March 20 top stories
It is March 20. Here are today’s top stories.
Ohio mom left toddler alone for 10 days when she went on vacation
Local authorities have said Kristel Candelario (32) left her 16-month-old daughter, Jailyn, in their Cleveland, Ohio home alone in a playpen when she went on vacation to Detroit and Puerto Rico in June 2023. When she returned 10 days later, she found the girl was not breathing in the playpen and called 911.
Emergency responders found the child was extremely dehydrated and pronounced her dead shortly after they arrived. Prosecutors said Jailyn was found dead in her playpen on a liner soiled with urine and feces with soiled blankets.
An autopsy determined that the toddler died of starvation and severe dehydration.
According to her defense attorney, Candelario struggles with depression and other mental health issues.
Kristel Candelario had pleaded guilty last month to aggravated murder and child endangerment as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, who dismissed two murder counts and a felonious assault charge.
She was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of parole. Judge Sheehan told Candelario “she committed the ultimate betrayal by leaving her daughter alone without food. Just as you did not let Jailyn out of her confinement, so too you should spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom. The only difference will be, that the prison will at least feed you and give you liquid that you denied her.”
Alabama legislature passes anti-DEI bill
Alabama lawmakers passed a bill to ban state funding of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at public schools, universities and government agencies.
The bill, SB129, would also require public universities to designate restrooms on the basis of biological sex and not the gender that aligns with how a person identifies.
At least eight of Alabama’s public colleges have a specific office dedicated to DEI efforts. The colleges spent a combined $16 million on diversity efforts like recruitment, improving graduation rates and campus cultural events and programs.
The bill clarifies that DEI programs and discussions are allowed on campuses, so long as state funds are not used for these events.
The issue of DEI has become a widespread concern among Republicans.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, at least 22 states have introduced legislation targeting diversity and inclusion efforts at universities as of July 2023.
The legislature now heads to Gov. Ivey (R) for her signature, where it is expected to be signed into law. If she signs the bill, the law will go into effect on October 1.
Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro surrenders to serve prison sentence
The ex-trade adviser, Peter Navarro, to former President Trump spent his last moments talking to the press conference before reporting to federal prison railing against Democrats and the justice system, claiming they conspired to lock him up for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
Navarro is now the first former White House official in history to go to prison after being convicted of contempt of Congress. He is also the first member of Trump’s circle of White House advisers to go to jail for crimes stemming from Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
Navarro on Tuesday continued to maintain that he has no regrets and his decision to invoke executive privilege was proper.
The Justice Department prosecuted him and he was convicted by a Washington, D.C. jury of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress and sentenced to four months in a federal prison in Miami.
Navarro insisted he did not want a pardon from President Biden and shook his head when asked whether he would want a pardon from Trump should he win the presidency in November.
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Michigan will become the last US state to legalize paid surrogacy
Rachael Lang and her husband share the same last name as their biological daughter but are not listed on her birth certificate. Instead, it bears the name of a surrogate who carried their daughter due to Lang’s past cancer diagnosis.
Michigan’s ban on paid surrogacy contracts has forced the couple to spend nearly a year trying to adopt their biological daughter.
State lawmakers voted Tuesday to change that, hoping to make it easier for people like the Langs to more easily be deemed the legal parents of their children born through surrogates.
The bill to decriminalize compensated surrogacy is headed to Democratic Gov. Whitmer’s desk. Once signed by the governor, it will lift the ban on paid surrogacy and set standards to protect the biological parents, the surrogate and the child.
Michigan is currently the only state in the nation where surrogacy contracts are criminally banned.
Alex has a news story to share about a Delta pilot going to jail for committing a crime.
Delta pilot gets 10 months in jail for drinking before flight from Scotland to N.Y.
Thanks, Callie.
A 63-year-old man who was a pilot for Delta Airlines was sentenced to 10 months in jail in Scotland for trying to fly while under the influence of alcohol.
NBC News explained that the pilot, Lawrence B. Russell Jr, was supposed to captain a flight from Scotland to New York City on June 16, 2023.
When he went through a baggage check, authorities found a half-empty bottle of liquor in his bag in addition to another bottle of liquor.
Authorities at the airport contacted police because Russell was wearing a pilot’s uniform. He was arrested and gave a blood sample. His alcohol levels exceeded Scotland’s limit.
That flight from Scotland to New York City ended up being canceled.
Russell was later fired. He was later diagnosed with severe alcohol use disorder. He appears to be better after completing a recovery program for pilots with addiction issues.
In March of this year, Russell pleaded guilty to a charge of reporting for duty as a pilot while exceeding the blood alcohol limit. Now he has to serve 10 months in Scotland.
After he completes his sentence, he will have to apply for a new aviation medical certificate and if granted, he can get his old job back.
Thanks for that story. That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
Ohio mom left toddler alone for 10 days when she went on vacation
https://people.com/mother-who-left-toddler-alone-vacation-sentenced-life-murder-8610886
Alabama legislature passes anti-DEI bill
Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro surrenders to serve prison sentence
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/us/politics/peter-navarro-jail-contempt-congress.html
Michigan will become the last US state to legalize paid surrogacy
https://www.mlive.com/news/2024/03/repealing-ban-on-paid-surrogacy-passes-michigan-senate.html
Delta pilot gets 10 months in jail for drinking before flight from Scotland to N.Y.