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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of rape and abuse in lawsuit filed by former girlfriend Cassie Ventura

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

Producer and musician Sean Combs was sued in federal court in New York City on Thursday by his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, who alleges she was raped and subjected to years of physical and other abuse by Combs.“After years in silence and darkness, I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships,” Ventura – an R&B singer who goes by the stage name Cassie – said in a statement to CNN. “With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching, it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life.”“Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations,” Ben Brafman, attorney for Combs, said in a statement emailed to CNN via Combs’ publicist. “For the past 6 months, Mr. Combs, has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s per...

Florida man who survived gruesome shark attack shares ordeal, thanks good Samaritan who rendered aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

JUNO BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) – A Florida man is all stitched up after he came face to face with a shark, an encounter that nearly cost him his arm. Now, he is telling his survival story.Steven Reinhardt said he was in the water near Juno Beach when he had a frightening encounter with a shark.“And I just felt something hit my arm and thrash it, and I was like, ‘What the?’ You know, yeah, and I lift my arm up, and it looked like a Halloween prop,” he said. “I could see the muscles hanging and the blood and the bone.”The realization hit the 60-year-old swimmer immediately.“I kind of knew it was a shark when it hit me,” he said.Then, against all odds, and with a mangled and bloody arm, Reinhardt swam 100 yards back to shore. He said his mind was focused more on staying alive than the pain he was enduring.“Just get in before I bleed out, yeah, before I pass out,” he said.Once he was back on shore, Reinhardt said, another miracle happ...

Texas jury convicts woman of fatally shooting cyclist Anna ‘Mo’ Wilson in jealous rage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury on Thursday convicted a woman of murder in the May 2022 shooting death of rising professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson in a case that led investigators on a 43-day international search for the killer.Kaitlin Armstrong, 35, faces up to life in prison when she is sentenced later Thursday. Prosecutors said Armstrong gunned down the 25-year-old Wilson in a jealous rage. Wilson, who was also known as “Mo,” had briefly dated Armstrong’s boyfriend several months earlier. Wilson had gone swimming and to a meal with him the day she was killed.Jurors deliberated for about two hours after two weeks of testimony. Wilson family and friends — including the friend who found her body the night she was killed — hugged and cried in the courtroom after the verdict was read.Kaitlin Armstrong’s sister sat next to their mother crying. Armstrong’s father stood silently for several minutes after the verdict.A Vermont native and former a...

Good Samaritan describes rescuing woman from SUV stranded in Bridgewater lake

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

A man is being credited with helping rescue a woman after her SUV ended up in a lake in Bridgewater on Thursday.Speaking with 7NEWS, Nick Guerrero described how he made his way into Lake Nippenicket after seeing the vehicle dozens of feet out in the water.People living nearby said it was around 7:45 a.m. when the SUV appeared to go down a boat ramp and into the lake.“I just kind of saw something going down and I said ‘That’s not a boat going into the lake – that’s a car,” said Frances Dion, who lives near the lake. “It just kind of rolled slowly into the lake and drifted off.”Meanwhile, Guerrero was birdwatching nearby. He said he had seen a woman driving the Jeep and had to make sure she was okay.“The nose of the Jeep was going down and that’s when I kind of walked into the water,” he said.According to Guerrero, the woman inside of the car was more concerned with him getting wet than her own safety. But he said despi...

Enrique Pepén broke state law by promoting fundraiser on personal social media account: OCPF

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

Incoming Boston City Councilor Enrique Pepén cited a “lapse of judgement” Thursday as the reason for violating state law by using a personal social media account to advertise a campaign fundraiser and solicit donations while he was still a public employee.Pepén, who served as a City Hall employee until this summer and was endorsed by Mayor Michelle Wu, claimed victory last week in a competitive race for the District 5 seat that also featured outgoing Councilor Ricardo Arroyo as a candidate.Campaign finance officials said Pepén used his personal social media account in the two weeks leading up to a June 22 campaign kickoff fundraiser to publish six posts advertising the event, inviting people to attend, and soliciting contributions all while he was still a city employee.“Based upon our review, we have concluded that your distribution via social media of a fundraising invitation did not comply with (campaign finance law). To resolve this matter, you have purged contributio...

Mistrial declared after federal jury deadlocks in trial of ex-officer in deadly Breonna Taylor raid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

By DYLAN LOVAN (Associated Press)LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on federal civil rights charges Thursday in the trial of a former Louisville police officer charged in Breonna Taylor’s death, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.Brett Hankison was charged with using excessive force that violated the rights of Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend and her next-door neighbors. Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor’s window and a glass door after officers came under fire during a flawed drug warrant search on March 13, 2020. Some of his shots flew into a neighboring apartment, but none of them struck anyone.The 12-member, mostly white jury struggled to reach a verdict over several days. On Thursday afternoon, they sent a note to the judge saying they were at an impasse. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings urged them to keep trying, and they returned to deliberations.The judge reported that there were “elevated voices” co...

Man swims away from sailboat after standoff near Coronado's North Beach 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

CORONADO, Calif. -- A 30-foot disabled sailboat washed ashore near North Beach overnight, the Coronado Police Department confirmed.Authorities received a call around 6:30 a.m. Thursday reporting the vessel, which was occupied by a man of unknown age. Homeowner shoots burglary suspect in North County A public services employee attempted to speak to the man on the boat but was met with threats of violence, police said. The city employee then contacted CPD's communications center and officers responded to the beach at that time. The man onboard was reportedly uncooperative with authorities and refused to leave the vessel, CPD explained. Crisis negotiators were called to the scene to attempt to communicate with man, who authorities confirmed is not the owner of the boat. Around 11:07 a.m., CPD told FOX 5 the man was in the water swimming west from the area. Harbor Police and Coronado Lifeguards are also on scene assisting with the situation.Beachgoers are being redirected away from t...

Could America’s giant panda exodus be reversed? The Chinese president’s comments spark optimism

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Panda lovers in America received a much-needed injection of hope when Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that his government was “ready to continue” lending the black and white icons to American zoos. But it wasn’t certain when or where the pandas might be coming, although Xi gave a hint that California zoogoers, especially those in San Diego, might have reason to celebrate.Here’s a look at where things stand:U.S. panda woesThe number of giant pandas in American zoos has steadily dwindled as multiple exchange agreements have expired and not been renewed. The San Diego Zoo sent its pandas home in 2019 and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year. Washington’s National Zoo sent its three pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji — to China one week ago. Currently the only pandas in America are at the Atlanta Zoo, and that loan agreement expires next year. Veteran China-watchers have speculated t...

California family sues sheriff’s office after deputy kidnapped girl, killed her mother, grandparents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California family is suing a Virginia sheriff’s department that hired a deputy who sexually extorted and kidnapped a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint, killed her mother and grandparents, and set their home on fire.Austin Lee Edwards, 28, died by suicide during a shootout with law enforcement on Nov. 25, hours after the violence in Riverside, a city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The teenager was rescued.Edwards had been hired as a Washington County sheriff’s deputy in Virginia just nine days before the killings, even though a 2016 court order prohibited him from buying, possessing and transporting a firearm. The court order stemmed from a psychiatric detention after Edwards cut himself and threatened to kill his father. The girl’s aunt, Mychelle Blandin, and her minor sister filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in the Central District of California against the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Edwards’ esta...

Judge rules against tribes in fight over Nevada lithium mine they say is near sacred massacre site

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge in Nevada has dealt another legal setback to Native American tribes trying to halt construction of one of the biggest lithium mines in the world.U.S. District Judge Miranda Du granted the government’s motion to dismiss their claims the mine is being built illegally near the sacred site of an 1865 massacre along the Nevada-Oregon line.But she said in last week’s order the three tribes suing the Bureau of Land Management deserve another chance to amend their complaint to try to prove the agency failed to adequately consult with them as required by the National Historic Preservation Act. “Given that the court has now twice agreed with federal defendants (and) plaintiffs did not vary their argument … the court is skeptical that plaintiffs could successfully amend it. But skeptical does not mean futile,” Du wrote Nov. 9.She also noted part of their case is still pending on appeal at the 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals, which indicated last m...