Newton teacher strike ends after 11 days

An 11-day long teacher strike in Newton came to an end Feb. 2 after the Newton’s School Committee and Newton Teachers Association reached a tentative agreement.

According to The Boston Globe, it was the longest teacher strike in decades in Massachusetts. 

The agreement includes a 12.6% cost of living increase over four years for teachers, a larger increase for aides in the classroom and an expansion of paid parental leave. The agreement will cost Newton’s district $53 million more than the old contract.

The Globe also reported the new contract also includes a side agreement to add social workers in the schools, but won’t add one in every school as the union requested.

During the strike, special education students were forced to go without necessary therapy.

“I don’t think there’s a single party that won in this strike, [both sides] lost my trust very early on in their very negative tone and rhetoric,” said Newton parent Trevor Mack, according to the Globe.

U.S. Court of Appeal rules Trump is not immune to trial in efforts to overturn 2020 election results

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously ruled Feb. 6 that former President Donald Trump can face prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results, according to the Associated Press.

The ruling came almost one month after Trump’s lawyers argued he acted within his role as president when he made claims about fraud during the 2020 election, which made him immune from prosecution. In the opinion, the court rejected the claim.

“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” the court wrote. “But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.”

According to the AP, the appeals panel gave Trump’s team one week to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, which they are expected to do as Trump aims to secure the Republican presidential nomination. 

David Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, told The New York Times the former president “respectfully” disagrees with the decision. 

“If immunity is not granted to a president, every future president who leaves office will be immediately indicted by the opposing party,” Cheung said. “Without complete immunity, a president of the United States would not be able to properly function.”

This ruling is the second time since December that judges have ruled Trump can be held liable for actions taken in the White House, AP reported. 

The decision set a precedent, reported The New York Times. The panel answered a question never considered by an appeals court: Can former presidents escape being held accountable by the criminal justice system for things they did while in office?

Michigan school shooter’s mother convicted of involuntary manslaughter

A Michigan jury convicted Jennifer Crumbley, mother of the Oxford High School school shooter, of involuntary manslaughter Feb. 6 according to The Boston Globe.

Ethan Crumbley, 15 years old at the time he opened fire in the Michigan school, pleaded guilty to 24 charges and was sentenced to life in prison in January. 

According to Michigan law, Jennifer Crumbley, 45, had an obligation to keep her son from causing harm to others, according to the Globe. She failed to secure a gun and ammunition in their home and failed to get Ethan Crumbley, now 17, mental health care after many signs of him struggling.

According to AP, hours before the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, Ethan Crumbley drew violent drawings on a math assignment with the words, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. The world is dead. My life is useless.”

The school called his parents to the school for a meeting but they didn’t take him home early, according to the Globe. No one checked his backpack. 

Ethan Crumbley later shot 10 students, four of which died, and one teacher. 

“You saw your son shoot the last practice round before the (school) shooting on Nov. 30. You saw how he stood. … He knew how to use the gun,” assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said last week.

Three people plead not guilty to running brothel ring 

Three people were arraigned in federal court Feb. 6 following indictments for laundering money and coercing women into prostitution while allegedly running a high-end brothel ring that operated in the Boston area and in Virginia, according to The Boston Globe.

Han Lee, 41, of Cambridge, James Lee, 68, of Torrance, California and Junmyung Lee, 30, of Dedham pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Worcester.

According to the Globe, authorities said Junmyung Lee was the “booker” of the brothel ring.

The trio was indicted last week by a grand jury, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The names of the clientele have not been released, but according to the Globe, a single justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled that hearings for 28 people accused of partaking in the brothel network should be available to the public.