The police in Ohio have claimed that a sex worker in the area had contact with more than 200 clients despite knowing she was HIV-positive. They have issued a notice, asking people who engaged in the “risky business” with her to come forward and get tested, a report in New York Post said. The sex worker, Linda Leccesse, had sexual contacts with clients for five months – from January to May, 2022. This is around the same time she took an HIV test and learned she was positive for the deadly virus, the outlet further said.

This is categorised as third degree felony in Ohio. 

The Post report said that Leccesse solicited most of these clients on Market Street in Marietta – a small city in southeast Ohio on the border of West Virginia – but the possibly infected people are believed to be spread across the East Coast.

“This case could stem anywhere from Florida up the East Coast, but there are local individuals that we will be reaching out to,” Washington County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mark Warden said in a press conference last week.

Police have started calling known clients of Leccesse and also urging anyone who may have had contact with her.

Anybody who may have been with Leccesse is asked to be “brutally honest” with officials, the Marietta/Belpre Health Department said.

“Marietta/Belpre Health Department is a judgment free zone with full confidentiality,” Health Department administrator Barbara Bradley is quoted as saying by the outlet.

Through investigation, agents say they learned and identified at least 211 individuals who had contact with Leccesse, said Fox News.

There are currently no hearings scheduled for Lecesse.

Hundreds of schools across the United States are set to close on April 8th due to a total solar eclipse. The eclipse will plunge several states into darkness as the moon covers the sun completely, according to Newsweek.

The path of totality will start in Mexico and move across parts of the United States, casting a complete shadow. This comes just a few months after the “ring of fire” eclipse in October 2023. Millions are expected to witness this astronomical event, with astronomy enthusiasts traveling to states in the path of totality, as per the news report.

However, safety concerns are emerging amid the excitement. Authorities warn that looking directly at the sun can cause permanent eye damage. There are also concerns about traffic disruptions and strain on local resources due to the large crowds expected.

The eclipse will be visible in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience totality. The eclipse will then move to Canada before exiting North America on the Atlantic coast.

Many schools in affected states have already announced closures. Parents are advised to check with their schools and stay updated with local news reports.

Texas has been proactive, with several counties issuing disaster declarations and advising residents to stock up on supplies. Some school districts, which initially planned eclipse-related activities, have reversed course due to safety concerns. Students will be given special eclipse glasses to take home and use for independent activities.

Schools in Indiana are also closing or switching to e-learning on the day of the eclipse.

A 32-year-old woman in the United States has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of her 16-month-old daughter, who prosecutors say was left home alone for 10 days while her mother vacationed. According to Fox News, the woman, identified as Kristel Candelario, pleaded guilty last month to one count of aggravated murder and one count of endangering children. She committed the “ultimate betrayal” by abandoning her daughter Jailyn without food or water last summer so she could vacation in Detroit and Puerto Rico, a judge told her on Monday.  

“Just as you didn’t let Jailyn out of her confinement, so too you should spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom,” County Common Pleas Court Judge Brendan Sheehan told the mother. “The only difference will be, the prison will at least feed you and give you liquid that you denied her,” the judge added. 

According to the prosecutors, last year in June, Candelario left her daughter “alone and unattended” at her home in Cleveland and did not return until 10 days later. “Upon returning, Candelario found Jailyn unresponsive and called the police. The Cleveland Division of Police and the Cleveland Division of Fire responded to the scene and Jailyn was pronounced deceased,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, as per Fox News. 

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“An investigation conducted by CPD’s Homicide Unit revealed that Candelario left her child alone and unattended from June 6 to June 16 to vacation in Detroit, Michigan, and in Puerto Rico. Jailyn was extremely dehydrated at the time of death,” the office added. 

“Jailyn was discovered in a Pack-N-Play pen on a liner soiled with urine and feces with soiled blankets,” the statement read. 

The mother, on the other hand, claims to have struggled with depression and other mental health issues. When given a chance to speak, she said that she has prayed daily for forgiveness. “There’s so much pain that I have in regards to the loss of my baby, Jailyn,” she said in court. “I’m extremely hurt about everything that happened. I am not trying to justify my actions, but nobody knew how much I was suffering and what I was going through,” she said. “God and my daughter have forgiven me,” she claimed.

A bodycam video released by Ohio police in the United States shows a cop shooting a black pregnant woman as she refuses to leave the car. The incident took place on August 24 and 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young died after being shot inside her car, as per a report in the New York Post. The police officers were questioning the woman about an incident of alleged theft, the outlet further said.

In the video shared by the Blendon Township Police Department, the woman is seen seated in her black sedan while an officer repeatedly asks her to “get out of the car”. She questions why she should do the same and said “I’m not going to do that.” The cop adds, “They said you stole stuff, do not leave.” Ms Young replies, “I didn’t do s***, the other girls was taking (stuff)”.

One of the officers then stands in front of the car with his gun pulled and his left hand on the bonnet. He screams, “Get out of the f****** car!” Ignoring him, the 21-year-old accelerates and the officer fired a shot. Within a few seconds, the car is seen moving slowly through the parking lot before crashing into the brick wall of a grocery store. The police officers run behind the car asking the woman to “stop the goddamn car!” as they point a gun toward her driver’s side window. The second officer tries but fails to unlock the door. He then smashes the half-opened glass window to gain access to Ms Young, who slumped over the car’s centre console. Officers said they tried to save the mother of two and her unborn child, but neither survived the gunshot. She was due to give birth in November.

Ms Young’s family said in a statement, “Having viewed the footage in its entirety, it is undeniable that Ta’Kiya’s death was not only avoidable, but also a gross misuse of power and authority.” They are seeking a criminal indictment of the officers.

The officers have been placed on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations is investigating the incident.

Ohio:

The Ohio police have released new footage of the incident in which a 21-year-old pregnant woman, Ta’kiya Young, was fatally shot dead by a cop after she was accused of shoplifting at a grocery store in Columbus last week, CNN reported on Friday.

CNN reported the video showed a Blendon Township police officer approaching Ta’kiya Young’s driver-side window outside a Kroger Grocery Shop in Westerville, Ohio, and repeatedly telling her to get out of the car.

A second officer, who is also wearing a body camera, then steps in front of the sedan.

“They said you stole something….get out of the car,” the officer at the window is seen telling Young in the newly released video. 

“I didn’t steal,” Young can be heard saying as the two argue back and forth with her window slightly ajar.

Police previously said a grocery store employee had notified officers that a woman who had stolen bottles of alcohol was in a car parked outside the store.

At one point, Young is heard saying, “You gonna shoot me?”

CNN reported, Young can then be seen turning the wheel of the car as the officer next to her window continues to urge her to exit the vehicle.

A few seconds later, the officer standing in front of the hood of the car fires through the windshield.

After the shot, the officers ran alongside the car yelling at the driver to stop. The car rolls onto a sidewalk between two brick columns and into a building.

Officers then called for backup and broke the window to reach the driver, who appeared to be slumped over to one side.

Brian Steel, executive vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge #9, said, “A weapon is not just a firearm. A weapon is also a 2000-pound vehicle that somebody puts in gear and is driving at you.”

“I understand why it could be justified but, again, I don’t make that decision,” Steel told reporters Friday, referring to the shooting. He said he assumed the officer believed he could not get out of the way of the vehicle quickly enough, the publication reported in its report.

The woman, 21-year-old Ta’kiya Young – whose death her family called a “criminal act” and “gross misuse of power and authority” after seeing the footage – was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)