Texas mass killing suspect, wife, friend in custody after tip – National & International News – WED 3May2023

Texas mass killing suspect, wife, friend in custody after tip.

Eli Lilly says new drug slows Alzheimer’s progression by a third.

US, Mexico strike migration deal as Title 42 nears end.

NATIONAL NEWS

Texas mass killing suspect, wife, friend in custody after tip

After a 4-day manhunt, police have apprehended a fugitive accused of killing 5 of his neighbors, including a 9-year-old boy, in Texas. Francisco Oropesa, 38, was found hiding in a closet under some laundry in a house in Cut and Shoot, TX, about 20 miles from Cleveland where the shooting occurred.

Police also arrested Oropesa’s wife, Divimara Nava, 52, for aiding in his escape. San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon says, “We believe that Nava was providing [Oropesa] with material aid and encouragement, food and clothes, and had arranged transport to this house”. Nava faces a felony charge of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a known felon. Another friend of Oropesa’s, Domingo Castilla, was arrested on a marijuana charge, but police expect to charge him with hindering Oropesa’s apprehension as well.

Authorities caught up with Oropesa within an hour after a member of the public called in a tip. The tipster will receive at least $80,000 in reward money. Nava was apparently also arrested at the address. She had previously denied knowing where Oropesa was. In late 2022, Nava had accused Oropesa of beating her with a closed fist. 

Authorities identified the victims of last Friday’s shooting as Diana Velásquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9, all from Honduras. The shooting happened after the family had asked Oropesa to stop shooting an AR-15 on his front yard near their house so they could put a baby to sleep. Two of the women, Rivera and Alvarado, died shielding Guzman’s 2-year-old girl and 1-month-old boy.

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Eli Lilly says new drug slows Alzheimer’s progression by a third

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. announced promising results in trials for donanemab, its new Alzheimer’s drug. In an 18-month trial of 1,734 early-stage Alzheimer’s patients, subjects who received donanemab saw 35% less decline in cognitive skills than subjects who received the placebo.

While the results of this study show promise, the results haven’t been verified by independent research. Donanemab also carries serious risks such as small brain bleeds or brain swelling. Approximately one-third of patients who received the actual medication experienced symptoms, though most were mild or asymptomatic. About 1.6% developed serious symptoms. At least two or possibly three participants in Lilly’s study died from these side effects. 

Donanemab is similar to a drug from Eisai and Biogen’s drug Leqembi. Both attack the build-up of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain that is symptomatic of Alzheimer’s.

Despite these risks, neuroscientists regard these two drugs as a breakthrough in the search for therapies that could potentially allow Alzheimer’s patients to enjoy a better quality of life for longer. More work and studies are needed, but Elly Lilly hopes to seek FDA approval for donanemab in the near future.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

US, Mexico strike migration deal as Title 42 nears end

With the pandemic-era Title 42 set to expire May 11, the US has struck a deal with Mexico designed to reduce numbers of migrants. Under the deal, Mexico has agreed to continue accepting at least 30,000 migrants per month from four countries if they are deported from the US. The deal covers migrants from Hait, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. It’s unclear how or if the agreement affects migrants from other poor Latin American countries like Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

The US for its part will continue to also accept up to 30,000 migrants a month from these countries under a humanitarian parole program. These programs are meant to encourage people from those four countries to apply for asylum from their home countries rather than making the dangerous journey to the US through Mexico. Human rights advocates have criticized the criteria to qualify for these programs as being too inaccessible for the poorest would-be asylum seekers.

What isn’t clear from the announcement is what exactly will happen to the migrants that the US deports to Mexico.

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