TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said Friday that he has asked the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants who have arrived.

Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said that the Mexican federal government has provided little assistance and he is not going to commit the city’s public resources to dealing with the situation. He said 4,976 migrants had come to the city.

“We don’t have sufficient and necessary infrastructure to adequately attend to these people, to give them a decent space,” he said on Grupo Formula radio.

On Thursday, his government issued a statement saying that it was requesting help from the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“I am not going to spend the money of Tijuana (citizens),” Gasteulum said in the statement.

For the most part, the migrant caravan that left Honduras in mid-October was well received by the towns it passed through along the way to the border. Even cities with few resources made sure the migrants had food and a place to rest.

But in those places, the caravan stayed at most two nights — with the exception of Mexico City. In Tijuana, many of the migrants who are fleeing violence and poverty want to request asylum in the United States and face the prospect of spending months in the border city before they have the opportunity to speak with a U.S. official.

Gastelum said Friday that the Mexican government has talked about sending 20 tons of resources to Tijuana to help but that three-fourths consisted of materials to reinforce the border and only 5 tons were materials to actually help the migrants.

Most of the migrants are staying at a makeshift shelter at a sports stadium in the city. They are receiving support from local churches and private citizens who have been providing food, as well as various agencies of the Baja California state government, which says it identified 7,000 job openings for those who qualify.

Gastelum also criticized the federal government for not taking more seriously U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat Thursday to shut down the entire border if things get out of control in Tijuana.
“That’s serious,” he said.

Referring to a protest by a small group of migrants who marched to a border crossing Thursday, Gastelum said such demonstrations are not going to help.

“Thousands of people from Tijuana work in the United States, they arrive late to their jobs,” he said. “From the United States the tourism isn’t coming here. The people aren’t coming to the medical sector. The situation is becoming uncomfortable.”

By CHAD DAY
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A conservative writer and associate of Trump confidant Roger Stone said Friday that he is in plea talks with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

Jerome Corsi told The Associated Press he has been negotiating a potential plea but declined to comment further. He said on a YouTube show last week that he expected to be charged with lying to federal investigators, though he said at the time that he was innocent of wrongdoing.

Mueller’s team questioned Corsi as part of an investigation into Stone’s connections with WikiLeaks. American intelligence agencies have assessed that Russia was the source of hacked material released by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election that damaged Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Mueller’s office is trying to determine whether Stone and other associates of President Donald Trump had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans.

The Washington Post first reported on Corsi’s plea negotiations.

Corsi, the former Washington bureau chief of the conspiracy theory outlet InfoWars, cooperated with the probe for about two months, turning over two computers and a cell phone and providing the FBI access to his email accounts and tweets.

But he said talks with investigators recently had “blown up.”

“I fully anticipate that in the next few days, I will be indicted by Mueller,” he said last week, as he made a pitch for donations to his legal defense fund.

Stone, who also has said he is prepared to be indicted, has denied being a conduit for WikiLeaks, which published thousands of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in the weeks before the election.

In a telephone interview with the AP earlier this month, Stone said: “I had no advanced notice of the source or content or the exact timing of the release of the WikiLeaks disclosures.”

He told AP in a separate statement Friday, “It is clear from his recent videos and his recent interviews that my friend Dr. Corsi has been under a tremendous amount of pressure and it is beginning to affect him profoundly. He has stated publicly that he is being asked over and over to say things he simply does not believe occurred.”

St. Joseph Post

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — A driver was seriously injured and another driver fled the scene in a two-vehicle crash at 9:20 p.m. Wednesday in Buchanan County, Mo.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, 60-year-old Larry K. Whittet of Shawnee was driving a Dodge pickup south on I-29 at mile marker 48.8 near St. Joseph. Another vehicle was southbound and the two vehicles collided.

Whittet’s vehicle skidded, went off the west side of the road, hit an embankment and overturned. The other vehicle skidded to a stop in the road, then left the scene, police said.

Whittet was transported to Mosaic Life Care for treatment of serious injuries.

According to the crash report, he was wearing a seatbelt.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Firefighters are preparing for their annual rescue of Santa Claus from a downtown Lawrence rooftop.

Santa is expected to “land” Friday night on the roof of Weaver’s Department Store. Firefighters then will use a ladder truck to climb up and rescue him.

Once on the ground, Santa will listen to the Christmas wishes of children and pose for pictures. Youth also can make crafts for their families.

The event coincides with the Lawrence holiday lighting ceremony.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The company that owns a duck boat that sank on a Missouri lake in the summer, killing 17 people, has settled the first of several lawsuits filed in the accident.

William Bright, 65, and his 63-year-old wife, Janice, of Higginsville, Missouri, were among those killed in the July 19 accident on Table Rock Lake. Their three adult daughters filed suit soon after.

Adam Graves, an attorney for the family, told the Kansas City Star that the settlement with Ripley Entertainment was finalized Thursday, and that his clients were satisfied with the settlement.

“One of the first things Ripley said when they came into mediation was, ‘We are a family company, and we value family,’ ” he said.

Terms were not disclosed. A Ripley spokeswoman declined immediate comment.

Three others named in the suit will remain defendants. They are Ride the Ducks International LLC, a division of Ripley; the captain of the duck boat, Kenneth Scott McKee; and the driver on land, Robert Williams, who died when the boat sank.

The amphibious boat known as Stretch Duck 07 went down amid turbulent waters as a strong storm hit the Branson area. The duck boat tours begin on land with a tour of the town known for its country music shows before a short excursion on Table Rock Lake.

A federal grand jury this month indicted McKee. He is accused of several violations of federal law overseeing boat captains, including not properly assessing incoming weather before taking the boat out on water, failing to tell passengers to use flotation devices, and other violations. The federal investigation is ongoing.

The Brights were visiting Branson for their 45th wedding anniversary. The lawsuit said the company and operators of the boat had warning that a storm was approaching when the boat entered the lake at 6:55 p.m., about 20 minutes after the National Weather Service had issued a severe storm warning for the Branson area

The lawsuit is among several filed over the accident. Nine of the victims were from one Indianapolis family. In addition to the Brights and Williams, other victims included a couple from the St. Louis area, an Illinois woman who was taking her granddaughter on a trip to Branson, and a father and son from Arkansas.

Seven others were injured.

TOPEKA (AP) — Authorities say a semidriver who rolled his rig on the Kansas Turnpike told officers he was distracted by a toothache.

The Kansas Turnpike Authority said the 49-year-old driver from Olathe wasn’t hurt. But The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that traffic was blocked for nearly two hours early Friday after the wreck in the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 in Shawnee County.

The accident report says the driver became distracted by a toothache, rested his hand on his chin and drifted off the road onto the shoulder. The driver then overcorrected, crossed the highway, saw he was going to strike the wall between the turnpike’s eastbound and westbound lanes and overcorrected again. That caused the rig to fall onto its side, blocking off all three of the highway’s westbound lanes.

TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas is offering a special Black Friday deal to outdoor enthusiasts.

As part of the national #OptOutside movement, the state will waive admission fees at its state parks for the day, although visitors will still have to pay for fishing, overnight camping and other activities.

Additionally, park visitors who take a selfie can enter to win a free night’s stay at a state park cabin.

Some Kansas parks also planned activities. Kanopolis State Park and Tuttle Creek State Park offered guided bike rides, while Prairie Dog State Park had a 2-mile “Turkey Trot.”

Outdoor gear retailer REI started the initiative in 2015, announcing it would close its stores on Black Friday to encourage people to experience nature instead of waiting in long lines at cash registers.

By JOSEPH PISANI
AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK — Amazon says a technical error on its website exposed the names and email addresses of some customers.

The online retail giant says it has fixed the issue and emailed those affected. Amazon says its website and systems were not hacked.

An Amazon spokesman did not answer additional questions, like how many people were impacted or whether any of the information was stolen.

Avivah Litan, a senior analyst at Gartner, says email addresses can be used by bad actors for what’s known as phishing: contacting people by email and trying to trick them into providing additional sensitive information, like their passwords or Social Security numbers.

The disclosure from Amazon comes as it gears up for the busy holiday shopping season. The Seattle-based company is expected to grab as much as half of all online sales by the end of this year, according to Bain & Co.

HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii-based burger chain has closed a Honolulu restaurant for cleaning after a video posted to social media appeared to show a rat being cooked on the grill.

Teddy’s Bigger Burgers has closed the Mapunapuna location and fired two employees who appeared in the Snapchat video.

“We are horrified that a former teenage employee would conduct themselves in that way and make such a video of which we are investigating its authenticity,” said Richard Stula, the president of Teddy’s Bigger Burgers.

The company initiated a “complete sanitization” and is replacing equipment and utensils at the fast-food restaurant after the video was shared with them several days ago, Stula said in the statement.

“We will then send a corporate team in to inspect and complete a thorough audit of the location before it is allowed to re-open,” Stula said.

The state Department of Health is scheduled to inspect the restaurant on Mapunapuna Street on Friday.

The company is also contacting a licensed pest control operator to examine the restaurant for rodents, said Peter Oshiro, the state’s environmental health program manager. “DOH appreciates the remedial and proactive efforts undertaken by the restaurant owner to protect public health,” Oshiro said in a statement.

The restaurant received a passing green placard following its last state inspection in June.

The company is consulting with its attorneys about potential legal action against the former employees, Stula said.

“We are horrified a former employee would create something like this trying to destroy our reputation without regard for our 20-plus years of quality and aloha,” he said.

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — A man was shot and killed by police after a fight at an Alabama mall ahead of Black Friday shopping resulted in gunfire that injured a teenager and a 12-year-old girl.

The shooting occurred late Thursday at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, a Birmingham suburb, a police statement said.

Lexi Joiner told Al.com she was shopping with her mother when the gunfire started. Joiner said she heard six or seven shots and was ordered, along with some other shoppers, into a supply closet for cover.

“It was terrifying,” Joiner said.

The police statement said two Hoover officers in the mall confronted a 21-year-old man from Hueytown with a gun and one of the officers shot and killed him. His name has not been released.

An 18-year-old man from Birmingham was taken to UAB Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. His name has not been released.

A 12-year-old girl was struck by gunfire and was taken to Children’s Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham. She was reported in stable condition.

Capt. Greg Rector said at a news conference that investigators do not know what sparked the original confrontation between the men.

The officer who shot the gunman has been placed on administrative leave while the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigates the shooting. The officer’s name has not been released. The officers were not hurt.

The mall reopened at 6 a.m. Friday, a Riverchase Galleria mall security officer said.

A shooting at a mall in Alabama left two people injured and the gunman dead Thursday night, authorities said. https://t.co/T59qvqVJwg pic.twitter.com/5qR7cCTxgQ

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) November 23, 2018

MEADE COUNTY — A 40-year-old Meade man was killed in a motorcycle accident on Thanksgiving Day.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Harley-Davidson driven by Steven L. Dougherty was northbound on Kansas 23 in Meade County when the motorcycle drifted off the road into a grassy ditch. The KHP said Dougherty jumped from the motorcycle, struck a road sign and fell into a culvert.

He was transported to Fidler Orme-Bachman Mortuary, Meade. The KHP reported he was wearing safety glasses, but no helmet.