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Ex-network investigative journalist pleads guilty to child pornography charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former investigative journalist for ABC News pleaded guilty Friday to federal child pornography charges.James Gordon Meek, 53, of Arlington, Virginia, admitted in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that he illegally possessed and transported child pornography. He covered national security issues for the network until he resigned last year.Court papers indicate the investigation began when the FBI received a tip from Dropbox about videos showing the sexual abuse of children in an account associated with Meek.As part of a plea agreement, Meek admitted he used an iPhone to exchange child pornography, including a video showing the sexual abuse of an infant, during a chat session with two other individuals.An FBI affidavit indicates that agents founds dozens of child pornography images and videos when they searched Meek’s home last year, going back to at least 2014.The affidavit says evidence was also seized showing Meek used Snapchat and other apps to press...

Authorities say North Dakota gunman’s “binary trigger” allowed him to fire rapidly; wounded officers fell quickly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Authorities say North Dakota gunman’s “binary trigger” allowed him to fire rapidly; wounded officers fell quickly.Source

Mohorič sheds happy tears after winning Tour de France 19th stage as Vingegaard protects lead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

POLIGNY, France (AP) — Matej Mohorič edged Kasper Asgreen in a photo finish to win the Tour de France’s 19th stage while defending champion Jonas Vingegaard protected his commanding lead on Friday.Mohorič covered his face as he broke down and sobbed with the confirmation that he finished just ahead of his rival for his third ever stage win. He also fought tears during the award ceremony.The Slovenian rider had already embraced Asgreen after they crossed the line. Asgreen won Thursday’s stage in another sprint finish.Australian cyclist Ben O’Connor was first among the three breakaways to attack for the line but he was overhauled by Mohorič and Asgreen, who seemed to cross at the same time.Both riders were clocked at 3 hours, 31 minutes, 2 seconds. O’Conner was third, 4 seconds behind.Yellow jersey holder Vingegaard finished among his Jumbo-Visma teammates and remained the clear favorite to claim his second Tour victory on Sunday. The Danish rider enjoys a lead of 7 minutes, 35 second...

Daughter, 2 others sentenced for role in Gail Wilson’s murder

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Three people were sentenced for their role in the murder of 81-year-old Gail Wilson, one of them being his adopted daughter, Savannah Wilson.  On July 14, Savannah's boyfriend, Ricardo Perez, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison plus 12 years, according to the District Attorney’s press release.  Gail Wilson ‘finished off’ by daughter’s boyfriend, according to arrest documents Perez’s accomplices, Savannah and Jay Griffith, pled guilty to accessory to a crime and concealing death. In return for their cooperation and testimony, their sentences were much lighter.  Griffith spent 611 days in custody and received five years of probation along with substance abuse and mental health evaluation.  After 445 days in custody, Savannah received seven years of probation with substance abuse and mental health evaluations. While the family offered forgiveness in court during Griffith’s sentencing, they did not extend their...

Denver school board votes to release executive session tape

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Several months after the Denver Public Schools Board of Education held an executive session about school safety following a shooting at East High School, a recording of that session will be released.The meeting in question happened on March 23, the day after two administrators at East HS were shot while patting down a student on a safety plan.During the meeting, the board discussed changing its policy on school resource officers, a decision that was voted on publicly but did not include any public discussion from board members.FOX31 is among several news outlets that sued the district, arguing the closed-door meeting was illegal. While a judge sided with the media in June and ordered a recording of the meeting to be released, the district appealed at the time. Previous: FOX31, other news outlets sue Denver Public Schools over executive session That changed Friday when the board voted unanimously to release the recordings publicly, with the exception of a...

Taylor Swift's Denver show was so big, it was seen from space

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Denver saw the power of Taylor Swift after her two-day "Eras Tour" brought over $200 million to the city's economy. The pop icon's tour was so big, you could spot Empower Field from space. Photos taken by the company BlackSky, a provider of real-time actionable satellite imagery, captured the thousands of Swifties that piled into Mile High on July 15 all the way from the cosmos. The three photos were taken at 9:36 a.m., 3:40 p.m. and 6:27 p.m. The timeline shows the quiet before the storm. Fans get tattoos to commemorate Taylor Swift concert Satellite photos captured by the company BlackSky show the crowd progression as thousands gather at Empower Field for the Taylor Swift concert. (BlackSky)The 9:36 a.m. photo captures the venue from a bird's eye view. All is quiet as crews continue to set up the venue for the big night.Just a few hours later at 3:40 p.m., Empower Field remains empty but more cars have parked in the lots surrounding the stadium.Then, "Are you Re...

Scientists: Florida Keys coral reefs are already bleaching as water temperatures hit record highs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Some Florida Keys coral reefs are losing their color weeks earlier than normal this summer because of record-high water temperatures, meaning they are under stress and their health is potentially endangered, federal scientists said.The corals should be vibrant and colorful this time of year, but are swiftly going white, said Katey Lesneski, research and monitoring coordinator for Mission: Iconic Reefs, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launched to protect Florida coral reefs.“The corals are pale, it looks like the color’s draining out,” said Lesneski, who has spent several days on the reefs over the last two weeks. “And some individuals are stark white. And we still have more to come.”Scientists with NOAA this week raised their coral bleaching warning system to Alert Level 2 for the Keys, their highest heat stress level out of five. That level is reached when the average water surface temperature is about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1...

Officer who saved drowning autistic child from river in Miami speaks out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

A Miami Police officer who saved a drowning autistic child from a river in Miami is speaking out after being hailed a hero. Bodycam video released Thursday showed the aftermath of the officer’s quick thinking. On Friday, Officer Ernesto Fernandez was emotional when he recounted his heroic rescue because he related to the situation. The child he rescued is on the autism spectrum, and Fernandez knew exactly how to handle the situation because his son is also on the spectrum. Fernandez was about to be off the clock and was already on his route home when he noticed the young boy running by his patrol car with no shoes on in Allapattah, along the river.“I asked him, ‘Where’s Mami? What are you doing here by yourself?'” Fernandez said. “He didn’t say anything to me. He continued to run but he started running even faster.”Fernandez knew something wasn’t right. He got out of his car and went after the child.“When I started running...

‘Barbenheimer’ craze could do something Hollywood hasn’t seen in years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

(CNN) — Are you going to a double feature of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” this weekend? If so, you’re far from alone.The “Barbenheimer” craze, which has swelled in popularity over the last few weeks, is all but set to propel the box office to its best weekend in years. BoxOffice Pro, a publication that tracks box office performance, said this week it is projecting a $200+ million weekend at the cinema. That would result in one of the biggest theatrical weekends since the pandemic upended the industry and a big win for Hollywood while writers and actors are on strike. With production at a standstill, it could be the last big blockbuster weekend for quite some time.The battle of the bombshells playing out in theaters is not the usual runaway box office success story. It is the effect of a viral internet sensation that has flooded social media feeds with jokes and parodies about the opposing films and now looks set to meme its way to record theatrical attendance.“The anticipation we’re s...

Nationalist war criminal Igor Girkin who dared criticize Putin under arrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:39 GMT

Igor Girkin, a former soldier-spy and critic of President Vladimir Putin’s conduct of the war against Ukraine, was arrested on Friday after the latest in a series of diatribes against the Kremlin chief appeared to go too far.Girkin, who goes by the nom de guerre Strelkov (“Shooter”), gained notoriety in 2014 when he led a band of irregular troops into Eastern Ukraine and briefly became the breakaway region’s defense minister. He was convicted in absentia of murder by a Dutch court over his role in shooting down a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet, a tragedy that cost 298 lives.The 52-year-old has since reinvented himself as an ultra-nationalist military commentator and has delivered a series of withering critiques of Russia’s war aims and strategy in Ukraine.In a statement posted to Girkin’s Telegram channel, his wife Miroslava Reginskaya said that representatives of Russia’s Investigative Committee — an anti-corruption and crime-fighting agency — had taken ...