‘The U.S.A. is breaking down’: Trump reacts to recent attack in New Orleans

President-elect Donald Trump went on a social media blast following the recent truck attack in New Orleans that killed 15 people, though he has yet to make a specific comment on the Tesla Cybertruck explosion that occurred outside of his hotel in Las Vegas.

On his Truth Social, the president-elect said the crime rate in the country is at a “level that nobody has ever seen before.”

“Our hearts are with all the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers at the New Orleans Police Department,” he wrote on Wednesday. “The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”

Later he posted “this is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS and said the “DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job,” calling them incompetent and corrupt. It wasn’t clear what event he was referring to.

—Las Vegas Review-Journal

US Postal Service faces huge threat as mail workers steal millions and are targeted by criminal rings

DALLAS — One of the biggest threats to the United State Postal Service is not the ever-growing cost of stamps, long lines at the post office or even delayed mail. The biggest threats to USPS may be the mail handlers themselves.

Auditors found that a tiny percentage of them steal. And they steal a lot, according to a stunning federal investigation of a dozen mail sorting facilities across the U.S.

In mid-December, federal prosecutors charged two postal workers with stealing more than $1 million in business checks. The two worked at postal facilities in Virginia and North Carolina.

But that’s not the whole mail bag on the matter. In a stunning finding by the USPS Office of Inspector General, I.G. Tammy L. Hull writes that “criminal organizations are targeting, recruiting and colluding with postal employees to move narcotics through the postal network and to steal checks – both personal and government-issued checks — credit cards and other valuables from the mail.”

—The Dallas Morning News

Map shows how far Colorado’s wandering wolves spread out in December

DENVER — Colorado’s eight collared wolves in the wild spread out in the northern and northwestern parts of the state in December, according to a monthly tracking map released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

At least one wolf crossed back into a watershed that includes Larimer County for the first time since October, according to the map, which shows where wolves traveled between Nov. 26 and Dec. 22. The wolves’ territory also included parts of Lake, Summit, Grand, Eagle, Jackson, Routt, Moffatt, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties.

The wolf or wolves that crossed Interstate 70 for the first time in November remained in the mountains around Leadville, south of the interstate.

The map also shows that the wolf or wolves that had been living in Garfield County near Rifle and Glenwood Springs last month moved out of that area. The new map comes as Colorado wildlife officials prepare to release up to 15 more wolves as part of the state’s reintroduction program.

—The Denver Post

Trudeau leaves Canada in suspense as anxious Liberals urge him to go

The holiday period is over and Canadian politics is gripped by a single question: When will the country hear from Justin Trudeau?

The prime minister has largely disappeared from public view since Dec. 16, when Chrystia Freeland — his finance minister and once his most powerful ally in cabinet — resigned in devastating fashion, with a public letter that criticized him.

Trudeau spent much of the holidays at a ski resort in western Canada and is not planning any official events or appearances by the end of the week, according to a person familiar with his schedule. He has given no public indication yet of when he’ll announce a decision about his future.

But lawmakers in his Liberal Party keep turning up the pressure on him to quit as the party’s polling numbers slide further. A new survey by Nanos Research, taken in late December, has the Conservative Party extending its lead going into an election year.

—Bloomberg News