West
Seattle coffee shop workers call 911 when homeless man causes disturbance; no officers arrive
A homeless man in Seattle was caught on camera causing a disturbance in an ice cream and coffee shop, and the small business’s owner says police officers were not dispatched when his workers called 911.
The incident took place around 7 p.m. April 24 in the Pike Place Market area near Seattle’s famous Gum Wall, according to Baxter & Frost owner Ian Halcott. Security camera footage shows a man wearing a beanie and hoodie with his hands in his front pockets talking to an employee before shoving things off a counter display, making a mess in the establishment.
A second clip shows the man pushing a movable display case at two workers, prompting one to pull a knife to defend himself and his coworker while the other grabbed a spatula and baking tray. The workers continued arguing with the man, before he left and a Pike Place Market security guard showed up.
“This video includes an assault on one of my employees as well as the destruction of my service counter by a deranged criminal,” Halcott told radio host Jason Rantz in an email.
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The man pushes items off a display case in the Seattle cafe April 24, 2024. (Ian Halcott provided to the Jason Rantz Show)
Neither clip includes audio of the encounter, but Halcott says the man threatened to shoot his employees.
“I have to train my, my people in a special way to work with people who are not our customers and treat them with respect,” Halcott explained to “The Jason Rantz Show.” “But to also say, they’re not our customers and that, unfortunately, they have to go. But you know the level of brazenness. … They’re just, there’s no consequences.”
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During the altercation, the suspect held up an orange traffic cone at employees of the cafe. (Ian Halcott provided to the Jason Rantz Show)
Halcott’s employees called 911, he said, but officers were not dispatched due to staffing.
“(The dispatchers) were like, ‘No, we’re not gonna be able to make it out tonight and take the statements,’ which is terrifying. My staff literally felt fear for their lives. And rightly so,” Halcott said.
Halcott said he tried to contact police after the fact, since the suspect is still on the loose. But he claims no one picked up the Seattle Police Department’s non-emergency number. Someone from Seattle PD did connect with him after he spoke with Jason Rantz, KTTH reports.
A security guard walks in after a fight between the man and cafe employees. (Ian Halcott provided to the Jason Rantz Show)
Halcott said his employees are now worried about their safety, and he had to cut hours because he is struggling to staff evenings. He has been a small business owner in Seattle for 25 years.
“Pike Place Market, this was always the protected area,” he said. “This is the heart of the tourist industry here in Seattle. And it’s frustrating to see the lack of enforcement here. Because for about 20 years, pre-COVID, I almost never had a problem at this scale.”
Seattle Police did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
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Alaska
Lt. Gov. Dahlstrom sends Alaska voters’ information to Trump administration after legal review
The Alaska Division of Elections has shared information about the state’s registered voters with the administration of President Donald Trump after a monthslong legal review, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom said Tuesday.
The decision to share Alaskans’ data comes as the Trump administration has sought to compile a nationwide voter roll, raising concern among some election observers over how the administration would use the information.
The U.S. Department of Justice first requested the voter information from the Alaska Division of Elections in July, according to documents shared by the lieutenant governor’s office. Dahlstrom — who as lieutenant governor is charged with overseeing Alaska’s elections — released the records to Trump administration officials this week, only after what her office called a “thorough” legal review of the request.
The Justice Department in July requested a copy of the state’s voter registration list, including a list of people registered to vote in Alaska who were “determined to be non-citizens.”
Voting by non-citizens is extremely rare in Alaska, the Division of Elections has said based on recent voting records.
Trump for years has falsely claimed that millions of noncitizens are voting illegally, stoking efforts by the GOP to put the threat of noncitizen voting at the center of its political strategy.
Responding to the July Trump administration request, Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher in August shared with the Justice Department the publicly available statewide voter registration list, which includes the names of voters and their party affiliation, but does not include identifying figures such as Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers.
Later in August, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon responded to the state insisting that the state provide a list of registered voters “including the registrant’s full name, date of birth, residential address, his or her state driver’s license number or the last four digits of the registrant’s social security number.”
Dhillon wrote the information was needed to assess Alaska’s compliance with voter registration maintenance provisions of the National Voter Registration Act.
Before joining the Trump administration, Dhillon was contracted by the Alaska Republican Party last year to oversee a recount of votes cast on an Alaska ballot measure seeking to repeal the state’s ranked choice voting and open primary system. The ballot measure, which was supported by the Alaska GOP, narrowly failed.
In her August letter, Dhillon demanded the state respond to her request within a week. The state’s response came four months later, on Dec. 19, after the Division of Elections signed a memorandum of understanding with the Justice Department seeking to protect the information it was sharing.
“The timeline was driven by our commitment to ensuring that any data shared complied fully with Alaska law and protected voter privacy,” said Kelly Howell, a spokesperson for Dahlstrom, in an email.
“When the DOJ made its request in August, we immediately began a thorough review in consultation with the Department of Law and had further discussions with the DOJ,” Howell wrote. “This was necessary to confirm that we had the legal authority to release the requested information and to identify any safeguards needed to protect sensitive voter data. That process takes time, and we wanted to be absolutely certain before moving forward.”
Howell said that the memorandum of understanding signed between the state and DOJ is “common practice for data transfers between government entities.”
The Trump administration has sued numerous states for refusing to share voter registration information with the Justice Department. Several Democratic attorneys general raised concerns last month over the possibility that the Justice Department was sharing voter information with the Department of Homeland Security.
Dahlstrom is one of a dozen Republicans running to be Alaska’s next governor. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is termed out from seeking reelection.
Arizona
Final photo of Arizona man killed during routine dental procedure resurfaces as family settles wrongful death suit
A haunting selfie taken by an Arizona man hours before he suffered a fatal brain injury during a routine dental implant procedure has resurfaced as his distraught parents settled his wrongful death lawsuit.
Derek Swanson, 40, took a picture of himself beaming in a dentist’s chair on March 3, 2023. He captioned the photo: “Yesterday, new car. Today, implant! Fun never stops.”
Swanson, an avid gym-goer, was eager to receive a long-awaited dental implant. He booked the procedure at Scottsdale Facial and Oral Surgery, but never woke up following complications with the administered anesthesia.
He was placed on life support after suffering a brain injury and died on March 10, 2023, according to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner.
“He was so excited. He had fixed a lot of teeth, and they were looking really nice,” his mother, Brenda Swanson, told ABC15.
Brenda told the outlet that she was with her son the day of the surgery and was left waiting in the lobby for hours.
“They called Derek back, and that I won’t forget. He turned around and he gave me a wink and said, ‘love you,’ and he walked back,” she said.
“I just kept waiting and waiting, and Derek wasn’t coming out,” she added.
Brenda and Bill Swanson filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the dentist, Dr. Derek Lamb, and the Scottsdale surgery clinic.

The lawsuit was finally settled this week for an undisclosed amount.
The Swansons’ lawsuit alleged that the Lamb and the clinic made an error during the anesthesia process, which deprived Derek of oxygen and triggered a fatal brain injury.
The grieving parents are also looking to amend Arizona law to require a dentist and an anesthetist to be present during dental surgery.
The current laws state that a dentist can perform surgery and administer anesthesia without an anesthetist present so long as they have the proper state permit.
“We would like to not have another family go through what we had to go through and are going through and will be for the rest of our life,” Swanson told the outlet.
California
San Diego man killed by falling tree in third storm-related death
A San Diego man was killed Wednesday morning after a tree fell on him, the third death linked to the storm pummeling Southern California over the holiday, the San Diego Police Department confirmed.
The man, who was 64, was in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego when he was hit by the tree around 10:55 a.m.
Local television news outlets showed the massive 75-foot tree collapsed on the sidewalk at 3805 Marlborough Ave. Family told NBC 7 San Diego that the man was named Roberto Ruiz, and that he had just stepped out of their home to move his car when part of the tree toppled and crushed him.
Ruiz’s death was the third fatality linked to the Pineapple Express storm that has brought debris flows, downpours and evacuations to the Southland.
On Sunday, a person died in rising waters as flooding overwhelmed parts of Redding, according to city officials. Police officers tried to save the person, who was inside a vehicle as the waters rose around them, but they did not make it out in time.
On Monday, a woman in her 70s was knocked off a rock and killed by a large wave during a fierce storm at a beach at MacKerricher State Park, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.
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