Wednesday, October 20 top stories
It is Wednesday, October 20. Here are today’s top stories.
Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida in 2018, made a court appearance today to plead guilty to 17 first-degree murder charges. The judge named each of the 14 students and 3 staff that died when asking whether Cruz pleaded guilty or not.
The judge also named 17 people who were wounded when asking for Cruz’s plea for attempted murder charges – Cruz also pleaded guilty to all of them.
Cruz was 19 years old when he opened fire at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Cruz said in the court that he is sorry for what he did. His guilty pleas means there will be no trial. Cruz still can be sentenced to death, but his attorney said they would argue against the death penalty. News reports explained that there will be a jury that will make a recommendation on whether Cruz should receive the death penalty.
USA Today reported that the judge sentenced Cruz to almost 26 years in prison for attacking a jail guard about nine months after the Parkland shooting. This is separate from the shooting case. So Cruz is already facing 26 years in prison at a minimum, and it is likely that he will get several life terms in prison or as mentioned earlier the death penalty.
Today news reports said law enforcement found several items belonging to Brian Laundrie at a Florida park. The FBI said they have found “items of interest” at the Carlton reserve. A coroner and a cadaver dog were spotted on the scene, but there is no information yet on whether a body was found. News videos showed a white tent set up in the middle of a treed area.
Law enforcement and the FBI have been searching for Laundrie since he was named a person of interest in connection to the murder of his fiancee Gabby Petito. There is a warrant out for Laundrie’s unauthorized use of Petito’s credit card after her death.
The couple was traveling around the country in a van when Petito went missing in the middle of August. Her body was found on September 19 in Wyoming and her cause of death was strangulation. We will know more later about the items found in the park.
On Tuesday, Dr. Rachel Levine, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health, became the first openly transgender four-star officer in the U.S.’ eight uniformed services after she was sworn in to become the first female four-star admiral for the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Levine will lead 6,000 Public Health Service officers, who are tasked with working with federal agencies during health crises and natural disasters. Levine said she hopes her appointment is the “first of many like it as we create a more inclusive future.”
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The White House said 28 million children ages 5 to 11 will soon be able to get their Covid-19 vaccines at their doctor’s office, local pharmacy, or possibly at their schools after the FDA and CDC authorizes the Pfizer shot in a few weeks. The vaccines’ doses and needles are smaller. The White House said they are already working on logistics to make millions of doses quickly go out across the country. The vaccine would need two doses three weeks apart. AP News said the current timeline with the vaccines means children would begin being fully vaccinated by Christmas.
CBS News said there is a growing number of police officers and firefighters who are willing to lose their jobs by not complying with Covid-19 vaccine mandates. About 20 firefighters in Washington state were fired. In Massachusetts, the state police union said about 150 state police officers will resign rather than get the vaccine. CBS News said police officers and firefighters were hoping they would be allowed to be unvaccinated but take weekly testing, but many states and regions are taking an “all or nothing” approach.
It’s important to note here that Covid-19 is currently the leading cause of death for officers with at least 476 police officers nationwide dying from the virus since the start of the pandemic. To compare, in the same time period, 94 police officers died from gunfire.
Many states’ vaccine mandates were announced weeks ago with deadlines taking place between now and November 1, so we will be seeing a lot more news of first responders leaving their jobs because they refuse to get vaccinated. About 190 million Americans are fully vaccinated.
On Tuesday night the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol voted unanimously to hold former Trump advisor Steve Bannon in contempt for ignoring a subpoena. Former president Donald Trump said he would challenge the committee on the subpoenas because he has executive privilege, and it seems like Bannon is using that challenge to defy the subpoena. President Joe Biden declined Trump’s wish to invoke executive privilege, but Trump has filed a lawsuit to block the release of documents and communications from the White House around the time of January 6. There will be a full House vote today to hold Bannon in contempt and he could be referred to the Justice Department for criminal charges. Bannon could face a fine, jail time, or both.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/20/us/brian-laundrie-update-gabby-petito/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brian-laundrie-search-10-20-21/index.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rachel-levine-transgender-four-star-admiral/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-vaccine-mandate-first-responders-fired/