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The Rev. William J. Barber II warned congressional Republicans against weaponizing “our tax dollars against us” after he was arrested last week in the U.S. Capitol following a prayer-protest against potential cuts to Medicaid. 

Barber, a pastor and civil rights activist known for his progressive, faith-based advocacy, was at the Capitol as part of his Moral Monday sermon series. 

Barber told NBC News that he was praying for senators to spare Medicaid in their plans for vast government spending cuts. Medicaid, the largest health care program in the country, provides coverage for more than 71 million low-income people.

“This budget cut does not affect one side or the other. Coming out of Covid, we all learned that Covid did not kill people for being Black or white or Republican or Democrat,” said Barber, who also contributes to MSNBC. He added the virus “did not discriminate, and neither should our health care.”

Barber has also long been critical of what he described as President Donald Trump’s “extremist policies.”

“We recognize that if Trump were out of office, these policies would still be pushed by the majority,” Barber said. “We have to focus heavily on the policies and go after them. Not the individual.”

In recent weeks, Republicans have unveiled plans to strip down the Affordable Care Act as part of a sweeping spending cut. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, is tasked with cutting $880 billion in spending. Democrats in the House and progressive groups argue the GOP will have to make drastic cuts to Medicaid to meet the threshold. 

Committee chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said the cuts will allow for better health care options. Republicans also said the cuts are geared toward preventing Medicaid abuse, though the specifics remain unclear.

Congress has weeks to pass a sweeping budget that support Trump’s agenda. Republicans have said they are aiming to cut fraud and waste from federal spending but specifics have been minimal thus far. 

Republicans are weighing new work requirements for able-bodied adults seeking Medicaid and rules to prevent noncitizens from receiving benefits.

“People are dying from poverty every day,” Barber said. “This is a crisis of civilization. This is a crisis of democracy. This is not about being Black or white, left or right. This is about life and death.”

Poverty contributed to the deaths of about 183,000 people in the United States in 2019, according to a study by David Brady, a professor of the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy. Limited access to health care, poor nutrition and exposure to environmental hazards all contribute to higher rates of illness and premature death among low-income communities. 

Highlighting those disparities is part of Barber’s Poor People Campaign, a broader effort to lobby for economic equality that began with protests during Trump’s first term in office. 

“When we talk to poor and lower-wage voters about why they don’t vote, the No. 1 reason is that nobody talks to them,” he said. “Conversations around poverty center the middle class and wealthy. We have to have a change of our language and our focus.”

In a letter sent to congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle last week, Repairers of the Breach, Barber’s social justice organization, said Black and Latino communities would most likely bear the brunt of the impact of Medicaid cuts.

Barber and others have regularly organized Moral Monday protests for more than a decade. Barber said hundreds of supporters arrived at the protest at the Capitol last week but were largely denied entry to the building. He and a smaller group that gained access to the rotunda proceeded with silent prayer until the police intervened. Barber and faith leaders Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Steven Swayne were arrested and charged with crowding, obstructing and incommoding. 

Capitol Police told NBC News the group also violated federal regulations that prohibit demonstrations, including prayer, in congressional buildings. The arrests resulted in tickets.

In support of Barber, Repairers of the Breach announced that “the clergy and impacted persons and advocates will go to the US Capitol to deliver a written moral analysis done by Repairers and the Institute for Policy Studies” and that they would return to the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court every month until a change is made in favor of the millions affected. 

As the frail newborn shivers in his mother’s arms, Yussuf Al-Najjar’s parents fear he will leave the world as quickly as he arrived in it.

“His condition is deteriorating,” Nagia Al-Najjar said of her baby Monday in the intensive care ward at Khan Younis‘ Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. Born prematurely, Yussuf is now suffering from acute malnutrition, with the family unable to obtain formula or medication as Israel’s blockade of aid and goods reaching Gaza enters its third month.

After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he would give an order to ramp up the military offensive in Gaza with a plan to seize the entire strip, Yussuf’s future is increasingly uncertain. Palestinians and observers fear fresh bombings and displacement, and aid groups warn of a spiraling humanitarian crisis marked by scarce food supplies.

Yussuf is among the 9,000 children in Gaza to have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition since the war began, with UNICEF saying in March that it had seen a surge in cases. Dr. Ahmed al-Farrah, head of the pediatrics and obstetrics ward at Nasser Hospital, told NBC News last week that more than 50 children had died “from starvation.”

“Isn’t it a sin for a child to die like this?” Al-Najjar, 30, told NBC News’ crew on the ground, her face wracked with grief.

Across Gaza, Palestinians expressed anxiety as they learned of the plan unanimously approved by Israel’s security Cabinet to seize the entire territory in what Netanyahu described as an effort to defeat Hamas.

“We were hoping and waiting for a decision for Israel to end the war against us — not the decision to occupy Gaza and displace its people,” Walid Abu Muhsin, a street vendor from Khan Younis, told NBC News’ crew Monday.

Inside Gaza and abroad, humanitarian and aid groups condemned the Netanyahu-led government’s plans to control Gaza indefinitely and distribute aid to Gaza via “Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military” once Israel lifts its blockade.

The two goals will “inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza,” U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a briefing Monday in New York.

More than 52,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the local Health Ministry, since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, which marked a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.

Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage into Gaza in the attacks, with more than 50 people, both dead and alive, believed to remain in Hamas’ captivity, according to Israeli officials.

The families of hostages who remain held in Gaza have warned that a ramped-up offensive will only put the lives of their loved ones at further risk.

Meanwhile, right-wing ministers in Netanyahu’s fragile government coalition celebrated the plans for an expanded offensive, having advocated for such a move before and after the last ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which held for two months from Jan. 19 to March 18.

Prior to that ceasefire, the Israeli military had taken control of around a third of Gaza.

Even so, hopes remained in Gaza and Israel for a resumption of that truce ahead of a visit from President Donald Trump to the region planned for next week.

While Trump has repeatedly touted a proposal for the U.S. to eventually take ownership of the Gaza Strip, Palestinians there implored him to take action to halt Israel’s plans for an expanded offensive.

Khan Younis resident Abu Muhsin, 55, asked “Where is Trump who calls for freedom and democracy?”

In Israel, meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Ze’ev Elkin said Monday that a “window of opportunity” remained for talks to resume.

From outside of his Cabinet, Netanyahu has faced growing criticism for resuming and expanding Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The latest denunciation came from Eran Duvdevani, a prominent retired colonel who led a campaign by former and reserve Israeli paratroopers calling for an end to the war.

Duvdevani told NBC News that a growing number of reservists were already rejecting calls to return to service in a war they increasingly view as politically motivated.

He added that without a fresh truce between Israel and Hamas, Trump’s intervention was likely the only thing that could stop an expanded offensive.

“This is the only way, to press Netanyahu,” Duvdevani said in a phone interview early Tuesday. “Nothing will happen if Trump will not press him.”

Meanwhile, a hearing for Netanyahu’s testimony in his ongoing public corruption trial ended early Tuesday, according to Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel. It came as the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for Yemen’s Sanaa Airport ahead of what appeared to be a pending attack.

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services soared to a record $140.5 billion in March. Year-to-date, the deficit has increased 92.6%, as companies and consumers rush to import goods before President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs increase on July 6.

Imports alone have risen 23.3% so far this year and were $17.8 billion higher just last month, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Tuesday. Exports from the U.S. to other countries increased by just $500 million.

Trump’s tariffs, which already amount to more 145% on China, are set to increase in just under 65 days after they were initially paused.

Imports of consumer goods in March rose to an all-time high, led primarily by a massive increase of pharmaceutical imports. The apparel, furniture, jewlery, household appliance and textile categories also saw increases from February.

For the first quarter, U.S. gross domestic product shrank 0.3% because of the biggest drag from net exports (the difference between total exports and total imports) in more than a half-century, according to Wells Fargo economists. Other parts of the U.S. economy also showed signs of slowing. Consumer spending rose 1.8% in the first quarter, the weakest pace since mid-2023.

Economists are widely expecting the surge of imports to slow in the second quarter, which should allow GDP to rebound into positive territory. But some analysts, including those at Goldman Sachs, still have the likelihood of a recession within 12 months at 45%.

“We still expect further tariff increases in other areas—e.g. pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and potentially movies—and see a meaningful risk that some of the paused “reciprocal” tariffs will take effect after all,” Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius wrote to clients Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that exports from Canada to the U.S. fell 6.6% for a second month. At the same time, exports from Canada to other countries rose. The U.K., Netherlands, Hong Kong and Germany were the primary recipients of those. Crude oil was the top export from Canada to two of the three countries.

After years of delays, people boarding flights domestically in the United States will need to present REAL ID-compliant forms of identification at airports in a major change for travelers across the country.

As of Wednesday, certain standard driver’s licenses and other identification cards will no longer meet federal standards for people seeking to fly within the United States and for access to some federal facilities, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Residents have scrambled to motor vehicle offices nationwide to upgrade their IDs to meet the deadline, and state officials have warned about overcrowding and long lines.

As the policy is set to take effect this week, here’s what you need to know about REAL ID.

What is a REAL ID?

A REAL ID is a security-enhanced, state-issued driver’s license, learner’s permit or nondriver identification card that is offered by all 50 states.

“Beginning May 7, 2025 every state and territory resident will need to present a REAL ID-compliant license/ID, or another acceptable form of identification, for accessing federal facilities, entering nuclear power plants, and boarding commercial aircraft,” according to the DHS website. “The card, itself, must be REAL ID compliant unless the resident is using an alternative acceptable document such as a passport or passport card, or state-issued Enhanced Driver’s License.”

“Starting on May 7, 2025, a state-issued driver’s license or ID that is not REAL ID compliant will no longer be accepted as a valid form of identification at airports,” the TSA said on its website.

REAL ID-compliant identification cards are marked with a star on the top right corner. The star is usually black or gold and may vary depending on the state.

When was the REAL ID Act introduced?

Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005 to enhance security as part of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations that the federal government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses,” according to DHS. 

The act changed minimum security standards, and it prohibits federal agencies such as DHS and the Transportation Security Administration from accepting certain identification cards that aren’t REAL ID-compliant and don’t meet the act’s standards.

How do you get a REAL ID?

People can get REAL IDs from their states’ driver’s licensing agencies and should check the agencies’ websites to find out the exact requirements, according to the DHS.

DHS said on its website that at a minimum, people must provide documentation showing: full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, two proofs of address and lawful immigration status. 

Certain states may impose additional requirements, so it’s important to check your state’s driver’s licensing agency’s website before going in person.

Will the TSA accept a temporary paper card for a REAL ID?

According to the TSA’s website, it may take up to three weeks to get your REAL ID in the mail and the agency “will not accept the temporary paper card given at the DMV.”

What happens if I don’t bring REAL ID-compliant identification to the airport?

If people present identification that isn’t REAL ID-compliant at TSA checkpoints and also don’t have acceptable, alternative forms of identification, such as passports or Enhanced IDs, they “may be directed to a separate area and may receive additional screening. This includes TSA PreCheck passengers,” the TSA said on its website.

A TSA officer may ask those passengers to complete an identity verification process, and “if your identity is confirmed, you will be allowed to enter the screening checkpoint, where you may be subject to additional screening.”

“You will not be allowed to enter the security checkpoint if you choose to not provide acceptable identification, you decline to cooperate with the identity verification process, or your identity cannot be confirmed,” the TSA said.

Do I need a passport if I have a REAL ID?

A passport is still necessary for adults and children who are traveling internationally, but to travel domestically, adults will need one valid form of ID, such as a REAL ID or a passport.

Do minors need REAL IDs?

No. For domestic travel, the TSA doesn’t require children under 18 to provide identification when they are traveling with companions. Companions do have to present an acceptable form of identification, according to DHS. Children will still need passports for international travel.

Are there alternatives or exceptions to REAL ID?

Yes. According to DHS, other forms of acceptable identification for domestic travel include passports and Enhanced ID cards.

For more than a decade, travelers at New Zealand’s Wellington Airport have been greeted by two Hobbit-themed sculptures of giant, hovering eagles, one of which carried wizard Gandalf.

Suspended from the roof by cables, the two towering figures were unveiled in 2013 to promote director Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings” and Hobbit films, which were filmed in New Zealand over a period of 15 years.

Each eagle weighs more than a ton and has a 50-foot wingspan, with a combined total of 1,000 feathers. The majestic birds originally served as rescuers and fighters in the fantasy adventure films, which are based on the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The pair will say their last goodbye to visitors Friday and “fly off into the sunset,” making space for a new display, the airport said Monday.

The eagles’ departure will be “the end of an era,” Wellington Airport’s chief executive Matt Clarke said.

“It’s not unusual to see airborne departures from Wellington Airport,” Clarke said in a statement. “But in this case, it will be emotional for us.”

Though the sculptures have been a “huge success” admired by travelers from around the world, it’s the “right time for them to fly the nest,” he added.

Some travelers said they were saddened by the birds’ departure.

“It breaks my heart,” Verity Johnson told The Associated Press on Monday as she sat beneath a grasping eagle claw in the food court.

“Please reconsider. Please bring them back, make them stay,” she said.

Another passenger, Michael Parks, said that taking the eagles away would be “un-New Zealand.”

The two giant eagle sculptures will be disassembled overnight Friday evening and placed into storage. The long-term plans for them are still to be decided.

They were made by Wellington-based Wētā Workshop, which created tens of thousands of props for Jackson’s films, including armor, prosthetics, miniatures and weaponry.

One of them fell down when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit New Zealand’s North Island in 2014, but no one was injured, according to The New Zealand Herald.

The airport is working with Wētā Workshop on a “unique, locally themed replacement” for the eagles, Clarke said, to be revealed later this year.

The magnificent New Zealand scenery showcased in the movies has drawn millions of international tourists, with the airport’s eagle sculptures turning into an iconic feature.

The films generated more than $770 million in international tourism revenue for New Zealand, contributing to a welfare gain of over $180 million for the country’s households, research showed.

Another sculpture of Smaug the Magnificent — the great dragon that torments Bilbo Baggins and his fellow travelers — will remain in the check-in area, where it was installed in 2014.

Louisiana authorities on Monday charged a second suspect with murder in the death of a television reporter who had traveled to New Orleans to cover the Super Bowl.

Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old reporter and anchor for Telemundo based in Kansas City, Missouri, was found dead Feb. 5 in his hotel room in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner. A woman seen on security video leaving Manzano’s room was later charged with second-degree murder and with stealing his credit cards and cellphone.

Kenner police announced Monday that an accomplice, 34-year-old Rickey White, has also been charged with second-degree murder. White was arrested in Florida in March on robbery and fraud charges related to Manzano’s death, then extradited to Louisiana.

Kenner police said in a news release that the murder charge against White resulted from “continued investigative efforts,” but officials gave no further details.

Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said at a news conference March 18 that investigators had linked White to Danette Colbert, the first suspect charged in the case, based on “correspondence and information where they were going back and forth. So we think they were working hand-in-hand in concert with each other.”

An attorney for White, Kevin Boshea, said he hadn’t been informed of the murder charge before an Associated Press reporter called him Monday.

“I don’t think he’s guilty of the other crimes,” Boshea said, “so how can he be guilty of murder?”

Boshea said he pressed police during a preliminary hearing on the robbery and fraud charges last month to show evidence that White was in the New Orleans area when Manzano died, but they presented none.

An attorney for Colbert had said that police were making “assumptions and guesses” to link her to Manzano’s death.

Under Louisiana law, a defendant can be charged with second-degree murder for distributing drugs that cause a death or for committing certain crimes, including robbery, that result in someone dying.

An autopsy found Manzano died lying facedown on a pillow and unable to breathe after ingesting a combination of alcohol and the depressant Xanax, Jefferson Parish Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich told reporters in March.

Police said security video from Manzano’s hotel showed him and Colbert entering his room together the day of his death. Footage showed Colbert leaving without him about an hour later. Authorities have said Colbert later used Manzano’s credit card to make a purchase at a New Orleans gas station and at several stores in the area.

Police have also said Manzano’s medical records showed no prescriptions for Xanax or other depressants, and that they recovered the drug from Colbert’s home.

MIRAMAR, Fla. — The homestretch of a track is a familiar place for American sprint legend Michael Johnson. That’s where he broke nine world records. And at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, it was where he pulled away from the competition for two of his four Olympic golds.

Now, near Miami, he can reflect on his new mission: creating a first-of-its-kind professional league for Olympic track stars.

“I’m able to, every now and then, just step back and go, ‘Yeah, this looks really good. This is exactly what we wanted and how I envisioned it,’” Johnson said as he admired the venue for the U.S. debut of Grand Slam Track, the new league he founded last year. 

“In track as a sport, you have the fastest people in the world who don’t have an opportunity to prove it, but every four years,” he told NBC News. “So Grand Slam Track provides that opportunity for the best, the fastest people on the planet to compete and race against one another, and fans are the beneficiaries of that.”

Grand Slam Track is headlined by household names such as two-time reigning Olympic 400-meter hurdles gold medalist and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and three-time Paris Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas.

“I wasn’t in their position. I had the benefit of having had an Olympics in the U.S. and was able to establish a brand and have my moment in that Olympics,” Johnson explained.

Unlike other professional track and field competitions, Grand Slam Track is contracting athletes to compete in the league for a full season: eight races across four meets every year. The first took place in Kingston, Jamaica, last month. Two others are scheduled in Philadelphia and Los Angeles after this weekend’s competition.

“Now you have the opportunity in between those Games to establish yourself and prove that I am one of the best in the world, because I am part of a league of the best in the world,” Johnson said.

Following the pandemic and a condensed Olympic cycle, running is in a boom. The 2024 NYC Marathon broke the record for finishers: 55,646. The next two largest were also last year in Berlin and Paris. 

Grand Slam Track and the investors behind it are betting on that momentum. The league says it’s secured more than $30 million in financing from investors and strategic partners. More than $12 million of that funding is going toward athlete prize money, with $100,000 up for grabs for the winners of each event — that’s on top of guaranteed contract pay

The stars are following the money. 

The league’s inaugural season features more than 30 medalists from the Paris Games who are expected to compete at each meet. 

Thomas told NBC News that for athletes like her, the prize money represents “the first time you can go compete in the regular season and just make what we’re worth.”

While some track stars are guaranteed a paycheck and slot at each meet, other athletes are invited to specific meets.

Dylan Beard, a hurdler who qualified for the Olympic trials while working at Walmart last year, got the biggest payday of his career at the premier event in Jamaica by placing second in his event group.

“It means a lot to the athletes who don’t have the contracts and sponsorship that can bring in that kind of money throughout the years, which requires us to work a part-time job or part-time jobs,” Beard said. 

For Johnson, it’s about paying racers to race.

“No one has ever put Gabby Thomas or any other track athlete under contract to be a racer,” he said. “Like basketball players are put under contract to play basketball. Football players are put under contract to footballers.”

To keep audiences engaged, Johnson’s league prioritizes head-to-head competition, with athletes competing across six event groups, each group racing twice at each slam with the winner determined by their combined finishes. 

Not every Olympic event is represented. That didn’t keep away U.S. heptathlon champion Anna Hall, who stepped into the 400-meter hurdles at the latest slam.

“Honestly, I just had FOMO like, fear of missing out,” she told NBC News ahead of her races. “I know there’s no multi here, but I want to find something I can race and line up in, so I’m excited to be included.”

The sport’s rising star called it “an opportunity that track’s needed and earned for a long time.”

Key to Johnson’s approach is celebrating the athletes like the elite performers they are. Racers lined up for a red-carpet style “drip check” — named for Drip Water, one of the league’s sponsors — ahead of the first day of the meet.

Some of the stars then sat for panels with their competitors, throwing down the gauntlet before they set foot on the track, building storylines and raising the stakes.

“It’s so good for the sport. Just to have this type of attention,” Thomas said. “Coverage is something that we need, and we’re celebrating athletes and showing our personalities, and that’s huge.”

Still, not every star from Team USA is on board with the league yet. Gold medalists, including Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, are among the holdouts.

Johnson’s confident it’s only a matter of time before the holdouts sign up.

“This is what’s going to grow this sport,” he said. “And so, you know, we’ll be here and we’re not going anywhere.”

PHOENIX — The key to cracking a series of fatal shootings in the Phoenix area in 2017 came when police were called to a blood-spattered apartment where they arrested a man who was suspected of killing his mother and stepfather.

Authorities say evidence found there linked Cleophus Cooksey Jr. to four other killings. Police found a gun used in several of them, a necklace belonging to a victim and the vehicle keys of a woman whose partially nude body was found in an alley.

Cooksey’s trial opened Monday, more than seven years later, after repeated delays due to the pandemic. The 43-year-old is accused of murder and other charges stemming from a total of eight killings in Phoenix and nearby Glendale over a three-week span. If he is convicted, prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty. Cooksey has said the allegations against him are false and pleaded not guilty.

In opening statements to a jury of 22 — 10 of whom are alternates — prosecutor Josh Maxwell said the victims had in common that they were all vulnerable at the time they were killed.

“The focus of this trial is one of those classic whodunits, and the evidence will show the person whodunit, if you will, is this individual over here, the defendant, Cleophus Emmanuel Cooksey,” Maxwell said pointing to Cooksey.

Defense attorney Robert Reinhardt began his opening statement telling jurors of their duty to be fair and impartial and said the prosecution did not point out a motive, calling the offenses “random and unrelated.”

“You didn’t hear anything about premeditation either. The state made statements that in incident No. 1, Mr. Cooksey just went up and shot them, but there’s no rhyme or reason to any of that,” Reinhardt said.

In earlier years, two other serial shooting cases sparked fear in metro Phoenix, prompting some people to stay indoors after dark or stay off freeways where they occurred. Unlike those cases, the killings Cooksey is accused of did not occur over a matter of months and generated no publicity until his arrest.

Cooksey’s trial is expected to last more than eight months, said Vincent Funari, a Maricopa County Superior Court spokesperson.

The victims

The first of the eight killings happened Nov. 27, 2017. By that point Cooksey had been out of prison for four months after serving time for his role in a 2001 strip club robbery that turned deadly.

Cooksey knew some of the victims intimately, but others were strangers. Most of the shootings happened in the evening and overnight. Police never released a motive but said Cooksey was responsible.

Parker Smith and Andrew Remillard were the first victims, shot while sitting inside a vehicle in a parking lot. Five days later security guard Salim Richards was fatally shot on the way to his girlfriend’s apartment. Prosecutors say Cooksey and Richards fought physically and Cooksey walked away with Richards’ gun and necklace.

Latorrie Beckford and Kristopher Cameron were killed in separate shootings at apartment complexes in Glendale.

Maria Villanueva was expected at her boyfriend’s apartment in Glendale, but police say Cooksey drove away with her in her vehicle. The next day her body, naked from the waist down, was found in a Phoenix alley. Authorities say she had been sexually assaulted and Cooksey’s DNA was found on her body.

Finally, on Dec. 17, 2017, Cooksey answered the door when officers acting on a report of gunshots showed up at his mother’s apartment. Officers noticed a lot of blood. Cooksey said he had cut his hand and was the only one home, according to police. Cooksey’s mother, Rene Cooksey, and stepfather, Edward Nunn, were found dead. Before he was detained, police say, Cooksey threatened to slit an officer’s throat.

The evidence against Cooksey

On the sofa in the living room, investigators found Richards’ gun, which was later linked to the killings of Beckford, Cameron and Villanueva. The keys to Villanueva’s vehicle also were found there, and police say Cooksey was wearing Richards’ necklace when he was arrested.

In a January 2020 handwritten letter to a judge over the impending postponement of his trial, Cooksey said he was in an “upmost hurry” to prove “my charges are no more than false accusations” and “what better way to do so than” a not-guilty verdict. An aspiring musician, he said he was not a rapist or murderer: “I am a music artist.”

Despite wanting to exercise his right to a speedy trial, Cooksey’s case encountered postponements due to the pandemic, which interfered with preparation including the ability of experts to evaluate Cooksey.

Earlier in the case, his lawyers raised questions about a claim police made around the time of his arrest that Cooksey was suspected of a ninth killing. But prosecutors ultimately declined to charge Cooksey in the December 2017 shooting death of Jesus Real at his home in Avondale.

According to police, Real’s sister and Cooksey had broken up the night before. Prosecutors said they had no reasonable likelihood of winning a conviction.

Serial shooting cases in the Phoenix area

Cooksey’s arrest came after two serial shooting cases in recent years.

From late August to early September 2015, a total of 11 shootings occurred on freeways. No one was seriously hurt when eight vehicles were hit with bullets and three others with projectiles such as BBs or pellets. But a 13-year-old was cut by glass.

Charges were later dismissed against the only person charged in the shootings, who went on to win a rare court order declaring him officially cleared of the allegations.

The next serial shooting case came over nearly a one-year period that ended in July 2016. Aaron Juan Saucedo, a bus driver, has been charged with first-degree murder and other charges in the attacks, which killed nine people. He was arrested in April 2017.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Saucedo, who has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled for December.

Police in New York said a town official was arrested over the weekend for shooting a DoorDash delivery driver who was lost and trying to find the right address.

State police said John Reilly, the highway superintendent for the Town of Chester, was arrested Saturday, the day after allegedly shooting the delivery driver in front of his home. The 48-year-old is accused of felony assault and weapons possession.

The shooting happened around 10 p.m. Friday. According to police, the DoorDash driver had become lost and could not locate the correct delivery address.

The DoorDash worker went door-to-door, asking for directions in hopes of tracking down the correct home, police said. He eventually made it to Reilly’s home, where the 48-year-old instructed the man to get off his property.

After turning to leave, police allege that Reilly fired “multiple shots” at the delivery man. One of the bullets struck him in the back, “causing seriously physical injuries.”

DoorDash shared a statement with The New York Times, saying the company would work with law enforcement following this “tragic incident.”

“We’re devastated by this senseless act of violence, and we’re wishing the Dasher a full and speedy recovery,” the statement read.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy said Monday he believes an antisemitic sign at his Philadelphia bar Saturday night was most likely intended as a joke but that there was nothing funny about the offensive display.

“Maybe it wouldn’t have shocked me as much if I didn’t see it in a bar that I owned,” Portnoy told NBC News. “But the uptick in antisemitism has been noticeable.”

He’s outraged by it and pushing for accountability. Two women who served the group and delivered the sign to a crowded table at Barstool Sansom Street in Center City Philadelphia have been fired, he said. The servers have not been identified.

The patrons ordered bottle service along with the custom sign. It is not uncommon for bars to offer personalized signs with bottle service orders.

A student at Temple University, 2 miles north of Portnoy’s bar, was placed on interim suspension for alleged involvement in the incident. The university said it’s investigating.

But, Portnoy said, it’s not clear whether the servers or the customers who ordered the sign actually embrace the hateful sentiment of it. He described the motive behind the sign as “just pure idiocy.”

Portnoy said he spoke to two customers involved in the order, asking: “What are you thinking? I’m about to go nuclear on this.”

Vladislav Khaykin, an executive vice president at California’s Simon Wiesenthal Center, home of the Museum of Tolerance, said, “What happened at Barstool Samson Street wasn’t a joke; it shows how increasingly normalized antisemitism has become in public spaces.”

Khaykin continued: “This incident underscores how acceptable mocking Jews has become. We appreciate that the business owner acted quickly. One reason we are seeing so much hate offline is because of so much unchecked hate online.”

Portnoy, who is 48 and Jewish, said critics have falsely painted him as lacking the appropriate level of alarm. He offered two customers involved in the incident trips to Poland to see the concentration camp and memorial at Auschwitz and learn about the Holocaust.

Later Monday, Portnoy vented on social media, posting a video in which he said one of the customers involved in the incident had walked back any responsibility for the sign. Portnoy said that person will no longer be offered the trip to Auschwitz.

“I am so sick of dealing with” this incident, Portnoy said in the video.

Some Jewish people criticized Portnoy, characterizing the Auschwitz offer as a “paid vacation” for bad behavior. He countered, though, that “if you pay attention at this trip, it’s hard not to come back and feel differently about this issue.”

Portnoy is no stranger to making headlines, but the recent attention is perhaps a bit more personal. He said something has shifted in the American social atmosphere that has almost normalized antisemitic sentiment.

“To feel like you’re hated, for really nothing …,” he said, “it’s creating an unsafe vibe for people. You’re talking about me, my parents, my family. Like, do you even know what you’re saying?”