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A little after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, David Chrzanowski, 31, walked into Knox Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, pushing his baby daughter in a stroller. He was there to vote on Issue 1, a measure meant to raise the vote threshold needed to approve a state constitutional amendment from a simple majority, as most states require, to 60 percent. It was a change that Mr. Chrzanowski, an engineer who described his politics as center right, might have been open to considering, he said — if that were what it was really about. “Everyone kind of knows,” said Mr. Chrzanowski, who, along with 57 percent of Ohio voters on Tuesday, cast his ballot against Issue 1. Supporters of the measure hardly kept this a secret, and campaign donors lined up accordingly: Much of the money in support came from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a Washington-based anti-abortion advocacy group.

Persons: David Chrzanowski, Chrzanowski, ”, Susan B, Anthony Pro Organizations: Knox Presbyterian Church Locations: Cincinnati, Ohio, Washington

☆ The Synagogue Attack Stands Alone, but Experts Say Violent Rhetoric Is Spreading
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mass shooters do not often end up on trial. Many are killed or take their own lives in their attacks, some leaving behind a manifesto explaining why they acted, others leaving a mystery. From the testimony of prominent psychiatrists and aging relatives emerged a portrait of the gunman, Robert Bowers, that was at once shocking and strangely familiar. It depicted an isolated, unhappy man who had grown obsessed with dark and deranged ideas, such as the notion that Jewish people were part of a conspiracy to destroy the white race. “But when you have seen this promoted for 20 years, 40 years, among thousands and thousands of people, in their books and the propaganda and online forums, it’s clear that these are subcultural beliefs.”

Persons: Robert Bowers, “, Park Dietz, ” Locations: Pittsburgh

☆ Judge to Impose Death Sentence in Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The gunman who killed 11 worshipers in a Pittsburgh synagogue will be formally sentenced to death on Thursday morning by the judge who presided over the three-month trial in U.S. district court. Jurors in the case decided on Wednesday that the gunman, Robert Bowers, should be given the death penalty, and the judge, Robert Colville, is bound by the jury’s decision. But the hearing could be more than the imposition of the sentence. Family members of those who were killed will have a chance “to share the impact of their losses, to describe how the defendant’s crimes have impacted them and their families,” said Eric Olshan, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Unlike the penalty phase of the trial, when some relatives were called to testify and asked about the magnitude of their losses, Thursday’s hearing will allow them to speak on their own terms.

Persons: Robert Bowers, Robert Colville, ”, Eric Olshan Organizations: Western, Western District of Locations: Pittsburgh, U.S, Western District, Western District of Pennsylvania

PinnedThe massacre of 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 is considered the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. “Finally, justice has been served,” said Leigh Stein, whose father, Dan Stein, was killed in the attack. Image Relatives of the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooting spoke on Wednesday after jurors recommended that the gunman be sentenced to death. The defense called no witnesses in that part of the trial, as there was never any dispute that Mr. Bowers had carried out the attack. The police rushed to the synagogue and, after exchanging gunfire with Mr. Bowers, eventually cornered him in a classroom.

Persons: Robert Bowers, “, ”, Leigh Stein, Dan Stein, Biden, ” Merrick, Garland, Robert Colville, Justin Merriman, Howard Fienberg, Joyce Fienberg, we’ve, ” Weeks, Bowers, Dor Hadash —, Cecil, David Rosenthal, Fienberg, Irving Younger, Sylvan Simon, Simon’s, Bernice, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Dor Hadash, Richard Gottfried, Stein, Melvin Wax, Judy Clarke, Satan, Ms, Clarke, ” Eric Olshan, “ It’s, that’s, Doris Dyen, Jon Moss Organizations: “, Justice Department, The New York Times, Jewish Community Center of Greater, ., New, Prosecutors, Western, Western District of Locations: Pittsburgh, U.S, Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Western District, Western District of Pennsylvania

Some said that as raw and painful as the trial was at moments, it was the first time that they had truly learned what happened that day. To others, it signified a break with a long and tragic history of governments looking away when Jewish people were targets of violence. That this is where we are, this is where we’ve been, and this country is where we belong. We remain a part of it and we always will.”Weeks before deciding that Mr. Bowers should be sentenced to death, the same jury found him guilty on all 63 of the federal counts that he had been facing, including an array of hate crimes. The defense called no witnesses in that part of the trial, as there was never any dispute that Mr. Bowers had carried out the attack.

Persons: ”, Howard Fienberg, Joyce Fienberg, we’ve, ” Weeks, Bowers, Dor Hadash —

The pews were full at a Shabbat service at the Sixth & I synagogue in Washington in November 2018, held in memory of the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Over the nearly five years since 11 people were murdered in a Pittsburgh synagogue, the deadliest antisemitic attack in the country’s history, the question of justice has loomed, unresolved. Soon, the jury in the federal trial will make a decision that is central to that question of justice: whether Robert Bowers, the man who carried out the attack, should be condemned to death. Talmudic jurisprudence is strongly averse to the death penalty, Rabbi Kalmanofsky said, but Jewish citizens should understand that this is ultimately a decision in the hands of a secular justice system. And while rabbinical tradition holds that the death penalty should be extremely rare, he said, it acknowledges “that sometimes there are incredibly exigent circumstances.”

Persons: Robert Bowers, Jonathan Perlman, ” Miri Rabinowitz, Jerry Rabinowitz, Jeremy Kalmanofsky, Rabbi Kalmanofsky, ” Organizations: The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, New, U.S, Attorney, Conservative Locations: Washington, Pittsburgh, The Pittsburgh

☆ Amid Shared Pain Over Synagogue Massacre, Divisions on Death Penalty
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nearly a year after 11 people were murdered in the Pittsburgh synagogue where he worshiped, Stephen Cohen wrote a letter to the U.S. attorney general. The Justice Department had not yet declared its intent to seek a death sentence in the case, and Mr. Cohen, the co-president of New Light, one of the three congregations that met in the Tree of Life synagogue, wanted to weigh in. Weeks later, the Justice Department announced it would seek the death penalty, and the trial that has unfolded in a federal courthouse over the past three months has been even more harrowing than he anticipated. But his view of the issue has changed. “Whether he gets put to death or not, I leave in the hands of 12 men and women who will make that decision, and God bless them for whatever decision they make.

Persons: Stephen Cohen, Cohen, ”, “, Weeks Organizations: The Justice Department, New, Justice Department Locations: Pittsburgh, “

☆ Jury in Pittsburgh Synagogue Trial Finds Gunman’s Crimes Eligible for Death Penalty
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Jon Moss | Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Bowers was found guilty on 63 counts, including hate crimes that carry a maximum sentence of death. The central question facing jurors over the last two and a half weeks was whether Mr. Bowers intended to kill his victims — one of the factors necessary for a death sentence. “The issue in this case is, what happens when your brain is broken?” said Michael Burt, a defense attorney, in his closing argument. “What happens when you don’t have the ability to know what is truth and what is not truth?”thanks. Defense witnesses who had examined Mr. Bowers said he had schizophrenia and other serious mental disorders.

Persons: Dor Hadash —, Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, Irving Younger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Bernice, Sylvan Simon, Cecil, David Rosenthal, Bowers, ”, Michael Burt

☆ Philadelphia Police Officials Detail Botched Response to a Fatal Shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Joel Wolfram | Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As the police would later determine, Mr. Wamah was killed by the man who had burst in the door. Arrested soon after, Mr. Carriker, 40, was charged with murder and other offenses and is now being held without bond. But she insisted that even if police had shown up to the right address on July 2, Mr. Wamah would likely have already been dead. Though investigators have since obtained video footage of the shooter entering Mr. Wamah’s house, the man in the video was masked, officials said. They were able to tie Mr. Wamah’s killing to Mr. Carriker by matching the shell casings at the scene to the gun Mr. Carriker was carrying when he was arrested on July 3.

Persons: Wamah, Kimbrady Carriker, Carriker, Danielle M, Wamah’s

☆ Suspect Showed Troubling Signs Before Philadelphia Rampage, D.A. Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Joel Wolfram | Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A search of his home, said Robert Wainwright, an assistant district attorney, turned up a will that Mr. Carriker had written, dated June 23. Mr. Wainwright did not say what was in the will. Mr. Wainwright said at least one of the seven people who shared a house with Mr. Carriker had recognized that he was becoming more disturbed. But officials encouraged people to report troubling behavior anyway, suggesting that Mr. Carriker might have gotten help had the authorities known of his behavior. After a 2004 misdemeanor conviction for carrying a gun without a license, Mr. Carriker had apparently spent his life largely off the radar of local law enforcement.

Persons: Carriker, Robert Wainwright, Wainwright, Carriker’s, Joanne Pescatore Organizations: Prosecutors Locations: Pennsylvania

Police found a fifth victim in a southwest Philadelphia shooting, hours after a heavily armed gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on Monday evening, the police said. The fifth victim was found in a house near the shootings; there were casings that matched the other shootings, according to a police spokesperson. The dead were all men between the ages of 20 and 59, the police said. Two children, aged 2 and 13, were also hospitalized and were stable, they said. A male suspect was taken into custody by the police just before 8:40 p.m., the authorities said, adding that they had recovered a semiautomatic rifle, a handgun and another gun in the alleyway behind the 1600 block of South Frazier Street.

Organizations: South Frazier Locations: Philadelphia, South

☆ Jury Convicts Man in Killing of 11 in Pittsburgh Synagogue
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Campbell Robertson | Jon Moss | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The gunman who killed 11 worshipers in a Pittsburgh synagogue in October 2018 was found guilty on Friday of dozens of federal hate crimes and civil rights offenses, closing the first stage of a trial that may ultimately end in a death sentence. After five hours of deliberations over two days, the jury found the gunman, Robert Bowers, guilty of 63 federal charges, including 11 counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death. The jury will hear arguments about whether Mr. Bowers, 50, is eligible to be sentenced to death for these crimes. If the jurors decide that he is, they will then decide whether the death sentence should be imposed. These next two phases of the trial are expected to last around a month and a half.

Persons: Robert Bowers, Bowers Locations: Pittsburgh

☆ Jurors Begins Deliberations in First Phase of Pittsburgh Synagogue Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Campbell Robertson | Jon Moss | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After three weeks of wrenching testimony, the prosecution and the defense delivered closing arguments on Thursday in the first phase of the federal trial of the man charged with carrying out the deadliest antisemitic attack in the country’s history. Robert Bowers, 50, the man charged in the October 2018 killing of 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, faces the possibility of a death sentence if convicted. The phase of the trial that concluded on Thursday in federal court here was to determine whether Mr. Bowers was guilty, and the outcome of this stage of the proceedings has not been in significant doubt. The question at the heart of the case has long been whether Mr. Bowers, whose charges include 11 counts of killing people because of their religion, would be sentenced to death. If the jury finds him guilty, the penalty he should face will be argued before the jury over the next several weeks.

Persons: Robert Bowers, Bowers Locations: Pittsburgh

☆ I-95 Collapse in Philadelphia Sends Commuters Searching for Alternatives
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Jon Hurdle | Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A day after an elevated portion of Interstate 95 collapsed in northeast Philadelphia, buckling after a tanker truck caught fire, the weekday rush hour began Monday with dread and preparation. “It’s looking like more than an hour on a typical 40-minute commute,” said John Heinrich, an electrician in northeast Philadelphia, who usually takes I-95 to get to his job site across the city. The damaged stretch in Philadelphia is used by about 160,000 vehicles a day, officials said. All of these vehicles now have to find alternate routes, and a normal commute is a long way off. Federal, state and local officials are looking into the cause of the fire and the collapse of the elevated highway section, which officials said caused no injuries or deaths.

Persons: ”, John Heinrich Organizations: National Transportation Safety Board Locations: Philadelphia, “, East Coast, Maine, Miami, Federal

☆ Prosecutor Recounts a Day of Worship Turned Deadly in a Pittsburgh Synagogue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The federal trial of the gunman who killed 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the deadliest antisemitic attack in the nation’s history, began on Tuesday with a minute-by-minute description of how the massacre unfolded on a chilly October morning in 2018. Ms. Song described them greeting other worshipers at the door, chatting casually in the kitchen and sitting in the pews for prayer. She then spoke of the defendant, Robert Bowers, describing his flurry of hate-filled postings on social media and how, at the same moment that the worshipers were gathering for services, he was “making his own preparations to destroy, to kill and to defile.”Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Mr. Bowers, 50. This stage of the trial will take place in two parts. The first, which began Tuesday, concerns guilt; if Mr. Bowers is found guilty, proceedings will follow to determine whether he receives a death sentence.

☆ With Watchful Eyes, a Nationwide Network Tracks Antisemitic Threats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a dimly lit conference room on an upper floor of a Chicago mid-rise, an intricately detailed snapshot of American peril is being taken, minute by unsettling minute. Reports from around the country — of gunshots, bomb threats, menacing antisemitic posts — flash across more than a dozen screens. This is the headquarters of the Secure Community Network, the closest thing to an official security agency for American Jewish institutions. There are other organizations that specialize in security for Jewish facilities, but none as broad as this group, which was created by the Jewish Federations of North America after 9/11. What prompted its rapid expansion was the murder of 11 worshipers from three congregations by a hate-spouting gunman at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history.

☆ After Historic Primary in Philadelphia, a New Mayor Will Face Old Problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

PHILADELPHIA — The afternoon before Election Day, Jennifer Robinson, 41, was trying to manage her two small children in the quiet corner of a public library in a pocket of her city that had endured generations of abandonment. She was despondent about the state of Philadelphia, most of all about the crime, but she talked about the mayoral primary as if it had little bearing on any of it. “Nobody has any answers,” Ms. Robinson said, shifting her restless 11-month-old from arm to arm. “It’s a feeling of hopelessness.”This is the city that Cherelle Parker will be leading as mayor if she wins the general election in November, and these are the sentiments she will be trying to turn around. On Tuesday, Ms. Parker, a former state legislator and City Council member, secured a surprisingly decisive victory in a Democratic primary that had been seen as a tight five-way race up until Election Day.

☆ Cherelle Parker Wins Democratic Mayoral Primary in Philadelphia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a crowded primary, Cherelle Parker, a former state representative and City Council member who campaigned on hiring more police, won the Democratic nomination for Philadelphia mayor on Tuesday night, emerging decisively from a field of contenders who had vied to be seen as the rescuer of a struggling and disheartened city. If she wins in November, which is all but assured in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than seven to one, Ms. Parker will become the city’s 100th mayor, and the first woman to hold the job. Of the five mayoral hopefuls who led the polls in the final stretch, Ms. Parker, 50, was the only Black candidate, in a city that is over 40 percent Black. She drew support from prominent Democratic politicians and trade unions, and throughout the majority Black neighborhoods of north and west Philadelphia. But she said that many of her proposed solutions had roots in Philadelphia’s “middle neighborhoods” — working and middle-class areas that have been struggling in recent years to hold off decline.

☆ What to Know as the Tree of Life Massacre Trial Begins
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Campbell Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

On the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman walked into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and killed 11 people who had gathered to worship, the deadliest antisemitic attack in the nation’s history. On Monday, more than four years later, the trial of the man accused of the massacre will begin with jury selection. The trial will take place in two phases, the first concerning guilt and the second on the penalty. Here’s what to know as the Tree of Life trial begins:Who were the victims? The Tree of Life congregation, founded in Pittsburgh more than 150 years ago, and the smaller New Light congregation are both conservative; the third congregation, Dor Hadash, is Reconstructionist, a progressive movement within Judaism.

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