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Daniel Penny’s lawyers ask judge to dismiss case as NYC subway passengers describe fear in court filing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

(CNN) — Citing witness testimony, defense attorneys for Daniel Penny asked a New York judge to dismiss the case against the former marine accused of killing a homeless street artist on a New York City subway.Penny held 30-year-old Jordan Neely in a chokehold during a May incident when Neely entered a subway car and began shouting at passengers. Neely died soon after, and the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.In a motion filed Friday, Penny’s attorneys cited grand jury testimony from witnesses riding the subway during the incident, one of whom believed they were “going to die,” in an effort to dismiss the charges. That unnamed witness, who said they have ridden the New York subway for six years, described the moment as “absolutely traumatizing,” court documents say.Another witness, a mother, said she took cover behind her stroller with her son to shield themselves from Neely, who was making “half-lunge movements” and within “half a foot of people,” the documents say.A grand...

Missouri man attempts pumpkin paddling world record

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — Just after 7 Monday morning, Steve Kueny started his journey across the Kansas and Missouri River inside a 1,299-pound pumpkin. He is trying to set the Guinness World record for the longest paddle in a pumpkin.In order to accomplish the feat, Keuny needs to travel 38 miles. He said his goal is to travel the 38 miles before sundown.Kueny said he grew the pumpkin himself and added a few sandbags on the floor of the pumpkin to keep himself stable.“It takes a lot of planning and also a lot of flying by the seat of your pants,” Kueny said. “I’m just a guy with a pumpkin and a whimsical sense of adventure out to have fun.”

Police ID 3rd man sought in Holyoke shooting that claimed infant’s life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

State and local police are turning to the public for help as they work to track down a third man wanted in connection with a shooting in Holyoke last week that left a pregnant woman hospitalized and her infant dead, officials said.Kermith Alvarez, 28, of Holyoke, is being sought on a murder charge in connection with the Oct. 4 shooting on Sargent Street, according to a statement issued by the Hampden District Attorney’s Office.If you have any information about Alvarez, you are asked to contact the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit at (413) 505-5993 or the Massachusetts State Police: Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section at 1-800-KAPTURE (1-800-527-8873).Police say he should be considered armed and Dangerous.   Johnluis Sanchez, 30, of Holyoke, has been ordered held without the right to bail on a murder charge for his suspected involvement in the shooting. Alejandro Ramos, 22, of Holyoke, was also arraigned on a murder charge and is being held without the ...

Wholesale inflation in US rises 2.2% in September, biggest year-over-year gain since April

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose last month at the fastest pace since April, suggesting that inflationary pressures remain despite a year and a half of higher interest rates.The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — climbed 2.2% from a year earlier. That was up from a 2% uptick in August.On a month-to-month basis, producer prices rose 0.5% from August to September, down from 0.7% from July to August.Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation rose 2.7% in September from a year earlier and 0.3% from August. The Federal Reserve and many outside economists pay particular attention to core prices as a good signal of where inflation might be headed.Wholesale prices have been rising more slowly than consumer prices, raising hopes that inflation may continue to ease as producer costs make their way to the consumer. Wednesday’s numbers show that wholesale inflation, dr...

Israeli strikes demolish entire Gaza neighborhoods as only power plant in territory runs out of fuel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip struggled to find any safe area Wednesday, as Israeli strikes demolished entire neighborhoods, hospitals ran low on supplies and the territory’s only power plant ran out of fuel, deepening the misery of a war sparked by a stunning and deadly assault by Hamas militants.Airstrikes smashed entire city blocks to rubble in the tiny coastal enclave and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath mounds of debris. The bombardment raged on even though militants are holding an estimated 150 people snatched from Israel — soldiers, men, women, children and older adults.Israel has vowed unprecedented retaliation against the Hamas militant group ruling the Palestinian territory after its fighters stormed through the border fence Saturday and gunned down hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival. Since then, militants have continued to fire rockets at Israel, includ...

Maine doctor killed by falling mast on schooner

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

ROCKLAND, Maine — A woman killed when a mast snapped and toppled onto the deck of a historic sailing vessel that carries tourists off the Maine coast was a physician at the hospital where three other victims were taken for treatment, officials said Tuesday.Dr. Emily Mecklenburg, 40, of Rockland, was declared dead Monday after she was evacuated from the stricken vessel Grace Bailey by the Coast Guard, Nicole Jacques, a spokesperson for owners of the schooner, said Tuesday. Three others who were injured were taken to PenBay Medical Center in Rockport where Mecklenburg worked, officials said.The Coast Guard is investigating why the schooner’s main mast snapped in conditions that were not windy. The schooner was about 1 mile east of Rockland harbor, the Coast Guard said.There’s no timeline for the investigation, which could take weeks or months.“We want to make sure the investigation is being done thoroughly and that the necessary boxes are being checked,” Ensign...

Do the Ravens have a hands problem? The dropped passes and fumbles are piling up.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

There’s no other way to put it: The Ravens have a hands problem.In Sunday’s collapse against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they had seven dropped passes, the third-most by a team since 2013 and the most since Week 6 of the 2021 season, according to TruMedia. Usually sure-handed tight end Mark Andrews led the way with three, rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers had two and Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor had one apiece.The Ravens had just three total through their first four games, and, according to Pro Football Focus, entered Sunday as one of only two teams whose wide receivers didn’t drop any passes.“I’m not surprised by anything in the NFL, in football,” coach John Harbaugh said when asked if he was surprised by all the drops. “It’s just the way it goes, and we keep working on that. I know we’ll make those plays going forward. Those are balls that our guys are going to catch; they catch them all the time.”Judging by th...

Filing period for New Hampshire presidential primary opens as first candidate pays fee with $2 bills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire presidential primary filing period started Wednesday, with the first candidate to register criticizing President Joe Biden and paying a chunk of his filing fee in $2 bills.The filing is a ritual unruffled by either a changing of the guard or changes to the nominating calendar elsewhere.For the first time in more than four decades, candidates will file paperwork with a new secretary of state thanks to the retirement last year of longtime elections chief Bill Gardner. But his successor, David Scanlan, is carrying on the tradition of ensuring New Hampshire remains first, waiting for the dust to settle in other states before scheduling the 2024 contest.“I’m really in no hurry,” he said in an interview Tuesday.In contrast, the candidates themselves — particularly the long shots — often are in a race to sign up first in hopes that a bit of media attention will boost their campaigns. In 1991, a writer from New York drove 11 hours in a snowstorm only t...

Charles Spencer, younger brother of Princess Diana, is writing a book about his boarding school

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — British author-journalist Charles Spencer is working on a book about his childhood years at the Maidwell Hall boarding school and the painful lessons he endured. Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced Wednesday that in March it will publish ‘”A Very Private School: A Memoir.” Gallery is calling the book a “clear-eyed, firsthand account of a ”culture of cruelty.” Spencer, younger brother of the late Princess Diana, also will write about his “happy life at home” during that time, according to Gallery.Charles Spencer, who has previously expressed his unhappiness with boarding school, said in a statement released Wednesday that he had finally reached a point where he could make sense of his experiences and place them within a historical context.“I’m writing this book before my memories of half a century ago tip over into that chasm of forgetfulness that shadows old age,” he said. “Beyond my own experiences, I wanted to ...

Belgium’s prime minister says his country supports a ban on Russian diamonds as part of sanctions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:58 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s prime minister said his country, which has the biggest interest in the global diamond trade in the European Union, is supporting a ban on Russian diamonds as part of sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin’s government for its war against Ukraine.This came during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyya’s visit to Brussels on Wednesday. He has repeatedly asked for such a move since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022. For months, the Group of Seven advanced economies and the EU have been working on a way to trace and restrict the trade in Russian diamonds to prevent it from skirting the sanctions. Russia exports about $4 billion worth of rough diamonds a year, nearly a third of the world’s total, according to various estimates.Asked when the ban will enter into force, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said, “the goal is … January 1st of 2024.”According to The Antwerp World Diamond Centre, the world’s most important diamon...