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☆ A Timeline of Hunter Biden’s Life and Legal Troubles
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Michael Levenson | More About Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

With the news that the Justice Department has named a special counsel to investigate a wide range of conduct by President Biden’s son Hunter Biden, his life is bound to come under even more intense scrutiny. A father of four with a law degree from Yale, Mr. Biden, 53, has acknowledged a decades-long addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine, and his foreign business dealings have led to questions about President Biden’s influence. Here’s a look at key dates in the life of the president’s son. Feb. 4, 1970Hunter Biden is born, the second child of Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden. Hunter’s older brother, Beau, was born in 1969, and his sister, Naomi, was born in 1971.

Persons: Biden’s son Hunter Biden, Biden, Biden’s, Hunter Biden, Joseph R, Neilia Hunter Biden, Beau, Naomi Organizations: Justice Department, Yale

☆ Dozens of Children Die Every Year in Hot Cars. Could Technology Save Them?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Michael Levenson | More About Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ever since Tyler Cestia left his son Thomas in his truck on a hot morning in June two years ago, he has felt, he said, like a cork bobbing in the ocean. At lunchtime, he drove to a restaurant with the auditor and then back to his office. That afternoon, it occurred to him that he didn’t remember seeing the babysitter that morning. He ran to his truck where he found Thomas in his car seat behind the driver’s seat. “It was just a total utter shock,” said Mr. Cestia, 37, who lives in New Iberia with his wife, Pam, and their two other children.

Persons: Tyler Cestia, Thomas, Cestia, ”, Pam, “ Locations: New Iberia, La

Six white former law enforcement officers in Mississippi pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal civil rights offenses several months after they raided a home where prosecutors said two Black men were handcuffed, beaten and shocked with Tasers. One of the men was shot in the mouth during a “mock execution,” and a sex toy was forced into the other man’s mouth, federal prosecutors said. After the assault, the officers tried to cover up the attack and plant evidence, prosecutors said. In federal court in Jackson, Miss., the former officers pleaded guilty to felony offenses that included civil rights conspiracy, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice, according to Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, which also announced state charges against the officers. The former officers face varying sentences, but some could receive life in prison when they are sentenced in November, prosecutors said.

Organizations: Mississippi Attorney General’s Locations: Mississippi, Jackson, Miss

☆ 1 Dead and 22 Injured in Cargo Ship Fire Off the Netherlands
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Michael Levenson | More About Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One crew member has died and 22 others have been injured in a fire on a large cargo vessel loaded with nearly 3,000 vehicles off the Dutch island of Ameland in the North Sea, officials said on Wednesday. The fire was reported just before midnight on Tuesday and was still burning on Wednesday, the Dutch Coast Guard said. Video posted by the Coast Guard showed smoke billowing from the 656-foot vessel, as one of the many ships that responded to the fire doused it with water. Lea Versteeg, a Coast Guard spokeswoman, told The Associated Press that the cargo ship, called the Fremantle Highway, had been carrying 2,857 cars, including 25 electric cars. The cause of the fire was not known, the Coast Guard said, adding that specialists from a marine salvage company were assessing the situation, which it described as “stable at the moment.”

Persons: Lea Versteeg Organizations: Dutch Coast Guard, Coast Guard, Associated Press Locations: Ameland, North

☆ Nebraska Teen Who Used Pills to End Pregnancy Gets 90 Days in Jail
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Michael Levenson | More About Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Nebraska teenager who used abortion pills to terminate her pregnancy was sentenced on Thursday to 90 days in jail after she pleaded guilty earlier this year to illegally concealing human remains. The teenager, Celeste Burgess, 19, and her mother, Jessica Burgess, 42, were charged last year after the police obtained their private Facebook messages, which showed them discussing plans to end the pregnancy and “burn the evidence.”Prosecutors said the mother had ordered abortion pills online and had given them to her daughter in April 2022, when Celeste Burgess was 17 and in the beginning of the third trimester of her pregnancy. The two then buried the fetal remains themselves, the police said. Jessica Burgess pleaded guilty in July to violating Nebraska’s abortion law, furnishing false information to a law enforcement officer and removing or concealing human skeletal remains. She faces up to five years in prison at her sentencing on Sept. 22, according to Joseph Smith, the top prosecutor in Madison County, Neb.

Persons: Celeste Burgess, Jessica Burgess, Joseph Smith Organizations: ” Prosecutors Locations: Nebraska, Madison County, Neb

☆ Australian Man and His Dog Rescued After Nearly 3 Months at Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Michael Levenson | More About Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

While searching for tuna last week, a helicopter pilot spotted something bobbing in the vast blue expanse of the Pacific Ocean, more than 1,200 miles from land. It was a small white catamaran, badly damaged. When a small boat sent by the helicopter caught up with him, he said his name was Timothy Shaddock and that he and his dog, Bella, had been at sea for about three months. He said he had survived in part by fishing for tuna, which he ate raw, and drinking rainwater. On Tuesday, Mr. Shaddock, 54, walked down the gangway of the Maria Delia, the Mexican tuna trawler that had rescued him, and began to recount his remarkable story of survival.

Persons: Timothy Shaddock, Bella, Shaddock, Maria Delia

☆ U.S. to Pay $975,000 to Resolve Sexual Assault Claims Against Air Force General
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Michael Levenson | More About Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The federal government has agreed to pay a retired Army colonel $975,000 to resolve a lawsuit she filed in 2019 that accused John E. Hyten, an Air Force general who later became vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, of sexual assault, according to court records. The retired colonel, Kathryn A. Spletstoser, had accused General Hyten of unwanted sexual advances and touching beginning in 2017, when he was her boss and the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, responsible for overseeing the country’s nuclear arsenal. Colonel Spletstoser reported the accusations to military investigators in April 2019 after President Donald J. Trump nominated General Hyten to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country’s No. General Hyten strongly denied the accusations, and an Air Force official charged with investigating Colonel Spletstoser’s complaint declined in June 2019 to refer him to a court-martial. But Colonel Spletstoser spoke publicly about the accusations the following month, telling The New York Times that she had a “moral responsibility to come forward” as the Senate considered his nomination.

Persons: John E, Kathryn A, Hyten, Spletstoser, Donald J, Trump, General Hyten Organizations: Army, Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S . Strategic Command, New York Times, Senate

☆ Five Things to Know One Year After the Dobbs Decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yet there have also been unexpected legal and political changes that have left Americans on both sides of the issue scrambling to adapt. Here are five major changes detailed in The New York Times’s coverage of the first anniversary of the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended the constitutional right to abortion after nearly 50 years. The Dobbs decision has reshaped the national political landscape in two seemingly contradictory ways. It has made abortion rights a significant electoral strength for Democrats and, often, a clear liability for Republicans. And yet, Republican-dominated states have moved swiftly to limit or ban access to abortion.

Persons: Roe, Wade, Dobbs Organizations: Republican, Jackson, Health Organization, Democrats Locations: New York, Dobbs v

☆ Thousands of Reddit Communities Stay Dark as App Policy Protest Continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Thousands of volunteer-run message boards on Reddit remained dark on Tuesday, a week after moderators of the communities began what they called a 48-hour protest against Reddit’s planned changes to its business model. More than 3,200 message boards, known as subreddits, remained restricted or private, down from nearly 9,000 last week, according to a website tracking the revolt. Others were flooded with memes mocking Reddit’s chief executive, Steve Huffman, as anger continued to bubble on the site over changes to the company’s business model. Moderators of some of the communities that reopened said they had done so after Reddit threatened to replace them. “We want the best for this community and have no choice but to open it back up — or have it opened for us,” the moderators of the Apple enthusiast forum r/Apple wrote in a message in which they called on Mr. Huffman to resign.

Persons: Reddit’s, Steve Huffman, Apple, Huffman Organizations: Apple

☆ Harvard Medical School Morgue Manager Sold Body Parts, U.S. Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The manager of a morgue at Harvard Medical School has been charged with selling body parts from donated cadavers and allowing buyers to come to the morgue to choose which parts they wanted, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. Prosecutors said that the manager, Cedric Lodge, 55, and his wife, Denise Lodge, 63, both of Goffstown, N.H., and three others had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania on charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. A sixth person, Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Bloomsburg, Pa., was charged separately, prosecutors said. A seventh, Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Ark., was previously indicted in Arkansas, prosecutors said. The defendants were all part of a nationwide network that bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and a mortuary in Little Rock where Ms. Scott worked, prosecutors said.

Persons: Cedric Lodge, Denise Lodge, Jeremy Pauley, Candace Chapman Scott, Scott Organizations: Harvard Medical, Wednesday, Prosecutors, Harvard Medical School Locations: Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, Pa, Arkansas, Little Rock

☆ Reddit Communities Go Dark to Protest New App Policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The moderators of hundreds of Reddit forums, known as subreddits, closed off access to their groups on Monday to protest the company’s plan to charge for access to the data that outside developers need to run apps on the site. Many said the new pricing scheme could kill off some of the most popular third-party apps that many users rely on to browse and comment on the site. Others said the charges had sowed uncertainty about the tools that moderators use to manage discussions. An estimated 57 million people a day visit the platform. Reddit said it no longer wanted to give away such a valuable asset to companies like Google, OpenAI and Microsoft, which have been using Reddit’s data to develop artificial intelligence systems that many in Silicon Valley see as the next big thing.

Persons: Reddit Organizations: Google, Microsoft Locations: Silicon

☆ Man Pleads Guilty to Moving Bison Calf, Calling It an ‘Act of Compassion’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Clifford Walters said he was only trying to save a struggling newborn bison when he made a sudden decision to push it up from a riverbank in Yellowstone National Park. But Mr. Walters’s encounter with the animal on May 20 landed him in federal court, where he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of feeding, touching, teasing, frightening or intentionally disturbing wildlife, which is a misdemeanor. Mr. Walters was ordered to pay a $500 fine, a $500 community service payment to the Yellowstone Forever Wildlife Protection Fund, a $30 special assessment and a $10 processing fee, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said in a statement. Mr. Walters, 78, represented himself in court and said in an interview on Friday that he believed the outcome was fair. The charge he was facing carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Persons: Clifford Walters, Walters’s, Walters, . Walters Organizations: Protection, Attorney’s, District of Locations: U.S, District of Wyoming

☆ Danny Masterson Is Convicted of Raping Two Women
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Another accuser, who was identified in court documents only as Christina B., said in the same statement that she was “devastated” that the jury had deadlocked on the charge that Masterson raped her in 2001 when they were in a relationship. About 20 or 30 minutes later, she felt “very disoriented,” the brief states. According to the brief, Masterson raped her after she regained consciousness on his bed. She reached for his hair to try to pull him off and tried to push a pillow into his face, the brief states. When Masterson heard a man yelling in the house, he pulled a gun from his night stand and told her not to move or to “say anything,” adding expletives, the brief states.

Persons: “, Danny Masterson, Masterson, Christina B, ”, Jen B Organizations: of Scientology, Los Angeles County, Attorney’s Office Locations: ”

☆ Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter Has Dementia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former President Jimmy Carter and a longtime advocate for expanded access to mental health care, has dementia, the Carter Center said on Tuesday. The announcement came just over three months after the center said that Mr. Carter, who at 98 is the longest living president in American history, had decided to forgo further medical treatment and would enter hospice care at the couple’s home in Plains, Ga. The center said on Tuesday that Mrs. Carter, 95, “continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones.”“We recognize, as she did more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support,” the center said. “We hope sharing our family’s news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country.”

☆ Fixer-Uppers With Waterfront Views: The U.S. Is Unloading Lighthouses
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Looking for a place with waterfront views? The government might have a deal for you. The General Services Administration said on Friday that it was giving away six lighthouses to nonprofits or government agencies that promise to maintain them, and planned to sell four others to the public at auction. The lighthouses are on some of the most picturesque waters in New England and the Midwest. But aspiring lightkeepers should be prepared to do some repair work before living out their 19th-century maritime fantasies.

☆ Man Charged With Stealing Ruby Slippers Worn by Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A man has been indicted on charges that he stole a pair of the famed ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,” from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minn., the actress’s hometown, nearly 18 years ago. Mr. Martin was indicted on one count of theft of a major artwork. The one-page indictment did not provide any further details about the case. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Martin had a lawyer. Reached by phone Wednesday at his home, Mr. Martin told The Minneapolis Star Tribune that he had to go to trial, and added: “I don’t want to talk to you.”

☆ Possible Cyberattack Disrupts The Philadelphia Inquirer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A possible cyberattack on The Philadelphia Inquirer disrupted the newspaper’s print operation over the weekend and prompted it to close its newsroom through at least Tuesday, when its staff will be covering an expensive and fiercely contested mayoral primary. Elizabeth H. Hughes, the publisher and chief executive of The Inquirer, said that the newspaper discovered “anomalous activity on select computer systems” on Thursday and “immediately took those systems offline.”But The Inquirer was unable to print its regular Sunday edition, the newspaper reported. Instead, print subscribers received a Sunday “early edition,” which went to press on Friday night. The newspaper also reported on Sunday that its ability to post and update stories on its website, Inquirer.com, was “sometimes slower than normal.”The Monday print editions of The Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News, which The Inquirer also publishes, were distributed as scheduled, Evan Benn, a company spokesman, said.

☆ A New Jersey Mystery: Who Dumped Hundreds of Pounds of Pasta, and Why?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“There was literally 25 feet of pasta that had been dumped,” she said. The scene resembled something out of “Strega Nona,” the classic children’s book by Tomie dePaola about a kindly “grandma witch” whose magically overflowing pot floods her little town in Italy with pasta. Ms. Jochnowitz estimated that 300 to 500 pounds of pasta had been left to congeal in the woods. She documented the pasta with the camera on her phone, emailed a town official to report the find and posted the photos on Facebook. Before long, the town was consumed with theories about who might have dumped the pasta and why, especially in a state known for its love of Italian food.

☆ Freight Train Derails in Southwestern Wisconsin
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Michael Levenson | April Rubin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A BNSF freight train derailed on Thursday in southwestern Wisconsin, injuring four crew members and sending two containers into the Mississippi River but causing no environmental damage, officials said. BNSF said in a statement that the train derailed at about 12:15 p.m. local time near the village of De Soto, Wis., which hugs the Mississippi River, near the border of Iowa and Minnesota. Two of the three locomotives and an unknown number of cars carrying “freight of all kinds” were involved, the statement said. Two containers went into the Mississippi River, but they did not contain hazardous materials, the statement said. The materials did not pose a hazard to the public because they remained on land, he said.

☆ What to Know About Danny Masterson’s Second Rape Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Opening arguments began on Monday in a retrial of the rape case against Danny Masterson, the actor known for his role in the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” nearly five months after the first trial ended in a deadlocked jury. The first trial ended in November when the jury could not reach a verdict on the three counts of forcible rape that the actor faced, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial. If convicted in the retrial, Masterson could face 45 years to life in prison. The charges in the retrial in Los Angeles Superior Court are the same as in the first trial. But in a potentially significant shift, the judge, Charlaine F. Olmedo, has allowed prosecutors to tell jurors directly that Masterson had drugged his three accusers, The Associated Press reported.

☆ Children With Autism Across U.S. Lend Voices to Transit Announcements
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Although not every child’s recording made the final cut, the project has aimed to broaden acceptance of children with autism and to give them a chance to have their voices broadcast at train stations, which many of them adore. Many children with autism focus intensely on the technical aspects of trains and buses, subway maps and train schedules, said Jonathan Trichter, a co-founder of the Foundry Learning Center — a school for children with developmental disabilities in Manhattan — and the driving force behind the public service announcements. Children with autism also latch onto phrases they hear in spaces where they are intensely focused and use them as some of their first means of communication, Mr. Trichter said. “As a result, it is not unusual for a child in New York City who is on the spectrum to have, as his or her first full sentence, something like ‘Stand clear of the closing doors, please,’” Mr. Trichter said, reciting the familiar warning that plays throughout the city’s subway system. That phenomenon, he said, gave him the idea to pitch the children’s announcements to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York, which was the first agency to broadcast them last April.

☆ Koko Da Doll, Star of Film on Transgender Sex Workers, Is Killed in Atlanta
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Koko Da Doll, who was featured in “Kokomo City,” a documentary about four Black transgender sex workers that won awards at the Sundance Film Festival this year, was fatally shot in Atlanta on Tuesday, the film’s director said. Koko Da Doll, 35, whose name was Rasheeda Williams, “was the latest victim of violence against Black transgender women,” the director, D. Smith, said in a statement. “I created ‘Kokomo City’ because I wanted to show the fun, humanized, natural side of Black trans women,” Ms. Smith said. “I wanted to create images that didn’t show the trauma or the statistics of murder of transgender lives. But here we are again.”The Atlanta Police Department said that it was actively investigating three violent crimes against transgender women this year — the fatal shooting on Tuesday, another fatal shooting on April 11 and a shooting that critically injured a female victim in January.

☆ Twitter Removes ‘Government-Funded’ Labels From Media Accounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Twitter has removed labels that described prominent news organizations as “government-funded” or “state-affiliated” after NPR and public broadcasters in several countries criticized the labels as misleading and suspended the use of their Twitter accounts. The removal of the labels was the latest shift that Twitter has made abruptly and without explanation under the leadership of its owner, Elon Musk. Twitter, which automatically responds to press inquiries via email with a poop emoji, did not immediately comment on Friday. NPR reported that Mr. Musk said in an email that Twitter had dropped all media labels and that “this was Walter Isaacson’s suggestion,” apparently referring to the author and former media executive who is working on a book about Mr. Musk. Mr. Isaacson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ British Man Died of Rare Blood Syndrome Linked to AstraZeneca’s Vaccine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A 32-year-old psychologist in Britain developed blood clots and died 10 days after he took his first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine, a report released by a London coroner on Wednesday found, in a highly rare case of a fatal reaction to the vaccine. The inquest, which was requested by Charlotte Wright, the widow of Dr. Stephen Wright, found that he died on Jan. 26, 2021, as a result of “unintended consequences of vaccination.” Ms. Wright is suing AstraZeneca. According to the report, Dr. Wright, of Kent, England, had a stroke and bleeding in the brain, as well as vaccine-induced thrombosis, or blood clots, and thrombocytopenia, a condition that occurs when the platelet level in the blood is abnormally low. Since 2021, researchers have cited rare cases in which people have developed the blood-clotting syndrome known as TTS after receiving the Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca Covid vaccines, which are similar. The cases typically occur within weeks of vaccination.

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