Philly Cop Murdered. Another Officer Shot 12 Times

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Philly Cop Murdered. Another Officer Shot 12 Times

(Headline USA) Authorities are charging Eric Lewis, 35, with homicide for the alleged killing of a police officer early Saturday morning, according to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

Shane Seiber, 40, was shot and killed in west Philadelphia after responding to a report of a man with a gun, police said. An officer who was with him was also shot.

Seiber, a 10-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, and the other officer were transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and underwent surgery, according to Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel. The surviving officer, who was shot 12 times, is in stable condition, Bethel said.

Along with charges for Seiber’s death, Lewis is facing a host of others, including attempted homicide, for allegedly shooting the officer and shooting at nine other officers who responded to the scene, Krasner said. None of those nine were injured.

Lewis is being held without bail and will be arraigned soon, Krasner said. Lewis was previously convicted of criminal offenses including assault, theft and carrying a firearm publicly, according to court records.

“This is a brutal, senseless, horrific killing,” Krasner said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

DOJ Investigating Big Media for Illegal Collusion

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DOJ Investigating Big Media for Illegal Collusion

(Headline USA) The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the decision of the White House television press pool to halt coverage of President Donald Trump last month violated antitrust law, an agency spokesperson said Saturday.

Emily Covington, a spokesperson for the department, said group boycotts among business competitors might violate U.S. law. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws,” she said.

The announcement came after the television pool of five broadcasters last month ceased presidential coverage after the administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico also sued over the days-long ban. It was lifted after a judge handed the three news organizations a reprieve, which is in place until Tuesday.

Television pool coverage of the White House has also resumed.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Man Kills 4 Family Members in Georgia

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Man Kills 4 Family Members in Georgia

(Headline USA) Four victims and the shooter have died following a potential murder-suicide in a rural Georgia home late Friday night.

Officials say those involved were adult family members of the shooter, who died by suicide. They were found in the family’s home on the outskirts of Douglas, a small city roughly 200 miles southeast of Atlanta.

“Investigators believe this was an apparent murder-suicide involving immediate family members who reside in the home,” said Douglas Police Chief Brannen Pruette during a news conference on Saturday.

Officers responded to an emergency call made by one of the victims shortly after 11 p.m. and found a woman alive at the scene. After transport to a nearby hospital, she was pronounced dead, raising the death toll to five.

Earlier in the day, police confirmed that woman made another emergency call and summoned officers to the house.

“It’s my understanding the call was placed by the wife, the female victim. She called, and was complaining about the husband who was in the house smoking and she said he was killing her with the smoke,” Pruette said.

Douglas Police have not responded to emails and calls requesting more information.

Last weekend, two people were killed and 35 injured in a shooting during a block party celebrating a high-school football game in Vienna, another small city just an hour north of Douglas.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

NY Judge Scrutinizing Letitia James Cornell University Probe

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NY Judge Scrutinizing Letitia James Cornell University Probe

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A New York judge on Friday ordered Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James to respond to a legal challenge seeking to disqualify James as special prosecutor in the Cornell sex scandal probe.

Acting Supreme Court Justice James R. Farrell issued the order in response to a lawsuit filed by Gillio Lopes, one of seven current and former Cornell students accused of sexual assault in a high-profile civil lawsuit.

Legal commentators and attorneys on social media said the order was a major development in favor of Lopes and the accused individuals because it suggests that Farrell sees potential merit in their arguments against James.

Echoing those remarks, Lopes’s attorney, Andrew Miltenberg, described the move as an “important development” in remarks to Los Angeles Magazine.

He added that the order allows the court “to consider our concerns directly and ensures that the issues we raised will receive a full and fair hearing.”

Miltenberg also said that the order was “the procedural step we sought, and we welcome the opportunity to present our arguments.”

Hochul’s Oct. 1 appointment of James as special prosecutor grants the leftist attorney general broad prosecutorial powers in the Cornell case, including the authority to issue subpoenas, convene grand juries and seek criminal indictments. In New York, such powers are vested in local district attorneys.

But James’s appointment came just three days after she publicly voiced support for “Jane Doe,” the former Cornell student making the sexual abuse allegations.

James specifically wrote on Sept. 28 via Facebook: “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”

The post raised concerns about whether James could maintain the impartiality expected of a special prosecutor.

James’s appointment came weeks after “Jane Doe” filed a high-profile civil lawsuit against Cornell University, several fraternities and sororities, and seven current and former students.

Doe claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the men in 2024. Attorneys for the men categorically rejected the accusations, with some arguing that the sexual encounters were consensual. The attorneys also pointed to reports that Doe willingly used drugs and alcohol and agreed to a threesome with two of the men she now accuses of sexual assault. Some of the other individuals deny ever touching Jane Doe.

Farrell gave Hochul until Oct. 29 to respond to Lopes’s demands that James’s appointment be voided and that Hochul appoint a special prosecutor who is “free from actual or perceived conflicts of interest or bias against” the petitioner and the other individuals in the civil case.

Anthropic’s Claude AI Submits False Tip on an Unsolved Homicide Case

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Anthropic’s Claude AI Submits False Tip on an Unsolved Homicide Case

(Headline USA) An Anthropic artificial intelligence model submitted a false tip to a Philadelphia police website about an unsolved homicide case, authorities and Anthropic said.

It’s the latest example of AI models acting in unintended ways and manipulating government and other websites during tests. In a report Friday, Anthropic also disclosed a separate incident when its AI model submitted forms to an undisclosed government website instead of stopping before submission.

The incident in Philadelphia occurred on July 18 when the AI model Claude Haiku 4.5 was tasked with generating and performing example tasks on randomly selected webpages, Anthropic said.

Claude filled out a form on police site PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com indicating it might have information regarding an unsolved murder listed on the site.

Philadelphia Police said in a statement they were unaware of the incident until Anthropic notified them on Wednesday. Then they found the submission in the website’s tip records and confirmed it was marked spam and never forwarded to police.

There are rising concerns about AI companies’ unchecked AI agents meddling with everything from U.S. government websites to healthcare data. Critics have been calling for more regulation.

In September, another AI company, OpenAI, disclosed six reports of “unexpected or concerning” behavior in artificial-intelligence models.

“Unsolved cases involve real victims, grieving families and investigators working to secure answers,” the Philadelphia Police Department said in a statement. “Technology companies must take all appropriate steps necessary to prevent their systems from submitting false information to law enforcement.”

Anthropic said in its report that most of the reported behaviors are forms of what it calls “persistence” — “in which Claude, when it cannot complete a task as given, works around a restriction instead of stopping.”

The company said it was modifying its training to “reduce the likelihood of further misbehavior.”

Anthropic said it briefed the White House on cases that involved U.S. government agencies at the federal, state and local levels, and notified each agency involved.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Pope Leo Denounces Death Penalty as US Prepares Live Execution

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Pope Leo Denounces Death Penalty as US Prepares Live Execution

(Headline USA) Pope Leo XIV on Saturday declared capital punishment ”inadmissible” as he marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty and his native United States announced plans to livestream an execution by firing squad.

In a post on X, the American pope quoted the revised Catholic teaching on capital punishment ushered in by Pope Francis that the death penalty attacks the inherent dignity of a human being.

“The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment,” read the post under Leo’s official handle, @Pontifex. “Effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption.”

The post ended with the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty.

The U.S. Defense Department announced Thursday that the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base, will be livestreamed. Hasan, scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others.

Leo didn’t refer specifically to the planned execution, or the botched lethal injection in Tennessee earlier that has revived debate over the death penalty in the United States. Saturday is World Day Against the Death Penalty, and it is common for the pope’s official social media accounts to post messages marking such commemorations.

But Leo’s post came just hours after his top deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said explicitly that the planned U.S. public execution was “unacceptable.”

Pope Francis declared capital punishment ‘inadmissible’

Pope Francis in 2018 amended official Catholic teaching to declare capital punishment “inadmissible” in all circumstances.

Previously, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official compendium of church teaching, said the church didn’t exclude recourse to capital punishment “if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.”

Past popes had upheld that position, though St. John Paul II began urging an end to the practice and stressed that guilty people were just as deserving of dignity as innocent ones.

Like Francis before him, Leo has made visiting prisons a key part of his papal travel in a bid to give a message of hope to inmates and underscore their inherent dignity, that God loves them and that there is always a chance for redemption.

“If any of you fear being abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that the church will stand by your side,” Leo told inmates at the notorious Bata prison in Equatorial Guinea during his visit in April. Leo is to visit a prison in Buenos Aires during his upcoming tour through Latin America.

Speaking specifically about the United States, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said the planned livestreamed execution was “truly incomprehensible” and “unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.”

“The Church’s position is one of total opposition to the death penalty; it is incompatible with human dignity and serves as no deterrent…,” Parolin said in comments carried by Vatican News. “It is truly incomprehensible that anyone would want to use this system today — I don’t know for what purpose. It is certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle; even if the person is guilty, of course, there are other methods.”

The head of the U.S. bishops conference, Archbishop Paul Coakley, expressed “shock” and “great sorrow” at the Pentagon’s plans.

“In no way can Hasan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered,” he said in a statement Friday. “The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Christa Pike Discharged from Hospital after Surviving Execution Attempt

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Christa Pike Discharged from Hospital after Surviving Execution Attempt

(Headline USA) Christa Pike, who survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection, has been moved back to prison, her attorneys said Saturday.

Pike, 50, was discharged from the hospital and is back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said in a written statement.

“She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery,” the statement said.

Pike had been hospitalized since surviving two doses of pentobarbital as the state attempted to execute her on Sept. 30 for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. At one point she was on a ventilator and her attorneys did not expect her to survive. However, they said Pike woke up and began talking and walking with assistance.

The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.

The Tennessee Department of Correction has not said what went wrong in the execution. Medical and lethal injection experts have focused on whether a problem with the IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream. Pike’s attorneys wrote in a court filing that “apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed.”

The failed execution brought renewed scrutiny to how Tennessee carries out death sentences.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has since postponed the state’s only other scheduled execution this year and ordered a review of what went wrong. The state’s prison chief resigned in the wake of the failed execution.

As the process got underway, Pike was asked if she had a final statement and she spoke of being at peace. About five minutes later, she raised her head and said her arm hurt. Later, she appeared to lose consciousness but could be heard breathing heavily until media witnesses were escorted from the witness room nearly 90 minutes into the execution. An ambulance took her to a hospital.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

‘Super Intelligence’ Has Some Early Takers, Plenty of Skepticism

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‘Super Intelligence’ Has Some Early Takers, Plenty of Skepticism

(, The Center Square) Whether the Sept. 29 executive order of second-term President Donald Trump related to computer systems, software and processes that can emulate aspects of human work and cognition changes vocabulary beyond his administration will be told with time.

For now, replacing the term “artificial intelligence” with “super intelligence” is his request. Writing on social media this week, Trump doubled down by saying anyone using “artificial intelligence” as opposed to “super intelligence” is an “enemy” of the White House.

Part of his reasoning is “use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake.”

Elon Musk, who changed SpaceXAI’s name to SpaceXSI, and Jeff Bezos backed the terminology change.

Executive Order 14434 says in part, “The terminology used by the federal government should reflect the transformative capabilities of these technologies and the limitless opportunities they create for the American people.”

Researchers and critics from within the field say “superintelligence” has historically described hypothetical, future artificial intelligence that surpasses human intelligence in all areas rather than current language models.

Two of the nation’s leading research institutions into artificial intelligence, and its impact on people, are at Elon University in North Carolina through the Imagining the Digital Future Center and the Elon Poll. Multiple research reports coupled with polling nationwide have been delivered this decade.

Lee Rainie, director of the Imagining the Digital Future Center, in a digital interview with The Center Square said, “I’m not sure rebranding AI as ‘super intelligence’ will move the needle on the public’s views. Our recent surveys have shown growing public apprehension about the impact of AI — everything from job loss to the construction of data centers to the possibility that rogue AI agents might wreak havoc on human existence.

“There is a growing sense that AI is likely to undermine humans’ sense of purpose, agency and thinking. Our new survey about the future of work show how most foresee the spread of AI systems as a painful bargain. They predict fewer jobs, pay that falls short of a decent living and work that offers less meaning. At the same time, many are using AI and reporting good results from it at work and in their personal lives. It’s a very mixed and fluid picture.”

Renaming ultimatums are nothing new for the 80-year-old president.

A short list would be Mount Denali back to Mount McKinley; Lake Ontario to Lake America; Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America; and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to Trump-Kennedy Center. Then there’s the Department of Defense back to Department of War, or the idea floated of Strait of Hormuz to Trump Strait.

Objectively, some not all have gained traction and some not all have experienced strong rejection.

Hurricane Sweeping Florida Kills 2, Wreaks Havoc

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Hurricane Sweeping Florida Kills 2, Wreaks Havoc

(Headline USA) Isaias roared onto the Florida Panhandle, ripping roofs off homes and condominiums, before it moved north Saturday, bringing torrential rain and the threat of flash floods and tornadoes across the Southeast.

Two people were killed by fallen trees and about 800,000 customers were without power, mostly in Florida and Alabama.

Isaias came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane on Friday near Destin, Florida, a popular Gulf Coast vacation spot filled with high-rises and quirky tourist shops. The storm weakened overnight and was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone but remained a threat.

“The risk of flooding is still high,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday morning. “Sometimes these things happen a day or two days after the storm goes through. So the flooding story is not over.”

Despite warnings of life-threatening storm surges ahead of the storm, several major routes along the coast remained open and were free of downed trees and power lines typically seen after major hurricanes.

Scattered damage across Florida’s Panhandle

Officials across the Florida Panhandle were still surveying the damage.

In Escambia County, Sheriff Chip Simmons said on Facebook that one woman died after a tree fell on her home. He did not provide additional details.

Hurricane-force winds blew the roof off a hotel in Pensacola and the city’s mayor said the airport “took some damage” while power was out downtown. The storm flattened a boathouse in Destin and flooded streets.

Residents were out early picking through the debris. A worker in a condominium parking lot in Panama City swept up piles of insulation and pieces of metal from the building. Nearby, people were putting back beach chairs that had been tossed about.

Tim Mowry, who lives in Pensacola, acknowledged he had a little “trepidation” as the storm approached. It was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and his first ever, so he spent hundreds of dollars buying gas and filling his propane tanks.

“For my first one, I’ll take it. It was in the grand scheme of things uneventful,” he said. “I mean it’s a storm, don’t get me wrong, and we had some wind. I got some fence down in my yard,” he continued. “But I was expecting the worst.”

Isaias hits Alabama with devastating winds

Isaias charged north into Alabama with tropical-force winds overnight.

One person died when a tree fell on a house in Birmingham, said Cory Moon, the city’s fire chief. One other person was rescued from the house and treated at the scene, he said.

Along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, authorities in Mobile reported downed trees and power lines and numerous closed roads.

Maranie Adams, who rode out the storm with her husband, two adult sons and their chickens in Gulf Shores, Alabama, said the winds rocked their home, but it was nothing like Hurricane Sally, which left 2 feet (0.6 meters) of water under their elevated house.

“We have a few limbs down, some leaves everywhere, but we’re very spared. So, everything’s open on the island today. Everything’s good,” Adams said. “I feel very much more relieved today.”

Wind and rain still threaten the Southeast

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year, and Isaias was the first hurricane to hit the eastern U.S. since 2024.

Forecasters say that despite weakening, the storm still could bring 4 to 8 inches of rain across southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend over the weekend. It was expected to move into the Tennessee Valley and then the mid-Atlantic on Sunday.

“There are still high wind warnings for portions of the Southeast,” Robbie Berg, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “So even though it has become post-tropical, it still does remain a wind threat, as well as a heavy rainfall threat. We could see some areas of significant flash flooding over the next couple of days.”

Pair of storms in the Pacific Ocean

Meanwhile, in the Pacific, Simon strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane as it approached Mexico’s coast.

Tropical Storm Rachel was also expected to bring heavy winds and rain to northern Mexico and Southern California over the weekend.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

9 Dead, Including 2 Kids, from Mass Shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania

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9 Dead, Including 2 Kids, from Mass Shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania

(Headline USA) Eight people were killed Friday in a shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania, police said.

The shooter was also dead, and there was no threat to the public, the city said. Authorities didn’t provide more details.

“I have not seen anything like this in my 28-plus years,” Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah told a local news station. “I’m not sure that the city of Erie has ever seen the loss of life and the devastation that we just witnessed.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro said Saturday he offered his administration’s “full support” to Erie Mayor Daria Devlin.

Erie is about 117 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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