Here are the ten most important stories you need to know as the new week begins:
10. Mississippi Man Gets Death Penalty For Murdering Child
A Mississippi man is headed to death row for murdering his 2 year old step son.
According to local reports:
”A Mississippi Coast man is headed to death row for his role in the beating and suffocation death of his 2-year-old stepson — all because the toddler soiled his diaper and took too long to get a juice box out of the refrigerator.
A jury in Harrison County Circuit Court in Biloxi deliberated for just over two hours Friday before handing down the death sentence against Joseph David Heard, 41, in the Dec. 27, 2021, killing of his stepson, Hayden Lee Bataille, of Biloxi.
Heard’s wife, Hailey Lynn Bataille Heard, 24, is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in her toddler’s death. She testified against Heard at the trial in Circuit Court in Biloxi. Heard kept his head down after jurors entered the room to hand the bailiff the form with their decision. None made eye contact with Heard. Heard showed no emotion after Judge Larry Bourgeois announced his fate.”
9. Worm Ate Part Of RFK Jr’s Brain
A parasitic worm attacked Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s brain years ago, reports say.
“A worm … got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.” These are words nobody wants to say.
They were spoken by a U.S. presidential candidate. According to a 2012 deposition, uncovered and reviewed by The New York Times, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he sought medical attention after experiencing mental fogginess and memory loss. Eventually, he said, a doctor helped him determine a brain abnormality found on a scan was caused by a worm. He now tells The Times he has recovered with no long lasting consequences.
Parasitic worms made the news after the press reported on a past deposition by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he had been infected by a parasitic worm. RFK Jr. did not specify the type of worm but worm researchers believe it could have been a pork tapeworm.
The story has created a lot of buzz in the world of politics. But it’s not just a story about one politician’s health history. The World Health Organization estimates over a billion people are infected with parasitic worms. The implications are often serious and lifelong.”
8. South Dakota Tribes Ban Noem
Two more South Dakota Native American tribes have banned Gov. Kristi Noem from entering after comments she made upset them.
“South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is now banned from entering nearly 20% of her state after two more tribes banished her this week over comments she made earlier this year about tribal leaders benefitting from drug cartels.
The latest developments in the ongoing tribal dispute come on the heels of the backlash Noem faced for writing about killing a hunting dog that misbehaved in her latest book.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe voted Friday to ban Noem from their land in southeastern South Dakota just a few days after the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe took the same action. The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes had already taken action to keep her off their reservations. Three other tribes haven’t yet banned her.
Noem reinforced the divisions between the tribes and the rest of the state in March when she said publicly that tribal leaders were catering to drug cartels on their reservations while neglecting the needs of children and the poor.”
7. Diddy Denies Assaulting Teen Girl
Diddy is asking a Judge to throw out a civil lawsuit against him in the midst of a major sex trafficking scandal.
“Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003, saying it was a “false and hideous claim” that was filed too late under the law.
The legal move is the latest piece of pushback from the 54-year-old hip-hop mogul and his legal team after he was subjected to several similar lawsuits and a subsequent criminal sex-trafficking investigation.
“Mr. Combs and his companies categorically deny Plaintiff’s decades-old tale against them, which has caused incalculable damage to their reputations and business standing before any evidence has been presented,” says the filing…
The lawsuit was filed in December and amended in March by the woman who now lives in Canada whose name wasn’t disclosed in the court filing. She said she was in 11th grade at a high school in a Detroit suburb in 2003, when Harve Pierre, then the president of Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment record label, flew her to New York on a private jet and took her to a recording studio, where she was given drugs and alcohol until she was incapable of consenting to sex. Then, the lawsuit said, Pierre, Combs and a man she didn’t know took turns raping her.”
6. Extreme Solar Storm” Brings Out Amazing Views
The Northern Lights were visible to millions this weekend who normally don’t get the opportunity to see them.
“Plasma from a powerful solar eruption called a coronal mass ejection (CME) slammed into Earth on Friday (May 10), sparking an intense geomagnetic storm. One of the effects was a supercharged northern lights display, which provided skywatchers in much of the U.S. and other regions around the world with absolutely mesmerizing aurora views over the weekend.
“The aurora may become visible over much of the northern half of the country, and maybe as far south as Alabama and northern California,” officials with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) wrote in a weekend update, adding that “severe and extreme” geomagnetic storms were likely again Sunday night.”
While boosted auroras are quite a treat, extreme (G5) geomagnetic storms can also have negative effects. From the conditions observed at the beginning of the weekend, irregularities have been reported to power grids as well as some degradation to GPS and high-frequency communications.”
5. NFL Legend Back Trump At Huge Rally
NFL legend Lawrence Taylor endorsed President Trump at a huge rally this weekend in New Jersey.
“Lawrence Taylor was a lifelong Democrat. And then the Hall-of-Fame linebacker met Donald Trump.
‘I just wanted to say I grew up a Democrat and I’ve always been a Democrat until I met this man right here,’ the 65-year-old Taylor told Trump supporters at a campaign event along the Jersey Shore on Saturday. ‘He will not have to worry nobody in my family ever voting for a Democrat again.’
Taylor is a beloved figure in New Jersey, where helped lead the East Rutherford-based New York Giants to a pair of Super Bowl titles during his decorated – and troubled – NFL career.
It’s unclear when he and Trump first met, although the real estate mogul did own a USFL team in the 1980s that shared a stadium with Taylor’s New York Giants. Taylor was joined on stage by his former teammate, retired running back Otis Anderson.”
4. Barron Trump Is Getting Into Politics But Won’t Be A Florida Delegate At The RNC
Barron Trump is getting more active in politics, but will not be a delegate at the Republican National Convention this summer after Florida Republicans recently elected him.
“He has grown up behind a wall of secrecy because of his mom Melania’s dogged determination to shield him from the public glare. But Donald Trump’s youngest son Barron, 18, has is an engaging young man who has leading conservatives purring over his charm and political acumen, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Sources tell us the strapping 6ft 7in teen who has never uttered a word in public is nonetheless a steadfast supporter of the Trump 2024 campaign behind the scenes.
And – perhaps more ominously for the former President’s Democratic opponents – he’s also expressed an interest in following in his 77-year-old father’s footsteps.
Barron has used his newfound freedom to schmooze a cadre of high-profile conservative figures, recently inviting the Iranian-American business mogul Patrick Bet-David to Mar-a-Lago.
Bet-David, worth an estimated $450 million, was impressed enough to tell listeners of his PDB podcast: ‘For an hour and a half we just watched Barron run dinner with stories, entertainment. Oh my God. Everything.'”
3. Dem Senator Menendez Trial Begins
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is going on trial—again.
“For the second time in a decade, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez faces a corruption trial Monday with his political career and freedom on the line in a criminal case that already has forced him out of one of the most powerful posts in Congress.
The 70-year-old New Jersey Democrat and his wife are accused of accepting bribes from three wealthy businessmen in his home state and performing a variety of favors in return, including meddling in criminal investigations and taking actions benefitting the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
Menendez’s lawyers say he stayed within the rules and did nothing illegal. He has optimistically spoken about mounting a reelection campaign the summer if he is acquitted. But even if he escapes without a conviction, as he did in a previous corruption prosecution in 2017, the damage done to his reputation could make a political comeback next to impossible.
FBI agents who searched the senator’s New Jersey home found a stash of gold bars, worth more than $100,000, and more than $486,000 in cash, some of it stuffed into the pockets of clothing hanging in his closets. His fellow Democrats in Washington, D.C., appear to have already written him off, encouraging him repeatedly to resign.”
2. Stormy Daniels Testifies Against President Trump
Stormy Daniels testimony in President Trump’s New York trial is being called “sensational” and “irrelevant.”
“Delving into salacious details of an alleged sexual encounter in a Nevada hotel suite with Donald Trump, adult-film star Stormy Daniels provided Manhattan prosecutors with helpful – but sometimes irrelevant – context.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of falsifying business records in relation to a hush-money payment made to Ms Daniels. He also denies having sex with her.
One of the most eagerly awaited witnesses of the trial, her appearance in the Manhattan courthouse Tuesday and Thursday proved dramatic.
But whether her at times long-winded testimony significantly boosted prosecutors’ case is unclear.
“She was a very sensational witness. There was a lot of evidence that came out that was wholly irrelevant,” said former Manhattan prosecutor Diana Florence.”
1. Israel Pushing Deeper Into Rafah, Battles Hamas In Northern Gaza
The war between Israel and Hamas is ramping up.
“Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago but where militants have regrouped.
Rafah is considered the last refuge in Gaza for more than a million civilians as well as Hamas’ last stronghold. Some 300,000 people have fled the city following evacuation orders from Israel, which says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack against Israel that sparked the war.
Neighboring Egypt issued its strongest objection yet to the Rafah offensive, saying it intends to formally join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel rejects.”
