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Sea cucumbers wash ashore by the thousands in coastal Oregon town
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Sea cucumbers wash ashore by the thousands in coastal Oregon town

Thousands of sea cucumbers have washed up on the beach in the Oregon coastal town of Seaside thanks to a combination of heavy surf and low tide. The partially translucent, pink gelatinous creatures are called skin breathing sea cucumbers. They normally burrow into the sand along the low tideline and farther out. But on Tuesday, they were scattered across more than 2 miles of Seaside Beach, said Tiffany Boothe, the assistant manager of the Seaside Aquarium. “They are literally littering the tideline,” Boothe said. They’re about a half-inch long but can grow to about 6 inches. The phenomenon can occur whenever surf and tide conditions coincide, which can mean a few times a year or once in a few years. Sometimes a few will be scattered here and there on the shore but there were large groupings on the beach during this latest episode. Boothe hasn’t seen this many on the beach in a couple of years. The sea cucumbers aren’t capable of returning to their natural habitat on their own so they will dry up and die, Boothe said. They’ll provide nutrients for the beach hoppers, beach fleas and other invertebrates living along the tideline that will feast on them. Birds don’t eat them. Whatever remains will likely dry up quickly and blend in with the sand. Booth suspects they’ll be gone by Wednesday or Thursday. The scientific name for the cucumbers is Leptosynapta clarki. They live along the coast from northern California to the Gulf of Alaska. Seaside is about 80 miles northwest of Portland, Oregon.

Man Sentenced To 21 Years In Jail For Assassination Attempt On Slovakia PM
Technology

Man Sentenced To 21 Years In Jail For Assassination Attempt On Slovakia PM

A court in Slovakia on Tuesday convicted a man of a terror attack and sentenced him to 21 years in prison over last year's attempted assassination of the country's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.The shooting and the trial have shaken this small, European Union and NATO-member country where Fico has long been a divisive figure, criticized for straying from Slovakia's pro-Western path and aligning it closer to Russia.Juraj Cintula opened fire on Fico on May 15, 2024, as the prime minister greeted supporters following a government meeting in the town of Handlova, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of the capital of Bratislava.Cintula, 72, was arrested immediately after the attack and remanded in custody. When questioned by investigators, he rejected the accusation of being a “terrorist.”Fico was shot in the abdomen and was taken from Handlová to a hospital in the nearby city of Banská Bystrica. He underwent a five-hour surgery, followed by another two-hour operation two days later. He has since recovered.Cintula has claimed his motive for the shooting was that he disagreed with government policies. He refused to testify before the Specialized Criminal Court in Banská Bystrica. but confirmed that what he had told investigators about his motive remains true.“The defendant did not attack a citizen, but specifically the prime minister,” Igor Králik, the head of the three-judge panel, said in delivering the verdict. “He was against the government, he was inciting people to overthrow the government.”The verdict of the panel was unanimous. The court said that Cintula's age and the fact that he had no criminal record contributed to why he did not receive life imprisonment.“It is unjust,” Cintula kept saying in Slovak as he was leaving the courtroom.In his testimony, read by a prosecutor at the trial, Cintula said he disagreed with Fico's policies, including the cancellation of a special prosecution office dealing with corruption, the end of military help for Ukraine and the government's approach to culture.“I decided to harm the health of the prime minister but I had no intention to kill anyone,” he said in the testimony. He also said he was relieved when he learned the premier survived.Cintula's attorney, Namir Alyasry, told reporters his client would very likely appeal the verdict. He was originally charged with attempted murder but prosecutors later dropped that charge and said they were instead pursuing the more serious charge of engaging in a terror attack. They said it was based on evidence the investigators obtained but gave no further details.Government officials initially said they believed it was a politically motivated attack committed by a “lone wolf,” but announced later that a third party might have been involved in “acting for the benefit of the perpetrator.”Fico previously said he “had no reason to believe” it was an attack by a lone deranged person and repeatedly blamed the liberal opposition and media for the assassination attempt. There is no evidence for that.The prime minister was not present at the trial and did not immediately comment on the verdict. Fico had previously said he felt “no hatred” towards his attacker, forgave him and planned no legal action against him.Fico returned to power for the fourth time after his leftist Smer, or Direction, party won the 2023 parliamentary election after campaigning on a pro-Russia and anti-American message.His critics have charged that Slovakia under Fico is following the direction of Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Thousands have repeatedly rallied in Bratislava and across Slovakia to protest Fico's pro-Russian stance and other policies.(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules

Dozens of journalists turned in their Pentagon access badges on Oct. 15 rather than comply with new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that limit how reporters can gather information. News organizations rejected the rules as a threat to press freedom but vowed to continue covering the military from a greater distance.The post Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

Man who sent ‘So I raped you’ message sentenced to 2 to 4 years for 2013 campus assault
Technology

Man who sent ‘So I raped you’ message sentenced to 2 to 4 years for 2013 campus assault

By MARYCLAIRE DALE GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man who sent a Facebook message that said, “So I raped you,” to a woman he later pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting on a Pennsylvania college campus was sentenced to two to four years in prison on Monday. The judge took into account Ian Cleary’s guilty plea, his remorse and his long history of mental illness in giving a sentence below state guidelines. Cleary, 32, said he sent the messages as part of a 12-step program, in hopes of seeking atonement. However, victim Shannon Keeler told the court on Monday that the messages only reopened wounds she had long carried over the assault, which went years without being prosecuted. “The system meant to protect me protected you instead,” said Keeler, detailing in a powerful 10-minute impact statement the years she spent pursuing charges, which prosecutors are often reluctant to do in campus sexual assault cases. “This isn’t just my story, it’s the story of countless women,” she said. Cleary faced a maximum of 10 years in prison for the 2013 attack on Keeler at Gettysburg College, and the two sides had initially proposed a four- to eight-year sentence. Andrea Levy, Keeler’s lawyer, said the sentence was “less than what we expected and certainly less than he deserves.” Senior Judge Kevin Hess said that anyone with daughters or, like him, granddaughters in college would find the crime “horrifying.” Nevertheless, he said, “the defendant has admitted his guilt, he’s come forward and even though 10 to 11 alarming years have passed in the meantime, we wouldn’t be here today but for his hope for some kind of forgiveness and contrition.” According to Keeler, Cleary sneaked into her first-year dorm on the eve of winter break, when few people were left on campus, then pushed his way into her room and assaulted her. Cleary left Gettysburg after the attack and ultimately finished college in Silicon Valley, California, where he’d grown up. He then got a master’s degree and worked for Tesla before moving overseas. Years later, he sent the Facebook message to Keeler, and she renewed her efforts with police and prosecutors to have charges filed. In 2021, she shared her experience in an Associated Press story on the reluctance of prosecutors to pursue campus sex crimes. Cleary was indicted weeks after the AP story was published, and following a three-year search, was extradited from Metz, France, where he had been detained on minor, unrelated charges in April 2024. Cleary, standing just a few feet away, apologized to Keeler in court on Monday, as well as to his family. “I’m committed to getting treatment for mental health and stuff like that as I go forward,” he said. Keeler, in interviews with the AP, described her decade-long effort to persuade authorities to pursue charges, starting hours after the assault. “I had been thinking about this moment for 12 years,” Keeler said after seeing Cleary in court in July when he pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault. She called it a surreal moment. Authorities in the U.S. and Europe tried to track Cleary down after the indictment, but seemed unable to follow his trail, online or otherwise, until his arrest in the unrelated case. In court in July, defense lawyer John Abom said Cleary was homeless at times and unaware of the charges. Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett said he had his doubts, but could not prove that Cleary was on the run. Cleary’s family members have declined to comment on the case and did not attend most of his court hearings. His father was present at Monday’s sentencing, however. The AP typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Keeler has done. “There’s a lot of joy in just the relief there is that this is over, and Shannon’s going to be able to turn the page (and) move on with the next steps of healing,” her lawyer said.

US man arrested in Scotland and convicted of Utah rape gets at least 5 years in prison
Technology

US man arrested in Scotland and convicted of Utah rape gets at least 5 years in prison

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MEAD GRUVER SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Monday sentenced a man who appeared to fake his death and flee the United States to avoid arrest on rape charges to anywhere from five years to life in prison. Nicholas Rossi, 38, is “a serial abuser of women” and “the very definition of a flight risk,” District Judge Barry Lawrence said before handing down the sentence. It was Rossi’s first of two sentencings after separate convictions in August and September of raping two women in northern Utah in 2008. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November in the second case. Utah allows prison sentences to be given as a range rather than a set period of time. A parole board will determine if and when Rossi is released. Five years to life is the entire range of possible prison time under Utah law for rape, a first-degree felony. Jurors found Rossi guilty of rape in August after a three-day trial in which his accuser and her parents each took the stand. Rossi left a “trail of fear, pain and destruction” behind him, the victim in the case told the court shortly before Rossi was sentenced. The Associated Press does not typically identify rape victims. “This is not a plea for vengeance. This is a plea for safety and accountability, for recognition of the damage that will never fully heal,” she said. Rossi “uses rape to control women” and posed a risk to community safety, argued Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Brandon Simmons, a prosecutor in the case, before Rossi’s sentencing. Rossi did not testify on his own behalf at his trial. Given a chance to speak before being sentenced Monday, he maintained his innocence. “I am not guilty of this. These women are lying,” Rossi said in a soft, raspy voice. Utah authorities began searching for Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, when he was identified in 2018 through a decade-old DNA rape kit. He was among thousands of rape suspects identified and later charged when Utah made a push to clear its rape kit backlog. Months after he was charged in that case, an online obituary claimed Rossi died on Feb. 29, 2020, of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But police in his home state of Rhode Island, along with his former lawyer and a former foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead. He was arrested in Scotland the following year while receiving treatment for COVID-19. Hospital staff recognized his distinctive tattoos — including the crest of Brown University inked on his shoulder, although he never attended — from an Interpol notice. He was extradited to Utah in January 2024 after a protracted court battle. At the time, Rossi insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed. Investigators say they identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade capture. In his first trial, Rossi’s public defender denied the rape claim and urged jurors not to read too much into his move overseas. Even so, the jury convicted Rossi of the rape charge for which he was sentenced Monday. The victim in the case had been living with her parents and recovering from a traumatic brain injury in 2008 when she responded to a personal ad Rossi posted on Craigslist. They began dating and were engaged within a couple weeks. She testified that Rossi asked her to pay for dates and car repairs, lend him $1,000 so he wouldn’t be evicted, and take on debt to buy their engagement rings. He grew hostile soon after their engagement and raped her in his bedroom one night after she drove him home, she said. She went to police years later, after hearing that Rossi was accused of raping another woman in Utah around the same time. The victim in that case went to police soon after Rossi attacked her at his apartment in Orem. The woman had gone there to collect money she said he stole from her to buy a computer. Rossi was convicted in that case in September and sentencing is set for Nov. 4. Rossi grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and returned there before he appeared to fake his death and flee the country. He was previously wanted in the state for failing to register as a sex offender. The FBI says he also faces fraud charges in Ohio, where he was convicted of sex-related charges in 2008. Gruver reported from Ft. Collins, Colorado.

The White House starts demolishing part of the East Wing to build Trump’s ballroom
Technology

The White House starts demolishing part of the East Wing to build Trump’s ballroom

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Monday started tearing down part of the East Wing, the traditional base of operations for the first lady, to build President Donald Trump’s ballroom despite lacking approval for construction from the federal agency that oversees such projects. Dramatic photos of the demolition work showed a backhoe tearing into the East Wing façade and windows and other building parts in tatters on the ground. Some reporters watched from a park near the Treasury Department, which is next door to the East Wing. Trump announced the start of construction in a social media post and referenced the work while hosting 2025 college baseball champs Louisiana State University and LSU-Shreveport in the East Room. He noted the work was happening “right behind us.” “We have a lot of construction going on, which you might hear periodically,” he said, adding, “It just started today.” The White House has moved ahead with the massive construction project despite not yet having sign-off from the National Capital Planning Commission, which approves construction work and major renovations to government buildings in the Washington area. Its chairman, Will Scharf, who is also the White House staff secretary and one of Trump’s top aides, said at the commission’s September meeting that agency does not have jurisdiction over demolition or site preparation work for buildings on federal property. “What we deal with is essentially construction, vertical build,” Scharf said last month. It was unclear whether the White House had submitted the ballroom plans for the agency’s review and approval. The White House did not respond to a request for comment and the commission’s offices are closed because of the government shutdown. The Republican president had said in July when the project was announced that the ballroom would not interfere with the mansion itself. “It’ll be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” he said of the White House. “It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite place. I love it.” The East Wing houses several offices, including the office of the first lady. It was constructed in 1902 and and has been renovated over the years, and a second story was added in 1942, according to the White House. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said those East Wing offices will be temporarily relocated during construction and that wing of the building will be modernized and renovated. “Nothing will be torn down,” Leavitt said when she announced the project in July. Trump insists that such a ballroom has been desired for 150 years and that he’s adding the massive 90,000-square-foot, glass-walled space because the East Room, which is the largest room in the White House with an approximately 200-person capacity, is too small. He also has said he does not like the idea of hosting kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers in pavilions on the South Lawn. The ballroom will be the biggest structural change to the Executive Mansion since the addition of the Truman Balcony overlooking the South Lawn in 1948, even dwarfing the building itself. At a dinner he hosted last week for some of the wealthy business executives who are donating money toward the $250 million construction cost, Trump said the project had grown in size and now will accommodate 999 people. The capacity was 650 seated people at the July announcement. The clearing of trees on the south grounds and other site preparation work started in September. Plans call for the ballroom to be ready before Trump’s term ends in January 2029.

Cops thwart planned Atlanta airport shoot up
Technology

Cops thwart planned Atlanta airport shoot up

ATLANTA — Police arrested a man at Atlanta’s bustling airport on Monday after getting a tip from his family that he was planning to shoot up the place, and found an assault rifle and ammunition in his truck outside, the city’s police chief said. Billy Joe Cagle, of Cartersville, Georgia, had described his plan to shoot up the world’s busiest airport on a social media livestream, Chief Darin Schierbaum said during a news conference. “The Cartersville Police Department was alerted by the family of Mr. Cagle that he was streaming on social media that he was headed to the Atlanta airport, in their words, to ‘shoot it up,’ and the family stated that he was in possession of an assault rifle,” Schierbaum said, describing Cagle as a convicted felon Cagle, 49, arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in a Chevrolet pickup truck that was parked right outside the doors to the airport terminal. When police went to that vehicle, they found an AR-15 with 27 rounds of ammunition, Schierbaum said. “We’re here today briefing you on a success and not a tragedy because a family saw something and said something,” the chief said. Cartersville police Capt. Greg Sparacio, whose department received the initial tip from family members, said Cagle “had the intention to inflict harm to as many people as he could.” During the news conference, police showed surveillance video that shows Cagle arriving at the airport and body-camera video of his arrest. A Chevrolet flatbed pickup truck is seen arriving curbside at the airport terminal around 9:30 a.m. and then a man police identified as Cagle is seen entering the airport a few minutes later. He walks over to the TSA security checkpoint and had “high interest in that area,” Schierbaum said. Body-camera footage shows Atlanta police officers, who had a photo of Cagle provided by his family on their phones, approach him and start asking him questions before taking him into custody. As they take him to the ground and put handcuffs on him, Cagle can be heard yelling. Cagle has been charged with making terroristic threats, criminal attempt to commit aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a felon, Schierbaum said. Cagle was in custody Monday, and attempts to reach his family and co-workers through multiple phone numbers and emails were unsuccessful. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had a lawyer who could comment on the charges. Since Cagle is a convicted felon, Atlanta police will work with federal authorities to determine how he obtained the gun “which he was not able to legally possess,” Schierbaum said. Mayor Andre Dickens said “we’re thankful to God” that a tragedy was averted. “We’re thankful to God and to good information, and good intel, and good people for this crisis being averted,” the mayor said.

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