BPD: Riverbed operation clears 24 encampments

City teams cleared homeless encampments from the Kern River on Wednesday in an operation covering several miles of the riverbed between Calloway Drive and the 24th Street overpass.
According to a news release from the Bakersfield Police Department, the operation cleared 24 encampments, arrested 23 people, cited three people and took 19 dogs into temporary custody.
"The Bakersfield Police Department recognizes the impact these quality-of-life issues have on our community and are committed to collaborative efforts to solve them," BPD said. "Operations like this are made possible by the Bakersfield Public Safety and Vital Services (PSVS) Measure, also known as Measure N."
The operation was done with BPD's Impact Team; Unmanned Aircraft Systems Team and Mounted Unit in collaboration with the Bakersfield Fire Department Arson Division; Bakersfield Park Rangers; Bakersfield Code Enforcement, Bakersfield Animal Control and the Rapid Response Team.
In addition to the arrests and citations, BPD said 22 people were offered services, with 12 declining assistance; seven people were provided guidance on how to access available assistance after being released from custody; and three people were placed into the Brundage Lane Navigation Center.
Encampments can be reported to the city of Bakersfield through its free Bakersfield Mobile App — available on both Apple and Android devices — or via the online Service Request portal.

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CBS News

2 days ago

• CBS News

AG identifies officers involved in fatal shooting of well-known Baltimore arabber

The Independent Investigations Division (IID) of the Maryland State Attorney General's Office (AG) has released the names of the officers and the man involved in Tuesday night's fatal shooting in Baltimore City's Upton neighborhood. Officials confirmed that Bilal "BJ" Yusuf-Muhammad Abdullah Jr., 36, was the man shot and killed by Baltimore City police on Tuesday, June 17, just before 7:30 pm. The State Attorney General's Office said the Baltimore City Department (BPD) officers involved in the shooting have been identified as: Detective Devin Yancy, an 8-year veteran of the department; Detective Omar Rodriguez, a 6-year veteran of the department, both assigned to the Group Violence Unit; and Officer Ashely Negron, a 7-year veteran of the department. Abdullah allegedly shot a veteran police officer in the foot, according to a preliminary report from the AG's Office. Both the officer and Abdullah were taken to the shock trauma. However, Abdullah, who was shot in the exchange of gunfire with police, was pronounced dead at the hospital. The officer shot, underwent surgery, and is now recovering, according to authorities. Attorney General's preliminary report The preliminary investigation from the investigation division of the state Attorney General's office revealed that a BPD officer in an unmarked cruiser was in the area of Pennsylvania Avenue and Laurens Street when the officer saw Abdullah allegedly wearing a crossbody bag on his back. The officer believed Abdullah had a firearm and attempted to speak with him. One officer then allegedly exited the unmarked cruiser and approached Abdullah on foot. Abdullah began walking away, and the officer followed, according to the AG's report. As the officer followed, the man allegedly shifted the bag from back to front and ran away. A second officer exited the cruiser to help the first officer, according to the AG's preliminary report. A third officer, who was posted at the intersection in a separate marked cruiser, also got out of her vehicle. Police said that the first officer grabbed Abdullah, and a gunshot was fired, which prompted the officers to take cover. "A man ran from officers, and a brief truffle ensued," Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said Tuesday night after the shooting. "At some point, the male broke away, multiple officers returned fire, striking the man." A firearm was recovered and secured by an officer, according to police. Tuesday night, Worley also said that a crowd at the scene interfered with officers as they attempted to provide immediate aid to the man. Fraternal Order of Police response The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #3 (FOP #3) issued a press release on the social media site 'X' on Thursday in response to the officer-involved shooting. The release from the lodge states that after being approached by police, the suspect chose to escalate the situation. "The citizens of Baltimore need to decide whether they want law and order or chaos," wrote FOP #3 president Mark Mancuso. West Baltimore community reaction On Thursday night, the West Baltimore community held a vigil in honor of Abdullah. Many neighbors and family members were tight-lipped but were visibly upset about his death. "They are trying to make it seem like he is just this bad guy—no, he isn't, you see how many people are out here who love him," said a relative who goes by the name of 'Peezzy'. On Friday afternoon, two separate memorials continued to grow in Abdullah's honor— both at the scene of the shooting and in the neighborhood where the vigil was held. A memorial was dedicated to Bilal "BJ" Abdullah Jr, a well-known arabber shot and killed by Baltimore police, on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Janay Reece Abdullah was a popular arabber, who sold produce on a horse-drawn cart in the city, according to community members. "When we all stopped arabbing, BJ kept going. He kept it going," said Marqueatia "Weedy" Watters, a close friend of BJ. "He kept the name going. Like, he kept it going." Tony, known as "the Melon Man" or the "Fruit Man", said he worked as an arabber with Abdullah's family. "All my life, I worked for his father, BJ's father is Bilal Sr., a brother, and an uncle. So, you know he had plenty of horses," Tony said. "I can tell you, he will be missed." What is an arabber? Arabbing has a long history in Baltimore as a source of fresh produce in food deserts across the city. An arabber is a street vendor who sells fruits and vegetables from a horse-drawn cart. They used to be common in cities along the U.S. East Coast. However, arabbers are working to stay active on the streets of Baltimore. Holden Warren is the co-founder of Stable Baltimore alongside Levar Mullen, an organization that Warren and Mullen dedicated to healing and horse culture. Warren explained to WJZ that they were working with Abdullah to bring arabber's back in a new and sustainable way. "We've been training a new round of arabbers and we talked about bringing BJ back this summer. As we began to roll out new parts of our program," Warren said. "We're going to include an app and let them take EBT and things like that to help, sort of create more income streams for the arrabbers." Body-camera footage to be released Baltimore City NAACP responded to the officer-involved shooting on Facebook, confirming the Baltimore Police Department "... has reached out to the Baltimore City NAACP to arrange a private viewing of the body-worn camera footage once it has been prepared. We intend to review this footage with the seriousness and urgency this moment demands." The West Baltimore community also held a peaceful march and rally at 6:00 p.m. Friday near Pennsylvania and W. North Avenues. At the same time, the Baltimore City Police Accountability Board held an emergency meeting from 6:00p-8:00p.

Yahoo

2 days ago

• Yahoo

Sixteen billion passwords may have been stolen. Here's how to protect yourself

TORONTO — A Lithuanian cybersecurity news outlet says it uncovered a leak of 16 billion passwords that may grant access to Apple, Google, Facebook accounts and more. Cybernews warns the data is "a blueprint for mass exploitation" because it could give cybercriminals unprecedented access to information that can be used for account takeovers, identity theft and highly targeted attacks. Here's what we know about the leak so far and how people can protect themselves from its repercussions. What do we know about the leak? Cybersecurity experts are strongly speculating that the data was leaked through infostealers, said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at security software firm Check Point. Infostealers are pieces of malware users are duped into clicking on, which then install something on their computer, "which just kind of sits and listens to the computer while you're typing things from the keyboard." The malware can detect when you're logging into an account and can copy whatever you've input to send it to a database of credentials hackers compile. "As a result of that, we end up with these giant repositories on the dark net filled with lists and lists and lists of usernames and passwords and credentials that have been stolen from users all around the world and that are being bought and sold as commodities," Falzon said. Is all this leaked data new? That's up for debate. Cybernews says "the data is recent, not merely recycled from old breaches," but others disagree. "It's really hard to track the providence of all of it," Falzon said, because some hackers package data together from several leaks to resell. The only way to figure out how new it is would be to obtain other leaks and cross compare the data. Why is it worrisome? 'If hackers manage to get their hands on your password for Google, Apple, or Facebook, stealing your money and identity may be easier than taking candy from a three-year-old," Ignas Valancius, head of engineering at cybersecurity company NordPass, said in a press release. That's because hackers use the logins they obtain for credential stuffing — a practice where criminals get access to accounts by inputting stolen login information into websites. If you reuse your passwords across several websites or services, it may mean a hacker can get into your bank account and steal money, your favourite retailer accounts and drain you of your loyalty points or even find your address and birthday and use it for identity theft, Falzon said. How can I find out if my data was in the breach? Figuring out if you've been a victim of the breach would take obtaining the data and searching through it for your credentials. Because only an "extreme minority" of people have never been breached in general, Falzon said you're always best off assuming your info is part of the leak. What can Canadians do to protect themselves? Cybersecurity experts are unanimous in advising people to change their passwords regularly, especially after leaks to avoid becoming the victim of credential stuffing. But long before a breach happens, they say there are several things people can do to protect themselves. The most obvious is varying your passwords and avoiding reusing them. When you recycle passwords across several websites or services or make them easy to guess, it means hackers won't have much of a struggle accessing many of your accounts. Multifactor authentication can also offer a layer of security. When someone attempts to login to an account, it forces them to enter a code sent by email or text before they can get access. The process helps users thwart hacking attempts. I have so many accounts to keep track of and changing my passwords with every breach is making it hard to remember them all. What can I do? Some cybersecurity experts are fans of password managers. These services create strong, unique passwords for each account you have. Then, the manager stores them in an encrypted account you can quickly access anytime you need to enter a password. However, other experts argue password managers can have varying levels of encryption and warn that if the one you are using is breached, all of your passwords may be vulnerable. So what else can I do? Many experts advise people to use passkeys, when possible. Passkeys are digital credentials able to unlock accounts with a mere flash of your face or fingerprint scan on your phone. They are considered to be more secure than passwords because there is no string of characters, numbers and symbols to memorize, making them harder to hack. They don't need to be changed, can't be stolen by someone guessing or peeking over your shoulder and there's no way to accidentally use one on the wrong website. Not all websites and services accept passkeys but several big players like Apple, Shopify, Microsoft, DocuSign and PayPal do. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

Forbes

3 days ago

• Forbes

FBI Warning—All Smartphone Users Must Delete These Messages

The threat is worse than the headlines suggest. A raft of news stories this week (1,2,3) report on the FBI warning 150 million Apple users to delete texts on their iPhones. Unfortunately the reality is even worse than those headlines suggest. Here's what you need to know and what you should do. Right now, your cell phone is vulnerable to an ongoing attack that will come to you by way of text messages warning of dire consequences if you don't respond right away. Text messages that include links to pay outstanding bills or fines. All of this is made up, of course, but you pay nonetheless because you're worried — that's the idea. These messages include unpaid tolls and newer DMV traffic offenses, but will soon widen the net to mimic texts from your bank or credit card company. It's against this backdrop that we have seen headlines urging America's iPhone users specifically to delete the latest raft of DMV texts as soon as they're received. The malicious texts are sent courtesy of organized Chinese criminal gangs that operate beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. They harness countless phone numbers from multiple countries and domains from multiple providers. Despite network filtering and iOS and Android spam detection, the tidal wave of texts seemingly can't be stopped. Google has confirmed new AI-powered scam detection on its phones, and we await to see if this filters the threat or can be worked around. The FBI's warning to delete all these co-called smishing texts came in an advisory last year, issued in the wake of the original unpaid toll scam that has now swept across America from state to state. Any such texts, it said, should be deleted from phones. But that applies to iPhone and Android users — to all smartphone users. There are some iPhone specifics — the OCGs prefer iMessage to SMS, albeit they like RCS as well, and the texts often include instructions to 'Please reply with 'Y'' to get around iPhone's link blocking from unknown senders. But the the attack targets all users indiscriminately. As I reported a week ago, the FBI has confirmed it is now investigating the latest plague of DMV-themed texts, which is unsurprising. The volume of those texts in particular surged almost 800% in the first week of June alone, and has not slowed down since. A single bad actor armed with numbers and domains can send as many as '60,000,000 texts a per month, or 720,000,000 per year,' if that helps explain why there's almost no one in America who hasn't yet received these texts or knows someone who has. Whether it's an iPhone or an Android phone in your pocket, don't leave these texts undeleted and never ever click on any of these links.