Man allegedly held panhandler captive for months until she escaped, Florida officials say
CBSN
A woman who said she had been held captive by man who beat her for months was able to escape during a stop at a Walgreens, Florida officials said Tuesday.
The woman took her chance to flee when the suspect, Walter Medina, 48, briefly left her unattended at the pharmacy in the Tampa area, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. Deputies were dispatched to help her on Monday after a caller reported that an injured woman had just escaped from a van and needed help.
Officers took Medina into custody on Tuesday after a chase. He was charged with attempted second degree murder and armed kidnapping.

Air travelers faced hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of delays on Tuesday in the wake of powerful storms that struck the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. Many airports also continue to struggle with disruption from reduced staffing at often-jammed security checkpoints amid a partial government shutdown that has lasted more than a month. Mark Strassmann contributed to this report. In:

The race to fill the seat of retiring Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has been heating up in the days leading up to Tuesday's 2026 Democratic primary and could set the tone for other midterm primaries on issues like President Trump's deportation policies and outside spending. And another factor in the race is Gov. JB Pritzker's attempt at powerbrokering: he's given his endorsement and millions in campaign funds to his lieutenant governor, Julianna Stratton. In:

A man who was accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack in 2021 is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him, arguing he is covered by President Trump's sweeping pardons of alleged Jan. 6 rioters.










