Month: November 2022

Gabby Petito’s family was awarded $3M after they filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the parents of Brian Laundrie, who they believe killed their 22-year-old daughter last year. Months after Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt filed a civil suit in Sarasota County (where Brian’s parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, reside), a settlement was announced on Thursday, signed by Sarasota County Circuit Judge Hunter W. Carroll.

The suit alleged that the Laundries hindered the search for Petito and knew that she “had been murdered by their son,” who later died by suicide. Patrick Reilly, an attorney for Petito’s family, said: “The Petito family lost their daughter, and they were also denied the opportunity to confront her killer. No amount of money is sufficient to compensate the Petito family for the loss of their daughter, Gabby, at the hands of Brian Laundrie.” Brian Laundrie did not have $3 million at the time of his death and the settlement amount is “an arbitrary number.” The money will go toward the Gabby Petito Foundation, which was established after her August 2021 death.

Petito and Laundrie were on a cross-country trip when she disappeared. The engaged couple left Blue Point, New York, on July 2, 2021, in a 2012 Ford Transit van and documented their journey on YouTube and Instagram. They traveled to Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming before Petito was reported missing. Reports of altercations began to surface including one incident where police in Moab, Utah, responded to a report of a “domestic problem” between the pair. Petito stopped communicating with her family, and Laundrie returned to Florida alone with the van, which was recovered by North Port police at the home the couple shared with his parents. Wanted for questioning in Petito’s disappearance,Laundrie then vanished and his body was found in Florida in October 2021, a month after Petito was found dead in Wyoming. A coroner ruled Petito’s death a homicide and said she died by “manual strangulation.” Officials have said that Laundrie died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and left a note saying he was responsible for his fiancée’s death.

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A vehicle struck a group of Los Angeles County sheriff’s recruits while they were out for a training run early Wednesday in Southern California. The recruits were in the midst of a training run in Whittier, Calif., when they were struck around 6:26 a.m. PST, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said in a post on Facebook.

California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Charlie Sampson said about 75 recruits were running in formation northbound in the street when the southbound vehicle veered into the opposing lane and struck the victims. Those who were at the front of the formation could see the vehicle coming and were able to get out of the way, while those behind couldn’t see and took the brunt of the impact.

Authorities said 25 people were injured in the crash, including the driver, and that five recruits were in critical condition. In addition to the five who were critically injured, there were four with moderate injuries and 14 with minor injuries. Officials said Wednesday at a press conference that the driver — identified as a 22-year-old man from Diamond Bar, California — was going the wrong way on the road. According to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, the driver passed a field sobriety test and “blew a 0.0 on a breathalyzer … So, the cause of the accident, motive, anything, is unknown at this time.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement: “Our hearts are with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s recruits injured this morning while training to serve their communities. Jennifer and I send our best wishes for their recovery and stand with their loved ones and colleagues at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department during this difficult time.”

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Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell defeated challenger Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and was re-elected as Senate minority leader Wednesday with a vote of 37-10.

McConnell said at a news conference Wednesday that the Republican Party’s failure to pick up seats and win the majority in the Senate can be blamed on too much chaos and too much negativity by Republican candidates.  Said McConnell:  “Here’s the problem .. We underperformed among voters who did not like President Biden’s performance, among independents and among moderate Republicans who looked at us and concluded too much chaos, too much negativity, and we turned off a lot of these centrist voters, which is why I never predicted a red wave to begin with.”

McConnell’s secret ballot win over Scott happened after a motion by 16 GOP senators to delay the leadership election was defeated. GOP senators called for auditing the National Republican Senatorial Committee, after Sen. Scott accused former committee chair Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., of paying unauthorized and improper bonuses to committee staff in 2020. Citing a letter Scott sent to GOP senator’s seeking their votes, Scott reportedly said “it’s time for Senate Republican conference to be far more bold and resolute that we have been in the past.”

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Former President Donald Trump announced his third presidential run on Tuesday night from his Mar-a-Lago residence. Trump officially launched his campaign for president in 2024, filing papers with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday night in which he declared himself a candidate for the presidency, and established a new campaign committee.

Trump announced to a crowded ballroom: “In order to make America great again, I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States. This will not be my campaign. This will be our campaign. This is a task for a great movement. This is not for any one individual. This is a job for tens of thousands of people working together.” Trump added: “We are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation for millions of Americans,” speaking about President Joe Biden’s first two years running the nation. “I will ensure Joe Biden does not receive four more years … This campaign will be about issues, vision and success, and we will not stop, we will not quit, until we’ve achieved the highest goals and made our country greater than it has ever been before.”

Trump’s presidential announcement comes after many in the Republican Party urged the former president to postpone his campaign until after next month’s Georgia Senate runoff. Trump also may have to contend with the possibility of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis challenging him for the nomination. The 44-year-old DeSantis easily won re-election last week, and has already begun to gain support among some Republican politicians, who were disappointed with the poor showing of many Trump-endorsed candidates in the midterm elections. The Florida governor has reportedly met with donors and started assembling his own presidential campaign to challenge Trump for the GOP nomination.

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The White House has asked Congress to approve $37.7 billion in additional aid for Ukraine. The request for Ukraine assistance includes $21.7 billion for military, intelligence and other defense support, $14.5 billion in humanitarian aid and to help keep the Ukrainian government functioning, $900 million for health care and support services for Ukrainians living in the U.S. and $626 million for nuclear security support to Ukraine and for modernizing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. U.S. aid to Ukraine has already included tens of thousands of missiles and rockets for air defense and anti-armor systems, and more than 84 million rounds of ammunition, as well as drones, tanks, trucks, radars, body armor and other gear.

The White House has also requested a further $9.25 billion for COVID-19 response efforts. The coronavirus funding ask is considerably lower than the previous request of $22 billion, which reflects in part the changing nature of the virus and the continued effort to combat it. The request includes $2.5 billion for vaccines and therapeutics, $5 billion to support development of new vaccines, $750 million to support research into long COVID and $1 billion to combat the virus internationally.

Shalanda Young, the head of the White House budget office, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday: “Staying ahead of COVID-19. Supporting Ukraine’s fight to defend its sovereignty. Helping Americans who have borne the brunt of natural disasters. … I urge the Congress to address them as part of a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement in the weeks ahead.”

Congress has until Dec. 16 to agree on a budget or pass an interim measure to avoid a government shutdown.

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