We've finally made it to Friday!
We're staying on top of the latest happenings from across the Valley, state, and our nation for Friday, Dec. 19; here’s what you need to know as you start your day:
From Meteorologist Jorge Torres - Record warmth this weekend in the Valley!
The December heat wave rolls on through the weekend, with record warmth likely across the Valley. Highs today will be near 80º, about 15º above normal for mid-December.
AP: Man suspected in shooting at Brown University has been found dead
A man who is suspected of killing two and wounding several others at Brown University has been found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility, officials said.
Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown student and Portuguese national, was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said at a news conference.
Investigators believe Valente is responsible for both the shooting at Brown and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was fatally shot in his Brookline home Monday, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Authorities have not formally confirmed a connection between the two shootings.
The official could not publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Brown University President Christina Paxson said Valente was enrolled at Brown from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001. He was admitted to the graduate school to study physics beginning in September 2000. “He has no current affiliation with the university," she said.
Two people were killed and nine were wounded in the mass shooting Saturday at Brown University. The investigation had shifted Thursday when authorities said they were looking into a connection between the Brown mass shooting and an attack two days later near Boston that killed MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro.
The FBI previously said it knew of no links between the cases.
Blueacorn co-founder Nathan Reis sentenced to 10 years in prison in federal wire fraud case
One of the founders of Blueacorn, a paycheck protection program loan processing company during the pandemic, has been sentenced after pleading guilty to a fraud charge earlier this year.
On Thursday, a judge ruled that Nathan Reis be sentenced to 10 years in prison. The court ordered Reis to surrender for his prison sentence on January 20, 2026.
Earlier this year, Reis, the husband of former ABC15 news anchor Stephanie Hockridge, accepted a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In June, Hockridge was convicted on the same charge by a jury in Fort Worth, TX. Hockridge was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors argued that Reis, Hockridge, and Blueacorn co-conspirators altered financial documents to illegally obtain federal PPP loans for themselves and others who were not qualified to receive them.
In 2022, a congressional subcommittee found Blueacorn received nearly $1 billion in taxpayer-funded fees. The company transferred $300 million to its owners, according to the subcommittee's report.
Convicted serial killer Cleophus Cooksey receives death penalty, jury decides
An Arizona jury on Thursday sentenced a man to death in a string of killings in metro Phoenix during a three-week span in 2017, marking the end of a nearly seven-month trial over attacks that targeted random victims and the defendant’s own mother and stepfather.
Cleophus Cooksey Jr., 43, was found guilty in late September of murder in eight killings. He was also convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual assault charges stemming from the attacks in Phoenix and nearby Glendale.
Jurors sentenced Cooksey to death in six of the eight killings for which he was convicted of murder. The jury was undecided on the punishment for his convictions in the killings of his mother and stepfather.
The victims included two men found dead in a parked car, a security guard shot while walking to his girlfriend’s apartment and a woman who was kidnapped, her body found in an alley after police say she was sexually assaulted.
Authorities say they linked Cooksey to the slayings through evidence found at his mother’s apartment in the aftermath of her killing. That evidence included a gun used in several of the killings, vehicle keys belonging to another victim, and a victim’s necklace that Cooksey was wearing when he was arrested, investigators said.
Authorities never offered a motive.
Cooksey, an aspiring musician, knew some of the victims, but he wasn’t acquainted with others, police said. He has maintained his innocence.
A group of dads volunteering with Gilbert students sees new growth in program
Every week, a group of dads who are part of what's called the Watch DOGS (Dads of Great Students), go to Towne Meadows Elementary to volunteer and help out around the school.
This program is growing within Gilbert Public Schools, as the school where it originally started, Playa del Rey Elementary, now has almost 50 volunteers. Towne Meadows is seeing more volunteers sign up, and Harris Elementary will launch its own program in January.
These dads are showing up not only for their own kids, but for other kids who may need a role model in their lives.
While these dads are making a difference in students’ lives, they feel they’re getting just as much out of the program as well.
ABC15's Elenee Dao has the full Uplifting Arizona story in the video player below.
