April 16 top stories
It is April 16. Here are today’s top stories.
World’s oldest conjoined twins, Lori and George, dead at 62
According to funeral home officials, conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell died on April 7 at a hospital in Pennsylvania. They were 62. The cause of death was not detailed.
The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins.
The twins, born Sept. 18, 1961, in West Reading, Pennsylvania, had distinct brains but were joined at the skull. Both graduated from a public high school and took college classes.
The obituary said despite each having to go where the other went, it was “very important” to both “to live as independently as possible. They pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations. Since the age of 24, they have maintained their own residence and have traveled extensively. Over the years, they appeared in many documentaries and talk shows.
Caitlin Clark picked No. 1 overall by Indiana Fever in 2024 WNBA draft
Caitlin Clark, the record-breaking face of women’s college basketball, was selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever on Monday night.
Clark, the 22-year-old native of West Des Moines, Iowa, will join an Indiana team that finished 13-27 last season and has missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons with 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston. An inside-outside combination of Clark and Boston, who was the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, could propel Indiana back to the playoffs once again.
Clark said after the Fever officially selected her Monday night, “My point guard eyes light up at that. I’m just gonna feed Aliyah the ball every game…that’s what I’m gonna do. I can’t wait to be her teammate again.” Clark and Boston were previously teammates on the Team USA Under-19 squad.
Colorado bus aide arrested after assaulting nonverbal child with autism
On March 18, a nonverbal boy with autism’s mother, Jessica Vestal, noticed bruises on different parts of his son’s body when he came home from Joshua School in suburban Denver Littleton, Colorado.
When Vestal contacted his school, officials there said her son did not have bruising on him when they sent him home. The boy’s mother texted Kiarra Jones, bus aide, asking whether anything happened on the bus. Vestal said Jones told her nothing happened. Vestal said she was skeptical. The mother contacted the school’s transportation department and shared photos of the bruising, asking for an explanation.
The next day, Vestal said she was contacted by the school district and law enforcement, saying they had enough video footage to charge Jones with abuse. Vestal said she was just in disbelief.
Parents of children who rode that bus to and from the Joshua School in Englewood said they believe the abuse had been happening for months and that there are additional victims.
Englewood police arrested Kiarra Jones, 29, on Friday and she has been charged with third-degree assault on an at-risk person. Jones is out of police custody after posting $5,000 bail. She is due in court May 3 for a preliminary hearing. District officials confirmed that Littleton Public Schools fired Jones immediately the next day on March 19.
———
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
———
[Advertisement from 988 Helpline]
Exciting News! The 988 Lifeline launched new American Sign Language services for callers who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. It’s a new resource for people to access help when they need it. Visit 988lifeline.org and select “ASL Now.”
———
Biden and Harris release their 2023 tax filings
According to their joint tax return released Monday to mark the federal tax-filing deadline, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden paid $146,629 in federal income taxes in 2023 after reporting income of $619,976. The first couple paid an effective federal tax rate of 23.7%. It marks the 26th year that Biden has released federal tax returns during his public life.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff reported paying $88,570 in federal income tax in 2023, amounting to an effective 19.7% federal tax rate, after earning income of $450,299.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presumptive nominee, is again declining to release his latest federal tax returns after he broke the bipartisan tradition of presidents disclosing the documents.
Although Trump has not released past tax returns willingly, House Democrats in 2022 released six years of Trump’s tax returns for the time he was president and campaigned for the presidency, from 2015 to 2020.
The Joint Committee on Taxation found Trump paid only $1.1 million in federal income taxes during the first three years of his presidency and paid no federal tax in 2020.
See Alex’s latest brief on Baltimore bridge collapse.
Updates on Baltimore bridge collapse
Thanks, Callie.
I have a couple of updates on the Baltimore bridge collapse.
On Monday night, authorities announced they recovered a fourth body from a construction vehicle that was underwater. The person’s identity was not released per their family’s request.
So far, four bodies have been recovered. There are still two victims still unaccounted for. The six people were a part of a road repair crew and they all fell into the water when the container ship Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26.
The second update is that the FBI is investigating the crew of the ship because it may have had electrical problems when it was docked in Baltimore, prior to the bridge incident. AP News said according to its source, the ship had some alarms that went off on some of its refrigerated containers, which indicated an inconsistent power supply.
Videos of the moments leading to the crash on March 26 show that the ship’s lights went out and came back on, so there were definitely some electrical problems, but the FBI may be focusing on whether the crew ignored the problems.
Right now, salvage crews are continuing work to remove sections of the collapsed bridge.
Thanks for that brief. That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
World’s oldest conjoined twins, Lori and George, dead at 62
https://apnews.com/article/oldest-living-conjoined-twins-dead-72f6762bbe12642cd8c40a4051558494
Caitlin Clark picked No. 1 overall by Indiana Fever in 2024 WNBA draft
Colorado bus aide arrested after assaulting nonverbal child with autism
https://www.denverpost.com/2024/04/09/bus-paraprofessional-arrested-littleton-autistic-child-beaten/
Biden and Harris release their 2023 tax filings
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/15/biden-tax-return-2023-earned-paid
Updates on Baltimore bridge collapse