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Missing California sisters found alive after 36 years

admin - Latest News - October 2, 2025
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Missing California sisters found alive after 36 years



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Oct. 2, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Aria BendixBecause Wednesday marked the start of the 2026 fiscal year, the WIC program — which provides free, healthy food to low-income pregnant women, new moms and children under 5 — was due for an influx of funding.Instead came the government shutdown. If it persists, access to the federal program, known in full as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, could be jeopardized. A USDA letter to WIC state agency directors on Wednesday confirmed that states would not receive their next quarterly allocation of funds during the shutdown.According to the National WIC Association, a nonprofit advocacy organization that represents state and local WIC agencies, “devastating disruptions” may deny millions of moms and children access to nutritious foods if the government remains closed for longer than a week or two. Given that Social Security checks will still go out, national parks remain partially open and most Medicaid and Medicare services are continuing, a lapse in WIC funding could be among the first widespread, tangible effects of the shutdown for nonfederal workers.WIC — a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture — served roughly 6.8 million people as of April 2022, the most recent data available. It receives funding from Congress, which the USDA then allocates to states on a quarterly basis. From there, states distribute it to WIC clinics, of which there are roughly 10,000 nationwide. The clinics distribute preloaded cards that members use to purchase program-approved healthy foods at participating grocery stores. New moms can also purchase infant formula and receive lactation counseling. Barbie Anderson, a mother of three who is pregnant, said she has relied on WIC to purchase healthy food since her oldest child was born nine years ago. Her family lives paycheck to paycheck in Milaca, Minnesota, she added, and the program helps them afford fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, peanut butter and yogurt. She has also used it for breastfeeding support, she said.Under normal circumstances, Anderson said, her WIC card would be reloaded on Oct. 15. She’s unsure if that will happen now. “All the food that we get from WIC goes to our kids. So you’re really harming the kids” if services pause, she said.During the shutdown, states will have to rely on up to $150 million in contingency funds from the USDA to continue offering services, along with a small amount of rollover funding from the previous fiscal year in some cases, according to the National WIC Association. The group warned that the funding could dry up in a week or two if the shutdown persists, depending on how states allocate it. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told House Republicans during a conference call Wednesday that WIC is set to run out of money by next week if the government doesn’t reopen, according to two GOP sources on the call.“Historically, when there has been a shutdown, WIC has remained open for business, but because this one falls at the start of the fiscal year, there are some risks,” said Georgia Machell, president of the National WIC Association. She called on Congress to pass a funding bill that protects the program and keeps it running without interruption. A USDA spokesperson told NBC News that WIC’s continued operation will depend on “state choice and the length of a shutdown.” “If Democrats do not fund the government, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) will run out of funding and States will have to make a choice,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.However, some House Democrats say the federal government has the power to keep WIC afloat — if the USDA commits to replenishing state funds used during the shutdown after it ends. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., called on the USDA to do that.Without her WIC card, Anderson said, she may have to stop buying oranges for her children, which she feeds them to boost their immune systems.“My concern is, health wise, my kids’ immunity is going to go down,” Anderson said, adding that if they get sick, she’d also worry about affording doctor’s bills.Anderson’s family lives in a rural area where options for affordable food are limited. Her WIC benefits allow her to shop at the nearest grocery store, which would otherwise be outside her budget, she said: A gallon of milk there costs roughly $5. “We could go buy chips all day long for 99 cents, if we wanted to, at a run-down grocery store. But what’s that nutrition for our kids? That’s nothing,” she said.The closest Walmart, where prices are lower, is about 45 minutes away, but the price of gas makes regular shopping there expensive, too, she said.Anderson said she isn’t eligible for other food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. That program is expected to continue during the shutdown. (WIC generally has a higher income limit than SNAP.)The ability of WIC clinics to keep functioning will likely vary by state. Brandon Meline, director of maternal and child health at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, said he was told that Illinois clinics have sufficient money to last through the month. But Meline worries about the program being used as a bargaining chip in shutdown politics. “This is the first time that WIC has ever been sort of dragged into political fray nationally. We hear discussions about SNAP and cash assistance, but WIC has sort of been politically untouchable up until now,” he said.Aria BendixAria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.Melanie Zanona and Julie Tsirkin contributed.
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Oct. 22, 2025, 2:26 PM EDTBy Erik Ortiz and Jon SchuppeAn Illinois man was shot dead while incarcerated in a federal prison in Florida this month, his family and officials told NBC News, a rare incident behind bars as guards largely are not allowed to carry firearms.Loved ones of inmate Dwayne Tottleben say they haven’t received answers from the federal Bureau of Prisons about how or why he was shot, more than a week after his death Oct. 10 at U.S. Penitentiary Coleman I, a high-security men’s prison northwest of Orlando.The BOP typically shares information on inmate deaths in custody, but there was no immediate release about Tottleben. Agency officials did not respond to requests for comment amid the ongoing federal government shutdown. The local medical examiner’s office in Florida confirmed Tottleben’s fatal shooting to NBC News. Donna Ford, a longtime friend who said she’s listed as next of kin for Tottleben, said the prison called her around 9 p.m. Oct. 10 to tell her he had died. She said the official offered no other details. It came as a shock, she said, because she had spoken to Tottleben, who went by DJ, just that morning for about 15 minutes. Tottleben, 33, had been serving 15 years for possession of methamphetamines with intent to distribute related to an August 2020 traffic stop in St. Louis.“He was in a good mood. He told me he loved me. He told me to ‘send pictures of the kids, give the kids hugs for me,’” Ford said of her children. “He said, ‘I miss you. I love you.’ There was no agitation.”The entrance to Coleman federal prison in Florida in 2008.Ryan K. Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileTottleben’s father, also named Dwayne, learned of his death from Ford the following morning and spoke with the medical examiner’s office for Sumter County. He said he was in tears as he begged for information about his son’s death. “I was distraught. I didn’t know if somebody stabbed him. I didn’t know anything,” the senior Tottleben said.He said the office told him that his son was shot, but that still left him with questions.“I’m trying to wrap my mind around how something like this could happen,” he said.A prison spokesperson did not directly respond when asked about a deadly shooting at USP Coleman I or an investigation into Tottleben’s death. The prison’s website says visitation “has been suspended until further notice.”In response to NBC News’ questions, the prison sent an emailed statement saying that the facility was placed on “enhanced modified operations” Oct. 10, and that “wardens may establish controls or implement temporary security measures to ensure the good order and security of their institution, as well as ensure the safety of the employees and the individuals in our custody.”“In securing a facility, it is always the hope this security measure will be short-lived, and the facility returned to normal operations as quickly as possible,” the statement added.While there is a lack of reliable data regarding deaths in prisons and jails, fatal shootings are uncommon because guns are not routinely used to secure the facilities, said Steve J. Martin, a corrections expert who has worked for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and on use-of-force cases involving prisons.Prison employees can only carry firearms while doing certain tasks, including transporting inmates, preventing escapes and guarding security posts, BOP policy states. Wardens must approve any employees who carry guns. “If you have weaponry inside, there’s always the possibility that it can get in the hands of an inmate, which is the last thing you want,” Martin said. “Besides, there is so much other nonlethal weaponry that can be used.”BOP policy says that force against inmates should be a “last alternative,” and that deadly force may be used when there’s a “reasonable belief that the inmate poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury” to others.If the use of a firearm is “deemed necessary,” the employee “must shoot the subject with every intention of hitting ‘center mass’ to ensure the subject is stopped,” the policy states. “Employees will not attempt to shoot a limb which creates a lesser chance of stopping the subject and may pose a danger to employees, other inmates, or persons in the community.” Joe Rojas, a retired BOP officer and past union president at Coleman, said less lethal options may include stun grenades and pepper spray, as well as the firing of warning shots ahead of deadly force.Gunfire is rare at Coleman. Rojas said a fight among inmates more than 15 years ago led to staff members firing shots in the recreation yard. One inmate suffered a gunshot wound and several others were injured when prison officials said they ignored commands, according to reports at the time.The circumstances surrounding Tottleben’s death have baffled his loved ones. Even if his son was violent before his death, the escalation to gunfire is troubling, Dwayne Tottleben said.“When people get into fights in prison, they lose ‘good time’ credit,” he said. “They don’t lose their life.”Tottleben had a tumultuous upbringing, according to friends who wrote letters to the judge asking for leniency last year in his federal sentence.Ford wrote that Tottleben’s father had done time in prison during his childhood.“I feel like he did not really have a chance to learn to be on the right side of the law,” Ford wrote.A grade-school friend of Tottleben’s who previously suffered from drug addiction told the judge, “I have watched him struggle right along with me for most of our lives.”Tottleben was also deeply affected by a police shooting in October 2020, his family said.An Illinois State Police officer struck Tottleben in the back after he was hiding in a car and attempted to surrender, according to a civil rights lawsuit in which he sought $2 million for pain and suffering.The officers said they believed he was armed, but Tottleben’s lawyer, Jason Marx, said only a flashlight was recovered from the car. By late 2023, the suit was settled; the terms were not disclosed.As that litigation unfolded, a federal grand jury indicted Tottleben on the methamphetamine charge in February 2021, but for reasons that are not clear in court records, he was not arrested until May 2023. Separately, he had been serving time in an Illinois prison for burglary. Tottleben said he had “substance abuse and mental health issues” and described those, along with a brain tumor, as causes of his criminal behavior, a federal judge noted in a November 2023 court filing. He said that he’d had that tumor removed and stopped using drugs.In June 2023, a month after his arrest, Tottleben’s mother died from a drug overdose, Ford said.“He’s had hard times, but when I talked to him that morning, he was completely fine,” Ford said of their last conversation Oct. 10. “He did not say that he felt like he was in danger.”Tottleben’s family members have started a GoFundMe to pay for legal support as they “navigate understanding the situation that caused his death.”Robert J. Slama, an attorney representing Tottleben’s family, said he will seek an independent medical examination of his body as they call for “full disclosure and accountability” from the prison.Erik OrtizErik Ortiz is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital focusing on racial injustice and social inequality.Jon SchuppeJon Schuppe is an enterprise reporter for NBC News, based in New York. Michael Kosnar contributed.
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