Thursday, December 9 top stories
It is Thursday, December 9. Here are today’s top stories.
Last month a plumber who did renovations inside of a bathroom at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church discovered piles of cash and checks behind a wall. The money is connected to a theft reported by the church in 2014 when $600,000 in cash and checks was stolen from a safe. The plumber, Justin Cauley, received a $20,000 award. Houston Police said they are still investigating who stole the $600,000 in 2014. The church hasn’t said how much money in total was found behind the bathroom wall. There is a lot of praise on the plumber for reporting the cash instead of pocketing it, and a lot of questions on what happened with the theft and who put the cash behind the bathroom wall and why they left it there.
The FDA has authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine booster shot for use in those ages 16 and 17. It is the first booster shot authorized for this group. Prior to this authorization, only those 18 and up could get the Pfizer booster shots. The FDA’s authorization comes after studies by Pfizer found that those who had booster shots had much higher levels of protection against the omicron variant.
On Wednesday a woman in her 60’s drove her car into raging water near the brink of Niagara Falls on the New York side. It was very cold and snowy outside. A Coast Guard helicopter came to the scene and lowered a rescue swimmer on a cable towards the car. The rescuer was able to tether and pull the dangling woman out of the car, but the woman was pronounced deceased when she was taken to medics. Witnesses said they first saw the car floating near a pedestrian bridge and it seems like the car got into the river there and then floated towards the falls. The woman is not yet identified but officials said she lived in the area. The Coast Guard said they mourn the loss of life.
Josh Duggar was found guilty of receipt and possession of child pornography by a jury after a six-day trial in Arkansas. He was taken to jail where he will await his sentencing in about four months. Duggar faces up to 20 years in prison. Duggar was the oldest child of the Duggar family, who was featured on TLC’s reality show series, “19 Kids and Counting.” That show stopped airing in 2015 after allegations arose that Duggar molested four of his sisters and a babysitter. In April of this year, Duggar was arrested on child pornography charges.
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There is a proposal in the New Zealand legislature to ban all sales of cigarettes in the future by increasing the age limit for smoking by a year each year until the entire population is covered. The proposal said starting in 2023, anyone under the age of 15 would be banned from buying cigarettes. Then in 2024, that limit would be raised to 16, and in 2025 that limit would be raised to 17, and so forth. So that means in the future, nobody would be able to buy cigarettes. The proposal may become law next year.
In Minnesota, the manslaughter trial of former police officer Kimberly Potter over her fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April has begun.
On April 11, Wright and his girlfriend were pulled over for an expired registration. When Potter and another officer ran his name in a database, they found that he had a warrant out for his arrest.
As the officers tried to handcuff Wright, he pulled away and got back into his car, and that’s when Potter pulled her firearm and shot at him at close range. Potter said then that she meant to pull her taser and made a mistake. She was charged with second-degree manslaughter.
During the trial, videos on that day were shown. One of them showed Wright’s mother, Katie Bryant, crying and trying to reach her son’s body, which was covered with a white sheet.
Officer Potter was seen collapsed on the floor, also crying, saying, “I killed a boy.”
The prosecution said Potter ignored years of firearm training while the defense team said Potter made a mistake and said Wright should have obeyed police commands to stop.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.nwahomepage.com/josh-duggar-trial/josh-duggar-found-guilty-in-child-pornography-trial/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/world/asia/new-zealand-smoking-ban.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/health/covid-booster-adolescents-fda-authorization/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/us/niagara-falls-woman-rescue/index.html?utm_source=trendbar
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/niagara-falls-coast-guard-pulls-woman-car-rapids-video/