Month: September 2022

On Monday a judge ordered the release of Adnan Syed, the Baltimore man serving a life sentence for a 1999 murder he says he did not commit, after overturning his conviction. Syed’s case was chronicled in the popular podcast “Serial.” The 42-year-old Syed was released to home confinement after serving more than 20 years in prison.  Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn said she overturned his conviction “in the interest of justice.”  Prosecutors have not yet said whether they will seek a new trial or drop the charges against him. Phinn gave the state 30 days to decide which course to pursue.

Syed had been convicted in the killing of his former high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, whose body was found buried in a Baltimore park. Prosecutors cited a lack of confidence “in the integrity of the conviction” after completing a yearlong investigation with Syed’s attorneys. Lee’s brother, Young, attended the hearing remotely from California. Though he told the court he trusted the system, he also said he felt “betrayed” having believed the right person had been brought to justice.

Phinn’s decision to overturn his conviction follows a request from prosecutors last week, who said they weren’t asserting that Syed is innocent, but that they have uncovered new evidence that potentially links two previously known suspects to Lee’s murder. Evidence about those unidentified individuals had been withheld from Syed’s defense attorneys during his trial.

Syed’s criminal case captured the attention of millions in 2014 when he became the focus of the hit podcast ‘Serial’ that raised doubts about the evidence presented against him, including cellphone tower data. “Serial” podcast host Sarah Koenig was in the courtroom at the time of Syed’s ordered release, and the podcast announced on Twitter that a new episode of the program will be released Tuesday morning.

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10 days of official public mourning culminated in the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch. The coffin bearing Queen Elizabeth II’s body was then lowered into the royal vault Monday after a ceremony at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

The public funeral at Westminster Abbey earlier in the day was attended by world leaders, family members and many more; while the final service for Elizabeth in the chapel was said to be a more private end to the ceremonies that began after she died Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Tens of thousands lined the Mall in London to watch the procession that followed the funeral. The Queen’s coffin was carried on a Royal Navy gun carriage from the funeral service to the Wellington Arch near Hyde Park. where it was then transferred to a state hearse for the journey to Windsor.

Elizabeth’s son, King Charles III, and other members of the royal family were to witness the actual burial in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, which is a small alcove on the side of the main building. The queen will eventually be joined there by her husband, Prince Philip, after his body is moved from the royal vault where he was interred after his death last year. Buckingham Palace said it would not be releasing any other details about the “deeply personal family occasion.”

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The entire island of Puerto Rico is without power after Hurricane Fiona made landfall on Sunday afternoon. Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced on Facebook Sunday afternoon that more than 1.5 million customers are without electricity after the Category 1 storm, with sustained winds at 85 mph and torrential rain hit the island.  Emergency response teams for the utility companies will deploy once the conditions allow, Pierluisi said. It will likely take days to fully restore power, utility company LUMA Energy said in a statement.

The National Hurricane Center said Fiona made landfall in southwestern Puerto Rico at 3:20 p.m. ET, with widespread torrential rain hitting much of the island  Flash flood effects are in place across the eastern half of the island, with the worst of the wind slamming the western half of the island. Gov. Pierluisi believes Puerto Rico is prepared as it can be, with enough resources and manpower in place to respond, saying that the island learned its lessons from the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria in September 2017. “We’re much in a much better position than we were five years ago,” he said.

After passing through the Caribbean, the storm system will head northward, passing just east of Turks and Caicos before tracking near Bermuda. The storm system is expected to gradually strengthen in the coming days as it moves northwest and eventually northward, heading up across the western Atlantic Ocean this week. The torrential rain, however, will continue across much of Puerto Rico throughout Monday.

President Biden approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico on Sunday, which allows federal agencies to coordinate all relief efforts.  The White House said in a statement that Biden’s decision has the “purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in all 78 municipalities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.”

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In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this week that ordered Yeshiva University to recognize an LGBTQ student group, the school has suspended all student club activity. In an email to students on Friday, university officials said that it “hold off on all undergraduate club activities while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect YU’s religious freedom.”

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the undergraduate LGBTQ group, ‘YU Pride Alliance’, to gain official recognition from the Jewish university in New York.  By a 5-4 vote Wednesday, the justices lifted a temporary hold on a court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize the group. The YU Pride Alliance describes itself as “a supportive space for all students, of all sexual orientations and gender identities, to feel respected, visible, and represented.”

Following the ruling, the president of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Ari Berman, said that faith-based universities have the right to establish clubs within its understanding of the Torah.  He said:“Yeshiva University simply seeks that same right of self-determination. “The Supreme Court has laid out the roadmap for us to find expedited relief and we will follow their instructions.” Berman also said ” the university’s commitment and love for our LGBTQ students are unshakeable.”

The university, an Orthodox Jewish institution in New York, argued that granting recognition to the Pride Alliance would violate its sincere religious beliefs.  However, the club argued that Yeshiva’s plea to the Supreme Court was premature, also noting the university already has recognized a gay pride club at its law school. A New York state court sided with the student group and ordered the university to recognize the club immediately.

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