- DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — A U.S. Navy veteran accused of killing two people and critically injuring another in a series of attacks in the Atlanta area had, shortly before the shootings, stormed out of his communal house after getting into an intense argument over the air conditioning in the home, according to his roommates. Authorities […]
- Iran War May End ‘Pretty Soon,’ Trump Says, Signals Possible Islamabad Trip for Talks By The Media Line Staff President Trump said the war in Iran could end “pretty soon,” despite a breakdown in negotiations last weekend, and indicated he is open to traveling to Islamabad for talks. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, President Trump said the […]
- PHOENIX (AP) — President Donald Trump joins Erika Kirk at Dream City Church in north Phoenix for Turning Point Action’s “Build the Red Wall” rally to show support for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two U.S. Army soldiers have been injured after encountering a brown bear in a mountainous training area in Anchorage, the military said Friday. The incident happened Thursday as the soldiers were participating in a “land navigation training event” in Arctic Valley, part of the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s training area. The soldiers […]
- NEW YORK (AP) — After U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz was fully open to commercial vessels after almost seven weeks of war, oil prices plunged 10% and the stock market rallied Friday. Motorists, hoping for relief at the pump, wondered how quickly gasoline prices might fall once […]
- Iran reimposes restrictions on Strait of Hormuz, accusing US of violating deal to reopen it
on April 18, 2026 at 9:18 amCAIRO (AP) — Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway on Saturday after the U.S. said it would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping. Iran’s joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect. The announcement came the morning after U.S. President Donald Trump said that even after Iran announced the strait’s reopening on Friday, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program. The conflict over the chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after oil prices began to fall again on Friday on hopes the U.S. and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again. Control over the strait has proven to be one Iran’s main points of leverage and prompted the United States to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war that has raged between Israel, the U.S. and Iran. Iran said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week’s ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that deal did not cover Lebanon. But after Trump said the blockade would continue, top Iranian officials said his announcement violated last week’s ceasefire agreement between Iran and the U.S. and warned the strait would not stay open if the U.S. blockade remained in effect. A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran’s approval. U.S. forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, U.S. Central Command said on X. Despite the escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistani officials say the United States and Iran are still moving closer to a deal ahead of the April 22 ceasefire deadline. The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. Speaking at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkey, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the ceasefire in Lebanon was a positive sign, noting that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had been a key sticking point before talks in Islamabad ended “very close” to an agreement last weekend. Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir visited Tehran, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Antalya, the military and Sharif’s office said. Pakistan is expected to host a second round of talks between Iran and the U.S. early next week. Even though mediators were optimistic, it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a truce it did not play a role in negotiating and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon. Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the U.S. from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war. The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defense. Shortly before Trump’s post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete. He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90% of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group. In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold. The Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect. The war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed. __ Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Andrew Wilks in Antalya, Turkey contributed to this report. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- States eulogize Charlie Kirk with new laws promoting religion and free speech
on April 18, 2026 at 6:18 amA new Kansas law will allow college students to sue their schools for free-speech violations. In Tennessee, a new law will encourage teachers and professors to include “the positive impacts of religion” in American history courses. The common factor: Both are being done in the name of Charlie Kirk. The laws are among the first of what could become multiple state tributes to the conservative activist who was killed while speaking at a Utah university last year. More than 60 Kirk-themed bills have been proposed in over 20 states seeking to promote his ideology, establish official days of remembrance or affix his name to roads and public places, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural. Just like Kirk, who was known for his provocative campus debates, the measures are not without controversy. Republican lawmakers in Kansas overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly to enact a law that she said would “cause confusion for courts and schools.” In Tennessee, where Republicans firmly control state government, some Democrats denounced the pro-Kirk legislation by recounting what they described as racist remarks he made about Black pilots and Black women in government positions. “How many times have we sat here and endured this? The Charlie Kirk Saves America Act, whatever the heck it is? Come on guys. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s move on,” Democratic state Rep. Sam McKenzie said during a committee meeting where Republicans endorsed the “Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act.” That’s not to be confused with Tennessee’s “Charlie Kirk Act,” which Republicans also recently passed. That bill addresses campus free speech, including a ban on attendee walkouts that intentionally disrupt a speaker. The variety of bills in Kirk’s name “shows just how deeply his influence is being felt, especially in the fight to restore intellectual diversity and core American values in education,” said Matt Shupe, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, which Kirk founded. A Kirk-named law signed this week by Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee extols the historical “influence of Judeo-Christian values on the freedom and liberties ingrained in our culture.” It gives permission for public schools and higher education institutions to teach about religion’s positive role in American history. And it lists 19 examples, beginning with the organization of the Pilgrims as a church and including George Washington’s direction for Army chaplains, Benjamin Franklin’s appeal for prayer at the constitutional convention and the impact of Christian evangelist Billy Graham. Tennessee is one of several Republican-led states to partner with Turning Point USA to promote its high school chapters, called Club America. Dozens of club leaders from Tennessee attended a state Senate committee hearing last month to support the religion-in-history legislation. Ben Mason, a junior from Providence Academy in Johnson City, said Kirk helped him “to understand that America began with Judeo-Christian values.” “This, of course, does not mean that you must be a Christian or even believe in God to be in America, but you will hear about our roots,” Mason told lawmakers. But Senate Democratic Leader Raumesh Akbari raised concerns. “Our public schools are really not the place to push one religion over another,” she said. “I know that is not the stated intent of the bill, but I think that ends up being the result.” Lawmakers turned Kirk’s name into an acronym for the “Kansas intellectual rights and knowledge” act, which deems outdoor areas on college campuses as forums for free expression. The bill’s preamble praises Kirk and cites a 2024 incident at Kansas State University in which Kirk’s microphone was shut off at the end of his allotted time, leading Kirk to wade into the crowd to continue taking questions. The measure limits security fees charged to student organizations for events and bans designated “free speech zones” that restrict the location of such activities. The attorney general — or any who believe their rights were infringed — can sue an institution seeking damages of at least $500 per violation, and $50 for each day it continues. The bill is similar to the Campus Free Expression Act, promoted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. About half the states already have campus free-speech laws, according to the foundation. “Charlie Kirk was assassinated for exercising his right to free speech and introducing young people to conservative values,” Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said after Kelly’s veto was recently overridden. “His mission and legacy will live on and protect the free speech rights of all college students in Kansas for decades to come.” Democrats, while decrying Kirk’s assassination, were unified in opposing the bill. Democratic state Rep. Jerry Stogsdill said legislators should not honor an activist whose statements promoted “hate, bigotry, misogyny and racism.” In Louisiana, Republicans have proposed a bill dubbed the “Charlie Kirk Success Sequence Act.” The measure would require public schools to teach that the keys to success include earning a high school diploma, immediately entering the workforce after high school or college, and marrying before having children. A Senate committee advanced the bill this week after overcoming objections. “Why muddy this bill up by putting a controversial political figure’s name on it?” asked Democratic Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews, whose attempt to remove Kirk’s name failed in the Republican-dominated committee. “In the last 20 years, I cannot think of anyone that’s had the type of impact on our students, on our campuses and in our cities as Charlie Kirk,” said Republican Sen. Rick Edmonds, who authored the bill. ___ Associated Press writers Sara Cline, John Hanna and Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- The Latest: Trump hints at resuming attacks if ceasefire with Iran expires without a deal
on April 18, 2026 at 5:18 amU.S. President Donald Trump said the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will remain and attacks will resume if no agreement is reached with Iran, after Tehran said it had fully reopened the strait to commercial vessels but threatened to close it again over the U.S. blockade. Asked by a reporter Friday night what he will do if there’s no deal when a ceasefire with Iran expires next week, Trump said, “I don’t know. Maybe I won’t extend it, but the blockade is going to remain. But maybe I won’t extend it, so you’ll have a blockade and unfortunately we’ll have to start dropping bombs again.” However, Trump also told reporters accompanying him aboard Air Force One to Washington that, “I think it’s going to happen,” referring to a deal. Questions lingered Saturday about how much freedom ships actually had to transit the waterway as Tehran maintained its grip on the strait and who got through, and threatened to close it again if the U.S. kept in place its blockade of Iranian ships and ports. Iran’s Friday announcement about the opening of the crucial body of water, through which 20% of the world’s oil is shipped, came as a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to hold. The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, nearly 2,300 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed. Here is the latest: Iran has reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway after the U.S. said the move would not end its blockade. The country’s joint military command said “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect. The announcement came the morning after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has left for home after visiting Turkey, where he attended a diplomacy forum in Antalya. Whiie there, he met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani ahead of the second round of U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad. While at the forum, Sharif discussed recent regional developments and ongoing diplomatic efforts between Tehran and Washington with Erdogan and the Qatari emir. Pakistan is expected to host the second round of talks between Iran and the United States early next week Iran has announced a partial reopening of its airspace after a seven-week hiatus because of the war, state media reported. The Civil Aviation Organization said air routes over eastern Iran were reopened at 7 a.m. (0330 GMT), according to the state-owned IRAN newspaper. It said flights at the country’s airports would gradually resume but did not give a timeframe. Iran’s airspace had been closed since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28. The partial reopening has come more than a week into a ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. A senior Iranian lawmaker said only commercial vessels authorized by the Revolutionary Guard are allowed to transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Ebrahim Azizi, head of Iran’s parliamentary National Security Commission, said in a social media post late Friday that commercial vessels must pay “required tolls” before transiting the strait, using a route set by Iran last month. “The time has come to comply with the new Maritime Regime of the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. “These regulations are determined by Iran, not by social media posts!” He warned that the mechanism could change “if the U.S. attempts to create any disturbance for Iranian ships.” Iran’s Defense Ministry spokesperson said the Strait of Hormuz is only open during a ceasefire and conditionally, two Iranian semiofficial news agencies reported. Brig. Gen. Reza Talaei-Nik said “military vessels and those linked to hostile forces have no right” of transit, according to the ISNA and Mehr news agencies. Field Marshal Asim Munir has concluded a visit to Tehran, where he met senior Iranian leaders in an effort to ease tensions between Iran and the United States, the Pakistani military said Saturday. It said the visit reflects Pakistan’s commitment to promoting peace, stability and a negotiated settlement to regional conflicts. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi accompanied Munir. The delegation met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and held talks with Parliament Speaker Bagher Qalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and senior military officials. Discussions focused on regional security, ongoing diplomatic efforts and steps to promote lasting peace. Munir emphasized dialogue, de-escalation and resolving disputes through sustained engagement. He also conveyed goodwill messages from Pakistan’s leadership and reaffirmed Islamabad’s desire to strengthen longstanding ties with Iran. President Donald Trump flatly rejected the idea when a reporter asked about the prospect of restrictions or tolls managed by Iran on the Strait of Hormuz. “Nope. No way. No. Nope,” Trump said. He said there can’t be tolls along with restrictions. “No, they’re not going to be tolls.” Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Stories of Black and Indigenous patriots come into focus as US remembers the American Revolution
on April 18, 2026 at 4:18 amLEXINGTON, Mass. (AP) — Charlie Price says he didn’t learn much about the American Revolution in school. He knew about George Washington, the Battle of Bunker Hill and that the patriots won. It wasn’t until he joined the Lexington Minutemen — a group of Revolutionary War reenactors — that he realized there’s so much more to the story. The Lexington Minutemen are marking the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington in Massachusetts on Saturday, as they do every year, and among the soldiers represented will be Prince Estabrook, an enslaved man who joined his white neighbors on Lexington Green in April 19, 1775, as British troops approached. He was wounded that day but went on to serve in multiple deployments throughout the war. “I wasn’t surprised that we didn’t know about it,” said Price, a 95-year-old Black Korean War veteran who played the role of Estabrook for 50 years. “I was surprised that there was one Black soldier out here.” As America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Estabrook and other patriots of color are being celebrated through programs nationwide that aim to tell a more complete story of the birth of the nation. Museum exhibits, documentary films and lectures have traditionally focused on the white leaders of the American Revolution, such as Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere. Christopher Brown, a British Empire historian at Columbia University, said the Revolution has long been portrayed as a “simple story and a moral story that celebrates American origins and that looks to the American past in a kind of idealized version of what the present is.” But in recent decades, “a more accurate view of the past” has emerged that showcases the diverse collection of men and women who played critical roles in the fight for freedom. “There were Black men in the ranks who were fighting in Concord and Lexington and fought on Bunker Hill,” he said. “They knew all of the work that women were doing to support the revolutionary effort. The fact that we didn’t know that is more of a sign of our lack of curiosity and the need for greater research.” The National Park Service estimates that by the end of the Revolution more than 5,500 patriots of color — including Black and Indigenous people — served on the colonial side, while many runaway slaves fought for the British. The stories of Black patriots cannot be told without mentioning slavery, which was legal at the time in all 13 Colonies. Some Blacks who fought were enslaved and others fought in the hopes of gaining freedom. Indigenous soldiers made similar calculations, even as tribes fought for their very survival. But despite the documented military diversity of that time, efforts to promote such stories are under pressure. The Trump administration has ordered the removal or censorship of some exhibits highlighting the history of slavery and enslaved people, the Civil Rights Movement and the mistreatment of Indigenous people. Roger Davidson, Jr. an associate professor of history at Bowie State University, said failure to recognize that important part of history can impact communities of color today. “If you’re not seen as having contributed to society, to the military, to any of it, then people can sort of overlook you,” Davidson said. “It plays into, and I hate to put it this way, but it plays into some people’s biases. Why should we pay any attention to you in the present day, politically, socially, economically, if you have not contributed?” MA250 has handed out millions of dollars in grants to commemorate the battles across Massachusetts that helped lead to America’s independence. Among the beneficiaries is the Black Heritage Trail in Concord that highlights the lives of Black residents in the town during the Revolution. Museum exhibitions celebrating Black patriots have also received grants. Among those highlighted is Crispus Attucks, a sailor of African and Indigenous ancestry who died on March 5, 1770, when British troops fired on a crowd in what is known as the Boston Massacre. Another, Salem Poor, was born enslaved but purchased his freedom before fighting at Bunker Hill. American Ancestors, a nonprofit history and heritage center in Boston that also received MA250 funding, opens its “Patriots of Color” exhibit next week, throwing a spotlight on the lives of 26 Black and Indigenous men and women who played a role in the American Revolution. They include: Prince Ames, a Black and Narragansett man from Andover, who was forced to join the Continental Army in place of his enslaver; and Paul Cuffe, a Black and Wampanoag businessman, who petitioned the Massachusetts government to reject taxation without representation. Some of their descendants will attend the opening of the exhibition. “By telling these lesser known stories, we want to highlight that ordinary people made a tremendous difference in the arc of the country’s history,” Ryan Woods, president and CEO of American Ancestors, said. Records about Prince Estabrook’s life are scant, but according to the National Park Service, he was likely born in the Lexington area around 1740. His father was enslaved by landowner Benjamin Estabrook, so Prince was born into slavery. It is unclear what his life was like before he trained as a soldier in the Lexington militia. The Park Service says he was serving under the command of Colonel John Parker on April 19, 1775, when his left shoulder was struck by a musket ball. He recovered from that injury and went on to serve eight years with the militia and the Continental Army. After the Revolution, he was granted freedom and returned to Lexington, where tax records from 1790 indicate he joined Benjamin Estabrook’s payroll as ‘a non-white freeman.’ It is unclear if he ever married, had children or owned property. According to family records, he died in 1830, around the age of 90, and was buried in the same cemetery as Benjamin’s son, Nathan, in Ashby, Massachusetts. Price, who has handed reenactment duties to a younger colleague but still attends the early morning reenactment every year, says it is important to know about the soldier’s life. “Keep the story alive to make sure that everybody knows, everybody that we can get in touch with, everybody knows that Prince Estabrook was here,” Price said. “He was a viable person. He did his role, he did his part in fighting for the country.” Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Weapons-grade chemical carfentanil surges as dangerous substitute for fentanyl
on April 18, 2026 at 4:18 amNearly two decades after drug addiction sent him to rehab as a teenager, 36-year-old Michael Nalewaja had settled into a quiet life in Alaska where he worked as an electrician. That all came crashing down days before Thanksgiving 2025, when he and a mutual friend unknowingly took a lethal cocktail of fentanyl and carfentanil they may have mistaken for cocaine. “I heard the word ‘autopsy’ and I literally just collapsed to the floor,” his mother, Kelley Nalewaja said, recalling the call she received from his wife. “Even if somebody had been there prepared with Narcan — even if somebody had called 911 in time — he was not going to survive.” Carfentanil, a weapons-grade chemical that authorities say is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times stronger than fentanyl, has seen a drastic resurgence across the U.S., killing hundreds of unsuspecting drug users. The rise coincides with a recent crackdown by the Chinese government on the sale of precursors used to make fentanyl. Those regulations are likely prompting traffickers in Mexico to use carfentanil to boost the potency of a weakened version of fentanyl, according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration intelligence bulletins reviewed by The Associated Press. The surge of a drug so deadly that less than a poppy seed-sized amount can kill a person comes as fentanyl seizures and overall drug overdose deaths continue a multiyear decline. “You’re talking about not even a grain of salt that could be potentially lethal,” said Frank Tarentino, the DEA’s chief of operations for its northeast region, which stretches from Maine to Virginia. “This presents an extremely frightening proposition for substance abuse dependent people who seek opioids on the street today.” A decade ago, carfentanil exploded into the North American drug supply, causing hundreds of unsuspecting drug users to overdose, only to see a major dip after China banned it, closing a key regulatory loophole in the U.S. But the situation has shifted dramatically in recent years. In 2025, DEA labs identified carfentanil 1,400 times in U.S. drug seizures, compared with 145 in 2023 and only 54 in 2022, according to DEA records viewed by AP. Traffickers in Mexico may be experimenting with producing carfentanil themselves, authorities say, while others could be procuring it from China-based vendors skirting the country’s regulations by spamming online forums in other countries with ads for the drug. Complicating matters for the cartels are the extreme dangers associated with manufacturing carfentanil, Tarentino said. “You can’t just dabble in this,” he said. “This is not some mad scientist on Reddit you’re going to get to go out to a rudimentary laboratory in Mexico to make carfentanil.” U.S. overdose deaths have fallen for more than two years — the longest drop in decades. Experts point to several possible explanations, including the overdose-reversing drug naloxone being more widely available and the expansion of addiction treatment. Some have also tied it to the regulatory changes the U.S. has pressed for in China. Experts say that even multiple high doses of naloxone might not be enough to reverse an overdose when carfentanil is involved. Fentanyl seizures, along with several other illicit drugs, have also dipped. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that fentanyl seizures plunged to about 12,000 pounds (5,443 kilograms) in 2025 — less than half the amount seized in 2023. But even as fentanyl numbers fall, it remains a major focus of the DEA. Just recently, the agency’s proposed budget included a $362 million increase centered on cartel-driven fentanyl trafficking. “Anyone who takes a pill that is not prescribed to them by their doctor is playing a game of Russian roulette with their life,” said Sara Carter, President Donald Trump’s drug czar. “But if those terrorists think they can continue this chemical warfare without consequences, they are wrong.” While the prevalence of carfentanil still pales in comparison to fentanyl, experts are nevertheless alarmed by the increase of a substance researched for years as a chemical weapon and deployed by Russian forces on Chechen separatists in 2002. The DEA’s annual quota for lawfully manufactured carfentanil — veterinarians use it to tranquilize elephants and other large animals — is just 20 grams, an amount that can fit in the palm of your hand. “It’s like a biological weapon,” said Michael King Jr., founder of the Opioid Awareness Foundation. “If the world thinks we had a problem with fentanyl, that’s minute compared to what we’re going to be dealing with with carfentanil.” In 2024, overdose deaths involving carfentanil nearly tripled compared to the previous year, with 413 deaths across 42 states and Washington, D.C., according to the most recent data available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Carfentanil definitely has that potential of spreading throughout the United States unless law enforcement really focuses in on carfentanil and they develop intelligence as to how these drug addicts are getting it,” said Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations at the DEA. In recent months, the DEA has documented several large seizures of carfentanil. In October, the DEA Los Angeles Field Division found 628,000 pills containing carfentanil, while in September, officials seized more than 50,000 counterfeit M30 pills from a person at a gas station in Washington state that turned out to be a mixture of carfentanil and acetaminophen. In some cases, frequent drug users have become tolerant to fentanyl and are seeking out carfentanil, despite the danger, because of the sudden euphoria it promises, explained Rob Tanguay, senior medical lead for addiction services with Recovery Alberta, a health agency in Canada. It appeals to the drug market, he said, because so little of it goes such a long way toward supply. “The toughest part about all of this,” he said, “is that this is all about money.” After Michael Nalewaja’s death, his mother decided against a large funeral. Instead, she organized a town hall in her hometown of El Dorado Hills, California, bringing together local officials along with mothers who had gone through something similar. As she grieves her son, an adept salesman full of charisma who had recently gotten a national award by the electrical union, she’s pushing for major legislative and judicial changes so others don’t go through what she did because of a drug she said was never meant for humans. “It’s not an OD; it’s not an overdose,” she said. “It’s a murder weapon.” ___ Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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