Trump supporter accused of intimidation

A teenager who supports Trump in northeast Florida was arrested while brandishing a machete in an attempt to intimidate Democratic voters near a polling place, police said.

Caleb Williams, 18, was arrested Tuesday outside the Beaches Branch Library, an early voting location in Neptune Beach. Williams was charged with aggravated assault on a person 65 years of age or older and unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon.

Williams was part of a group of eight teenagers who gathered at the site to “protest and confront the opposite political side,” Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael Key Jr. told reporters at a news conference. Some of them waved flags honoring former President Donald Trump, while both victims had placards signaling support for Vice President Kamala Harris, he said.

The 71-year-old victim told police that at one point she was approached by Williams, who was “swinging the machete in an aggressive, threatening position above his head,” Key said. A 54-year-old woman standing nearby said she also feared for her safety and took a photo of Williams.

The local Democratic campaign said it was “deeply troubled” by the incident, a sentiment echoed by Key.

“It’s one thing to exercise your First Amendment right, which we hold so dearly as a sacred right, but the moment you turn to violence, that disappears,” he continued.

None of the other teenagers have been arrested, but the investigation is ongoing.

Police: there was a fight at the university

BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut. A shooting led to a fight between two young men in a University of Bridgeport dining hall Wednesday, police said.

Bridgeport Police Chief Roderick Porter said the altercation Tuesday night involved two men who were not college students. The victim was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, while an 18-year-old from New York City was being sought as a person of interest in the case Wednesday, the chief said.

“We believe this was a fight situation over a young female,” Porter said at a news conference.

Porter said one of the men was a visiting student at the University of Bridgeport, and the other appeared to be associated with a nearby school affiliated with the college.

The victim was shot in the right arm and his chest was lacerated, Porter said, adding that the person was alert and communicating with police. No one else was hurt.

Bridgeport police have asked the NYPD to help locate a Queens person of interest, Porter said.

The shooting led to a campus lockdown shortly after 6:30 p.m. Classes resumed on Wednesday. According to Porter, there were more than a dozen people in the dining room at the time. It is not known how many shots were fired.

The man was convicted of threatening officials

ATLANTA. A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an insurance salesman to 21 months in prison for making threatening phone calls to Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fannie Willis and Sheriff Patrick Labat, saying he wanted to deter others from making similar moves against public officials. their workplaces.

U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Bulley called the voicemails left by Arthur Hanson II ahead of the August 2023 indictment of former President Donald Trump in Georgia “appalling” and said they contained racist language.

Willis and Labat attended the sentencing, and each testified they feared for their lives and the lives of their families after receiving Henson’s voicemail.

At a June hearing, Hanson, 59, of Huntsville, Ala., pleaded guilty to one count of making interstate threats. Hanson, who has struggled with alcohol abuse, said Tuesday he made the call while intoxicated.

New Jersey’s largest newspaper is going out of print

The owner of New Jersey’s largest newspaper says it will stop publishing its daily print edition early next year, but its online edition will continue.

Newark Morning Ledger Co. said the decision announced Wednesday was driven by rising costs, declining circulation and declining demand for hard copies of the Star-Ledger.

The company also said it will close its Montville facility in February 2025, at which time the print version of the newspaper will cease publication. The Jersey City paper turned over its printing a few years ago to The Star-Ledger.

The closure of that facility means another daily newspaper, The Jersey Journal, will cease publication on February 1.

Representatives of the magazine said on Wednesday that the newspaper cannot operate after the closure of the production plant.

“We fought as hard as we could, for as long as we could,” said David Bloomquist, editor and publisher of The Journal.

As a result, Advance Local announced Wednesday that the final print editions of the Star-Ledger, Times of Trenton and South Jersey Times will be published on February 2. The last weekly print edition of the Hunterdon County Democrat will be published on January 30.