Wednesday, October 27 top stories
It is Wednesday, October 27. Here are today’s top stories.
A judge in Wisconsin who is overseeing the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two men in the middle of chaotic protests in Kenosha last year over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, said the two men who died cannot be referred to as “victims.” That ruling has caused controversy.
Rittenhouse’s trial is set to begin next week.
He is facing homicide charges over the deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, who were seen in videos chasing down Rittenhouse and trying to confront him while he was holding a large AR-15 style rifle. Rittenhouse shot at them at close range in two separate areas on a street. A third man, Gaige Grosskreutz, was wounded in the arm.
The judge, Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder, said the term “victim” can only be used after the alleged attacker is convicted of a crime. The judge said he would only allow such terms as, “complaining witness” or “decedent.”
The judge said defense attorneys can call the men who died “arsonists,” rioters” or “looters” in court. Prosecutors said there is a double standard because there isn’t evidence to show that the men who died were engaged in arson, rioting, or looting.
Rittenhouse was 17 at the time of the shooting. He went to Kenosha from his home state of Illinois to join a group of armed men who said they would protect businesses from protesters.
A FDA panel endorsed the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 on Tuesday. Last week Pfizer said the vaccine, which is given in two shots three weeks apart and consists of only a third of the vaccine dose that those ages 12 and older receive, is more than 90% effective in protecting children from symptoms from the virus. The risks of the vaccine is a small chance of heart inflammation in children, but the panel said the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks of severe illness or death from the coronavirus. Now it’s up to the head of the FDA to give the final “OK” before the vaccine study goes to the CDC for the next round of approvals.
Moderna said on Monday that its vaccine trials for those ages 6 to 11 shows that the vaccine creates a robust immune response after two doses. Moderna plans to submit its study to the FDA in the near future. Moderna’s trials involved over 4,700 children who received half the vaccine doses that adults receive.
Today the Santa Fe County Sheriff gave a news conference on the fatal shooting on the “Rust” film set. They said a “lead projectile” — a bullet — was recovered from the director Joel Souza’s shoulder. It appears that it is the same bullet that went into cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ torso, which killed her. Actor Alec Baldwin used a Long Colt .45 revolver and was practicing drawing the gun for a scene when he fired it. There is no footage of the shooting. The sheriff said they gathered about 500 rounds of ammunition from the film set, which is a mixture of blanks and what they suspect are live rounds. The sheriff said he thinks there was “some complacency on this set” and there are some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry and possibly by the state of New Mexico. The investigation is still ongoing and the local district attorney said they haven’t ruled out potential criminal charges.
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Local news in Houston said the mother of three children who were found living alone in an apartment with a corpse of their 8-year-old brother was arrested, along with her boyfriend, and was charged with various crimes. The mother, Gloria Williams, was charged with injury to a child by omission and the boyfriend, Brian Coulter, is charged with murder. On Sunday the oldest sibling, a 15-year-old teenager, called 911 to say that he and his two younger brothers were living alone in an apartment with a corpse. When police arrived at the apartment, they saw that the three brothers were malnourished and that the corpse was under a blanket. Investigators said they believe the mother’s boyfriend beat the 8-year-old boy to death and then the mother and the boyfriend moved out to another apartment 15 minutes away, abandoning the three children for several months. A neighbor of the children said they gave them food for six months but didn’t realize what was going on. A school district filed truancy papers against the mother in 2019 and 2020, and there was someone who visited the apartment in September 2020, but nobody answered the door. The coronavirus pandemic and shutdowns is partially blamed for nobody noticing that the children were suffering. The children are likely going to be placed under the custody of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Sara Blakely, who is the founder and CEO of Spanx, a clothing company, announced that she would give two first class tickets and $10,000 in cash to all employees in the company. Blakely made the announcement after her company received an estimated $1.2 billion deal with an investment firm called Blackstone.
Blakely said she is doing this because she is inspired at how far she’s come as a female entrepreneur and wanted all employees to be able to celebrate this moment in their own way. A video on Instagram of the surprise announcement showed many employees crying in joy and dancing.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/26/1049458617/kyle-rittenhouse-victims-arsonists-looters-judge-ruled
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/26/1049340376/spanx-ceo-sara-blakely-first-class-plane-tickets-and-10000
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/alec-baldwin-shooting-bullet-investigators/