Published 4:06 pm Friday, November 22, 2024 By Sabrina Simms Robertson NATCHEZ — As law enforcement officials announced joint efforts to crack down on gun violence, one mother is questioning why the man who shot her son five times earlier this year has never been charged. Sabrina Geraldson attended a press conference Thursday morning at City Hall wearing a white T-shirt with hand-written claims on it about her son William Rouse, who was shot in an incident on Walnut Street on May 31. “A crime had been committed against my son and they were refusing to let us press charges,” Geraldson said. “I attended the press conference with the shirt and they decided not to open (the press conference) up to questions.” Geraldson said she had arranged to meet with Mayor Dan Gibson and Natchez Police Chief Cal Green Thursday morning but was told their meeting was canceled because of the press conference. In the May incident, Rouse was shot five times by Hunter Craft — once in the hand while attempting to shield himself, in the left rear flank and back as he turned away from his shooter and twice in the rear lower body after he fell to the ground – during an incident at 412 Walnut St. Rouse was treated in a Jackson hospital for these injuries. Craft also was shot in the incident. Natchez police arrested Rouse’s friend Wesley Douglas on an aggravated assault charge for shooting Craft. Nearly a month later Rouse was also arrested for charges of simple assault; burglary of a dwelling whether armed or not, whether occupied or not; and contempt of court by failure to appear, according to police records. Craft was never charged in the incident, despite Rouse’s family attempting to press charges. Natchez Police Commander Jerry Ford said after the shooting that Craft had been staying at the residence with a female and that the two had been in an altercation at the Walnut Street residence. During the altercation, the female reportedly called Rouse, who picked her up and later returned to the house with Douglas when shots were fired. At the time, Ford released information that Douglas retrieved a gun from his vehicle and shot Craft. “Initially we were going to arrest everyone involved but after further investigation, we found out that Craft lived in the house with the female who owned or rented it. (Municipal Judge Christina Daugherty) said he had a right to be there and would not sign a warrant,” Ford said Friday. It can be argued that when Rouse and Douglas came back to the house, Craft was within his right to protect himself, Ford said. “Rouse came through the door and (Craft) began shooting at him. Then Douglas fired into the house at Craft,” he said. “He had a right to defend himself at that particular time because that was his residence. He had clothing there.” Geraldson claims her son had returned to the house to “check on things” because the woman who also lived there asked him to do so. Ford said, “I don’t know whether she asked him to or not. Based on the videos of how aggressive they were when they came over there it was clear that something had already transpired. You don’t go in that way if you’re going in peacefully.” District Attorney Tim Cotton said Friday, “The matter has been presented to a grand jury” which would determine whether there is probable cause to charge another individual in this case. Cotton said the grand jury had been presented with evidence including text messages, recording of 911 calls, and video from the day of the incident, and is awaiting lab results before making any ruling. Anyone with additional evidence would need to go through the proper channels so that evidence could be presented, Cotton said. Cotton said no evidence of any threat made before the shooting had been given to him, despite claims that there had been threats posted on social media by Craft. “They should go through the local law enforcement agency, present that information to them so it can properly be forwarded to us,” he said. “Charging somebody initially is not my decision to make.” The shirt Geraldson wore to the press conference alleges a refusal to allow the family to press any charges as well as “$1,800 stolen by NPD,” which Geraldson said is cash that went missing from her son’s wallet. She said the wallet was found in the car as it was impounded at the police department. The writing further alleged, “Crime Scene Contaminated,” and “Threat Made on Social Media,” minutes before the shooting. “No ballistics test, no investigation of areas or angles the shots hit my son, nothing,” Geraldson said of the police’s efforts. Geraldson shared with The Natchez Democrat what appears to be a screenshot taken from Snapchat of guns and text that says “got enough shots fa yu” she said was posted by Craft. She also claimed that officials had not taken Rouse’s shirt into evidence. Ford said he knew nothing about missing cash or about any threats made on social media by Craft. Geraldson also said Rouse had lived in the house before Craft and still had belongings there. “He provided funds for house expenses up until the incident,” she said.
SINGAPORE: China 's emissions of carbon dioxide are on course to rise slightly this year, despite rapid progress on renewables and electric vehicles, putting a key 2025 climate target further out of reach, researchers said on Wednesday. China wants to cut the amount of CO2 it produces per unit of economic growth by 18% over the 2021-2025 period, but it fell further behind this year as a result of rising energy demand, said the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air ( CREA ) in its annual assessment. China needs to cut emissions by 6% over 2024-2025 to catch up, but they are expected to inch up by a further 0.4% in 2024, according to CREA calculations, and radical measures will be required to meet the target next year. Progress has been made in curbing new steel and coal-fired power capacity, and a rapid decline in cement production has also slowed emissions growth, but CO2 from a rapidly expanding coal-to-chemicals industry increased 12.5% this year, CREA said. China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment did not immediately respond to a Reuters for comment. 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It has pledged to bring total emissions to a peak before 2030 but the United States and others have been pushing it to commit to substantial cuts by 2035. While 44% of experts polled by CREA believe China's emissions have peaked already, there was still room for further increases before 2030, with a new package of economic stimulus measures launched in September likely to spur growth in carbon-intensive sectors, CREA said. China has revealed no details about its new pledges, but an influential state-run think tank said in October that it would encourage the government to set its first ever absolute carbon emission reduction target for 2035. "The concern is that the current thinking on emission targets for the next decade is very conservative," said Lauri Myllyvirta, CREA's lead analyst. "Setting an absolute target isn't progress per se. It's the level of the target that matters." Nominations for ET MSME Awards are now open. The last day to apply is November 30, 2024. Click here to submit your entry for any one or more of the 22 categories and stand a chance to win a prestigious award.ISRO is set to launch two satellites on Monday night from the Sriharikota spaceport to demonstrate docking and undocking of spacecraft in orbit, which will make India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat. The Indian Space Research Organisation 's (ISRO) warhorse rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle ( PSLV ) will place the two satellites -- SDX01 and SDX02 -- in a 476-km circular orbit and attempt the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDEx) in the first week of January, the space agency officials said. ET Year-end Special Reads What kept India's stock market investors on toes in 2024? India's car race: How far EVs went in 2024 Investing in 2025: Six wealth management trends to watch out for "This mission will mark India's entry into the exclusive league of nations capable of mastering space docking," Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said. The SpaDEx mission is expected to be a stepping stone for India's future endeavours in space exploration which include getting rocks and soil from the moon on Earth, the proposed Bharatiya Antariksha Station and landing an astronaut on the lunar surface. Only the US, Russia and China have mastered space docking technologies. "The primary objective of the SpaDeX mission is to develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft (SDX01, which is the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target) in a low-Earth circular orbit," an ISRO official said. 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View Program Data Science SQL for Data Science along with Data Analytics and Data Visualization By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI and Analytics based Business Strategy By - Tanusree De, Managing Director- Accenture Technology Lead, Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence: ATCI View Program Web Development A Comprehensive ASP.NET Core MVC 6 Project Guide for 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Pam Moore By - Pam Moore, Digital Transformation and Social Media Expert View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI-Powered Python Mastery with Tabnine: Boost Your Coding Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Mastering Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and 365 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital marketing - Wordpress Website Development By - Shraddha Somani, Digital Marketing Trainer, Consultant, Strategiest and Subject Matter expert View Program Office Productivity Mastering Google Sheets: Unleash the Power of Excel and Advance Analysis By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Mastering Full Stack Development: From Frontend to Backend Excellence By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Financial Literacy i.e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By - CA Rahul Gupta, CA with 10+ years of experience and Accounting Educator View Program Data Science SQL Server Bootcamp 2024: Transform from Beginner to Pro By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program The secondary objective of the mission includes demonstration of the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, which is essential for future applications such as in-space robotics; composite spacecraft control and payload operations after undocking. "This capability is vital for India's lunar and interplanetary missions . Docking technology enables multi-launch missions and supports future human spaceflight," Singh said. After the demonstration of docking and undocking experiments, the two satellites will continue to orbit the Earth for standalone missions for two years. The SDX01 satellite is equipped with a High Resolution Camera (HRC) and SDX02 has two payloads -- Miniature Multispectral (MMX) payload and Radiation Monitor (RadMon). These payloads will provide high-resolution images, natural resource monitoring, vegetation studies and on-orbit radiation environment measurements which have numerous applications, ISRO said. The PSLV-C60 mission also carries 24 payloads from various ISRO labs, private start-ups and educational institutions for carrying out experiments in space. These 24 payloads are mounted on the fourth stage of the PSLV rocket which remains in orbit for a few weeks before falling back on the Earth. PS4-Orbital Experiment Module (POEM) provides an opportunity for the scientific community to carry out certain in-orbit microgravity experiments for an extended duration of up to three months using the platform, which otherwise would end up as space debris immediately after the mission objective of injecting the primary payloads of the mission. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
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washington — President Joe Biden on Monday announced that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump , an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office. The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings , including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities. The decision leaves three federal inmates to face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. “I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement . “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.” Reaction was strong, both for and against. A Trump spokesperson called the decision “abhorrent.” “These are among the worst killers in the world and this abhorrent decision by Joe Biden is a slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones.” said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung. “President Trump stands for the rule of law, which will return when he is back in the White House after he was elected with a massive mandate from the American people.” Heather Turner, whose mother was killed during the 2017 robbery of a Conway, South Carolina, bank, blasted the decision in a social media post, saying Biden didn’t consider the victims of these crimes. “The pain and trauma we have endured over the last 7 years has been indescribable,” Turner wrote on Facebook, describing weeks spent in court in search of justice as “now just a waste of time.” “Our judicial system is broken. Our government is a joke,” she said. “Joe Biden’s decision is a clear gross abuse of power. He, and his supporters, have blood on their hands.” Some of Roof’s victims supported Biden’s decision to leave him on death row. Michael Graham, whose sister Cynthia Hurd was killed by Roof, said Roof’s lack of remorse and simmering white nationalism in the U.S. means Roof is the kind of dangerous and evil person the death penalty is intended for. “This was a crime against a race of people who were doing something all Americans do on a Wednesday night — go to Bible study,” Graham said. “It didn’t matter who was there, only that they were Black.” The Biden administration in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment to study the protocols used, which suspended executions during Biden’s term. But Biden actually had promised to go further on the issue in the past, pledging to end federal executions without the caveats for terrorism and hate-motivated, mass killings. While running for president in 2020, Biden’s campaign website said he would “work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level , and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.” Similar language didn’t appear on Biden’s reelection website before he left the presidential race in July. “Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden’s statement said. “But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.” He took a political jab at Trump, saying, “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.” Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has spoken frequently of expanding executions. In a speech announcing his 2024 campaign , Trump called for those “caught selling drugs to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts.” He later promised to execute drug and human smugglers and even praised China’s harsher treatment of drug peddlers. During his first term as president, Trump also advocated for the death penalty for drug dealers . There were 13 federal executions during Trump’s first term, more than under any president in modern history, and some may have happened fast enough to have contributed to the spread of the coronavirus at the federal death row facility in Indiana. Those were the first federal executions since 2003. The final three occurred after Election Day in November 2020 but before Trump left office the following January, the first time federal prisoners were put to death by a lame-duck president since Grover Cleveland in 1889. Biden faced recent pressure from advocacy groups urging him to act to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The president’s announcement also comes less than two weeks after he commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and of 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes, the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The announcement also followed the post-election pardon that Biden granted his son Hunter on federal gun and tax charges after long saying he would not issue one, sparking an uproar in Washington. The pardon also raised questions about whether he would issue sweeping preemptive pardons for administration officials and other allies who the White House worries could be unjustly targeted by Trump’s second administration. Speculation that Biden could commute federal death sentences intensified last week after the White House announced he plans to visit Italy on the final foreign trip of his presidency next month. Biden, a practicing Catholic, will meet with Pope Francis, who recently called for prayers for U.S. death row inmates in hopes their sentences will be commuted. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has long called for an end to the death penalty, said Biden’s decision is a “significant step in advancing the cause of human dignity in our nation” and moves the country “a step closer to building a culture of life.” Martin Luther King III, who publicly urged Biden to change the death sentences, said in a statement shared by the White House that the president “has done what no president before him was willing to do: take meaningful and lasting action not just to acknowledge the death penalty’s racist roots but also to remedy its persistent unfairness.” Madeline Cohen, an attorney for Norris Holder, who faced death for the 1997 fatal shooting of a guard during a bank robbery in St. Louis, said his case “exemplifies the racial bias and arbitrariness that led the President to commute federal death sentences,” Cohen said. Holder, who is Black, was sentenced by an all-white jury. Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report.