A judge has sentenced a Southern California man to death for the execution-style slayings of two liquor store clerks during a robbery in 2006.
Jean Pierre Rices, 27, was sentenced Friday after a jury recommended capital punishment in June.
Rices pleaded guilty to murdering Heather Mattia, 22, and Firas Eiso, 23, in 2006 as the two were closing shop at Granada Liquor in El Cajon.
An accomplice, Anthony James Miller, had packed cigarettes and $1,250 in cash into a bag before Rices shot them in the head.
Rices had prior convictions for selling drugs, robbing banks and carjacking.
вторник, 25 августа 2009 г.
вторник, 18 августа 2009 г.
Customs officers detain over 11 500 boxes smuggling cigarettes
Customs officers from mobile group for control and monitoring of General Toshevo checkpoint have seized 11 540 undeclared boxes of cigarettes of different brands with Ukrainian excise label. The smuggled cigarettes have been seized after a check of a suspicious mini-bus with Ukrainian license plate while entering the state. The shipment has been seized. The authorities drew up a statement of customs violation.
понедельник, 10 августа 2009 г.
Capitol Hill tries to eliminate cigarette butts
Cigarette butts — the most-littered item in America — will soon become more scarce in the Capitol Hill area.
For the first time, the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District linked up with the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program to help clear out tossed-away cigarettes left behind by smokers.
Three high-traffic areas on Capitol Hill were picked: the southeast corner of Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE; on First Street SE in front of Bullfeathers and Tortilla Coast; and on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue between Third and Fourth streets SE.
In 2008, nearly 200 communities reported an average 46 percent reduction in littered butts as a result of implementing the program.
"Cigarette litter is not only unsightly and costly to clean up, but also harmful to waterways and wildlife. Simple actions like installing ash receptacles and distributing pocket ashtrays will make a big difference in decreasing litter and ultimately keeping Capitol Hill beautiful," said Patty Brosmer, BID president.
The nonprofit Keep America Beautiful has field-tested and expanded the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program for the last six years with support from Philip Morris USA, an Altria company.
For the first time, the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District linked up with the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program to help clear out tossed-away cigarettes left behind by smokers.
Three high-traffic areas on Capitol Hill were picked: the southeast corner of Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE; on First Street SE in front of Bullfeathers and Tortilla Coast; and on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue between Third and Fourth streets SE.
In 2008, nearly 200 communities reported an average 46 percent reduction in littered butts as a result of implementing the program.
"Cigarette litter is not only unsightly and costly to clean up, but also harmful to waterways and wildlife. Simple actions like installing ash receptacles and distributing pocket ashtrays will make a big difference in decreasing litter and ultimately keeping Capitol Hill beautiful," said Patty Brosmer, BID president.
The nonprofit Keep America Beautiful has field-tested and expanded the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program for the last six years with support from Philip Morris USA, an Altria company.
понедельник, 3 августа 2009 г.
Limit smokers buying cigarettes abroad, says chief medical officer
Anti-smoking campaigns are being undermined by "ridiculous" European Union rules allowing British travellers to bring back 3,200 cheap cigarettes from member states, the chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, said yesterday.
Ministers should use next year's review of tobacco tax laws to impose a limit of 200 cigarettes or 250g of hand-rolling tobacco to tackle legal shopping and the burgeoning criminal trade in smuggled and counterfeit goods, he said.
Sir Liam, bemoaning the fact that 106,000 Britons still die each year from smoking-related causes, said: "Tobacco is a lethal product. It kills more people than anything else, yet by the pattern of price and regulation that is in place, death is made cheaper.
"For example, a holidaymaker going to Spain, can quite legally bring back into this country 160 packs [of 20 cigarettes].
"If they are a smoker that is enough to keep them going for six months and, given cheap flights and the opportunity to have a holiday along the way, it also gives quite a cost saving."
The price of a pack of popular cigarettes in Spain was £1.36, the equivalent in Britain was £4.89, and just two trips a year would save a smoker more than £1,000 in tax and duty.
"As well as a ready source for personal consumption, the temptation to sell on large amounts can prove hard to resist," he said.
The illicit street price for cigarettes in Britain was £2.50, and about a quarter of all cigarettes smoked here, and three-quarters of roll-ups, avoided UK tax and duties - either legally or illegally. This meant that government policies of raising prices - 10% increases traditionally brought 4% cuts in consumption - were being eroded.
Sir Liam, presenting his annual report on the state of public health, said the EU should insist on higher minimum prices for tobacco by fixing levels of duty and questioning "the illogical and health-damaging shopping allowance for tobacco ... It is quite ridiculous we have a limit of 3,200 cigarettes. It ought to be 200 in my view."
He also pressed ministers to follow the lead of Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Malta, some states and cities in the US and soon Scotland by having smoke-free public places and workplaces.
Cancer Research UK welcomed Sir Liam's attacks on low-price cigarettes, but Forest, the smokers' lobby group, condemned them.
Forest's director, Simon Clark, said a reduction in the number of cigarettes people could legally bring in would be "illiberal and impractical" and would "almost certainly see a return to the bad old days when ordinary cross-Channel shoppers found themselves routinely harassed and intimidated by over-zealous Customs officers".
Sir Liam, in a wide-ranging review, criticised some hospitals for failing to act speedily and comprehensively to safety alerts demanding changes in equipment and procedures. NHS trusts that have claimed to have complied with the rules had been found subsequently not to have done so.
"The NHS has not yet fully embraced the culture of patient safety," he said, adding that managers and other staff were "not wilfully bad people".
Sir Liam also called for the debate on school meals to spread to catering in hospitals, prisons, the armed forces and meals-on-wheels. The public sector as a whole served more than 1.8bn meals a year. "They need to be healthier and more nutritionally balanced. The public sector should use its huge financial muscle to improve the nation's health."
National standards were also required to improve the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a respiratory illness which killed 30,000 Britons each year.
The report showed continuing concern about strains of E coli infections resistant to antibiotics that have caused several deaths and much severe illness through urinary tract infections and blood poisoning.
Ministers should use next year's review of tobacco tax laws to impose a limit of 200 cigarettes or 250g of hand-rolling tobacco to tackle legal shopping and the burgeoning criminal trade in smuggled and counterfeit goods, he said.
Sir Liam, bemoaning the fact that 106,000 Britons still die each year from smoking-related causes, said: "Tobacco is a lethal product. It kills more people than anything else, yet by the pattern of price and regulation that is in place, death is made cheaper.
"For example, a holidaymaker going to Spain, can quite legally bring back into this country 160 packs [of 20 cigarettes].
"If they are a smoker that is enough to keep them going for six months and, given cheap flights and the opportunity to have a holiday along the way, it also gives quite a cost saving."
The price of a pack of popular cigarettes in Spain was £1.36, the equivalent in Britain was £4.89, and just two trips a year would save a smoker more than £1,000 in tax and duty.
"As well as a ready source for personal consumption, the temptation to sell on large amounts can prove hard to resist," he said.
The illicit street price for cigarettes in Britain was £2.50, and about a quarter of all cigarettes smoked here, and three-quarters of roll-ups, avoided UK tax and duties - either legally or illegally. This meant that government policies of raising prices - 10% increases traditionally brought 4% cuts in consumption - were being eroded.
Sir Liam, presenting his annual report on the state of public health, said the EU should insist on higher minimum prices for tobacco by fixing levels of duty and questioning "the illogical and health-damaging shopping allowance for tobacco ... It is quite ridiculous we have a limit of 3,200 cigarettes. It ought to be 200 in my view."
He also pressed ministers to follow the lead of Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Malta, some states and cities in the US and soon Scotland by having smoke-free public places and workplaces.
Cancer Research UK welcomed Sir Liam's attacks on low-price cigarettes, but Forest, the smokers' lobby group, condemned them.
Forest's director, Simon Clark, said a reduction in the number of cigarettes people could legally bring in would be "illiberal and impractical" and would "almost certainly see a return to the bad old days when ordinary cross-Channel shoppers found themselves routinely harassed and intimidated by over-zealous Customs officers".
Sir Liam, in a wide-ranging review, criticised some hospitals for failing to act speedily and comprehensively to safety alerts demanding changes in equipment and procedures. NHS trusts that have claimed to have complied with the rules had been found subsequently not to have done so.
"The NHS has not yet fully embraced the culture of patient safety," he said, adding that managers and other staff were "not wilfully bad people".
Sir Liam also called for the debate on school meals to spread to catering in hospitals, prisons, the armed forces and meals-on-wheels. The public sector as a whole served more than 1.8bn meals a year. "They need to be healthier and more nutritionally balanced. The public sector should use its huge financial muscle to improve the nation's health."
National standards were also required to improve the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a respiratory illness which killed 30,000 Britons each year.
The report showed continuing concern about strains of E coli infections resistant to antibiotics that have caused several deaths and much severe illness through urinary tract infections and blood poisoning.
Подписаться на:
Сообщения (Atom)