October 26 top stories
It is October 26. Here are today’s top stories.
Maine mass shooting
A gunman killed at least 18 people last night in Lewiston, Maine in a mass shooting targeting a bowling alley and a bar/restaurant.
Tragically, four of the victims were deaf people. For more information about the deaf victims, please look at the “Deaf News” video about this. For this video, I want to recap what happened.
The suspected gunman is Robert Card. He is still at large as of this afternoon.
Card is a member of the US Army Reserves and is a certified firearms instructor. News reports said he had mental health struggles, said he was “hearing voices,” and that he recently made threats to shoot up a National Guard facility in Maine.
The shooter went to the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley before 7:00 pm and killed seven people, one woman and seven men. The shooter left and went to the Schemengees Bar and Grille, which was four miles away. The shooter killed eight people. There was a deaf cornhole gathering at the time at the bar.
Three people who were injured from either shootings died at area hospitals. So that’s a total of 18 victims.
Lewiston is Maine’s second-largest city. This shooting rampage is the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since the Uvalde school shooting.
Hurricane Otis blamed on 27 deaths in Mexico
Hurricane Otis, which hit the Acapulco, Mexico region as a Category 5 storm yesterday, is blamed for at least 27 deaths.
The hurricane and its heavy rainfall caused deadly mudslides. Many of the region’s 1 million residents are without electricity due to many toppled power lines. There are many debris strewn on Acapulco’s famous beaches. Many hotels had their windows blown out. There are floodwaters that extend for miles in some areas.
Some residents feel that it could take a year for Acapulco to recover. Some locals are concerned that recovery efforts will focus on the tourism infrastructure and leave them behind.
NY judge fines Trump $10k for gag order violation
The New York judge overseeing former President Trump’s civil fraud trial, Arthur Engoron, fined Trump $10,000 for violating a gag order in the case.
The judge ordered Trump to not make any comments about staff in his courtroom this month after he made a critical post about a clerk. The post accused the clerk of being Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer’s “girlfriend.”
Trump was fined $5,000 earlier this month because his post remained on Trump’s campaign website and was recently fined $10,000 after he told news reporters that the clerk was “very partisan.”
The judge said the gag order and the fines were so he could protect his staff.
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[Sponsored video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
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Biden approval rating drops among Democrats
Axios said President Biden’s approval rating among Democrats has plummeted to a record low of 75%, which is down 11 percentage points over the last month. This is according to a Gallup poll.
Axios said Biden is at risk of alienating members of his own party with his unequivocal support for Israel, which has carried out a weeks-long bombardment and total siege of Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
Axios said a Gallup poll conducted in February, months before the Israel-Hamas war, found that Democrats sympathized more with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time in 20 years.
Axios said Biden has waved off calls from progressives and pro-Palestinian activists for a ceasefire in Gaza and that there are many Muslim and Arab Americans who feel a sense of betrayal over Biden’s support for the Israeli military campaign.
Judge says Georgia’s political maps must be redrawn
A federal judge ruled that Georgia’s political maps must be redrawn before the 2024 election.
The judge said the current political maps drawn by Republican lawmakers after the last census violate the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Black voters. The judge ordered the map to be redrawn by December 8.
The state is expected to appeal the decision. This is the second major case this year about a state violating the Voting Rights Act with the other case in Alabama. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with those who challenged Alabama’s political maps, so Georgia’s appeal may meet the same result.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/lewiston-maine-shootings-active-shooter-10-25-23/index.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-happened-maine-shooting-timeline/
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/26/trump-civil-fraud-trial-gag-order-fine
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/26/biden-approval-rating-democrats-israel-gaza
https://apnews.com/article/mexico-hurricane-otis-acapulco-17b4b34147a2fe5acbe980a0b5b06aa7
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/26/1208796830/georgia-redistricting-districts-judge-ruling