Police detain drivers in Reno, Nev., early Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Hundreds of cars took over northern Nevada parking lots and intersections Friday night Sept. 30, and into Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, performing stunts in souped-up vehicles and leading to crashes and arrests, police said. Police beefed up nighttime staffing after social media posts urged people from San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to come to the “sideshow” in Reno, Police Lt. Michael Browett said.

RENO, Nev. — Thousands of people in hundreds of cars took over northern Nevada parking lots and intersections Friday Sept. 30 and into Saturday, Oct. 1, performing stunts in souped-up vehicles and leading to crashes and arrests, police said.

Police beefed up nighttime staffing after social media posts urged people from San Francisco and Portland to come to the “sideshow” in Reno, Police Lt. Michael Browett said.

The disturbances started late Sept. 30 as several hundred cars and their occupants met in the parking lot of a still-open Walmart store. Police tried to break up the crowds and drivers sped off, meeting up again at several intersections and industrial parks into the morning of Oct. 1. A dozen people were arrested, 14 cars impounded and 33 people were issued citations.

Browett said Reno is just the latest city to see late-night takeovers by auto enthusiasts who ignore law enforcement efforts to stop the illegal and dangerous activity.

“I don’t know what the underlying movement is with this group, but it goes a little beyond cars,” Browett said. “They’re very anti-authoritarian, and they basically just show up and do whatever they want.”

Cities across the country have been dealing with similar issues in recent years, including Phoenix, San Francisco and Chicago. Last weekend, three people were killed and several others badly hurt in crashes related to a pop-up sideshow in Wildwood, New Jersey.

In Reno, no one was seriously injured. But Browett said those arrested faces charges including reckless driving, hit and run causing injury and weapons possession.

Guilty! Law school sends out erroneous admissions emailsBOSTON — A Massachusetts law school says it’s guilty of accidentally sending acceptance emails to thousands of former and current applicants.

The Northeastern University School of Law in a statement Wednesday, Oct. 5, blamed a “technical error” for the glitch, saying the erroneous emails went to more than 200 people who applied for admission starting next fall, as well as to nearly 4,000 former applicants, some of whom are already enrolled.

“The School of Law quickly sent a clarifying email explaining the error. Individual outreach is also taking place to applicants with concerns,” the Boston school said.

Final admissions decisions will not be made until later in the academic year.

“The School of Law deeply regrets this unintended mistake and is taking steps to ensure that it will not happen in the future,” the school said.

Lakisha Papoutsakis, a single mother from Northborough, Massachusetts, who received the acceptance email, told NBC10 Boston that she has dreamed of going to law school since she was a child.

She shared the good news with her loved ones before noticing the follow-up email.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God this is so amazing,’ and then it was like, ‘Oh no, sorry, April Fool’s Day,’” she said.

This fall’s law school class has 234 members out of 3,877 applicants, according to Northeastern’s website.

2 Russians seek asylum after reaching remote Alaskan islandJUNEAU, Alaska — Two Russians who said they fled the country to avoid compulsory military service have requested asylum in the U.S. after landing on a remote Alaskan island in the Bering Sea, Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office said Thursday, Oct. 6.

Karina Borger, a spokesperson for Murkowski, said by email that the office has been in communication with the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection and that “the Russian nationals reported that they fled one of the coastal communities on the east coast of Russia to avoid compulsory military service.”

Spokespersons with the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection each referred a reporter’s questions to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond Oct. 6.

Alaska’s senators, Republicans Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, said the individuals landed at a beach near Gambell, an isolated community of about 600 people on St. Lawrence Island. The statement doesn’t specify when the incident occurred though Sullivan said he was alerted to the matter by a “senior community leader from the Bering Strait region” on Oct. 4.

A Sullivan spokesperson, Ben Dietderich, said it was the office’s understanding that the individuals had arrived by boat.

Gambell is about 200 miles southwest of the western Alaska hub community of Nome and about 36 miles from the Chukotka Peninsula, Siberia.