Wednesday, November 2 top stories
It is Wednesday, November 2. Here are today’s top stories.
Pelosi attack suspect appears in court
David DePape, who is charged with breaking into the Pelosi household in San Francisco on Friday morning and attempting to murder Paul Pelosi with a hammer, made his first court appearance on Tuesday to answer for state charges.
Prosecutors said DePape had plans to take Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, as a hostage and to break her kneecaps. Nancy was not at home at the time. DePape told police that he was on a “suicide mission” and planned to target more politicians.
Prosecutors said police officers arrived a few minutes after receiving an emergency 911 call for help and saw DePape strike Paul over the head with a hammer before rushing to subdue him. Paul was unresponsive for three minutes and regained consciousness in a pool of his own blood.
Reuters reported that DePape had an arm sling supporting his right arm. His public defender said he sustained a dislocated shoulder when he was arrested. DePape pleaded not guilty to his charges. He was ordered to remain jailed without bond.
Paul is still in a hospital recovering from surgeries on his skull fracture and injuries to his hands and right arm. He is 82 years old. Nancy said it will be a long recovery process.
The Washington Post explained that there are security cameras trained on the Pelosi home with monitoring by the U.S. Capitol Police that captured the attack in real-time but officers did not notice the incident until they realized there were local police around the Pelosi home. That video has not been released to the public.
NBC News Bay Area did an interview with DePape’s boss, who hired DePape to help him build decks for about six years. The boss said he noticed that DePape had signs of mental illness and would talk about conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, Pizzagate, or that the election was stolen. The boss last saw DePape when he paid him three days before the Friday attack. The boss said he is shocked and never thought he would resort to violence.
North Korea fires 23 missiles
North Korea fired 23 missiles today with at least one of them landing close to its sea border with South Korea and about 100 miles away from the South Korean island of Ulleungdo. It caused air raid sirens to go off on the island.
In response, South Korea’s military launched missiles toward the same sea border area. South Korea’s president said they would make North Korea face consequences.
In separate news, U.S. intelligence said they have evidence that North Korea has been secretly supplying Russia with artillery shells to support its war in Ukraine.
CVS, Walgreens to pay $5B each to settle opioid lawsuits
Axios reported that CVS and Walgreens announced agreements to pay about $5 billion each to settle lawsuits over how its pharmacies handled prescriptions for addictive opioid painkillers.
There was a series of lawsuits from a group of states and Native American tribes. CVS will make payments to states, municipalities, and tribes over 10 years and Walgreens will make payments over the next 15 years.
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Washington Commanders owner may sell team
News reports said Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder has hired Bank of America to help explore possible transactions — to possibly sell the team. The NFL franchise is valued at $5.6 billion. Synder is one of the NFL’s most controversial owners and is currently under investigation by Congress and the NFL for sexual harassment and financial misconduct.
CNBC said the NFL said any deal would have to go through its finance committee and would require the approval of 24 of the NFL’s 32 teams.
Prosecutors: Iowa teenagers killed teacher over bad grades
Prosecutors in Jefferson County, Iowa said two high school students killed their high school Spanish teacher because they were frustrated over a bad grade. The teenagers’ names are Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale. They are accused of murdering Nohema Graber last November when they were both 16 years old.
Authorities said Graber was found in a park and that she was beaten to death with a baseball bat. Police said Graber usually drove her van to a park to take walks after working at the school. On the day she died, witnesses saw two males driving Graber's vehicle away from the park. Graber was 66 years old.
Prosecutors said Miller said in a police interview that he was frustrated with how Graber taught Spanish and that the grade he received lowered his GPA. A review of Goodale’s Snapchat showed that he worked with Miller to kill the teacher.
Both teenagers pleaded not guilty. They are now both 17 and will be tried as adults. One of their trials will take place in December and the other in March.
Fed raises rates another .75 point
ABC News said the Federal Reserve announced it would raise its short-term borrowing rate another 0.75% to try and cool down inflation. ABC said this is another aggressive move in a string of borrowing cost increases in recent months in an attempt to choke off demand, but that the move risks tipping the U.S. into a recession and putting millions out of work.
Mortgage rates are at a 20-year high and the Fed’s move means they’ll only continue to stay high. Job growth in the U.S. has been strong in recent months. Financial experts told ABC that there are conflicting signals on the health of the U.S. economy and that the Fed has a tough job.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/suspect-hammer-attack-paul-pelosi-due-court-san-francisco-2022-11-01/
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/boss-recalls-david-depape-pelosi-attack/3064437/
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/02/north-korea-russia-artillery-shells-ukraine-war
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/02/cvs-reaches-5-billion-deal-to-settle-opioid-lawsuits