Categories
Small Business Lifestyle

Latina empowers New Mexicans through Pilates in Albuquerque [Video]

KOAT is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, honoring the many contributions of New Mexicos Hispanic and Latino communities.Lourdes Avitia is on a mission to empower everyone who steps foot in her northeast Albuquerque Pilates studio. Avitia is originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, but moved to New Mexico three decades ago. Being Mexican is beautiful, Avitia said.Your neighborhood: Local news from KOAT Action 7 NewsAvitia is the owner and instructor of Empower Pilates Studio, but she started her Pilates journey years ago. I discovered Pilates 20 years ago, going through depression, Avitia shared. Pilates is a mental workout. It helps with the mind-body connection that you can’t find in other modalities. It really helped me to release all the depression.Avitia now guides people of all ages and health levels on their own Pilates journeys. She credits her desire to help others to her own experience as a Mexican immigrant. I got so much from this country, and its something that I have to give in return, Avitia said. I feel really proud that I’m putting my work there for the people to take advantage.Empower Pilates Studio offers classes seven days a week. The studio is located at 6501 Wyoming Blvd. NE (Building C) in Albuquerque.Action 7 News On The Go: Download our app for free

Categories
Small Business Lifestyle

DNA from hair links man to 1995 disappearance of Morgan Nick [Video]

New DNA testing linked a man named Billy Jack Lincks to the 1995 disappearance of Morgan Nick, the Alma Police Department announced Tuesday morning.Morgan Nick was six years old when she disappeared while playing near a Little League game in June 1995. Her case is the subject of a Hulu documentary series that focuses on the investigation.Years ago, lab technicians found blonde hair inside a pickup truck that had belonged to Billy Jack Lincks and resembled a truck seen near the scene of her disappearance. Technology did not allow the hair to be tested until recently.A lab in Texas tested the hair and compared it to DNA submitted by Colleen Nick, Morgan’s mother. They found that the hair belonged to either Colleen, one of her siblings, or one of her children.”We’ve reached a point where we can concentrate on one suspect,” Alma Police Chief Jeff Pointer said. Pointer asked people who may have information about Lincks or anything else surrounding the case to call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678). “We are hoping someone has the missing puzzle we need,” he said.The Red Pickup TruckLaw enforcement has periodically released and re-released a photo of a red pickup truck with a camper. It was parked near the Alma ballfield at about the same time Morgan disappeared.Alma police chief Jeff Pointer told 40/29 News that after Nick went missing, officers received reports of suspicious activity involving the driver of that truck and children in an Alma neighborhood.”Children and when I say children it could be teenagers, it could be younger children who were approached by a man in a red truck with a white camper. We believe someone knows who was at the ballpark that night and who was driving a red truck with a white camper,” Pointer said.Police have also circulated a description of a person of interest in the case. He is described as a man who was between the ages of 23 and 38 at the time of Morgan’s disappearance. He was about 6 feet tall with a medium to solid build. He may have had a mustache and a beard.Lincks’ Pickup TruckInvestigators from multiple law enforcement agencies searched a red 1986 Chevrolet Scottsdale pickup truck and collected evidence from inside it. According to crime lab reports, blood was identified on part of a seat inside the truck. Investigators also recovered hair samples from various items that were found.At the time, lab technicians found the blood and the blonde hair did not have enough DNA information for a conclusive match. That hair was tested with new technology in 2024 and found to be either Morgan Nick’s or a close relative’s.That led police to name Lincks as the sole suspect in her disappearance.A new documentary revealed that law enforcement also found blue-green cotton fiber in the mat under the seats and in metal pieces of the truck.FBI technicians were able to match the fiber on a microscopic level to a Girl Scout shirt of the type Morgan wore when she disappeared.Court records from the Van Buren incident reveal that a neighbor who lived next to Lincks in 1995 told investigators back then that he thought there was a camper shell on Lincks’ truck “a few months ago.” Investigating Billy Jack LincksIn Nov. 2021, FBI agents publicly named a man named Billy Jack Lincks as a person of interest in the case and asked for the public’s help gathering information about him.Lincks was convicted of sexual indecency after attempting to abduct a child two months after Morgan Nick’s disappearance.According to initial police reports obtained by 40/29 News, on August 29, 1995, an 11-year-old girl told police she was walking with her younger brothers near the Sonic restaurant in downtown Van Buren when a man pulled up to them in a red pickup truck.Van Buren is about 10 minutes down the interstate from Alma, where Morgan Nick was taken.The girl told officers the man offered her money, made sexual comments to her and offered to pay her to get inside his truck and go with him to his house. The girl ran away and police were notified.A witness reported an Arkansas license tag to police that was traced to Lincks and an arrest warrant was issued the next day. Who Was Billy Jack Lincks?Agents are trying to learn as much as they can about the life of Billy Jack Lincks.Lincks was born and raised in Crawford County, Arkansas. He served in the Army during World War II and then worked at Braniff Airlines in Dallas from 1962 to 1974.Lincks returned to Van Buren sometime in the late 1970s. He died in prison in 2000.”Whether it was through school, work, church, or any social activity, we need information about Lincks and details about his entire life,” the release states.”Remember, every piece of information about Lincks’ life is important – no detail is too small or insignificant,” it says. Morgan Nick FoundationColleen Nick started the Morgan Nick Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to educate children and teenagers about personal and online safety and to try and prevent child abductions.The foundation assists the attorney general, local law enforcement agencies and families in missing person cases involving children and adults.

Categories
Small Business Lifestyle

Larry Fink’s Forecast: Why BlackRock’s Chief is Bullish on Growth [Video]

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink expresses optimism about long-term economic growth and capital market expansion, downplaying election impacts and emphasizing infrastructure investment opportunities, while cautioning against overly optimistic interest rate cut expectations.

Categories
Small Business Funding

‘Reinvest Baltimore’ launched to address vacant properties [Video]

State and city leadership converged Tuesday for a new plan that will address vacant properties in Baltimore a larger scale.Baltimore has more than 13,000 vacant structures and more than 20,000 vacant lots.Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed an executive order called “Reinvest Baltimore” that essentially creates a blueprint to address blight block by block.A $50 million funding commitment will get the initiative going. The first goal is to take care of 5,000 vacant properties in the next five years.”This is what today means. It is those who’ve been laboring for so long, you now have historic public investment aligning with your work,” said Rev. George Hopkins, co-chair of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD).The governor’s signature officially established the new program aimed toward revitalizing city neighborhoods and maximizing economic potential. Community, corporate, philanthropic and government leaders will come together under a new council’s leadership to coordinate investments to get homes either occupied or demolished to make space for other projects.”If you’re going to have a growing city and a growing state, you must address the issue of housing and addressing the issue of housing must start here because we have a chance to actually build a society where people have an opportunity to own more than they owe,” Moore said.The new strategy is expected to take place over the next 15 years.Video below: Governor’s news conference