angeles, who is a street-level drug dealer in the MacArthur Park area. Iriarte-Avila uses her residence as a stash location for subsequent drug distribution.

Source: Takedown Targets Open-Air Drug Market at L.A.’s MacArthur Park, Long an Area Run by Gang Members and Homeless Drug Users

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:8

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Officer talks man off Bridge with Prayer

istanbul golden horn metro bridge at night

A despondent man was saved by a Jacksonville, Florida, police officer and a team of other cops who talked the individual out of jumping as he was perched on the edge of a bridge nearly two hundred feet above the St. Johns River.

Source: Youtube

The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.
Psalm 34:10

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Mexican governor accused by U.S. of drug trafficking steps down during investigation

police car driving on night road

The governor of a Mexican state who was accused by the United States of ties to drug trafficking said on Friday he was temporarily stepping down to facilitate investigations. Sinaloa Gov. Ruben Rocha Moya and nine others were charged by the U.S. Justice Department this week for working with the notorious Sinaloa cartel to distribute “massive quantities” of narcotics to the United States. Rocha Moya, a member of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s left-leaning Morena party, has decried the allegations as “false and malicious.” At least three officials charged in the indictment were affiliated with Morena.

“I inform the people of Sinaloa that today I submitted to the State Congress my request for a temporary leave from the position of governor,” he said in a YouTube video late Friday. Sheinbaum said Thursday that Mexico will extradite officials to the U.S. only if given “irrefutable evidence” of cartel links. The president said this was the first time the U.S. had made narcotrafficking charges public against a sitting governor or other high-ranking official. Rocha Moya, who is close to former leftist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has been governor of the northwestern state of Sinaloa since 2021.

The governor was embroiled in a scandal in 2023 involving the Sinaloa cartel, in which his name was published in a letter written by a then-Sinaloa cartel capo whose leaders of a rival faction the cartel had kidnapped. The cartel capo was handed off to law enforcement in the U.S. The capo said in the letter that when he was kidnapped, he believed he was on his way to meet with Rocha Moya.

Source: Mexican governor accused by U.S. of drug trafficking steps down during investigation – CBS News

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
James 1:12

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Man accused of running meth lab at Michigan State University’s Wells Hall

close up photo of chemicals in beakers

A man was arrested for allegedly running a meth lab inside Wells Hall at Michigan State University, police say. Court records show that 31-year-old Xin Tong was charged with malicious destruction of a building over $20,000 and operating/maintaining a lab involving methamphetamine. Tong was arraigned on Wednesday and received a $500,000 cash/surety bond. Officials say Wells Hall will be closed through Friday, May 1. The MSU Department of Police and Public Safety says it received a report of property damage inside the building last week and determined the damage was caused by “alleged criminal activity.”

Police say Tong allegedly had multiple substances — including sodium hydroxide pellets, hydrochloric acid, methanol, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, and butane. Tong was arrested and taken to the Ingham County Jail. It is unclear if Tong is a student or a staff member. The university says the building is undergoing further evaluation “to ensure a smooth return to normal operations.” Officials say there is no threat to the campus.

Source: Man accused of running meth lab at Michigan State University’s Wells Hall – CBS Detroit

By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2 Peter 1:4

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Meth worth $8.1 million found in shipment disguised as tiles at U.S. border

truck on bridge

Authorities at the United States-Mexico border seized a shipment of suspected methamphetamine, which had an estimated street value of $8.1 million, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday. The shipment was disguised as tiles, the agency said. Border patrol officers found the narcotics inside a commercial tractor trailer that crossed the Pharr International Bridge from from Reynosa, Mexico into Texas on April 21. Once it was inspected and screened by a team of drug detection dogs, officers discovered that pallets masquerading as tiles in the back of the cargo vehicle actually contained packages of white powder. 

Overall, they seized 200 packages weighing more than 900 pounds, along with the trailer itself, CBP said. Homeland Security Investigation agents have opened a criminal probe into the seizure, according to the agency CBP said the powder “tested positive for the properties of methamphetamine,” a synthetic stimulant that is considered highly addictive. Although there is an FDA-approved version of it that is very rarely prescribed for specific medical conditions, methamphetamine largely exists in the U.S. illegally, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Association.

Source: Meth worth $8.1 million found in shipment disguised as tiles at U.S. border – CBS Detroit

Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
2 Timothy 1:9

Abortion News Roundup: April 15–22, 2026

Here’s a summary of the key abortion-related developments from the past seven days. Activity centered on state-level legislative pushes (especially in South Carolina), ongoing medication-abortion access fights, and cultural polling—amid continued…

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Mexican special forces arrest top commander of cartel and his alleged money launderer

mexican police parade with national flag display

The Mexican authorities have arrested two top criminals, one of them a close ally of the slain founder of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), prompting gunmen to block roads near the border city of Reynosa. Audias Flores, known as “El Jardinero”, is a regional commander in control of swathes of CJNG territory along Mexico’s Pacific coast. He was considered a potential successor to Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho”, who ran the cartel and was killed in a security operation in February. Security forces surrounded a cabin in El Mirador, 12 miles (20km) north of the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, where Flores was being protected by a perimeter of about 30 pickup trucks and more than 60 gunmen, according to a press release from Mexico’s navy, which led the operation.

Who was El Mencho, the former police officer who co-founded an ultraviolent cartel in Mexico? Read more Flores’s escorts scattered as a diversion but he was located as he tried to hide in a drainage ditch, it added. “The operation was carried out with surgical precision without a single shot being fired,” the navy said in a statement. Videos shared by Mexico’s security minister, Omar García Harfuch, on social media showed aerial footage of the arrest as helicopters hovered overhead during the operation, which the navy said followed 19 months of surveillance and involved more than 500 troops, six helicopters and several planes.

Source: Mexican special forces arrest top commander of cartel and his alleged money launderer | Mexico | The Guardian

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Romans 12:14

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22 Buddhist monks arrested at airport after record drug bust

Buddhist monk meditating cross-legged in temple with Buddha statue behind

Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested on Sunday at the main international airport with a record 242 pounds of powerful cannabis, officials said. A Sri Lanka Customs spokesman said the group, returning home after a four-day vacation in the Thai capital, had Kush — a potent, plant-based strain of cannabis — hidden in their luggage. “Each carried about five kilos of the narcotic concealed within false walls in their luggage,” the spokesman said, adding that the monks had been handed over to police. They were to be taken before a magistrate later on Sunday. The monks were mostly young students from temples across Sri Lanka and had been on a holiday sponsored by a businessman. Customs officials said it was the largest single detection of Kush at the South Asian country’s main international airport.

Source: 22 Buddhist monks arrested at airport after record drug bust – CBS News

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
Proverbs 16:32

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FBI offers $50,000 reward for arrest of alleged gang member in National Guard soldier’s murder

Reward poster for John Doe wanted for armed robbery, assault, and burglary

The FBI on Tuesday announced a reward of $50,000 for the arrest and conviction of a man wanted in the 2021 shooting death of a National Guard member. Joseph “Troubles” Matos has already been indicted by a grand jury in the shooting that killed Illinois National Guard soldier Chrys Carvajal on July 3, 2021. Matos and co-defendant Gary “Gotti” Roberson are accused of killing Carvajal “for the purpose of maintaining and increasing position in the Milwaukee Kings” street gang, according to a May 2024 indictment.

According to the indictment, the Milwaukee Kings gang operates on the North Side of Chicago and carries out murders and other acts of violence to preserve and protect its power and territory, to further illegal drug trafficking, and to keep others in fear of the gang. Carvajal, 19, who had just returned home after Army National Guard training, was leaving a party on July 3, 2021, and walking to his car when he was shot and killed at the corner of Lockwood Avenue and Palmer Street in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood.

Source: FBI offers $50,000 reward for arrest of alleged gang member in National Guard soldier’s murder – CBS Chicago

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!
Luke 11:13

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FBI’s “Operation Gangsta’s Paradise” leads to more than 40 Southern California arrests of Mexican Mafia gang members

back view of a group of friends walking

Dozens of alleged Mexican Mafia members and associates were arrested during a federal investigation, including several warrants served at locations across Southern California early Thursday.  FBI raids took place in both Los Angeles and Orange counties in what federal officials called “Operation Gangsta’s Paradise.” Arrest warrants were served in Anaheim, Santa Ana and Lakewood, during which 25 alleged gang members were arrested.

They are all believed to be part of “La Eme,” which is a U.S.-based prison gang that has control over other street gangs in Southern California,” said a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.  The arrests were made in connection with three federal indictments that charge 40 defendants with a litany of counts like kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal gambling and murder. Federal investigators said that the murder happened at a “gang-controlled Anaheim motel.”

Source: FBI’s “Operation Gangsta’s Paradise” leads to more than 40 Southern California arrests of Mexican Mafia gang members – CBS Los Angeles

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4

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Salmon exposed to cocaine swim almost twice as far as those without, study shows

An animated orange fish with a worried expression caught in an underwater whirlpool.

Salmon exposed to cocaine in the water swim longer distances than those that go without, according to a study released this week. Cocaine use is on the rise worldwide, with the U.N. reporting an estimated 25 million people used the stimulant in 2023 and the drug being increasingly found in waterways. Joint research released Monday by scientists at Australia’s Griffith University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences studied how the drug affected the movements of wild fish in their natural habitats.

Researchers took 105 wild Atlantic salmon in Sweden’s Lake Vattern and exposed them to both cocaine and benzoylecgonine — a metabolite created by the drug in the liver — and then tracked their movements. They found the river-dwellers exposed to the drugs traveled 1.9 times farther per week than their clean-living control cousins. Those exposed to the by-product also swam 7.6 miles farther, the study found. “Any unnatural change in animal behavior is a concern,” report co-author Marcus Michelangeli from Griffith University’s Australian Rivers Institute told national broadcaster ABC.

“We’re finding higher and higher concentrations of not just illicit drugs but all types of pharmaceuticals in our waterways.”

Source: Salmon exposed to cocaine swim almost twice as far as those without, study shows – CBS News

Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
James 1:18

Justice Behind Closed Doors in Massachusetts

brown wooden door on gray concrete wall

Massachusetts is the only state in the nation that exempts all three branches of state government; legislature, governor’s office, and judiciary from its public records law. That became an issue in 2023 when anonymous letters began to be received by defense attorneys whose clients had been convicted in criminal cases heard in the Bristol County Courthouse in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The letters alleged that Karlyn Butler, a Bristol County prosecutor, had engaged in a romantic relationship with then-judge Douglas Darnbrough in whose courtroom she often tried cases. The letters also allege that the two colluded regarding how cases would play out before they were tried.

Butler and Darnbrough are estimated to have worked on as many as 3,700 cases together. The allegations, if true, would have necessitated vacating the guilty verdicts or retrying the cases. With no applicable public records law, the public has no way of knowing what the texts Darnbrough wrote to Butler said. Douglas Darnbrough resigned as a judge shortly after the anonymous letters began to arrive, giving health issues as the reason. Karlyn Butler is still employed as a prosecutor in Bristol county in southeastern Massachusetts. Darnbrough and Butler have both denied the allegations. These allegations could not have come at a worse time for state officials. The Massachusetts criminal justice system has been awash in scandal in recent years.

More than 40,000 drug convictions have had to be dismissed due to misconduct by two chemists, Annie Dookhan and Sonja Farak, who worked at state crime laboratories. In 2025 Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor was fired from his job and banned from working as a police officer anywhere in Massachusetts due to his behavior while serving as lead investigator in the Karen Read case. Attorney James P. McKenna filed a lawsuit on behalf of two of his clients, Gerson Pascual-Santana and Jonathan Rascao, who were each sentenced to prison terms by then-judge Darnbrough after trials prosecuted by Butler. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court assigned one of its justices, Serge Georges, Jr., to investigate the allegations of an improper relationship. In May 2025 Justice Georges appointed Ernest Sarason, Jr., a retired Massachusetts Municipal Court judge, to be a Special Master with the power to issue subpoenas and hear testimony from witnesses under oath. All of the sworn testimony heard by the Special Master took place behind closed doors over the past year. After Sarason’s investigation was completed and his report submitted, Justice Georges convened a status hearing on May 9, 2026 which was open to the public; releasing the Special Master’s report to the public the same day.

In his report, Special Master Sarason found no evidence of an inappropriate relationship between Butler and Darnbrough. At the hearing, Justice Georges stated that he wanted the public to have confidence in the integrity of the investigation. But since the hearings presided over by the Special Master were cloaked in secrecy it is difficult for the public to know whether they constituted a thorough investigation, a whitewash, or something in-between.

Source: Justice Behind Closed Doors in Massachusetts | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics

But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.
Ephesians 4:15

Colombia to euthanize dozens of “cocaine hippos” linked to drug lord Pablo Escobar in bid to control population

close up photo of hippopotamus

Colombian officials on Monday authorized a plan to cull dozens of hippos roaming freely through a region in the center of the country, where they threaten villagers and displace native species years after notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar brought in the first ones. Environment Minister Irene Vélez said previous methods to control the population of the so-called “cocaine hippos” have been expensive and unsuccessful, including neutering some of the animals or moving them to zoos. Vélez said up to 80 hippos would be affected by the measure. She did not say when hunting would begin.

“If we don’t do this we will not be able to control the population,” Vélez said. “We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems.” Colombia is the only country outside of Africa with a wild hippo population. The hippos are the descendants of four brought to the country in the 1980s by Escobar as he built a private zoo in Hacienda Nápoles, a gigantic ranch in the Magdalena River valley with a private landing strip that served as his rural abode. A study published by Colombia’s National University estimated that around 170 hippos were roaming freely in the country in 2022.

Source: Colombia to euthanize dozens of “cocaine hippos” linked to drug lord Pablo Escobar in bid to control population – CBS Chicago

Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.
Luke 6:30

Over $200,000 worth of illegal narcotics seized in Wayne County investigation

a close up shot of a roll of money and various drugs

Law enforcement officers seized over $200,000 worth of illegal narcotics during an investigation in Metro Detroit.  The Michigan State Police said its Metro Narcotics Enforcement Team (MNET) worked with the Taylor Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Detroit Division on an investigation of someone bringing pressed fentanyl pills to sell in Metro Detroit.  Michigan State Police’s Metro Narcotics Enforcement Team (MNET) worked with the Taylor Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Detroit Division on an investigation of pressed fentanyl pills.

Over 3 kilograms of the illegal narcotics was seized. Michigan State Police The officers confiscated over 3 kilograms of the illegal narcotics, more than 28,500 pressed fentanyl pills that were created to look like prescription oxycodone 30 mg pills.  State police said there are multiple suspects in custody, pending review by the Wayne County prosecutor’s office.  This investigation was supported by the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance (JAG) grant program, which is awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs and U.S. Department of Justice; then administered by the Michigan State Police. 

Source: Over $200,000 worth of illegal narcotics seized in Wayne County investigation – CBS Detroit

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
Acts 4:32

Police dog named Hulk sniffs out 48 tons of marijuana in record bust in Brazil

close up of cannabis plant in indoor grow

Brazilian police seized a record 48 tons of marijuana in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, uncovered by chance by a sniffer dog during a regular operation against criminal factions. During the operation in the Complexo da Mare, a large complex of favelas in the north of the city, a dog named Hulk indicated there was something suspicious under an abandoned water tank. An officer “discovered a bunker inside where this entire quantity of drugs had been hidden,” said Lt. Col. Luciano Pedro Barbosa, commander of the Canine Operations Battalion. In a post on Instagram, the battalion touted the bust and posted an image of Hulk after the operation. “Hulk deserves 48 tons of treats,” quipped one commenter.

Source: Police dog named Hulk sniffs out 48 tons of marijuana in record bust in Brazil – CBS News

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Romans 5:10

Family claims Fort Worth man shot ‘pedophile’ in groin to protect nieces

man shooting at indoor gun range in sao paulo

FORT WORTH, Texas – A man is in the custody of Fort Worth police after being accused of shooting another man in the groin. His family claims he was protecting his underage nieces from a man allegedly soliciting them for sex. Fort Worth man arrested Markus Renfro, 33, is in jail Saturday. His family members are explaining why he shot another man in the groin, and why they don’t think he deserves to be in jail. Dontavius Williams, Renfro’s brother-in-law, says he knew something wasn’t right.

What they’re saying: “My little cousin told me that the dude said, ‘Oh, come back and smoke some meth with me,’ you know, ‘have some drugs,’” Williams said. The family said this wasn’t the first time. Fort Worth police say officers had already been called to the 3700 block of Century Place on Friday morning after receiving reports of a man who was possibly under the influence soliciting children for sex. “We had already heard that a certain dude had been messing with other little kids around here,” Williams said. That’s when they say Renfro stepped in. 

Source: Family claims Fort Worth man shot ‘pedophile’ in groin to protect nieces | KTVU FOX 2

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.
Colossians 3:12

France condemns China’s execution of a French citizen held on death row for 15 years

French and Chinese flags above a bronze rooster and dragon in a formal conference room.

PARIS — France said China has executed a French citizen convicted of drug trafficking after keeping him on death row for more than 15 years. Chan Thao Phoumy, 62, was executed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, despite French authorities’ clemency appeals, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Saturday. It didn’t say when the sentence was carried out. A Chinese court sentenced him to death in 2010. The ministry’s statement expressed “consternation” and added: “We particularly regret that Mr. Chan’s defense did not have access to the final court hearing, which constitutes a violation of his rights.”

“We extend our condolences to his family, whose grief we share,” it said. In a short statement Sunday that didn’t mention Chan by name, the Chinese Embassy in Paris said that China “treats defendants of all nationalities equally, handles all cases impartially and strictly in accordance with the law.” France abolished the death penalty by act of parliament in 1981, and has become a vigorous campaigner against its use and for its abolition everywhere. China’s use of executions — carried out by firing squads or lethal injections — is shrouded in secrecy but has long been extensive. Amnesty International says China is the world’s lead executioner, believed to sentence and put to death thousands of people annually.

Source: France condemns China’s execution of a French citizen held on death row for 15 years – ABC News

So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Hebrews 9:28

America’s prettiest city overrun with homeless ‘drug zombies’ under nightmare woke mayor

person holding silver and green scissors

An idyllic city known for its historic buildings and Southern charm has been beset by homelessness and drug use under a Democratic mayor. Savannah, Georgia, has long been promoted as one of America’s prettiest cities, with more than 20 public squares framed by churches, town houses and other historic buildings covered in Spanish moss. But when Dennis Lennox, a travel reporter for the Christian Post, returned to the city last year, he said he found it overrun by homeless individuals who engaged in overt drug use.

‘Benches and bushes served as makeshift encampments,’ he wrote in a column on Sunday. ‘In several places, the smell of marijuana hung in the air.’ At Reynolds Square, where a bronze statue honors the founder of Methodism, Lennox said he saw obvious drug use. ‘People injected and smoked in broad daylight,’ he wrote. ‘The odor was unmistakable. There was no police presence.’ Similar scenes sprang up across the city, according to Lennox. ‘A leisurely stroll, particularly in the early morning, became an exercise in caution; watching where to step, skirting encampments and avoiding potential confrontation.’  

Source: America’s prettiest city overrun with homeless ‘drug zombies’ under nightmare woke mayor | Daily Mail Online

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24

News From Chicago

Breaking News from around Chicago 2 men shot and killed in Greater Grand Crossing Around 11:20 a.m., Chicago police said a group of give men approached two other men in the…

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Colombian navy says it shut down 30 drug labs, seized 4,000 pounds of cocaine

close up shot of a person holding a white sachet

The Colombian navy said it also seized thousands of gallons of smuggled fuel, preventing “the strengthening of illicit economies.”

Source: Colombian navy says it shut down 30 drug labs, seized 4,000 pounds of cocaine – CBS News

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32

Baby bottle filled with dangerous substance found during Riverdale drug seizure, police say

a close up shot of a scooped formula milk powder

The Riverdale Police Department said they found some unusual substances in a baby bottle during a recent drug seizure. The department shared photos of what their officers seized, which included a gun and a baby bottle authorities say was filled with the drug mixture known as lean. The mixture, also known as purple drank, sizzurp, or dirty sprite, usually contains prescription-strength cough syrup that usually contains codeine or promethazine and a soft drink.

Source: Baby bottle filled with dangerous substance found during Riverdale drug seizure, police say – CBS Atlanta

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
Matthew 5:13

Fentanyl found inside Barbies sold at Missouri discount store, police say

portrait of woman posing in large doll box

Police found that five Barbie packages containing fentanyl were sold. They have all been recovered.

Source: Fentanyl found inside Barbies sold at Missouri discount store, police say – CBS News

For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.
2 Corinthians 8:12

This week in Christian history

Events from this week in Christian history include the death of William Arthur, the release of volume 1 of The Fundamentals, and King Charles II s advancement of tolerance…

Daily Bread

Breaking bread

Daily Bread Psalm 119:105

Daily Verse

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.

Love doesn’t strut,

Doesn’t have a swelled head,

Doesn’t force itself on others,

Isn’t always “me first,”

Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. 1 Corinthians 13:4-10 MSG

All for Love

Love is the best of all, because it is eternal. All else will perish. Our highest attainments will be as the babblings and playthings of childhood. But when we are in touch with the reality of things, love will be all in all. F.B. Meyer

Getting to Know Him

Do you want eternal life? Do you want to enter heaven through the only guide that can help you navigate your way there? To enter His home, get to know Him better, and make Him your Lord and Savior CLICK HERE…..

Citation:

Open bible info
Editor: Stephen Smith. Publication date: Apr 10, 2020. Publisher: OpenBible.info.

MSG
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

Esword
“Sword: Free Bible Study for the PC.” F.B. Meyer, e-sword.net/.

Bible Gateway

“BibleGateway.” BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., http://www.biblegateway.com/‎.

Daily Bread

Breaking bread

Daily Bread Psalm 119:105

Daily Verse

There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! Romans 5:3-5 MESSAGE

Urgently Look Up

The precious benefits and privileges which flow from justification are such as should quicken us all to give diligence to make it sure to ourselves that we are justified, and then to take the comfort it renders to us, and to do the duty it calls for from us. The fruits of this tree of life are exceedingly precious. Matthew Henry

Getting to Know Him

Do you want eternal life? Do you want to enter heaven through the only guide that can help you navigate your way there? To enter His home, get to know Him better, and make Him your Lord and Savior CLICK HERE…..

Citation:

Open bible info
Editor: Stephen Smith. Publication date: Apr 10, 2020. Publisher: OpenBible.info.

MSG
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

Esword
“Sword: Free Bible Study for the PC.” Matthew Henry, e-sword.net/.

Bible Gateway

“BibleGateway.” BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., http://www.biblegateway.com/‎.

Daily Bread

Breaking bread

Daily Bread Psalm 119:105

 

Daily Verse

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. Psalm 119:9-16 ESV

Being Young

It is a fearful ordeal that every young man and woman has to face, as he or she steps across the dividing boundary between childhood and youth, when parental authority is weakened, and the leading-strings are loosened, and the young swimmer is as it were cut away from the buoys, and has to battle with the waves alone. Alexander MacLaren

I knew better

When I was young I loved to goof of always looking for a ways to have fun. I did things in my life when I was younger that I can say now I am not proud of. I hurt people that loved me always looking for ways to better myself ignoring what I knew was right. Then I hit the stage where girls caught my eye and I can say temptation is a hard thing to fight. We live in a world that teaches us to always do what makes one happy no matter the price. Women, drugs, alcohol, fast cars you name it if there was something that would make me feel some kind of rush/enjoyment I would check it out. I was not raised to be that way as a child I had to be in the house every day to read the bible and spend time with my family in God’s word. I knew better then to do some of the things that I was doing but because of things that happened throughout my childhood I thought there was a better way. I dismissed those teachings I had learned and felt to find that better way. Needless to say there was not; if I had just listened to the teachings that I had read in the bible there sure would have been less hurt and a lot fewer scars. I had the word in my heart I just did everything I could not to access it, I know now that if I had listened to the guide that God gave me, the bible, life would have had fewer obstacles to over come.

Getting to Know Him

Do you want eternal life? Do you want to enter heaven through the only guide that can help you navigate your way there? To enter His home, get to know Him better, and make Him you Lord and Savior CLICK HERE…..

Citation:

Open bible info
Editor: Stephen Smith. Publication date: Apr 10, 2020. Publisher: OpenBible.info.

ESV
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Esword
“Sword: Free Bible Study for the PC.” Alexander MacFarlen, e-sword.net/.

Bible Gateway

“BibleGateway.” BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., http://www.biblegateway.com/‎.