Alex Murdaugh pleads guilty to financial crimes

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh did something Thursday he hasn’t done in the two years since his life of privilege and power started to unravel — plead guilty to a crime. Murdaugh admitted in federal court to 22 counts of financial fraud and money laundering. Murdaugh, 55, is serving life without parole in a South Carolina prison for shooting his wife, Maggie, and younger son Paul.

Census shows 3.5 million Middle Eastern residents in US

(AP) — The United States had 3.5 million residents who identify as Middle Eastern or North African, Venezuelans were the fastest-growing Hispanic group last decade and Chinese and Asian Indians were the two largest Asian groups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The most detailed race and ethnicity data to date from the 2020 census was released Thursday more than three years after the once-a-decade head count, which determines political power, the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual federal funding and holds up a mirror to how the U.S. has changed in a decade. The delay was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of a new method to protect the confidentiality of participants.

Tropical storm warning issued for US East Coast ahead of potential cyclone

MIAMI (AP) — A tropical storm warning was issued Thursday from coastal North Carolina to Delaware ahead of a potential tropical cyclone that’s approaching the densely populated East Coast. The National Hurricane Center announced “Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen” on Thursday morning. Its 2 p.m. advisory said the disturbance was located about 355 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and moving north at 9 mph . Maximum sustained winds were 35 mph.

US applications for jobless benefits fall to lowest level in nearly 8 months

(AP) — U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in eight months last week as the labor market continues to show strength in the face of elevated interest rates. U.S. applications for jobless claims fell by 20,000 to 201,000 for the week ending Sept. 16, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the lowest figure since the last week of January. Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week. The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell by 7,750 to 217,000.

Federal judge sets May trial date for 5 former Memphis officers

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A judge on Thursday set a May trial date for five former Memphis police officers who have pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights charges in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop. U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris set a May 6 jury trial for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills and Justin Smith during a hearing in federal court in Memphis. The former Memphis Police Department officers were indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 13 on charges of using excessive force and conspiring to lie about the Jan. 7 beating of Nichols as he cried out for his mother just steps from his Memphis home.