Woman bludgeons mother to death inside her own home: Police
Burlington County prosecutor’s office
(WILLINGBORO TOWNSHIP, NJ) — A 32-year-old woman has been arrested after allegedly bludgeoning her mother to death inside her own home, officials said.
Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Willingboro Township Police Chief Ian S. Bucs announced that Breanna Beacham — who was temporarily staying at her mother’s residence on Hopewell Lane in Willingboro Township — was charged on Tuesday with killing her mother in the victim’s home in the Hawthorne Park neighborhood.
“Police were called to the residence just before 4 p.m. for a report of an assault in progress,” according to a statement from the Burlington County prosecutor’s office on Tuesday. “Upon arrival, investigators discovered the body of Kim Beacham-Hanson, 57.”
The preliminary investigation determined that she had been bludgeoned to death, officials said.
“An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood concluded her death was a homicide that was caused by multiple blunt injuries,” according to the Burlington County prosecutor’s office.
Beacham was taken into custody at the home early Tuesday evening and lodged in the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly pending a detention hearing in Superior Court. The case will now be prepared for presentation to a grand jury for possible indictment.
Breanna Beacham has now been charged with first degree murder, third degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and fourth degree unlawful possession of a weapon .
The motive for the attack remains under investigation.
(WASHINGTON) — Peach and Blossom are the two lucky turkeys from Minnesota who escaped a fowl fate of ending up on someone’s Thanksgiving table this year when they were pardoned Monday by President Biden at the White House.
“This event marks the official start of the holiday season here in Washington,” Biden said to what he said was a crowd of 2,500 gathered on the South Lawn. “It’s also my last time to speak here as your president during this season and give thanks and gratitude. So let me say to you, it’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful.”
“May we use this moment to take time from our busy lives and focus on what matters most: our families,” Biden said. “My dad used to have an expression, family is the beginning, the middle and the end, our friends and our neighbors. The fact that we are blessed to live in America, the greatest country on Earth — and that’s not hyperbole. We are. No matter what, in America we never give up. We keep going, we keep the faith.”
These birds were plucked for the presidential flock and went through rigorous training to ride the gravy train to the White House for the honor, according to John Zimmerman, chairman of the National Turkey Federation.
Zimmerman’s 9-year-old son Grant and other young trainers made sure their feathers wouldn’t be ruffled by the spotlight.
“Preparing these presidential birds has taken a lot of special care,” Zimmerman said Sunday during a news conference introducing the two turkeys. “We’ve been getting them used to lights, camera and even introducing them to a wide variety of music — everything from polka to classic rock.”
Peach and Blossom, weighing 41 and 40 pounds, respectively, where hatched back in July. They traveled to Washington this week and were treated to a suite at the Willard InterContinental hotel before their big day on Monday, as is tradition.
Biden said the birds were named after the Delaware state flower: the Peach Blossom.
The president joked Peach lived by the motto “keep calm and gobble on.” Blossom’s mantra, he said, was “no foul play, just Minnesota nice.”
Biden at times was interrupted by gobbles, responding by saying one was making a “last-minute plea.”
After the pardons, the two turkeys were headed back to Waseca, Minnesota, to live out the remainder of the feathery lives as “agricultural ambassadors” at Farmamerica, an agricultural interpretive center.
“And today, Peach and Blossom will join the free birds of the United States of America,” Biden said.
The turkey pardon at the White House is an annual tradition that is usually “cranned” full of a cornucopia of corny jokes.
The history of the turkey pardon
The origin of the presidential turkey pardons is a bit fuzzy. Unofficially, reports point all the way back to Abraham Lincoln, who spared a bird from its demise at the urging of his son, Tad. However, that story might be more folklore than fact.
The true start of what has evolved into the current tradition has its roots in politics and dates back to the Harry Truman presidency in 1947.
Truman ruffled feathers by starting “poultry-less Thursdays” to try and conserve various foods in the aftermath of World War II, but Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day all fell on Thursdays.
After the White House was inundated with live birds sent as part of a “Hens for Harry” counter-initiative, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board presented Truman with a bird as a peace offering — although the turkey was not saved from a holiday feast.
President John F. Kennedy began the trend of publicly sparing a turkey given to the White House in November 1963, just days before his assassination. In the years following, the event became a bit more sporadic, with even some first ladies such as Pat Nixon and Rosalynn Carter stepping in to accept the guests of honor on their husband’s behalf.
The tradition of the public sparing returned in earnest during the Reagan administration, but the official tradition of the poultry pardoning at the White House started in 1989, when then-President George H.W. Bush offered the first official presidential pardon. In the more than three decades since, at least one lucky bird has gotten some extra gobbles each year.
(NEW YORK CITY) — Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe came under fire for comments made about Latinos and Puerto Rico at former President Donald Trump’s Sunday campaign rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
After making a vulgar joke about how Latinos “love making babies,” Hinchcliffe later turned to the Caribbean island.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
That joke came after Trump made a similar comment last Thursday, calling the U.S. a “garbage can for the world” in an escalation of his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Hispanic groups on both sides of the aisle called Hinchcliffe comments “derogatory,” “offensive” and “disrespectful.”
An estimated 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year, making up about 15% of the electorate, according to Pew Research Center. Puerto Ricans who live in the U.S. territory do not have the right to vote in the presidential election — but key swing states like Florida and North Carolina are home to prominent Hispanic and Latino communities.
“The Trump campaign’s tolerance for offensive humor, especially against Puerto Rico and its residents, highlights a disturbing pattern of disregard toward the island’s people and its challenges,” the League of United Latin American Citizens said in a statement to ABC News. “Such careless words not only deepen wounds but also normalize harmful rhetoric.”
The Republican National Hispanic Assembly also condemned the remarks.
“Such ignorant comments not only fail to capture Puerto Rico’s resilience but also misrepresent the commitment shown to the island by President Trump and his administration,” its statement read. “Puerto Ricans deserve respect and recognition for their resilience and contributions to this great Nation.”
Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of Hispanic Federation, noted in a statement to ABC News that the Trump campaign gave Hinchcliffe a platform to make his remarks on the same day the Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign introduced a plan for resolving issues impacting Puerto Rico.
“Millions of Puerto Ricans in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida and New York may no longer live on the island, but they still revere it as their ancestral and cultural home, and you cannot continue to disrespect us and think that we are not going to remember that when we go to the ballot box,” Miranda said.
Hinchcliffe also made jokes targeting other racial or religious minorities, including both the Black and Jewish communities. He defended his jokes online in a response to criticism from Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Harris’ running mate Tim Walz.
“These people have no sense of humor,” Hinchcliffe wrote in an X post. “Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist. I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone … watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim … might be time to change your tampon.”
The Trump campaign distanced itself from Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke against Puerto Rico.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez wrote in a statement to ABC News.
Other GOP figures, including María Elvira Salazar, denounced the jokes online.
“This rhetoric does not reflect GOP values,” Salazar said on X.
The joke came shortly after Harris announced an “Opportunity Economy” plan for Puerto Rico, which was applauded online by prominent Hispanic figures with tens of millions of followers, including singers Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Luis Fonsi.
Her plan includes the creation of a new task force for Puerto Rico with the goal of rebuilding and modernizing the territory’s energy grid, expanding access to clean energy, building affordable housing and more.
Trump has been criticized for how he handled Hurricane Maria in 2017, during his first term. He’s long overstated how much disaster funding Puerto Rico received after the storm and also came under fire for infamously tossing paper towels into a crowd of Puerto Ricans at a relief center in the hurricane-ravaged territory after Maria hit.
Additionally, FEMA lost track of more than a quarter-billion dollars in food and supplies intended for Puerto Rico over the course of its response to 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria, according to a Department of Homeland Security report that found delays and mismanagement in the disaster response efforts.
However, Trump’s White House approved nearly $13 billion in federal aid to help rebuild Puerto Rico’s electrical grid system and the education system in 2020.
(NEW JERSEY) — Multiple wildfires have erupted across New Jersey amid windy and dry conditions
A large brush fire broke out on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Bergen County in northern New Jersey, near New York City. The fire covers 19 acres and is 30% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. No structures are threatened.
On Friday, “conditions will be extremely dangerous for more brush fires and rapid fire spread,” the Englewood Fire Department warned.
New York City Emergency Management said New Yorkers may smell smoke on Friday.
Another wildfire is threatening over 100 structures in Burlington and Camden counties in southern New Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. The blaze spans 360 acres and is 75% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.
In Jackson Township, in central New Jersey, the Shotgun Wildfire has burned through 350 acres and is 80% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. No structures are threatened.
A fourth fire, the Pheasant Run Wildfire, covered 133 acres in the Glassboro Wildlife Management Area, a wildlife park in southern New Jersey. It’s 50% contained and isn’t threatening any structures.
Fire danger has increased in the Northeast due to the combination of a historically dry fall, gusty winds near 30 mph and relative humidity down to 25%. A red flag warning has been issued from Boston to New York City and Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the Mountain Fire in Southern California has exploded in size, blazing through 20,000 acres, destroying homes and prompting mass evacuations.
