Month: March 2024

A man has been charged in connection with a stabbing attack that left four people dead – including one teenager – and seven others injured Wednesday afternoon in Rockford, Illinois. Rockford is a city of around 150,000 about 60 miles northwest of Chicago.

On Thursday morning, the Rockford Police Department confirmed to ABC News that the suspect, 22-year-old Christian Soto, was arrested as a suspect in the knife attack. Soto faces four counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder, as well as two counts of home invasion with a dangerous weapon. Authorities said that Soto is being held in the Winnebago County Jail.

Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana said that the brutal attack first began during a home invasion near Florence Street and Eggleston Road; a young woman trying to get away was stabbed in the face and hands and seriously wounded, while a Good Samaritan who tried to help the woman also was stabbed. The attacker then went on a rampage in the areas of Holmes Street, Winnetka Drive, and Cleveland Avenue in Rockford, police said. Calls for police and paramedics were soon coming in at multiple scenes in Rockford and surrounding parts of Winnebago County.

Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd said a total of four people were killed, with one critically injured, and four others taken to hospitals, where they remain in stable condition. Redd said not all of the victims were stabbed, but there were no gunshot victims. The victims who were killed include a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old woman, a 49-year-old man, and a 22-year-old man.

Police confirmed Thursday, that there were no other offenders involved in the attack, with Mayor Tom McNamara releasing the following statement: “Today, we are shocked by another horrific act of violence against innocent members of our community. We can report that the suspect is in custody and the threat has been neutralized. Now that he is in custody, our primary concern is ensuring that our community members directly impacted by this violence are supported throughout their healing and recovery. We are working with community partners to provide support and services quickly and conveniently to those residents. We will announce those details soon. We have multiple jurisdictions working on multiple crime scenes to develop an understanding of what transpired in an effort to prevent this from happening again. We will continue to provide updates.”

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Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, 32, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday after he was found guilty on fraud charges related to the downfall of the failed cryptocurrency exchange.

Judge Lewis Kaplan delivered the sentence, calling the defense argument ‘misleading, logically flawed and speculative.’ Kaplan said that Bankman-Fried had obstructed justice and tampered with witnesses in mounting his defense, which he weighed in making his decision on sentencing.

Bankman-Fried  was accused of using customer deposits on the cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, the company he founded, to cover losses at his hedge fund, pay off loans and buy lavish real estate, among other personal expenses.  He was convicted last November on two wire fraud conspiracy counts, two counts of wire fraud, one money-laundering conspiracy count, plus two counts of commodities fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. The wire fraud and money laundering charges each carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while the other charges carry a maximum sentence of five years each.

Via NBC News, Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Bankman-Fried had orchestrated one of the largest frauds in financial history: “Today’s sentence will prevent the defendant from ever again committing fraud and is an important message to others who might be tempted to engage in financial crimes that justice will be swift, and the consequences will be severe.”

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Marilyn Lands, a Democratic candidate for a state House seat in Alabama, won a special election on Tuesday, defeating Republican Teddy Powell and  flipping the Republican-held seat. The seat representing Alabama’s 10th district (Madison City) in the state legislature had long been held by Republicans. Lands also ran for the seat in 2022, narrowly losing to her Republican opponent.

As a result of a court ruling in Alabama that threw access to fertility treatments into question, Lands focused her campaign on reproductive rights, including support for access to in vitro fertilization and abortion. Lands, a mental health counselor, said a statement: “Today, Alabama women and families sent a clear message that will be heard in Montgomery and across the nation. Our legislature must repeal Alabama’s no-exceptions abortion ban, fully restore access to IVF, and protect the right to contraception.”

After an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children, leading to major IVF providers in the state to pause fertility treatments, Lands spoke openly about her own abortion when her pregnancy was nonviable. She ran advertisements on reproductive health care, like contraception and in vitro fertilization.

Heather Williams, president of Democrats’ legislative campaign, called the special election “the first real test, and a harbinger of things to come .. Republicans across the country have been put on notice that there are consequences to attacks on IVF — from the bluest blue state to the reddest red, voters are choosing to fight for their fundamental freedoms by electing Democrats across the country.”

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Following the takeover of the Walt Disney World theme park resort’s government by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Disney and allies of DeSantis reached a settlement agreement on Wednesday after a court fight over how Walt Disney World is developed in the future.

The board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District –which provides municipal services such as firefighting, planning and mosquito control, for example — was controlled by Disney supporters for most of its five decades.  The board members approved the settlement agreement, ending almost two years of litigation that was sparked by DeSantis’ takeover of the district from Disney supporters following the company’s opposition to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. As punishment for Disney’s opposition to the law, DeSantis took over the governing district through legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature and appointed a new board of supervisors. Disney sued DeSantis and his appointees, claiming the company’s free speech rights were violated for speaking out against the legislation. A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit in January.

Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World Resort, said in a statement Wednesday: “this agreement opens a new chapter of constructive engagement with the new leadership of the district and serves the interests of all parties by enabling significant continued investment and the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and economic opportunity in the state.”

Under the terms of Wednesday’s settlement agreement, Disney lets stand a determination by the board of DeSantis appointees that the comprehensive plan approved by the Disney supporters before the takeover is null and void. According to the settlement terms, Disney also agrees that a development agreement and restrictive covenants passed before the takeover are also not valid. As such, a comprehensive plan from 2020 will be used with the new board able to make changes to it, and the agreement suggests Disney and the new board will negotiate a new development agreement in the near future.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/settlement-reached-lawsuit-disney-florida-gov-ron-desantis-108552678

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