National Headlines
Convicted murderer Robert Durst diagnosed with COVID-19, attorney says
Etienne Laurent/Pool/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- Robert Durst has been diagnosed with COVID-19, his attorney confirmed Saturday, two days after the real estate heir was sentenced to life in prison on a first-degree murder conviction. Durst, 78, was sentenced Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2000 killing of Susan Berman, his close confidant. The wheelchair-bound Durst appeared in the courtroom for his sentencing, looking frail and wearing a face mask. His attorney, Dick DeGuerin, did not share any additional details on Durst's condition. The high-profile trial has been plagued by a series of delays due to the pandemic. After two days of testimony, the trial was delayed for 14 months ... Read More
Dramatic video shows Amtrak train slamming into semi-truck car hauler
Kali9/iStock(THACKERVILLE, Okla.) -- A dramatic video captured the moment an Amtrak train slammed into a semi-truck hauling several cars in Oklahoma, sending vehicles and debris flying and injuring several people on board. The incident occurred Friday around 7 p.m. local time in Thackerville, near the Oklahoma-Texas border. Minutes before Amtrak Train 822, which operates daily between Fort Worth, Texas, and Oklahoma City, was scheduled to pass through, the car hauler tractor trailer got stuck on the train tracks, Love County Sheriff Marty Grisham told ABC News. "The tracks are built up a little bit higher" at that crossing, Grisham said. "He had a lot of cars on the trailer. When he tried to cross over the tracks, the trailer high-centered ... Read More
Suspect charged with attempted murder in alleged hate crime shooting of Black man
BlakeDavidTaylor/iStock(STOCKTON, Calif.) -- A week after a Black man was shot seven times by an assailant who was allegedly hurling racial epithets while firing at him, prosecutors said a suspect has been charged with attempted murder with a hate crime enhancement in the attack. Michael Hayes, 31, was arraigned Friday in connection with the Oct. 8 shooting in Stockton, California. In addition to attempted murder, he has been charged with assault with a firearm with a hate crime enhancement, and carrying a loaded firearm while in a public space. Prosecutors said, based on police reports, Hayes was "driving erratically and speeding" through a parking lot when the victim, 45-year-old Bobby Gayle, "told the driver to slow down." "The defendant then ... Read More
Deputy fatally shot, 2 injured in ‘ambush’ at Houston nightclub: Police
Houston Police Department(HOUSTON) -- A Texas constable deputy was fatally shot and two other deputies were wounded in what police are calling an "ambush" early Saturday morning outside a Houston nightclub. The incident unfolded around 2:15 a.m. at the 45 North Bar and Lounge in the 4400 block of the North Freeway near Crosstimbers, Houston Police said. Three Harris County Precinct 4 constable deputies were working an extra job at the club when they went outside to address "a disturbance" that "may have been a robbery," Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief James Jones said during a press conference. When they were wrestling with the suspect to either arrest or detain him, "we believe they were ambushed, shot from behind, by ... Read More
Boy, 13, dies after bullets flew through his bedroom window, struck his head
Tuscaloosa Police Department(TUSCALOOSA, Ala.) -- A 13-year-old boy was shot and killed Friday evening inside his Alabama home when bullets flew through the window and struck him in the head. The child was sitting in his room playing on his iPad when gunshots were fired at his home in Washington Square, Tuscaloosa around 6:20 p.m., police said in an update Saturday. Police said when officers arrived, they found the boy suffering a gunshot wound to the head. The child has not been identified. "It's a senseless murder. We see it all the time where adults are shot and it's terrible. When it's a kid, it takes it to another level," Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley said. "We're going to do ... Read More
In New Hampshire, vaccine fights and misinformation roil GOP
By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON -- Republican Rep. Ken Weyler was known around the New Hampshire Statehouse for dismissing the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines and opposing tens of millions of dollars in federal funds to promote vaccinations. But when the 79-year-old Weyler, a retired commercial pilot and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate who chaired the legislature's powerful fiscal committee, sent a 52-page report likening vaccines to “organized mass murder," Republican leaders were compelled to act. “I don’t know of anyone who agrees with it. It’s absolute craziness,” said Republican House Speaker Sherman Packard, who quickly accepted Weyler's resignation from his committee post. The episode was especially piercing in New Hampshire, where the previous House speaker died of COVID-19 last ... Read More
Lawsuit over Kenosha shootings: Police enabled armed militia
By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. -- A man who was shot in the arm by Kyle Rittenhouse during a protest last year against police brutality in Wisconsin has filed a federal lawsuit alleging police enabled the violence by allowing an armed militia to have free run of the streets during the demonstration. Rittenhouse shot Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle during the protest in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020, after an officer shot Jacob Blake two days earlier. Rosenbaum and Huber died. Grosskreutz was wounded in the arm but survived. Prosecutors have charged Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, with multiple counts, including homicide. He has argued he fired in self-defense ... Read More
Truck driver convicted in Colorado pileup that killed 4
By The Associated Press GOLDEN, Colo. -- A truck driver accused of causing a fiery pileup that killed four people and injured six others on a Colorado highway has been convicted of vehicular homicide and other charges. Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos, 25, was convicted by a Jefferson County jury on Friday in connection with the April 2019 crash on Interstate 70 west of Denver, The Denver Post reported. Aguilera Mederos testified that the brakes on his semitrailer failed before he plowed into vehicles that had slowed because of another wreck in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. Prosecutors argued he could have used one of several runaway ramps as his truck barreled down from the mountains. The chain-reaction wreck ruptured gas ... Read More
Clinton “doing fine” and will be out of hospital soon
By STEFANIE DAZIO and LOU KESTEN Associated Press ORANGE, Calif. -- Bill Clinton is doing fine and will be released soon from a Southern California hospital where he's being treated for an infection, President Joe Biden said. Biden said Friday during remarks at the University of Connecticut that he had spoken to Clinton and the former president “sends his best.” "He’s doing fine; he really is," Biden said. “He’s not in any serious condition," Biden said. “He is getting out shortly, as I understand it. Whether that’s tomorrow or the next day, I don’t know.” Clinton, 75, was admitted to the University of California Irvine Medical Center, southeast of Los Angeles, on Tuesday with an infection unrelated to COVID-19, his ... Read More
Michigan to replace lead pipes in Benton Harbor in 18 months amid drinking water crisis
Elaine Cromie/Getty Images(LANSING, Mich.) -- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive directive Thursday to help residents of Benton Harbor access safe drinking water, vowing to replace all lead pipes by April 2023. The directive comes a week after officials urged locals in Benton Harbor, a city of 9,600 people, to use bottled water for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth due to elevated levels of lead in water testing. "For six consecutive sampling periods over the last three years, the Benton Harbor water system has failed to meet the regulatory standard for lead," the governor said in the directive. Advocates in the city had filed an emergency petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Sept. 9 demanding a federal ... Read More
CDC releases 2021 holiday guidance to prevent spread of COVID-19
PinkOmelet/iStock(ATLANTA) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released its official public health guidance for the 2021 holiday season, offering up mostly general advice on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The recommendations urge people to get vaccinated ahead of the holidays if they haven't done so already. For young children who aren't yet eligible for the vaccine, the CDC suggests reducing risk of exposure by making sure the people around them are vaccinated. The CDC also recommends that people continue to wear masks indoors in public spaces. "We fully expect that families and friends will gather for the holidays this year and we have updated our guidance on how to best to stay safe over ... Read More
US Capitol Police officer charged with obstruction related to Jan. 6 attack
uschools/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- A U.S. Capitol Police officer has been arrested and charged with obstruction of justice over allegations he encouraged an alleged participant of the Jan. 6 riot to delete social media posts that showed the person joining the pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol, authorities said Friday. Michael Riley, an officer with more than 25 years of experience, was not on duty inside the Capitol building itself during the riot -- but afterward messaged an unidentified individual over Facebook who allegedly had posted selfies and other videos showing themselves inside the Capitol, an indictment said. "Hey [Person 1], im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance," Riley allegedly wrote. "Take down the part about being in the ... Read More
Nikolas Cruz plans to plead guilty in Parkland shooting
wellesenterprises/iStock(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) -- Nikolas Cruz wants to enter a guilty plea in the killing of 17 people in the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting, a defense attorney said in court Friday. On Feb. 14, 2018, Cruz, then 19, gunned down 14 students and three staff members at his former school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He was taken into custody that day. Fred Guttenberg, father of 14-year-old victim Jaime Guttenberg, tweeted Friday, "My only comment is to remember the victims. Remember Jaime. Rather than talk about the murderer." Manuel Oliver, father of 17-year-old victim Joaquin Oliver, told ABC News Live Friday, "I think it's time to put some -- speed it up a little bit. Every day is a new ... Read More
Robert Durst sentenced to life in best friend’s murder
By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES -- New York real estate heir Robert Durst was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without a chance of parole for the murder of his best friend more than two decades ago. Durst, 78, was convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court last month of first-degree murder for shooting Susan Berman point-blank in the back of the head at her home in December 2000. The killing had been a mystery that haunted family and friends for 15 years before Durst was arrested in 2015 following his unwise decision to participate in a documentary that unearthed new evidence and caught him in a stunning confession. Berman's death left a permanent hole in the lives of ... Read More
Texas abortion ban upheld by federal appeals court
DNY59/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- The most restrictive abortion law in the country will remain in effect, after a federal appeals court sided with Texas on Thursday in an ongoing legal battle with the Department of Justice. The law, known as SB8, bans physicians from providing abortions once they detect a so-called fetal heartbeat -- which can be seen on an ultrasound as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The law, which went into effect on Sept. 1, was briefly paused after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction last week barring its enforcement. Days later, the law was reinstated after a panel of judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary administrative stay. In the latest development of ... Read More
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