Category: News Daypop

On Monday, the Kentucky Parole Board ruled that 39-year-old Michael Carneal, the man convicted in the 1997 school shooting that took the life of three students, should remain in prison for the rest of his life. The unanimous ruling from the seven-member board means that Carneal will never be eligible for parole consideration again.

Carneal was 14 years old when he injured five people along with killing three in the shooting at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky. He testified to two members of the board last week that he still “heard voices” in his head, similar to the ones that led to him opening fire on the high school on Dec. 1, 1997.  However at last week’s hearing, Carneal said while he knew right from wrong when he committed the shootings, he blamed his mental health condition for his actions.

Carneal had served nearly 25 years before his last parole hearing. The living victims of the shooting, including one who was paralyzed, testified in front of the board last week as well. Parole Board Chair Ladeidra Jones told Carneal that due to the seriousness of the crime” and because lives were taken, “it is the decision of the parole board that you will serve out your sentence.”

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Edward Snowden, the former contractor with the National Security Agency who made headlines when he leaked highly classified information in 2013, has been granted Russian citizenship under a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin. Snowden was one of many foreigners granted Russian citizenship in the decree, filed on a Russian government portal. He is listed as the 53rd person in the document. Snowden and his wife had applied for Russian citizenship in November 2020, a month after he was granted permanent residency.

The 39-year-old Snowden leaked an estimated 1.7 million intelligence files used in reporting by journalists and faces espionage charges along with 30 years in prison in the United States if he were to return. However, his U.S. passport has been revoked.

After the leak, Snowden first fled from the United States to Hong Kong briefly; and has been living in Russia since June 2013, where he reportedly has worked for a Russian IT company. He has maintained a relatively low profile in Russia over the years, but routinely posts on his Twitter account.

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Three people were shot at a popular Pennsylvania amusement park on Saturday night following an altercation between two groups of teenagers.  According to Allegheny County Police, the shooting took place at Kennywood amusement park in West Mifflin. Three people — two 15-year-old boys and one 39-year-old man — were reportedly injured from gunshot wounds Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, Kennywood alerted on Twitter that the park was closed for the night and that “all guests have exited” after the shooting took place on what was the first night of the park’s Phantom Fall Fest.  Allegheny County Police shared in a Sunday news release that the shooting followed an altercation in front of the park’s Musik Express ride, and that multiple agencies responded around 10:49 p.m. One 15-year-old was shot in the thigh and is still at a hospital; the 39-year-old was hit in the leg and released following treatment and the other teen is hospitalized with a graze wound and in stable condition. Others were reportedly treated for “trample” injuries following the events at the amusement park.  Police say they recovered a handgun inside the park, and the search for the suspect is ongoing.

The park later issued an official statement: “We are greatly saddened by the violence that occurred last night. Our thoughts are with those who were injured as a result of the incident, as well as all guests and team members affected by what happened. …We are closely collaborating with police as they investigate. Our entry security protocols include a state of the art weapons detection system put into place at the start of this season, video scanning, and bag checks. We regularly supplement our park security staff with officers from the Allegheny County Police Department and West Mifflin Police Department, who were contracted to support our teams during operating hours, including Saturday evening. We will continue to cooperate with authorities throughout their investigation.

The park is closed Sunday, September 25. We will reopen as scheduled on Friday evening, September 30, and will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.”

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As Tropical Storm Ian heads towards Florida and is expected to become a hurricane Sunday night, reaching major hurricane strength early next week, Gov. Ron DeSantis has issued statewide state of emergency, citing the risk of a major hurricane making landfall on Florida’s western coast.

Currently located in the Caribbean Sea with maximum sustained winds near 50 mph and higher gusts, forecasters predict that Ian is expected to become a major Category 3 hurricane by Monday or Tuesday.  According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm is 540 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba and could approach the Florida Keys and the southern and central area of the Florida peninsula beginning Monday through to Wednesday morning

The potential hurricane is expected to bring 2 to 6 inches of rain to the Keys and peninsula and heavy rainfall to northern and western Florida, as well as to other states in the southeastern U.S. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. These rains may produce flash and urban flooding across the Keys and the peninsula through midweek.

Over the weekend, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida as the state faces a potential major hurricane from the current storm, the White House said. Biden’s approval of a Florida emergency declaration orders authorized federal aid.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/desantis-declares-emergency-storm-expected-hit-florida-90427792

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On Thursday, House Democrats passed a package of new police reform bills that would fund recruitment and training for police departments across the country, including new language for police accountability. Early in the day a procedural vote on the bills narrowly passed 216-215 when a group of progressive Democrats objected to providing more funding to police departments. It now heads to the Senate.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said: “The Invest to Protect Act will ensure that local police departments across our country have what they need to recruit and retain the finest officers, to provide necessary training, and to invest in providing mental health resources for our officers.” 

California Democratic Rep. Katie Porter sponsored one f the bills, which would create a grant program for departments to hire and dispatch mental professionals instead of law enforcement officers when incidents involve behavioral health needs. Another bill provides funding to police departments with fewer than 200 officers and also allows the funding to be used for data collection about police and community safety.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday that it charged the aircraft maker Boeing and former CEO Dennis Muilenburg with making significant misleading public statements about the plane and an automated flight-control system that was implicated in the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Boeing Co. will pay $200 million to settle charges that the company and its former CEO misled investors about the safety of its 737 Max after two of the airliners crashed, killing 346 people. While neither Boeing nor Muilenburg admitted wrongdoing, they offered to settle and pay penalties, including $1 million to be paid by Muilenburg, who was ousted in December 2019, nine months after the second crash.

The SEC said Boeing and Muilenburg knew that the flight system, known as MCAS, posed a safety issue but promised the public that the plane was safe. The SEC said they also falsely claimed that there had been no gaps in the process of certifying the plane in the first place.

Boeing said it has made “broad and deep changes across our company in response to those accidents” to improve safety and quality: “Today’s settlement is part of the company’s broader effort to responsibly resolve outstanding legal matters related to the 737 Max accidents in a manner that serves the best interests of our shareholders, employees and other stakeholders.”

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New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization, alleging an illegal scheme that amassed $250 million by fraudulently overvaluing assets. The civil lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, seeks to recover $250 million that James said was received through deceptive practices. James is also seeking to bar Trump and his children – Eric, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. – from serving as officers or directors in any New York company, and Trump himself would also be barred from entering any commercial real estate transactions or applying for loans for five years.

James said during a news conference, “I want to be clear, white-collar financial crime is not a victimless crime. When the well-connected break the law to take in more money than they are entitled to, it reduces resources to working people, to regular people, to small businesses and all taxpayers. Everyday people cannot lie to a bank about how much money they have in order to get a favorable loan to buy a home or to send their kid to college. And if they did, the government would throw the book at them. Why should this be any different?”

The lawsuit alleges that the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities in a fraudulent scheme that touched all aspects of Trump’s business, properties and golf courses. The lawsuit also names former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and longtime company executive Jeff McConney and includes 23 properties in the Trump Organization portfolio.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba called the allegations politically motivated and meritless, saying in a statement: “Today’s filing is neither focused on the facts nor the law — rather, it is solely focused on advancing the attorney general’s political agenda. We are confident that our judicial system will not stand for this unchecked abuse of authority, and we look forward to defending our client against each and every one of the attorney general’s meritless claims.”

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President Biden condemned Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine during his keynote address at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. During his remarks at U.N. headquarters in New York City as part of the General Debate, Biden said President Vladimir Putin is acting aggressively and irresponsibly by threatening to use nuclear weapons.

Biden said Russia has violated the tenets of the United Nations by going to war with Ukraine in February, and  called the military aggression “outrageous”. He pushed the United Nations to support Ukraine: “The world should see these outrageous acts for what they are. Putin claimed he had to act because Russia was threatened. No one threatened Russia and no one other than Russia sought conflict. In fact, we warned he was coming.” Biden pointed to Russian attacks that have targeted civilian centers, residential areas, schools, hospitals, rail stations, and said evidence of war crimes is everywhere: “This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple. That should make your blood run cold.”

Biden noted that 141 countries have condemned Russia for the war and dozens have given billions in emergency aid.  He said Putin must pay, or else it will only motivate other autocratic regimes to act in a similar fashion in the future:  “If nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences, then we put at risk everything this institution stands for. This past year, the world was tested as well. We did not hesitate. We chose liberty. We chose sovereignty. We stood with Ukraine. Like you, the United States wants this war to end, on just terms. On terms, we all signed up for. You cannot seize a nation’s territory by force. The only country that is standing in the way of that is Russia.”

Putin, in a rare national address on Wednesday, threatened to use nuclear weapons in the conflict and said he was partially mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists in Russia to bolster the military in Ukraine. It’s believed to be the first troop mobilization in Russia since World War II.  Putin said: “I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and some components are more modern than those of the NATO countries. And at the threat to the territorial integrity of our country, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. It’s not a bluff.”

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Residents of Jackson, Mississippi, have filed a class action lawsuit against the city, its current and former mayors, city officials and engineering companies, alleging that years of neglect culminated in a recent water crisis for more than 150,000 people.  Last week, the city finally had clean water restored following a boil water advisory from July when tests showed water quality was “cloudy.”

The residents asked the court in the lawsuit to force the city to repair the water system and to cancel any bills or debts held by residents for unsafe water or water that was not delivered, and also asked for community health centers to care for people who may have been injured by contaminated water and for an unspecified amount of money for damages.

Flooding of the Pearl River exacerbated the water crisis by causing water pressure issues in the city’s already-damaged system. The plaintiffs also allege that they were poisoned by lead and other contaminants released in Jackson’s drinking water before the water supply failed in August. The lawsuit reads: “These residents lack more than just drinking water, or water for making powdered baby formula, cooking, showering, or laundry. During the long period where the city pipes had no water pressure — and were unable to facilitate the flow of water — residents of Jackson could not flush their toilets for days at a time. This public health crisis, decades in the making, was wholly foreseeable by Defendants’ actions and has left Jackson residents in an untenable position — without access to clean, safe water in 2022 in a major United States city.”

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On Tuesday, federal prosecutors announced charges were filed against 47 people accused of carrying out the biggest Covid fraud scheme to date, stealing $250 million in a plot that exploited a federal program designed to feed needy children in Minnesota. U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger said in a statement: “This was a brazen scheme of staggering proportions. The defendants worked extremely fast, stealing money at a breakneck pace,” he added at a news conference announcing the charges.”More than 125 million fake meals are at issue in this case.”

Prosecutors say the fraud was overseen by Aimee Bock, who ran a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future. She has denied wrongdoing and argued that if fraud occurred, it was without her knowledge.  Prosecutors say charities, restaurants and individuals were involved in the fraud by claiming they were providing meals for thousands of underserved children — but in fact, the money was going to commercial real estate, luxury cars, and fancy homes. Nonprofits such as Feeding Our Future were supposed to sponsor and oversee the restaurants, community centers and other places where the meals were to be provided.

The indictments say Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 meal distribution sites throughout Minnesota and fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in funds from the Federal Child Nutrition Program, run by the Agriculture Department. Many of the defendants are charged not only with fraud but with bribery because the government alleges the charities took kickbacks from the food sites in exchange for steering them federal grants.

The FBI said in court records that in the summer of 2020, state officials became suspicious of the large number of meals being claimed at sites sponsored by Feeding Our Future and sought to deny payments at many of them. State officials ultimately contacted the FBI, which began investigating, and conducted a series of raids in January that closed down the funding streams. The Justice Department has seized property, vehicles and bank accounts worth $50 million so far.

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