South Carolina anti-abortion group founder arrested following Planned Parenthood shooting

COLUMBIA, S.C.— The founder of an anti-abortion group who shot and wounded a man during a confrontation in front of Planned Parenthood in Columbia has been arrested.

According to records from the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia, Mark Baumgartner was taken into custody Tuesday.

Baumgartner is being charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Baumgartner founded the anti-abortion group A Moment of Hope over a decade ago. The organization’s primary focus is protesting the Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, South Carolina. There, volunteers and employees offer what they call “sidewalk counseling” to encourage women not to undergo abortions.

On Nov. 14, Baumgartner was involved in an altercation with a passerby outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Middleburg Drive in Columbia. According to police incident reports and a video taken to a scene, Baumgartner first pepper sprayed and then shot the unnamed victim.

—The State (Columbia, S.C.)

US Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick surrenders to authorities in $5 million federal theft case

MIAMI — Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick surrendered to authorities Tuesday on charges of stealing a $5 million overpayment of federal disaster relief funds to her family’s health care company — and then using some of that money to funnel $1.14 million to her 2021 congressional campaign and purchase a 3.14-carat yellow diamond ring.

Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, a Democrat, made her first appearance in Miami federal court since she was charged last week in a 15-count conspiracy indictment, including theft of government funds, money laundering, making and receiving straw-donor contributions, and making false statements on a tax return.

The congresswoman, who appeared in civilian clothes and was handcuffed at the wrists, responded briefly to a judge’s questions about the charges in the indictment and potential punishment if she’s convicted of any crimes.

Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett set two bonds under an agreement between federal prosecutors and the defense team: a $25,000 personal surety bond and a separate $35,000 bond.

—Miami Herald

Hurricane season is a wrap. What kept storms away from Florida and the US?

MIAMI — For the first time in a decade, every single state, including the storm magnet of Florida, escaped the entire hurricane season without a direct hit from a hurricane.

Meteorologists say we owe this good fortune to an unusual weather pattern that steered nearly every storm away, a rare phenomenon of two hurricanes merging and some dumb luck — at least for the U.S. Jamaica, raked by record-setting Hurricane Melissa, was not so lucky.

“Every year is a lovely year not to be hit by a hurricane. We deserved a break,” said Jeff Berardelli, chief meteorologist and climate specialist at WFLA Tampa Bay.

Hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30, and although forecasters originally called for an above-average season, it ended up closer to an average season and none of the five hurricanes that formed in the last few months touched U.S. soil.

Of the 13 total named storms this season, one of them did brush the coast of South Carolina with some heavy rains in July: Tropical Storm Chantal. The impacts were relatively minor.

The Caribbean, unfortunately, underlined the rule about hurricanes: All it takes is one. Hurricane Melissa roared into the region in late October as one of the most formidable storms on record. Around 100 people died, about half in Jamaica and half in Haiti, which was deluged with record-setting rain and floods.

—Miami Herald

Bolsonaro begins sentence behind bars as his downfall deepens

A Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered Jair Bolsonaro to begin serving his 27-year sentence behind bars, deepening a dramatic downfall for the former president who was convicted of plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to start the sentence Tuesday, days after his weekend arrest for tampering with a court-mandated ankle monitor. He will remain in custody in a special cell at Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia, where he’s been held since Saturday, according to the judge’s order.

Bolsonaro was convicted in September of attempting to remain in power after his loss to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a plan that prosecutors said included a plot to assassinate Lula, his vice president and Moraes.

Bolsonaro, 70, had asked that judges allow him to serve the sentence under house arrest, citing his age and a litany of health problems that include a recent skin cancer diagnosis. Moraes, however, denied that request in a separate order Saturday, after Bolsonaro acknowledged that he’d taken a soldering iron to the ankle monitor out of “curiosity.”

His defense team could still submit another request for house arrest. The attorneys didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

—Bloomberg News