News briefs for April 17

Subscribe Now Choose a package that suits your preferences.
Start Free Account Get access to 7 premium stories every month for FREE!
Already a Subscriber? Current print subscriber? Activate your complimentary Digital account.

Manhunt underway for man who streamed homicide

Manhunt underway for man who streamed homicide

CLEVELAND (AP) — A manhunt is underway for a suspect who police say killed a man on the street Sunday while streaming it live on Facebook.

Law enforcement is searching the Cleveland area and beyond for Steve Stephens, the suspect police say walked up to an elderly man and shot him while on video, said Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams.

The victim has been identified as 74-year-old Robert Goodwin Sr.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson publicly urged Stephens to turn himself into police and not to “do anymore harm to anybody.”

“Any problems he is having, we can have a conversation,” Jackson said.

Turkey votes to expand president’s powers

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a historic referendum Sunday that will greatly expand the powers of his office, although opposition parties questioned the outcome and said they would challenge the results.

With nearly all ballots counted, the “yes” vote stood at 51.41 percent, while the “no” vote was 48.59 percent, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. The head of Turkey’s electoral board confirmed the “yes” victory and said final results would be declared in 11-12 days.

Although the margin fell short of the sweeping victory Erdogan had sought in the landmark referendum, it could nevertheless cement his hold on power in Turkey and is expected to have a huge effect on the country’s long-term political future and its international relations.

The 18 constitutional amendments that will come into effect after the next election, scheduled for 2019, will abolish the office of the prime minister and hand sweeping executive powers to the president.

Mass transit advocates hope for boost from highway collapse

ATLANTA (AP) — The collapse of an interstate in the heart of Atlanta has more than 2 million metro residents sitting in even more traffic in the already congested city, and mass transit advocates hope the headaches will spur new interest in expanding rail and bus routes.

Many commuters come from surrounding counties that have long resisted mass transit, creating a car-centric region shaped by issues of race and class for more than four decades.

Georgia transportation officials hope to reopen Interstate 85 by mid-June after a 350-foot span came crashing down March 30 amid intense heat from a fire set beneath the roadway.

Until then, 250,000 drivers who depend on that route each day are stretching the limits of Atlanta’s other highways and surface roads, or using the region’s transit system at unprecedented levels. Ridership has gone up 20 percent since the collapse.

Skeptics of expanding mass transportation in metro Atlanta wonder whether residents of such a sprawling region will leave their cars behind barring a crisis of this magnitude.

He’s how tall? Birth stats out for April the giraffe’s calf

HARPURSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — April the giraffe’s calf is nursing strongly and his mother is recovering “perfectly,” said officials with Animal Adventure Park on Sunday after a morning veterinarian check with the newborn.

April gave birth to a healthy male calf Saturday at the privately owned Animal Adventure Park before an online audience of more than a million viewers.

The 15-year-old giraffe delivered her calf shortly before 10 a.m. EDT in an enclosed pen at the zoo in Harpursville, a rural upstate village about 130 miles northwest of New York City.

The calf weighs in at 129 pounds and stands 5 feet 9 inches tall.

“April has recovered perfectly and is eating everything in sight!” the team posted on its official Facebook page.