26-year-old mother charged in alleged murder of 4-month-old son
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(NEW YORK) — A mother in Alabama has been arrested and charged with the alleged murder of her 4-month-old son after an autopsy found that he had been severely injured, police said.
On Jan. 25, the Chambers County emergency dispatch center received a 911 call at approximately 1:55 PM in reference to a 4-month-old infant having a seizure at a residence in the Old Jackson Heights Housing Project in Lanett, Alabama, according to a statement from the Lanett Police Department.
“The East Alabama Fire Department was contacted for mutual aid and transported the black male infant to East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC),” authorities said. “The child’s condition was assessed by the medical staff at EAMC and then flown to the Children’s of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham. Alabama.”
The 4-month-old boy, however, died in the hospital just four days later and was taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science Medical Lab in Montgomery, Alabama to undergo an autopsy about what caused his death after police suspected fould play and said “the circumstances of the child’s death are under investigation by the Lanett Police Department.”
On Wednesday, the Lanett Police Department announced that the boy’s mother — 26-year-old Jamesia Brichae Pruit of Valley, Alabama — was arrested and charged with the alleged murder of the infant.
Police did not disclose the extent of the injuries the boy suffered but did confirm that this case remains under investigation and has asked for anyone with information regarding this case to contact the Lanett Police Department.
(MAITLAND, Fla.) — Marcus Jordan, the son of basketball legend Michael Jordan, was arrested on drug and resisting arrest charges in Florida after he got his vehicle stuck on train tracks, according to an arrest affidavit.
The 34-year-old Orlando resident was arrested shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday in Maitland after an officer saw a blue Lamborghini SUV that appeared to be stopped on railroad tracks, according to the affidavit. The officer notified SunRail, the commuter rail system, to alert that there was a vehicle on the tracks and approached the SUV, the affidavit said.
The officer reported that he smelled alcohol coming from the vehicle and the driver had slurred speech and “red bloodshot and glassy eyes,” according to the affidavit.
Police learned the vehicle had allegedly just fled from a traffic stop initiated by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, according to the affidavit.
Marcus Jordan reportedly told the officer that he made a wrong turn and needed help getting his vehicle off the tracks, according to the affidavit. There was a passenger in the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
He allegedly told police he had “some drinks” that night but “repeated he was not over the legal limit,” according to the affidavit.
The officer arrested Marcus Jordan for driving under the influence after conducting field sobriety exercises, according to the affidavit.
A “clear plastic baggie with a white powdery substance” was found inside the front right pocket of his pants that ultimately tested positive for cocaine, according to the affidavit.
Marcus Jordan allegedly refused to cooperate when asked to get into the patrol vehicle, according to the affidavit.
He refused to provide breath samples at the Orange County DUI Center, according to the affidavit.
Marcus Jordan was issued a citation for driving under the influence and charged with possession of cocaine and resisting an officer without violence, according to the affidavit. He was booked into the Orange County jail without incident.
He did not answer reporters’ questions upon his release later Tuesday. Online court records do not list any attorney information for him.
Marcus Jordan is one of Michael Jordan’s five children.
He is a former college basketball player, having played for the University of Central Florida. The affidavit noted his current occupation as self-employed.
(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.
(WASHINGTON) — Special Counsel Jack Smith issued his first response Tuesday to an effort by Donald Trump’s co-defendants to have the judge who tossed his classified documents case issue an emergency order blocking Smith’s final report on the investigation.
Lawyers for Trump’s former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, asked Judge Aileen Cannon — who dismissed the case in July after deeming Smith’s appointment unconstitutional — to issue an order barring Attorney General Merrick Garland from publicly releasing the report by Jan. 10.
In a brief filing, assistant special counsel James Pearce confirmed the office is “working to finalize” a report and Attorney General Garland — who has the final say over what material from the report is made public — has still not determined what to release from the volume that relates to Smith’s classified documents investigation.
The office assured Judge Cannon in their filing that Smith would not release that specific volume of the report anytime before 10 a.m. Friday and that they would submit a fuller response to Nauta and DeOliveira’s emergency motion no later than 7 p.m. Tuesday evening.
The legal maneuver by Trump’s now-former co-defendants came the same day Trump’s personal lawyers sent a letter to Garland demanding he remove Smith from his post and defer the decision about the report’s release to Trump’s incoming attorney general, Pam Bondi.
“No report should be prepared or released, and Smith should be removed, including for even suggesting that course of action given his obvious political motivations and desire to lawlessly undermine the transition,” wrote Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, Trump’s defense attorneys and his picks for top posts within the Department of Justice.
Smith has been winding down his cases against the president-elect, moving to dismiss Trump’s election interference case and dropping their appeal of his classified documents case against Trump, and is expected to submit a final report about his investigations to Garland before stepping down.
