Month: November 2023

A SWAT team member and three others were killed after a man barricaded himself in a house in Austin, Texas along with two hostages before opening fire on police officers.

Interim Chief of Police Robin Henderson announced at a press conference that the violent scene unfolded in South Austin, when Austin Police SWAT officers forced entry into the home where the man was allegedly armed with a knife and gun and two trapped hostages. , Henderson said that one woman who managed to escape called police for help, saying that she had been stabbed. Officers responded to the call and forced entry inside but backed out when the suspect opened fire before the SWAT team was then called.

Two officers who were shot were transported to the hospital, with one officer succumbing to his injuries, with the other in stable condition, said Henderson. The suspect and two other victims who were still barricaded inside the home were all pronounced dead at the scene.

The fatal shooting marks the first time in a decade that an Austin Police Department officer was killed in the line of duty, according to reports, and marks the first time in over a decade in which an Austin officer was shot and killed in the line of duty. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said in a post on X: “This is a horrible moment for our city and those who protect us. I thank these courageous public servants and ask that our community hold them close, support them, respect them, and lift them up in prayer.”

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Officials confirmed that a Nashville college student has died a day after she was shot in the head by a stray bullet while walking on a trail near the campus of Belmont University.  The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a news release that the Belmont University freshman, 18-year-old Jillian Ludwig of New Jersey, was shot Tuesday afternoon as she walked on a track in Edgehill Memorial Gardens Park. She was taken to the hospital in extremely critical condition after a passerby found her lying on the ground. The department later shared on social media Thursday morning: “Sadly, Jillian Ludwig passed away during the night.”

A suspect is in custody in the shooting, which happened around 2:24 p.m. Shaquille Taylor, 29, was quickly identified as a suspect and taken into custody. Police said the gunfire came from a public housing unit across the street from the park and that Taylor was allegedly shooting at a car when a stray bullet struck Ludwig. Taylor was charged with aggravated assault and evidence tampering and is being held on a $280,000 bond. Police said Thursday they were in discussion with the district attorney’s office about modifying his charges.

Authorities said the suspect had previously been released for incompetence to stand trial in a separate shooting. At the time of Ludwig’s shooting, Taylor had a warrant for failing to appear in court stemming from a Sept. 21 arrest in a grocery store parking lot. Taylor was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck that had been carjacked by two men wearing ski masks on Sept. 16. Taylor, who did not admit to being involved in the carjacking, was charged with felony auto theft and was released on a $20,000 bond.

Ludwig was a freshman music business major and was remembered by the university as an “engaged member of our community” who loved “music and its incredible power.” Belmont University President Lorentz Gregory Jones shared: “This is a lot for us all to process. We grapple now with grief, anger, anxiety and a strong sense of fear in the face of senseless violence.”

Ludwig’s family said they were “beyond devastated” by her death, saying: “Jillian was a creative, compassionate, fearless young woman. She was thriving in her freshman year of college and on the cusp of so many successes. She was senselessly robbed of those opportunities and we will miss her dearly every day forever.”

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On Thursday, health officials in Puerto Rico declared an influenza epidemic in the U.S. territory. Health officials said there were plenty of vaccines, tests and treatments available on the island; however, the island has struggled with a deteriorating health care system, which experts say was worsened by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Fiona last September.

Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico, Carlos Mellado López, said on social media:“Today we declared an influenza epidemic after registering a sustained increase in cases, hospitalizations and fatalities throughout the island of people infected with the virus. The call is to join the prevention measures to confront the spread of this virus.”

Mellado said that at least 25,900 cases have been reported since July, with 42 deaths and more than 900 hospitalizations on the island of 3.2 million people. Epidemiologist Melissa Marzán noted that officials have seen nearly six times more cases so far this year compared with the same period last year; Mellado said that those who are 0 to 19 years old have been most affected, with more than 13,600 cases reported in that population.

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Chairman James Comer of the House Oversight Committee announced that President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden; his brother, James Biden; and Hunter Biden’s business associate Rob Walker were subpoenaed, demanding they appear for depositions. Other Biden family members were asked to sit for interviews Wednesday in the House Oversight Committee’s ongoing presidential impeachment inquiry.

The subpoenas are in relation to the panel’s ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Biden; the committee had previously subpoenaed banks for records belonging to Hunter and James Biden. Biden’s son, Hunter, was called to appear for a deposition on Dec. 13. Biden’s brother James and business associate Rob Walker are scheduled for Dec. 6 and Nov. 29, respectively.

In addition to the subpoenas, the committee is requesting transcribed interviews with other Biden family members and associates, including both Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen, and the widow of Beau Biden, Hallie Biden. Also asked for transcribed interviews were James Biden’s wife, Sara; Elizabeth Secundy, the older sister of Hallie Biden; and Tony Bobulinski a former business associate of Hunter Biden.

Comer said: “The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence revealing how Joe Biden knew, was involved, and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes. Now, the House Oversight Committee is going to bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence.”  The committee said: “The Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $24 million from foreign nationals over the course of approximately five years — including millions of dollars from China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan. The Bidens and their associates made complicated financial transactions to conceal the source and total amount of money they received from foreign nationals and companies.”

White House spokesman Ian Sams said the ongoing inquiry has “turned up no evidence to support their outlandish allegations of bribery and ‘high crimes and misdemeanors .. Instead of using the power of Congress to pursue a partisan political smear campaign against the president and his family, extreme House Republicans should do their jobs.”

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Former president Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, testified Wednesday that she was not involved in fraudulent Trump Organization financial statements. Ivanka Trump’s testimony began Wednesday in the New York civil business fraud trial against her father, brothers and the Trump Organization, where she stated she had not worked for the business since 2017.

When Ivanka was asked about a financial statement that has been deemed fraudulent by Judge Arthur Engoron, she said she was not involved and doesn’t know what valuations it contained; however under questioning by the New York attorney general’s office lawyer Louis Solomon, Ivanka Trump admitted she was paid a profit from the Trump Organization 2022 sale of the Old Post Office Building in Washington. Ivanka Trump repeatedly replied “I don’t recall” while on the witness stand, when asked about documents as well as letters and emails she wrote presented to her by the attorney general’s lawyer questioning her. As Solomon continued his questioning about business transactions more than a decade old, Ivanka Trump told Solomon she had given him the same answers to these questions a year and a half ago.

Ivanka Trump was dropped as a defendant in the case when an appeals court ruled her work at the Trump Organization happened too long ago; however, New York Attorney General Letitia James told reporters Wednesday morning that Ivanka is “inextricably tied to the Trump Organization.” Ivanka Trump once served as the executive vice president of the Trump Organization before she became a senior White House adviser after Trump won the 2016 election, forcing her to step away from her role in the family business.

Ivanka is the last Trump to testify in the penalty phase of the $250 million civil fraud trial against her father Donald Trump after he was found liable for inflating the value of his real estate properties in New York. Since her father left office in 2021, Ivanka Trump has neither sought public office nor taken part in his 2024 campaign.

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