Actor Jussie Smollett Guilty Of Staging Anti-Gay, Racist Attack

ACROSS AMERICA — Good morning! It’s Friday, Dec. 10. The weekend is here, and only two weeks remain until Christmas. If you can, try to squeeze in one last day or two of relaxation before the holiday bustle really picks up speed. Also, catch up on the headlines we’re following today:

• Two lawsuits have been filed against the school district where four teens were killed last week.

• Josh Duggar of “19 Kids And Counting” fame has been convicted of child porn possession.

• Youths ages 16 and 17 can now get a booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

• A couple whose first baby received a miracle heart transplant for Christmas two years ago is facing the unthinkable.

Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was convicted Thursday on five of six charges he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself nearly three years ago and then lied to Chicago police about it.

He was acquitted on one count.

The verdict came after a roughly one-week trial in which two brothers testified that Smollett recruited them to fake an attack on him near his home in downtown Chicago in January 2019. Smollett has repeatedly denied the claims.

The brothers said Smollett orchestrated the hoax, telling them to put a noose around his neck and rough him up in view of a surveillance camera, and that he said he wanted video of the hoax made public via social media. » Cook County Jury Finds Jussie Smollett Guilty: AP Report, via Chicago Patch

Daunte Wright’s Girlfriend Testifies

The woman who was riding with Daunte Wright when he was pulled over by police testified Thursday about the chaos right after an officer shot him, saying she screamed at Wright trying to get a response but that he "wasn't answering me and he was just gasping.”

"I grabbed, like, whatever was in the car. I don't remember if it was a sweater or a towel or a blanket or something … and put it on his chest like, like you know, you see in movies and TV shows," Alayna Albrecht-Payton, who was Wright's girlfriend, testified. "I didn't know what to do."

Payton testified in the trial of former officer Kim Potter, 49, who is charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in Wright's April 11 death in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. » Girlfriend: Daunte Wright Was 'Just Gasping' After Shooting, via Southwest Minneapolis Patch

Trump Loses Appeal

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday against an effort by former President Donald Trump to shield documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. In a 68-page ruling, the three-judge panel tossed aside Trump's various arguments for using executive privilege to block records that the committee regards as vital to its investigation. » Trump Can't Shield Documents From Jan. 6 Panel, Court Rules, via Across America Patch

Oxford Schools Face Lawsuits

Two lawsuits seeking $100 million each have been filed against Oxford Community Schools, its superintendent, Oxford High School's principal and others after four students were fatally shot and seven others were seriously wounded last week.

The two lawsuits were filed in Detroit federal court Thursday morning by nationally known attorney Geoffrey Fieger. Fieger filed the lawsuits on behalf of a child who was shot in the neck during the shooting rampage and her sister, who was next to her when she was shot. » Oxford Community Schools Faces Two $100M Lawsuits After Shooting, via Rochester-Rochester Hills, Michigan, Patch

Court Convicts Josh Duggar

Former reality television star Josh Duggar was arrested Thursday after a federal jury convicted him of possession of child pornography. The jury found Duggar, 33, guilty on one count each of receiving and possessing child pornography. He faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count when he's sentenced,

Duggar, his parents and his siblings starred in TLC's "19 Kids And Counting." The network canceled the show in 2015 after Duggar admitted to molesting his four younger sisters and a babysitter. » Josh Duggar Convicted Of Child Pornography Possession: Reports, via Across America Patch

Older Teens OK’d For Boosters

The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters, ruling that 16- and 17-year-olds can get a third dose of Pfizer's vaccine. On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization for 16- and 17-year-olds to get a third dose of the vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech — if it's been six months since their last shot. » FDA Expands Pfizer COVID-19 Booster To 16, 17-Year-Olds, via Across Ameria Patch

2021 In Photos

On the heels of the pandemic reality we came to know last year, 2021 featured many of the same ups and downs. Again, COVID-19 wrought loss and desperation, but as vaccines arrived, 2021 also brought hope. » 2021 In Photos: Insurrection, Inauguration And Wearisome COVID-19, via Across America Patch

More national headlines on Patch and beyond:

• Emmett Till Antilynching Act Passes House Judiciary Committee

• Travis Scott Denies Knowing Fans In Danger At Astroworld

• U.S. Jobless Claims Hit 52-Year Low Amid Recovery

• From Grime To Crumbling Masonry, U.S. Parks Get A Makeover

• Starbucks Workers Vote To Unionize, First In Company History

• Ex-D.C. Guard Leaders Rebut Army’s Jan. 6 Report, via Politico

• House To Vote Next Week On Islamophobia Bill, Holding Meadows In Contempt, via The Hill

Around ‘The Patch’

‘We Are Broken’: A New York couple whose first baby received a miracle heart transplant for Christmas two years ago is facing the unthinkable: their second child, who will celebrate his first birthday on Dec. 30, also needs a new heart, via Riverhead Patch

9-Year-Old Ate Garbage: Lawsuit: An Ohio school district is investigating claims that an elementary school student was forced by a teacher to eat food pulled out of a garbage can, via Avon-Avon Lake Patch

More local news:

• Dad's Dying Wish Comes True, Meets Newborn Son In Last Breaths, via Tolland, Connecticut, Patch

• California Plans To Be Abortion Sanctuary If Roe Overturned, via San Francisco Patch

• Cold Case Goes Warm: GA Man's Car Found At Bottom Of Alabama Creek 45 Years Later, via Dallas-Hiram, Georgia, Patch

• 'Let's Go, Brandon' Stores Open Across Massachusetts, via Attleboro, Massachusetts, Patch

• Congressional Staffer With Handgun Arrested In D.C.’s Longworth Building, via Washington, D.C., Patch

• Manatees Are Dying In Record Numbers, But Help May Be On Way, via Tampa, Florida, Patch

• Man Who Filmed Sleeping Trooper Pulled Over Minutes Later, via Across Massachusetts Patch

• Major Hospital Chain Runs Out Of Beds Amid COVID-19 Surge, via Norristown, Pennsylvania Patch

House Hunting

An Old Las Palmas estate in Palm Springs, California, built in 1927 and previously owned by the widow of actor Gene Autry, is up for sale. El Kantara, or "The Bridge," is an $11.7 million home where history is only outweighed by architectural prominence.

This Day In History

In 1898, representatives of Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Spanish-American War.

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This article originally appeared on the Across America Patch