Local News

‘America’s Most Wanted’ returns

NEW YORK -- In a clip from the premiere of Fox's fresh take on " America's Most Wanted," a series where viewers are told about crimes in the hope of leading to an arrest, new host Elizabeth Vargas examines a 3D avatar of a suspect who appears to be standing next to her on set. "Standing next to him you can learn a lot," said Vargas, circling the likeness of a male. "One of the first things, he's on the tall side." Vargas said these renderings are actually far more specific. "Our viewers can see distinctive tattoos or scars or moles or even, for example, a distinctive way of walking," said the host in a recent interview. Vargas, who covered countless crimes in past jobs including hosting ABC's "World News Tonight" and "20/20," said she "couldn't be more excited" for this opportunity to help close the loop on some of these cases. "We used to get a lot of viewer reaction but we weren't set up to handle any of those tips. I mean, what we just did was call up the detective on the case and say, 'Let me forward this to you,'" she said. "Now I get to tell the stories and ask the audience for help." The series will also take advantage of the advancements in DNA research. "With all these people on DNA database and the fact that law enforcement can figure out if the DNA at a crime scene. .. It's extraordinary." "America's Most Wanted" was previously hosted by John Walsh who became a victim's rights advocate after his six-year-old son, Adam, was kidnapped and murdered in 1981. It aired on Fox for 25 seasons before its cancellation in 2011. It was then picked up by Lifetime for a short run. The show helped to capture more than 1,100 criminals -- including 17 on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. It's also helped reunite 43 missing children with their families.

168 unreported deaths in W.Va.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday that an estimated 168 coronavirus deaths went unreported, throwing into question the data that officials used to justify lifting pandemic restrictions. Justice said officials discovered that 70 facilities -- mostly hospitals and nursing homes -- did not report the deaths to the state's health department. The Republican governor on Monday had heralded a sharp drop in COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of the year, metrics health officials cited to support the governor easing restrictions on businesses. "This is absolutely not acceptable," Justice said. "I'm really sorry." Dr. Ayne Amjad, the state's health officer, said officials are waiting to find out if there are more unreported deaths. She blamed it on facilities not filling out death reports online to the state's health department in a timely matter. With the prior data, the state was ranked 33rd among states for most deaths per capita, according to Johns Hopkins. That could change once the unreported deaths are counted. The health department's public data currently shows 2,330 total deaths -- which does not include the 168. Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations declined over the past two months, according to current state data, which led Justice to lift capacity restrictions on businesses and allow larger social gatherings last week.

Dark, angry message sent

BEIRUT -- It's an expression of anger but also of helplessness: Anti-government protesters in Lebanon are burning tires to block key roads, releasing dense palls of smoke that rise above the capital of Beirut and other parts of the country. The tactic has become the hallmark of a new flare-up of demonstrations against an intransigent political class that appears to do little as Lebanon slides toward political and economic abyss. The country is mired in the worst economic crisis in its modern history, and the situation has been exacerbated by pandemic restrictions and an overwhelmed health care sector. "The fire releases our anger. It quiets our hearts," said Mounir Hujairi, a 23-year-old protester from Baalbek in northeastern Lebanon, who juggles his time between low-paying day jobs and protests. The tire soot and smoke blacken the faces of protesters in anti-virus masks at makeshift roadblocks that cut off traffic around Beirut and between cities. The persistence of the protesters and the daily burning of tires underscore how intractable the country's problems have become.

Hertz sued for untimely receipt

LANSING, Mich. -- A Michigan man who spent nearly five years in custody is suing a car rental company for failing to produce in a timely manner a receipt that would have proved his innocence long before he was convicted of a 2011 murder. The evidence from Hertz was finally obtained in 2018, leading to Herbert Alford's exoneration in Ingham County last year. Alford filed a lawsuit against Hertz on Tuesday, although the case will be slowed by the company's bankruptcy reorganization. He is seeking financial compensation. "There is no question that (Alford) would have avoided going to prison had they produced this documentation," attorney Jamie White told WLNS-TV. Alford was convicted of second-degree murder in 2016 in the shooting death of Michael Adams after Hertz failed to respond to requests for records, White said. In 2018, Hertz finally produced a receipt that showed Alford was renting a car at a Lansing-area airport at the time that Adams was shot, White said. He was killed in a Lansing neighborhood 20 minutes away from the airport. The conviction was thrown out and charges were finally dropped in 2020, after Alford had served nearly five years in prison and jail.

Seoul to pay more for troops

WASHINGTON -- Striking a delicate balance, the United States and South Korea have agreed Seoul will pay 13.9% more this year for hosting American troops as part of a multiyear deal crafted to keep Seoul's share of the overall cost within historical norms, officials said Wednesday. The deal, which had been announced earlier this week but without financial details, ends a long stalemate that had strained relations between allies after the Trump administration demanded a five-fold increase in Seoul's contributions.

Idaho bows out of Powerball

BOISE, Idaho -- Idaho lawmakers fearing foreign participation in the Powerball lottery killed legislation on Wednesday that would have allowed the game with huge jackpots to continue in the state after a run of more than 30 years. The move came after Idaho Lottery officials sought a change in state law because Powerball is expanding to include Australia in 2021 and Britain in 2022. But current Idaho law only allows lotteries in the state played by people in the U.S. and Canada. Idaho was one of the first states to join Powerball in the 1990s. The lottery has since grown to include 45 states, two U.S. territories and Washington D.C. The Multi-State Lottery Association runs the game. Idaho's Legislature is dominated by Republicans, but objections to the change also emerged from Democrats. The killing of the bill by a 10-4 vote by the Legislature's House State Affairs Committee means that the state's last Powerball drawing will be in August. Republican Rep. Heather Scott worried that when Australia joins Powerball, the country's officials might use revenue generated for government coffers to back causes she opposes. Idaho lottery officials have said the game generates about $28 million in sales annually in the state, with schools receiving about $14 million per year.

160 years later, an ignoble relic

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- With the nation locked in debates over Confederate symbols, the very document that laid out the legal framework of a government built to preserve slavery will spend its 160th anniversary where it spends nearly every other day: tucked away in a university archive. The Confederate Constitution is a forgotten relic of an ignoble cause that remains contentious generations after the Civil War ended, yet few people even know of its existence or final resting place. Historians say better knowledge of the document would help people -- particularly Southern whites who downplay the role of slavery in the war -- understand what was at the core of the Confederacy. And that, the constitution and other documents spell out, were slavery and white supremacy, historians say. While banning the importation of Africans from anywhere but Confederate states, the constitution also prohibited laws that would interfere with "the right of property in negro slaves." "It's not ancient history, and I think coming to terms with it is something Southern whites need to do," said Paul Finkelman, who specializes in Southern history and serves as president of Gratz College, a small school in Philadelphia. Found in a wagon as the war ended in April 1865, the original Confederate Constitution adopted on March 11, 1861, has been housed for decades in the University of Georgia's Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The university bought the constitution from an estate in 1939. Composed in faded ink on five large sheets of animal skin connected in a single scroll more than 12 feet (3.7 meters) long, the constitution is stored in a vault and rarely seen in public. By contrast, the U.S. Constitution is on display at the National Archives, visited by 1 million people in a typical year. Yet the Confederate version is mostly unknown in a country where some display rebel battle flags and fight to preserve statues to the "lost cause" myth of Southern history advanced by the sons of daughters of Confederate veterans. And just last week, an Alabama legislator leading a fight to strengthen legal protections for rebel memorials disputed that white supremacy and slavery were key to the Confederacy. "There is no proof of that," Republican Rep. Mike Holmes told a reporter.

Arrest in missing woman case

LONDON -- A police officer has been arrested in connection with a woman who went missing in London last week, Britain's Metropolitan Police said. The force said Wednesday the fact that the man is a serving police officer is "shocking and deeply disturbing." Police said the officer was arrested late Tuesday in Kent, southeast of London, as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive who vanished while walking home from a friend's apartment in south London on March 3. The officer was not on duty at the time of Everard's disappearance. Police did not say what he was detained for, or whether he knew Everard. The force said he was arrested along with a woman who has been held on suspicion of assisting an offender. When asked whether police believe Everard is still alive, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said detectives were searching as hard as they can and "really hope that is the case," the BBC reported.

Inmate denied shower for 5 months

ST. LOUIS -- A paraplegic inmate at a St. Louis jail hasn't been able to shower for more than five months because the facility isn't equipped to accommodate people who need wheelchairs, advocacy groups argue in a new federal lawsuit. Anthony Tillman, 39, was given a wash basin and rag, but he's unable to use them to fully clean himself because of his physical limitations. The St. Louis City Justice Center, where Tillman has been jailed since Oct. 5, has no showers for people in wheelchairs, which violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the lawsuit, which seeks a court order requiring the lockup to provide access to a shower that accommodates Tillman's disability. "I just want to be treated fair, like how everyone else is supposed to be treated," Tillman said in a news release issued by one of the advocacy groups, ArchCity Defenders. The suit says Tillman has a bullet lodged in his back from a 2017 shooting. It says that during a previous stint in the jail on different charges, he fell in the jail shower in February 2020 and cut himself, leading to a blood infection and other complications. Tillman is now jailed on charges alleging that he fired on a vehicle that had a child in it.

Russia slows down Twitter

MOSCOW -- Russian authorities said Wednesday they are slowing down the speed of uploading photos and videos to Twitter over its failure to remove banned content -- part of growing efforts to curb social media platforms that have played a major role in amplifying dissent. The state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said it began the slowdown after it said Twitter failed to remove content encouraging suicide among children and containing information about drugs and child pornography. Twitter responded by emphasizing its policy of zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation, promotion of suicide and drug sales. The Russian watchdog warned that if Twitter refuses to abide by Russian law, it could be blocked entirely, but it voiced hope the platform would "take a constructive stance" and comply with removing the banned content. Vadim Subbotin, deputy chief of Roskomnadzor, said in televised remarks that Twitter is the only social platform that has "openly ignored the Russian authorities' demand to remove the banned content." The watchdog said the slowdown would apply to all mobile devices and 50% of desktop users nationwide. Roskomnadzor said in a statement that Twitter has failed to remove more than 3,000 posts with the banned content, including more than 2,500 posts encouraging suicide among minors.

Mobile considering Tardy Gras

MOBILE, Ala. -- Its 2021 Mardi Gras celebration all but a bust because of the coronavirus pandemic, the city of Mobile is considering staging a Carnival-style parade in May after the state's mandatory face mask rule expires. Mayor Sandy Stimpson discussed the possible parade with City Council members during a meeting Tuesday, news outlets reported. The event would be held May 21 to coincide with the commissioning of the USS Mobile, a Navy ship built in the city.

US eyes organized extremists

As members of the Oath Keepers paramilitary group shouldered their way through the mob and up the steps to the U.S. Capitol, their plans for Jan. 6 were clear, authorities say. "Arrest this assembly, we have probable cause for acts of treason, election fraud," someone commanded over an encrypted messaging app some extremists used to communicate during the siege. A little while earlier, Proud Boys carrying two-way radios and wearing earpieces spread out and tried to blend in with the crowd as they invaded the Capitol led by a man assigned "war powers" to oversee the group's attack, prosecutors say. These two extremist groups that traveled to Washington along with thousands of other Trump supporters weren't whipped into an impulsive frenzy by President Donald Trump that day, officials say. They'd been laying attack plans. And their internal communications and other evidence emerging in court papers and in hearings show how authorities are trying to build a case that small cells hidden within the masses mounted an organized, military-style assault on the heart of American democracy. "This was not simply a march. This was an incredible attack on our institutions of government," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough said during a recent hearing.

Hackers hit security cameras

Hackers aiming to call attention to the dangers of mass surveillance said they were able to peer into hospitals, schools, factories, jails and corporate offices after they broke into the systems of a security-camera startup. That California startup, Verkada, said Wednesday it is investigating the scope of the breach, first reported by Bloomberg, and has notified law enforcement and its customers. Swiss hacker Tillie Kottmann, a member of the group that calls itself APT-69420 Arson Cats, described it in an online chat with The Associated Press as a small collective of "primarily queer hackers, not backed by any nations or capital but instead backed by the desire for fun, being gay and a better world." They were able to gain access to a Verkada "super" administrator account using valid credentials found online, Kottmann said. Verkada said in a statement that it has since disabled all internal administrator accounts to prevent any unauthorized access. But for two days, the hackers said, they were able to peer unhindered into live feeds from potentially tens of thousands of cameras, including many that were watching sensitive locations such as hospitals and schools. Kottmann said that included outdoor and indoor cameras at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 26 first-grade students and six educators were killed in 2012 by a gunman in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Verkada, based in San Mateo, California, has pitched its cloud-based surveillance service as part of the next generation of workplace security. Its software detects when people are in the camera's view, and a "Person History" feature enables customers to recognize and track individual faces and other attributes, such as clothing color and likely gender. Not all customers use the facial recognition feature.

Reopens case of gym mat death

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A Georgia sheriff has reopened an investigation into the 2013 death of a teenager whose body was found inside a rolled-up gym mat at his high school, saying he's reviewing 17 boxes of evidence collected by federal agents that his office recently obtained from the U.S. Justice Department. Fellow students found the body of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson in the gymnasium at Lowndes High School in Valdosta on Jan. 11, 2013. Lowndes County sheriff's investigators concluded soon after that Johnson died in a freak accident, stuck upside down and unable to breathe while trying to retrieve a shoe that fell inside the upright mat. Johnson's parents have insisted from the beginning that he was slain, and have long accused law enforcement and school officials of covering up the crime. Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk, who wasn't in office during the original investigation of Johnson's death, said Wednesday that he agreed to start a new investigation after the Johnson family helped his office obtain the Justice Department's files on its 2 1/2-year investigation into Johnson's death.

Probe jurors' views about police

MINNEAPOLIS -- Attorneys in the trial of a Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death questioned potential jurors Wednesday about their attitudes toward both law enforcement and the Black Lives Matter movement, with one man who was chosen for the panel saying he views the racial justice movement more favorably than he does police. The man, who works in sales management and grew up in a mostly white part of central Minnesota, acknowledged saying on his written questionnaire that he had a "very favorable" opinion of Black Lives Matter and a "somewhat unfavorable" impression of the Blue Lives Matter countermovement in favor of police, yet "somewhat agreed" that police don't get the respect they deserve. "Are there bad police officers? Yes. Are there good ones? Yes. I don't think it's right to blame the entire organization," he told the court. The man joined three others who were selected for the panel on Tuesday, the first day of jury selection in Derek Chauvin's trial on second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. It's a grinding process during which attorneys ask the prospective jurors one by one whether they could keep an open mind, what they think of the criminal justice system, how they resolve conflicts and much more.

Fudge confirmed as housing secretary

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has confirmed Marcia Fudge to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, placing the longtime Ohio lawmaker in charge of the agency just as Congress is poised to pass new benefits for renters and homeowners who have suffered economic losses amid the coronavirus pandemic. Fudge, who has represented parts of Cleveland and Akron in the House since 2008, is a former mayor and a longtime advocate for assistance for the needy. She said at her confirmation hearing in January that her first priority would be protecting the millions of people who have fallen behind on rent or mortgages due to loss of income during the pandemic, telling senators that "we cannot afford to allow people in the midst of a pandemic to be put in the streets." Her confirmation, 66-34, comes as the Senate is approving a slate of President Joe Biden's nominees. The Senate is expected to confirm Judge Merrick Garland as attorney general Wednesday afternoon and could vote to confirm North Carolina regulator Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as soon as Wednesday evening if the nomination clears a procedural vote earlier in the day. Fudge won bipartisan support for her nomination, including from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said he would support her and Garland.

Warm water bad for baby sharks

PORTLAND, Maine -- The warming of worldwide oceans from climate change means baby sharks are at risk of being born smaller and without the energy they need to survive, a group of scientists has found. The scientists, who conducted the work in connection with the New England Aquarium, studied epaulette sharks, which live off Australia and New Guinea. They found that warmer conditions sped up the sharks' growing process, and that meant they hatched from eggs earlier and were born exhausted. The study has implications for other sharks, including those that give birth to live young, said John Mandelman, vice president and chief scientist of the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium. The scientists published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports earlier this year. "There's this perception they are very hardy. What it means is this very resilient species is more vulnerable than we thought, and this could be true of other sharks," Mandelman said. "We need to be especially vigilant about managing them under these changing conditions."

Sentenced for starvation death

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis-area woman accused of starving her 2-month-old son to death has been sentenced to five years in prison. Makayla Hill, 27, of Bridgeton, was sentenced Tuesday after she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of child endangerment in the 2018 death of her son, Samuel Williamson Jr. Hill was given credit for more than two years of jail time already served. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped a second-degree murder charge. In September 2018, Bridgeton police were called to a hotel where Hill was living with the infant and a toddler. The baby was later pronounced dead at a hospital, and an autopsy showed the 6-pound (2.7 kilogram) infant died of severe malnutrition. Authorities said Hill failed to feed the baby for about 12 hours before she found him unresponsive.