Woman arrested after racist rant, assault in restaurant lot

PLANO, Texas -- A woman has been arrested and faces a possible hate crime charge after she was captured on video in a racist rant and assault on women of South Asian descent in a suburban Dallas parking lot, officials said Thursday.

Plano police said in a statement Esmeralda Upton, 58, of Plano, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and terroristic threat charges. She remained in city jail Thursday with bond set at $10,000.

The statement said the incident also was being investigated as a hate crime. Jail officials had no attorney listed for Upton.

The incident happened shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday outside a Plano restaurant. A widely-circulated video recorded by the women of Indian descent showed Upton unleashing a profanity-laced rant on them, challenging their presence in the United States, threatening to shoot them and physically assaulting the woman shooting the video.

It was unclear from the video what, if anything, triggered the rant and assault.

#Woman #arrested #racist #rant #assault #restaurant #lot https://www.globalcourant.com/woman-arrested-after-racist-rant-assault-in-restaurant-lot/?feed_id=15874&_unique_id=63081eb5a54f7

Texas man accused of threatening conservative convention

SAN ANTONIO -- A Texas man remained jailed Sunday authorities accused him of making threats against a convention of young conservative activists held last month in Florida.

Alejandro Richard Velasquez Gomez, 19, of San Antonio, was arrested earlier this month after FBI agents alleged he posted threats on social media to carry out a mass attack on the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit convention.

The event was held from July 22 through July 24 in Tampa. Turning Point is a Donald Trump-aligned group that organizes young people on college campuses into conservative activism.

FBI agents allege Velasquez posted on Instagram that the first day of the convention would be “the day of retribution the day I will have revenge against all of humanity,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in San Antonio.

Velasquez had bought a plane ticket to fly from Austin to Tampa on July 22 but canceled the ticket the night before his flight, FBI agents said.

According to the complaint, agents said they believed Velasquez had planned an attack similar to a violent rampage in 2014 in which Elliot Rodger, 22, killed six students and wounded more than a dozen others near the University of California, Santa Barbara, before killing himself.

The complaint did not clarify why the event was allegedly targeted, but Tampa police took the threat seriously and obtained an arrest warrant.

Velasquez was arrested in San Antonio and charged with making threatening interstate communications. He was also charged with possession of child pornography for images allegedly found on his phone.

An attorney for Velasquez didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment Sunday.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/texas-man-accused-of-threatening-conservative-convention/?feed_id=13947&_unique_id=63029946da7db

Foot found in Yellowstone hot spring linked to July death

HELENA, Mont. -- Part of a human foot found in a shoe floating in a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park earlier this week is believed to be linked the death of a person last month, park officials said Friday.

The July 31 death is being investigated but officials do not suspect foul play, park officials said in a statement. The statement did not disclose details about how the death is believed to have happened, identify the person who died or say why officials do not suspect foul play.

The shoe was recovered from the park's Abyss Pool on Tuesday after an employee spotted it, park officials said.

News of that discovery led a man from Maryland to contact the National Park Service to report that he and his family had spotted a shoe, floating sole up, in the hot spring on the morning of Aug. 11.

Chris Quinn of Pasadena, Maryland, said in an interview that he sent a photo of the shoe to the park service.

Park spokesperson Linda Veress said in an email that officials could not confirm whether the shoe that was found was the same type of shoe in Quinn's photo.

Abyss Pool, west of the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake, is 53 feet (16 meters) deep and the temperature is about 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 Celsius), park officials said.

Park visitors are warned to stay on the boardwalks and trails in thermal areas, where some of the pools and springs have a thin, breakable crust covering the scalding and sometimes acidic water.

At least 22 people are known to have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile (9,000 square kilometer) national park since 1890, park officials have said.

The most recent death happened in June 2016 when a man from Portland, Oregon, left a boardwalk in the the park's Norris Geyser Basin, slipped on gravel and fell into a boiling, acidic spring. No significant human remains were recovered.

The nation's first national park has drawn more than 4 million visitors annually in recent years, with the exception of 2020, when it was briefly closed due to the pandemic.

Historic flooding forced the closure of the entire park for part of June. The park's northern and northeastern entrances are still closed to vehicles.

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Peipert reported from Denver.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/foot-found-in-yellowstone-hot-spring-linked-to-july-death/?feed_id=13142&_unique_id=62ffd7498ce19

Arizona parents arrested trying to get in locked-down school

PHOENIX -- Police arrested three Arizona parents, shocking two of them with stun guns, as they tried to force their way into a school that police locked down Friday after an armed man was seen trying to get on campus, authorities said.

The parents were arrested as they tried to get to their children to protect them, authorities said. Officers in the Phoenix suburb of El Mirage used a Taser to stop two of them as they tried to help a man whose own handgun fell to the ground while he was being taken into custody, authorities said.

The scene at Thompson Ranch Elementary School developed nearly three months after hundreds of law enforcement officers in the small Texas city of Uvalde failed to act for more than an hour as a gunman killed two teachers and 19 students.

No shots were fired at Thompson Ranch, the school wasn't breached and no one was hurt, other than a woman taken to a hospital with Taser injuries from officers who say they were trying to stop her from attacking them.

By the time the confrontations with the upset parents began, police had already confirmed that there was no longer a threat, removed a suspicious package and were planning to begin reuniting parents with the children, El Mirage police Lt. Jimmy Chavez said.

But the school was still on lockdown, meaning no one would be allowed on campus, according to the protocols police and the school district have set up. That's when upset parents demanded to be allowed into the school so they could find their children and began confronting police, authorities said.

“Several parents continued with their agitation, made several statements that they were going to come on campus to help protect their kids,” Chavez said. “As a parent I understand that philosophy. However, there are procedures that law enforcement and the school were following.”

Chavez said a man began pushing to get past officers and as police were arresting him, a man and a woman who had also been confronting officers came to his aid. Officers used a Taser to subdue them and they too were arrested. As the first man was being taken into custody, a gun fell to the ground.

The armed parent will face a weapons charge — guns are not allowed on school grounds — and a disorderly conduct charge. The two parents who were stunned with the Taser will face unspecified charges. The woman was taken by ambulance to a hospital, Chavez said. None were immediately identified.

The incident began at about 10:30 a.m. Friday when school officials called police to report that a man, possibly armed with a gun, was trying to get into a locked school building. He could not get in and was chased off by staff before police from El Mirage and two other agencies arrived at the school, Chavez said.

Officers searching the school to ensure it was safe found a suspicious package and called a bomb squad, Chavez said, and moved some children to another part of the campus.

That's when parents began arriving and the confrontations with officers began, with parents "forcefully pushing on the officers trying to get on to campus."

“The parents need to understand that when the school is on lockdown and law enforcement is on scene, nobody is going to be allowed on campus,” Chavez said.

Chavez said the school lockdown procedures between the school district and law enforced “worked to a T.”

Police later located the man who had triggered the lockdown. He was being evaluated late Friday by mental health professionals and a police statement said charges were pending.,

Efforts to reach El Mirage Police Saturday to get additional information were not immediately successful.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/arizona-parents-arrested-trying-to-get-in-locked-down-school/?feed_id=10594&_unique_id=62f865bf042a9

Large wildfire burning amid drought on Hawaii’s Big Island

HONOLULU -- A large wildfire in a rural area of Hawaii's Big Island is not threatening any homes, but high winds and extremely dry conditions are making it difficult for crews to contain the blaze.

The fire started in the western reaches of the U.S. Army's Pohakuloa Training Area, which is above the town of Waikoloa and in between the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes.

The fire had burned more than 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) as of Thursday.

Huge wildfires like the one in Hawaii highlight the dangers of climate change-related heat and drought for many communities throughout the U.S. West and other hotspots around the world. But experts say relatively small fires on typically wet, tropical islands in the Pacific are also on the rise, creating a cycle of ecological damage that affects vital and limited resources for millions of residents.

State land officials said the fire actually began several weeks ago and smoldered until strong winds fanned the flames this week.

The area is dominated by shrubs and grasslands that have been dried by persistent drought.

“This fire is very significant and it is taking this entire team of first responders to collectively contain its advances,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Cronin, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Pohakuloa Training Area, in a statement.

Strong winds have been recorded across the area, some in excess of 30 mph (48 kph).

“The weather conditions are making this fight difficult to slow the advance of the fire, and our combined efforts are working to prevent it from reaching or crossing Highway 190," Cronin said.

The fire is now burning on state land and is about a mile away from Highway 190, according to Big Island county officials.

Waikoloa Village, a town of about 7,000 people on the other side of Highway 190, was evacuated last year when the state's largest-ever wildfire burned more than 70 square miles (181 square kilometers).

Linda Hunt, who works at a horse stable in Waikoloa Village, said she can see the flames from her farm but that winds are currently pushing the fire away from her community.

“We’re about 10, 15 miles down the hill," she said. "The way the wind is blowing, it’s going to keep blowing towards Kona. Unless we get a change of wind, that’s the only way we’d be affected."

Federal, state and local firefighters are trying to contain the blaze. Crews are using bulldozers to create a fire break and several helicopters from various agencies are dropping water on the fire.

The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources released video of the blaze Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Army told The Associated Press that while there is active military training in the area, the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

“There are units up there training, I can't confirm or deny if live fire was taking place,” said Michael O. Donnelly, chief of external communications for the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii. “It's business as usual, but the exact cause we don't know.”

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for fire conditions in the region through Thursday night.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/large-wildfire-burning-amid-drought-on-hawaiis-big-island/?feed_id=10111&_unique_id=62f6be068bc2e

4 riding in golf cart killed in crash at Texas intersection

GALVESTON, Texas -- Four people riding in a golf cart were killed — including two juveniles — when an allegedly intoxicated man driving an SUV ran a stop sign at an intersection in Southeast Texas, police said.

Miguel Espinoza, 45, has been charged with four counts of intoxication manslaughter in the crash about 11:30 p.m. Saturday in Galveston, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Houston, police said.

Espinoza was being held in Galveston County jail Sunday on $400,000 bond, police said. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.

Galveston police Sgt. Derek Gaspard said that after the SUV failed to stop, it struck a pickup truck, which then crashed into the golf cart that had six people aboard. He said that the golf cart and pickup were traveling in opposite directions through the intersection on a street that did not have a stop sign.

Police said the adult driver of the golf cart was pronounced dead at the scene while a woman and two juveniles on the golf cart were taken to a hospital, where they died. The two other passengers — an adult and a juvenile — were hospitalized Sunday in critical condition, police said.

Espinoza, who lives in the Houston-area city of Rosenberg, and his passenger had minor injuries, police said. They were taken to the hospital and later released.

The occupants of the pickup were not injured, Gaspard said. Names and ages of the dead weren't immediately released.

Gaspard said that he believes the golf cart, which was rented, was operating legally on the city street. He said members of two different families were riding on the golf cart at the time of the crash.

Galveston Mayor Craig Brown said golf carts have become “quite a prolific mode of transportation” for residents and visitors to the island resort area, which is located on the Gulf of Mexico.

Brown said that the city has in the past put in place ordinances aimed at make operating them safer, and will be considering additional ordinances at an upcoming City Council meeting.

“I was out last night," Brown said. “The island was busy and there were golf carts — residential as well as rental golf carts — out all over these streets.”

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This story has been updated to correct that Miguel Espinoza lives in Rosenberg.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/4-riding-in-golf-cart-killed-in-crash-at-texas-intersection/?feed_id=7927&_unique_id=62f01fe7d826d

Texas trial begins for man accused of killing his daughters

DALLAS -- A man who evaded arrest for more than 12 years after being accused of fatally shooting his two teenage daughters in a taxi parked near a Dallas-area hotel was “obsessed with possession and control,” a prosecutor said Tuesday during opening statements of his capital murder trial.

“He controlled what they did, who they talked to, who they could be friends with, if they and who they could date," prosecutor Lauren Black said. "And he controlled everything in his household."

Yaser Said, 65, is accused of killing 18-year-old Amina Said and 17-year-old Sarah Said on New Year’s Day in 2008. Said, who entered a not guilty plea Tuesday, faces an automatic life sentence if convicted.

About a week before the sisters were killed, they and their mother fled their home in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville to Oklahoma to get away from Yaser Said, who worked as a taxi driver, Black said. The sisters had become “very scared for their lives,” and the decision to leave was made after Said “put a gun to Amina's head and threatened to kill her,” the prosecutor said.

But, Black said, in another act of “control” and “manipulation” by Said, he told them he had changed and convinced them to return home. The evening the sisters were shot, their father wanted to take just the two of them to a restaurant, she said.

In a letter written to the judge overseeing the case, Said said he was not happy with his kids’ “dating activity” but denied killing his daughters. Defense attorney Joseph Patton said in opening statements that the evidence would not support a conviction, that police were too quick to focus on Said and suggested that anti-Muslim sentiment played into that focus. Said was born in Egypt.

Before the sisters were found shot to death in a taxi parked near a hotel in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Sarah Said had managed to call 911 using a cellphone, telling the operator that her father shot her and that she was dying.

Black said Sarah Said was shot nine times and Amina Said was shot twice.

In moments of extreme trauma, like being shot multiple times, people can have hallucinations, Patton said.

In an email to her Lewisville High School history teacher a few days before she and her sister were killed, Amina Said said that she and Sarah did not want to live by their father’s culture and marry men from the Middle East, “especially men we don’t know or love.” So they were running away from their father's home, she said in the email prosecutors read into evidence.

“I know that he will search until he finds us, and he will without any drama nor doubt kill us,” the email read.

After the sisters were found fatally shot in the taxi, police contacted the taxi's registered owner, who said Yaser Said had been driving the taxi for the past 10 days, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.

Said, who had been sought on a capital murder warrant since the slayings, was placed on the FBI's most-wanted list. He was finally arrested in August 2020 in Justin, about 35 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Dallas. His son, Islam Said, and his brother, Yassim Said, were subsequently convicted of helping him evade arrest.

Black said the sisters, both high school students in Lewisville, dreamed of becoming doctors, and that Yaser Said grew “angrier” as they grew up and became more educated and independent.

“When they had more independence, that was less control for him,” Black said.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/texas-trial-begins-for-man-accused-of-killing-his-daughters/?feed_id=5825&_unique_id=62e9c8fb4c2f3

Temperatures could hit triple digits again in Northwest

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Heat wave duration records could be broken in the Pacific Northwest this week and authorities are expanding capacity at some cooling centers as temperatures near triple digits are forecast to extend into the weekend.

“For the next several days through Saturday we’re going to be within a few degrees of 100 every day,” said Colby Neuman, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Portland, Oregon.

Temperatures in Oregon’s largest city are forecast to soar to 101 degrees Fahrenheit (38.3 Celsius) again on Friday. On Tuesday, Portland set daily record 102 F (38.9 C).

Seattle on Tuesday also reported a new record daily high of 94 F (34.4 C). The heat spell was forecast to last into Saturday in western Washington as well.

The National Weather Service has extended the excessive heat warnings from Thursday through Saturday evening.

The duration of the heat wave puts Portland “in the running” for tying its longest streak of six consecutive days of 95 F (35 C) or higher, Neuman said.

Climate change is fueling longer heat waves in the Pacific Northwest, a region where weeklong heat spells were historically rare, according to climate experts.

On Wednesday, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office said at least two people have died from suspected hyperthermia during the heat wave, KGW reported. One death occurred in Portland on Monday, the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office said. The state medical examiner’s office said the heat-related death designation is preliminary and could change after further investigation.

Heat-related 911 calls in Portland have tripled in recent days, from an estimated eight calls on Sunday to 28 calls on Tuesday, said Dan Douthit, a spokesperson for the city’s Bureau of Emergency Management. Most calls involved a medical response, Douthit added.

Multnomah County said more people have been visiting emergency departments for heat-related symptoms.

Emergency department visits “have remained elevated since Sunday,” the county said in a statement. “In the past three days, hospitals have treated 13 people for heat illness, when they would normally expect to see two or three.”

People working or exercising outside, along with older people, were among those taken to emergency departments, the statement added.

People in Portland’s iconic food cart industry are among those who work outside. Many food trucks have shut down as sidewalks sizzle.

Rico Loverde, the chef and owner of the food cart Monster Smash Burgers, said the temperature inside his cart is generally 20 degrees hotter than the outdoor temperature, making it 120 F (48.9 C) inside his tiny business this week.

Loverde said he closes down if it reaches above 95 F (35 C) because his refrigerators overheat and shut down. Last week, even with slightly cooler temperatures in the mid-90s, Loverde got heat stroke from working in his cart for hours, he said.

“It hurts; it definitely hurts. I still pay my employees when we’re closed like this because they have to pay the bills too, but for a small business it’s not good,” he said Tuesday.

Multnomah County said its four emergency overnight cooling shelters were at half capacity on Tuesday with 130 people spending the night. But anticipating more demand, officials decided to expand capacity at the four sites to accommodate nearly 300 people.

William Nonluecha, who lives in a tent in Portland, sought out shade with some friends as the temperature soared Wednesday afternoon. Nonluecha was less than a minute’s walk from a cooling shelter set up by local authorities but wasn’t aware it was open. He said the heat in his tent was almost unbearable.

His friend Mel Taylor, who was homeless last year but now has transitional housing, said during a record-breaking heat wave last summer a man in a tent near his died from heat exhaustion and no one realized it. He’s afraid the same thing might happen this summer.

“He was in his tent for like a week and the smell, that’s how they figured out that he was dead,” Taylor said. “It’s sad.”

Residents and officials in the Northwest have been trying to adjust to the likely reality of longer, hotter heat waves following last summer’s deadly “heat dome” weather phenomenon that prompted record temperatures and deaths.

About 800 people died in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia during that heat wave, which hit in late June and early July. The temperature at the time soared to an all-time high of 116 F (46.7 C) in Portland and smashed heat records in cities and towns across the region. Many of those who died were older and lived alone.

Other regions of the U.S. often experience temperatures of 100 degrees. But in regions like the Pacific Northwest, people are not as acclimated to the heat and are more susceptible to it, said Craig Crandall, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

“There’s a much greater risk for individuals in areas such as the Northwest to have higher instances of heat-related injuries and death,” Crandall said.

Officials in Seattle and Portland on Tuesday issued air quality advisories expected to last through Saturday, warning that smog may reach levels that could be unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Farther south, the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory on Wednesday for western Nevada and northeast California that is set to last from the late Thursday morning until Saturday night. Across the region, near record daytime high temperatures will range from 99 to 104 degrees F (37.22 to 40 C).

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AP reporter Gabe Stern contributed from Carson City, Nevada.

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Claire Rush is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow her on Twitter.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/temperatures-could-hit-triple-digits-again-in-northwest/?feed_id=3246&_unique_id=62e23058de0a1

Alabama gov: Execution set despite wishes of victim's family

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama's governor said Wednesday that she has decided the state will proceed later this week with a plan to execute a man convicted of killing his former girlfriend decades ago, overriding a plea from the victim's family to spare the man's life.

Gov. Kay Ivey told reporters she won't call off the scheduled lethal injection of Joe Nathan James Jr. at a south Alabama prison on Thursday evening. The inmate was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1994 shooting death of 26-year-old Faith Hall, in Birmingham.

Hall’s daughters, who were just 3 and 6 when their mother was killed, had urged along with Hall's brother that officials change the sentence to life in prison without parole. But Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall urged Ivey to let execution plans proceed and ensure “justice is done."

In making public her decision Wednesday morning, Ivey said, “My staff and I have researched all the records and all the facts and there’s no reason to change the procedure or modify the outcome. The execution will go forward.”

Prosecutors said James briefly dated Hall, but that he had become obsessed after she ended their relationship, stalking and harassing her for months before killing her. On Aug. 15, 1994, he forced his way inside an apartment, pulled a gun from his waistband and shot her three times, they said.

In the weeks leading up to the scheduled execution date, Hall's daughters and brother had said they would rather James serve a life sentence in prison rather than be put to death.

“I know it may sound crazy. Like, you really want this man to live? But ... I just feel like we can’t play God. We can’t take a life. And it’s not going to bring my mom back,” Terryln Hall had told The Associated Press in a recent telephone interview.

State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, who was a friend of Hall's, sent a letter to the governor relaying the family’s request.

“They are simply saying our wish as the family is for him to die in the penal system of the Alabama correctional facility. That's how we want him to suffer and we want to see that suffering for the rest of our lives,” Givan said Wednesday.

Givan said the case was unusual in that the victim's family had asked for clemency. Though James “brutally and senselessly killed” the mother of two simply because she rejected him, Givan said the family's wishes should carry weight.

“This is a tough one,” said Givan, who remembered Hall as a kind and devoted mother.

“She was just the sweetest person you ever wanted to meet,” Givan said.

Meanwhile, James has acted as his own attorney in a bid to halt Thursday's execution procedure, filing handwritten lawsuits and requests for a stay.

He has claimed his lawyers were ineffective and that prison officials did not explain what was at stake when it gave inmates a form in which they could select nitrogen hypoxia as their preferred execution method. Alabama has approved nitrogen hypoxia as an execution means but hasn't developed a system for its use or scheduled any executions by that method.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/alabama-gov-execution-set-despite-wishes-of-victims-family/?feed_id=3062&_unique_id=62e1c8f55116a

Police report shootings of homeless people near Vancouver

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Canadian police reported multiple shootings of homeless people Monday in a Vancouver suburb and said a suspect was in custody.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said most of the shootings were in downtown Langley. One reported shooting was in neighboring Langley Township.

Police Sgt. Rebecca Parslow said she had no immediate details on the victims' conditions.

Mounties issued a cellphone alert about 6:30 a.m., telling people to avoid the area.

Police closed off a main route through the center of the city. Authorities later issued a cellphone alert saying the suspect was in custody.

Authorities initially said they were unsure if the shooter acted alone. But police later said the man in custody is believed to be solely responsible.

A homicide team confirmed on social media that its investigators deployed to Langley to help the mounted police.

Yellow police tape surrounded a sandwich shop and a parking lot in Langley at the scene of one of the shootings. A black tent was set up over one of the crime scenes.

Langley is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Vancouver.

Mass shootings are less common in Canada than in the United States. The deadliest gun rampage in Canadian history happened in 2020 when a man disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires across the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people.

The country overhauled its gun-control laws after an attacker named Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself in 1989 at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique college.

It is now illegal to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada. To purchase a weapon, the country also requires training, a personal risk assessment, two references, spousal notification and criminal record checks.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/police-report-shootings-of-homeless-people-near-vancouver/?feed_id=2006&_unique_id=62dedbe61fdec

With records poised to fall, city folk flee heat if they can

PROMISED LAND, Pa. -- It's not exactly flowing with milk and honey — just ask the area's struggling black bears — but Promised Land offered respite Sunday for city folks in the Northeast trying to escape a nearly weeklong hot spell that only threatened to intensify.

Those with the resources fled to pools, beaches and higher elevations like Promised Land State Park, at 1,800 feet (550 meters) in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains and a drive of about 2 1/2 hours from New York City and Philadelphia.

From the Pacific Northwest to the southern Great Plains to the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor, more than 85 million Americans were under excessive heat warnings or heat advisories issued by the National Weather Service. The agency warned of “extremely oppressive” conditions from Washington to Boston.

Even in Promised Land, temperatures were forecast to soar above 90 (32 Celsius), but with shade from the forests, cool lake water and mountain breezes, it was more than tolerable, visitors said.

Rosa Chavez, 47, a high school teacher in Manhattan, applied sunscreen at a beach on Promised Land Lake. She and friend Arlene Rodriguez, who accompanied her, had just experienced Europe's own heat wave while vacationing last week in Florence, Italy.

“The heat is following us,” said Rodriguez, 47, a real estate agent and property manager.

Numerous record highs were expected to be tied or broken in the Northeast, the weather service said.

Philadelphia was forecast to hit 100 degrees (38 Celsius) Sunday before even factoring in humidity. Newark, New Jersey, saw its fifth consecutive day of 100 degrees or higher, the longest such streak since records began in 1931. Boston also hit 100 degrees, surpassing the previous daily record high of 98 degrees set in 1933.

At least one heat-related death, in New York, has been reported. Around the region, athletic events were shortened or postponed.

Philadelphia officials extended a heat emergency through Sunday, sending workers to check on homeless people and knock on the doors of other vulnerable residents. The city also opened cooling centers and stationed air-conditioned buses at four intersections for people to cool off.

Forecasters urged people to wear light clothing, drink lots of water, limit time outside, and check on elderly people and pets.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a heat emergency through Monday and kept a dozen cooling centers open.

Organizers of the New York City Triathlon shortened the distances that athletes had to run and bike. This weekend's Boston Triathlon was put off until Aug. 20-21.

On the West Coast, forecasters warned of extreme heat arriving early this week and lingering until the weekend. Temperatures could break daily records in Seattle, Portland and Northern California by Tuesday and be the highest since a heat wave last year that killed hundreds of people across the Pacific Northwest.

Many homes in the often-rainy region lack air conditioning, and authorities cautioned that indoor heat is likely to build through the week, increasing the risk of heat-related illnesses, something emergency medical officials in Boston also warned of.

Chavez, in Promised Land, said she has asthma and needs to keep her inhaler around, especially “when the heat is so thick I can't breathe.” The breezes and clearer air in the mountains help, she said.

It was already over 80 degrees at midmorning as Mhamed Moussa Boudjelthia, a 31-year-old Uber driver from Queens, fired up a grill at the beach to make kebabs. He and another friend from Queens had fled the hot chaos of the city for the day.

“There, it's really hot,” Boudjelthia said. “There's too much humidity, too.”

His friend, Kamel Mahiout, 35, agreed as he stood in a cooling breeze: “It's crazy in New York City.”

The heat was withering even less than an hour away, at lower elevations. In Scranton, Pennsylvania, Sunday's high was expected to be 97, and not punching below 70 at night.

“That also leads to the danger. People aren’t getting that relief overnight,” said weather service forecaster Lily Chapman. “That stress on the body is kind of cumulative over time.”

The area also has been drier than usual, she said.

Regular campers and cabin residents in Promised Land attribute unusually numerous bear sightings to the dry conditions. The animals roam neighborhoods and campsites for scraps as streams and berries dry up.

“Today's hot,” said Alex Paez, 34, of Scranton, sitting under a shade canopy at the beach in Promised Land. “If you don't need to be outside doing something productive, then stay in.”

———

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York City; Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana; Michael Hill in Albany, N.Y.: Jennifer McDermott in Providence, Rhode Island; and Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/with-records-poised-to-fall-city-folk-flee-heat-if-they-can/?feed_id=1518&_unique_id=62dda59f7443f

Accused man dies in custody after sister awakened from coma

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Daniel J. Palmer III had long been considered the key suspect in a brutal attack that left his sister comatose two years ago. But the case remained dormant — until she awakened last month.

Able to speak only a word at a time after coming out of a coma, Wanda Palmer identified her brother — with whom she had a violent past — as her attacker. Daniel Palmer was arrested on July 15.

Less than a week later, he was dead, likely bringing a close to a highly unusual case in which the investigation was stalled by a lack of evidence.

For now, there are two mysteries: a detainee's death, and an assault without a publicly disclosed motive.

Daniel Palmer was pronounced dead Thursday at a Charleston hospital, a day after he was taken there following an evaluation by jail medical staff, the state Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Division of Corrections, said in a news release.

The statement didn't indicate a cause of death and a spokeswoman for Department of Health and Human Resources, which oversees the state medical examiner's office, said state law only allows the agency to release autopsy information to relatives and law enforcement.

Palmer, 55, of Cottageville, was uncooperative while in custody and during booking procedures at the South Central Regional Jail, where he was taken after being charged with the attempted murder and malicious wounding of his sister, the statement said.

Wanda Palmer was in a coma in a nursing home for two years. She was found unconscious with serious head injuries at her home in Jackson County on June 10, 2020.

Daniel Palmer had been identified as a suspect, but up until the time she emerged from the coma, investigators did not have enough evidence to file charges, court documents said.

“Due to a previous violent history between Wanda Palmer and her brother Daniel Palmer, investigators initially considered Daniel a suspect in the assault," according to a criminal complaint filed in Jackson County Magistrate Court.

Investigators interviewed Daniel, who denied involvement in the attack, saying he had not been to his sister's home in days. Later, a witness told investigators he saw Daniel in the front doorway at Wanda Palmer's trailer on the night she was assaulted.

On June 27, more than two years after the attack, a deputy received a call from a protective services worker who said she had started to speak single words and seemed to respond when questioned.

On July 12, deputies drove to Genesis Healthcare in New Martinsville to speak with Wanda Palmer. Deputy Julia Bowen “entered Wanda's room alone and began speaking with her,” the complaint said. “Bowen asked opened ended questions of Wanda. Wanda indicated (that) she recalled living in her trailer near her mother's place. She indicated that she recalled being hurt there. She made mention of her head.”

Wanda Palmer said the person who injured her was her brother and she identified him as Daniel. When asked during the interview the reason behind the assault, “Wanda stated that he was mean,” according to the complaint.

Wanda Palmer ”appeared oriented to her situation. Her answers to questions were coherent and relevant. She asked for prayer."

Daniel Palmer was being held on a $500,000 bond. He was so combative when he was arrested that it took hours to get him to cooperate with authorities for an arraignment, which required a magistrate to leave a courthouse and come to the Jackson County sheriff’s office, WCHS-TV reported.

Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger was out of his office and unavailable for comment Friday.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/accused-man-dies-in-custody-after-sister-awakened-from-coma/?feed_id=419&_unique_id=62db1ac01f88e