Tuesday morning news: September 17, 2024

Trump attempt latest » The Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe is speaking out about the second assassination attempt in as many months against former President Donald Trump.

He described the events that unfolded on Sunday afternoon at the Trump International golf resort in Florida.

ROWE:  As former president Trump was moving through the fifth fairway across the course and out of sight of the sixth green, the agent who was visually sweeping the area of the sixth green saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle.

The agent opened fire on the gunman who never got a shot off at agents or Donald Trump. Rowe said the suspect never had a direct line of sight to the former president.

He added, “The Secret Service's protective methodologies work and they are sound, and we saw that yesterday.” He talked about the “layered” elements of protection.

ROWE:  You know, there was a front element, uh, it did its job in sweeping ahead of the president. That's what identified this individual who was in that wood line.

Continued reaction to Trump assassination attempt » But not everyone’s convinced that the Secret Service’s methods work as well as they should.

Will Snyder is the Sheriff of Martin County where the 58-year-old suspect was pulled from his vehicle and arrested. Snyder questioned …

SNYDER:  How does a guy from not here get all the way to Trump International, realize that the president, former president of the United States is golfing and is able to get a rifle in that vicinity?

And in an interview, former Secret Service agent Evy Poumouras remarked, “How did he get there, take that position for 12 hours and nobody saw that? Nobody did a perimeter sweep?”

GOP Congressman Mark Green is one of many lawmakers demanding answers.

GREEN:  I want to know where every secret service agent was that day and the week prior, you know, because they say we're constrained with resources. Well, tell me where all of your other resources were.

The Trump campaign asked the Secret Service on Monday to step up security. It was not immediately clear how the agency responded.

China pastor » An American pastor is finally free after more than 20 years behind bars in China. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: David Lin arrived in San Antonio on Sunday nearly two decades after Chinese authorities arrested him.

The government arrested the California pastor in 2006 and charged him with contract fraud.

Human rights group Dui Hua says the communist government frequently uses that particular charge to persecute Christians who raise funds to support house churches.

Lin reportedly entered China in 2006 to help an underground church build a place to worship.

He visited China regularly in the 1990s and began preaching the Gospel there in 1999, according to ChinaAid.

A Beijing court in 2009 sentenced him to life in prison, but his sentence was reduced three times.

He was due to be released in 2029, no word yet on why he was released earlier than that.

American officials have been calling for his freedom for years.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Carolina weather tropical storm » Heavy rain and powerful winds pounded the Carolinas into the early morning hours today. Some areas saw wind gusts of more than 60 miles per hour.

In Brunswick County, North Carolina, flooding reached waist high in areas around the courthouse. About 15 miles away in Carolina Beach, radar estimated up to 18 inches of rain fell in the area.

Despite all of that. the storm was known only to forecasters called it Potential Tropical Cyclone No. 8. It never was quite organized enough to become a named storm.

Titan submersible » More than a year after the Titan submersible imploded during an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic, killing 5 people, investigators are still gathering facts.

The former lead engineer for the submersible told the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation …

NISSEN:  I stopped the 2019 Titanic dive because the data, the instrumentation that I put on it wasn't good and I was fired for it.

OceanGate's former engineering director, Tony Nissen testified at a hearing on Monday. Others have testified that OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush ignored warnings and pushed ahead with the ill-fated expedition in June of 2023. Rush was among those killed during that dive.

The investigative board is still working to determine the exact cause of the implosion.

Tito Jackson obit » Tito Jackson, one of the brothers who made up the beloved pop group the Jackson 5, has died at age 70. Jackson was the third of nine children, including global superstars Michael and Janet.

In a 2017 interview, the skilled guitarist recalled an interaction as a child with his father Joe Jackson.

JACKSON: So his string was broke and he was so upset, who's, who's been playing my guitar. I started crying, so of course that told the story. After I got punished for it, he sat me down and said, show me what you know. He was so surprised that I was playing just as well as he did.

The Jackson 5 produced several No. 1 hits in the 1970s and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Fixing government funding. Plus, Rethinking libraries.

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