Author: rpnadmin

The parents of a 7-year-old Michigan boy who weighed 255 pounds when he died have been charged with murder, torture and child abuse, prosecutors said. “Clearly the parents were feeding the child improperly, to say the least,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said Monday. “He wasn’t getting the nutrition he needed.” Casper O’Brien died last November after first responders were called to the family’s home in Flint because he’d stopped breathing, prosecutors said. His parents – Damien O’Brien, 40, and Jessica O’Brien, 41 – have each been charged with second-degree murder, torture and three counts of second-degree child abuse. The…

Arkansas is moving forward with its plan to ban government food aid from being used to buy candy and soda beginning on Wednesday, even though a federal judge ruled last week that similar restrictions in other states violated federal law. Announcing the plan on Monday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited an urgent need to combat a “chronic disease epidemic” in America, including high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. On one floor of the state’s Department of Human Services, “our state has been approving food stamp purchases for soft drinks and candy, while on another floor, our state’s Medicaid…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico’s governor said Monday that state officials could pursue billions of dollars in civil damages after revelations that U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents repeatedly allowed shipments of fentanyl to flow into drug-plagued communities as investigators sought to build bigger cases. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vowed to take her outrage “right to the White House and Congress” to seek assurances the DEA is no longer using the risky law enforcement strategy in New Mexico – and that it is not being replicated elsewhere. Overdoses have surged in New Mexico, even as fentanyl deaths declined in other…

NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione’s federal trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson will now begin in January instead of the fall, a judge said Monday at a hearing that started late because Mangione got stuck in a courthouse elevator. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said she was postponing the federal trial so Mangione’s lawyers can focus on his state murder trial, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8. Jury selection in the federal case will begin on Jan. 5, instead of Oct. 13, followed by opening statements and testimony on Jan. 25, instead of Nov. 4,…

DES MOINES, Iowa — Summer camp and other outdoor activities were canceled or delayed Monday as a heat wave held its grip on the Midwest and spread eastward. Communities opened cooling centers and urged people to take it easy and stay hydrated. “Overall, we’re looking at just a really hot and humid pattern. It’s going to be with us through most of the week,” Andrew Ansorge, a meteorologist in Des Moines, Iowa, said of the first prolonged period of heat this summer. Much of Iowa and big chunks of the Midwest were under an extreme heat warning through at least…

The Supreme Court declined Monday to take up President Trump’s appeal in a defamation dispute with former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. Without comment, the justices refused to hear Mr. Trump’s appeal of a $5 million dollar defamation ruling in favor of Ms. Carroll, who accused the president of sexual assault during the 1990s during his first term in office. “Carroll waited more than 20 years to falsely accuse Donald Trump, who she politically opposes, until after he became the 45th President, when she could maximize political injury to him and profit for herself,” read a petition from Mr. Trump’s…

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a major election dispute next term regarding whether Arizona can require proof of citizenship when registering people to vote. After the 2020 election, Arizona required applicants to provide proof of citizenship on the state voter registration form.  Part of that supervision requires state election officials to review voter rolls and remove noncitizens from the list. Immigration advocacy groups challenged the state’s move. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided against the state, reasoning the National Voter Registration Act banned state officials from requiring proof of citizenship. That decision prompted the Republican National…

FORTUNA, Calif. — The remains of at least 117 dogs were found on the grounds of a California “no-kill” animal shelter, many of them with gunshot wounds, authorities said. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that it also discovered 21 canine skulls, hundreds of bones and other remains during searches at Miranda’s Rescue Animal Sanctuary, a 50-acre facility in Fortuna, California. Investigators combing the site on Thursday located an area in a barn where they believe dogs were likely killed, the sheriff’s office said. More than 600 dog collars were found nearby, the office said. Sheriff William Honsal called…

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — A mix of rescue teams and civilians on Sunday peered at a mountain of rubble almost indistinguishable from the other ruins lining swathes of the northern Venezuelan coast following two devastating earthquakes. In the days since Wednesday’s devastating 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, search teams and locals had believed that there were no signs of life under the concrete mass in La Guaira state, one of the hardest-hit areas. Then on Sunday came a burst of movement. A pair of dust-coated legs was pulled out of a hole by rescue teams from Virginia, France and Venezuela. Teams…

For America at large, the idea of delivering packages by drone is relatively new and exciting. For prison officials, however, it’s long been a reality — and a dangerous one at that. Smugglers have kept some prisons supplied with a steady stream of drugs, cell phones and, in some instances, escape tools such as saw blades. Federal authorities struck back last week, busting what they said was the most sophisticated prison drone operation on record, charging a dozen people with smuggling into at least 10 federal prisons. Drone smuggling at prisons, particularly in Georgia, has gotten so bad that the…