Month: February 2022

Police in Texas confirmed that a shooting spree in Corsicana, Texas killed four people (including a child), and injured three others before the gunman took his own life. Officers said the gunman was responsible for two homicides each, at two different scenes, along with injuring three people.

Corsicana Chief of Police Robert Johnson said in a statement that a 911 caller reported around midnight Friday that a suspect had allegedly killed his family. Officers found a man and woman dead from gunshot wounds at the home, and two additional gunshot victims were taken by air ambulance to a Dallas-area trauma center.

Early on Saturday morning, the Navarro County Sheriff’s Department responded to a separate location about 20 miles away, where they found the bodies of a man and child, both dead from gunshot wounds, and a woman with multiple gunshot wounds, who was transported to a Dallas-area trauma center. Police confirm the gunman was “critically injured from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” after a pursuit of his vehicle. He was transported to Navarro Regional Hospital where he died from his injuries.

The release of the names of the deceased victims was pending notification of next of kin.

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Eighteen people were rescued Sunday afternoon from an ice floe that broke away from land near Catawba Island on Lake Erie in northwest Ohio.  According to the U.S Coast Guard, the ice floe broke away from land while people were snowmobiling and riding ATVs on the lake just after 12 p.m.

The Coast Guard said rescue efforts began around 1 p.m., when a helicopter from Air Station Detroit noticed the people with ATVs trapped on an ice floe and looking for a route back to land. The helicopter lowered a rescue swimmer and began hoisting operations while an airboat from Station Marblehead was brought in for assistance. The helicopter hoisted seven people from the ice floe, four were rescued by the airboat and the seven were rescued by the civilian with the airboat. None of the people rescued required medical attention, according to the Coast Guard.

The National Weather Service in Cleveland said on Sunday that it had been “warning about this potential yesterday, and can see ice chunks drifting away from the southern shoreline of Lake Erie on satellite. We strongly urge people not to venture out onto Lake Erie this afternoon!”

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President Biden joined New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday to discuss violent crime and rising gun violence in the city since the start of the pandemic, along with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Mayor Adams, a former police officer, ran a ‘tough on crime’ platform in his campaign for mayor.  Adams said on Thursday: “We’re going to stop gun trafficking from coming into our city, get illegal guns off the streets, and lock up those who carry them.”

The President said he is focused on combatting gun violence with a plan laid out by The White House, which includes additional funding to “put more cops on the beat,” more “investment in violence prevention and intervention” and more “help from the federal government to try to stop illegal gun traffickers.”  Said Biden: “The answer is not to defund the police, it’s to give you the tools the training the funding to be partners, to be protectors.” 

Adams has pointed to an influx of guns into cities as a catalyst to rising crime, especially after two NYPD officers were killed by a suspect with a stolen gun.  Last month Adams also introduced a “Blueprint to End Gun Violence,” which includes plans to revive a plainclothes anti-gun unit in the NYPD that was disbanded in 2020 and calls for more restrictive bail laws and an option to charge teenagers as adults in some gun cases.

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A severe winter storm caused major disruptions on Thursday, cancelling thousands of flights and knocking out power to customers in Tennessee and Texas. By Thursday afternoon, at least 5,800 flights were canceled, according to FlightAware.  In addition, nearly 124,000 customers were without power in Tennessee, while approximately 60,000 had lost power in Texas.

The National Weather Service warned that widespread heavy snow and freezing rain could produce flash floods across portions of the south The weather service said the storm is impacting parts of the country, from North Texas to New York,  and is forecast to continue well into Friday.

Cities in Illinois and Michigan had a foot of snow in the storm’s first wave; and parts of Indiana expected up to 18 inches of snow. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned of treacherous roads and possible power outages, saying: “Either ice on power lines … could cause a power line to go down, or it could be ice on trees that causes a tree to fall on power lines.”  Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a weather state of emergency, closing state office buildings and issuing an executive order to protect Kentucky residents from price gouging during the emergency.

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Jeff Zucker has resigned as president of CNN Worldwide, effective immediately. The 56-year-old Zucker announced his resignation in a staff memo on Wednesday, explaining that the decision for him to resign was made after he failed to disclose a “consensual relationship” with a colleague.

The statement read in part: “As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years. I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong. As a result, I am resigning today.”  Zucker did not disclose the colleague’s identity, but the network confirmed his relationship was with chief marketing officer Allison Gollust, who will continue to remain at the company.

Zucker added: “I came to CNN on January 28, 2013. Together we had nine great years. I certainly wish my tenure here had ended differently. But it was an amazing run. And I loved every minute.  I am grateful to the thousands of incredibly talented CNN and Turner Sports employees who helped make this such a joy for me, and such a success for all of us. I wish each of you nothing but the best in the years ahead.”

Zucker served as president and CEO of NBCUniversal before taking the role of president of CNN Worldwide. Zucker was married to Caryn Nathanson from 1996 to 2019; the former couple share four children together.

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President Biden has agreed to deploy 3,000 additional U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to support NATO and Ukraine to dissuade Russia from any kind of military intervention in Ukraine.  The deployment follows talks between U.S. and Russian officials and a meeting of the United Nations Security Council this week over the Ukraine crisis.

The deployments include 1,000 who will be moving from Germany to Romania, and 2,000 from the U.S. who will head to Germany and Poland. On Wednesday morning, the Pentagon emphasized that the troop movement was temporary and that they would not deploy to Ukraine. ,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday: “I want to be very clear about something. These are not permanent moves. They are designed to respond to the current security environment. Moreover, these forces are not going to fight in Ukraine. They’re going to ensure the robust defense of our NATO allies.”

The Pentagon has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could launch an invasion of Ukraine at any time.  President Biden has said no U.S. troops would deploy to Ukraine if Russia were to invade, but the administration did say it could deploy troops to the region even before an invasion. The U.S. and its partners in NATO have already sent assets to the region in a show of support. The U.S. has also put 8,500 stateside troops on heightened alert to deploy to Eastern Europe in case NATO activates its shared NATO Response Force, but the alliance has not yet activated it.

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