WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Tuesday it will send an additional $250 million in weapons and ammunition to Ukraine as part of its ongoing support of Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

The weapons will be drawn from existing U.S. stockpiles and will include mine-clearing equipment, artillery and rocket rounds, ambulances and medical gear, among other items and spare parts, according to the State Department.

“The package will help Ukrainian forces on the battlefield and support its air defenses as Russia continues to launch brutal, brutal strikes against the people of Ukraine, including attacks this past week,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.

The State Department said the package contained AIM-9M missiles for air defense, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System munitions, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition and more than 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

The U.S. would have already run out of funding for the year to provide additional stockpile equipment to Ukraine but earlier this year realized the Pentagon had overvalued the equipment it had already sent, which freed up an additional $6.2 billion in funding.

Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the U.S. since Russia invaded last year. Those funds have provided weapons systems like howitzers and millions of rounds of ammunition to fight back against the much larger Russian military. Due to the intense and bloody land war, now in its 18th month, much of the ammunition and weaponry has already been used up.

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File # F23229007

Details:

On Thursday, August 17, 2023, Lake Elsinore Special Enforcement Team and GTF Region 4 served a narcotics-related search warrant on the 33000 block of Adelfa Street, Lake Elsinore. Deputies arrested Paul Puga, a 52-year-old resident of Lake Elsinore, without incident. During a search of the property, deputies and officers, including K9 units, located the following items:

• Over $20,000 in cash
• 927 M30 pills
• 1 pound methamphetamine
• 2.1 pounds fentanyl
• 15 grams cocaine
• Three non-serialized handguns
• 120 rounds of various ammunition
• One silencer
• Four extended magazines
• One high-capacity rifle magazine

Puga was transported and booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center for the following charges: felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, possession of fentanyl for sale, possession of narcotics for sale, possession of a silencer, concealing controlled substances in a false compartment, and bringing narcotics into the jail.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Deputy Hibbler at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station at (951) 245–3300.

As a reminder, “Community Policing” involves partnerships between law enforcement and community members. Business owners and residents are encouraged to report criminal activity directly to law enforcement by calling Sheriff’s Dispatch at (951) 776–1099 or 911 if the matter is an emergency.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s inspector general said Tuesday his office has found no evidence yet that any of the billions of dollars in weapons and aid to Ukraine has been lost to corruption or diverted into the wrong hands, but cautioned that those investigations are only in their early stages.

Keeping military aid to Ukraine protected from waste or fraud has become a critical part of keeping support for Ukraine intact in Congress, where some lawmakers have already begun to question why the U.S. is spending so much to help Kyiv.

Robert P. Storch was pressed by House members several times about any fraud findings. He said a number of tips and allegations have come in to a new hotline, but there have been “limited findings” to date, with many reports pending.

Storch, who was testifying with other Pentagon leaders before the House Armed Services Committee, repeatedly said he did not want to talk about investigations that have not yet been completed.

Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the Republican committee chairman, said Congress has appropriated more than $100 billion in military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies. Of that, the U.S. has doled out more than $75 billion so far, and that includes nearly $32 billion in Pentagon weapons and training to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion a year ago.

“These are unprecedented numbers. And it requires an unprecedented level of oversight by Congress,” Rogers said.

Members of Congress have persistently questioned how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands.

The Pentagon has a “robust program” to track the aid as it crosses the border into Ukraine and to keep tabs on it once it is there, depending on the sensitivity of each weapons system, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday at a press briefing. There’s also a small team of Americans in Ukraine working with Ukrainians to do physical inspections when possible, but also virtual inspections when needed, since those teams are not going to the front lines, Ryder said.

Questions over accountability in Ukraine come as some lawmakers push back against continued funding for the war. In early February, a group of 11 House Republicans unveiled a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution. It stated that the U.S. must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine and urged the combatants to reach a peace agreement.

Colin Kahl, under secretary of defense for policy, told lawmakers that the U.S. has been careful to send Ukraine the weapons it needs, as the war progresses. And he said he believes Ukrainian leaders are aware of concerns about accountability, and “I do think they are taking these issues seriously.”

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File # MV230050178

Details:

On Thursday, January 5, 2023, at 3:01 P.M. Deputies from the Moreno Valley Station Special Enforcement Team-Gang Unit conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle which was being driven with actions indicative of an impaired driver. The vehicle failed to yield, and a pursuit was initiated. The pursuit traveled through city streets of Moreno Valley and terminated when the vehicle yielded in the 25000 block of Sunnymead Boulevard. The driver, Martin Reynoso, a 28-year-old Hispanic male adult and resident of Moreno Valley, was taken into custody without further incident. At the conclusion of this investigation, Reynoso was found to be in possession of a loaded firearm, 1.9 grams of cocaine and 11 illegal mortar style fireworks. Reynoso was booked into custody for weapons and narcotic violations.

The Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station Special Enforcement Team – Gang Unit is committed to creating safe and secure neighborhoods free of violent crime and gang activity. If you have any information related to gang or illegal activity in your neighborhood, you can contact Sgt. Varela at the Moreno Valley Station at (951) 486-6700.

Anyone with information related to this case in encouraged to contact Deputy K. Mahoney at the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station at (951) 486-6700.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Americans at the low end of the income rung are once again struggling to make ends meet.

A confluence of factors — the expiration of federal stimulus checks and surging inflation on staples like gas and food — are driving an even bigger wedge between the haves and have-nots.

While wealthier shoppers continue to splurge, low-income shoppers have pulled back faster than expected in the past two months. They’re focusing on necessities while turning to cheaper items or less expensive stores. And they’re buying only a little at a time.

It’s a reversal from a year or so ago when low-income shoppers, flush with money from the government and buoyed by wage increases, were able to spend more freely.

Kisha Galvan, a 44-year-old mother of eight children from ages 9 to 27, was able to stock up on groceries for the week and buy extras like clothing and shoes at Walmart for her children last year.

But without the pandemic-related government support and inflation hovering at a near 40-year high, she is buying more canned food and depending on the local food pantry several times a week instead of once a week.

“I shop meal to meal,” said the Rockford, Illinois, resident who has lived on disability for the past 15 years. “Before, we didn’t have to worry about what we were going to get. We just go get it.”

The deep divide in spending was reflected in the latest round of quarterly earnings for retailers. At the high end of the spectrum, Nordstrom and Ralph Lauren reported stronger-than-expected sales as their well-heeled shoppers returned to pre-pandemic routines. Lululemon also reported strong quarterly sales of its pricey athletic wear.

But on the other end, Walmart’s customers are switching to cheaper lunch meats and half gallons of milk from full gallons. Kohl’s, a mid-priced department store, said its customers were spending less on each visit. And Gap slashed its annual financial outlook, specifically citing the strain from inflation at its low-price Old Navy chain.

Both Dollar Tree and Dollar General, which historically benefit from shoppers trading down during difficult economic times, raised their sales outlooks last month. Meanwhile, discounter Big Lots suffered steep sales declines in the latest quarter, noting cutbacks in items like furniture.

“We are now in a new chapter where high inflation is greatly limiting the ability of consumers to make discretionary purchases, especially of high ticket items,” Big Lots CEO and President Bruce K. Thorn told analysts late last month. “We know that many Americans now are once again living paycheck-to-paycheck.”

The pullback among low-income shoppers has not affected overall spending, which is still up. In April, the government said retail sales outpaced inflation for a fourth straight month, a reassuring sign that consumers — the primary drivers of America’s economy — are still providing vital support and helping ease concerns that a recession might be near.

But analysts believe even affluent shoppers could retrench if the stock market continues to weaken. Marshal Cohen, chief industry advisor at market research firm The NPD Group Inc., said the stock market affects higher income shoppers “psychologically” and more losses on paper could make them cut back.

The spending mood has shifted from last October and November, when the Fed conducted a survey and found that almost eight in 10 adults were either “doing okay or living comfortably” when it came to their finances in 2021, the highest proportion to say so since the survey began in 2013. For those earning less than $25,000, the proportion that said they were doing at least okay jumped to 53% from 40%.

But inflation has taken a bigger bite out of personal budgets and wiped away some of the wage gains, especially for those who earn less. The national average cost of a gallon of gas, for example, has jumped to $4.76 from $4.20 a month ago and a painful 56% from a year earlier, according to AAA.

At the Northern Illinois Food Bank, which feeds people in 13 counties including Galvan and her family, the average monthly number of visits grew to more than 400,000 in the February through April period, from 311,000 in the July through September period, according to president and CEO Julie Yurko.

Across the economy, median wages jumped 6% in April from a year earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. But even though that was the largest increase since 1990, it was still below the inflation rate of 8.3%.

Meanwhile, the poorest one-fifth of Americans have exhausted the savings they’d built up during the pandemic in part through stimulus checks, child tax credit payments and higher wages, according to calculations by Jeffries, an investment bank. Americans’ bank accounts. The other four-fifths of U.S. households are still sitting on a large stockpile of additional savings since the pandemic, with much of that held by the top fifth.

Inflation is playing out differently within businesses that cater to shoppers with varying income levels.

Michelle Gass, CEO of Kohl’s, said some shoppers are trading up to premium brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, while others are going to lower-price store labels. Macy’s boosted its annual outlook based on the spending habits of its wealthier shoppers, but its customers with median household income of $75,000 and below are switching more to its off-price brand.

The current environment is making it difficult for retailers to pass on higher costs. Macy’s, for instance, got pushback after raising prices on some casual clothing items and home accessories.

“We’re definitely seeing some balk at some of the prices,” Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette recently told analysts on the company’s earnings call. “We’ve made adjustments there.”

For the Northern Illinois Food Bank — like many food banks — food costs are spiking amid dwindling donations.

“Inflation and rising food costs mean the food bank has to make tough choices about our budget,” Yurko said. ”What foods can we provide consistently and what foods can we only provide if they are donated to us?”

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Arrested was Ricardo Nieto, 26 of Coachella, for possession of fentanyl for sale, possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of narcotics while armed, felon in possession of ammunition, felon in possession of a firearm, and violation of felony probation. Noelle Markowitz, 26 of La Quinta, for possession of fentanyl for sale, possession of methamphetamine for sale, and possession of narcotics while armed. Alfredo Nieto, 27 of Coachella, for vehicle theft, possession of a stolen vehicle, and violation of felony probation. Noah Roby, 26 of Desert Hot Springs, for possession of fentanyl. The subjects were booked at the John Benoit Detention Center in the city of Indio. The stolen U-Haul was recovered.

Anyone with any information regarding this incident is urged to contact Deputy Nevins with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at (760)863-8990, or Crime Stoppers at (760)341-STOP (7867).

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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Arrested were Ismael Cisneros, 49 of Thermal, for possession of narcotics for sale, possession of narcotics while armed, and possession of unregistered firearms, Ramon Reynaga, 45 of Indio, for a narcotic warrant, Felipe Ramirez, 40 of Thermal, for possession of a stolen vehicle, and possession of stolen property, Gerardo Ramirez, 31 of Thermal, for possession of drug paraphernalia, Manuel Jaime, 42 of Thermal, for possession of methamphetamine, and Miguel Villanueva, 40 of Thermal, for a felony probation violation warrant. The subjects were booked at John Benoit Detention Center in the city of Indio.

Anyone with any information regarding this incident is urged to contact Deputy Y. Perez with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at (760)863-8990, or Crime Stoppers at (760)341-STOP (7867).

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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The search warrant stemmed from a check fraud incident in which the victim‘s total loss was about $12,000; the fraud incident was reported on August 20, 2021 out of La Quinta. Phillip Padilla, 36 of Indio, was arrested for check fraud, felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, possession of a high capacity magazine, and committing a felony while out on bail. Padilla was booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center.

Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to call Deputy Arnold Iniguez at the Thermal Sheriff’s Station by calling (760)863-8990, or Crime Stoppers at (760)341-STOP (7867).

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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Congress is set to force America’s armed services to keep better track of their guns and explosives, imposing new rules in response to an Associated Press investigation that showed firearms stolen from U.S. bases have resurfaced in violent crimes.

Under the proposals, the Department of Defense would tell both lawmakers and civilian law enforcement authorities more about guns that vanish from military armories, shipments and warehouses.

Overall, AP has found that at least 2,000 firearms from the Army, Marines, Navy or Air Force were lost or stolen during the 2010s.

Even as guns kept disappearing, the Department of Defense in recent years stopped advising Congress of most losses or thefts. That was one finding of an investigation which showed how assault rifles, pistols, armor-piercing grenades and other weapons have made their way onto the nation’s streets.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate responded by writing stricter accountability into each chamber’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act. That bipartisan, must-pass legislation sets policy priorities for the Pentagon.

In coming weeks, lawmakers will hammer out differences between the two defense authorization act versions as the legislation marches toward the president’s desk. For example, the Senate envisions more reporting to the FBI while the House focuses on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In interviews, military officials have acknowledged numerous problems with how they keep track of weapons through the military’s vast supply chains.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, told senators in June that he would seek a “systematic fix” within the Department of Defense — regardless of what Congress did. Spokespeople for the Army and Marines have said their service branches are making changes to how they account for weapons.

Those internal efforts have not persuaded some lawmakers.

“We are concerned that DOD has seemingly not yet developed a coherent strategy to improve its ability to account for military weapons and equipment,” Democratic leaders on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform wrote Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the leaders of the service branches in a letter dated Monday.

The lawmakers requested a progress briefing by Nov. 19. Spokespeople for the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force said the branches would respond directly to the committee.

The letter also focused on a technology that some units of the Air Force and Army have used to track guns, but that could let even low-tech enemies detect U.S. troops.

When embedded in military guns, thin radio frequency identification tags — RFID, as the technology is known — can streamline weapon counts and distribution. But field testing for AP showed that, outside armories, the electronic signals the tags emit could become an unwanted tracking beacon from distances greater than some armed services seemed to realize.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense called the tracking potential for enemies a significant security problem, and under questioning the Navy told AP it would abandon the technology in weapons. Still, RFID tags are used in many aspects of military logistics and lawmakers on the committee asked the Pentagon to detail how widely the technology is deployed and to explain the security risks those uses bring.

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On September 17, 2021, the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station Special Enforcement Team (SET) served a search warrant in the 21400 block of Apricot Lane, in the city of Wildomar. During the service of the search warrant, several firearms (to include a California non-compliant rifle), body armor and items commonly used to manufacture firearms, were located. Also located were items commonly used to create counterfeit money. The suspect was identified as Patrick Kirk, 30 years old, a resident of Wildomar, CA whom was arrested and eventually transported to Cois Byrd Detention Center and booked on multiple charges.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Deputy McCracken at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station (951) 245-3300.

As a reminder, “Community Policing” involves partnerships between law enforcement and community members. Business owners and residents are encouraged to report criminal activity directly to law enforcement by calling Sheriff’s Dispatch at (951) 776-1099, or by calling 911 if the matter is an emergency.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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