Monday, May 2 top stories
It is Monday, May 2. Here are today’s top stories.
Manhunt for jail guard and murder suspect
In Alabama, a corrections official is accused of helping a murder suspect escape from jail on Friday. The jail official’s name is Vicky White, who was the assistant director of corrections. The suspect’s name is Casey Cole White. Both are not related.
On Friday, Vicky said she was taking Casey to a courthouse for a mental health evaluation. Both disappeared after that and are still at large.
Law enforcement said there was never a scheduled evaluation for Casey on Friday and have issued an arrest warrant for Vicky. Casey is very tall — he is 6’9. He was serving a prison sentence for attempted murder and is supposed to go on trial next month for allegedly stabbing a woman to death.
Authorities said it is possible that the two had a romantic relationship but that there’s no clear evidence of that yet.
Civilians trapped at Azovstal steel plant
There has been a huge, ongoing battle at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine between Ukrainian defenders and Russian troops. There are hundreds of civilians who have been trapped for many weeks. There have been international negotiations with Russia to allow civilians to evacuate.
On Sunday, about 100 civilians were able to leave, but the plant came under shelling again. Many civilians, including children, are still trapped. Those who escaped said they went through “hell.”
In separate news, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress visited Kyiv on Saturday and met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
Three meteorology students killed in car crash
Three meteorology students from the University of Oklahoma were killed in a car crash as they were returning from a trip to Kansas in which they documented a tornado.
The three were traveling in a truck on Interstate 35 and had just crossed the border into Oklahoma when it spun out of control and stalled in the middle of the road before being hit by a semi-truck. It was rainy at the time with wet roads.
The University of Oklahoma said they are “deeply saddened.”
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Australian man admits killing gay American in 1988
In Australia, a man faces life in prison for pushing a 27-year-old gay man named Scott Johnson, who was an American, off a cliff to his death in 1988. The man, Scott White, pleaded guilty to the murder in January and will be sentenced tomorrow.
Prosecutors say this is a “gay hate crime.”
For many years, it was thought that Johnson committed suicide because that’s what a coroner said in 1989. But in 2017, another coroner said in a new report that Johnson’s death was due to violent persons “who attacked him because they perceived him to be homosexual.” The coroner said during that time, there were gangs or violent people who would seek out gay people to attack them.
Johnson’s brother, Steve, who lives in Boston, has pushed for justice and offered a reward of 1 million Australian dollars, the equivalent of $704,000, for information.
AP News said White’s former wife came forward with critical information that helped to solve the case.
During a police interview in 2020, White admitted to police that he pushed Johnson and lied about it in the past. White’s lawyer said he was gay himself and was afraid that his brother would find out.
Again, he will be sentenced tomorrow and faces life in prison.
Book: Trump asked about shooting protesters
Mark Esper, who was former President Trump’s Defense Secretary, said in an upcoming book that Trump asked him about whether they could shoot protesters who gathered around the White House after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Esper said Trump, while he was red faced and complaining about the protests, said “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something.”
Esper’s book will come out next week.
Boston unconstitutional for withholding Christian flag
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the city of Boston violated the Constitution when it did not allow a Christian organization to have their flag raised at its city hall.
Boston City Hall has three flag poles outside of it. One is for the U.S. flag, the second is for the Massachusetts flag, and the third flag is “flexible” with it sometimes being the city flag or flying another organization’s flag, which is usually because of an event of some kind.
From 2005 to 2017, the city of Boston approved 284 requests in a row, but denied a request from a conservative group called Camp Constitution to raise a white flag with a red cross on a blue square, which is called the “Christian flag.”
The city of Boston turned down the flag request, saying it was because they didn’t want to look like they were endorsing one religion over another. This was challenged in the courts and now Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said in the court’s majority opinion that “The city… essentially welcomed all except one, and that violated the First Amendment protection of free speech.”
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://apnews.com/article/crime-sydney-australia-suicides-canberra-a51e399863cf4d9467680de7d12b76dd
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-13/scott-johnson-murder-scott-white-admits-to-killing/100755034
https://www.axios.com/mariupol-evacuation-steel-plant-646f14cb-3bc9-4c4a-a367-9e365761677f.html
https://apnews.com/article/alabama-florence-treatment-of-prisoners-69d5605872860d12e415e2bbe96092d1
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/30/us/oklahoma-college-students-die-storm-chasing-trip/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/02/supreme-court-boston-christian-flags-city-hall/