Florida Sentinel Bulletin

CALIFORNIA — A hail of gunfire along an Oakland street has left eight people wounded, including a 1-year-old boy who authorities say was taken to the city’s Children’s Hospital in critical condition.

The gunfire broke out Monday evening in a liquor store parking lot after a crowd had gathered, police said. The victims were transported to local hospitals by others at the scene before officers arrived to find dozens of bullet casings.

The 1-year-old’s father, who also was shot, drove his son to the hospital, where surgeons were trying to relieve swelling on his brain.

Television footage showed a van belonging to an Oakland rapper that was riddled with bullet holes and had apparently taken some of the victims to the hospital.

The rapper, who goes by the name Kafani, posted to Twitter on Monday that he had not been shot, but to pray for his little cousin.

PITTSBURGH — A man accused of firing two shots at the White House last week has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama or his staff.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez made his first court appearance before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh on Thursday, one day after he was arrested at a western Pennsylvania hotel. He will be taken back from a federal court in Pittsburgh to face the charges in Washington, D.C.

Ortega will remain in federal custody at least until a magistrate in Washington can determine if he should remain jailed until his trial on the charge, which carries up to life in prison.

Ortega sat quietly as the hearing began, his hands free but his feet shackled. The 21-year-old said only, “Yes, ma’am” when he was asked if he understood that he would be going back to Washington to face the charge.

Authorities said a man clad in black who was obsessed with Pres. Obama pulled his car within view of the White House on Friday night and fired shots from an assault rifle, cracking a window of the first family’s living quarters while the president was away.

Soon after, U. S. Park Police found an abandoned vehicle, with an assault rifle inside it, near a bridge leading out of the nation’s capital to Virginia. The car led investigators to Ortega.

The FBI took custody of Ortega’s car Thursday afternoon to continue the process of reviewing evidence, said Lindsay Godwin, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington field office.

Ortega was arrested after a hotel desk clerk recognized his picture. He had been reported missing Oct. 31 by his family.

DETROIT – The city of Detroit could face potential bankruptcy by next Spring if significant cuts are not made. Mayor Dave Bing is set to address the city’s long-mounting financial crisis.

An audit by Ernst & Young, which was ordered by the city and paid for with taxpayer money, showed that the city’s finances are so slim that even laying off 2,200 employees would delay insolvency only until July. The audit, that led Bing to suggest he would consider becoming emergency financial manager if asked to do so by Gov. Rick Snyder, also showed that the city is in jeopardy of running out of money as soon as next April if significant cuts are not made.

NORCROSS, GA – Atlanta-area authorities say a teenage burglary suspect was pulled from a chimney by firefighters after being stuck there for more than 10 hours.

Police say 17-year-old Renaldo Jack was taken into custody after being freed from the chimney. A neighbor heard someone yelling for help from her neighbor’s chimney.

Firefighters freed him by lowering a rope from the top of the chimney.

CONNECTICUT – Cherie Grace’s baby wasn’t due until Friday, so when the Hamden, Connecticut mom started feeling labor pains days before, she thought she had some time to wash up before heading to the hospital.

Little did she know little Aaliyah Mary Blackwell had other plans.”After the bath, she started to come out, no questions asked,” Randy Blackwell, Aaliyah’s dad, said. Blackwell rushed to Grace’s side and called 911 at the same time he prepared to delivery his daughter in the bathtub.

“The baby’s head was starting to crown and I was trying to juggle that, empty the bathtub, trying to deliver her and talk to them (911) at the same time. Two minutes later, she was born,” Blackwell said.

Blackwell took care of the umbilical cord and made sure Aaliyah was breathing. When the baby started screaming, he could finally take a deep breath himself.

CHICAGO – A 32-year-old man was punched in the head after giving a homeless man $2 on his way out of a Chicago Transit Authority.

Timothy Anderson was begging for money on a CTA train just after 6 p.m. Sunday near the Belmont elevated station in the 900 block of West Belmont Avenue, police said. The victim gave reportedly Anderson the money and walked off the train.

Apparently displeased, Anderson followed and punched the man in the head. The victim toppled over, hitting his head on the ground.

Several witnesses ran after Anderson and called the police. Police caught Anderson in the 3100 block of North Clark Street.

The victim was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. He suffered a cut to his head and other facial injuries. He positively identified Anderson to the police.

Anderson is charged with one felony count of aggravated battery and held on a $150,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 21.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s landmark health care overhaul appears headed for a Supreme Court ruling as the presidential election season hits full stride in the coming year.

The health care law affecting virtually every American is sure to figure prominently in President Barack Obama’s campaign for re-election. Republican contenders are already assailing it in virtually every debate and speech.

The administration on Wednesday formally appealed a ruling by the federal appeals court in Atlanta that struck down the law’s core requirement that Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty beginning in 2014. The administration said the appeals court decision declaring the law’s central provision unconstitutional was “fundamentally flawed.”

A Chicago man who was charged in the beating death of a nurse allegedly stole the woman’s wedding and engagement rings in order to propose to his girlfriend.

Raymond Harris, 36, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and robbery in the death of Virginia Perillo, 73.

In court, prosecutors said Harris, who was paroled earlier this year after he served 13 years of a 30-year prison sentence on attempted murder and aggravated arson convictions, attended a party after attacking Perillo and was seen wearing “brand new clothes” and showing off new rings which he used later that night to propose to his girlfriend.

Perillo’s family reportedly confirmed that rings being worn by Harris’ fiance belonged to the victim.

Jerice Hunter, the mother of missing Glendale, Ariz. girl Jahessye Shockley has promised her daughter that she will find her.

“Jahessye, somebody’s thinking about you, if nobody but us [the girl’s family],” said Jerice Hunter, on the brink of tears.  “Mamma coming to get you.”

Hunter then went on to adamantly express that she will not allow her daughter to remain away from her family.

It has been one month since the little girl disappeared on Oct. 11, after Hunter is reported to have left the child locked in her apartment while she ran an errand.