Take a good look at this picture. What you see is a smiling young six year old boy now caught in  the middle of a drug debt owed to a Mexican drug cartel, at least that’s what Las Vegas authorities believe.

FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE

I am being told that besides the nationwide manhunt for the grandfather and more importantly Cole, the investigation includes agents in Southern California’s Inland Empire. Located about an hour east of downtown Los Angeles, this area has been connected with the Mexican cartels in recent years. There is a possibility that Cole has been brought to that area and leads are being followed.

HERE IS THE LATEST THAT COMES FROM AUTHORITIES:

Metro Police are looking for the grandfather of 6-year-old Cole Puffinburger, who was kidnapped Wednesday morning from his home in Las Vegas. During this news conference, police identified Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer, 51, as a person of interest in the case.

Drug activity within the family has been linked to Cole’s abduction. Police said Tinnemeyer owns a sightseeing motorhome service and left the Las Vegas area on a sightseeing tour on May 21. He contacted a family member on Aug. 22 to say he was in Tennessee, but hasn’t been heard from since and might be still using the motorhome.He also owns a 2004 Dodge pickup truck, last seen bearing Mississippi License tag KA6 251.

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THE REST OF THE STORY

We first got the call early this morning after reports of the abduction became even more sinister. As the report goes, two or three men pretending to be police officers barged into the mothers home and then kidnapped Cole Puffinburger, at gunpoint about 7:15 am Wednesday morning.

Detectives say when the family opened the door, the men invaded the home, tied up the boy’s mother and her male friend and started looking for money. Nevada’s first nationwide Amber Alert has been issued for Puffinburger, who is 3 feet 11 inches tall and weighs approximately 48 pounds. He has blond hair, blue eyes, distinctly stained front teeth, an overbite and wears prescription, silver-rimmed glasses. He was last seen wearing a black, zip-up, hooded sweatshirt with white, black and blue stars on it; a black John Cena WWE wrestling shirt; dark jeans; a belt; white socks and black Vans sneakers.

The men are described as having Hispanic accents, in their early 30s. One man is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He has black, shoulder-length, slicked back hair. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

The stock market’s wild ride has created questions about the economy and concerns for many people about their financial future. Tom Sullivan of FOX Business is hosting a special radio show between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. ET to answer your questions. Watch it LIVE now!

Jimmy Carter was running for President the last time North Carolina voters supported a Democrat. For the past 32 years, Democrats have written the state off as a GOP win.

Not even Bill Clinton held enough clout in the Tarheel State to win a majority there. But polls are showing that Senator Barack Obama might be the first democrat in more than three decades to win North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes. And that just might give the presidency to the Democratic Senator from Illinois.

In the latest Fox News/Ramussen Poll, Obama is leading Senator John McCain by one percentage point in North Carolina. A poll conducted two weeks ago shows Obama with a much bigger lead by 3 percentage points. It’s close, but if you consider McCain was up by six percentage points in August and still held a three percentage point advantage just a month ago, there’s no denying that John McCain has a fight on his hands in The Tarheel State.

Political experts on both sides of the fence say there’s a record number of new voters in North Carolina. In fact, the state reports more than 600,000 people have registered in the state, many of them motivated to vote during the heated primary between Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton last May. But there continues to be a new surge of registered voters in the last few weeks as the race between McCain and Obama heats up. We talked to a McCain spokesperson, an Obama Spokesperson, the State Board of Elections, the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections and a political science professor at Davidson College. All agree that this swell of new voters are coming from North Carolina’s five urban counties (Durham, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, Wake and Guilford.) They are majority democrat, a large percent is African American and many of them are young.

((click on the video below to watch our story))

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I managed to get time with Michael Dickerson, the director of the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections in Charlotte. The man barely has time to sit down right now. His office is a literal beehive as workers sort through and verify voter registration forms. Walking alongside him from office to office, we could see his staff busy navigating stacks of mailtubs stuffed full of voter registration forms. They must check and verify the forms before election day. “I expect this will be a record breaking number for people voting in this county for this election,” Dickerson agreed with the state board of elections on who a large number of these new voters are. “What really jumps out is the spike in youth registration. The 18-35 year old numbers are so much more than they have been in the previous two presidential years.” Keep Reading …

Watch LIVE as presidential nominees Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama square off in a town hall-style meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, for their second presidential debate. Watch it LIVE now!

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  Some updates on the Metrolink Train Crash

Over the course of the last week and a half I have been involved in several conversations with sources close to the Metrolink investigation. One particular conversation includes the revelation that video from the engine of the Union Pacific freight train survived the crash and as investigators watched that video I am told, “you couldn’t see his face.” The quote referring to the engineer Robert Sanchez, killed in the crash and someone who had been texting up to 22 seconds or so before the deadly collision. I am also told investigators are still “extremely concerned” about the content of Sanchez’s text messages that day and early evening. Investigators are not only troubled by the text’s sent to the teenage boys at the train station (documented in previous reports), but also messages sent to at least one other Metrolink employee. This comes as some witnesses say they saw green lights at the Chatsworth Station just a few minutes before the train left and ultimately collided with the Union Pacific train. 

A Couple of More Notes:

Talked to crash survivor Kipp Landis (featured in earlier posts) today and his news is nothing but good. Since we last spoke, he had two hand surgeries to repair damage from the crash and he goes back for a check up this weel He is feeling better today and finally got to go home back on the 26th. Doctors say his back, ribs and lungs are doing better.

Also, I have been contacted by law firms looking to represent victims of the crash. This report came out a few days ago in several newspapers, but lawyers have actually contacted me looking for phone numbers and addresses of people injured or worse in the Metrolink Crash. That is a first for me on any tragic story that I have ever covered.