Ex-Army major in ‘combat mode’ brought down Colorado gunman
Richard M. Fierro was at a table in Club Q with his wife, daughter and friends on Saturday, watching a drag show, when the sudden flash of gunfire ripped across the nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His instincts from four combat deployments as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan kicked in. He charged through the chaos, tackled the gunman and beat him bloody with his own gun. “I don’t know exactly what I did, I just went into combat mode,” Fierro, 45, said Monday. Authorities said the gunman, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was being held on suspicion of five counts of murder.
Alabama suspends executions after lethal injection problems
Alabama’s governor issued a sweeping order Monday suspending all executions in the state and calling for a review of Alabama’s execution process after a series of problems delivering lethal injection drugs. The move by Gov. Kay Ivey comes four days after prison officials said they had been unable to insert one of two intravenous lines into Kenneth Eugene Smith before his death warrant expired at midnight. That episode was the third time this year in which Alabama executioners failed to reach a death row prisoner’s veins and the second time in less than two months that the problems forced the state to call off an execution.
Prosecution rests as Trump company trial moves faster than expected
Manhattan prosecutors rested their case in the tax fraud trial of Donald Trump’s family business Monday without calling a witness they had previously planned to question, an indication of confidence after the company’s longtime chief financial officer testified last week. Former CFO Allen H. Weisselberg admitted to his participation in a tax scheme with which the company, the Trump Organization, is also charged. Prosecutors decided not to call the other crucial witness, Donald Bender, who for years was an outside accountant for Trump and the company. Instead, Bender, who works for accounting firm Mazars USA, was called as a defense witness, taking the stand Monday afternoon.
Consumers could pay price if railroads, unions can’t agree
Consumers could quickly start seeing higher gas prices and shortages of some of their favorite groceries if railroads aren’t able to agree on contracts with al 12 of their unions ahead of next month’s deadline after the latest rejection vote Monday. Congress may ultimately have to step in to protect the economy. Monday’s votes by the two biggest railroad unions follows the decision by three other unions to reject their deals with the railroads that the Biden administration helped broker before the original strike deadline in September. Seven other smaller unions have approved the five-year deals that include 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. But all 12 must approve the contracts to prevent a strike.
Oregon’s governor pardons thousands for pot convictions
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has announced she is pardoning an estimated 45,000 people convicted of simple possession of marijuana, a month after President Joe Biden did the same under federal law. Biden has been calling on governors to issue pardons for those convicted of state marijuana offenses, which reflect the vast majority of marijuana possession cases. Biden’s pardon applied to those convicted under federal law and thousands convicted in the District of Columbia. Brown is also forgiving more than $14 million in unpaid fines and fees. Oregonians passed a ballot measure legalizing recreational use of marijuana in 2014.
Ukraine to civilians: Leave liberated areas before winter
Ukrainian authorities are evacuating civilians from liberated areas in the southern Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. They fear that infrastructure damage is too severe for people to endure the winter without power, heat and water. The World Health Organization warned that millions in Ukraine face a “life-threatening” winter. Also Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife made a rare joint public appearance to observe a moment of silence at a Kyiv memorial for those killed in Ukraine’s pro-European Union protests in 2014. And the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power planthad not damaged key equipment and identified no nuclear safety concerns.
Netanyahu awarded damages after a predecessor called him ‘mentally ill’
Even by the often toxic standards of Israeli political discourse, there are limits, a judge ruled Monday, awarding damages to the newly designated prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and members of his family in a libel suit they brought against former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who had described them as being “mentally ill.” The ruling ended a lurid courtroom drama during which Olmert brought witnesses to testify about goings-on in the Netanyahu household, including accusations of afflictions such as obsessive-compulsive behavior and paranoia. But Judge Amit Yariv found that Olmert failed to establish or produce any professional medical diagnosis to back up his assertions.
By wire sources
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