(GREEENWOOD, Miss.) — The Mississippi community of Greenwood erected a towering statue Friday in honor of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy whose murder sparked much of the 20th century civil rights movement.
“I feel that when young people ask me what the memory of Emmett Till is, we have this statue as a memory,” Mississippi state Sen. David Jordan, who represents Greenwood, told ABC News. “He liberated all Black people for all that he sacrificed.”
The memorial statue stands at 9-feet tall — a bronze figure reminiscent of Till’s infamous portrait with a white button-down shirt, slacks and his left hand tipping his hat with a slight grin on his face.
The statue’s unveiling comes just a week after the release of “Till,” a film detailing the untold chapter of Till’s story centered around his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who championed civil rights activism following the murder of her son.
“This is a great day as we take another leap forward in recognizing the life and legacy of Emmett Till,” the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Till’s only remaining family member who saw his cousin the night he was kidnapped, told ABC News.
Till, a Chicago native, was murdered in in August 1955 after he was accused of whistling at a white woman in a grocery store in Drew, Mississippi, about 40 miles north of Greenwood, the county seat in the Delta region. The two white men arrested for kidnapping, torturing and lynching the 14-year-old were acquitted by an all-white jury.
Till-Mobley insisted on an open-casket funeral for her son to allow the surrounding community to witness the torture inflicted onto her son. She became a prominent leader of the civil rights movement, adamant that her son should not have died in vain.
Jet Magazine published the daunting image of Till’s battered face that changed lives forever. Numerous Black publications, including The Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News and various others, were charged with moving the needle forward reporting on the atrocity.
“When I met Rosa Parks in 1961, she said she didn’t get out of that seat for Emmett Till,” Jordan said.
But there are still reminders of Mississippi’s segregated past everywhere. A Confederate monument stands outside the Greenwood courthouse’s lawn, only a few miles away from Greenwood’s Rail Spike Park where Till’s new statue is located.
“As so many people are determined to erase our history, we are blessed to have so many more allies in the struggle to keep our story alive,” Parker said. “This statue is affirmation that our lives matter.”
Despite the demographics of Greenwood and Leflore County being about 70% Black, it took state officials years to erect the statue. This year, Jordan was finally able to allocate $150,000 in state funding to commission Utah artist Matt Glen to sculpt the statue.
“I am elated that it happened here in Mississippi, and this is a glorious day for all of the people in Greenwood, Mississippi,” Jordan said.
ABC News’ Fatima Curry and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
(UVALDE, Texas) — One of the first Texas state troopers to arrive at the scene of the May 24 elementary school mass shooting is being fired by the Texas Department of Public Safety, a spokesperson told ABC News.
“The department can confirm Sgt. Juan Maldonado was served with termination papers today,” a spokesperson for Texas DPS said.
Sgt. Juan Maldonado is one of seven members of Texas DPS whose conduct was being investigated by the DPS inspector general because of their actions or inaction during the shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and two of their teachers.
DPS announced Sept. 6 that five DPS officers on-site at Robb had been referred to the IG. That number grew to seven.
Maldonado is the first one disciplined and the IG probe into him was the first one completed, the official said.
“We expect more of our troopers,” the official said.
Security camera footage revealed that Maldonado held the door open to the school open and stood idly by when another officer ran out of the building bleeding, begging others to go in. Maldonado was accused of not following active shooter protocol.
Maldonado was a 23-year veteran of the state agency and public information officer for the region. Maldonado did not respond to ABC News for comment.
Some family members of Robb Elementary School victims have already been notified.
Berlinda Arreola, step grandmother to Amerie Jo Garza who was on the children killed, told ABC News that it was “disappointing,” that the police officers had not entered the classroom,
“He’s been a member of the community for years and he had the chance to go in and save the children and teachers of a community that he knew so well,” Arreola said.
The DPS internal investigation prompted new DPS protocols to be enacted. Now, policy dictates that once an “active shooter” is declared at a school, the situation cannot be treated as anything else by Texas DPS personnel until the shooter or shooters are neutralized. According to the new rules, all DPS personnel are ordered to override any other law enforcement officers who are standing in the way of taking active measures to neutralize a school shooter.
McCraw is scheduled to testify about the Robb Elementary response and probe during a hearing Thursday in Austin.
ABC News’ Kate Holland contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Despite a gradual upward trend in military suicides over the last decade, 2021 saw a more than 15% decrease for active duty service members, according to a new Defense Department report.
“For the active component there was over a 15% decrease in the rate of suicides from 2020 to 2021,” said Beth Foster, executive director for DOD’s Office of Force Resiliency in a briefing Thursday. “Young enlisted male service members remain at greatest risk.”
Pentagon data counts 326 instances of suicide in the active duty force in 2021, down from 384 in 2020.
The department took steps to lower suicide risk across the force in 2021, including awareness programs, boosts in quality of life, and efforts to reduce the stigma of seeking help. The improvement has been heartening, but Pentagon officials believe there’s more to be done.
“While we are cautiously encouraged by the drop in these numbers, one year is not enough time to assess real change,” Foster said.
Though military suicide rates have trended upward since 2011, it has been essentially on par with that of the U.S. population, when accounting for age and sex.
The Pentagon controls for age and sex to help make a more apples-to-apples comparison between the U.S. population and the military, which is disproportionately made up of young males, who are generally more likely to take their own lives.
“Without standardizing for age or sex differences between the military and the U.S. population and then adjusting for age and sex differences in suicide rates within the military, the comparisons between the unadjusted or crude rates in the military and the U.S. population suicide rates would be misleading or distorted,” the DOD report noted.
(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump has been formally subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The subpoena requires Trump to turn over documents by Nov. 4 and to appear for one or several days of deposition under oath beginning on Nov. 14.
“We recognize that a subpoena to a former President is a significant and historic step,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., wrote in a letter to Trump on Friday. “We do not take this action lightly.”
Thompson previously said the committee had an “obligation” to seek an interview with the former president, who they’ve argued was central in an attempted coup to remain in office.
“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power,” the committee chairs wrote Friday.
That effort, Thompson and Cheney wrote, included attempts to “corrupt the Department of Justice” and “maliciously disseminating false allegations of fraud” as well as “summoning tens of thousands” of supporters to Washington.
The unanimous decision to compel Trump’s testimony came at the end of the panel’s tenth — and possible last — hearing, which again focused on Trump’s behavior in the days before and after the riot.
The committee wants Trump to testify about his interactions with several individuals who’ve invoked their Fifth Amendment rights when questioned by the committee. That list includes his former political adviser Roger Stone; former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn; Trump’s former elections lawyer John Eastman; former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark; and chair of the Arizona Republican Party Kelli Ward.
“These Fifth Amendment assertions — made by persons with whom you interacted — related directly to you and your conduct,” the two panel leaders wrote in their Friday letter. “They provide specific examples where your truthful testimony under oath will be important.”
The committee on Friday made clear that the deposition, which is under oath, will be before committee investigators and members. But the subpoena does not specifically request that Trump appear for a hearing.
“In short, you were at the center of the first and only effort by any U.S. President to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power, ultimately culminating in a bloody attack on our own capital and on the Congress itself,” Thompson and Cheney wrote Friday. “The evidence demonstrates that you knew this activity was illegal and unconstitutional, and also knew that your assertions of fraud were false. But, to be clear, Even if you know claim that you actually believed your own false election claims, that is not a defense; your subjective belief could not render this condo justified, excusable, or legal.”
Trump first responded to the committee’s vote to subpoena him in a series of posts to his conservative social media platform Truth Social.
“Why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago?” Trump wrote, calling the committee a “total BUST.”
Later, in a memo addressed to Thompson, Trump continued to rail against the committee but didn’t address the subpoena.
“Despite very poor television ratings, the Unselect Committee has perpetuated a Show Trial the likes of which this Country has never seen before,” Trump said in the letter, in which he also continued to make false claims about the 2020 election.
Trump has told advisers he’d welcome a live appearance, according to sources familiar with his thinking, but has yet to say publicly whether he’ll cooperate.
Cheney said there was “no disagreement” among members on whether to subpoena Trump.
“We all felt that our obligation is to seek his testimony, that the American people deserve to hear directly from him, that it has to be under oath, that he has to be held accountable,” Cheney said this week during an appearance at a Harvard Institute of Politics forum.
Cheney said she’s “assuming Trump will fulfill his legal obligation and honor the subpoena.”
“If that doesn’t happen, then we’ll take the steps we need to take after that,” Cheney said. “But I don’t want to go too far down that path at this point.”
Experts said if Trump refuses to cooperate, the committee could move to have the full House hold him in contempt and refer the matter to the Justice Department for prosecution — something it’s done for four other individuals related to the Jan. 6 investigation.
Trump could also try to drag the matter out by fighting the subpoena in court, the experts said.
The Jan. 6 committee is expected to wrap up its investigation by the end of this year by releasing a final report on its findings and recommendations.
(MIAMI) — A Florida man had his election fraud charges dismissed on Friday, making him the first of 20 people who Gov. Ron DeSantis announced had been charged with voter fraud in August, to beat his case.
The ruling by a Miami judge may now pave the way for similar motions and rulings in the other 19 election fraud cases, which garnered national attention and controversy when they were announced on Aug. 18. DeSantis said at the time that they were the “opening salvo” by Florida’s newly funded Office of Election Crimes and Security to crack down on voter fraud.
Robert Lee Wood, who faced one count of making a false affirmation on a voter application, and one count of voting as an unqualified elector, had his charges dismissed on the grounds that the prosecutor lacked appropriate jurisdiction.
Wood was facing up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines and fees, for allegedly illegally voting in the 2020 election.
When the charges were announced on Aug. 18, DeSantis said at a press conference that local prosecutors had been “loath” to take up election fraud cases.
“Now we have the ability with the attorney general and statewide prosecutor to bring those [cases] on behalf of the state of Florida,” he said.
But a judge found on Friday that the statewide prosecutor did not have jurisdiction over one case in Miami. Statewide prosecutors, which are an extension of the Attorney General’s office, are prosecuting all of the election fraud cases that were brought in August.
In order for the statewide prosecutor to have jurisdiction, the crimes alleged must have occurred in at least two judicial circuits.
The judge agreed with the defense’s argument that the alleged violations, applying to vote and voting while ineligible, only occurred in Miami-Dade County. Thus, the statewide prosecutor was found to not have jurisdiction.
Statewide prosecutors argued that the alleged crimes were committed in Leon County in addition to Miami-Dade County, because the defendants’ applications and votes were later transmitted to the Department of State in Tallahassee.
The defense argued the alleged offenses only happened in Miami-Dade.
The judge sided with the defense, even citing Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” in his order granting the motion to dismiss.
“His arms spread wider than a dragon’s wings,” the judge wrote in his order, in reference to the statewide prosecutor.
“How much wider even than that does [the statewide prosecutor] seek to extend its reach?”
“It is an old truth that all politics is local,” the judge added. “[The statewide prosecutor] seeks to stand that old truth on its head”
Larry Davis, the attorney for Wood, said that his motion to dismiss on grounds of jurisdiction has been circulated to attorneys representing the other election fraud defendants.
The statewide prosecutor can now appeal the case. If unsuccessful, the Democratic Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle will also have the option to file charges.
Just days before Florida’s primary in August, DeSantis said at a press conference that 20 people who had cast their ballots in 2020 had been charged with voter fraud. They had all been convicted of murder or felony sex offenses, DeSantis added, which by Florida law stripped them of their right to vote.
“Yet they went ahead and voted anyways. That is against the law, and now they’re going to pay the price for it,” the governor said.
Those charged with illegally voting were sent voting cards by the state, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Many of them told agents that they believed they were eligible, according to court records.
That includes Wood, who was charged with second-degree murder in 1991. Wood registered to vote in 2020 after being approached by a voter rights advocate at a grocery store. Wood claimed he did not fill out the form, rather he just signed it, according to the affidavit of arrest filled out by an FDLE agent.
The form includes a section which asks the applicant to either verify that they are not a felon, or if so, to declare that their right to vote had been restored.
Voter rights advocates say that provision is especially confusing because of the passage of Amendment 4 to the Florida Constitution in 2018, which restored all felons their rights to vote except for those convicted of sex felonies or murder charges.
Later, another condition was added requiring voters with felonies to pay off their fines and fees before having their rights restored.
Republican Florida state legislator Jeff Brandes, who authored Amendment 4, criticized the 20 arrests in a tweet during DeSantis’ press conference, urging the state to look at the intent of the voters.
“It was our intent that those ineligible would be granted some grace by the state if they registered without intent to commit voter fraud,” he tweeted on Aug. 18.
Mark Earley, president of Florida’s election supervisor association, told ABC News that the local supervisors do not have the resources to check a prospective voter’s criminal record. That is the Department of State’s obligation, he said.
Election supervisors check the applications and then transmit them to Tallahassee, where Division of Elections’ staff can check convictions against voter rolls.
Unless an election supervisor receives a packet from the Department of State which contains information that says a voter is ineligible, the voter is sent a voting card, Earley said.
But due to a backlog, as described by a Divisions of Elections official in a 2020 federal case, Florida was “struggling” to come up with a process to identify ineligible felons, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
It’s unclear if the Department of State ever sent those packets to local election officials. But local election officials sent all 20 voter cards to the arrested voters, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The former head of the Office of Election Crimes and Security Pete Antonacci, sent a letter reviewed by ABC News to local elections supervisors on the day of the governor’s announcement, telling them “through no fault of your own” convicted felons voted in their counties.
Neil Volz, the director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, who helped Brandes with Amendment 4, said in a statement that Friday’s ruling, “strengthens our resolve to continue to place people over politics.”
The ruling in Wood’s case is the first disposition of the 18 cases that were announced by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, following the DeSantis announcement.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is scheduled to be sentenced today following his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, after he defied a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel for records and testimony in September of last year. He refused to comply and was found guilty of contempt in July.
Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:
Oct 21, 11:46 AM EDT
Bannon, defiant, says he will appeal conviction
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse after receiving his four-month sentence, Bannon said he respected the judge’s decision. But he was defiant about his conviction, and his attorney confirmed he would be filing a notice of appeal.
Bannon also attacked the Jan. 6 committee and urged people to vote in the upcoming election.
Protesters nearby chanted “traitor” and “liar” as he spoke.
Oct 21, 11:30 AM EDT
Judge reiterates seriousness of Jan. 6
In sentencing Bannon to four months, Judge Nichols reiterated how serious the events of Jan. 6 were and said the congressional committee has every reason to investigate what happened that day and to prevent anything like it from happening again.
Nichols emphasized that Bannon has not produced a single document or any testimony to the Jan. 6 committee — nor did he provide a log of documents that he believed to be covered by executive privilege.
However, the judge said the factors in Bannon’s favor include that he was taking the advice of counsel, even if it was misguided. Nichols also said the committee did not attempt to sue Bannon to enforce their subpoena.
The four-month sentence is two months shorter than the sentence prosecutors had been seeking.
Oct 21, 11:16 AM EDT
Judge sentences Bannon to four months, pending appeal
Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison and has been ordered to pay a fine of $6,500.
However Judge Nichols said he agreed that Bannon should not have to serve a sentence while he appeals his case, which Bannon has indicated he will do.
Oct 21, 10:57 AM EDT
Bannon attorney argues for executive privilege
Bannon attorney David Schoen took exception to the suggestion that Bannon did not have a legitimate claim of executive privilege when he rejected the committee’s subpoena.
In particular, Schoen went after Trump lawyer Justin Clark, who told DOJ investigators in July that at no point did former President Donald Trump ever invoke executive privilege over Bannon’s testimony.
“You wouldn’t believe a thing he says,” Schoen said of Clark, who also contradicted other claims made by Bannon’s defense team in their case.
Oct 21, 9:56 AM EDT
Prosecutor says Bannon ‘not above the law’
Federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney argued that Bannon is not above the law and should be sentenced and treated like any other citizen.
“It must be made clear to the public and the grand jury … that no one is above the law,” Cooney said. “He hid behind a fabricated claim of executive privilege, to thumb his nose at Congress.”
“He had an interest in making a public spectacle of the committee’s hearings,” Cooney told the judge, saying that Bannon “has tried to make it about nothing but politics and retribution.”
Oct 21, 9:45 AM EDT
Judge ‘tends to agree’ with DOJ on guidelines
The hearing got underway with Judge Carl Nichols saying he tended to agree with the government on the sentencing guidelines.
The judge said that Bannon “has expressed no remorse for his actions” and hasn’t demonstrated that he has any intention of complying with the subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.
Bannon attorney David Schoen argued that there should not be a 30-day mandatory minimum of jail time for the offense.
Nichols, however, rejected that argument, saying the statute is clear on the point that there is a mandatory minimum of 30 days and a mandatory maximum of 12 months.
Oct 21, 8:58 AM EDT
Courthouse arrival
Bannon arrived at the courthouse before 9 a.m. He thanked the TV news cameras for being there and called the Biden administration illegitimate.
He also thanked a woman who was chanting “traitor.”
Oct 21, 8:43 AM EDT
‘This is just Round 1’
Bannon, whose sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. EST, blasted members of the Jan. 6 committee on his way out of the courtroom after being found guilty in July.
“We may have lost a battle here today, but we’re not going to lose this war,” he said. “[The jury] came to their conclusion about what was put on in the in that courtroom. But listen, in the closing argument, the prosecutor missed one very important phrase, right? ‘I stand with Trump and the Constitution, and I will never back off that, ever.'”
Bannon’s attorney, David Schoen, said that Bannon’s defense team would appeal the case, saying, “This is just Round 1.”
Oct 21, 8:17 AM EDT
Bannon ‘willing to pay any fine’
Bannon is scheduled to be sentenced this morning in Washington, D.C. He was interviewed as part of the court’s presentencing investigation, but prosecutors said he refused to disclose any information about his finances.
They did, however, say that Bannon insisted “that he is willing and able to pay any fine imposed, including the maximum fine on each count of conviction,” according to Monday’s court filing.
“For his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress, the Defendant should be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment — the top end of the Sentencing Guidelines’ range — and fined $200,000 — based on his insistence on paying the maximum fine rather than cooperate with the Probation Office’s routine pre-sentencing financial investigation,” prosecutors said in Monday’s filing.
Oct 21, 6:55 AM EDT
DOJ seeks six months’ jail time for Bannon
The Department of Justice is seeking six months in prison and a fine of $200,000 when Steve Bannon is sentenced this morning, according to a court filing Monday.
The adviser to former President Donald Trump was convicted in July on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, after he refused to appear before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
“From the time he was initially subpoenaed, the Defendant has shown that his true reasons for total noncompliance have nothing to do with his purported respect for the Constitution, the rule of law, or executive privilege, and everything to do with his personal disdain for the members of Congress sitting on the Committee and their effort to investigate the attack on our country’s peaceful transfer of power,” prosecutors said in Monday’s filing. “[Bannon’s] abject refusal to heed the Committee’s subpoena, under the circumstances with which this country is confronted, could not be more serious.”
Bannon faces a maximum sentence of one year per count, for a total of two years behind bars.
In his own sentencing memorandum, Bannon asked that he be sentenced to a period of probation and is seeking a stay of any sentence pending appeal of his conviction.
(NEW YORK) — Many pediatric hospitals across the country are experiencing a surge in patients, and one of the main reasons, experts say, is an increase in cases of the respiratory virus known as RSV.
RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but it can become serious, especially for infants.
RSV infections are the most common cause of bronchitis and pneumonia in kids under the age of 1 in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One parent, Jeff Green, said he noticed his 4-month-old daughter Lindy was sleeping “pretty much nonstop” after contracting RSV.
Lindy is now hospitalized at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
“She’s just really lethargic,” Green told ABC News, adding of her earlier symptoms, “She was sleeping pretty much nonstop and started running a pretty significant fever.”
Adria Mullins, of Oklahoma, told ABC News she thought her 4-month-old daughter Shiloh had what she described as a “normal cold.”
When the infant’s breathing became labored, Mullins brought her to the emergency room, where she was admitted for RSV.
“It was rapid breathing,” Mullins said of Shiloh’s condition. “And it was her chest sinking in as she took a breath in and her stomach going out.”
In California, Amanda Bentley said her 18-month-old son Joshua has been hospitalized for more than a week with RSV.
“When I took him to the doctor, she said, ‘I think I’m going to send you to the ER,’ and I’m like, ‘What?'” Bentley recalled. “It was just a shock.”
Hospitals from California to Rhode Island — more than two dozen states in total across the country — have told ABC News they are grappling with a higher-than-expected number of pediatric patients amid the surge of RSV, flu and other common respiratory viruses.
Nationally, pediatric bed capacity is at the highest level in two years, with 71% of the estimated 40,000 beds filled, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Experts say the influx of respiratory viruses among children is likely due to a convergence of factors, including the start of flu season and the fact that kids are now less likely to wear face masks and socially isolate as they were doing during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. And RSV, in particular, is a very contagious virus.
“Not only are we seeing more viruses, we are seeing them sooner than we typically see them in cold and flu season,” Dr. Lauren Mientkiewicz, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, told ABC News.
What parents should know about RSV
RSV is a contagious virus that can spread from virus droplets transferred from an infected person’s cough or sneeze, from direct contact with the virus, like kissing the face of a child with RSV, and from touching surfaces, like tables, doorknobs and crib rails, that have the virus on it and then touching eyes, nose, or mouth before hand-washing, according to the CDC.
People infected with RSV are usually contagious for three to eight days, but some infants can continue to spread the virus even after they stop showing symptoms, for as long as four weeks, according to the CDC.
Among children, premature infants and young children with weakened immune systems or congenital heart or chronic lung disease are the most vulnerable to complications from RSV.
“Pretty much all kids have gotten RSV at least once by the time they turn 2, but it’s really younger kids, especially those under 6 months of age, who can really have trouble with RSV and sometimes end up in the hospital,” Dr. William Linam, pediatric infectious disease doctor at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, told ABC News last year. “That’s where we want to get the word out, for families with young children or children with medical conditions, making sure they’re aware this is going on.”
In the first two to four days of contracting RSV, a child may show symptoms like fever, runny nose and congestion.
Later on, the symptoms may escalate to coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing.
Parents should also be alerted to symptoms including dehydration and not eating, according to Linam.
“Not making a wet diaper in over eight hours is often a good marker that a child is dehydrated and a good reason to seek medical care,” he said. “Sometimes kids under 6 months of age can have pauses when they’re breathing, and that’s something to get medical attention for right away.”
Infants and toddlers can be treated at home for RSV unless they start to have difficulty breathing, in which case parents should contact their pediatrician and/or take their child to the emergency room.
At-home care for kids with RSV can include Tylenol and Motrin for fevers, as well as making sure the child is hydrated and eating.
Parents can help protect their kids from RSV by continuing to follow as much as possible the three Ws of the pandemic: wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance, according to Linam.
Infants who are either born prematurely (less than 35 weeks) or born with chronic lung disease may benefit from a medication to prevent RSV since they are at risk of developing more complications from it. Parents should discuss this with their pediatrician.
(MIAMI) — A Florida man had his election fraud charges dismissed on Friday, making him the first of 20 people who Gov. Ron DeSantis announced had been charged with voter fraud in August, to beat his case.
The ruling by a Miami judge may now pave the way for similar motions and rulings in the other 19 election fraud cases, which garnered national attention and controversy when they were announced on Aug. 18. DeSantis said at the time that they were the “opening salvo” by Florida’s newly funded Office of Election Crimes and Security to crack down on voter fraud.
Robert Lee Wood, who faced one count of making a false affirmation on a voter application, and one count of voting as an unqualified elector, had his charges dismissed on the grounds that the prosecutor lacked jurisdiction to bring them.
Wood was facing up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines and fees, for allegedly illegally voting in the 2020 election.
When the charges were announced on Aug 18, DeSantis said local prosecutors had been “loath” to take up election fraud cases.
“Well, now we have the ability with the attorney general and statewide prosecutor to bring those on behalf of the State of Florida,” he added at the press conference.
But a judge found on Friday that the statewide prosecutor did not have jurisdiction over one case in Miami.
In order for the statewide prosecutor to have jurisdiction, the crimes alleged must have occurred in at least two judicial circuits.
The judge found with the defense, which argued that the act of applying to vote and voting only occurred in Miami Dade. All 20 cases are being prosecuted by the statewide prosecutor.
In order for the Attorney General’s office to have jurisdiction, the crimes that they allege must have occurred in at least two judicial circuits.
State prosecutors argued that the crimes were committed in Leon County in addition to Miami Dade County, because the defendants’ applications and votes were later transmitted to the Department of State in Tallahassee.
The defense argued the alleged offenses only happened in Miami Dade.
The judge found with the defense.
Larry Davis, the attorney for Wood, said that his motion to dismiss on grounds of jurisdiction has been circulated to attorneys representing the other election fraud defendants.
The statewide prosecutor can now appeal the case. If unsuccessful, a similar case could be brought by the Democrat Miami Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez.
(WASHINGTON) — Everytown for Gun Safety, the prominent gun violence prevention organization, on Friday announced its first-ever investments in local secretary of state races amid what they described as worries the GOP nominees would not certify presidential election results in 2024 — if elected this year.
The $1 million investment is funding ads and mailers targeting Mark Finchem and Kristina Karamo, the Republican secretary of state nominees in Arizona and Michigan, respectively, and will boost the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, Everytown said.
The media campaign will be featured on digital platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Roku and YouTube, as well as via direct mail, according to the advocacy group.
Both Finchem and Karamo have spread baseless fraud claims about the 2020 presidential election and have declined to firmly commit to certifying the 2024 election results in their states, if they are in office.
“Electing gun sense champions requires fair elections — and that requires electing Secretaries of State who will stand up to armed extremists threatening our democracy and fight for free and fair elections,” John Feinblatt, president of Everytown, said in a statement.
“Everytown is going to make sure voters know that far-right candidates like Mark Finchem and Kristina Karamo, who deny election results and cozy up to extremist groups, are putting both our democracy and our lives at risk,” Feinblatt said.
The ad against Finchem, who was at the U.S. Capitol during last year’s insurrection (but said he didn’t go inside), highlights his association with the Oath Keepers militia and denial of the veracity of the 2020 election results. And a mailer focusing on Karamo casts her as “too dangerous for Michigan” while noting her election denialism and opposition to abortion access.
Neither Finchem’s nor Karamo’s campaigns responded to requests for comment from ABC News.
Pressed on his own election denialism in the past, Finchem has said that as secretary of state, he would theoretically certify a reelection win for President Joe Biden “if the law is followed, and legitimate votes have been counted” and “if there’s no fraud.” But he told Time magazine, that “quite frankly, is a fantasy.”
Everytown is one of the country’s major supporters of increased gun laws. But Charlie Kelly, the group’s senior political adviser, said that electing lawmakers who will advocate for those changes is only possible if election results are certified — and if voters are free from violence while casting ballots.
“That’s why we’re engaging the secretary of state races,” Kelly told ABC News in an interview.
Kelly said Everytown is hoping that their investment can reach tens of thousands of voters, indicating the new emphasis on secretary of state and other down-ballot races. Both Finchem and Karamo are candidates in swing-states.
Former President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept his own defeat in the 2020, by some seven million votes, has spurred a slew of Republicans running for office this year to cast doubt on the last election and this year’s races, with some candidates preemptively saying that if they win, it would be in spite of fraud — not because of the absence of it.
Kelly, the Everytown adviser, said that Arizona and Michigan were chosen for the advertising blitz after a collaboration with other groups to determine where the investment would go the furthest.
“These are ones that we determined we have an opportunity in. And again, as you’re looking at the battlefield, there are certainly a number of secretaries of state races across the board and across the country where there are extremist candidates running,” Kelly said, “but working again with partners to fill gaps and sort of where the needs are, these two rose to that level.”
Still, Kelly indicated that Everytown will not shy away from investing in secretary of state races in the future, suggesting that the contests will be focuses of Democrats and their allies beyond the midterms.
“If there are extremists and dangerous candidates like Finchem and Karamo running in future cycles, yes, we will be there in a significant way,” Kelly said. “These folks are putting their own sort of political priorities before our constitutional right to vote and our safety and should individuals like this decide to run in future elections, of course we’ll be there. We need to draw that contrast.”
(PHOENIX) — As Yesenia Cruz-Bejarano emerged from the Moose Lodge, an early voting location in South Phoenix, tears streamed down her face even as she smiled brightly with joy.
“I’ve been here for so long, you know, more than half of my life. So, I feel so proud,” said Cruz-Bejarano, who had just cast her first ballot as a newly-naturalized U.S. citizen. “I’m happy that I can make a difference, you know, with my vote.”
The married mother of three from Mexico, who works full-time at a local children’s shelter, is among a highly diverse wave of new American voters that could play a critical role in one of the hottest political battlegrounds of the midterm elections.
More than 64,000 immigrants gained citizenship in Arizona since 2016, according to a report last month by a coalition of immigrant, labor and voting rights groups in partnership with researchers at the University of California, San Diego.
“Arizona is at the top of the list of states for newly-naturalized voters,” said Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that sponsored the report. “We know that they will play an outsized role in determining the fate of the U.S. Senate and, of course, their state legislative body.”
Melaku points out the 2020 presidential election in Arizona was decided by just over 10,000 votes. The voting bloc of newly-naturalized citizens is more than six times that margin.
“In order to have a better future, we need to show up and vote and elect those that represent our values,” said Eduardo Sainz, a father of three who recently became a naturalized citizen after waiting 16 years in line. “We have to take out racist politicians out of office.”
Arizona’s population of naturalized American voters is a racially and ethnically diverse mix of immigrants from all over the world. More than half immigrated from Latin America and a third came from Asia, according to the report. Both groups of new citizens have a historically high rate of voter participation.
“They’re important because they’ve come to this country to be part of the American dream. They’ve come here to be part of the fabric of our country,” said Petra Falcon, executive director of Promise Arizona, a nonpartisan immigrant advocacy group.
The issues most important to them mirror those of the U.S. electorate more broadly, Falcon said, sharing concerns about the economy, health care, education, immigration and abortion rights.
“No voting bloc is a monolith, but they are most certainly not all Democrats,” said Melaku, “and they’re certainly people who need to be engaged, courted to really fully understand the issues at stake.”
Tuach Ruon, a father of five, and Tema Patrick, father of six, became U.S. citizens earlier this year as refugees from north and central Africa. Both now have union jobs working the overnight shift at a distribution warehouse — and both said health care is a top issue.
“In my native Congo, I never vote,” said Patrick, 45, who explained in broken English that he had never been able to cast a ballot. “This is my first time. I’m very happy.”
“It is important for us to vote to show that we are American,” added Ruon, “and to show that the people who we are voting for are doing the job that we are expecting them to do.”
Researchers say the newest Arizona voters are disproportionately young and female: More than half are under the age of 45 and nearly 6-in-10 are women.
“Self autonomy is a very big thing, specifically to women, non-binary individuals, anyone,” said Arisbeth Valenzuela, who became a U.S. citizen in 2019 and is now a grassroots organizer with Mi Familia Vota, a civic engagement group.
“There’s been a lot of women that have the same concerns that I do, and a lot of them are now getting much more invested in politics,” she said.
Overall, Arizona is home to nearly half a million naturalized citizens that comprise more than 6% of the state’s total population. Nearly one-fifth of those immigrants joined the voter rolls since 2016.
“We have a diversity of new people that are changing the electorate of Arizona,” said Arizona State University political scientist Irasema Coronado.
“The fact that we have two Democratic senators is a change. The fact that we have progressive members of the city council is a change. And so, you have a variety of people with new experiences and more progressive politics,” she said.
Their political power may depend in part on the ability to navigate new state voting restrictions, advocates said.
“That really could have a negative impact for voter behaviors, but we’re actually feeling quite hopeful that this year,” said Melaku, whose group is spearheading outreach to newly-minted American citizens.
“This is a powerful, rising voting bloc of people who are most likely bilingual, multicultural, come from, you know, diverse families and, of course, who care about a lot of issues,” she said.
Cruz-Bejarano said the responsibility and excitement of being a new voter instills a natural sense of engagement.
“There’s so many people becoming American citizens,” she said. “I have a lot of friends, you know, they are doing it right now. It’s — I think it’s really going to make the difference.”
