Wednesday, September 25, 2024
It is Wednesday, September 25, 2024. Here are today’s top stories.
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Hurricane Helene to hit Florida
Hurricane Helene became a Category 1 hurricane this morning with wind speeds of around 80 mph. It is forecast to strengthen into a powerful Category 3 hurricane before making landfall somewhere along Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday evening between 6 and 10 p.m. NBC News said tomorrow night, there will be hurricane-force wind gusts on the I-10 corridor across Florida and southern Georgia. It is likely that there will be major wind damage and power outages along with flooding. The hurricane is expected to continue being a strong storm on Friday when it may push inland into Georgia and the Carolinas.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/live-blog/storm-helene-live-updates-rcna172604
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Missouri executes Marcellus Williams
Last night, the state of Missouri executed a 55-year-old man named Marcellus Williams, who was convicted of killing a former news reporter and community volunteer named Lisha Gayle in St. Louis in 1998. The execution, done via lethal injection, is controversial because multiple people, including the St. Louis prosecutor’s office that convicted Williams, said there is not enough evidence to know for sure that Williams is the killer and that he could be an innocent man.
The murder weapon, a knife, did not have Williams’ DNA on it but there was DNA on it that belonged to law enforcement members who touched it without wearing gloves. There were several witnesses that testified that Williams confessed to the murder but advocates said the witnesses may have been motivated by reward money. Williams had an extensive criminal history with multiple convictions for burglaries before he was accused of murder. The family of Gayle did not want Williams to be put to death but to serve life in prison.
Williams’ lawyers tried to get the Supreme Court to block the execution, but they declined. Missouri Gov. Parson said there was no merit in Williams’ innocence claims. The St. Louis' prosecutor's office said Williams should be alive today, saying “if there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence, the death penalty should never be an option.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/marcellus-williams-executed-lethal-injection-missouri-after-scotus/story
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FTX fraudster sentenced
On Tuesday, Caroline Ellison, who worked with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in defrauding thousands of cryptocurrency investors out of about $8 billion. Ellison testified against Bankman-Fried in a plea deal that reduced her sentence. She will have to report to prison on November 7. Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/24/sam-bankman-fried-caroline-ellison-sentenced-ftx-.html
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Hezbollah fires missile toward Tel Aviv
Hezbollah fired a missile towards Tel Aviv, Israel today but it was shot down. News reports said it is the first time that Hezbollah has targeted Tel Aviv. Most of their previous attacks targeted the northern Israel border. Hezbollah said it was targeting the headquarters of Mossad, which is an Israeli intelligence agency. Israel conducted more air attacks in Lebanon. This conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated rapidly since the pager and walkie-talkie explosions last week. Israel's military said they are preparing for a possible ground offensive into Lebanon. The U.N. said they are very concerned that Lebanon could become another Gaza.
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Ryan Routh charged with attempted assassination
Ryan Routh was formally charged with attempted assassination of a presidential candidate after he allegedly waited at a fence with a rifle where Donald Trump was playing golf on September 15. Routh was previously charged with gun violations. Prosecutors said on September 15, Routh was outside the fence near the sixth hole. A Secret Service agent on a golf cart was surveying the area because it was one hole ahead of where Trump was playing. That agent saw Routh’s face and the barrel of his gun and opened fire at him. Agents found a rifle equipped with a scope abounded at the scene and it had 12 bullets in it. Routh had already fled the scene. Routh’s fingerprints were on the gun. Prosecutors said Routh wrote a note to a friend that this was an assassination attempt on Trump but he failed.
Routh’s case was assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed federal judge who recently dismissed Trump’s classified documents case. Routh was ordered to stay behind bars until trial. If he is convicted, he may face life in prison.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/24/us/politics/trump-attempted-assassination-charges.html
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That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.