News in brief

By The Associated Press

Biden meets for hours with families of officers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. | President Joe Biden detoured to Charlotte on Thursday to meet the families of law enforcement officers shot to death on the job, just a week after he sat down with the grieving relatives of two cops killed in upstate New York.

Biden was headed to a speech in Wilmington, North Carolina, and added on the visit to see the families, as well as officers wounded in the shooting.

The meeting lasted about two hours and took place with little fanfare behind closed doors, as the White House wanted Biden to be seen as respecting the privacy of grieving families and avoiding the appearance of using their grief for political purposes.

Pennsylvania nurse gets life

in prison

A Pennsylvania nurse who administered lethal or potentially lethal doses of insulin to numerous patients has pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and other charges and been sentenced to life in prison.

Forty-one-year-old Heather Pressdee was given three consecutive life sentences and another consecutive term of 380-760 years behind bars during a hearing Thursday in Butler, north of Pittsburgh. Prosecutors say she played a role in the deaths of at least 17 patients who lived in five health facilities in four counties between 2020 and 2023.

Authorities say coworkers often questioned Pressdee’s conduct and said she frequently showed disdain for her patients and made derogatory comments about them.

Gangs in Haiti launch fresh attacks

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti | Gangs in Haiti laid siege to several neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, burning homes and exchanging gunfire with police for hours as hundreds fled the violence early Thursday in one of the biggest attacks since Haiti’s new prime minister was announced.

The attacks began late Wednesday in neighborhoods including Solino and Delmas 18, 20 and 24 located southwest of the main international airport, which has remained closed for nearly two months amid relentless gang violence.

“The gangs started burning everything in sight,” said a man called Néne, who declined to give his last name out of fear. “I was hiding in a corner all night.”

I-95 in Connecticut will close for days after crash damages bridge

HARTFORD, Conn. | Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont says the major traffic artery linking New England with New York will be closed for days around the area where a tanker fire damaged a bridge over Interstate 95.

The tanker truck filled with gasoline burst into flames in a three-vehicle crash Thursday on I-95 in southwest Connecticut. The East Coast’s main north-south highway subsequently closed, causing major traffic jams.

The crash caused damage to the bridge above it, which the governor said will need to be demolished and replaced. Lamont says the hope is to reopen the interstate by Monday morning.

—From AP reports