Thumbprint on cigarette carton leads to arrest in 1977 death of young woman
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Nearly half a century after a young California woman was strangled to death, officials say a thumbprint on a carton of cigarettes has led to an arrest.
Willie Eugene Sims was arrested in Jefferson, Ohio, in connection with the death of Jeanette Ralston, according to a Friday statement from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Sims, 69, has been charged with murder and was arraigned on Friday in Ashtabula County Court before being sent to California.
Ralston was found dead in the back seat of her Volkswagen Beetle on Feb. 1, 1977, in San Jose, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Her body was found in the carport area of an apartment complex near the bar where friends say she was last seen.
She had been strangled with a long-sleeve dress shirt, and evidence appeared to show she was sexually assaulted, according to prosecutors. Her car showed signs of having been unsuccessfully set on fire.
Her friends said at the time that they saw her leave the bar with an unknown man the evening before, saying she would be back in 10 minutes, but she never returned. Police interviewed the friends and other witnesses and created a suspect sketch. But the investigation went cold.
A thumbprint found on Ralston’s cigarette carton in her car was found to match Sims last fall after law enforcement had asked to run the print through the FBI’s updated system, prosecutors said.
Earlier this year, officials from the District Attorney’s office and San Jose police went to Ohio to collect DNA from Sims. Prosecutors say it matched the DNA found on Ralston’s fingernails and the shirt used to strangle her.
“Every day, forensic science grows better, and every day criminals are closer to being caught,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Cases may grow old and be forgotten by the public. We don’t forget and we don’t give up.”
William Weigel, homicide team supervisor for the Santa Clara county public defender’s office, confirmed Monday that Lara Wallman had been assigned the case. He said their office can’t comment on the evidence yet because they haven’t seen it but cautioned the public from jumping to conclusions.
“It is kind of important that we let the system play itself out and allow our side to conduct our own independent review and investigation of the case before we rush to judgment as it were,” he said.
Back in 1977, Sims was an army private assigned to a facility about 68 miles (109 kilometers) south of San Jose, prosecutors said.
The year after Ralston’s death, a jury in a separate case convicted Sims of an assault to commit murder in Monterey County and sentenced him to four years in prison, court records show.
Ralston’s son, Allen Ralston, was 6 when she died. He told WOIO-TV that he is grateful and relieved an arrest was finally made.
“I’m just glad that somebody cared,” he said about the case.
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New FEMA head says he will ‘run right over’ staff who resist changes
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Headquarters is seen in Washington, DC, February 11, 2025.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
David Richardson, the new head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told staff on Friday he will “run right over” anyone that resists changes and that all delegation of authority in the agency is immediately suspended.
Richardson spoke one day after he was appointed to replace acting FEMA chief Cameron Hamilton, who was ousted by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after telling a congressional hearing he did not support eliminating the agency.
President Donald Trump and Noem have called for the agency to be shrunk or even abolished, arguing that many of its functions can be carried out by the states, a stance that is already leading to decreased federal aid for disasters.
Richardson, a former Marine artillery officer and combat veteran, told staff in an all-hands call that was heavy on references to his military experience, that all decisions, including those on spending, would go through him.
“I, and I alone in FEMA, speak for FEMA. I’m here to carry out the president’s intent for FEMA,” Richardson, who was most recently assistant secretary for DHS’ office for countering weapons of mass destruction, told the staff.
Standing behind a lectern and speaking in a forceful tone, Richardson said in his experience carrying out reforms that roughly 20% of an organization will resist.
“Obfuscation, delay, undermining. If you’re one of those 20% of people and you think those tactics and techniques are going to help you, they will not, because I will run right over you,” Richardson said. “Don’t get in my way … I know all the tricks.”
The leadership change comes at a time when the agency, which is in charge of coordinating the federal government’s response to disasters, is helping states and local communities prepare for the onset of hurricane season on June 1.
Under Hamilton, FEMA had already moved to slash costs and narrow the agency’s mission. In April, Hamilton sent the White House a memo with suggestions for reducing FEMA’s role in responding to disasters. It included an option raising the threshold for providing aid to disaster-hit states.
In his first 100 days, Trump has turned down a series of requests for major disaster aid that the impacted states, both Republican- and Democratic-leaning alike, have said would have been approved under past administrations.
Richardson said he would be looking to narrow the agency’s operations to only actions that “are within the law” and “within our mission.” He said using resources beyond those parameters was a waste of taxpayer dollars.
“We’re going to find out how to do things better. We’re going to find out how to push things down to the states that should be done at state level. Also we’re going to find out how we can do more cost sharing with the states,” he said.
Richardson addressed a workforce that has been dwindling in size, targeted for cuts like other agencies by Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Some 2,000 FEMA employees have accepted incentives to leave or were terminated since the start of the Trump administration, shrinking its full-time staff by about one third, according to Michael Coen, former FEMA chief of staff under the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Coen predicted Richardson’s address would further demoralize the staff.
“I think it’s going to lead to more departures from the agency, which is just going to further decrease FEMA’s capability for whenever the next catastrophic event happens.”
Coming Soon: Gautam Gambhir’s Test reboot after Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma era ends | Cricket News
Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
With Kohli & Rohit having retired, head coach Gambhir is now the most powerful figure in India’s setup. It’s time to back young talent & execute his plans. The only constant will be change…India’s Test team has been staring at generational change for a while now. The murmurs of transition started with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane losing their places three years ago. When Gautam Gambhir was appointed head coach last year, it was perceived as a forward-thinking move meant to shake things up and usher in fresh blood. In that context, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s retirements may be perceived as part of the process the selection committee and management envisioned for the team.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!There seems to be only way ahead — invest heavily in talented youth who can form the core of the Test team in time. The returns are not to be judged immediately.Who’s that IPL player?This isn’t an unfamiliar scenario in Indian cricket. When Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013 within a year of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman calling it quits, the concerns were not too dissimilar. India went through the throes of transition for a good three years before becoming a force in Test cricket under Kohli’s leadership.Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim, a national selector at that time, says, “We had MS Dhoni leading the team. He was clear how he wanted to shape the team and who were his best bets. There was clarity that we had to be ready to move on from Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. Dhoni was the most important person.
“Kohli, Pujara and Rahane were all in and around the Test team. It helped that all three of them succeeded in South Africa in 2013 immediately after Tendulkar retired. The team wasn’t winning but we were heading in the right direction. It was apparent that once Kohli took up the No. 4 position, he would form the core of the batting lineup,” Karim told TOI.
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This time around, there’s no obvious leader in the team. Coach Gambhir came in with the mandate to usher in changes at the earliest. Now it’s time to execute those plans. “Gambhir becomes the most important person here. He has to give confidence to the players. The first thing he needs to do is understand the new captain, the vision he has and the brand of cricket he wants the team to play,” Karim said.Gambhir can now become the most powerful head coach India have ever had. In 2017, Anil Kumble tried to enforce himself but then-captain Kohli had the last word. Yet, Gambhir has to tread carefully here. “Gambhir has clear ideas about how he wants his team to approach a game. But he needs to be the man who empowers players and creates leaders in the team. I’m sure he’ll back someone like Rishabh Pant, who hit a rough patch in Australia, and give him more confidence on the upcoming, tough tour of England,” former national selector Devang Gandhi said.
Replenishing bowling resourcesIt’s not just about filling the void left by Rohit and Kohli. Not too long ago, India boasted of an enviable bowling attack that could hurt opposition teams irrespective of the nature of pitches and conditions. The famed pace attack of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav were handed the mantle starting from 2012-13.“Those bowlers, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar, were identified for the longer run. They initially struggled to bowl out opposition batters even overseas. But the idea was to zero in on a pool of bowlers and keep working with them. Credit must go to Kohli for turning things around when he decided to play five bowlers in Tests. That regulated the workload of the pacers and became a metric going forward. Similarly, if you have identified the likes of Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep and Arshdeep, then stick with the pool,” Karim said.
Gandhi revisited the process of creating a strong backup in 2020 with the help of Rahul Dravid, who looked after the NCA and India’s developmental sides. “The primary job of our selection committee was to create bench strength. I went to eight ‘A’ tours as a selector and had robust discussions with Dravid. Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini were ready to step up. India has to focus on red-ball ‘A’ tours. The white-ball team will take care of itself because we have such a strong tournament like the IPL,” Gandhi said.In all the hype around the pace attack, one may have ignored the lack of resources in the spin-bowling department. “We chose R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to lead the spin attack and it paid off. Probably, they need to give Kuldeep Yadav more game time and groom the likes of Sai Kishore and Washington Sundar,” Karim said.It’s going to be a tough road ahead for India’s Test team. Persistence and patience seem to be the need of the hour.
Get IPL 2025 match schedules, squads, points table, and live scores for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.
Shares of AI leaders and chipmakers moved higher on Wednesday morning as easing trade tensions and new chip deals with Saudi Arabia lifted hopes for the tech sector. Here’s a look at some of the top tickers trending in premarket trading: Super Micro Computer (SMCI) stock soared more than 17% on Wednesday, adding on to Tuesday’s 16% gain, after Raymond James initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and $41 price target on shares. Raymond James said the company has “emerged as a market leader in AI-optimized infrastructure,” even as the stock has been highly volatile so far this year. Nvidia (NVDA) shares extended their rally on the back of thawing trade tensions and a new chip deal with Saudi Arabia. The chipmaker’s stock added 3% premarket and is set to put Nvidia’s market capitalization more firmly over the $3 trillion mark. Tesla (TSLA) stock rose nearly 3%, adding to the week’s gains. The Financial Times reports that Tesla’s board has formed a special committee to explore an alternative pay package for CEO Elon Musk as the company and Musk remain locked in a legal battle in Delaware over Musk’s compensation. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock jumped 4% after President Trump touted new Saudi investment deals with US chipmakers and chip designers. AMD reportedly struck a $10 billion deal with Humain, an AI startup backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Sony (SONY) reported a weaker-than-expected financial outlook for the year and cautioned that it expects a $700 million headwind from tariffs. The PlayStation maker also beat on earnings estimates, announced a share buyback plan, and shared more details about the partial spin-off of its financial unit. US-listed shares of Sony were up over 5%.
Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq muted after S&P 500 recovers all 2025 losses
Analysis finds risk of death or complications from broken heart syndrome remained high from 2016 to 2020
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome, is associated with a high rate of death and complications, and those rates were unchanged between 2016 and 2020, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a stress-related heart condition in which part of the heart temporarily enlarges and doesn’t pump well. It is thought to be a reaction to a surge of stress hormones that can be caused by an emotionally or physically stressful event, such as the death of a loved one or a divorce. It can lead to severe, short-term failure of the heart muscle and can be fatal. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy may be misdiagnosed as a heart attack because the symptoms and test results are similar.
This study is one of the largest to assess in-hospital death rates and complications of the condition, as well as differences by sex, age and race over five years.
“We were surprised to find that the death rate from Takotsubo cardiomyopathy was relatively high without significant changes over the five-year study, and the rate of in-hospital complications was also elevated,” said study author M. Reza Movahed, M.D., Ph.D., an interventional cardiologist and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Arizona’s Sarver Heart Center in Tucson, Arizona. “The continued high death rate is alarming, suggesting that more research be done for better treatment and finding new therapeutic approaches to this condition.”
Researchers reviewed health records in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database to identify people diagnosed with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy from 2016 to 2020.
The analysis found:
- The death rate was considered high at 6.5%, with no improvement over the period.
- Deaths were more than double in men at 11.2% compared to the rate of 5.5% among women.
- Major complications included congestive heart failure (35.9%), atrial fibrillation (20.7%), cardiogenic shock (6.6%), stroke (5.3%) and cardiac arrest (3.4%).
- People older than age 61 had the highest incidence rates of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. However, there was a 2.6 to 3.25 times higher incidence of this condition among adults aged 46-60 compared to those aged 31-45 during the study period.
- White adults had the highest rate of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (0.16%), followed by Native American adults (0.13%) and Black adults (0.07%).
- In addition, socioeconomic factors, including median household income, hospital size and health insurance status, varied significantly.
“Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a serious condition with a substantial risk of death and severe complications,” Movahed said. “The health care team needs to carefully review coronary angiograms that show no significant coronary disease with the classic appearance of left ventricular motion, suggesting any subtypes of stress-induced cardiomyopathy. These patients should be monitored for serious complications and treated promptly.
“Some complications, such as embolic stroke, may be preventable with an early initiation of anti-clotting medications in patients with a substantially weakened heart muscle or with an irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation that increases the risk of stroke.”
He also noted that age-related findings could serve as a useful diagnostic tool in discriminating between heart attack/chest pain and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, which may prompt earlier diagnosis of the condition and could also remove assumptions that Takotsubo cardiomyopathy only occurs in the elderly.
Among the study’s limitations is that it relied on data from hospital codes, which could have errors or overcount patients hospitalized more than once or transferred to another hospital. In addition, there was no information on outpatient data, different types of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or other conditions that may have contributed to patients’ deaths.
Movahed said further research is needed into the management of patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and the reason behind differences in death rates between men and women.
Study details, background and design:
- The analysis included 199,890 U.S. adults from across the nation (average age 67; 83% of cases were among women). White adults comprised 80% of the Takotsubo cardiomyopathy patients, while 8% were Black adults, 6% were Hispanic adults, 2% were Asian/Pacific Islander adults, 0.64% were Native American adults and 2.2% were reported as Other.
- The Nationwide Inpatient Sample database is the largest publicly available source detailing publicly and privately paid hospital care in the U.S. It produces estimates of inpatient utilization, access, cost, quality and outcomes for about 35 million hospitalizations nationally annually.
More information:
High Mortality and Complications in Patients Admitted With Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy With More Than Double Mortality in Men Without Improvement in Outcome Over the Years, Journal of the American Heart Association (2025). DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.124.037219
American Heart Association
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Analysis finds risk of death or complications from broken heart syndrome remained high from 2016 to 2020 (2025, May 14)
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AMD Kicks Off Early Development of Zen 6 CPUs, Pushes First Patch On Linux To Pave The Way For Further Enablement
AMD has started to prep for its next-gen “Zen 6” CPUs, as the firm has pushed the very first patch on Linux based on the architecture.
AMD Starts Preparing For Zen 6 Products At Linux, Indicating That We Will See More Information About Next-Gen CPUs Soon
Team Red has been pretty active on Linux regarding releasing enablement for its CPUs on the platform, way earlier than other operating systems. The tradition seems to continue with Zen 6 as well, and as spotted by Phoronix, the firm has queued the first Zen 6 patch for the Linux kernel, suggesting that AMD has now shifted its focus towards the next-gen architecture. While the patch hasn’t revealed anything interesting yet, it is seen as a baseline for all the future work on Zen 6 CPUs, which will provide us with more information about the architecture.
The patch has brought in the “X86_FEATURE_ZEN6” flag feature, which marks or identifies the presence of Zen 6 CPU cores in the system. Interestingly, other future patches in the kernel can then use this flag to mark Zen 6 functionalities in the system, informing the OS that there’s “Zen 6 inside”. According to Phoronix, the patch confirms that Zen 6 CPUs will debut under the Family 1Ah code, like the Zen 5 CPUs, with model IDs being the only difference. Maybe that indicates Zen 5 and Zen 6 will have similar features/performance?
The Zen 6 patch is queued up as “urgent”, so it is likely to be included in the current Linux 6.15 cycle soon. As for what to expect with Zen 6 CPUs, we know that AMD plans to introduce “Medusa Ridge” desktop CPUs on the architecture, which will come in 12, 24, and 32 core parts. Similarly, on the server side, Team Red plans to introduce EPYC “Venice” CPUs featuring Zen 6c and Zen 6 cores, so there’s a lot more ahead to see from the architecture.
The appearance of Linux patches for Zen architectures usually points to enablement having already been initiated, which means that we’ll likely get to see more information on Zen 6-based products soon.
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