December 19 top stories
It is December 19. Here are today’s top stories.
YouTuber Ruby Franke pleads guilty to child abuse
CBS News said a Utah mother of six who gave parenting advice on YouTube, Ruby Franke, pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse and will go to prison for trying to convince her two youngest children they were evil and needed to be punished to repent.
Franke will be sentenced in February. She is facing between 4 to 60 years in prison.
CBS News said the plea agreement revealed that Franke tortured her now 12-year-old son by forcing him to undergo hours of physical tasks. He was denied food and was punished if he secretly drank water. He was isolated from other people and did not have access to books or electronics. The boy often had his hands and feet bound with ropes or handcuffs. Franke told the son he was “evil” and that his punishments were acts of love.
The plea agreement said Franke did similar things to her 9-year-old daughter.
The abuse was exposed in August when Franke’s son escaped from the home of her business partner and therapist Jodi Hildebrandt. A neighbor saw that the son was very thin and weak and had duct tape around his ankles and wrists.
Police found one of Franke’s daughters in Hildebrandt’s home and arrested Franke and Hildebrandt. All of Franke’s six children were taken into state custody.
At that time, Franke was separated from her husband and they are now divorced.
Franke’s attorneys said she was influenced by Hildebrandt. A part of the plea agreement directs Franke to testify against Hildebrandt, who is currently behind bars on six felony counts of aggravated child abuse.
YouTube banned Franke from the platform and deleted two of her channels.
Actor Jonathan Majors convicted of assault
Reuters reported that actor Jonathan Majors, who is known for his role as Kang in Marvel films, was found guilty in a New York court on charges he attacked his ex-girlfriend in the back of a car.
Disney / Marvel said it has dropped Majors from future projects. He was supposed to have a lead role as Kang in a 2026 film.
Majors will be sentenced in February and face up to a year in prison.
Texas cops can arrest migrants who enter U.S. illegally
AP News said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law that will allow police to arrest migrants who illegally cross the U.S. border and give local judges authority to order them to leave the country. AP said it is a test of how far a state can go to enforce immigration laws.
The law, which takes effect in March, allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people if they are under suspicion of entering the country illegally.
Gov. Abbott said he predicted that the law would cause the number of people illegally crossing into Texas to reduce by 50% or 75%.
Some have compared the law to an older Arizona law known as the “Show Me Your Papers” bill that was later struck down by the Supreme Court because immigration enforcement is considered a federal responsibility, not a state responsibility.
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4-year-old boy killed in road rage shooting
ABC News said a 4-year-old boy was tragically shot and killed in a road rage incident on Friday night in Los Angeles County. The boy’s name was Gor Adamyan.
Police said the boy’s parents were driving on a highway and the suspect driver cut them off and then began following them on off-highway streets. The parent driver slowed their vehicle and the suspect driver pulled up and began shooting into the family car. The boy, Gor, was in the backseat and was shot in his torso. The parents immediately drove to a hospital but he passed away.
Police were able to track down the suspect vehicle and arrested two people, a 29-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman. Both are behind bars on a charge of suspicion of murder.
Gor’s family is demanding the suspects be jailed for life.
Judge orders names of Epstein associates to be released
ABC News said a federal judge in New York ordered a vast unsealing of court documents that will make public the names of many of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates in early 2024.
Epstein killed himself in jail while awaiting a trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His former work partner Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking and recruiting girls for Epstein.
There may be more than 150 people identified.
Colorado releases 5 wolves into wild
Wildlife workers in Colorado released five gray wolves in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains as a part of a wolf reintroduction program that was approved by voters.
AP News said the reintroduction program had the support of the state’s mostly Democratic urban corridor but was heavily opposed in conservative rural areas where ranchers worry about attacks on livestock.
The wolves were captured in Oregon on Sunday and then released in Colorado on Monday. Colorado officials plan to release 30 to 50 wolves within the next five years.
If ranchers lose livestock or guard animals to wolf attacks, they are eligible to be compensated up to $15,000 per animal.
Supporters of wolf reintroductions say it would help bring back balance to environments that are negatively affected by oversized big game herds.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ruby-franke-plea-agreement-child-abuse-youtube/
https://www.businessinsider.com/ruby-franke-pleaded-guilty-to-child-abuse-charges-2023-12
https://www.reuters.com/legal/ny-jury-deliberating-jonathan-majors-assault-case-2023-12-18/
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-texas-border-8c86bc6c20a7c30d6127b2413b8688fc
https://apnews.com/article/gray-wolves-reintroduction-colorado-3d497c7a64ac33c815e535b749a2f5e9
https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-judge-orders-documents-naming-jeffrey-epsteins-associates/story
https://abcnews.go.com/US/4-year-killed-california-road-rage-shooting/story