Month: September 2024

President Biden, Vice President Harris, as well as former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance commemorated the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks by attending a ceremony at the Sept. 11 memorial at Ground Zero in New York.

Just hours past their first presidential debate Tuesday night, Harris and Trump shook hands ahead of solemn ceremonies. None of the political leaders made formal remarks at the event, which was comprised of a reading of the names of those who died by members of their families.

Other political leaders attending the ceremony were Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani was mayor at the time of the attack, and Bloomberg was elected mayor in November 2001.

Harris and Biden proceeded to Shanksville, Pennsylvania to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Flight 93 memorial, and later stopped by a local Shanksville volunteer fire station that served as a key gathering point for families in 2001. They also went on to travel to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, for another wreath laying ceremony.

Trump and Vance also stopped briefly at a New York fire station, where they met with first responders, and Trump later visited the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania and greeted firefighters and the families of Flight 93 victims at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire station, where Harris and Biden also stopped earlier in the day.

Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, marked the somber day in his home state of Minnesota. Walz said in a post on X:  “23 years ago, an unthinkable tragedy profoundly changed our nation. September 11 is a day we will never forget.”

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Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump took part in their first presidential debate, taking place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday, moderated by ABC “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis.

Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, and Trump, the Republican nominee, opened the 90-minute debate with a handshake. Harris and Trump clashed repeatedly, with the debate covering a wide range of issues and featuring intense moments between the rivals during the contentious debate.

Trump and Harris clashed over abortion, immigration, the economy, foreign policy and more, with Trump repeated multiple falsehoods about migrants, Harris’ campaign, abortion, Jan. 6 and other key issues.

To stream the debate in full, head to ABC NEWS LIVE (here).

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Hurricane Francine gained strength as it headed towards the Louisiana coast currently a category 1 hurricane, with forecasters warning residents of life-threatening conditions. Francine is expected to bring heavy rain and winds, which could turn into urban and coastal flooding once the storm reaches land.

Francine was upgraded to a hurricane late Tuesday as it moved across warm Gulf waters off the Texas and Louisiana coastlines, with landfall expected in Louisiana on Wednesday. As of 5 a.m. ET the storm was about 245 miles south-west of Morgan City, Louisiana, with sustained wind speeds of 90 mph, moving north-east at a rate of 10 mph. Forecasters said Francine’s landfall was expected Wednesday afternoon or evening as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 96 to 110 mph (155 to 175 kph) and strong storm surge.

A hurricane warning is in place across most of the Louisiana coastline (from Sabine Pass eastward to Grand Isle, La.), while a storm surge warning covers the area from High Island, near Houston, all the way to the Mississippi and Alabama border.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has declared a state of emergency, urging residents to “batten down all the hatches” and  stay in place rather than venturing out onto the roads and risk blocking first responders or utility crews working to repair power lines. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also declared a state of emergency, he announced Tuesday afternoon.

According to the National Hurricane Center. Mississippi’s coastal counties were under a tropical storm warning, with a hurricane warning in effect along the Louisiana coast from the border with Texas eastward to Grand Isle, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of New Orleans, and a tropical storm warning extended eastward from there to the Alabama/Florida state line.

Forecasters said that the storm system is expected to bring storm total rainfall of 4 to 8 inches, with local amounts to 12 inches across much of Louisiana and Mississippi through early Friday. From Port Fourchon to the mouth of the Mississippi River could see storm surge as high as 7 feet while High Island, Texas, near the Bolivar Peninsula, could see it reach 5 feet.

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Jury selection began on Monday in the federal trial of three former Memphis officers charged in connection with the 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols.

The former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — are facing multiple charges, including violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force and unlawful assault. Two other former officers, Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin III, have taken plea deals and are expected to testify. All five men already face state charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping. They pleaded not guilty.

Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023, several days after a January 2023 traffic stop (captured in body camera footage and surveillance footage) which allegedly shows officers violently striking Nichols repeatedly and walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.

The five officers were part of the since-disbanded Scorpion Task Force, a specialized unit created to root out street crime, and the unit was known for aggressive policing tactics.  According to the U.S Department of Justice, two counts carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, and the other two each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

In September 2023, a federal grand jury indicted the five former officers, with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stating that the officers conspired to cover up their crimes including falsely stating that Nichols had actively resisted arrest: “Tyre Nichols was just minutes away from home when he was pulled over by law enforcement officers sworn to protect him. As the indictment charges, the defendants in this case, who at the time were serving as detectives of the Memphis police department, brutally beat Mr. Nichols, they then failed to render medical aid to Mr. Nichols and further failed to tell emergency responders that they had struck him repeatedly even as his condition deteriorated and he became unresponsive.”

After Nichols’ death, the Justice Department commissioned a review of the use of specialized units within law enforcement and produced new guidance.

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A judge has agreed to move the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in 2022, to a different city. The new location was not immediately clear. The decision will be left up to Idaho’s highest court.

In an order dated Friday, Idaho Second District Judge John C. Judge ruled that the venue will be changed in the University of Idaho quadruple murder trial. Judge stated he was concerned about Kohberger’s ability to receive a fair trial at the Latah County courthouse in Moscow, given extensive media coverage of the case as well as statements by public officials suggesting Kohberger’s guilt. The trial could be moved to Boise in Alda County, which is 326 miles south of Moscow. Kohberger’s lawyers want the trial to take place in Boise, the capital and largest city in Idaho. The trial had been scheduled to begin June 2, 2025, and last about three months.

Lawyers for the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, pushed to move the trial to Boise, arguing the local jury pool in Latah County, which encompasses Moscow, was tainted by pretrial publicity. Judge sided with the defense, citing concerns that the local community is prejudiced against Kohberger, 29. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty in the first-degree murder case. Judge said, “Considering the undisputed evidence presented by the defense, the extreme nature of the news coverage in this case, and the smaller population in Latah County, the defense has met the rather low standard of demonstrating ‘a reasonable likelihood’ that prejudicial news coverage will compromise a fair trial in Latah County. Thus, the Court will grant Kohberger’s motion to change venue for presumed prejudice … The court has spent many months carefully considering the legal and logistical concerns with a trial of this length and magnitude, carefully reading each submission, listening to each expert, and evaluating each party’s position. Based upon the totality of the factors, Defendant’s Motion for Change of Venue is granted.”

Kohberger, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, which is across the state line in Pullman, 11 miles west of Moscow. Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home on Dec. 30 in Monroe County, Pa. and later charged with the stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle on Nov. 13, 2022. Their home, which has since been demolished, was located off the school’s main campus.

According to court documents, investigators have linked him to a white vehicle seen near the killings, with DNA recovered from a tan leather knife sheath found in the home and cellphone location data was nearby. Kohberger’s attorneys have stated that they have an alibi as part of his defense.

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