U.S. and world news for March 15

Willis can remain: Fulton County, Georgia, Judge Scott McAfee has ruled that District Attorney Fani Willis can continue prosecuting the case she brought against Donald Trump and a host of other defendants for illegally trying to change the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump and some other defendants wanted her kicked off the case because she was having a personal relationship with Nathan Wade, who she hired as a special prosecutor on the case. Removing Willis would have ended the prosecution of Trump and the others since the entire Fulton County DA’s Office also would be determined to have been tainted. McAfee said that while Willis’ behavior was unprofessional, it had nothing to do with the facts or legal issues in the case. McAfee did say that Wade should step down from the case.

Wind farm: The White House released a statement from President Biden praising the opening of the nation’s first large commercial wind farm, South Fork Wind located 35 miles east of Montauk Point, Long Island. The wind farm was built by the Danish company Ørsted and the utility Eversource. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul officiated at an opening ceremony on Thursday. It is estimated that the offshore wind turbines will generate enough electricity to power from 60,000 to 70,000 homes. Hochul said using the wind at the power facility instead of fossil fuels will eliminate greenhouse gases generated each year by 60,000 internal combustion engine cars.

Shooting verdict: James Crumbley, the father of the young man who killed four students in Pontiac, Michigan’s Oxford High School has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a jury. He bought the gun that his son used in the shootings. His wife had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter last month. Prosecutors took the position that the parents could have taken actions that likely would have prevented the shootings.

Rocket problem: Investigators believe that the SpaceX rocket Starship that has been built to one day take astronauts to the moon broke apart after about an hour of flight yesterday. It was the third test flight and third one that didn’t go as planned. The rocket had been launched from Boca Chica, Texas. The test flight was supposed to end with a splashdown in the Indian Ocean, but there was no splashdown. The timetable calls for the first manned flight to the moon using a Starship rocket in September of 2026.

Superintendent candidate: CNN reports that the Republican nominee to run for superintendent of the North Carolina public schools has called for former President Barack Obama to be executed in a televised event and also called for executing President Biden. Michele Morrow has also called for executing  Hillary Clinton, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and others including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Morrow defeated the incumbent superintendent Catherine Truitt in a Republican primary. She has advocated far-right conspiracy theories and called for abolishing North Carolina’s Board of Education.

Trial delay: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has made a court filing saying it would consider delaying Donald Trump’s hush money trial for one month. The trial for allegedly paying off porn star Stormy Daniels is scheduled to start March 25, but Bragg’s office recently received about 31,000 pages of additional information from the federal government. It says it needs to turn those papers over to Trumps attorneys and needs to give them time to review them. Trump’s attorneys asked for a three-month delay.

Schumer’s speech: Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish and is from New York, took to the Senate floor for a speech harshly criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said that Netanyahu’s coalition government no longer fits the needs of Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Netanyahu’s Likud party put out a statement saying that Schumer should be respecting Israel’s elected government and not be undermining it.