Woman 2nd person charged in daughter’s rape and slaying

Woman 2nd person charged in daughter’s rape and slaying

ASHTABULA

Authorities say an Ohio woman has become the second person charged in the rape and beating death of her 13-month-old daughter last year.

The Ashtabula Star Beacon reports the indictment Wednesday of 23-year-old Kelsie Blankenship, of Conneaut, on a murder charge in Sereniti Jazzlynn-Sky Sutley’s death follows the indictment last November of her live-in boyfriend, 38-year-old Joshua Gurto, on aggravated murder and rape charges. Gurto was not the child’s father.

A coroner ruled the toddler died in October 2017 from blunt-force trauma to the head and body.

Blankenship is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday. Court records don’t indicate whether she has an attorney.

Ashtabula County Prosecutor Nicholas Iarocci said at a Friday news conference that Blankenship has been a person of interest since her daughter died and has cooperated with investigators.

Ohio boy, 2, who got early Christmas dies of brain cancer

CINCINNATI

A 2-year-old boy with brain cancer who had an early Christmas celebration planned for him by his friends and family has died.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Brody Anderson’s father says the boy died Friday morning surrounded by his family.

Todd Allen wrote last week that Brody’s body was failing and that he didn’t have much time left.

Efforts to provide Brody an early Christmas drew national attention last month when two teenagers slashed inflatable yard decorations in the front yard of his family’s Colerain Township home outside Cincinatti.

A few days later, Brody served as grand marshal for a neighborhood Christmas parade.

Brody is survived by his father and mother, Shilo, and siblings Corey, McKenzie, Andrew and Alex.

Saudi account of Khashoggi killing is widely denounced

ISTANBUL

Turkey will “never allow a cover-up” of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, a senior official in Turkey’s ruling party said Saturday, reflecting international skepticism over the Saudi account that the writer died during a “fistfight.”

The comment was one of many critical reactions to Saudi Arabia’s announcement Saturday of the writer’s violent death, indicating the kingdom’s efforts to defuse a scandal that has gripped the world were falling short. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, was an exception. Asked whether he thought the Saudi explanation was credible, he replied: “I do. I do.”

Despite widespread outrage over the killing of the columnist for The Washington Post, it is unclear to what extent the top leadership of Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally and a powerful player in a volatile region, would be held accountable for what human-rights activists describe as an extrajudicial killing by Saudi agents.

Mexico slowly processes caravan migrants at Guatemala border

CIUDAD HIDALGO,

Mexico

Mexican authorities for a second-straight day Saturday refused mass entry to a caravan of Central American migrants held up at the border with Guatemala, but began accepting small groups for asylum processing and gave out some 45-day visitor permits that would theoretically allow recipients time to reach the United States.

Seeking to maintain order after a chaotic Friday in which thousands rushed across the border bridge only to be halted by a phalanx of officers in riot gear, authorities began handing out numbers for people to be processed in a strategy seen before at U.S. border posts when large numbers of migrants show up there.

Once they were processed, migrants were bused to an open-air, metal-roofed fairground in the nearby city of Tapachula, where the Red Cross set up small blue tents on the concrete floor. Easily 3,000 people or more the previous day, the crowd on the bridge thinned out noticeably.

But the slow pace frustrated those stuck on the bridge, where conditions were hot and cramped, and some pleaded at the main gate: “Please let us in, we want to work!” Behind it, workers erected tall steel riot barriers to channel people in an orderly fashion.

Each time a small side gate opened to allow small groups in for processing, there was a crush of bodies as migrants desperately pushed forward.

Royal Navy’s 932-foot HMS Queen Elizabeth visits New York

NEW YORK

The largest ship ever built for Great Britain’s Royal Navy is visiting New York for a week.

The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed into New York Harbor on Friday carrying about 1,500 sailors.

Commanding officer Capt. Jerry Kyd called the visit “very symbolic of the intimate relationship the Royal Navy has with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.”

The ship is anchored in view of the Statue of Liberty and can be seen by Staten Island Ferry commuters.

The 932-foot warship carries up to 60 aircraft.

British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson welcomed the Queen Elizabeth to New York. He called the ship “a symbol of our commitment to our #security and the security of our allies” on Twitter.

Pizza shop makes 225-mile delivery for cancer patient

BATTLE CREEK, Mich.

An employee at Michigan pizza shop that usually doesn’t deliver made a big exception for a cancer patient and his wife hundreds of miles away in Indiana.

Julie and Rich Morgan grew fond of Steve’s Pizza when they lived in Battle Creek, Mich., more than two decades ago. They’d planned a trip to the restaurant for Julie Morgan’s birthday in September, but Rich Morgan ended up in the hospital in Indianapolis and later in hospice care.

Julie Morgan’s father called Steve’s Pizza this month and spoke with 18-year-old Dalton Shaffer, who offered to make the 225-mile trip to make the delivery.

Shaffer tells the Battle Creek Enquirer he “just wanted to make them happy.” MLive.com reports the delivery drew attention after Julie Morgan posted on Facebook about it .

Magnitude-4.0 earthquake shakes Texas, Okla. panhandles

AMARILLO, Texas

An earthquake has shaken parts of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the 4.0-magnitude earthquake was recorded at 8:04 a.m. Saturday about 9 miles north-northeast of Amarillo. The temblor was recorded at a depth of 3 miles.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Geologists say damage isn’t likely in quakes of magnitude 4.0.

Snake names honor Darwin, fire god, Louisiana professor

NEW ORLEANS

A Louisiana professor is in heady company, honored by having one of three newly identified species of snakes from the Galapagos Islands named after him.

“They named one after Charles Darwin – that’s a no-brainer – and one after the Greek god of fire, and one after me, of all people,” said Robert A. Thomas , an environmental biologist and head of head of the Center for Environmental Communication at Loyola University New Orleans.

The snake in question, a handsome critter with lengthwise brown and creamy yellow stripes, is called Pseudalsophis thomasi.

“I’ve got a picture of it taped up here in the office, and it makes me smile every time I look at it,” Thomas said.

He’s been studying snakes since the 1970s and began studying those in the Galapagos Islands in 1984.

Associated Press