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Woman who livestreamed fatal California crash arrested again

A California woman on parole after serving a sentence for driving drunk while livestreaming a crash that killed her younger sister was arrested Thursday after crashing a car during a police pursuit, officials said. Officers arrested Obdulia Sanchez, 20, on weapons and traffic charges and a parole violation, said Officer Joe Silva, a Stockton Police Department spokesman. Officers tried to stop Sanchez for a vehicle code violation, but she did not pull over.

Police: Gang member confesses in mass shooting at festival

A 20-year-old gang member has confessed to being one of two shooters in a gunfight that turned a lively summer community festival in Brooklyn into a blood-drenched nightmare, police said Thursday. One person died and 11 were wounded when Kyle Williams and a second, yet-unidentified gunman opened fire, possibly on each other, during the Brownsville neighborhood's annual Old Timers Day celebration July 27, police said. Police arrested Williams on Wednesday and he confessed to the shooting during questioning, Deputy Chief Michael Kemper said.

The Latest: Probe after Chicago chief found lying in car

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has asked the department to investigate his actions after he was found lying down in a car near his home. Police department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says Johnson indicated he parked his car after feeling lightheaded. The 59-year-old Johnson underwent kidney transplant surgery in August 2017.

Individuals tied to Giuliani probe in SDNY plead not guilty

Two individuals charged in connection with an alleged scheme to circumvent federal laws against foreign campaign donations pleaded not guilty before a judge in the Southern District of New York on Thursday afternoon. David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin -- who appeared in court Thursday -- were charged along with Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, who have ties to President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Northeast officials team up to push pot, vaping regulations

The governors from several Northeastern states said Thursday they want to work together to regulate marijuana and vaping, including possible regional restrictions on flavored vaping products. Democratic governors from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania met in New York City with health and legislative officials.

Romney speculates Turkey called Trump's bluff: 'Are we so weak and inept?'

The Utah senator delivers an impassioned speech on the Senate floor that accuses the president of betraying American values.

New York city council votes to close infamous Rikers Island jails

The New York City Council voted on Thursday to close the city's infamous Rikers Island jail complex by 2026, casting off a detention system plagued by chronic violence and decrepit facilities as part of a national rethinking of mass incarceration. The council approved an $8.7 billion legislative package to close Rikers and three other jails, create four more humane facilities throughout the city, and eventually turn Rikers Island itself into a public space.

Study: California's big July quakes strain major fault

The earthquakes that hammered the Southern California desert near the town of Ridgecrest last summer involved ruptures on a web of interconnected faults and increased strain on a major nearby fault that has begun to slowly move, according to a new study. Ruptures in the Ridgecrest earthquake sequence ended a few miles from the Garlock Fault, which runs east-west for 185 miles (300 kilometers) from the San Andreas Fault to Death Valley. The Garlock Fault has been relatively quiet for 500 years.

Plan to close notorious Rikers jail complex by 2026 approved

New York City lawmakers voted Thursday to close the notorious Rikers Island jail complex, which has become synonymous with violence and neglect, and replace it with four smaller jails intended to be more modern and humane. The City Council voted 36-13 to replace the complex with four smaller jails located closer to the city's main courthouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens. Rikers is scheduled to shutter by 2026, ending a decadeslong run as one of the world's largest jails.

Judges grapple with misconduct claims in Jodi Arias case

Appellate judges who will decide whether to reverse Jodi Arias' murder conviction in the gruesome 2008 killing of her former boyfriend grappled Thursday with who was responsible for whipping up publicity during the salacious trial and whether alleged misconduct by a prosecutor should cause the verdict to be tossed. A lawyer for Arias told the Arizona Court of Appeals that prosecutor Juan Martinez improperly questioned witnesses, ignored rulings on evidence, courted publicity and made an unfounded accusation that an expert on her defense team had an inappropriate relationship with Arias. Terry Crist, a lawyer for the Arizona attorney general's office, told the judges that he believes Martinez may have occasionally violated court rules, but none of his actions should lead to a reversal of the conviction.

Ex-U.S. biotech executive fined for lying to auditors, charges dropped against CFO: SEC

The former chief business officer of U.S. biotechnology company Osiris Therapeutics Inc has agreed to pay a $40,000 civil penalty for lying to auditors, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday. The SEC had alleged that Bobby Dwayne Montgomery prompted Osiris to book fake revenue and give false information to auditors. Montgomery agreed to a judgment that enjoins him from future violations of securities law, the SEC said in a statement.

The Latest: NYC to close Rikers Island jail complex by 2026

New York City lawmakers have approved a plan to close the notorious Rikers Island jail complex and replace it with four smaller jails. The City Council voted Thursday to build the new jails and close Rikers by 2026. Mayor Bill de Blasio and other Democrats support the plan.

U.S. Democrats Pelosi, Schumer call agreement with Turkey to pause Syria assault a 'sham'

The agreement "seriously undermines the credibility of America's foreign policy and sends a dangerous message to our allies and adversaries alike that our word cannot be trusted. President Erdogan has given up nothing, and President Trump has given him everything," Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement.

Syrian refugee, 17, attacked on San Diego trolley by man shouting slurs, police say

Assault comes amid spate of Islamophobic hate crimes in southern California, advocates sayThe attack comes a week after a San Diego man was charged with hate crimes in a separate incident. Photograph: George Rose/Getty ImagesA 17-year-old Syrian refugee was attacked on a trolley in San Diego by a man yelling anti-Arab slurs, according to advocates and police, who say the assault was the latest in a series of Islamophobic hate crimes in southern California.The high school student was returning home from school on Tuesday afternoon when a man approached and asked, “Where are you from? Are you Mexican?”, according to the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (Pana), a community organization assisting the victim. When the teenager said he was Arab, the man assaulted him while shouting anti-Arab and Islamophobic slurs, injuring his face and eye, the group said.The attack, which police are investigating as a hate crime, comes one week after a San Diego man was charged with hate crimes in a separate incident. Kyle Allen, 50, was accused of attacking three Muslim women, including slapping them and pulling on one of their hijabs while telling them to “go back to your country”. In March, there was also an arson attack on a mosque in the region.“He doesn’t understand how something like this could happen to him,” said Geneviéve Jones-Wright, Pana’s legal director, who is working with the 17-year-old refugee. “He’s dealing with the emotional trauma as well as the physical injury.”Jones-Wright said she was disturbed to learn that there were several witnesses on the trolley but that no one intervened to help the teenager: “There were people standing around watching this child be pummeled.”Pana, which works with refugees and Muslims in the region, helped the victim report the incident to police. Jones-Wright said the San Diego police department initially told the organization the incident would be classified as a “gang” crime, not a hate crime, because of the neighborhood of the attack, prompting concerns law enforcement was not taking the case seriously.Pana said the teen’s face and eye were injured. Photograph: Courtesy PanaThe San Diego police sergeant Matthew Botkin told the Guardian on Thursday that police were treating the case as a hate crime, saying it was possible police initially mentioned a gang investigation because of the “Where are you from?” question the suspect allegedly asked.Botkin said the suspect was a Hispanic male in his 20s and that police were reviewing footage of the incident, but could not comment further. Pana shared with the Guardian a photo of the victim’s injuries, showing swelling under his eye.There has been a recent increase in reported hate crimes by white male perpetrators in southern California, and a San Diego Union-Tribune analysis found there were more than 430 hate crimes documented across the county between 2014 and 2018.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) also recently found that 40% of Muslim students in California report being bullied, a problem that Cair leaders say is significant in San Diego. A Pana report on refugee experiences in San Diego also found that 78% felt unwelcome at school, and 80% felt unwelcome in their neighborhoods.“It’s very clear that white supremacy and Islamophobia are on the rise in this country, and that the president of the United States is emboldening white supremacists,” said Dustin Craun, executive director of Cair San Diego. He noted that some families in the region have been forced to transfer schools due to anti-Muslim bullying.Although California is known as the progressive state leading the resistance to Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, San Diego has a long history of white supremacist violence. Orange county, another southern California region known for its conservative neighborhoods, has also been plagued by recent controversies involving racism in schools.Ramla Sahid, Pana’s executive director, said her organization was interested in pursuing a restorative justice process with the suspect in the trolley attack instead of traditional prosecution.“Criminalization of another young person in our community is definitely not the answer,” she said, noting that it would be more effective if the suspect could meet with the victim to address the harm he caused: “It’s harder to hate someone you know … We are stronger when we come together and choose reconciliation and healing rather than criminalization, which basically continues the practice of demonizing each other.”Sahid added: “This young man’s prejudice and perception of Muslims and Islam and folks from the Middle East is a symptom of this larger xenophobic, racist, anti-Muslim atmosphere that the [Trump] administration has intensified.”Botkin said it was too early to comment on the group’s interest in restorative justice, saying, “Our goal is to get justice for this kid. It’s totally unacceptable what happened.”

Space station's 2 women prep for 1st all-female spacewalk

Men have floated out the hatch on all 420 spacewalks conducted over the past half-century. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will make "HERstory," as NASA is calling it, with the first all-female spacewalk. All four men aboard the International Space Station will remain inside, as Koch and Meir go out to replace a broken battery charger.

Controlled blasts to bring down cranes at collapse site

Two giant, badly damaged construction cranes towering over a partially collapsed hotel project are to be demolished Friday with a series of controlled explosions in hopes of dropping them straight down without damaging nearby businesses and historic buildings around the site at the edge of the French Quarter. Fire Chief Tim McConnell said work was beginning Thursday in hopes of bringing the multi-ton structures down ahead of approaching tropical weather. Forecasters said a tropical storm could form in the Gulf of Mexico and affect the area by Friday night.

Person of interest in girl's abduction freed on bond

A person of interest in the abduction of a 3-year-old Alabama girl has been released from jail after being arrested on unrelated charges. Al.com reports 39-year-old Patrick Devone Stallworth bonded out of the Jefferson County Jail early Thursday. Stallworth and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Derrick Irisha Brown, were arrested Sunday after police released surveillance images of the SUV believed to be involved in Kamille "Cupcake" McKinney's abduction Saturday outside at a birthday party.

Bicycle deliveryman acquitted in fatal stabbing of developer

A jury found a Philadelphia bicycle deliveryman not guilty Thursday of voluntary manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of a real estate developer in a case that carried racial implications. The jury agreed that 22-year-old Michael White acted in self-defense in the July 2018 stabbing of 37-year-old Sean Schellenger during a confrontation sparked by a traffic dispute near the city's upscale Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. White, who is black, did not know Schellenger, who was white, and was not involved in the traffic dispute.

School's out: Chicago teachers strike, 1st day deal unlikely

Striking teachers marched in picket lines outside hundreds of Chicago schools on Thursday after their union and city officials failed to reach a contract deal in the nation's third-largest school district, canceling classes for more than 300,000 students for the duration of a walkout that seemed likely to head into a second day. The strike in the nation's third-largest school district came after the Chicago Teachers Union confirmed Wednesday night that its 25,000 members would not return to their classrooms. It follows months of negotiations between the union and Chicago Public Schools that failed to resolve disputes over pay and benefits, class size and teacher preparation time.

Hurricane Center: Tropical storm likely along Gulf Coast

A disturbance in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico is likely to become a tropical storm that will strike the northern U.S. Gulf Coast with high wind and heavy rains, forecasters said Thursday. Moving off the eastern coast of Mexico, the low pressure system was expected to develop into a tropical or subtropical system late Thursday or on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters issued a tropical storm warning for southeastern Louisiana as well as the northern Gulf Coast from the Alabama-Mississippi line to the Big Bend area of the Florida Panhandle.

A look at Kate Middleton's Pakistan tour fashion, style experts weigh in

From an aqua blue shalwar kameez-inspired dress to her patterned dupatta, Duchess Kate Middleton's fashion choices for the royal five-day tour of Pakistan have been celebrated for paying tribute to traditional Pakistani culture. Middleton has worn an array of looks that celebrate Pakistan's culture during her recent visit to the country. Upon arrival, the Duchess of Cambridge wore the aqua blue shalwar kameez-inspired dress, which is a traditional style for Pakistani women.

Border Patrol's growing presence at hospitals creates fear

An armed Border Patrol agent roamed the hallways of an emergency room in Miami on a recent day as nurses wheeled stretchers and medical carts through the hospital and families waited for physicians to treat their loved ones. The agent in the olive-green uniform freely stepped in and out of the room where a woman was taken by ambulance after throwing up and fainting while being detained on an immigration violation, according to advocates who witnessed the scene. The presence of immigration authorities is becoming increasingly common at health care facilities around the country, and hospitals are struggling with where to draw the line to protect patients' rights amid rising immigration enforcement in the Trump administration.