Daily news sites

Daily Mailreports a 17-year-old from Texas has been accused of convincing his younger friend to help him kidnap and sadistically murder a 15-year-old girl to 'sell his soul to the devil'. 

Jose Reyes and his 16-year-old friend, who has not been identified, have both been charged with capital murder. 

They are accused of murdering Corriann Cervantes, who was brutally attacked and killed in a vacant apartment. 

The schoolgirl, whose body was found on Saturday, had been tortured and sexually assaulted, and an upside down crucifix was carved into her stomach.

She was beaten to death with a toilet seat and ashtray, and religious cult items were left around her body. 

'What happened in that vacant apartment was sadistic. What will eventually happen in the 338th district courtroom will be justice,' assistant Harris County attorney John Jordan said yesterday.  

He added: '[The suspects] discussed the fact that Mr Reyes had sold his soul to the devil, and if they ended up killing this teenager, this would allow the 16-year-old to also sell his soul to the devil.'

Detectives said a neighbor found Corriann's body three days after she had gone missing. She had been surrounded by 'religious cult items'.

More here

WBTV reports investigators in Cabarrus County have one man in custody after a triple shooting near Concord.


According to Sheriff Brad Riley, at least one person was killed and two others are injured after a shooting at a mobile home park called Cedar Estates in Cabarrus County.  This is just off Lower Rocky River Road.

Investigators say the shooting involved three different mobile homes some time early Wednesday afternoon.

Thirty-seven-year-old Darryl Angelo Anderson, of Charlotte, is in custody in connection with the shooting.

"It does at this point appear to be domestic related,"Sheriff Riley told WBTV. "I think it's important to provide that information just because I think the rest of the public needs to kind of get a good feel, you hear of a shooting incident two things are important public safety and we do have a good idea what caused it."

Hospital officials confirm to WBTV that Carolinas Medical Center-Northeast was on lockdown for about an hour. The lockdown was lifted around 2:50 p.m.
Anderson has been arrested at least three times in Mecklenburg County since 2011.

More here

POLITICO - ed Cruz will demand that the Senate come up with 60 votes to raise the debt ceiling, but indicated he won’t delay the vote as D.C. awaits a snowstorm.

The GOP freshman senator from Texas told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he will not allow a clean bill to lift the debt ceiling through the Senate with a bare majority.

“Under no circumstances will I agree to the Senate’s raising the debt ceiling with just 50 votes. I intend to object and force a 60-vote threshold,” Cruz said.

Given that the entire 55-member Democratic caucus is expected to support the clean debt ceiling bill, that means five Republicans would need to join with Democrats to advance the bill to passage. Centrist-minded Republicans like Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Susan Collins of Maine all said they were undecided on how they will vote.

Cruz said his 60-vote threshold demand shouldn’t irk his Republican colleagues who may feel obligated to swallow a tough vote to vote in favor of a clean debt ceiling lift. Cruz said the GOP should simply hold together and block the legislation that cleared the House on Tuesday afternoon.

New YorkPost reports the city’s largest window manufacturer is planning to expand to the suburbs because it’s too costly to open another operation in New York City, its owners said Tuesday.

The decision by Crystal Windows and Doors of College Point to scout for sites and create new jobs in Westchester or other suburbs comes as Mayor de Blasio pushes a series of new benefits for workers here, including a higher minimum wage and mandated paid sick-leave benefits. 

“There are so many things that make it difficult to run a business in New York City. It’s very expensive,” said Thomas Chen, founder and president of the 380-employee company that makes glass windows and doors for homes, high- rises and commercial buildings. 

“Minimum wage and sick paid leave are big issues,” added Chen, a native of Taiwan who founded his business in 1990 and transformed it into the largest window manufacturer in the city. 

He said he pays his entry-level workers $10 to $12 per hour, but any boost in the minimum wage would put pressure on his company to boost those wages. 

“We’ll have to pay more to our employees, too,” he said. 

Chen said he worries that any new wage and benefit mandates will get piled on top of onerous industrial property taxes, sky-high truck tolls and utility bills.

“We’re going to locate our new facility in Westchester County or somewhere close to New York City. It’s too costly to expand in New York City,” Chen said. 

His son, Steve Chen, chief operating officer of Crystal Windows, suggested the administration focus on what’s happening to businesses such as his. 

“The city should be talking to some of the small and medium businesses about the ‘tale of two cities,’ ” a reference to de Blasio’s campaign pledge to fight inequality between the rich and poor.

Asked about City Hall’s push to increase wages, Steve Chen said, “It definitely doesn’t make our job of running a business easier. It’s driving up costs. The concern is over how much farther the city will go to make it more difficult for manufacturers to operate.”

More here

CBS News reports former News Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, best remembered for his impassioned pleas for help after the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina, was convicted Wednesday of accepting bribes in exchange for helping businessmen secure millions of dollars in city work, including after the devastating storm.

The federal jury found Nagin guilty of 20 of 21 counts against him. He sat quietly at the defense table after the verdict was read and his wife, Seletha, was being consoled in the front row.

Before the verdict, the 57-year-old Ray Nagin said outside the New Orleans courtroom: "I've been at peace with this for a long time. I'm good."

The Democrat, who left office in 2010 after eight years, was indicted in January 2013 on charges he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business in exchange for promoting the interests of local businessman Frank Fradella.

He also was charged with accepting thousands of dollars in payoffs from another businessman, Rodney Williams, for his help in securing city contracts.

Nagin testified that key witnesses lied and prosecutors misinterpreted evidence including emails, checks and pages from his appointment calendar linking him to businessmen who said they bribed him.

As Nagin and defense attorney Robert Jenkins left the courthouse, walking with a throng of media, photographers and video cameras, Nagin could be heard saying: "I maintain my innocence."

More here