EDE, Netherlands — Heavily armed police cordoned off part of a Dutch town on Saturday, saying that multiple people were being held hostage in a building there.
Police spokesman Simon Klok told The Associated Press people were being held hostage in the town of Ede but he declined to give more details of the incident or say how many people were involved.
Police said in a message on X, formerly Twitter, that “at the moment there is no indication of a terrorist motive.”
Earlier, officers evacuated 150 homes near a central square, saying that there was a person in the area “who could be a danger to themself or others.”
Images from the scene in Ede, a rural market town 85 kilometers (53 miles) southeast of Amsterdam, showed police and firefighters on the streets in a cordoned-off area.
The municipality said that all shops in the center of Ede would remain closed.
A California man convicted in the death of his mother was the subject of an “intense manhunt” and arrested in Mexico after walking away from a transitional facility without notice, authorities said this week.
Ike Nicholas Souzer, 20, was behind bars Friday after allegedly violating terms of probation, which mandate both that he inform his probation officer of his whereabouts and stay in the region, according to authorities and court documents.
Though Souzer’s probation was based on a vandalism conviction, the Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer’s office warned the public on March 21, the day after he left a Santa Ana transitional facility: “This individual should be considered extremely dangerous and violent.”
Souzer has a record of violence in his teenage years, including a conviction for voluntary manslaughter in the death of his mother, who was fatally stabbed when he was 13, and a conviction related to an attack on three jail guards when he was 17 or 18.
The DA’s office also noted in a statement Wednesday, when it announced he was in custody, that in late 2022 Souzer was convicted of possession of a weapon — the office said it was a shank — while in custody.
Souzer was found in Playas de Rosarito, a coastal municipality south of Tijuana, the DA’s office said. It credited Mexican authorities, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the office’s own fugitive task force for the arrest.
“He set a plan in motion to flee to a foreign country in yet another attempt to escape the consequences of his actions,” Spitzer said in his office’s statement Wednesday.
The public defender’s office, which has been assigned to defend Souzer in the past, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The DA’s office acknowledged that a family member said during his juvenile court prosecution for manslaughter that Souzer was autistic and had a history of outbursts.
The DA’s office said Souzer has a long history of crime and that, when he attacked his mother, he was on home detainment and wearing a GPS monitor for another matter.
The office said Souzer violated probation when he left the supervision of the same transitional organization in 2022, when he was under mandatory GPS monitoring for the weapons conviction. The DA’s task force found Souzer then at a homeless encampment, according to the statement on Wednesday.
Spitzer blamed judges in the county for issuing what he described as lax sentences in cases involving Souzer. The office wanted to try him as an adult in the death of his mother, it said, and it consistently asked for stricter sentences in his subsequent cases.
In those matters, judges allowed time served to be counted and gave Souzer credit for good behavior, according to the DA’s office. The office called out specific judges by name. The California Judges Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The DA’s office also appeared to criticize a nonprofit, Project Kinship, for having “spent years advocating for Souzer’s release from custody.”
The nonprofit organization runs the supervisorial program and transitional facility from which Souzer left in 2022 and on March 20. It said it couldn’t comment on specific cases.
Founder and executive director Steve Kim said by email, “Project Kinship offers services like case management, counseling, and peer mentorship. We help individuals impacted by substance abuse, gangs, and incarceration.”
He said it has had a positive influence on Orange County.
“Personally, I have not yet met an inherently evil person in our work — just lives shattered by trauma and mental health challenges, often leading to a loss of hope,” he said. “Providing support and opportunities makes us all safer.”
Dennis Romero
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
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With even people with good jobs saying they’ve been locked out of the housing market in Steamboat Springs, Colo., the town took a vote on whether to make a big change. NBC News’ Shannon Pettypiece reports.March 27, 2024
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Steamboat Springs, Colorado, has a problem that’s prevalent among all resort communities where housing costs far exceed local incomes: recruiting staff. That’s because job candidates say they can’t afford to live there.
While home prices and rents have soared across the country over the past year, rent and real estate prices in uber-wealthy enclaves are in a league of their own. The median listing price for homes currently available in Steamboat Springs, for example, is $2 million, according to Realtor.com. Median rent is roughly $4,000 a month according to Zillow.com. The high prices put area housing out of reach, even for those earning above-average salaries.
Steamboat Springs city manager Gary Suiter told CBS MoneyWatch that the city government has struggled to recruit a human resources director, a management-level position with a six-figure salary to match, NBC first reported.
“That’s the case for one position. In these higher-end resort communities, there are multiple positions at all layers of the organization that can be difficult to fill,” Suiter added.
The city, with a population of 13,000, previously made job offers to two candidates, both of whom declined.
“We had two recruitments previously and in both cases they couldn’t afford to live here,” Suiter said. The position’s salary? $167,000 per year.
Other local job openings pay far less, including a posting for a rodeo maintenance worker, which pays up to $29.62 an hour.
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Signing bonuses
Suiter said he’s all too familiar with the rising housing costs in communities like Steamboat Springs and how challenging they make it for local businesses to staff up. Wealthy individuals shell out millions for second homes in such areas and drive up housing costs, a trend that was exacerbated by the pandemic.
The particular difficulty the city has had filling the HR director role “tells the story of what’s happening in resort communities, and it’s been happening for a long time,” he explained. “The same thing is repeating itself in higher-end areas.”
Home prices in the country’s 20 biggest metro areas went up an average of 6.7% in 2023, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data. Across the nation as a whole, housing prices rose more than 5% over the last year, pushing home ownership out of reach even for high-income earners.
To make the six-figure offer more palatable, Suiter said the city has added a signing bonus that — for the right candidate — is negotiable.
“We will provide a signing bonus within reason, if it’s necessary to recruit the most qualified person,” he said.
Dormitory-style housing
It is harder to house members of the city’s roughly 300-person government staff, many of whom earn far less than six figures annually, Suiter said. The city is in the process of building dormitory-style housing to accommodate some of them.
Housing challenges “permeate every level of the organization,” Suiter said.“It’s not only with management positions, it’s boots-on-the-ground jobs. Bus drivers have been difficult to recruit, especially during the pandemic with the mask mandate.”
The town’s world-class ski resort provides up to 800 beds for staff “at below market rate,” according to a resort spokesperson.
Megan Cerullo
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News Streaming to discuss her reporting.
A national law has created a huge hurdle for offloading some historic, and very cheap, houses.
In central Italy’s medieval town of Patrica, a strategy to breathe new life into empty properties has hit a possibly insurmountable snafu.
Patrica recently adopted a plan that has seen success in other depopulated Italian areas: Selling off its deserted abodes for a single euro each — about $1.08 in today’s American currency — to those interested for a fixer-upper opportunity.
It may seem unique and unusual, but these opportunities have popped up in other parts of Italy in the past several years, all in an effort to repopulate the regions where these residences stand.
A panoramic view of Patrica. Giamby/Wirestock Creators – stock.adobe.com
The village is located in the mountains of the Lazio region of Italy, south of Rome. tiziana – stock.adobe.com
While the campaign has worked in towns such as Sicily’s Mussomeli and the Campania region’s Zungoli, Patrica has barely moved any properties. That’s because doing so requires permission from the current owners, many of whom left their homes in the early 1900s, according to CNN.
“We first need the availability of owners, or their heirs, in disposing of their old houses,” Lucio Fiordaliso, the mayor of the remote, approximately 3,000-person village, told the outlet of the Italian law that has significantly impeded the homes’ resale. “Only then can we place these properties up for sale with their consent, which makes the process very complicated. Almost impossible.”
(Towns that have been depopulated as a result of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, are not required to get owner permission to put abandoned buildings up for sale.)
Of Patrica’s nearly 40 abandoned residences currently selling for 1 euro, only two have traded hands, both fully owned by locals.
“The disposal of potential 1 euro homes faced a deadlock as most relatives sharing the same property were at odds with one another for personal reasons or couldn’t agree on the sale, some hardly spoke or knew each other, others lived in distant cities and even abroad,” Fiordaliso said, comparing the process for finding heirs and getting them to consent to their near-worthless home’s sale to “looking for a needle in a haystack.”
It’s a newly emerging challenge for these property sales, which have made plenty of news headlines over the last several years. However, despite the lure of a dirt-cheap purchase price, tens of thousands of dollars tend to be required for renovation costs, leaving certain new owners of such homes in Italy over their heads in work.
Meanwhile, Patrica’s turnkey listings have been moving, CNN reported. But still, Fiordaliso isn’t throwing in the towel on the old ones — even if it means continuing to wade into family feuds to acquire owner permission.
Italy’s one-euro-home sales have been attracting a lot of interest over the past few years, with dozens opting to snap up abandoned properties in some of the country’s depopulated towns.
But while towns like Mussomeli in Sicily and Zungoli in Campania have managed to offload various abandoned dwellings to foreigners longing to live the Italian dream, some have struggled to sell their empty homes.
Among them is Patrica, a remote medieval village of barely 3,000 residents located south of Rome, where more than 40 properties deserted in the early 1900s have been left to rot.
Perched on a rocky plateau overlooking the Sacco valley in central Italy, Patrica is an idyllic spot, but life here wasn’t easy for locals in the past.
Abandoned homes
Italian village Patrica, located south of Rome, is struggling to offload its abandoned homes. – Comune di Patrica
Many left in search of a brighter future elsewhere, leaving their homes empty for decades.
In an attempt to breathe new life into the dying village, the town’s mayor Lucio Fiordaliso has been trying to emulate the success of other Italian villages who’ve put their empty homes up for sale for one euro, or just over a dollar. He’s so far had little success.
“We first mapped all abandoned houses and made an official call out to the original owners to invite them to hand over their dilapidated family properties, but we managed to sell just two homes for one euro,” Fiordaliso tells CNN.
While local authorities in towns left underpopulated due to earthquakes and other natural calamities have the jurisdiction to put abandoned homes up for sale without permission from the owners, this isn’t the case for Patrica and other towns like it.
“We first need the availability of owners, or their heirs, in disposing of their old houses,” says Fiordaliso.
“Only then can we place these properties up for sale with their consent, which makes the process very complicated. Almost impossible.”
Fiordaliso explains that the town received a “positive response” from 10 owners after sending out a “public call to involve them in our one-euro-homes project,” but they withdrew at the last minute. The rest never replied.
Public call
Many of the town’s local families left in search of a brighter future elsewhere, leaving their homes empty for decades. – Comune di Patrica
Fiordaliso feels that those who changed their minds may have done so because of issues with other relatives who owned shares of the same property.
Abandoned buildings in old Italian towns are sometimes split between multiple heirs who own just a section – like a bathroom, balcony, kitchen – and nothing can be sold without written consent from all heirs, as per Italian law.
In the past, it was customary for children to inherit parts of their family home, including patches of land, wells and orchards.
But it’s not always a guarantee that relatives will still be on good terms and/or in contact years down the line.
“The disposal of potential one euro homes faced a deadlock as most relatives sharing the same property were at odds with one another for personal reasons or couldn’t agree on the sale, some hardly spoke or knew each other, others lived in distant cities and even abroad,” says the mayor.
In some instances, homes were never officially split between heirs in the past, so the ownership line had broken along the way without a clear indication as to who should be the current owner.
According to Fiordaliso, tracking down the descendants of owners who’d long migrated overseas, mainly to the US, Canada and Argentina and perhaps had different last names, or may have passed on their Italian property to foreigners without notifying Patrica’s town hall, has been a very hard task.
“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” he adds.
The only two abandoned homes that Patrica managed to sell as part of its one-euro scheme were fully owned by two locals, so no liaising with fourth-degree cousins or great-great-grandsons was required, and they could sell the properties without any complications.
Family ties
The remote medieval village has a population of around 3,000. – Comune di Patrica
In situations where family feuds are at play, relatives could choose not to sell their share due to legal issues tied to inheritance disputes, or even as a form of revenge.
And original owners who’ve been living elsewhere for many years may be wary of making themselves known to local authorities and potentially being hit with back taxes for their property and waste disposal charges of up to 2,500 euros (around $2,730 per year, plus unpaid utility bills
Another reason that the one euro scheme never really kicked off in Patrica could be due to the condition of its forsaken homes.
Some of the houses are simply too neglected to sell, even if the owners were willing to agree to it.
Patrica local Gianni Valleco and his two brothers decided to place their parents’ abandoned home on the market to see what would happen, but soon found that the house was far from desirable.
“We thought, ‘Why not give it a go’? Even if it’s just for one euro, we’d be rid of a heap of useless stones. We were curious to see if someone might be interested anyway in buying it,” says Valleco.
“We were aware that after half a century our parents’ home had turned into rubble, it was totally destroyed, like razed to the ground.
“The roof and most walls had collapsed, leaving an open-air room covered in grass and bushes. All there remained was a patch of land, an ugly garden right in the heart of the historical center.”
According to Valleco, a neighbor had been using what remained of the home to dump their old stuff.
“We then realized nobody would ever buy it,” he says. “It’s a bad investment requiring lots of money to rebuild the house. It’s more worth buying a tiny rural cottage in the surroundings.”
Thankfully, not all of the deserted homes in Patrica that could be potentially sold for one euro are in quite such a terrible state, and some have garnered interest from potential buyers.
“A few foreigners came to see the abandoned one-euro dwellings. There was lots of interest but unfortunately we had nothing to offer them,” says the mayor, adding that those interested were from the US and Europe.
In the meantime, Fiordaliso has been coming up with new ways to boost the town’s appeal in the hope of luring newcomers.
New scheme
The town hall recently funded the makeover of the external façades of some ancient palazzos, prompting several locals to entirely restyle their old family homes and put them to use after decades of neglect.
Local resident Alessandra Pagliarosi took things a step further by turning the 1950s mansion inherited by her husband into an elegant B&B called Patricia.
“We redid the roof, which was practically no longer there, and the interior. The mayor’s move finally gave us a good excuse to fully renovate the property which had been sitting there uselessly,” says Pagliarosi, who benefited from the new tax breaks introduced by the town hall to revive the local economy.
Those who decide to kickstart a commercial activity like an B&B or artisan boutique in the ancient district are exempt from paying taxes on waste disposal, advertisement and public space use for 10 years and granted tax credits for restructuring costs.
“For a small B&B, that would amount to a total of roughly 1,200 euros (around $1,310) per year in tax savings, which is a significant amount of money,” says Pagliarosi.
Foreigners planning to relocate to Patrica and launch a small business are also entitled to the tax benefits.
So far, two new B&Bs and one restaurant have opened up as a result.
Local realtor Ilario Grossi, who runs Immobil Lepini estate agency, located in the nearby town of Ceccano, says several American descendants of emigrant families recently visited Patrica to look at properties.
But the town’s ready-to-occupy homes, with two-bedroom properties starting at 20,000 euros ($21,832,) proved to be more appealing.
“There is interest, but then when many (foreigners) actually see the bad shape of the old homes they’d prefer to opt for turn-key apartments that are already restyled or in need of just minor fixes,” says Grossi.
“So it’s much more convenient to buy one of these newer ones than grab an old building in need of a major renovation, where the final cost would end up being much higher.”
Despite these challenges, Fiordaliso hasn’t given up on selling some of the town’s long neglected homes, even if it means having to negotiate between warring relatives.
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WASHINGTON — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had sharp words for Donald Trump in a town hall in New Hampshire and rebuked the former president for his previous praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Vladimir Putin who is executing these atrocities against people who were just in their country living their lives,“ Christie said, “This is the guy that Donald Trump calls a great leader and brilliant.”
“If he believes that Vladimir Putin is brilliant and a great leader, is that really the character and judgment that you want sitting (in the White House)?” Christie continued.
Christie’s comments come off the heels of a surprise visit to Ukraine where he met with President Volodomyr Zelenskyy to assess the war effort against Russia and U.S. aid to Kyiv. At his town hall in New London, Christie reaffirmed his support for Ukraine.
“We should have lots of debates about the appropriate use of American military money, of the appropriate use of American ingenuity in supporting allies,” Christie said. “But I’ll tell you this, the country that I’ve grown up in, we’ve never ever let this happen to an ally without helping them.”
The Republican presidential field has been divided over whether the U.S. should continue providing military aid to Ukraine as it fends off Russian aggression. Christie has sought to differentiate himself from the rest of the pack by voicing strong support for Kyiv. Former Vice President Mike Pence, another presidential hopeful, also visited Ukraine in June to reaffirm U.S. support for the war effort.
Here are other highlights from Christie’s town hall in New Hampshire.
‘Everyone will be completely shocked’:Christie expects a big win in New Hampshire primary
Christie takes shot at DeSantis for saying Trump lost 2020 election−in 2023
Trump was not the only 2024 GOP candidate who was on the receiving end of Christie’s attacks.
Christie also took aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his recent interview with NBC News in which DeSantis said Trump lost the 2020 election, long after he repeatedly dodged the question.
“Let me give a big round of applause to governor DeSantis for catching up on two-and-half-year-old news.” Christie quipped.
The former New Jersey governor has repeatedly blasted Trump for his false claims of election fraud and has reaffirmed on the campaign trail to voters the 2020 election was not stolen.
“Let me be clear and not just be critical, the election was not stolen,” Christie said.
Christie slams GOP-backed gender-affirming care bans for trans youth
Christie also slammed various GOP-led efforts to ban gender-affirming health care for young transgender people, chiding Republicans for not focusing on “the big problems.”
“You know what my position is on that?” Christie said. “Parents should be the ones making those decisions. How is a governor sitting in a statehouse know better about what should happen inside your home than you do?”
DeSantis again was on the receiving end of Christie’s attacks, but the former New Jersey governor also blasted Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders for signing a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Christie accused those Republicans of not being true to “small government” conservatism.
“Now all of a sudden we’ve got big government conservatives like Ron DeSantis doing this stuff” Christie said. “I don’t want anybody telling me how to raise my kids.”
In New Hampshire, Christie sees backlash over abortion
One challenge that has plagued Republicans in the 2024 presidential field has been abortion. Candidates have offered widely differing views on restrictions as the GOP grapples with electoral backlash after the constitutional right to an abortion was overturned last summer.
In the more libertarian-minded state of New Hampshire, where the majority of Granite State voters across the political spectrum support abortion rights, an attendee asked Christie about his stance on abortion while also adding he thought abortion should be “between a woman, her husband and a doctor.”
“I believe every state should be able to make, and its people, to make their own judgment about abortion,” Christie said, reiterating that he considers himself “pro-life.”
Christie’s answer quickly drew a protest from an attendee who disagreed, showing how politically volatile the issue can be in the state. For Christie’s part, he did not mince words when it came to his answer.
“The states should decide it, and once we have those decisions in the states, I don’t want to give you an illusion, it won’t be resolved. It’s too emotional an issue,” Christie said.
Residents of Masiphumelele set up burning barricades amidst an ongoing strike by taxi operators against traffic authorities in Cape Town, South Africa, August 8, 2023
Five people have died in violent protests relating to a taxi strike in Cape Town, South Africa, officials say.
The victims include a 40-year-old British national and a police officer, Police Minister Bheki Cele said.
The week-long strike was called in response to what drivers said was “heavy-handed tactics” by law enforcement authorities.
The taxi drivers and owners said their vehicles were being targeted and impounded for minor offences.
Infringements included not wearing a seatbelt and illegally driving in the emergency lane, drivers said. They claimed others doing the same only faced fines.
Minibus taxi operators across Cape Town also aired frustrations that the government was impounding taxis they claimed were not roadworthy.
On Tuesday, South Africa’s transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga ordered the immediate release of the minibus taxis impounded by the City of Cape Town.
Ms Chikunga said the legislation used by the city had been “executed and implemented wrongly” and added that “it doesn’t exist” under current laws.
The South African Ministry of Police said 120 people had been arrested since the strikes began on 3 August and they were aware of incidents of looting, stone throwing and arson.
On Tuesday, residents in the Masiphumelele township set up barricades, preventing other residents from leaving. Many of those barricades were set alight.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Police Minister Bheki Cele called for co-operation between the Cape Town government and taxi operators. He said those affected by the strike included children who could no longer get to school.
“People must swallow their pride, come together and resolve this issue”, he said.
The UK has issued a travel warning after the strike was listed as a high security threat for tourists visiting South Africa.
Somers, N.Y. rocked by apparent murder-suicide involving NYC doctor
Somers, N.Y. rocked by apparent murder-suicide involving NYC doctor
02:11
SOMERS, N.Y. — Residents in a northern Westchester County town are in shock after learning about the deaths of a prominent doctor at Mt. Sinai Hospital and her baby, killed in an apparent murder-suicide.
CBS New York has learned more details on the tragedy that struck a young family.
Somers is typically a quiet town in Westchester, a place where residents spend time on bike trails and at a nearby farm on summer weekends.
“Somers is a nice, quiet community in northern Westchester and everybody knows everybody and this is just awful,” Stuart’s Farm owner Betty Stuart said.
Stuart woke up Saturday morning to emergency vehicles outside her small community on Granite Springs Road.
“Our friend is an EMT and he texted us and it’s so sad, so sad. They were a nice young family and we didn’t know that they had a child,” Stuart said.
Just next door to the farm is where Krystal Cascetta and her family lived.
“They came here when they bought the house from a friend of ours and they kept to themselves,” Stuart said.
Police say the renowned oncologist at Mt. Sinai in New York City shot and killed her baby and then killed herself in her home at around 7 a.m.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so sad as long as I’ve been here,” one resident said.
The news has rocked the community and Dr. Cascetta’s patients. One told CBS New York by phone that Dr. Cascetta was just on maternity leave. The patient added she remembers Cascetta being full of life as she helped patients through their cancer journeys.
Photos online show Dr. Cascetta working through the pandemic, speaking at medical engagements, and during events for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“When we heard about it, it just rocked us to the core. Really it did. And the whole neighborhood … we’re all upset,” the patient said.
CBS New York spoke with family members at the home on Sunday. They didn’t want to speak on camera, but they said that Dr. Cascetta was a wonderful person and it’s a true tragedy what happened to their family.
If you or someone you know needs help, text or call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
Pence’s role on Jan. 6, when some rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” has been thrust back into the spotlight following Tuesday’s indictment of former President Donald Trump. In that document, federal prosecutors said Pence kept “contemporaneous notes” about meetings and conversations he had with Trump leading up to Jan 6.
The indictment also said that the president and a co-conspirator now known to be lawyer John Eastman asked Pence to use his authority as president of the Senate on Jan. 6 to either reject certain states’ electors or send them back to their state legislatures.
On Friday night, one town hall participant, Mary Bartel of Windham, asked Pence why he didn’t go along with that plan. Pence explained, as he has previously to other skeptical voters, that he did not have the authority to overturn the election.
He also told her to write down and look up “Article Two, Section One, Clause Three” of the Constitution.
