While you were sleeping, we compiled the biggest stories of the day in one place. Each story has a quick and easy summary, so you're prepared for whatever the day brings. Just click on the links if you want to know more!
1. Brian Laundrie's family says he died by suicide
An attorney representing the family of Brian Laundrie said in a statement on Tuesday that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Laundrie's skeletal remains were found on Oct. 20 at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park after he was named a person of interest in the death of his fiancee, Gabby Petito.
Her cause of death was manual strangulation/throttling and ruled the manner of death a homicide.
2. Federal judge deals blow to legal sports gambling in Florida
A federal judge threw out the game compact between the State of Florida and the Seminole Tribe, ruling that the agreement violates the Indian Gaming Regulation Act (IGRA) by allowing people to bet when they're not physically on Indian Lands.
The compact, by allowing people to use an electronic device to place a bet when they're within the state "grants the Tribe a monopoly over both all online betting and all wagers on major sporting events," the opinion by Judge Dabney Friedrich said.
Attorney and gambling and sports expert Daniel Wallach says the federal government can file an appeal or they could try to get it on the November 2022 ballot as an amendment.
3. Jury holds pharmacies responsible for role in opioid crisis
CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties, a federal jury said Tuesday.
Lake and Trumbull counties blamed the three chain pharmacies for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1 billion, said their attorney, who in court compared the pharmacies' dispensing to a gumball machine.
How much the pharmacies must pay in damages will be decided in the spring by a federal judge. Spokespeople for CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart say the companies will appeal the verdict.
4. NASA launches mission to deflect an asteroid
A NASA spacecraft that will deliberately crash into an asteroid has successfully launched.
The goal of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is to adjust the speed and path of an asteroid by using kinetic impactor technology.
The spacecraft is expected to reach its destination in September 2022 and begin testing its impact on the asteroid.
5. No verdict after first day of deliberations in trial for killing of Ahmaud Arbery
Prosecutors seeking murder convictions in the 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery's death wrapped up their legal argument to jurors Tuesday, getting the final word as closing arguments spilled into a second day.
Following closing arguments, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley gave legal instructions to the disproportionately white jury before it began deliberations.
Arbery was chased and fatally shot on Feb. 23, 2020, after he was spotted running in a neighborhood outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan are charged with murder.
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On This Day In History
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, is published in England on November 24, 1859. Darwin’s theory argued that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called “natural selection.”
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