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  • Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer asks judge to investigate juror and check his phone

    Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer asks judge to investigate juror and check his phone

    A high-profile Massachusetts murder case involving a mother accused of killing her three young children has descended into acrimony after a jury’s deadlock forced a mistrial, with the defense launching an unprecedented probe into the lone holdout juror that has sparked fierce pushback from legal advocates.

    Lindsay Clancy, 32, has never contested that she killed her children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan — at the family’s home in Massachusetts earlier this year. Her legal team has mounted an insanity defense, arguing she was severely incapacitated by untreated postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings, making her not criminally responsible for her actions. Prosecutors, by contrast, have painted the deaths as a premeditated act, claiming Clancy deliberately sent her husband out of the house on a false errand to create time to strangle her children.

    After days of closed-door deliberations, the jury announced it could not reach a unanimous verdict, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial earlier this month. Multiple jurors have confirmed the panel was split 11-1 in favor of accepting Clancy’s insanity defense, with only one juror, Michael Desronvil, holding out for a guilty verdict.

    Clancy’s lead defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, has filed two new court motions aimed at challenging the mistrial outcome. In the first motion, filed Friday, Reddington asked the court to open a formal investigation into Desronvil’s conduct during deliberations. He is requesting access to all of Desronvil’s mobile phone calls and text messages sent and received between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. local time on every day the jury met to deliberate. Reddington also wants the court to review the answers Desronvil provided on his prospective juror questionnaire during jury selection, to determine whether he deliberately omitted or falsified information to gain a seat on the panel.

    In a separate motion, Reddington asked the judge to dismiss the entire case against Clancy outright, a request prosecutors have not yet formally responded to. Prosecutors have also not announced whether they will move forward with a retrial.

    Desronvil, who has faced widespread public backlash for his not-guilty holdout, has retained legal counsel to defend his actions as a juror. His attorney, Edward Paltzik, has blasted Reddington’s investigation request as a baseless, unethical attack on a citizen carrying out his constitutional civic duty. In a public statement posted to X, Paltzik called the defense motion “disgusting” and warned that targeting jurors for unpopular verdicts poses a fundamental threat to the American right to a fair trial. “If the new normal is that jurors are going to face brutal reprisals for disagreeing with a defense attorney, you can kiss the Sixth Amendment goodbye,” Paltzik wrote. He dismissed Reddington’s claims as nothing more than a “Looney Tunes” style attack on his client.

    Conflicting accounts have emerged about Desronvil’s position during deliberations. The jury’s forewoman, a retired fifth-grade teacher, claimed in a national media interview that Desronvil personally admitted he held reasonable doubt about Clancy’s capacity for criminal intent, but still refused to vote in favor of the not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdict. Desronvil has forcefully denied this claim, telling CBS News, the US partner of the BBC, that he never had any doubt about Clancy’s guilt. He added that when he tried to explain his legal theories to other jurors during deliberations, he was repeatedly cut off, leading other panel members to incorrectly assume he harbored doubts about the state’s case.

    The case has already spurred widespread public discussion about maternal mental health, with the Heard Foundation, a mental health advocacy organization, highlighting Clancy’s case to raise awareness about postpartum psychosis. Clancy’s husband Patrick has also made public headlines saying he forgives his ex-wife for the killings, backing her defense’s claims that her severe mental illness caused the tragedy.

  • No criminal charges in death of black Mississippi teenager, grand jury says

    No criminal charges in death of black Mississippi teenager, grand jury says

    The high-profile case of 19-year-old Mississippi black teenager Nolan Wells, who died following a July 4 boating trip with three young white companions, has reached a major turning point: a county grand jury has unanimously decided no criminal charges will be filed against any individual connected to his death, leaving his grieving family without the accountability they have spent months demanding.

    Wells, a student-athlete who played American football at Southwest Mississippi Community College and was described by his coach as a cheerful, easygoing young man, was reported missing by his mother Christine Wonsley on the evening of July 4, 2026, after he failed to return home from the day trip. According to initial statements from his traveling companions, the group cut their outing on Horn Island short due to a mechanical issue with their boat, and Wells chose to remain on the island instead of leaving with them, planning to catch a ride back with another group of visitors on a later boat. A massive multi-agency search involving local, state and federal law enforcement recovered Wells’ body off the island’s coast 48 hours later, on July 6.

    From the earliest days of the investigation, the case drew widespread scrutiny over the racial dynamics at play: civil rights attorney Ben Crump, retained by the Wells family to advocate for them, publicly questioned how a young Black man ended up dead after an outing with three young white acquaintances, pointing to conflicting accounts from the witnesses as a sign that critical details had not been disclosed. Police initially ruled Wells’ death an accidental drowning, but the family pushed for a full independent review, commissioning their own separate autopsy by a private forensic pathologist.

    After months of testimony and evidence review, the 25-member grand jury completed its work this week, releasing its findings publicly via the Jackson County District Attorney’s social media channels on Monday. In the report, the grand jury concluded that all physical evidence surrounding the case — including the location, condition, and timing of the recovery of Wells’ body — aligns completely with the accidental drowning ruling. The panel also explicitly rejected claims that the death was driven by racial bias, noting that there is no credible evidence to back up public allegations that any of the three companions who traveled with Wells engaged in criminal activity connected to his passing.

    Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath emphasized in a video message accompanying the report’s release that the grand jury conducted a thorough, unbiased review of all available information. Over the course of the investigation, 43 witnesses testified before the panel, including the independent forensic expert that the Wells family hired to conduct their separate autopsy. McIlrath added that the three young men who accompanied Wells on the trip were fully cooperative with investigators, turning over GPS tracking data, cell phone records, surveillance footage and all other requested evidence to the grand jury. The report also noted that on busy holiday weekends like July 4, it is not uncommon for groups of visitors to Horn Island to arrive and depart on different vessels, making the companions’ account of Wells choosing to stay behind entirely plausible.

    Despite the grand jury’s findings, the Wells family and their legal team remain unsatisfied with the outcome. In a statement shared with national U.S. media outlets following the announcement, Crump said the grand jury’s decision has left the case with more unresolved questions than it answered. “Nolan’s family will not rest until we know what happened to him, and neither will we,” Crump said, making clear that the push for full transparency into the teenager’s death will continue.

  • What is the White House press pool and why is it in a row with Trump?

    What is the White House press pool and why is it in a row with Trump?

    A coordinated boycott by major U.S. television networks has upended live press coverage of a White House event hosted by President Donald Trump, escalating a high-stakes dispute over press access that carries lasting implications for First Amendment rights and the relationship between the executive branch and the national media.

    The conflict erupted late last week, when Trump announced a blanket ban on three major outlets — CNN, Politico and MS NOW — accusing the organizations of spreading what he calls “fake news” and fabricated lies about his inner circle. By Saturday, reporters from the three targeted outlets discovered that their White House press credentials had been revoked without warning or formal disciplinary process. In response, all five major TV networks that make up the White House television press pool announced they would suspend all pool coverage duties starting Monday, launching a collective boycott of the administration’s press access structure.

    The first test of this media blackout came Monday afternoon, at the official ribbon-cutting for a new White House helipad. With no pool cameras or shared audio feed in place, most national news outlets were unable to broadcast live footage from the event. For the few outlets that did secure on-site access, no working shared microphone was available, leaving Trump’s remarks largely inaudible to home audiences. Notably, the boycott did not impact a meeting between Trump and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani held later that same day, as the event was open to all press and did not rely on the shared pool system.

    To understand the scope of the dispute, it is necessary to explain the function of the White House press pool: a longstanding collaborative arrangement where news organizations pool resources to cover the president across every location, from Oval Office meetings to overseas trips, with separate divisions for television, photography, print, radio and new media. The television pool’s material is shared equally among its five members — CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC — to cut down on equipment costs and eliminate the logistical chaos of placing dozens of cameras at every small presidential event. The pool remains on permanent standby for any scenario where the president needs to address the nation unexpectedly.

    In an internal email obtained by the BBC, Fox News Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton, who held the rotating pool lead position at the time of the boycott, confirmed that “effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage” of the president. In a formal joint statement, the five networks laid out their unified position: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organisation because it objects to its reporting.”

    The three banned outlets have already filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that the credential revocation violates core press freedom protections enshrined in the First Amendment. The amendment explicitly forbids the U.S. government from abridging press freedom, a standard courts have long interpreted to bar the government from discriminating against media outlets based on the content of their reporting. A court hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for Wednesday. In their own joint statement, the plaintiffs emphasized the stakes of the case: “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

    President Trump has doubled down on his position, responding to the lawsuit with scathing criticism on his Truth Social platform, calling the banned outlets “Third Rate Clowns” and a “Crooked and Corrupt Press” that trivializes and demeans his administration’s work. “Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown ‘sources,’ shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World,” he wrote, adding that his administration would appeal any adverse court ruling.

    In a parallel move, the White House has recently launched Trump TV, a 24/7 streaming channel hosted on YouTube that bills itself as a centralized hub for the Trump administration’s biggest moments. As of the boycott, the channel consists almost entirely of reruns of past Trump speeches and campaign rallies. To fill the vacant pool slot, the administration has tapped conservative outlet Real America’s Voice as a secondary crew for Trump’s upcoming trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Unlike the traditional non-partisan pool, the conservative outlet has no obligation to share its coverage with other news organizations and will operate independently for its own audience.

    While Trump’s scheduled address to the UN General Assembly will not be affected by the boycott, as it will be carried by non-pool outlets, the president’s travel between events in New York — which is traditionally covered by the press pool — will likely remain without shared broadcast coverage for major networks.

    This is not the first time the Trump administration has clashed with the press over access. Back in February, the White House seized full control of the press pool system, which had been managed by the independent White House Correspondents’ Association for more than a century. That same month, the administration barred Associated Press reporters from restricted areas including the Oval Office and Air Force One over the outlet’s refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” in its coverage. The AP filed a lawsuit over that ban, which remains pending in federal court.

    Instances of past administrations restricting press access are rare, and none have gone to the extent of the current dispute. In 2009, the Obama administration attempted to exclude Fox News from a single press pool interview with an administration official. After widespread pushback from the other four pool networks, the administration reversed course and granted Fox access. Unlike Trump’s current blanket ban on three outlets from all pool coverage, the Obama dispute was limited to one individual event.

  • Major US outlets boycott shared Trump coverage in protest at media ban

    Major US outlets boycott shared Trump coverage in protest at media ban

    A major standoff between the Trump administration and leading US media outlets escalated on Monday, after major television networks suspended pooled coverage of President Donald Trump in protest of a unilateral access ban targeting three critical news organizations. The conflict traces back to last Friday, when Trump announced he would block CNN, Politico, and MSNBC from White House access, lambasting the outlets for publishing what he falsely claimed was “fiction or lies” about his administration. By Saturday, the barred organizations confirmed their reporters had already been turned away at White House entrances, cementing the administration’s restrictive new policy.

    In response to what they call an unprecedented attack on First Amendment press freedoms, the three affected outlets announced on Monday they would take legal action against the Trump administration, arguing the move violates the core principle that the U.S. government cannot dictate what the press can or cannot report to the public.

    Almost immediately after the ban went into effect, the White House launched its own 24/7 streaming platform branded as “Trump TV,” which exclusively distributes curated clips of the president to the public without independent editorial oversight. The boycott quickly gained traction beyond the three barred outlets: dozens of other major U.S. news organizations joined the suspension of pooled coverage, including the New York Times and The Washington Post, which opted to stop sharing even still imagery from Trump’s public events on Monday.

    The widespread boycott left major gaps in independent public coverage of the president’s schedule. No independent network television footage was captured of Trump boarding Air Force One, or of his arrival in New York ahead of the annual United Nations General Assembly. Even a public ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Marine One helipad on the White House South Lawn, streamed directly via the White House’s official website, suffered technical failures that left all of Trump’s remarks completely inaudible to viewers.

    The crisis was partially interrupted later in the day when Trump appeared on camera following a meeting with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who explicitly extended a public invitation to all members of the media to attend the subsequent press conference. Downplaying the scope of the boycott during the appearance, Trump told reporters: “It’s interesting because, they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me, so I wasn’t very worried about that. Look at all that press.”

    For context, the White House press pool system is a longstanding cost- and space-saving arrangement that allows multiple media organizations to share on-the-ground coverage of presidential events for public distribution, ensuring broad access for news outlets of all sizes. Bryan Boughton, Washington bureau chief for Fox News, who currently holds the rotating role coordinating television pool crews for White House coverage, confirmed the suspension in an internal email later obtained by the BBC. Boughton wrote that “effective today, the TV pool will not be covering designated [as] pool coverage” of Trump, noting the decision came directly after the White House blocked CNN from fulfilling its scheduled pool duties for Trump’s New York trip. He added that no replacement pool would be organized to fill the gap.

    The three barred outlets officially filed their lawsuit on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In a joint statement announcing the legal challenge, the organizations said: “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

  • What to expect as world leaders descend on New York – and who won’t be there

    What to expect as world leaders descend on New York – and who won’t be there

    As the annual high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly kicks off in New York, hundreds of heads of state and government will gather at the UN headquarters to tackle a growing list of pressing global challenges that have dominated international affairs in 2024. This year’s gathering comes at a moment of heightened geopolitical tension, ongoing humanitarian crises, and stalled climate action, making every bilateral meeting and public address closely watched by policymakers and communities around the world.

  • Canadian province sues OpenAI over Tumbler Ridge school shooting

    Canadian province sues OpenAI over Tumbler Ridge school shooting

    Nearly eight months after a teenage mass shooter killed eight people, including six children, in the small Canadian town of Tumbler Ridge, the western province of British Columbia has launched a federal lawsuit against artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, accusing the company of failing to alert law enforcement to alarming user activity on its flagship ChatGPT platform before the attack.

    The 18-year-old perpetrator, Jessie Van Rootselaar, carried out the fatal mass shooting in February this year. Multiple independent media investigations later confirmed that OpenAI’s internal safety moderation team had already flagged concerning content referencing gun violence on Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account months before the attack, but senior company leadership failed to pass this credible threat of severe violence on to Canadian law enforcement authorities.

    British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma announced the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in a California federal court. The province has chosen to file the case in the U.S. because the internal decision to withhold the threat information from authorities was made at OpenAI’s headquarters in California, Sharma confirmed, per reporting from Agence France-Presse.

    In a formal public statement, Sharma emphasized that the legal action raises critical questions about the accountability obligations that large technology firms must uphold when they encounter verified threats of deadly harm on their platforms. “To date, OpenAI has not taken meaningful steps to address the concerns raised by survivors, families and the Tumbler Ridge community,” Sharma wrote. She added that the company still has a chance to demonstrate real accountability by strengthening its user safety safeguards, boosting operational transparency around threat reporting, and implementing concrete policy changes to stop similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

    Sharma told reporters on Monday that provincial officials have not been able to review the full content of Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT conversations, because OpenAI has repeatedly rejected official requests to disclose the full chat logs. “We have asked OpenAI to disclose these chats. They have refused. We should all be asking them: Why?” Sharma said, according to Canadian public broadcaster CBC.

    The attorney general also confirmed that any financial damages awarded to the province through the lawsuit will be allocated entirely to rebuilding the local secondary school impacted by the attack.

    OpenAI has already acknowledged its failure to report the threat in the months after the shooting. In April, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued a public apology to the victims’ families in an open letter, writing, “I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement.” The families of those killed and injured in the shooting have already filed separate private civil lawsuits against OpenAI. The British Broadcasting Corporation has reached out to OpenAI to request comment on the new provincial lawsuit, and as of Tuesday, the company had not issued a public response to the legal filing.

  • Watch: Mamdani says press allowed at event with Trump regardless of ‘critique’

    Watch: Mamdani says press allowed at event with Trump regardless of ‘critique’

    In a bold rebuke of the Trump White House’s restrictive media policies, New York Mayor Mamdani has publicly reaffirmed that all journalists will be granted full access to an upcoming event featuring former President Donald Trump at the city’s official mayoral residence, Gracie Mansion.

    In an on-camera statement, the mayor confirmed that he personally communicated this commitment to Trump, making clear that even reporters who have been vocal critics of the former president will not be turned away from the event. This stance directly contrasts with Trump’s longstanding policy of barring specific media outlets that he has labeled as “fake news” from access to White House press briefings and official presidential events during his time in office.

    Mamdani emphasized that his administration’s commitment to an open and free press outweighs any personal or political disagreements that may arise between event attendees and media covering the public gathering. The move has drawn attention for highlighting the stark divide between local governance practices around press freedom and the restrictive media policies implemented during the Trump presidential administration.

  • Fat Bear Week: Which bear has put on the most weight?

    Fat Bear Week: Which bear has put on the most weight?

    Every autumn, as Alaska’s Katmai National Park prepares for the long, frozen winter ahead, one of the most beloved public wildlife competitions returns: Fat Bear Week. Now a global cultural phenomenon that draws millions of voters each year, the 2025 edition of the iconic contest is scheduled to run from September 22 through September 29, organizers at the national park have officially confirmed.

    The core premise of the fan-favorite event is simple yet captivating: participants and wildlife lovers around the world cast their votes online to select which of Katmai’s famous brown bears has packed on the most fat in preparation for months of hibernation. For these massive Alaskan predators, bulking up is far more than a trivial competition — it is a matter of survival. Brown bears rely on thick layers of adipose tissue to sustain them through up to six months of sleeping and fasting through Alaska’s harsh, snow-covered winters, when food becomes entirely unavailable.

    What began as a small local celebration of the park’s thriving brown bear population has grown into a global viral event, turning individual bears into household names for wildlife enthusiasts and casual audiences alike. The online format means anyone, regardless of where they live, can follow the progress of their favorite bears through live webcams set up around the park’s salmon-rich rivers, then cast their vote to support the bear they think has done the best job packing on pounds ahead of hibernation.

    Park officials note that beyond the fun of the competition, Fat Bear Week also serves an important educational purpose: it raises public awareness about brown bear ecology, the health of Katmai’s ecosystem, and the role of protected wilderness in supporting vulnerable wildlife populations. As the 2025 contest approaches, excitement is already building among returning fans and first-time voters alike, who are gearing up to follow the bears’ final feeding frenzy and pick their winner.

  • Flights at major US airports delayed after cable cut by construction workers

    Flights at major US airports delayed after cable cut by construction workers

    A routine construction project has triggered widespread travel chaos across major East Coast airports in the United States, after construction crews accidentally severed a key telecommunications cable that supports national air traffic control systems. The incident, which unfolded on Monday afternoon, led to immediate ground stops and lengthy delays for airports spanning New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.

    The damaged infrastructure affected the Terminal Radar Approach Control system, the critical network that manages aircraft sequencing and guidance during takeoff and landing phases. According to US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the damage was caused by construction workers employed by Amtrak, the country’s national intercity railroad service, who were carrying out infrastructure work in New Jersey. Duffy confirmed via a post on X that the accidental cable cut resulted in a major telecommunications outage, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue a ground stop for affected regions to avoid safety risks.

    Officials later clarified that the severed cable was actually part of the backup communications network for air traffic control. The outage was not fully recognized until the primary network also failed, compounding the scope of the disruption. Verizon, the telecommunications giant that owns the affected cable, has stated that its teams are working around the clock to restore service as quickly as possible, but the company has denied any responsibility for the incident.

    Flight tracking platform FlightAware data shows that Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey bore the brunt of the disruption, with more than 260 departing flights and 250 incoming flights delayed by mid-afternoon on Monday. Other major regional airports including New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, as well as Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania, also reported significant delays and operational disruptions.

    The timing of this widespread travel disruption is particularly notable, as it comes just one day ahead of the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Dozens of heads of state and global delegations are scheduled to travel through New York area airports for the high-profile event, raising concerns about potential disruptions to their arrivals and the overall schedule of the assembly. As of Monday evening, repair crews were still working to fully restore the damaged network, and the FAA has not yet issued a timeline for when full flight operations will resume across the affected airports.

  • Man guilty of attempted murder for shooting three men of Palestinian descent in Vermont

    Man guilty of attempted murder for shooting three men of Palestinian descent in Vermont

    Nearly three years after a high-profile shooting that left one young man paralyzed and two others injured in Burlington, Vermont, a U.S. jury has delivered a guilty verdict on charges of attempted murder against 51-year-old shooter Jason Eaton, rejecting his legal team’s core argument that he was legally insane at the time of the attack.

    The November 2023 attack targeted three 20-year-old Palestinian-American students: Hisham Awartani of Brown University, Tahseen Aliahmad of Trinity College, and Kinnan Abdalhamid of Haverford College. The three childhood friends, who had all attended school together in Ramallah, were in Vermont visiting Awartani’s grandmother for the Thanksgiving holiday when the violence occurred. According to court records and witness accounts, the group was walking near Eaton’s residential neighborhood, conversing in a mix of Arabic and English and wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, when Eaton opened fire on them.

    The attack came just one month after the outbreak of the 2023 Israel-Gaza war, a period that documented national and international monitoring organizations have confirmed saw a sharp surge in anti-Palestinian hate, Islamophobia, and antisemitic incidents across the United States. The shooting left Awartani permanently paralyzed from the waist down, while Aliahmad and Abdalhamid recovered from non-fatal gunshot wounds.

    Eaton never disputed that he fired the shots that struck the three students, but he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. His defense team told the court that Eaton had experienced a severe psychotic breakdown following his unexpected layoff from a local credit union just weeks before the attack. Defense attorneys argued that Eaton had developed delusions that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israeli intelligence agency Mossad were sending him instructions to commit violence through local radio broadcasts, claiming their client believed he was following orders from a government body or a divine power.

    The week-long trial drew significant national attention, drawing testimony from all three surviving victims, as well as competing psychiatric evaluations from experts retained by both the prosecution and the defense. When the jury foreperson read the guilty verdict in the Burlington courtroom, multiple witnesses reported that Eaton remained motionless and stared blankly ahead. Awartani, who attended the trial in a wheelchair, and Aliahmad were observed smiling and embracing their loved ones in the courtroom after the verdict was announced.

    Eaton is now scheduled to appear for sentencing at a later date, where he faces the possibility of multiple consecutive life sentences behind bars.