RFK Jr. hints strongly at a third-party presidential bid

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday hinted strongly that he would run for president on a third-party ticket instead of continuing his longshot Democratic primary challenge to President Joe Biden, a move that would set off alarms among Democrats worried about its potential to cause chaos in November 2024.

Kennedy, in a video released by his campaign, teased a “major announcement” in Philadelphia on Oct. 9, promising to speak about “a sea change in American politics” and dropping clues that he would be continuing his presidential campaign outside the Democratic Party.

“How are we going to win against the established Washington interests?,” Kennedy says in the video. “It's not through playing the game by the corrupt rules that the corrupt powers and the vested interests have rigged to keep us all in their thrall. Instead, we're going to have to rewrite the assumptions and change the habits of American politics.”

Baltimore Archdiocese files for bankruptcy ahead of abuse law

The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced Friday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization days before a new state law goes into effect removing the statute of limitations on child sex abuse claims and allowing victims to sue their abusers decades after the fact.

The step will allow the oldest diocese in the United States “to equitably compensate victim-survivors of child sexual abuse” while the local Catholic church continues its mission and ministries, Archbishop William E. Lori said in a statement posted on the archdiocese website.

But attorneys and advocates said the church is simply trying to protect its assets and silence abuse victims by shifting the legal proceedings to bankruptcy court.

Jeff Anderson, an attorney specializing in child sex abuse cases whose firm has offices across the country, said the bankruptcy filing is “a calculated decision in hopes to silence and suppress survivors of abuse.”

Ruling: Teen eligible for life in prison for killing 4 students

A teenager who killed four fellow students at Michigan's Oxford High School is eligible for life in prison with no chance for parole, a judge ruled Friday, finding only a “slim” chance for rehabilitation after the 2021 attack.

Judge Kwamé Rowe announced the decision over video conference, weeks after hearing from experts who clashed over Ethan Crumbley's mental health and witnesses who described the terror of the day in sharp detail.

He will be sentenced in Oakland County court Dec. 8, a day when survivors and families can tell the judge about how the shooting affected their lives.

First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence for adults in Michigan. But the shooter was 15 at the time, which now gives the judge options: life in prison or a shorter term — somewhere from 25 years to 40 years at a minimum — and an eventual opportunity for freedom.

2nd man arrested over felling of 300-year-old landmark tree

LONDON ❯❯ British police on Friday made their second arrest over the cutting down of a 300-year-old tree near the Roman landmark of Hadrian's Wall in the northeast of England.

Hours after a 16-year-old was freed on bail, Northumbria Police said a man in his 60s was arrested and is being questioned in custody.

“The senseless destruction of what is undoubtedly a world-renowned landmark, and a local treasure, has quite rightly resulted in an outpouring of shock, horror and anger throughout the North East and further afield,” Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Fenney-Menzies said:

“I hope this second arrest demonstrates just how seriously we're taking this situation, and our ongoing commitment to find those responsible and bring them to justice,” she added.

The 16-year-old boy was arrested Thursday on suspicion of criminal damage after the tree was destroyed overnight.