National News Roundup: Winter Storms Claim Lives, Texas Executes Inmate, and More
Across the nation, a series of significant events unfolded this week, ranging from deadly winter weather to a high-profile execution and ongoing tensions surrounding law enforcement actions.
A powerful winter storm that swept across a large portion of the United States has been linked to dozens of deaths. As of Wednesday, CBS News confirmed at least 49 fatalities directly caused by the storm or weather-related accidents. Officials in numerous states reported approximately 24 additional deaths that appeared to be related to the winter weather. Causes of death included hypothermia from exposure to the cold, car accidents, snowplow accidents, sledding accidents, and sudden cardiac emergencies linked to shoveling snow. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated that 10 people had been found dead in the cold in New York City, though not all causes of death had been confirmed.
In Texas, Charles Victor Thompson, 55, was executed Wednesday evening at 6:50 p.m. Central Time at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was the first person executed in the U.S. this year, according to CBS News. Thompson was condemned for the April 1998 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip, 39, and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, 30, in Tomball, a Houston suburb. In his final words, Thompson asked the families of his victims to forgive him, adding, "that you can begin to heal and move past this." He had previously escaped from custody after being sentenced to death and was on the run for three days.
In New York, Carlisle Rivera, who prosecutors said was hired by Iranian operative Farhad Shakeri as part of a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday. Alinejad, an activist and critic of Iran's repression of women, confronted Rivera at his sentencing in federal court in Manhattan. "Now I'm going to face the killer, my would-be assassin," Alinejad said before sentencing, according to CBS News. "But the main killer in my eyes is the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps)." Prosecutors alleged that Shakeri was "tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran's assassination plots against its targets" and directed two men in New York, including Rivera. Alinejad has survived three plots by Iran's regime to kill or kidnap her.
Minneapolis is experiencing escalating tensions following the shooting death of Alex Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse, on Saturday morning. According to ABC News, this was the second shooting of a U.S. citizen this month by federal agents in the city, following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, 37, on Jan. 7. Protests erupted in the streets after Pretti's death, with clashes between protesters and law enforcement. ABC News reported that video appeared to show Pretti clashing with agents days before the shooting.
In Brooklyn, New York, a car crashed into the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters on Wednesday evening. The New York Police Department is investigating whether the incident was an accident or intentional, according to ABC News. Police were called to 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood at 8:46 p.m., where a grey Honda with New Jersey plates crashed near the entrance. The driver was taken into custody but had not yet been charged. No injuries were reported.
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