A Los Angeles couple has vanished after leaving for a desert camping trip Saturday — and worried loved ones were scrambling Thursday to hire more search helicopters and collect leads.

“They’re an amazing couple. They’re a magical duo, always traveling and in good spirits,” friend Briana Gonzales told the Daily News as she fielded calls about possible sightings and worked to keep the search party going.

Mariya (Masha) Mitkova, 27, and Aaron Morganstein, 33, are frequent campers who were last seen leaving their home near Dodger Stadium about 3 p.m. Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

They were on their way to Joshua Tree National Park or Imperial Sand Dunes, driving a dark blue Subaru Outback with California license plate 6PRH231, cops said.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

President-elect Donald Trump has offered up the position of U.S. Attorney General to Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, according to a report. It’s unclear if the Republican lawmaker has accepted the job, CBS News reported. Additionally, Trump offered the position of CIA Director to Congressman Mike Pompeo, a Republican from Kansas who served on the House Select Benghazi Committee and has been a vocal citic of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

Sessions — a fierce Trump ally who is serving on his transition team — must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before he can take over from current Attorney General Loretta Lynch.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

BARBADOS – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) recently hosted a two-day workshop for mathematics education stakeholders from across the Region. Participants reviewed the current status of Mathematics education in the Caribbean, identified current good practices, and came up with strategies to improve students’ mastery of the subject.

In the Caribbean, pass rates in Mathematics at the primary and secondary level are an area of concern. Pass rates typically do not exceed 60% in any national or regional assessments. Against this background, in 2014, CDB supported research into instructional practices of mathematics teachers in the Eastern Caribbean. The study, conducted by the School of Education, Cave Hill Campus, University of the West Indies, aimed to identify solutions to improve teacher effectiveness and student learning in mathematics. The recently held workshop is a continuation of those efforts.

Taking into account the results of the research study, workshop participants developed a draft comprehensive Framework for Action and Results in Mathematics Education (FAME), which is meant to inform ongoing policy reforms, and support concrete interventions in Mathematics education across the region. Upon completion, the FAME will be presented to the CARICOM Council of Human and Social Development and the OECS Council of Ministers of Education for adoption and implementation by CARICOM and OECS member countries.  (CDB)…[+]

The youngest son of longtime Michigan Congressman John Conyers has gone missing in Texas, authorities say. Carl Conyers, a 21-year-old student at the University of Houston, was last seen Tuesday afternoon by his roommate, cops told WWJ. The missing student’s girlfriend told the station that she and others received a message on Twitter from Carl on Wednesday morning, but he did not surface.He asked all his friends to come meet him on campus,” Daisha Lewis told WWJ. “When we got there — I didn’t feel right about it or thought maybe he was lying or someone was making him lie to meet us there because when we got there, he wasn’t there. When we got back to the apartment, his stuff was gone. He took his ID with him and a debit card and some clothes even. Like it was a distraction to get more stuff that he left behind.”(nydailynews.com)…[+]

San Francisco’s public schools have a mouthful for President-elect Donald Trump. The city’s teachers union has offered its members a lesson plan that calls the soon-to-be commander-in-chief a racist and a sexist who rose to power by “pandering” to his equally awful base. It’s unclear how many teachers plan to teach the sharply-worded lesson, which is meant to teach students about the election and encourage them to fight for equality. It was developed by Fakhra Shah, a Mission High School teacher, who wrote it as a way to help students struggling with the outcome of the election.

“Let us please not sidestep the fact that a racist and sexist man has become the president of our country by pandering to a huge racist and sexist base,” Shah wrote in an open letter to teachers introducing the lesson plan.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

A group of diners viciously beat and stabbed two employees at a Queens Taco Bell after they were asked to not sit on the counter, police said Thursday.

Cops arrested one of the attackers, Erickson Cepeda, 25, and are searching for four more suspected in the brutal assault at a Taco Bell on Atlantic Ave. near 97th St. in Woodhaven around 9:45 p.m. Oct. 16, cops said. The group launched into the beating after two employees, aged 21 and 22, asked the five suspects to not sit on the counter of the fast food restaurant, according to authorities. The suspects then beat the 21-year-old victim in his face and body, and stabbed the 22-year-old multiple times in the torso, police said.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

An architect of anti-immigration efforts who says he is advising President-elect Donald Trump said the new administration could push ahead rapidly on construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall without seeking immediate congressional approval.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who helped write tough immigration laws in Arizona and elsewhere, said in an interview that Trump’s policy advisers had also discussed drafting a proposal for his consideration to reinstate a registry for immigrants from Muslim countries.

Kobach, who media reports say is a key member of Trump’s transition team, said he had participated in regular conference calls with about a dozen Trump immigration advisers for the past two to three months.

Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for confirmation of Kobach’s role. The president-elect has not committed to following any specific recommendations from advisory groups.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

A shakedown artist in a wheelchair who targeted would-be johns pleaded guilty Tuesday in exchange for her release. Frail-looking swindler Teresa McCoy, 58, was set to be released to an assisted living facility having already done time served at Rikers Island. She was sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation at the appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court. McCoy, who is known for her eccentric courtroom outbursts, had been refusing the deal since early September.“I’m not interested at all — I’m sorry, I’m not. I’ve been asking for a trial,” McCoy said via video hookup from Rikers Island. McCoy “poses as a prostitute” to lure men then “threatens to expose them” if they don’t pay her off, prosecutors previously said. She was busted in 2015 on several counts including grand larceny.(nydailynews.com)...[+]

Five teens robbed a Queens Rite Aid of more than $1,000 of merchandise, police said Wednesday. The thieves stormed a Rite Aid on Cross Bay Blvd. near 161st Ave. in Howard Beach around 9:30 p.m. Oct. 27, cops said. They ransacked the store of around $1,350 worth of merchandise, according to officials. Before leaving, one of the teens warned a clerk against following them, claiming he was armed with a knife. The band of thieves fled the store in a white Cadillac Escalade.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

Multiple people were stabbed inside the boys’ locker room of a Utah high school Tuesday morning, police said. A suspect was taken into custody after the attack at Mountain View High School in Orem, about five miles north of Provo, police said in a statement. It’s unclear what lead to the stabbing, and police have not identified the suspect. Several juvenile boys were found stabbed inside the locker room, Provo’s Daily Herald reported, and more people were slashed around campus.Officials have not said how many people were attacked, but no one is in condition. No fatalities have been reported. (nydailynews.com)…[+]