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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- A jury in Virginia began deliberating Wednesday in a $40 million lawsuit filed against a former school administrator accused of ignoring repeated warnings that a 6-year-old had a gun hours before a teacher was shot. Closing arguments were held earlier Wednesday following a weeklong trial in the lawsuit filed by former teacher Abby Zwerner against Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. Zwerner was shot in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom. Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest. Zwerner's attorneys said Parker failed to act in the hours before the shooting after several school staff members told her that the student had a gun in his backpack. The case went to the jury after a judge rejected a defense motion for a mistrial. Parker was the only defendant in the lawsuit filed by Zwerner. The judge previously dismissed the district's superintendent and the school principal as defendants. Man arrested over threats to legislator A Pennsylvania man arrested Tuesday at the entrance to a Senate office building is accused of threatening to kill Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., authorities said. The man, whom police identified as 43-year-old Richard Griffin, said in a letter to Garcia's office that he planned to travel to the nation's capital to kill the congressman, according to a spokesman for Garcia. Garcia "is in California and is safe," the spokesperson said. Griffin was located by the department's rapid response team, who identified him from a lookout bulletin released Oct. 28. He was found without weapons at an entrance for the Russell Senate Office Building and was stopped before he could pass through a security screening, police said. It is unclear whether Griffin has an attorney. A U.S. Capitol Police public information officer said the department could not provide a copy of the bulletin. Griffin had a history of contacting a congressional office, government officials and law enforcement agencies, according to police. "We will not tolerate any threats to the members of Congress, their families, or staff," Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said in a statement. "Our officers, agents, and professional staff worked relentlessly to bring offenders to justice. We have a zero-tolerance stance when it comes to threats." Texans advance to House seat runoff HOUSTON -- Democrats Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards advanced to a runoff Tuesday night in a special election for a U.S. House seat that has been vacant since March. Menefee, a Harris County attorney, and Edwards, a former member of Houston City Council, were the top vote-getters in a field of 16 candidates. Neither received more than 50% of the vote, sending the race to a runoff that is expected early next year. The winner is to serve out the remaining term of Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died two months after taking office representing the 18th Congressional District. Following Turner's death, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott defended not holding a special election until November by arguing that Houston election officials needed time to prepare. Menefee said his message for President Donald Trump and his allies is, "We've got one more election left and then you're going to have to see me." Confusion has lingered over the election in the 18th Congressional District, where many residents will vote in a different district next year under a redrawn map. "It's not enough to me just for us to fight back against the attacks waged by our president," Edwards said, speaking to supporters after polls closed. "We must do that and forge a path for our future." FBI links Russia to N.J. bomb emails Many of the bomb threats made against polling sites across several New Jersey counties appeared to "originate from Russian email domains," the FBI said Wednesday in a statement. "None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far," it continued. "We will continue to work closely with our state and local law enforcement partners to respond to any threats to our elections." Multiple polling places across the Garden State were temporarily closed Tuesday morning after precincts received a rash of emailed threats, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. At least one person, an unidentified juvenile from North Brunswick, has been arrested in connection with the threats, Pix11 reported. The suspect is accused of texting a bomb threat around 8:15 a.m. to the Livingston Park Elementary School polling location. It was unclear whether the juvenile's threat was sent in collaboration with those received by the other New Jersey polling places. An investigation is ongoing.
