Police: 6-year-old shoots teacher in Virginia classroom
Police in the Virginia city of Newport News say a 6-year-old student shot and wounded a teacher at his school during an altercation inside a first-grade classroom. No students were injured during Friday’s shooting at Richneck Elementary School. Steve Drew, the city’s police chief, said this was not “a situation where someone was going around the school shooting.” One frightened parent said her “heart stopped” when she got a text message from the school saying one person was shot and another was in custody. Newport News is a city of about 185,000 people in southeastern Virginia known for its U.S. Navy shipyard.
Judge lets James’ lawsuit against Trump proceed
A New York judge declined Friday to throw out the state attorney general’s civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump, increasing the likelihood that he will face a trial this fall. Justice Arthur Engoron of state Supreme Court in Manhattan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the case, granting the attorney general, Letitia James, another victory in the matter. In September, James filed a lawsuit accusing Trump, three of his adult children and their family business of overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. The judge also rejected a separate attempt by Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who is named as a defendant, to dismiss the accusations against her.
Idaho Supreme Court upholds abortion bans
Idaho’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s prohibition on abortion in a ruling Thursday night that said the state constitution does not include a right to the procedure. The decision means the state’s three abortion bans — including one that outlaws the procedure from conception — can remain in effect. The ruling came just hours after South Carolina’s State Supreme Court went the other direction and overturned an abortion ban there. In the 3-2 ruling, the Idaho Supreme Court delivered a sweeping victory for abortion opponents by backing all three state laws restricting the procedure, marking the end of a monthslong court battle.
FDA approves new treatment for early Alzheimer’s
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new Alzheimer’s drug that may modestly slow the pace of cognitive decline early in the disease but also carries risks of swelling and bleeding in the brain. The approval of the drug, lecanemab, to be marketed as Leqembi, is likely to generate considerable interest from patients and physicians. Studies of the drug — an intravenous infusion administered every two weeks — suggest it is more promising than the scant number of other treatments available. Still, several Alzheimer’s experts said it was unclear from the medical evidence whether Leqembi could slow cognitive decline enough to be noticeable to patients.
Attacks continue in Ukraine despite Russia’s supposed cease-fire
There was no truce in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Friday. Russian artillery shells kept streaking overhead and thudding into Ukrainian-held territory through the afternoon and evening, just as they had for months, despite a supposed 36-hour cease-fire declared by Russia. There were scattered reports of attacks elsewhere in Ukraine, but the clearest contradiction of the promised lull in the fighting was in Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk province. The starting time of the supposed cease-fire, at noon Friday, came and went with no apparent letup in Moscow’s efforts to hammer the Ukrainians into giving up this small city.
Kenyan gay rights activist is killed
A gay activist and fashion designer was killed and his body found stuffed inside a metal box in Kenya, police said Friday, in another episode that raised questions about dangers and discrimination faced by gay people across the East African nation. Edwin Chiloba’s body was found in the box after it was dropped by the side of the road from a moving vehicle with no license plate in Uasin Gishu county in the country’s west. Peter Kimulwo, the county criminal investigations officer, said police have arrested Jackton Odhiambo, a 24-year-old male freelance photographer, who was a longtime friend of Chiloba’s and was visiting him from the capital, Nairobi.
Mexico gives account of violence after ‘Chapo’ son nabbed
The operation to detain Ovidio Guzman, the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, unleashed firefights that turned the northern city of Culiacan into a war zone with 30 dead. In a blow-by-blow description of the Thursday battles that killed 10 military personnel and 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval says cartel gunmen opened fire on troops with .50-caliber machine guns. The army responded by calling in Blackhawk helicopter gunships to attack a convoy of 25 cartel vehicles, including truck-mounted cartel gun platforms. The running shootouts also killed one Culiacan policeman, and wounded 17 police officers and 35 military personnel.
By wire sources
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