Truck driver rams Texas safety building
BRENHAM, Texas -- A Texas truck driver rammed a stolen 18-wheeler through the front of a public safety building where his renewal for a commercial driver's license had been rejected, killing one person and injuring 13 others, authorities said Friday.
The intentional crash into the single-story brick building off a highway in Brenham damaged the front of the red semitrailer, which was hauling materials on a flatbed.
After crashing into the Texas Department of Public Safety building the first time, the driver backed up the truck with the intention of smashing it again before being detained, Brenham Mayor Atwood Kenjura said.
The driver -- identified as Clenard Parker, 42 -- was jailed without bail Friday on two initial charges -- suspicion of evading arrest causing serious bodily injury and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Parker was told Thursday by employees at the office that he would not be eligible to renew his commercial driver's license, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Justin Ruiz said. He did not elaborate as to why Parker's renewal was rejected.
After the crash, two people were flown to a hospital in Bryan and another to Houston. Three people were transported to local hospitals but later released, and eight others were treated on the scene.
Shooting leaves Memphis officer dead
MEMPHIS -- A Tennessee police chief made an impassioned plea to her community to help stop gun violence after a Memphis police officer and an 18-year-old suspect were killed as officers investigated a suspicious vehicle early Friday.
A second suspect, who is 17, was in critical condition, and another Memphis police officer was injured but not in critical condition, interim Police Director C.J. Davis said. A third officer was grazed and treated at the scene.
Davis identified the officer who was killed as Joseph McKinney.
The 18-year-old suspect, whom Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy identified in a news release as Jaylen Lobley, was arrested last month in a stolen vehicle with an illegally modified semiautomatic weapon that converted it to what Davis described as a "fully automatic machine gun."
Mulroy said in a news release that a Shelby County judicial commissioner made the decision to release Lobley on his own recognizance -- with conditions including reporting and curfew -- and did so despite prosecutors strongly arguing against it.
Davis said she did not know what prompted the original call reporting the suspicious vehicle around 2 a.m. The officers were fired upon when they approached it and they returned fire, she said.
The suspects drove off but stopped a few blocks away, police said. One suspect was taken into custody immediately. The second fled but was found nearby, police said.
Police have contacted the prosecutor's office and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Davis said.
Judge rejects Trump bid to delay trial
NEW YORK -- The judge in Donald Trump's hush-money criminal case Friday turned down the former president's request to postpone his trial because of publicity about the case.
It's the latest in a string of delay denials that Trump has gotten from various courts this week as he fights to stave off the trial's start Monday with jury selection.
Among other things, Trump's lawyers argued that the jury pool was deluged with what the defense saw as "exceptionally prejudicial" news coverage of the case. The defense argued that it was a reason to hold off the case indefinitely.
Judge Juan Merchan said that idea was "not tenable."
Merchan said questioning of prospective jurors would address any concerns about their ability to be fair and impartial.
Flooding leads to rescues, evacuations
PITTSBURGH -- Flash flooding caused by heavy rains that soaked western Pennsylvania spurred numerous rescues and evacuations in the region, but no injuries were reported.
The National Weather Service said nearly 3 inches of rain fell in a short time late Thursday afternoon and evening in parts of Allegheny County. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that some southern sections of the county got more than 4 inches as they got stuck under heavier bands within the storm system.
The weather service issued a flood warning for the Ohio River, which was forecast to crest in the Pittsburgh area at above 25 feet late Friday into today -- well into flood stage. The river was at nearly 22 feet late Friday morning.
Parts of New England were also dealing with flooding as more rain came early Friday.
Flood warnings were also in effect in several towns south of Hartford along the Connecticut River, which was expected to swell a foot above flood stage.
In West Virginia, roads in at least 20 counties remained impassable Friday due to flooding from heavy rains Thursday night, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Roughly 7,600 power outages were still reported in Pennsylvania and another 5,000 outages in Maine and New Hampshire, according to poweroutage.us.