The nation in brief SpaceX launches final rocket of 2024 No immunity in Arizona election case Gunfire wounds 6 people at NYC store Police name subway fire attack victim January 1, 2025 at 2:44 a.m. SpaceX launches final rocket of 2024 ORLANDO, Fla. -- A SpaceX rocket launched early Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center, adding one more to the record pace of launches for 2024. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites lifted off at 12:39 a.m. from Launch Pad 39-A. The first-stage booster flew for the 16th time, having previously flown the Crew-6 mission among its 15 other flights. It made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. For SpaceX, it flew 26 missions from Kennedy Space Center including two Falcon Heavy launches in 2024. It launched another 62 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40. SpaceX also flew 46 from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base, setting a company record of 134 orbital missions for the year. It flew its in-development Starship and Super Heavy on four suborbital test flights from its Texas launch site Starbase. Among the SpaceCoast launches were five human spaceflights carrying 16 people to space. Those include the Starliner flight from ULA to the International Space Station and four launches of SpaceX's Crew Dragon. SpaceX's launches of the Crew-8 and Crew-9 missions as well as its flight for Axiom Space on the Ax-3 mission also went to the ISS. No immunity in Arizona election case PHOENIX -- An appeals court has rejected an Arizona official's argument that felony charges against him for delaying certification of his rural county's 2022 election results should be dismissed because he has legislative immunity. In an order Tuesday, the Arizona Court of Appeals concluded Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby's duty to certify the election results wasn't discretionary. The court also said certifying election results is an administrative responsibility and that legislative immunity doesn't apply to Crosby's situation. Crosby and Cochise County Supervisor Peggy Judd, both Republicans, were criminally charged after they balked at certifying the results. Three months ago, Judd pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to perform her duty as an election officer and was sentenced to probation. Crosby has pleaded innocent to charges of conspiracy and interference with an election officer. His trial is scheduled for Jan. 30. Gunfire wounds 6 people at NYC store NEW YORK -- Six people were shot at a New York City convenience store Monday, including a 12-year-old girl and her mother, as one of the intended targets used the woman as a shield, police said. The mother ended up shot in the stomach while the person who grabbed her went unscathed, police interim Chief of Department John Chell said. There was no immediate information on the condition of those wounded in the shooting. Police believe the two shooters were aiming for people in a group standing outside the store on White Plains Road in the Bronx. Chell said police have video showing the attackers opened fire around 5 p.m. as they ran across the road to the store, then kept shooting as their targets ran into the store. After bumping into the woman and girl at the counter, one of the people who ran inside took hold of her and spun her into the line of fire, Chell said. Chell said all of those shot, except the 40-year-old mother, were wounded in their arms or legs. The Fire Department said it took five of the wounded to hospitals, and the sixth apparently got a ride to a hospital from someone else. In addition to the mother and daughter, those wounded included four men, aged 18 to 21, Chell said. Investigators haven't yet made any arrests or determined a motive for the gunfire. Police name subway fire attack victim NEW YORK -- The woman who died after being set on fire in a New York subway train last month was a 57-year-old from New Jersey, police announced Tuesday. The woman, Debrina Kawam, had worked at the pharmaceutical giant Merck in from 2000 until 2002, but her life at some point took a rocky turn. She had briefly been in a New York homeless shelter after moving to the city recently, the Department of Social Services said. It did not say when. Police had an address for Kawam in Toms River, a community on the Jersey Shore, and authorities said they notified her family about her Dec. 22 death. The Associated Press left messages Tuesday for possible relatives. Prosecutors have said she was asleep on a subway train that was stopped at a station in Brooklyn's Coney Island when her clothes were set ablaze by Sebastian Zapeta, 33, who federal immigration officials say is from Guatemala and entered the U.S. illegally. Zapeta has been been indicted on murder and arson charges. He has not entered a plea and is jailed with his next court date set for Jan. 7. The social services department said it would amplify its efforts to reach and help homeless people on streets and subways and encourage them to use shelters. -- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS Advertisement Copyright © 2025, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.