Thursday, September 22 top stories
It is Thursday, September 22. It’s the first day of fall. Ready for today’s top stories?
New image of Neptune from Webb Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope took this new photograph of Neptune and its rings. In the bottom image, which is a wider shot, you can see a bluish, glowing light. That is Neptune’s largest moon, Triton.
Neptune and Pluto are two of the farthest planets from the Sun and their distances vary depending on where they are in their orbit.
This image is an old photograph of Neptune from 1989, taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. It shows the planet’s blue color but you can’t see the rings. NASA explained that Voyager 2’s photograph uses visible light, which is what our human eyes can see.
The Webb telescope uses infrared light technology, which captures “invisible” light. The infrared light allows us to see even more details that are invisible to the human eye. For example, in the wider shot, you can see several distant galaxies behind Neptune.
Appeals court says DOJ can look at Trump classified records
On Wednesday night, a federal appeals court said the Department of Justice/FBI can continue to look at documents that were seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home if the documents were marked as classified.
The appeals court panel agreed that the public deserves to know whether the alleged mishandling of classified documents caused a threat to national security.
In separate but related news, Trump said in an interview that he could, as the president, declassify government documents by simply declaring it or even by thinking about it. Trump said he “declassified everything.”
The appeals court said Wednesday night that they have no evidence that Trump declassified any of the documents and that his legal team wouldn’t provide any information on a declassification process.
Cop who held down George Floyd’s legs is sentenced to 3 years
Thomas Lane, one of the four former Minneapolis police officers who were involved in the murder of George Floyd, was sentenced to three years in prison on a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Lane’s role was holding down Floyd’s legs.
CNN explained that he is currently in federal prison on a sentence of 2.5 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights and appeared remotely at the hearing. He will serve his federal and state sentences concurrently.
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Driver struck and killed teenager after political argument
Early Sunday morning in North Dakota, an 18-year-old teenager named Cayler Ellingson was struck and killed by an SUV while he was in an alley.
Police said the suspect, 41-year-old Shannon Brandt, told them that he was drinking and had a “political argument” with the young man. Brandt said he intentionally hit Ellingson with his SUV because he felt threatened that the teenager would call others to attack him. Brandt later said he thought the young man was a part of a “Republican extremist group.”
Police said Brandt said he left the scene, but returned after a short while and called 911, and then left again. Brandt was charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death. He posted a $50,000 bond and was released.
Worker was dead in Belk store restroom for 4 days
Police in Columbia, South Carolina said a 63-year-old worker was dead in a public restroom at a Belk store for four days before it was discovered. The woman’s name was Bessie Durham.
AP News explained that Durham worked for an outside company that cleans the store. Her cleaning cart was outside the restroom. She was last seen on a surveillance camera going in the bathroom on Thursday morning. After her family filed a missing person report on Monday, her body was found at about 8 p.m. that night. The store was open for regular hours during the four days.
Law enforcement said there are no signs that someone killed her or that she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. There will be an autopsy to determine her cause of death.
Belk said they are helping authorities figure out what happened and is sending its deepest condolences to Durham’s family.
A neighbor of Durham said she was a kind person who would often cook food and hand out plates to people in the neighborhood and had grandchildren who would visit. The neighbor said he believes people at the store slacked and should be held accountable.
Two gay candidates face off in congressional election
NBC News reported that for the first time in U.S. history, two gay candidates will face off in a congressional election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which is located on most of the North Shore of Long Island.
Democrat Robert Zimmerman is going up against Republican George Santos in the November election to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Tom Suozzi. This means that regardless of the result, the district will have a gay representative.
NBC said a historic number of LGBTQ candidates will appear on ballots across the country in November with at least 1,095 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people who have run or are still running for office at all levels this year.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/22/politics/donald-trump-dual-legal-blows-analysis/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/us/thomas-lane-sentencing/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/21/science/neptune-webb-telescope-photos.html
https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1572558249307639809
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/worker-dead-belk-department-store-bathroom-days-90262536