BRICK BY BRICK
Forecasters: Sam a major hurricane, but intensity to vary
MIAMI – Hurricane Sam was a Category 4 storm early Sunday, but forecasters said the system could fluctuate in strength over the next day or so as it churns far from land over the Atlantic Ocean.
Sam was centered about 905 miles east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands on Sunday morning, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was moving west-northwest at 8 mph.
Forecasters said Sam had maximum sustained winds around 145 mph. Wind speeds were expected to vary in intensity over the next day or so, followed by some slow weakening.
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect, however swells from Hurricane Sam could cause dangerous rip current conditions off the coast of the Lesser Antilles early this week, officials said.
South Dakota lawmakers to weigh whether to seek AG impeachment
PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Legislature will consider whether to try to impeach Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg for a car crash last year that killed a pedestrian, a House leader said.
Republican Speaker Spencer Gosch said Saturday that there is enough support in the state House to discuss impeachment. The state Senate had already gathered enough signatures to do so.
The impeachment discussions will take place when lawmakers are in Pierre for a special session that starts Nov. 9 to address the redrawing of the state’s 10year electoral maps.
The move does not necessarily mean Ravnsborg, a Republican, will face impeachment proceedings, Gosch said. Once in session, lawmakers will have to decide on whether to consider a separate resolution to form a select committee to review evidence from the Sept. 12, 2020, crash, the Argus Leader reported.
Police: 3 killed in shooting outside bar near Seattle
DES MOINES, Wash. – Authorities say three people were killed and three others injured in a shooting outside a bar in Des Moines, Washington, early Sunday.
Police said shots were fired after a dispute between two people inside the La Familia Sports Pub and Lounge, just before 2 a.m.
The Seattle Times reports that people involved in the dispute left the bar, got into separate vehicles and began shooting into the crowd in the parking lot as they fled.
FBI investigating Missouri cops who let dog bite Black man
WOODSON TERRACE, Mo. – The FBI has opened an investigation into the arrest of a Black man in Missouri during which cellphone video shows three white officers allowing a police dog to repeatedly bite him.
Woodson Terrace police Chief Randy Halstead said in an email to the St. Louis Post-dispatch that his department was “fully cooperating” with the investigations being conducted by the FBI and the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office into last week’s arrest.
Federal officials and St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell declined to discuss their investigations.
Officers were called Monday morning to a report that a man had broken into a business in Woodson Terrace, according to a police statement posted on Facebook. The man appeared to be on drugs and threatened officers, and they warned him the dog would be used if he continued to resist arrest, the department wrote.
Cellphone video from an onlooker shows the dog biting the man’s foot as he yells out in pain. The dog’s handler holds it by a leash but allows the biting to go on for about 30 seconds.
Georgia sees spike in new ‘Obamacare’ sign ups
ATLANTA – Georgia experienced a dramatic increase in the number of people signing up for health care coverage during a special enrollment window for the Affordable Care Act.
Between Feb. 15 and Aug. 15, a little more than 147,000 people in the state selected an ACA health plan, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The report was released on Sept. 15.
During the same period last year, about 41,000 people in Georgia signed up. The year before that, the number was 25,000.
Other states that use the Healthcare.gov platform also saw spikes in new enrollees as the Biden administration expanded tax credits that bring down the cost of premiums under the ACA and the COVID pandemic surged again.
Theoneste Bagosora, architect of Rwanda genocide, dies at 80
KIGALI, Rwanda – Theoneste Bagosora, a former Rwandan army colonel regarded as the architect of the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed, died in a hospital in Mali on Saturday.
His son Achille Bagosora announced the death in a Facebook post: “Rest in Peace, Papa.”
Bagosora was serving a 35-year sentence after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by the then-international Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Bagosora, 80, had been sentenced to life in 2008 but on appeal his sentence was reduced to 35 years in prison.
Airstrike kills, wounds gunmen in north Syria
BEIRUT – Warplanes attacked Turkey-backed opposition fighters in northern Syria on Sunday, killing and wounding about 20, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media said.
The airstrike struck a position in an area near the town of Afrin. It came amid increasing tensions between government forces and insurgent groups who still have a stronghold in northwestern Syria, mainly in the province of Idlib.