NATIONAL
OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The FBI saw enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain's tip to once again break out the digging equipment in search of the elusive remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, last seen alive when he left for lunch with two mobsters 38 years ago.
Federal agents brought excavation equipment Monday to a field in suburban Detroit where Tony Zerilli said Hoffa's remains were buried.
Zerilli, 85, told Detroit television station WDIV in February that he knew the location of the remains.
On Monday, Detroit FBI chief Robert Foley said investigators obtained a warrant to search a field in Oakland Township, about 25 miles north of Detroit.
FBI agents halted the search for the day about 7 p.m. Monday and planned to resume digging Tuesday morning.
Foley did not mention Zerilli's claims in his brief comments, but Zerilli's lawyer, David Chasnick, said his client was “thrilled” that investigators were acting on the information.
“This has finally come to an end. It has been an arduous project to get to this point,” Chasnick said. “Hoffa's body is somewhere in that field, no doubt about it.”
NEW YORK — Mel Wymore is a typical city council candidate in many ways, campaigning as a community board appointee, ex-PTA chair and founder of a roster of local organizations. But Wymore's community-leader resume has an unusual feature: He built much of it while he was a woman.If he wins, Wymore would be the first openly transgender officeholder in the nation's biggest city and one of only a handful ever in the U.S., though his campaign isn't emphasizing his personal story — or sidestepping it.“I want to create the inclusive community, and it goes beyond my personal identity,” said Wymore, 51. “But it actually lends a lot to my story and my credibility as a candidate. I'm honest, I'm brave, I'm forthright, and I'm willing to stand up for change.”Wymore, a Democrat, faces several opponents who also have long records of community involvement on Manhattan's upscale, liberal Upper West Side.Nationwide, at least five transgender people have won city, school board and judicial elections, including current Mayor Stu Rasmussen of Silverton, Ore. Perhaps dozens of others have run across the country; it's unclear whether any such candidate has run in New York City.A systems engineer, or specialist in structuring and managing complex projects, Wymore fielded questions at a recent candidate forum with a courteous purposefulness, a handful of index cards for note-taking and a message of valuing “inclusion and care for the Earth and care for each other.”During 17 years on a city-appointed community board, two as chairman, Wymore raised money to renovate a run-down city recreation center that reopened Monday after facing a shaky future for years, among other projects. Colleagues say he's eagerly consultative but focused on finding resolution.Wymore's personal life also has been shaped by a search for resolution. It took major turns in identity — twice — as Wymore raised two children and took on community roles, starting with co-founding a meal program 20 years ago.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A form of cancer killed the serial killer known as the Night Stalker who terrorized Southern California in the mid-1980s, coroner's officials said Monday.Richard Ramirez died June 7 at age 53 at a hospital where he had been taken for treatment of liver failure.He died of complications from B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, according to the Marin County coroner's office. It listed other “significant conditions” including chronic substance abuse and hepatitis C, which is often spread by the use of intravenous drugs.The drug abuse predated Ramirez's time in prison, said Lt. Keith Boyd, assistant chief deputy coroner.“That's chronic drug use prior to incarceration,” he said. “There's nothing to support any kind of drug use while incarcerated.”The drug use was the likely cause of the hepatitis C infection that probably lingered in Ramirez's system for a quarter-century before eventually destroying his liver, Boyd said.Ramirez's medical records remain confidential even after his death, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal official who controls medical care in California prisons.
