Paul Ryan takes gavel as 54th House speaker
WASHINGTON – Paul Ryan became the 54th speaker of the U.S. House on Thursday in a day of high political theater, a young new leader for a fractured Congress, charged with healing Republican divides and quieting the chaos of Capitol Hill.
“Let’s prove ourselves worthy,” Ryan urged from the House dais where he was sworn into the job, second in line to the presidency, after an extraordinary month of unrest for Congress.
“Let’s be frank: The House is broken,” Ryan declared. “We are not settling scores. We are wiping the slate clean.”
One injured after plane catches fire on takeoff
DANIA BEACH, Fla. – A jet plane’s engine caught fire Thursday as it prepared for takeoff, and passengers had to quickly evacuate using emergency slides. One person was seriously injured, officials said.
Dozens of passengers could be seen in video footage gliding down the slides of the Dynamic Airways flight bound for Caracas, Venezuela. Some ran away from the plane into the terminal at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport as fire crews rushed to put the blaze out.
“I heard a loud bang. I turned around, saw the lights, saw the flames and I ran to the front of the aircraft,” said Andres Gallegos, who said it took about 30 seconds for the plane doors to open.
Prep school graduate sentenced in sex assault
CONCORD, N.H. – A graduate of an exclusive New England prep school was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old freshman girl as part of a tradition in which upperclassman competed to rack up sexual conquests.
Owen Labrie, 20, of Tunbridge, Vermont, was also given probation.
Labrie was originally charged with rape, accused of forcing himself on the girl in a nearly deserted academic building in 2014, just before his graduation. He was 18 at the time. A jury in August cleared him of rape and convicted him of misdemeanor sexual assault for having intercourse and other sexual contact with an underage girl.
Associated Press
