Skip to content
Advertisement

TSA agent charged for false threats; Hawaii’s molasses spill endanger sea life; George Zimmerman arrested after domestic dispute

Advertisement
Nna Alpha Onuoha (32157)
Nna Alpha Onuoha

Alabama

Congress on Tuesday bestowed its highest civilian honor on the four African American girls killed in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham. Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, all 14, and Denise McNair, 11, were killed during Sunday services on Sept. 15, 1963, at 16th Street Baptist Church. Their senseless deaths “awakened the slumbering consciousness of America and galvanized the civil rights movement,” Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell said at the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. “Fifty years later, we finally honor their life and legacy. Justice delayed but not denied,” Sewell said.

Arizona

A Phoenix man is recovering after his legs and pelvis were crushed by a 30-ton boulder during a rock slide in northern Arizona. Investigators said the victim was trying to move another boulder that had fallen onto Mount Elden Lookout Road, which is about three miles up from the bottom of the mountain. An ambulance and fire truck were not able to get to the location because of poor road conditions. Rescuers used a four-wheel drive vehicle to reach the area. The victim was then driven out and transferred to a waiting ambulance. The Coconino National Forest has closed Elden Lookout Road and may be temporarily closing other trails and areas affected by the recent soaking rains.

California

Additional police officers were patrolling Los Angeles International Airport and two other airports Wednesday after a former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee was accused of making a false threat against LAX, authorities said. The beefed-up patrols were also a precaution on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, police said. Increased security was also implement at two other airports—LA/Ontario International Airport in Ontario, Calif., and Van Nuys Airport in Van Nuys, police said. Nna Alpha Onuoha, a former TSA employee, was in a federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon waiting to make his initial appearance on a count of making a false threat and a count of making threats against interstate commerce, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The two charges together carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, he said.

Colorado

An entire community cut off, firefighters huddled on the side of a mountain after water swept their truck away, and rescue helicopters grounded. This was the scene facing authorities Thursday in Boulder County, Colo., in the wake of what Sheriff Joe Pelle called a “devastating storm” that dumped more than half a foot of rain on the region during a 19-hour period. Widespread flash flooding washed out roads, pushed dams to their limits and beyond and killed at least three people along Colorado’s Rocky Mountain range, from Boulder south to Colorado Springs. Lyons, a small town of 2,000 near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, was cut off by what city officials described as a “500-year” flood (something has a 0.2 chance of occurring in any given year). They took to Facebook to urge residents to prepare for up to three days on their own.

George Zimmerman (24325)

Florida

No charges will be filed after a reported confrontation between George Zimmerman and his estranged wife and her father until investigators can recover video from a smashed iPad, which could take months, police said Wednesday. Police answered a 911 call from Shellie Zimmerman on Monday afternoon, in which she said her husband had threatened her and her father with a gun. Police said afterward that no weapon was recovered. Police spokesman Zach Hudson said Wednesday that Shellie Zimmerman told police she used the tablet to record the confrontation. George Zimmerman allegedly broke the device, after he was hit on the back with it, Hudson said. “At this point, we’re doing everything humanly possible in investing as much as physically possible to get that video,” Hudson said. But, he added, “As it stands right now, we don’t see a crime.”

Hawaii

A massive molasses spill this week in Honolulu Harbor could lead to an increase in the number of sharks, barracuda and eels as well as bacteria in the area, the Hawaii Department of Health warned. “While molasses is not harmful to the public directly, the substance is polluting the water, causing fish to die and could lead to an increase in predator species,” the health department said in a statement Wednesday. Roger White of Cool Blue Diving shot video of the mess on the ocean floor, where the heavy liquid settled. “I didn’t know so many creatures were down there before, but they’re all dead, and they’re all laying across the bottom—hundreds and hundreds, even thousands,” he told CNN affiliate KHON. The fish kill began before dawn Monday, when a leak sprang up in a pipeline to a Matson Navigation-owned ship loaded with 1,600 tons of molasses and waiting in the harbor to set sail for the West Coast, where its cargo was to be processed. As much as 1,400 tons—233,000 gallons—of the sticky stuff as spewed into the water, the health department said, adding that the shipper was cited.

Edward Bagley (32155)

Missouri

A Missouri man was sentenced on Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison for his role in the years-long sexual torture of a “mentally deficient” young woman that included electrical shock and mutilation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri told CNN. A federal judge accepted a plea agreement from Edward Bagley Sr., 46, in a Kansas City courtroom on Wednesday morning, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. In January, he pleaded guilty to one of the 11 counts he faced for having a sexual relationship with a minor, who was identified only by the initials “FV” (or Female Victim) in official documents. Bagley faced life imprisonment. Bagley held the victim as a sex slave from December 2002 to February 27, 2009, in his Lebanon, Mo., trailer home. The woman—who was a runaway minor at the time the abuse began—was sometimes “hung upside down,” “water boarded” and had animals she cared for shot in front of her by Bagley to coerce her into engaging in commercial sex acts, the indictment read.

David Petraeus (32158)

New York

General David Petraeus has started his new job teaching with the City University of New York system, but he had a rough first day. Students at the Macaulay Honors College harassed the four-star general, yelling, “Petraeus out of CUNY!” as he made his way to teach his first class. Others called the former CIA director a “war criminal.” The demonstrators vowed to heckle Petraeus after every class he teaches. Petreus, who resigned his post with the CIA in November of 2012 after an extramarital affair came to light, was offered a position teaching one class at the CUNY school in April.

Compiled By Juliana Norwood. CNN News Wire contributed to this report.

Advertisement

Latest