CHEAT SHEET

01

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Charges Dropped Against Man, 20, Accused of Ohio Mass Shooting

Eljay Crisp-Carr spent five months in Toledo’s Lucas County Jail.

Prosecutors on Friday dropped charges against a man accused in a mass shooting in Toledo, Ohio. Eljay Crisp-Carr, 20, faced 25 counts of attempted murder and 26 counts of felonious assault in connection with a June 6 shooting at Toledo’s Old West End Festival that wounded 12 people. WTVG reports that during a hearing Friday, prosecutors asked the court to dismiss the charges without prejudice. Crisp-Carr told local news outlet WTVG that he was misidentified and was not at the festival when the shooting occurred. His defense attorneys said they had photo and video evidence supporting his alibi. Crisp-Carr spent five months in jail. His mother, April Carr, said she hoped her son’s case would serve as a warning for people to be less quick to judge others. “Y’all were quick to accuse him of being guilty,” she told WTVG. “Sometimes jumping to conclusions has you looking like a donkey.” April Carr, who said she had beaten cancer twice before but was currently living with stage 4 cancer, said the family had “a whole bunch of lawsuits” coming. Toledo Police Sergeant Mohamad Nasser said the request to drop the charges “followed new developments in the evidence” and that the police department’s investigation is still active.

02

COUNTRY ROYALTY

‘McHale’s Navy’ Star Dead at 84

Bobby Wright was the son of country legend Kitty Wells.

Actor and country singer Bobby Wright, known for playing radio operator Willy Moss in the ABC World War II military sitcom McHale’s Navy, died Tuesday at his home in Madison, Tennessee, his family announced. He was 84. Born in Charleston, West Virginia, Wright was the son of country musicians Johnnie Wright and Kitty Wells—known as the “Queen of Country Music.” According to his obituary, Wright was the last surviving cast member of McHale’s Navy, having appeared in all 138 episodes of the show during its run from 1962 to 1966. Outside of acting, Wright was a country music performer known for songs like “Here I Go Again,” which placed at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1971. Wright is survived by his sister, Carol Sue; his children, LeAnn and Kamela; his grandchildren, Austin, Cassidy, Shelby and Dalton; his great-grandchildren, Hayden, Pazlee, Remi, Fletcher and Axel; his nieces and nephews, Kitty, John Jr., David, Corrie and Stephanie; and his former wife, Brenda.

03

HOLIDAY HORROR

Rock Formation Collapse Kills 3 at Popular Tourist Destination

The crash occurred on Turkey’s Republic Day, a popular time for tourists to visit the site.

Part of a large volcanic rock formation collapsed on Thursday in Cappadocia, a historical region of Turkey and a popular tourist destination. At least three people were killed, and another five were injured during the collapse, which happened near a parking lot at an entrance to the site, officials say. Recent heavy rain likely caused the sudden crash, Gov. Huseyin Kok told AP News. “We hope that there are no other casualties,” he said. “We are deeply saddened.” Kok said two of the three victims were Turkish nationals but did not identify the third. Rescue teams are still searching for people who may be trapped under the debris. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said an investigation into the incident has been launched. The central Turkey site is one of the country’s most visited tourism locations, known for its distinctive rock formations and ancient underground cities. The collapse happened on Turkey’s Republic Day, a popular time for holiday crowds to visit the area.

04

GLASS CEILING BREAKER

Emmy-Winning CBS Trailblazer Dies After 47 Years With Network

She was the first female producer of CBS Evening News, having covered Ronald Reagan’s Soviet Union trip and won 13 Emmys.

The first female producer of CBS Evening News, and one of the network’s first-ever female news producers, has died at age 84. After 47 years with CBS, the network announced Linda Mason’s death on Wednesday, saying she died “peacefully… surrounded by family.” The New York native began as a desk assistant before working alongside anchors like Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Mike Wallace, Charles Kuralt, and Connie Chung, eventually becoming senior producer of CBS Evening News and executive producer of CBS Reports. Her 2023 memoir Speak Up: Breaking the Glass Ceiling at CBS News included a foreword by Chung. Over the years, Mason covered major historical events like President Ronald Reagan’s first trip to the Soviet Union in 1988 and the unrest in China leading up to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The TV news pioneer also served as the network’s vice president of public affairs and senior vice president of its standards department, where she helped restructure during major events like the 2000 election night Florida recount fiasco. She won 13 Emmys, three Peabody Awards, a prestigious Brown University award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award grand prize.

05

‘BONEHEADED’

Rubio Forced to Axe Photo Op Before Trump Golf Club Summit

G20 diplomats are meeting in Atlanta for a two-day summit ahead of the main event in December.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been forced to scrap a traditional G20 photo opportunity after several European diplomats said they will refuse to pose alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Rubio organized the group photo for participants in the G20 foreign ministers meeting, which kicks off in Atlanta on Friday. The two-day event is a precursor to the G20 leaders’ summit, which will be hosted this year at President Donald Trump Miami Golf Club in December. Rubio has canceled the planned photo opportunity after other top diplomats threatened to boycott the photo session if Lavrov was there, whose presence will cause tensions amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Ian Kelly, the former U.S. ambassador to Georgia, had warned Trump that inviting Lavrov to the G20 foreign ministers meeting would provide an unnecessary headache just days out from the midterms. “It seems politically boneheaded to invite him,” Kelly said. Kelly added that Lavrov’s presence also makes it harder to project a united support for Ukraine amid the invasion. It is unclear if Russian President Vladimir Putin will accept Trump’s invitation to attend the G20 summit at the Trump National Doral Miami resort.

06

NOT ON THE MENU

Chili’s Customers Burned After Horrifying Drinks Blunder

Customers were served cocktails containing an unexpected ingredient.

Customers at a Chili’s Bar and Grill in North Carolina suffered chemical burns after drinking margaritas accidentally mixed with industrial cleaner. The Foothills Health District said three customers were sickened at the restaurant in Forest City after consuming the contaminated beverages, while two restaurant workers also showed symptoms. The incident was caused after a chemical degreasing agent was brought into the restaurant, put in an unlabeled container, and mistaken for salt or sugar by an employee. The substance was then used in the margarita mixing station to prepare drinks. Shortly after the restaurant opened, three customers “immediately experienced discomfort and chemical burns in and around their mouths,” said the health district. Two members of staff who tested the drinks also became ill. The restaurant’s food serving license was suspended, then reinstated after it passed safety checks. “We are actively investigating the circumstances related to this incident as the health and wellbeing of our guests and Team Members remain our top priority,” the company said.

07

WHOOPS!

TSA Agent Stunned by Shock Discovery in Passenger’s Bag

“I have never seen anything like this.”

Airport officials conducting routine security checks were shocked to find a fearsome Wolverine-style bladed weapon in a passenger’s carry-on. Two Transportation Security Administration officials made the discovery while a passenger’s bag was going through X-ray checks at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in August. TSA agent Douglas Linn, in a statement this week, described the weapon as “a mix between Wolverine-style claws and Freddy Krueger blades.” He continued: “I saw three blades and distinct claw-like features, I was amazed, and even more so when it came out of the bag. I have never seen anything like this during my two years at TSA.” The passenger had initially said there were no sharp weapons in the bag, but when the blades were removed, the passenger “immediately remembered the items,” the TSA said. The passenger voluntarily left the blades with airport security, the TSA said. The TSA in January published a list of unusual items found during security checks, including an imitation pipe bomb, turtles stashed in a bra, and drugs.

08

ROYAL PAIN

King Pays Price for Bringing Harry Back in Devastating Poll

The public are not fooled. They know who is behind the Sussex return, and a new YouGov tracker shows what they think of it.

King Charles is paying the price for bringing Harry back: that’s my conclusion on the big tracker poll released by U.K. firm YouGov on Thursday, with fieldwork carried out on October 22 and 23 among 2,116 British adults. It puts the King’s net favorability at just +24, the lowest figure recorded since he ascended the throne. Only 58 percent of Britons have a positive opinion of him. While any politician would love such numbers, for a British monarch it is a disaster. In fairness, the 70 percent he recorded in the days after his mother’s death would be hard to maintain. But by the eve of his coronation in May 2023, eight months in, he was at 59 percent. The Sussexes are paying too. Just 29 percent of Britons have a positive opinion of Harry, down four points since July, while 60 percent view him unfavorably. Meghan is at 20 percent positive and 68 percent negative, a net rating of -48, the lowest YouGov has ever recorded for her. Opinion of the couple is now less favorable than it was before their decision to return to the U.K. The poll started to be taken as recent allegations about Meghan’s father went public, so it is unclear if they affected results. Only Andrew, the worst of the worst, sits below Meghan at -85. Charles is currently on a tour of the Caribbean, where he danced in the Bahamas.

Want more royal gossip, scoops and scandal? Follow all Tom Sykes’ reporting at The Royalist on Substack or listen to The Royalist podcast on YouTube.

09

PAINFUL TRUTH

Death Row Woman Reveals Agony After Botched Execution

Christa Pike says she’s in constant pain after surviving a lethal injection execution.

A murder convict who survived a botched execution attempt in Tennessee has described the constant physical pain she suffers a month later. Christa Pike, 50, was injected with two doses of pentobarbital during the botched September 30 execution—but survived and woke up in the hospital. “There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain. My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak. And the pain isn’t just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul,” Pike said in a statement. She said she’s been prepared to die in peace, and was “deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position.” Lee was one of the youngest women to be sentenced to death, after she and her boyfriend were convicted for torturing and stabbing to death Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old classmate, in 1995. Pike’s lawyers have called on Tennessee’s governor to commute her death sentence.

10

POPE AT THE POLLS

Pope Leo Casts His Vote in U.S. Midterms

The pontiff is registered to vote in the Chicago suburbs.

Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV has voted in the U.S. midterms. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the pontiff, whose birth name is Robert Prevost, is a registered voter in Illinois and requested a mail-in ballot on October 3. State election records show that Leo, who is still a U.S. citizen, has voted in two Democratic and three Republican primaries since 2008. He also voted in the 2024 general election. The Vatican confirmed Friday that the pope “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen whenever he was eligible to do so.” “The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in Democratic processes,” the Holy See press office said in a statement to the Sun-Times. Pope Leo has recently waded into American politics, clashing with President Donald Trump and criticizing his administration’s immigration policies.