Month: July 2026

By WESH Staff

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    MASCOTTE, Florida (WESH) — The stay of execution for James Duckett, a former Mascotte police officer convicted of raping and killing 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, has been lifted.

Duckett has been on death row since 1987 after being convicted of the crime.

The stay of execution was issued by the Supreme Court in March while the state awaited new DNA testing results on evidence. The results of those tests were inconclusive.

A new date for Duckett’s execution has not yet been announced.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By James Curtis

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    FORT MYERS, Fla. (WBBH) — A Naples man who pleaded guilty to a $1.2 million fraud and money laundering scheme that targeted an 85-year-old Hurricane Ian victim was sentenced to four years in federal prison on Wednesday.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Middle District of Florida, Luis Emilio Hernandez, 45, was sentenced for wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions.

According to court documents, Hernandez posed as a contractor between November 2022 and February 2024 to fix the victim and her now deceased husband’s residence, which was damaged by the hurricane, but he defrauded the couple.

The victim wrote checks to Hernandez for supplies and equipment supposedly needed by the defendant to fix the residence. The checks were never deposited, and they were instead cashed against the victim’s account in amounts varying from $200 to $120,000, and in cashier’s checks payable to automobile dealerships, the release stated.

The memo line for each check was specified for items related to construction. A total of 35 checks were issued to Hernandez that totaled $1,261,019.

According to the Collier County Property Appraiser, no permits were pulled for the residence since Feb. 28, 2018, when a permit for a roof was issued. The next permit was on May 30, 2023, when the residence was demolished.

According to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Hernandez never applied for or received licensing in Florida.

Hernandez was concealing the funds by laundering money through purchasing and flipping vehicles in trade-ins at car dealerships in the area.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Secret Service investigated the case.

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By John Lauritsen

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    ST. CLOUD, Minnesota (WCCO) — In St. Cloud, Minnesota, the Mississippi River serves as a barrier between downtown business and natural beauty.

“It is a lot of work, but it’s rewarding work,” Nina Primus said.

The work at Munsinger-Clemens Gardens involves maintaining more than 1,000 roses, which are in full bloom this time of year.

“We have yellow, pink, purple, orange, peach roses,” Primus said.

She is the garden supervisor and oversees the 21-acre site.

“Munsinger Gardens started in the 1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration under Roosevelt,” Primus said.

It’s named after Joseph Munsinger, who was the first park superintendent in St. Cloud. The Clemens side of things came later. And it starts with namesake, Bill Clemens.

“When I grew up, this was all grass. And the rumor was they were going to build a gas station where the rose garden is now,” Primus said.

Clemens didn’t want the natural beauty to be bought out, so he acquired the property and donated it to the city, which, in turn, planted rose bushes. It was the favorite flower of Bill’s wife, Virginia Rose Clemens.

“She had multiple sclerosis and was basically in her house most of the time. This way she could look outside and see all the roses across the street,” Primus said.

Today, married couples like Karen Froslie and her husband, Cliff Froslie, enjoy what the Clemens helped build. They drove two hours to be here.

“It’s beautiful. Impressive,” the Froslies said.

Competing with the roses for attention are the fountains. The Renaissance Fountain is front and center.

On a hot, windy day, some of that fountain water blows over to the 100,000 annuals on site.

But flowers and plants aren’t the only things you’ll find here. Munsinger-Clemens also has peacocks, which add their own color and flair.

Still, for the most part, this is a place where people and pollinators can immerse themselves; a chance to find serenity in the city.

“Relaxation. Just being able to come and enjoy, sit back and watch the water coming out of the fountains,” said Primus. “It’s just a real, genuine, family-fun place.”

Munsinger-Clemens Gardens has about 350,000 visitors a year. The garden is located on Riverside Drive in St. Cloud. It’s open year-round and is free to the public.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Jacqueline Policastro | Quincy News Correspondent

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    Washington (Quincy News) — The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at its June meeting, but newly released minutes show a central bank more divided over inflation than the headline decision suggested.

All committee members voted to hold the federal funds rate at its current target range of 3.5% to 3.75%, but the minutes reveal that a few officials believed there was already a case for raising rates. Participants remained divided over the year-end policy path, with some expecting rates to remain at or below current levels and others anticipating additional tightening.

“That split is really not surprising,” said David Mitchell, professor of economics and director of the Bureau of Economic Research at Missouri State University. “Rates should be going up because they’ve got to get inflation under control.”

Mitchell told Quincy News the June minutes leave open the possibility of a rate hike in the future, even if the Fed ultimately stays on hold at its next meeting.

“They should be raising rates,” he said. “But I bet they hold off and wait and see what happens.”

The committee also made notable changes to its post-meeting statement. Members agreed to remove language that had suggested an easing bias, replacing it with an emphasis on the Fed’s commitment to price stability.

Mitchell said the firmer tone could also reflect the Fed’s effort to maintain its independence as President Donald Trump has publicly called on the central bank to lower rates.

“They want to make sure that the Fed remains, and looks, independent,” Mitchell said. Trump is not the first president to pressure the Fed, he added, “but he has made such a public display of it that now they have to respond in a public manner.”

Policymakers said inflation had moved higher and pointed to several drivers: tariffs, supply disruptions tied to the conflict in the Middle East, and demand from the ongoing AI buildout. Several noted that price pressures had broadened across transportation, airfares, petrochemical products and agricultural supplies, while many said strong demand for AI infrastructure was likely to keep pushing up prices for technology products and electricity.

Fed staff raised their inflation forecast for this year and next, trimmed their GDP outlook slightly, and said risks to employment and growth were tilted somewhat to the downside while inflation risks were more skewed to the upside. Staff also warned that inflation could prove more persistent than projected.

Mitchell pushed back on the idea that AI should be viewed only as an inflation problem.

“AI is a productivity story, and productivity usually brings prices down,” he said. “On balance AI is a good thing.”

At the same time, Fed officials did not describe a labor market in retreat. They said unemployment had remained relatively stable, layoffs and jobless claims were steady, and wage growth was broadly consistent with inflation moving back toward target.

Policymakers also noted that the labor market reflected “relatively low dynamism,” and that lower-income households were increasingly relying on credit to maintain spending while facing disproportionate pressure from elevated gasoline and grocery prices.

Mitchell said that tension helps explain why the Fed remains in a difficult spot.

“There is no policy that is going to help everyone and leave no one worse off,” he said. “Getting inflation back down would help in the long run, even though higher rates right now, especially if they are relying on credit, might actually hurt them in the short run.”

The broader economy, Mitchell said, is still moving forward, but without much momentum.

“It’s kind of chugging along, but it’s still trying to get some traction,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with inflation. This is the problem with inflation. It makes long-term decisions really, really difficult.”

The Fed’s next meeting is scheduled for July 28-29.

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By Maddie White

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    SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Newly released video showing an Antioch police officer punching an unhoused woman during an arrest has sparked renewed questions about police use of force, prompting an independent investigation and the officer’s placement on paid administrative leave.

The incident happened July 1 at Waldie Plaza, where Antioch police were conducting a scheduled homeless encampment cleanup ahead of the city’s Fourth of July waterfront fireworks celebration.

Video recorded by witnesses shows a confrontation between officers and 41-year-old Ja’Marlette Hardy, who goes by “Frenchie.” During the struggle, two officers can be seen pulling on Hardy’s arms.

“And I’m like, why are you trying to break my wrist?” said Hardy in an interview Wednesday with CBS News Bay Area.

Hardy can then be seen biting one of the officers on the shoulder. Moments later, the officer punches her once in the face while attempting to restrain her.

Witnesses can be heard shouting after the punch. The officer responds, “She bit me!”

Police said Hardy repeatedly ignored commands to stay back from cleanup crews, confronted city workers and interfered with officers performing their duties. According to the department, officers moved in to arrest her after she refused repeated orders to comply.

Police said the officer responded with a physical strike to stop the assault after she bit him. Hardy acknowledged biting the officer but said she did so only after she believed excessive force was being used against her.

“In the video, you could see him kind of, like, put his weight this way to get that arm behind my back,” Hardy said. “And as he did that, I felt my shoulder pop. So I bit him. Yes, I did. I’m not going to deny it, but how I feel about it is, self-defense. You’re a big man. I’m a little woman.”

Hardy said she was trying to help an elderly unhoused neighbor move belongings when the confrontation escalated. She also said she continues to suffer lingering effects from the incident.

“I keep having migraines. I cannot sleep at night. I’m tossing and turning,” Hardy said. “I’m having, like, I guess you could say, hallucinating.”

Others living at the encampment also criticized the officer’s actions.

“A girl bit you barely, barely. You couldn’t take it. So you decided you wanted to sock her like she was a man?” said Shalonda Hill, a friend in the encampment.

However, some said the officer’s response was justified. Former police officer and use-of-force instructor Don Cameron said officers are trained to immediately stop an assault.

“She bit him and … what’s saying, you know, now if I don’t stop her from biting that area, that she doesn’t go up and bite my face, or she doesn’t go down and bite my arm?” Cameron said.

Another one of Hardy’s friends in the encampment, Marz Shelby, said the encounter reflected a lack of compassion toward people experiencing homelessness.

“Come help the people. Don’t attack the people,” Shelby said. “Because right now, we’re literally living on the edge of the world. Like … nowhere else to go.”

Police Chief Joe Vigil said that “any use of force by our officers is taken seriously” and confirmed that the incident was being reviewed by an independent investigator. He said the officer involved has been placed on paid administrative leave, which the department described as standard protocol during the investigation.

The incident comes as the Antioch Police Department continues to face scrutiny following federal prosecutions of several former officers in recent years over excessive force and other crimes, as well as a multimillion-dollar wrongful death settlement involving another police use-of-force case.

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By Richard Ramos

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KOVR) — A man suffered a violent hand injury after an explosive device detonated while he was walking along a beach in Northern California over the holiday weekend, officials said.

It happened July 5 at the Crescent City’s Point St. George beach parking lot in Del Norte County.

Due to the severity of his injuries, the man was taken by Del Norte Ambulance to Sutter Coast Hospital, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities launched an investigation into what caused the explosion and searched the nearby beach for additional explosive devices. Deputies have continued checking the area, since the investigation is continuing.

The sheriff’s office did not officially identify the injured man or say what type of explosive device detonated.

In an online fundraiser created by the man’s family, the victim is identified only as Jason. The family says Jason was walking along the beach with his girlfriend, Pamala, and picking up discarded fireworks and other trash when he picked up what the family described as a “bomb-like device” that unexpectedly exploded.

The family says the blast resulted in the amputation of Jason’s hand. He is also being treated for vision and hearing injuries and is expected to undergo additional surgeries.

The victim’s girlfriend, who said she witnessed the explosion, told CBS News Sacramento that she used her shirt as a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding until first responders arrived.

The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information about the incident to contact investigators.

Officials also reminded the public not to touch any suspected explosive devices. Anyone who discovers a suspicious item should move to a safe distance and immediately contact law enforcement, the sheriff’s office said.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.