News briefs
FBI places Feeding Our Future suspect among the nation's ‘most wanted fraudsters'
MINNEAPOLIS - The FBI has added a Minneapolis grocer accused of defrauding a federally funded meals program to the agency's new "Most Wanted Fraudsters" list.
Authorities allege Said Ereg, 47, fraudulently obtained millions in federal dollars meant to feed children in Minnesota through the Feeding Our Future nonprofit. The FBI is offering up to $150,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
Thursday's announcement is part of a new campaign to highlight alleged fraud across the country. Vice President JD Vance is leading a fraud task force meant to combat the misuse of federal funds. As federal officials ask for the public's help to investigate fraud allegations in Atlanta, Utah, and elsewhere, they continue to cite Minnesota's sprawling cases of fraud.
"It is shocking, some of the allegations that we're hearing out of Minnesota and other places," Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general for the National Fraud Enforcement Division, said Friday on Fox News, highlighting the most-wanted list.
-The Minnesota Star Tribune
An LAPD gang? Internal report says police unit had 'rampant culture of misconduct'
LOS ANGELES - The LAPD internal investigation leveled a troubling allegation: Officers in a specialized unit tasked with combating street gangs had themselves behaved like a gang.
In 2023, officers in the San Fernando Valley were accused of making dozens of improper traffic stops and attempting to hide their actions from their supervisors by switching off their body cameras.
When confronted by Internal Affairs detectives, according to the findings of a months-long probe, officers in the Valley's "gang enforcement detail" said they were engaged in a "gun hunting competition," with each firearm-related arrest tracked on a whiteboard in their office. Cops with the most seizures would pose for pictures with pro-wrestling-style championship belt that had "Mission GED Pistoleros" emblazoned on the buckle.
The Internal Affairs report, like most records around police discipline, was kept confidential by the LAPD and its findings have not previously been made public. The report said the Valley unit was a "law enforcement gang."
-Los Angeles Times
‘Thousands of lives saved': Massachusetts opioid OD deaths drop under 1,000
BOSTON - Deadly opioid ODs have plummeted in the Bay State in recent years, according to officials who are crediting "a comprehensive and collaborative public health response" to the crisis.
New data shows that opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts fell below 1,000 last year. That's the first time since 2013 that the state recorded fewer than 1,000 opioid-related overdose deaths in a year.
There were 978 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths among Massachusetts residents last year, according to Department of Public Health preliminary 2025 data released by the CDC.
The count of 978 deaths is nearly a 60% drop in fatal opioid overdoses in the state since the record high of 2,364 deaths in 2022. "This projected decline represents thousands of lives saved, families kept whole, and communities strengthened," Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.
-Boston Herald
Xi to visit North Korea next week for first time since 2019
Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week, marking his inaugural overseas trip of the year after recently hosting Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin in Beijing.
Xi will travel to Pyongyang for the first time since 2019 from June 8-9 at the invitation of Kim Jong Un, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. That visit comes as Kim steps up diplomatic activity at home and showcases his expanding nuclear arsenal to the outside world.
Coming after his high-profile summits last month with Trump and Putin, the trip will allow Xi to cast China as one of the few powers able to engage with all sides in an increasingly fractured world. A meeting with Kim will remind Washington and Moscow of the influence Beijing holds over the North Korean regime, though that leverage has limits.
Despite years of Chinese pressure, North Korea has accelerated its nuclear program in recent years and deepened military ties with Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine.
-Bloomberg News
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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 5:17 PM.