‘A crime may have been committed’ in Parkland trial jury room, prosecutors say
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The deliberation room where 12 jurors decided the fate of confessed mass shooter Nikolas Cruz may have been a crime scene itself — a juror told prosecutors she was threatened by a fellow juror during deliberations.
Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer gave prosecutors permission Friday to release the name of the juror making the allegation to the Broward Sheriff’s Office to open an investigation. She also said two jurors tried to get her attention after Thursday’s verdict was read. One asked a bailiff if there was an official way to “file a complaint.”
Neither of those jurors is the one who ended up calling prosecutors later Thursday afternoon, the judge said. According to a motion filed late Thursday, prosecutors wanted law enforcement to question that juror, who asked to speak to lead prosecutor Mike Satz.
The juror “informed the support staff member that during deliberations she received what she perceived to be a threat from a fellow juror while in the jury room.” At a hearing Friday afternoon, prosecutor Carolyn McCann emphasized that her office is not trying to set aside Thursday’s verdict, which saw the jury reject the death penalty for each of the 17 murders Cruz committed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.
—South Florida Sun Sentinel
Temple is canceling classes Friday for students to focus on their wellness, a growing push across universities
PHILADELPHIA — Temple University senior Maggie Dunleavy and her boyfriend plan to drive across the state for a camping trip, "a fun, carefree weekend," as she sees it.
But the psychology major from Warrington, Bucks County, says she likely wouldn't have planned the adventure if the university hadn't canceled classes and assignments Friday as part of a "Wellness Day" for students and faculty to focus on their well-being.
Although the university offered an impromptu two days off during the height of COVID-19, this is the first that was planned and incorporated into the calendar, said Dan Berman, vice provost for undergraduate studies. It's a pilot year, but officials hope just the first of an annual event, helping to deepen the focus on mental health and overall self-care at the North Philadelphia university, enrolling more than 33,600 students.
"It gave me the inspiration to do something with my life," Dunleavy, 21, said earlier this week, sitting at a table off Liacouras Walk on a sun-splashed afternoon. "It's a good break mentally for everybody."
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
SpaceX Crew Dragon brings astronauts home with Florida splashdown
ORLANDO, Fla. — After weather delayed their departure for two days, four astronauts climbed on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom on Friday to take a five-hour ride back down to Earth to conclude their nearly six-month mission to the International Space Station.
The spacecraft hit the water off the coast of Jacksonville in the Atlantic Ocean at 4:55 p.m. Eastern time to bring NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins as well as the European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy back home after spending nearly 170 days on the orbiting station.
The quartet launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 27 on a SpaceX Falcon 9. “SpaceX from Freedom, thank you for an incredible ride up to orbit and an incredible ride home. Glad to be back,” said Crew-4 commander Lindgren.
The capsule had performed its deorbit burn slowing from more than 17,000 mph during which it will reached temperatures topping 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit producing 3-5 G’s of force. Once in the atmosphere, its drogue parachutes slowed it further from 350 mph at about 18,000 feet altitude before the final four parachutes deployed at 119 mph at about 6,500 feet, to then slow it to 16 mph before splashdown.
—Orlando Sentinel
2 protesters arrested for throwing soup on Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers'
LONDON — Two demonstrators were arrested in London's National Gallery on Friday after throwing canned soup at one of Vincent Van Gogh's most famous paintings, part of a protest against fossil fuels.
The protesters, wearing T-shirts from the Just Stop Oil movements, threw the contents of two cans of Heinz Tomato soup over the 1888 work "Sunflowers" shortly after 11 a.m. on Friday, before kneeling down in front of the painting and appearing to glue their hands to the wall beneath it.
Tomato soup covered the image, which is covered by glass, as well as parts of the golden frame. Visitors were then escorted out by security, who shut the doors to room 43 of the gallery where the painting hangs.
One of the activists, 21-year-old Phoebe Plummer from London, said in front of the painting: "What is worth more, art or life? Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice? Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people? The cost-of-living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis."
—dpa
