Another widespread rain with thunderstorms is expected to fall across all of Michigan Sunday into Monday. Northern Michigan has had several inches of rain this week, and is highlighted as an area of possible flash flooding.
While most of us should just get another very useful rain Sunday night and Monday, the weather set-up has the ability to produce streaks of three inches to four inches of rain. Flash flooding is possible in northern Michigan. Southern Michigan was very dry going into this week’s rain, and southern Michigan soils can still take several inches of rain before flash flooding.
Source: National Weather Service – Gaylord, MI
I see four ingredients lining up to make up to four inches of possible rain in the total rain amounts by Monday night.
First, we will have very abundant water vapor in the air over Michigan. These tiny, invisible droplets are what eventually stick together to form a raindrop. Imagine a sponge full of water but not dripping. As you squeeze the sponge, the water empties out of it. We will have a loaded sponge in the air.
Next, a cold front will move almost straight south across Lower Michigan. This motion is important because that type of movement usually has a slower speed of movement when compared to a cold front moving west to east across Michigan. Slower speed means the thunderstorms can last longer.
Third is the possibility of “train echoes.” Train echoes are individual thunderstorm cells that move west to east over the same spot, like train cars traveling over the same tracks. In a train echo situation you can get three or four half-hour thunderstorms track right over the same spot. When each thunderstorm drops one-half inch to one-inch of rain, four bursts of that magnitude really add up.
Finally we will watch the time of day for the storms. This is very important. Peak heating in the late afternoon and evening makes thunderstorms the strongest at that time of the day. There is also a secondary peak of instability an hour either side of sunrise.
So we will likely see a train of thunderstorms moving east, and gradually shifting south. The storms will be strongest in the early morning and late afternoon/evening and then weaken some late in the morning and early afternoon. This whole scenario will go from Saturday night in the UP to Monday night in far southern Lower Michigan.
Here’s a rain forecast showing six-hour periods of rain totals.
Six-hour rain forecasts from Saturday night to Tuesday morning.
Here’s a total rainfall forecast. You can expect the heaviest thunderstorms to drop two to three times the overall general rainfall forecast.
Total rainfall forecast through Tuesday from the Weather Prediction Center at NOAA
Generally you can see we all can expect another nice rain, and that should take away any dryness in the soil for our landscapes and farmers’ crops.
The National Weather Service mentions that two to three inches of rain could produce flash flooding in the UP and northern Lower Michigan, where up to three inches of rain fell early this week. Watch for updates as the weather system gets closer to Michigan.
A 37-year-old woman is facing vehicular manslaughter charges in connection with a fiery wreck near Los Angeles Thursday afternoon that left five people dead, including a pregnant woman and a child.
California Highway Patrol said Friday that Nicole Lorraine Linton was behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz sedan when it sped through a red light and slammed into several vehicles in Windsor Hills, a neighborhood southeast of downtown LA
Linton remains hospitalized with moderate injuries and has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, CHP said. Her case is being forwarded to the LA County District Attorney’s Office.
“Our office is in close contact with the lead law enforcement agency investigating,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “A prosecutor has already been assigned and will be working with law enforcement throughout the weekend. We will provide updates as more information becomes available. The case could be presented to us as early as Monday.”
The violent crash was captured on security video. Multiple people were ejected and two vehicles were engulfed in flames, CHP said.
The car was going at least 50 mph as it raced through the crowded intersection, CHP Officer Franco Pepi said.
Officials investigate a fiery crash where multiple people were killed near Los Angeles on Aug. 4, 2022.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)
The coroner’s office Friday identified one of the deceased victims as Asherey Ryan, a 23-year-old pregnant woman. Her unborn child was listed as “baby boy Ryan” in online coroner’s records. Two other women and a man, as well as a boy, were killed but their names were not made public.
Pepi said eight others were hurt, including Linton. The other victims had minor injuries and included a 33-year-old woman and six children ranging in age from 13 months old to 15 years old, Pepi said.
CHP said Friday that “due to extensive fire damage, it is unknown at this time the make and model of the involved vehicles and which vehicle the involved parties were traveling in.”
A memorial grew outside the intersection Friday, as mourners left flowers and candles in memory of the dead.
Henry Sanchez, who works at nearby Sinclair Gas, was at the indoor register when he heard “the loudest noise I’ve ever heard.”
“The sound of it, it was gut-wrenching,” he told The Associated Press on Friday. “It was like two trains hitting each other, metal on metal.”
He saw people rush to the cars to offer aid but they were kept back by the flames until firefighters arrived.
“I remember everybody trying to get the fire down and help people out as much as they could, but nobody could do anything,” he said.
Another witness to the crash, Veronica Esquivel, told KTLA-TV that a baby was ejected from the vehicle and landed near her.
“All of the sudden, a baby literally flew from the middle of the intersection to the middle of the gas station and landed right on the floor in front of me,” Esquival said. “One of the workers came and saw me with the baby and took the baby out of my hands. … Somebody tried to resuscitate the baby but the baby was gone.”
Debra Jackson told CBS Los Angeles she was about to get out of her car to pump gas when she heard a big explosion.
“The flames just went over everybody,” Jackson said. “The flames went over my whole car and they told me to jump out of my car … because I was trying to get out of my car, to go to the gas pump. And I jumped out of my car and just left my car sitting right there.”
For the latest on criminal justice news, sign up to receive our weekly law and order newsletter.
Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed an indicted Austin police officer accused of using excessive force during 2020 protests to Texas’ regulatory law enforcement agency.
Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers indicted earlier this year in the protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Berry is charged with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant.
He also ran as a Republican for Texas House District 19 but lost in the primary runoff election this year. Abbott had endorsed Berry in the race, saying his “strong conservative values and experience stopping violent crime are exactly what we need in the Texas House.”
Now, at the governor’s hand, Berry will serve on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which sets minimum licensing and training standards for police. Abbott did not immediately respond to The Texas Tribune’s request for comment, but in a press release announcing Berry’s appointment Friday, he said the commission ensures “that the people of Texas are served by highly trained and ethical law enforcement, corrections, and telecommunications personnel. ” Berry posted a statement to Twitter on Friday but did not respond to requests for comments.
“The demands and expectations of today’s professional police officer have never been so great,” Berry said about his appointment via Twitter. “I look forward to ensuring Texas has the best police officers in the world. Ensuring those who answer the call to serve their respective communities have the training and resources necessary to be set up for success are a priority to not only keeping Texan’s safe but ensuring trust is earned and maintained by those very communities.”
Sara Mokuria, co-founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality, said Abbott’s decision to appoint Berry to TCOLE is dangerous, not based on public safety and flies in the face of “what’s in the best interests of Texans.”
“This is an indicted officer who is now part of the body licensing and regulating law enforcement agencies,” Mokuria said. “It’s a move in the wrong direction, and it makes us unsafe. And, quite frankly, it’s a message that has been reiterated from the governor’s mansion over and over again, whether that be families in Uvalde who were not safe to send their kids to school, or all Texas residents during the winter storm. Our lives and our safety have consistently been put at risk because of this governor.”
Berry’s exact role in the Floyd protests is unclear, but Austin officers grievously wounded several people after shooting them with “less-lethal” ammunition in the head. That included a 20-year-old Black man police said was not their intended target after a nearby man tossed a water bottle and backpack up toward steps where police were in formation. Video also showed a 16-year-old Hispanic boy collapsing to the ground after police fired a beanbag bullet at him while he was standing alone near the freeway.
The violent police tactics during the protests against police violence were heavily criticized. Along with the indictments of 19 officers, the city of Austin agreed to a $10 million civil settlement with two men shot by police with beanbag rounds, including the 20-year-old.
Chas Moore, executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, said Abbott appointing Berry despite his indictment “isn’t surprising.” Moore feels the governor said all of the politically correct things after Floyd’s murder but followed up with inaction.
“He’s never cared about making sure that everybody can be safe,” the activist said. “He doesn’t care about the national conversation that happened in 2020, where every state had some form of protest for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, you know. He’s a diehard Texas Republican.”
Eleanor Klibanoff contributed to this story.
When you join us at The Texas Tribune Festival Sept. 22-24 in downtown Austin, you’ll hear from changemakers who are driving innovation, lawmakers who are taking charge with new policies, industry leaders who are pushing Texas forward and so many others. See the growing speaker list and buy tickets.
Aug 5 (Reuters) – Scientists say that climate change is increasing the likelihood of lightning strikes across the United States, after lightning struck at a square near the White House, leaving three people dead and one other in critical condition.
The hot, humid conditions in Washington, DC, on Thursday were primed for electricity. Air temperatures topped out at 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) – or 5F (3C) higher than the 30-year normal maximum temperature for Aug. 4, according to the National Weather Service.
More heat can draw more moisture into the atmosphere, while also encouraging rapid updraft – two key factors for charged particles, which lead to lightning. A key study released in 2014 in the journal Science warned that the number of lightning strikes could increase by 50% in this century in the United States, with each 1 C (1.8 F) of warming translating into a 12% rise in the number of lightning strikes.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Register
Fast-warming Alaska has seen a 17% rise in lightning activity since the cooler 1980s. And in typically dry California, a siege of some 14,000 lightning strikes during August 2020 sparked some of the state’s biggest wildfires on record.
Beyond the United States, there is evidence that lightning strikes are also shooting up in India and Brazil.
But even as lightning strikes increase, being hit by one is still extremely rare in the United States, experts say. Roughly 40 million lightning bolts touch down in the country every year, according to the Center for Disease Control – with the odds of being struck less than 1 in a million.
A lightning strike hits a tree in Lafayette Park across from the White House, killing two people and injuring two others below, during an August 4 evening thunderstom as seen in this framegrab from a Reuters TV video camera mounted on a nearby rooftop in Washington, US August 4, 2022. REUTERS/REUTERS TV
Read More
Among those who are hit, about 90% survive the order, the CDC says. The country counted 444 deaths from lightning strikes from 2006 through 2021.
The two men and two women struck by lightning on Thursday while visiting Washington’s Lafayette Square, just north of the White House, were among the unlucky few – struck by a bolt that hit the ground during a violent, afternoon thunderstorm.
The lightning hit near a tree that stands yards (meters) away from the fence that surrounds the presidential residence and offices across from the square, which is often crowded with visitors, especially in the summer months.
All four victims sustained critical, life-threatening injuries, and were taken to area hospitals. read more Two of them later died: James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75, from Janesville, Wisconsin, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
“We are saddened by the tragic loss of life,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. “Our hearts are with the families who lost loved ones, and we are praying for those still fighting for their lives.”
Later on Friday a third victim, a 29-year-old male, was pronounced dead, the Metropolitan Police Department said. Further details on the victim were being held until the next-of-kin were notified.
Because heat and moisture are often needed to make lightning, most strikes happen in the summer. In the United States, the populous, subtropical state of Florida sees the most people killed by lightning.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Register
Reporting by Gloria Dickie in London; Additional reporting by Frank McGurty in New York and Chris Gallagher in Washington; Editing by Louise Heavens, Mark Porter & Shri Navaratnam
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Senate Democrats have reached an agreement on changes to their marquee economic legislationthey announced late Thursday, clearing the major hurdle to pushing one of President Joe Biden’s leading election-year priorities through the chamber in coming days.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., a centrist who was seen as the pivotal vote, said in a statement that she had agreed to changes in the measure’s tax and energy provisions and was ready to “move forward” on the Inflation Reduction Act.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said lawmakers had achieved a compromise “that I believe will receive the support” of all Democrats in the chamber. His party needs unanimity to move the measure through the 50-50 Senate, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.
Schumer has said he hopes the Senate can begin voting on the energy, environment, health and tax measure on Saturday. Passage by the House, which Democrats control narrowly, could come next week.
Final congressional approval of the election-year measure would complete an astounding, eleventh-hour salvation of Mr. Biden’s wide-ranging domestic goals, though in more modest form. Democratic infighting had embarrassed Mr. Biden and forced him to stop down a far larger and more ambitious $3.5 trillion, 10-year version, and then a $2 trillion alternative, leaving the effort all but dead.
This bill, negotiated by Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin, the conservative maverick Democrat from West Virginia, would raise $739 billion in revenue. That would come from tax boosts on high earners and some huge corporations, beefed up IRS tax collections and curbs on drug prices, which would save money for the government and patients.
It would spend much of that on energy, climate and health care initiatives, still leaving over $300 billion for deficit reduction.
Sinema said Democrats had agreed to remove a provision raising taxes on “carried interest,” or profits that go to executives of private equity firms. That’s been a proposal she has long opposed, though it is a favorite of Manchin and many progressives.
The carried interest provision was estimated to produce $13 billion for the government over the coming decade, a small portion of the measure’s $739 billion in total revenue.
It will be replaced by a new excise tax on stock buybacks which will bring in more revenue than that, said one Democrat familiar with the agreement who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the deal publicly. The official provided no other detail.
Though providing no detail, Sinema said she had also agreed to provisions to “protect advanced manufacturing and boost our clean energy economy.”
She noted that Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is still reviewing the measure to make sure no provisions must be removed for violating the chamber’s procedures. “Subject to the parliamentarian’s review, I’ll move forward,” Sinema said.
“Tonight, we’ve taken another critical step toward reducing inflation and the cost of living for America’s families,” a statement from Mr. Biden read. “The Inflation Reduction Act will help Americans save money on prescription drugs, health premiums, and much more. It will make our tax system more fair by making corporations pay a minimum tax. It will not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000, and it will reduce the deficit.It also makes the largest investment in history in combatting climate change and increasing energy security, creating jobs here in the US and saving people money on their energy costs.I look forward to the Senate taking up this legislation and passing it as soon as possible.”
Schumer said the measure retained the bill’s language on prescription drug pricing, climate change, “closing tax loopholes exploited by big corporations and the wealthy” and reducing federal deficits.
He said that in talks with fellow Democrats, the party “addressed a number of important issues they have raised.” I have added that the final measure “will reflect this work and put us one step closer to enacting this historic legislation into law.”
Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse and Democrat Doug White will advance to the general election out of the top-two primary in Washington’s 4th Congressional District, CNN projects.
Newhouse is one of the 10 Republican House members who voted for then-President Donald Trump’s impeachment in January 2021 following the attack on the US Capitol. Trump had endorsed Republican challenger Loren Culp in the district.
Washington holds open primaries in which all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same ballot, with the top two finishers advancing to the November general election.
Despite facing anger from his own party over his impeachment vote, Newhouse had a number of factors going his way this week: The incumbent handily outspent his challengers, the field was large and fractured, and Washington state’s open primary system allowed people to vote for any candidate, regardless of affiliation.
Newhouse’s victory is a loss for Trump, who made defeating the 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats to impeach him a central goal to his post-presidency. By moving on from the primary, Newhouse is likely to keep his congressional seat from him. His district of him, which stretches from Washington’s borders with Oregon and Canada, overwhelmingly leans toward Republicans.
Aside from White and Culp, the field also included former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler and state Rep. Brad Klippert.
Local Republican operatives, many of whom censored and criticized Newhouse after his impeachment vote, worried that many people had moved on from impeachment and caused Republicans to focus on other issues as they went to the polls on Tuesday. Newhouse also seized on his agriculture expertise, using it to appeal in the largely rural district and draw some of the focus away from impeachment.
This story has been updated with additional background information.
Former President Trump used his rally in Waukesha, Wis., on Friday evening to criticize Democrats’ sweeping climate, tax and health package while touting his track record of recent endorsements.
While Trump was in the Badger State to boost several of his endorsed candidates ahead of the Aug. 9 primary, including gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels (R) and Adam Steen, running in the 63rd Assembly District race against Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) , the former president used the rally to take jabs at his opponents.
“The radical Democrats now intend to impose the biggest tax hike in American history, the exact opposite of what I did,” Trump asserted, referring to the reconciliation deal. “And they are working feverishly to pile on more regulations at levels never seen before. You’re going to have regulations like nobody’s ever seen before.”
He name-checked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), claiming he got “taken for a ride” by Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), who made a surprise announcement with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y.) last week that they had reached a deal on climate, health and tax reforms.
“Joe Manchin has totally sold out West Virginia, what he’s done to that state is disgraceful. And I told the old broken crow, Mitch McConnell, that this was going to happen,” Trump said.
Manchin had earlier in July appeared to pour cold water on the prospects of a deal after data was released showing inflation at 9 percent annually.
When the deal was announced, after the Senate with GOP support passed a bill to boost domestic semiconductor production and fund scientific research, some Republicans expressed frustration about the agreement, saying they would have blocked the chips and science bill if they knew Democrats were pressing forward with provisions on taxes and climate in a reconciliation package.
Manchin claimed he and Schumer had not misled their colleagues.
The former president touted the recent successes of Arizona candidates Kari Lake (R) in the GOP gubernatorial primary and Blake Masters in the Republican Senate primary as well.
He also mentioned Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon (R) and former Department of Housing and Urban Development official John Gibbs (R), who defeated Rep. Peter Meijjer (R-Mich.), one of 10 House Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching Trump.
Trump called Michels, who is running against former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R) in the gubernatorial primary next Tuesday, an “incredible success story” and touted his construction company.
He called Steen — a candidate he endorsed as part of a larger revenge tour against Republicans who he believes crossed him following the election and the Capitol riot — to “true patriot.” Vos, Steen’s opponent, drew Trump’s ire after he refused efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
As Trump took a few jabs at Kleefisch, he also appeared to subtly hit back at those who endorsed her, including former Vice President Pence.
“Tim’s opponent in the primary is Rebecca Kleesfisch, a career politician and a political insider. She known her for a long time. She’s the handpicked candidate of the failed establishment, the RINOs … the Washington swamp, and she’s running a campaign of falsehoods and lies,” he alleged, using the acronym for “Republican in name only.”
The former president even waded into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) trip to Taiwan, one of several stops she made in her travel to East Asia amid heightened tensions between China and the self-governing island, asking why she would travel to Taiwan.
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas jury ordered the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Friday to pay the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting $45.2 million in punitive damages for spreading the lie that they helped stage the massacre.
The jury announced its decision a day after awarding the parents more than $4 million in compensatory damages and after testimony on Friday that Mr. Jones and Free Speech Systems, the parent company of his misinformation-peddling media outlet, Infowars, were worth $135 million to $270 million.
Mr. Jones was found liable last year for defaming the victims’ families while spreading bogus theories that the shooting had been part of a government plot to confiscate Americans’ firearms and that the victims’ families had been complicit in the scheme.
Compensatory damages are based on proven harm, loss or injury, and are often calculated based on the fair market value of damaged property, lost wages and expenses, according to Cornell Law School. Punitive damages are intended to punish especially harmful behavior and tend to be granted at the court’s discretion, and are sometimes many multiples of a compensatory award.
The case decided this week was brought by Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, died in the attack in Newtown, Conn. It was the first to arise from several lawsuits filed by victims’ parents in 2018.
“This is an important day for truth, for justice, and I couldn’t be happier,” Ms. Lewis said in the courtroom after the verdict.
Before the jurors began deliberating about the punitive damages, Wesley Todd Ball, a lawyer for the family, told the jury that it had “the ability to send a message for everyone in this country and perhaps this world to hear.”
“We ask that you send a very, very simple message, and that is: Stop Alex Jones,” he said. “Stop the monetization of misinformation and lies. Por favor.”
Mr. Ball had asked the jury for punitive damages of about $146 million, in addition to the $4 million in compensatory damages awarded on Thursday.
How much Mr. Jones will actually have to pay in punitive damages is certain to be the subject of further litigation. Texas law caps punitive damages at two times the compensatory damages plus $750,000.
But Mark Bankston, a lawyer for Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis, told reporters on Thursday that the issue is likely to end up before the Texas Supreme Court, and legal experts said there were disagreements about the constitutionality of the cap.
Understand the Cases Against Alex Jones
Cards 1 of 6
To united front. Alex Jones, a far-right conspiracy theorist, is the focus of a long-running legal battle waged by families of victims of a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. Here is what to know:
Defamation lawsuits. The families of 10 Sandy Hook victims sued Mr. Jones in four separate lawsuits. The cases never made it to a jury; Mr. Jones was found liable by default in all of them because he refused to turn over documents, including financial records, ordered by the courts over four years of litigation.
Mr. Jones’s line of defense. The Infowars host has claimed that his right to free speech protected him, even though the outcome of the cases was due to the fact that he failed to provide the necessary documents and testify.
Three new trials. A trial in Austin, Texas this July was the first of three that will determine how much Mr. Jones must pay the families of the Sandy Hook victims. The other two are scheduled for September, but are on hold after Mr. Jones put the Infowars parent company, Free Speech Systems, into Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, halting all pending litigation.
Compensatory and punitive damages. On Aug. 4, a jury in the Texas trial awarded the parents of one of the children killed in the mass shooting more than $4 million in compensatory damages, which are based on proven harm, loss or injury. A day later, jurors decided Mr. Jones must pay the parents $45.2 million in punitive damages, which aim to punish especially harmful behavior and tend to be granted at the court’s discretion.
Mr. Jones’s lawyer, F. Andino Reynal, said the punitive award would ultimately be reduced to $1.5 million.
Mr. Jones believes “the First Amendment is under siege, and he looks forward to continuing the fight,” Mr. Reynal said after the verdict.
After the jury award, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble also cleared the way for another step that could prove problematic for Mr. Jones.
The lawyers for the family had disclosed during the trial that Mr. Jones’s team had sent them, apparently inadvertently, a huge cache of data from Mr. Jones’s cellphone, and on Friday Judge Gamble said she would not stand in the way of the lawyers for Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis providing the messages to law enforcement and the House Jan. 6 committee.
The committee has subpoenaed Mr. Jones in his investigation over his role in helping plan the pro-Trump rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
In the Sandy Hook defamation cases, a trial for damages in another of the suits is scheduled to begin next month in Connecticut, but it could be delayed because of a bankruptcy filing last week by Free Speech Systems. Lawyers for the families criticized the move as another attempt by Mr. Jones to shield his wealth from him and evade judgment.
The Texas case allowed the plaintiffs to introduce testimony about Mr. Jones’s wealth and the operations of his companies, which in addition to carrying his broadcasts make money by selling merchandise.
Bernard Pettingill Jr., a forensic economist and former economics professor at the Florida Institute of Technology, testified as a witness for Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis on Friday that Mr. Jones “is a very successful man.”
Infowars averaged $53.2 million in annual revenue between September 2015 and December 2018, Mr. Pettingill said. Since then, there has been a “nice healthy increase” in the company’s revenue, including from sales of survivalist merchandise and supplements, and it brought in nearly $65 million last year, he said.
At one point, Mr. Jones was paying himself an average of $6 million a year, Mr. Pettingill said.
In its bankruptcy filing, Free Speech Systems reported $14.3 million in assets as of May 31, with $1.9 million in net income and nearly $11 million in product sales. Free Speech Systems also had nearly $79.2 million in debts, 68 percent of it in the form of a note to PQPR Holdings, an entity that names Mr. Jones as a manager.
Last year, after Mr. Jones was ruled liable by default in the Sandy Hook cases, he began funneling $11,000 per day into PQPR, Mr. Pettingill said.
The “gigantic” loan from PQPR, a shell company without any employees, is actually Mr. Jones “using that note as a clawback to pay himself back,” Mr. Pettingill said, although Mr. Jones’s lawyer insisted that PQPR is a real company . Another note is set to mature when Mr. Jones is 74 (he is now 48).
Mr. Pettingill said he had managed to track nine private Jones-associated companies, but had to cobble together information in part because Mr. Jones’s team resisted discovery orders.
“We can’t really put a finger on what he does for a living, how he actually makes his money,” he said.
“His organization chart is an inverted T, which means everything flows to Alex Jones. Alex Jones made all the major decisions, and I think Alex Jones knows where the money is,” Mr. Pettingill said. “He can say he’s broke, he has no money, but we know that’s not correct.”
Mr. Reynal, the lawyer for Mr. Jones, said in his closing statement on Friday that “we didn’t get any evidence as to what Alex Jones actually has today, we didn’t get any of what FSS has today, what money they have, what assets they have to pay.”
Mr. Jones and associates such as the Genesis Communications Network, which helped syndicate his show for decades, have claimed to be down to the financial wire, using the defamation cases as an opportunity to beg fans for donations.
Mr. Jones has complained that his revenue plunged after he was barred from major social media platforms in 2018. Mr. Bankston pushed back in court on Wednesday: “Well, after your deplatforming, your numbers keep getting better,” he said.
After the verdict on Friday, Ms. Lewis stressed the importance of her having gotten an opportunity during the trial to confront Mr. Jones directly in the courtroom earlier in the week.
“I got to look into his eyes and I got to tell him the impact his actions had on me and my family and not just us — all the other Sandy Hook families, all the people that live in Sandy Hook and then the ripple effect that that had throughout the world,” she said. “That was a cathartic moment for me.”
It was also important, she said, that Mr. Jones saw a video, presented in court, of Jesse alive, running through a field. “I think he’s been punished,” she said of Mr. Jones. “I think he’s been held accountable, and I’m hoping he really takes this to heart because in the end love is a choice, and what he’s putting out there — lies, hatred — that’s a choice, too.”
Elizabeth Williamson reported from Austin, Tiffany Hsu from San Francisco and michael levenson from New York.
A damaged dialysis device. A busted hearing aid. A rough-up cancer patient. These allegations are included in a federal lawsuit filed this week against a Texas police department accused of routinely using “severe force on compliant civilians” — including people with medical issues.
The suit, filed Thursday in US District Court for the Southern District of Texas by lawyers with the National Police Accountability Project, claims that officers with the Rosenberg Police Department illegally detained a couple at gunpoint before destroying, damaging or confiscating their belongings, including the dialysis device, on Nov. 6, 2020.
Regina Armstead and Michael Lewis, who has kidney disease, said the nearly hour-long stop left them feeling “frightened, humiliated, embarrassed, and persecuted for being Black,” the suit says.
Regina Armstead and Michael Lewis. The couple is suing the Rosenberg Police Department for illegally detaining them and damaging Lewis’ dialysis device.Courtesy Regina Armstead and Michael Lewis
Their experience, according to the lawsuit, is typical for “many other civilians” in the city of roughly 39,000, located about 40 miles southwest of Houston.
The pair, who had been driving home after picking up a meal, was stopped by authorities searching for a white car linked to a group of armed teens, the suit states.
Lewis and Armstead were driving a white Dodge Charger but were far older than the suspects: Armstead, a nursing assistant, is 57. Lewis, a retired Imperial Sugar supervisor, is 67.
Still, Armstead was handcuffed and placed in the patrol vehicle at gunpoint without explanation, the suit alleges.
The couple alerted officers to the device in Lewis’ arm used to connect to a dialysis machine — and the warning he’d received from doctors not to put anything tight around his hands or wrists, according to the suit.
“But they just kept doing what they wanted to do,” Lewis told NBC News.
The device, a fistula, malfunctioned after Lewis was stopped, and he’s needed eight to 10 procedures in the nearly two years since to ensure his three-days-per-week treatment goes smoothly, he said. During a trip last month, he said a stint had to be inserted into his arm of him to “open up the vein.”
The couple was released without being charged, though the officers who searched their car confiscated Armstead’s cellphone without telling her, she said.
And her key fob — which officers told her to drop — wound up crushed and down the road, she said. Armstead’s phone was returned, but the department has not paid the $270 replacement cost of her key device for her, despite multiple requests, she said.
“I hope this makes it better for all of us, but especially for people of color,” Armstead said of the lawsuit. “It’s not just happening to us.”
Neither Rosenberg’s chief of police nor the city’s mayor responded to requests for comment. The law firm that represents the city did not respond, and neither did two former police chiefs.
Phone messages left at listed numbers for four of the officers named in the suit went unreturned, and a fifth officer could not be reached.
‘This is not an individual officer’
An attorney for the couple, Lauren Bonds, said that what Lewis and Armstead went through shows how the city’s police department operates with “no accountability.”
“This is not an individual officer who’s flying under the radar,” she said. “The city and police department have been unwilling to improve their officers’ behavior.”
The five officers involved in the couple’s stop were named in about 100 complaints in seven years, Bonds said, citing data her legal team obtained through a public records request.
In a 2016 incident referenced in the suit, a mother described an officer throwing her son’s phone on the ground and breaking it while he attempted to record a police response to a loud family cookout, Bonds said. Two years ago, officers “brandished pistols and rifles” at a group of unarmed people filming a music video, the suit says.
Bonds said the records request found no disciplinary measures associated with the complaints.
NBC News has not verified the allegations in the complaints. Neither the mayor nor the police chief responded to requests for comment.
Bonds also pointed to a series of lawsuits filed against the department that spanned more than a decade, including some filed by people who are disabled or have medical issues. In this latter category, one of the cases was dismissed, another was settled and a third is ongoing.
A broken hearing aid
In 2009, an off-duty police sergeant with hearing loss, from nearby Richmond, was pulled over in Rosenberg, according to a federal lawsuit that the master sergeant, Robert Eiteman, filed.
The suit, which was mentioned in the complaint filed by the Police Accountability Project, was dismissed in 2013.
In an affidavit included in the suit, Eiteman, who was wearing only one hearing aid at the time, said he wasn’t told why he was stopped, and he believed he was following the officer’s instructions when he placed his hands on top of his car.
The officer, Justin Pannell, had actually told Eiteman to get back in his car — and what Pannell perceived as defiance prompted him to throw Eiteman to the ground, according to a judge’s decision in the suit.
Pannell punched and handcuffed Eiteman, then placed his knee on the sergeant’s head and neck while pressing his face into the asphalt, according to documents in the decision. Eiteman struggled to get into Pannell’s car, and the officer threatened to “tase” him, according to the decision.
In the affidavit, Eiteman said his one working hearing aid — which cost $4,500 — was broken during the encounter.
He was booked on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest, although he denied the allegations and the charges were dismissed after a judge found there was no probable cause to take him into custody, according to the decision. In a suit filed in 2011, Eiteman claimed he was the victim of excessive force and false arrest.
“Never did I imagine that I would become the target of an overly aggressive, storm-trooping street cop with no regard for policy,” he said in the affidavit.
Lawyers representing the city denied the allegations, saying in a court filing that Pannell used a “reasonable” level of force when Eiteman failed to comply with verbal commands. The judge agreed with the city, and in 2013, his lawsuit was dismissed.
A message left on a phone number listed under Eiteman’s name was not returned, and the lawyer who represented him did not respond to a request for comment. Pannell, who left the department and now works for a private investigations firm, did not respond to a request for comment.
Altercation with a cancer patient
A year after Eiteman’s case was dismissed, a 51-year-old woman with a device in her chest for administering cancer-fighting drugs was tackled by a Rosenberg police officer during a family dispute, according to a federal lawsuit filed in 2016 alleging excessive force and false arrest.
The suit was also referenced by the Police Accountability Project.
The dispute escalated into a physical confrontation when an officer told the woman’s husband to “back off” as he alerted officers to her condition, according to the suit, which cited dashcam video. After the man, Steven Saenz, stepped back, an officer appeared to tackle him and began “pummeling” his head, causing him to temporarily blackout, the suit says.
Another officer tackled his wife, Christine Saenz, according to the suit.
In disturbing cellphone video provided to NBC News by the family’s lawyer, Steven Saenz can be seen on the ground, his head bloody and an officer on top of him. Christine Saenz appears to be on the ground nearby, yelling for her husband de ella to “stop” as another officer places handcuffs on her.
As the officers wrestle with Steven Saenz, Christine Saenz can be seen rising to her feet before an officer throws her to the ground. The same officer can then be seen striking Steven Saenz in the head.
“She needs to be checked — she has cancer,” the man recording the video, the couple’s son, can be heard saying a short time later.
On July 30, the Saenzes were arrested on suspicion of assaulting a public servant and causing bodily injury, court records show. Their son Brandon Alaniz was also arrested and accused of interfering with an officer.
In a court filing included in the federal lawsuit, lawyers for the police department said officers acted when Steven Saenz “physically inserted himself” between an officer and his wife.
“Officers asked Mr. Saenz to step back and stop interfering but he refused to comply,” the filing says, adding that instead, the couple assaulted the officers. Alaniz was taken into custody for “repeatedly interfering” with the investigation, the document says.
Court records show that all but one of the charges were dismissed. A spokesman for the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s said that Alaniz’s charge was dropped because of insufficient evidence.
The charges against Christine Saenz were dismissed “in the interest of justice,” said the district attorney’s spokesperson, Wesley Wittig. Wittig added that it wasn’t clear what that meant, and additional files that could clarify the dismissal weren’t immediately available.
The charges against Steven Saenz were reduced to misdemeanor resisting, and he pleaded guilty and was given time served, Wittig said.
The Saenzes declined to be interviewed, but the lawyer who handled their civil rights suit, Robert Whitley, said the suit was settled in 2017 for an undisclosed amount.
Steven Saenz’s nose was broken in the altercation, the suit says, and both he and his wife suffered concussions.
“These cops were off the charts,” Whitley said. “They blew this whole situation up. It’s the kind of thing that makes your blood boil.”
LIND, Wash. – After destroying 14 structures Thursday, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) said the Lind Fire is now fully contained.
ACSO said the firefighter who was airlifted to Spokane is now home with his family and recovering.
Local crews are mopping up and monitoring hot spots.
Last Updated: August 5 at 10:30 am
In a statewide briefing, Washington Department of Natural Resource (DNR) officials said the Lind Fire is not yet contained but is “looking really good.”
DNR said firefighting progress is moving in the right direction and they are optimistic that there will be no more damage to structures.
Last Updated: August 5 at 8:30 am
All evacuations have now been lifted for the Lind Fire, after 14 structures, including six homes and eight other structures, were lost to a quick-moving wildfire. Officials say the fire is now contained and under control, but crews will work through the night to make sure it doesn’t spark back up.
State fire assistance was put in place to support local firefighters who are working to contain it. Ground and air support responded to the fire.
The fire started on the south side of the town and began approaching homes. Adams County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) and Washington State Patrol (WSP) crews are helping with evacuations.
WSDOT East
Highway 395 was closed in both directions as well as SR 21 but has since been reopened.
Update regarding the wildfire burning south of Lind: We have reopened US 395 in the area but our crews are on standby if the fire warrants a closure. State Route 21 is also open but be advised there are some low visibility areas.
The Red Cross was assisting displaced people at the Ritzville Elementary School.
#UPDATE: Just arrived at Ritzville Grade School, the evacuation site for those in Lind, which had a population of around 600 people. Shelter is about 20 min north of the front lines of the fire south of Lind.@KHQLocalNewspic.twitter.com/g7ANp5boke
