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A 6-year-old said ‘I did it’ after shooting his teacher at Virginia school, warrants say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — In the moments after a 6-year-old shot his teacher in a Virginia classroom last January, the boy made statements including “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I did it. I got my mom’s gun last night,” according to recently unsealed police search warrants.The new court documents in the city of Newport News offer fresh details regarding a shooting that critically wounded a first-grade teacher and shocked the nation. The teacher, Abby Zwerner, survived despite being shot in the hand and chest and is suing the Newport News Public Schools for $40 million. The 6-year-old’s mother, Deja Taylor, was charged with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of reckless storage of a firearm. A plea hearing for Taylor’s case is set for next week.The search warrants, which were unsealed after six months, said a reading specialist at Richneck Elementary was walking by Zwerner’s classroom when she heard a gunshot. “Several children ran out of classroom ...

Federal report sheds new light on Alaska helicopter crash that killed 3 scientists, pilot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A helicopter that crashed on Alaska’s remote and vast North Slope in July, killing three state scientists and the pilot, stopped sending flight-status data to a real-time tracking system as it passed over the southeastern shoreline of an Arctic lake, according to a preliminary report on the crash released Tuesday.The Bell 206L-4 helicopter was later found fragmented and partially submerged in Lake Itinik, a large oval-shaped body of water that measures 3 miles (4.83 kilometers) wide in some places, according to the report from the National Transportation Safety Board. There was no indication in the report of what caused the helicopter to crash into the lake in clear conditions. The cause typically is detailed months later when federal investigators file their final report.The last of the helicopter’s data transmissions sent every three minutes indicated it was traveling in a northwesterly direction at an altitude of 144 feet (43.89 meters) above mean sea lev...

Amazon nations seek common voice on climate change, urge developed world to help protect rainforest

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Leaders from South American nations that are home to the Amazon challenged the developed world on Tuesday to do more to help stop massive destruction of the world’s largest rainforest, a task they said can’t fall to just a handful of countries when the crisis has been spurred by so many.Assembling Tuesday and Wednesday in the Brazilian city of Belem, the members of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, or ACTO, also sought to chart a common course on how to combat climate change, hoping a united front could give them a major voice in global talks.The calls from the presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia came as the leaders aim to fuel much-needed economic development in their regions while preventing the Amazon’s ongoing demise from reaching a “point of no return:” Some scientists say that when 20% to 25% of the forest is destroyed, rainfall would dramatically decline, transforming more than half of the rainforest to tropical savannah, with immense bio...

Electric bus maker Proterra files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

BURLINGAME, Calif. (AP) — Electric bus and truck maker Proterra says it is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from a federal court in Delaware.The Burlingame, California, company is a big supplier of buses to transit systems across the nation. A statement on Proterra’s website Monday said that it intends to maintain normal operations and will file motions with the court to use existing capital to keep funding operations, including paying employees, vendors and suppliers.President Joe Biden visited the company’s factory in South Carolina in 2021 to highlight U.S. electric vehicle makers.The company said in the statement that it’s taking action to separate its business units “to maximize their independent potential.” It sells heavy truck, van, bus and off-highway equipment equipment in the U.S., European and Asia-Pacific markets.“While our best-in-class EV and battery technologies have set an industry standard, we have faced various market and macroeconomic hea...

German man whose wife accused him of holding her captive for years to be released

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A 55-year-old German man who was arrested after his wife accused him of holding her captive for over a decade will be released without charges, the lead prosecutor in the French city of Sarreguemines said Tuesday.The woman, aged 53, was found Monday bedridden, half-naked, and with a shaved head in the couple’s home in Forbach, near the French-German border in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. She has maintained her allegations of being held captive and abused by her husband since 2011.In a statement on Tuesday evening, prosecutor Olivier Glady said there was no evidence supporting the woman’ claims of kidnapping, torture or abuse. “The situation of kidnapping which she keeps complaining about is a nonexistent reality,” he said. Glady said the husband took care of his wife following the onset of severe symptoms related to an undisclosed illness. A thorough forensic examination of the woman found no signs of rape or injury, he said.Glady said there ...

Chicago man accused of killing girl headed straight for her in apartment building, prosecutors say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The man accused of killing a 9-year-old Chicago girl who had been riding her scooter outside crossed a street and headed straight toward her in the vestibule of her apartment building before shooting her, prosecutors said Tuesday.Serabi Medina’s father, who had told her to come into the vestibule, shouted at Michael Goodman, but the man ignored him, allegedly raising his arm and shooting Medina in the head Saturday night in the Portage Park neighborhood, prosecutors said during a court hearing.The father tackled Goodman, causing the gun to go off again and striking Goodman in the eye, according to prosecutors, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Goodman has been released from the hospital after being treated for the injury and appeared in court Tuesday.The girl was rushed to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.Goodman, 43, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He was ordered held without bail Tuesday.Goodman had a valid license to own the gu...

US east cleans up after deadly storms as New England braces for flooding

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Crews across the eastern U.S. worked Tuesday to clear downed trees and power lines and restore electricity following severe storms that killed at least two people, cut power to more than a million customers at their peak, and forced thousands of flight delays and cancellations.The storms that pounded a swath of the country stretching from Alabama and Tennessee to the Carolinas and New York on Monday continued to lash northern New England with wind and rain a day later.The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down Tuesday in the Atlantic Coast town of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, though a survey team was still determining its strength.The twister damaged homes and vehicles, downed trees and power lines, and may have damaged the water treatment plant, which remained operational, according to a statement from the town’s Select Board. There were no reports of injuries.Rain also pounded Vermont, which experienced historic flooding last...

Mega Millions: How late can you buy a ticket for the $1.58B jackpot?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — A record-setting Mega Millions jackpot of $1.58 billion is up for grabs Tuesday night. If you haven't purchased a ticket yet, you still have time — but maybe not much time, depending on where you live. The jackpot has been brewing since April when a $20 million prize was won by a ticket sold in Syracuse, New York, just four days after a $483 million Mega Millions jackpot was hit by a ticket sold in Queens.Ahead of Tuesday’s drawing, Mega Millions officials estimated the jackpot’s size at $1.58 billion with a cash value of $783.3 million. That puts it as the largest in the game’s history, and as the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history, though that could shift slightly based on ticket sales. Your odds at the Mega Millions jackpot are slim – but can you increase them? While the Mega Millions drawings are held at 11 p.m. ET on Tuesdays and Fridays, depending on where you live, you may need to get your ticket hours beforehand.In roughly half of ...

Father & daughter train together to compete against each other

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

WGN’s Mike Lowe is participating in the Life Time Chicago Triathlon to raise money for the non-profit It Takes a Village Chicago a non-profit that builds weight rooms for youth in underserved communities and underfunded schools. You can donate here.Each Tuesday in August, we’re bringing you stories about the triathlon. Here’s Triathlon Tuesday Part 1.CHICAGO — On a recent day in Rogers Park, Jason and Madeline Bussell were engaged in a sort-of daddy-daughter dash through their tree-lined neighborhood.  It’s part of the duo’s daily triathlon training program. They’ll move from running to a bicycle workout in the morning and swim several times during the week, too.They’ve been preparing all summer for the Life Time Chicago Triathlon, a swimming-biking-running competition, that will attract more than 8,000 athletes to the Chicago shoreline on August 27.Bussell, 51, has competed in a dozen triathlons and even done an Iron Man race.Madeline is a veteran of three kid’s triathlons. “...

Community leaders hope Chicago's next top cop is within CPD ranks

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:48:28 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is inching closer to naming the city’s next top cop.  Sources tell WGN News that Johnson met with one of the superintendent candidates Monday at City Hall and has more meetings this week ahead of a final decision this weekend. The finalists are Larry Snelling and Angel Novalez, both high-ranking officials from within the Chicago Police Department, and Shon Barnes, police chief of Madison, Wisconsin.  Two of the city’s most prominent anti-gun activists are urging Johnson to go with one of the men already on the force.  Mayor Johnson talks Chicago’s top cop search, migrant relocation “I’m hoping and praying it’s somebody from Chicago,” said Father Michael Pfleger. “It’s very important that whoever the superintendent is they know Chicago inside and out, they speak Chicago, they feel Chicago,” said Donavan Price, a street pastor who shows up at multiple shooting scenes weekly. Pfleger, of St. Sabina Church, says former police...