Wednesday, December 1 top stories
It is Wednesday, December 1. Here are four top stories.
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is in the U.S. The White House announced that a person in California who traveled from South Africa on November 22 and tested positive for the coronavirus on November 29 has the omicron strain. The person is now self-quarantined and their close contacts have tested negative so far. The person is fully vaccinated and has mild symptoms.
Here are updates on the high school shooting on Tuesday in Oxford, Michigan.
A fourth person died today, a 17-year-old teenager named Justin Shilling. He was one of the injured from the shooting, and died this morning.
The three other victims have been identified. They are Hana St. Juliana (14), Madisyn Baldwin (17), and Tate Myre (16).
The gunman has been identified as Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year-old sophomore. Police said the suspect’s father purchased the gun on Friday. There is an instagram post from four days ago by an account named “Ethan Crumbley” with a picture of a handgun with the caption, “Just got my new beauty today.”
Police said they haven’t been able to talk with the suspect because his parents have refused to allow it and hired a lawyer. Michigan law requires parental permission before police can talk with minors. Police said the school had a meeting with Crumbley and his parents the morning of the day of the shooting about “concerning behavior” in the classroom. After the meeting, the parents left and Crumbley went back to his classes.
Prosecutors said they will charge Crumbley with terrorism and first-degree murder. They are also considering charges against his parents.
Police said video from the school showed that the suspect was shooting at people at close range in a cold hearted and murderous way and tried to break through classroom doors that were barricaded.
There is a video of students in an ASL class crouching under their desks. The teacher, Moises Cortez, is seen walking to a shut door. A voice from outside said they were from the sheriff’s office and that it’s safe to come out. The teacher said he was not willing to take that risk. The person on the other side said, “Open the door, it’s all right, bro.” The students said it was a red flag because police wouldn’t normally say, “bro,” and the students rushed to escape from a classroom window. Many people have hailed the teacher, Cortez, as a hero. It’s not confirmed if the person on the other side was the shooter, but police said it was possible.
The school will be closed for the rest of the week.
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The Supreme Court heard arguments today on Mississippi’s law that bans abortions after 15 weeks. Axios reporters said the court signaled through their questioning that they may be supportive of the ban, which means abortion rights could be weakened if the court sides with Mississippi. Axios said it could mean that in the future, states would decide whether they want to allow or ban abortion. A key question is whether the idea of “viability” at 24 weeks — which means that a fetus would be able to survive outside of the womb after that threshold — still makes sense. That threshold was established by Roe v. Wade many years ago. The court usually issues its decisions in June.
On Tuesday CNN said it is suspending their host Chris Cuomo indefinitely over new information about how much he tried to help his brother Andrew Cuomo, the then-governor of New York, deal with allegations of sexual harassment. CNN said they did not realize the depths that Chris went to. The new documents from a New York state investigation found that Cuomo used his media network to let Andrew’s team know in advance if there were new news stories about allegations and even pursued a tip that one of the accusers were lying. CNN said they would evaluate the situation further.
That’s all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/school-shooting-oxford-high-school-michigan-fourth-victim-dies/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/01/us/michigan-oxford-high-school-shooting-wednesday/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/01/us/michigan-oxford-high-school-shooting-wednesday/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/01/health/us-omicron-variant-confirmed-case/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/business/media/chris-cuomo-suspended-cnn.html