5G is coming to Houston. Here’s why that’s a big deal

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Verizon recently announced it will bring a broadband-like version of its 5G wireless technology to the city sometime this year. The technology, heralded as the next generation of internet speeds, will make the process of loading websites, downloading songs and streaming movies at least 10 times faster than 4G.

The carrier plans to bring the same type of fixed wireless 5G to Sacramento, California, and Los Angeles later this year and launch mobile 5G in select cities in 2019.

CNN’s parent company AT&T (T), along with Sprint (S) and T-Mobile (TMUS), have also set their sights on 5G. AT&T says it’s on track to debut a small mobile 5G wifi hotspot device that fits in the palm of your hand. The device, which can be placed in homes or cars and provide 5G to mobile phones, is expected to launch in 12 cities by the end of 2018.

Read More from CNN Here

Phone data expert links murder victim, defendant

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After putting 22 witnesses on the stand in Fauquier Circuit Court this week, the prosecution on Wednesday afternoon rested its case in the trial of an Alexandria man charged with murdering a Warrenton CVS manager in the store’s parking lot last July.

Bernard C. Duse Jr. allegedly shot and killed his boss, Rex Mack Olsen, 64, of Culpeper.

Mr. Duse, who filed an employment complaint with CVS, allegedly shot Mr. Olsen in the back of the head and the face.

The defendant also faces a felony weapon charge. If convicted of both charges, he could be sentenced to life in prison for murder and a maximum three years for the weapon charge.

Five prosecution witnesses testified Wednesday, including a Warrenton police officer who headed the murder investigation, two CVS employees, an eyewitness who works at the nearby Ruby Tuesday restaurant and a telecommunications data analysis expert.

Read More from Fauquier Now Here

Police Are Seeking More Digital Evidence From Tech Companies

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U.S. law enforcement agencies are increasingly asking technology companies for access to digital evidence on mobile phones and apps, with about 80 percent of the requests granted, a new study found. The report released Wednesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found local, state and federal law enforcement made more than 130,000 requests last year for digital evidence from six top technology companies — Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp., Twitter Inc., Verizon Communications Inc.’s media unit Oath and Apple Inc.

 If results from telecom and cable providers Verizon, AT&T Inc., and Comcast Corp. are added in, the number jumps to more than 660,000. The requests covered everything from the content of communications to location data and names of particular users.
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Her Fitbit may be the key to finding a missing University of Iowa woman

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Investigators hope data from a missing Iowa woman’s Fitbit may give them clues to her whereabouts after her disappearance last week.

Mollie Tibbetts, 20, was last seen on July 18 near Brooklyn, a small community an hour east of Des Moines, according to the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office.
On the day she disappeared, Tibbetts’ brother dropped her off at her boyfriend’s house so she could dog-sit, reported HLN, CNN’s sister network. She was last spotted jogging that evening, wearing gym shorts, a black sports bra and running shoes, the sheriff’s office said.
Days after her disappearance, the search for the woman has intensified. The FBI joined the investigation this week, devoting as many as 15 agents to the search that has involved an army of volunteers.
Read More from CNN Here

South Carolina has new ally in war on cell phones

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Cell phones are weapons of mass destruction in South Carolina prisons. That’s what Robert Johnson, a former officer with the S.C. Dept. of Corrections (SCDC), told a group of lawmakers Thursday in Columbia.

Johnson was shot six times in his home after a hit on him was ordered from inside prison walls. Johnson was there Thursday to testify on behalf of the Bryan Stirling, SCDC Director, asking for more prison funding in the war on contraband. “They need to see that there is a victim. I am the face of the victim,” Johnson said. “When you have inmates having access to unmonitored cellphones you are going to have problems.” They are expensive problems for South Carolina taxpayers, Stirling explained.

A managed access system to block illegal cell phone use? $522,000, and that’s just at one prison, Lee Correctional.

A system to detect drones flying in contraband? Another $240,000.

50-foot netting at 11 institutions around the state? Nearly $9,000,000.

“These folks are incarcerated physically, but virtually, they are out there and that’s a problem,” Stirling said.

But Stirling, Johnson and the South Carolina prison system aren’t fighting their battle against contraband alone.

Read More from ABC Here