February 2 top stories
It is February 2. Here are today’s top stories.
Several dead after Florida plane crash
Local news reported that several people were killed Thursday evening in a fiery crash of a small plane into a mobile home park in Clearwater, Florida.
Firefighters responded around 7:15 p.m. local time to the crash site at the Bayside Waters mobile home park. They found four trailer homes on fire – one of which had the crashed plane inside. The city’s Fire Chief, Scott Ehlers, announced “I can confirm that we have several fatalities both from the aircraft and within the mobile home” without providing a precise number of how many people died.
It is also unclear Thursday night how many people were on the plane.
A Clearwater resident told news outlets he heard what sounded like an explosion that shook his entire apartment and the next thing I saw was a giant pillar of smoke.
Mother of Michigan school shooter testify
Jennifer Crumbley is the first parent to face a manslaughter trial for a child’s mass shooting in the United States. The mother is on trial for failing to stop her son from carrying out a deadly school shooting.
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, took the stand on Thursday, the sixth day of the trial. Taking the stand in her own defense, she told jurors that the gun she and her husband purchased for their son was not her responsibility.
She said her husband brought their son to a gun store the day after Thanksgiving to buy a handgun for him as a gift. She didn’t feel comfortable being responsible for safely storing the gun, which had a cable lock, she said. “It was more his [referring to her husband] thing, so I let him handle that. I didn’t feel comfortable putting the lock thing on it. I’d just rather not, and let him do it,” she continued.
Her husband, James, is facing a separate trial on the same charges.
If found guilty, they each face up to 15 years in prison.
Their son is serving life in prison for killing four classmates at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021. He was 15 years old at the time of the attack.
Discovery of bones rewrites ancient human history
Three studies detailing the discoveries and lab analysis were published Wednesday in the journals Nature and Nature Ecology & Evolution. The discovery was a huge surprise as it could rewrite the history of how modern humans populated Europe – how it came to replace the Neanderthals, who mysteriously went extinct just a few thousand years after humans arrived.
Microscopic fragments of protein and DNA recovered from bones discovered in 8 meters or 26 feet deep Ranis cave dirt in eastern Germany have revealed Neanderthals and humans likely lived alongside one another in northern Europe as far back as 45,000 years ago.
Homo sapiens arose in Africa more than 300,000 years ago, later trekking worldwide and encountering other human populations, including Neanderthals.
This fundamentally changes the story of chronology and our species’ migration into Europe north of the Alps. Modern humans were not previously known to have lived as far north. Homo sapiens reached northwestern Europe long before Neanderthal disappearance in southwestern Europe. The discovery also shows that the two groups may have overlapped for several thousand years.
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Former CIA employee sentenced for largest data leak
Joshua Schulte, who formerly worked as a computer engineer within the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence, was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for the largest data breach in the agency’s history, along with other charges.
Schulte was charged with crimes of espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, making false statements to the FBI and child pornography, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a release.
What happened? He was accused of stealing files, committing the CIA’s largest data breach in history, then transmitting them to WikiLeaks via his personal computer.
After WikiLeaks published the classified information, it “profoundly damaged the CIA’s ability to collect foreign intelligence against America’s adversaries; placed CIA personnel, programs and assets directly at risk; and cost the CIA hundreds of millions of dollars. It caused “grave harm” to the national security of the country,” the release said.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors alleged that Schulte was motivated to orchestrate the leak because he thought the agency had disrespected him by ignoring his complaints about the work environment.
OxyContin marketer to pay $350 million
A unit of French advertising giant Publicis Groupe SA agreed Thursday to pay $350 million to settle claims it helped OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma fuel the opioid epidemic in the United States.
State attorneys general claimed Publicis Health played an integral role in developing “predatory and deceptive marketing strategies” for Purdue Pharma that increased prescriptions and sales of OxyContin, and made the opioid crisis more devastating.
It is the first-ever settlement for an ad company’s role in the opioid crisis. The settlement agreement requires Publicis Health to pay $350 million to the states within 60 days. It also bans the company from accepting any future contracts or engagements related to the marketing or sale of opioids.
New York AG Letitia James said, “For a decade, Publicis helped opioid manufacturers like Purdue Pharma convince doctors to overprescribe opioids, directly fueling the opioid epidemic and causing the devastation of communities nationwide. No amount of money can compensate for lives lost and addiction suffered, but with this agreement, Publicis will cease their illegal behavior and pay $350 million to help our communities rebuild.”
That is all the news stories for this week. Have a nice weekend and stay with the light!
Plane crash:
https://www.wesh.com/article/clearwater-plane-crash/46619115
Mother of shooter:
https://www.wnem.com/2024/02/01/watch-live-trial-continues-mother-oxford-school-shooter/
Bones:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bones-tools-cave-could-rewrite-history-humans-neanderthals-europe/
CIA:
https://www.axios.com/2024/02/02/cia-hacker-wikileaks-joshua-schulte-sentenced
OxyContin:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/nyregion/opioid-settlement-publicis-group-letitia-james.html