Author: Edward Campbell

Jakayla Ashanti Williams will spend the rest of her life in prison after pleading guilty to capital murder in the 2023 death of her newborn son, bringing a three-year case in Dothan, Alabama, to an end. Williams, who was 18 when the child died, entered the guilty plea on Monday, September 14, 2026, just as jury selection was about to begin. Under the agreement, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, avoiding a potential death sentence. The case began in August 2023, when Williams secretly gave birth at her home in Dothan. Police later said…

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis mother has been sentenced after pleading guilty in connection with the 2025 death of her 2-year-old son, who fatally shot himself with a handgun while the family was in a vehicle. Keiara Bickett pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the more serious charge of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. Bickett was sentenced Sept. 15 to three years in prison followed by three years of home detention. The sentences were required to run consecutively. Prosecutors had sought the maximum possible sentence…

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Keenan Allen is now facing formal misdemeanor charges stemming from an alleged impaired-driving incident in downtown Indianapolis late last month. Allen has been charged with operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration of .15 or more and operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The charges follow an early-morning traffic investigation on Aug. 30 in the 100 block of South Meridian Street, near West Maryland Street. According to police, officers began investigating after noticing a vehicle parked in a no-parking zone shortly after 1 a.m. When they approached the driver, identified as Allen, officers reported observing signs of…

LEBANON, Ind. — A federal lawsuit involving a Lebanon residential program for teenage girls has expanded from nine plaintiffs to 35, with former residents alleging abuse, forced labor, isolation and exploitation during their time at the facility. The lawsuit was initially filed in April by nine women who said they lived at Central Indiana Teen Challenge as minors at various times. An amended complaint filed June 16 added 26 more former residents to the case. Central Indiana Teen Challenge now operates as The Refuge Girls Academy, a faith-based residential program in Lebanon that serves teenage girls. The lawsuit alleges that…

An adult bicyclist was critically injured Tuesday afternoon after being struck by a pickup truck on the north side of Indianapolis, according to police. The crash happened around 1 p.m. Sept. 15 near the intersection of East 56th Street and North Rural Street. Emergency crews responded to the scene, and the injured cyclist was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for treatment. Police said he was last reported to be in critical condition. The pickup truck driver remained at the scene following the collision and has been cooperating with investigators. Police said there was no indication that impairment played…

A 47-year-old Brooklyn man has been charged with murder after his 59-year-old wife was found dead inside the Bay Ridge apartment they shared, authorities said. Police identified the woman as Maria Ines Granda. Officers were called to the first-floor apartment on 79th Street in Bay Ridge Monday morning after a report of an unconscious person. The call came in at about 9:34 a.m., according to police. When officers arrived, they found Granda unconscious and unresponsive with trauma to the back of her head. Emergency medical personnel responded and pronounced her dead at the scene. The circumstances surrounding her death remained…

Jairo Saenz, a high-ranking MS-13 member tied to seven murders on Long Island, has been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison, bringing another major chapter of a yearslong case to a close. Saenz, also known as “Funny,” was sentenced Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in federal court in Central Islip. He had pleaded guilty in January 2025 to racketeering charges connected to seven killings, as well as three attempted murders, arson, narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses. Among the victims were Brentwood High School students Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, whose murders in September 2016 drew widespread attention to…

Three people were killed and six others were taken to hospitals after an SUV crashed into a Metro bus Tuesday evening in Chatsworth, triggering a major emergency response at a busy San Fernando Valley intersection. The collision happened shortly after 5 p.m. near Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue. The Metro Line 166 bus was traveling east on Nordhoff Street when it was struck by a vehicle traveling south on De Soto Avenue. The impact drove the SUV into the side of the bus, leaving part of the vehicle lodged in the bus and trapping people inside. Firefighters and rescue…

A bicyclist and a child riding in a bike trailer were injured Tuesday evening after a collision involving a pickup truck in Batavia, authorities said. The crash happened around 5 p.m. near the intersection of 1st Street and South Water Street. Police said their preliminary investigation found that a black pickup truck collided with a bicycle that was pulling a trailer carrying a child. The impact left the bike trailer lodged near or beneath the front of the pickup, according to police. First responders removed the child from the trailer and took the child to an area hospital for treatment.…

Maryland Rep. Andy Harris has introduced legislation that would temporarily eliminate the federal taxes on gasoline and diesel through the end of 2026, as drivers and businesses continue to face elevated fuel costs. Harris, a Republican who represents Maryland’s 1st Congressional District, introduced the proposal on Sept. 15. His office said the measure is intended to provide short-term relief to families, drivers, small businesses and the trucking industry. Under the proposal, the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon and the 24.4-cent-per-gallon federal diesel tax would be suspended through the end of the year. The measure would not take…