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Los Alamitos license threatened after 3 horse deaths in one day By City News Service
NO. 252
VOL. 13,
Trump’s immigration forces deploy ‘less lethal’ weapons in dangerous ways, skirting rules and maiming protesters By A.C. Thompson, ProPublica and FRONTLINE, and J. David McSwane, ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. This story is part of a collaboration between FRONTLINE and ProPublica that includes an upcoming documentary.
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spike.” The letter outlines the following steps, which Chaney said “should be taken as a minimum for reform, rather than a complete list.” -- Add a second regulatory veterinarian for morning soundness examinations and entry panel review watch list examinations. -- Ensure there is an attending (private) veterinarian on the grounds in the stable area each night while racing is conducted. -- Purchase and/or utilize and staff a second equine ambulance for use during racing. -- Further restrict the use of IA injections, especially those that are close in time to racing and workouts. -- Hold weekly meetings with the CHRB staff and commissioners (as permit-
s the Trump administration’s immigration dragnet intensified in June, a nurse in Portland, Oregon, left work one midafternoon and drove to a nearby detention facility to voice his opposition. Federal agents had set off smoke grenades, driving away many protesters at the front of the facility, but Vincent Hawkins lifted his megaphone anyway. “You should stop and think about what you’re doing!” The shot came seconds later, a silver projectile launched through the small facility’s closed gate, hitting him in the face. The tear gas canister shattered his glasses, ripped apart his brow, crushed against his eye and concussed him. In video footage, the projectile can be seen bouncing off his face and arcing back toward the unknown Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fired it. Hawkins, a 25-year veteran of the emergency room, was rushed to one, bleeding and wondering if he’d ever see through his left eye again. A frequent demonstrator, he knew the risks. He’d seen friends struggling to breathe through toxic chemical clouds, others pelted with pepper balls. But Hawkins was undeterred. “I have things to say,” he
See Horse deaths Page 23
See Immigration forces Page 03
| Photo by JR Salazar CC BY-NC 2.0
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os Alamitos Race Course is facing possible suspension of its license after three horses suffered fatal injuries during races Nov. 23, state horse racing officials said Tuesday. The deaths bring the number of fatalities at the Cypress track to 18 this year. Backside Ace, a 2-year-old gelding running in his third race, finished third in Nov. 23’s seventh race after being bumped at the start, but was later ambulanced off. Champions Run, also a 2-year-old gelding who had eight career races -- all at Los Alamitos -- and one firstplace finish, did not finish Nov. 23’s eighth race and was also ambulanced off. B Ratifyed, a 2-year-old filly with six career races, four in New Mexico, was injured in Nov. 23’s fifth race, in which she finished eighth out of 10 horses. The official race chart said she “lacked response.”
California Horse Racing Board spokesman Mike Marten said the precise nature of all three fatal injuries would be verified by required postmortem examinations. The CHRB sent a letter to the track’s owners Tuesday demanding “significant changes to its safety program” or the board could call an emergency meeting and suspend its license. “The CHRB (both staff and Commissioners) are profoundly concerned about the recent safety record at Los Alamitos, including the alarming catastrophic injuries that occurred this past weekend,” CHRB Executive Director Scott Chaney wrote to track President Cathy Allred, wife of owner Ed Allred, in a letter provided to City News Service. “In fact, the concern is so great that the Chairman has suggested preparing a notice for an emergency Board
meeting outlined in CHRB Rule 1435. As you know, this rule was created in the wake of the events of 2019 to give the Board both the authority and flexibility to suspend a track’s license quickly based on a safety concern. ... Dr. (Jeff) Blea and I have spoken and plan to call that emergency meeting unless Los Alamitos makes significant changes to its safety program and the injuries decrease precipitously and quickly,” the letter continued. “CHRB requires that you develop a plan that will address this issue. That plan should outline steps you will take in addition to actions the CHRB, in consultation with Equine Medical Director Blea, suggests. We have endeavored to provide a few necessities right now but may add additional measures should we learn more about this recent
said. “And if it means being wounded to do it, then here I am.” The 55-year-old said he’d be blind in one eye if not for the shielding effect of his glasses. He’s regained most of his vision but suffers from dizziness and vertigo, sometimes causing him to miss work. Since President Donald Trump’s administration launched high-intensity immigration sweeps this year, federal agents have routinely countered protestors using crowd control weapons — rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, tear gas and pepper balls. They’ve fired on American citizens and noncitizens alike in ways that some experts say might be criminal. The so-called less lethal weapons are designed to break up mobs engaged in dangerous behavior or deter would-be assailants who pose a threat. They aren’t intended to kill. But research has shown the weapons can cause devastating injuries or death. Federal guidelines generally prohibit agents from targeting the head, neck, throat or spine when firing projectiles like rubber bullets or pepper balls. ProPublica and FRONTLINE conducted dozens of interviews at protest scenes, reviewed hundreds of pages