Month: October 2022

Republican candidate for New York governor, and current NY congressman Lee Zeldin says his family is safe after two strangers were shot outside his Long Island home on Sunday.

In a statement released by his office, Zeldin said that he does not know the identities of the two people who were shot, but that they were found under his porch and in the bushes in front of his home in Shirley, New York.  The congressman and his wife were returning from a parade in the Bronx when the shooting occurred, but their teenage daughters were home and heard gunshots and screaming. Zeldin said his 16-year-old daughters locked themselves in a bathroom and called 911.

The two people who were shot were taken to local hospitals, and Zeldin said police officers were at his home investigating Sunday evening, and looking over the home’s security cameras. Said Zeldin: “My daughters are shaken, but ok. Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door. My family is grateful to all who have reached out and we will provide another update when we can.”

The Suffolk County Police Department issued a brief statement saying it was investigating the shooting, and a police spokeswoman said she had no information to release about who fired the shots or who first found the two people shot.

Zeldin is running against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said she was briefed on the shooting. Hochul tweeted: “I’ve been briefed on the shooting outside of Congressman Zeldin’s home. As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response.”

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After facing a similar restriction on Instagram, Kanye “Ye” West’s Twitter account was locked by the social media platform for violating its policies after he shared two tweets that have been criticized as antisemitic. West’s first tweet has since been deleted by Twitter for “violating the Twitter rules.” That tweet claimed that he couldn’t be antisemitic and said he had been “toyed with” by the Jewish people, writing in the deleted post: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death [sic] con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”  A second post remains public on Twitter, saying: “Who do you think created cancel culture?”

West’s Instagram account was placed on restriction a day earlier, after the platform deleted content from his account for a violation of its policies.  A spokesperson for Meta said that temporary restrictions on posting, commenting and messaging are standard practice for accounts that regularly violate the social media platform’s policies. The company did not indicate which specific posts of Ye’s were the cause behind the restriction.  West had shared a now-deleted post featuring a screenshot of a message allegedly sent to rapper Diddy, that had been criticized as antisemitic by Jewish advocacy groups like the American Jewish Committee. Following his restriction on Instagram, West promptly returned to Twitter (which he had taken a break from), and he called out Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his restriction from the platform.

This is not the first time West has dealt with restrictions from Instagram.  In March, West was suspended from the social media platform for 24 hours, with content from his account deleted in that incident for violations of policies for hate speech, bullying and harassment.

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A suspect has been arrested in connection to a stabbing rampage in front of the Wynn Casino on the famed Las Vegas Strip that left two people dead and at least eight others wounded on Thursday. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said on Twitter: “At approximately 11:42 a.m, the LVMPD received a report of a stabbing with multiple victims in front of a casino in the 3100 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard.” 

One person was initially declared dead at the scene, while the other victims were taken to hospitals. Capt. Dori Koren of the Metropolitan Police Department updated during a news briefing that two people were pronounced dead, and the surviving victims were taken to hospitals for treatment of their injuries. Three of those victims were in critical condition, while the others are stable. Koren said a large kitchen knife was found on scene and was presumed to be the weapon used in the attack.  She added that “the scene is under control. There is not a safety issue at this time.”

Police said the suspect was taken into custody after he was found in front of the Venetian Hotel, adding that he “had a significant amount of blood on his sleeves at the time of the arrest”. The suspect was not immediately identified, and the investigation is ongoing. No motive for the attacks was immediately provided.

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On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced pardons for federal marijuana offenses, and urged states to consider pardons, as well. Biden also announced a plan to review how marijuana is classified under federal law.

Biden’s pardons apply to all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, clearing about 6,500 people convicted between 1992 and 2021 and thousands more who were convicted in the District of Columbia. The president said: “There are thousands of people who have prior federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing or educational opportunities as a result.”

Biden said in a statement from the White House: “I am urging all governors to do the same with regard to state offenses. Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail of state prison for that reason, either.” The president will also move to review the classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug.

Biden also referred to the United States’ opioid crisis, noting that marijuana is scheduled “even higher than fentanyl and methamphetamine — the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic.” While Biden is advocating a move away from marijuana criminalization, he added that “important limitations on trafficking, marketing and underage sales should stay in place.”

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President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced their intention to work together to help the state rebuild after touring damage from Hurricane Ian on Wednesday afternoon. The two leaders momentarily put politics aside in response to the historic storm, which was one of Florida’s deadliest and costliest in decades after making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.

Biden spoke with local residents affected by the storm, offering support to residents as he toured the damaged area filled with debris, fallen trees, downed electric lines and boats and yachts in piles. Speaking at a press conference in Fort Myers, Biden announced new relief efforts to help Florida residents and businesses rebuild.  Biden said: “Today, we have one job and only one job. That is to make sure the people of Florida get everything they need to fully recover.”

Biden and DeSantis said they spoke several times before and after the storm hit as Biden issued emergency declarations. DeSantis discussed the state’s cooperative efforts with the White House, noting that federal funds have been allocated to help his state recover from Ian: “I want to thank President Biden and Jill Biden as well as Administrator Deanne Criswell for coming down here looking at a really really significant damage here in Lee County and there’s other places where you have really significant damage as well outside of this general area. We were very fortunate to have good coordination with the White House and with FEMA from the very beginning of this.”

The president’s visit comes amid a rising death toll in Florida, and just two days after he traveled to Puerto Rico to survey Hurricane Fiona’s damage. In the wake of that storm, he announced he was sending tens of millions of dollars to help prepare the island for future storms.

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According to officials and preliminary autopsy results, a student at Purdue University was stabbed to death inside his dorm room on campus early Wednesday, and the suspect – the victim’s roommate- has been arrested in connection with the crime.

The victim, identified as 20-year-old Varun Manish Chheda, was a senior at Purdue studying data science. His roommate, identified as 22-year-old Ji Min Sha, was a junior majoring in cybersecurity and originally from Seoul, South Korea.  During a news conference held near McCutcheon Hall, the residential building on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus where Chheda was killed, police said that Sha currently faces a murder charge for his alleged involvement in his roommate’s death, and is being held without bond in Tippecanoe County Jail.

According to the Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office, a preliminary autopsy found that Chheda’s death was caused by “multiple sharp force traumatic injuries”. The suspected manner of death is homicide, with the final autopsy report pending results of a toxicology test.

Mitch Daniels, the university president, addressed the student’s death said in a statement: “I write to let you know that early this morning, one of our students was killed in his residence hall room,” noting that the student’s roommate reported the incident to police and was taken into custody as a suspect.“This is as tragic an event as we can imagine happening on our campus and our hearts and thoughts go out to all of those affected by this terrible event. We do not have all the details yet. Our Purdue University Police Department is conducting a thorough investigation of this incident so that we all may learn more about what transpired.”

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