Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker acknowledged on Wednesday that he has a son whom he has not previously mentioned publicly, a disclosure that draws renewed attention to his previous outspoken calls for Black men to play an active role in the lives of their children.Walker's campaign confirmed the existence of his 10-year-old son after The Daily Beast reported Tuesday that the boy's mother had taken Walker to court in 2014 to establish paternity and to get child support payments."Herschel had a child years ago when he wasn't married. He's supported the child and continues to do so," Walker campaign manager Scott Paradise said in a statement Wednesday. "He's proud of his children. To suggest that Herschel is 'hiding' the child because he hasn't used him in his political campaign is offensive and absurd."Walker sends Christmas and birthday presents to the boy but has not played an active role in raising him, the Daily Beast reported, citing an unnamed person close to the son's family with direct knowledge of the events.The Walker campaign did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press about his involvement in the boy's life.Walker has repeatedly criticized absentee fathers over the years, holding up his relationship with his older son, Christian Walker, whose mother is Walker's former wife, Cindy Grossman. Walker has said he worked with his ex-wife and current wife to raise Christian."I want all African Americans to know, even though you may leave the mom, don't leave the child," Walker told WABE-TV's "Love and Respect with Killer Mike" on May 27. "Continue to be a dad, continue to be a strong figure in that child's life, because that happens, that happens. I said, 'I'm going to continue to raise him, and be right there with him.'"Walker faces Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in November in a critical battleground state that could be key to determining party control of the chamber. Warnock helped flip the Senate to Democrats after he and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won a pair of runoff elections in early 2021.Walker, who has been endorsed by both former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has faced criticism throughout the campaign about whether he's been truthful about his past.Walker drew attention for his past mental health struggles, as well as allegations that he threatened his ex-wife's life. He's dramatically inflated his record as a businessman and overstated his role in a for-profit program that is alleged to have preyed on veterans while defrauding the government. And his claim that he graduated at the top of his class from the University of Georgia, where he led the Bulldogs to a 1980 championship, was also untrue. He didn't graduate, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported.In the statement that acknowledged paternity, Walker's campaign accused Warnock of engaging in "both a nasty mudslinging campaign and a nasty custody dispute with his ex-wife.""This is a complete double standard," Paradise said.Warnock's ex-wife, whom he divorced in 2020, said in court filings in February that Warnock wasn't upholding his end of the shared custody agreement of their two children and asked the court to order Warnock to pay more in child support, arguing that his income had risen.Warnock's campaign said the senator is a "devoted father.""Rev. Warnock is a devoted father who is proud to continue to co-parent his two children as he works for the people of Georgia," said campaign spokesperson Meredith Brasher.

A mother who abandoned her young son on a dark, narrow highway on a rainy February night pleaded guilty in court Monday.Heather Adkins was emotional at times during the hearing. A kidnapping charge was dropped, but she admitted her responsibility in a child endangering charge.“How do you plead as to that one charge,” the judge asked.“Guilty,” Adkins answered.Adkins dropped her 5-year-old, non-verbal son off on a dark, narrow road in Colerain Township on Feb. 17.The boy was seen wandering through neighborhoods in a steady rain, trying to get help.Strangers eventually found the boy walking near the intersection of Sheeds and Gains roads.Despite all of that, Adkins mother stands by her.Sharon Eads believes her daughter should not only be let out of jail but that she should get her children back.“I believe she should have her children back because her children are her whole life. She loves her children very much,” Eads said.Adkins defense said during the hearing that someone else, who has not been charged, was also in the vehicle. Adkins and her mother put blame on that person.“I didn’t willingly, intentionally do anything, but I take accountability because allowing a certain person into my life led to this,” Adkins said. “It would not have happened had I not let that person around my child.”Adkins faces 36 months in jail.The sentencing was delayed until Sept. 28. The judge wants to review Adkins’ latest mental evaluation.

A judge will determine whether evidence of disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes is admissible in an upcoming double-murder trial that has drawn worldwide attention for its bizarre twists.Prosecutors recently said that Murdaugh killed his wife and youngest son last year to gain sympathy and distract others from his damning financial crimes. On Friday, prosecutors and defense attorneys debated the relevance of those years of alleged financial misdeeds that lined Murdaugh’s pockets with nearly $9 million.Murdaugh, the disgraced heir to a Lowcountry legal dynasty, has pleaded not guilty and repeatedly denied any involvement in the June 2021 slayings of his wife, Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22.According to prosecutors, at the time of the killings, Murdaugh was terrified about a pending motion that threatened to expose years of substantial debts and illicit financial crimes by revealing his personal records. Such a move would have spelled “personal, legal, and financial ruin” for Murdaugh, state grand jury chief prosecutor Creighton Waters wrote in a filing Thursday.Prosecutors said Murdaugh was a drug addict who helped run a money laundering and painkiller ring and stole millions from settlements he secured for mostly poor clients to fund an increasingly unsustainable lifestyle.According to Waters, high-profile, six-figure cases had failed to alleviate Murdaugh's financial woes, prompting Murdaugh to do anything to avoid his “day of reckoning” — including murder.Conveniently for Murdaugh, Waters said, the discovery of his slain family members temporarily suspended the increased scrutiny over his finances. Murdaugh would spend the following days collecting money to account for missing fees sought by his law firm, Waters said.“This is a white-collar case that culminated in murders," Waters told Circuit Judge Clifton Newman on Friday.A motive is not necessary for a prosecutor to win a murder conviction — a point Waters made in the state's latest filing. But Murdaugh's lawyers asked the state to spell out the motive in order to justify including a million pages of evidence related to over 80 counts of alleged financial crimes.Murdaugh’s defense attorneys insisted Friday that the alleged crimes amounted to character evidence that is not admissible into murder trials.Defense attorney Jim Griffin said it is ridiculous to claim that a person seeking to distract from financial crimes would then put themself at the center of a murder investigation.Griffin also said there is no reason to admit the financial documents since there’s no evidence that Murdaugh’s family knew of any alleged crimes or that Murdaugh stood to benefit from collecting any life insurance policies.The idea that Murdaugh sought to engender sympathy through the deaths is also illogical, according to Griffin, considering Murdaugh's father was dying on the day they were slain — an experience sure to provide plenty of pity.The defense has criticized what they see as the slow release of evidence linking Murdaugh to the slayings.Central to the defense's concerns is the presence of blood stains on a white T-shirt allegedly worn by Murdaugh on the night of the killings. Attorney Dick Harpootlian has argued that South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents successfully persuaded a forensic consultant to reverse his initial judgment and instead say the stains must be backspatter from a bullet wound. Harpootlian said SLED destroyed the shirt and had evidence suggesting the stains were not a human's blood.Defense attorneys on Friday sought an evidentiary hearing compelling the state to provide all communications with the consultant. Prosecutors said any ruling on the bloody shirt's consideration would be premature as they themselves are still assessing whether they will use it as evidence.Throughout Friday’s hearing, Murdaugh, donning a blazer, sat unshackled and could occasionally be seen speaking with his attorneys.Prosecutors shared inklings of new details earlier this week. Within a minute of his first conversation with responding officers on the day of the killings, Murdaugh allegedly claimed the slaying must have been connected to the February 2019 boat wreck that killed teenager Mallory Beach.Beach was killed when authorities say an intoxicated Paul Murdaugh wrecked his father's boat — an event that ultimately led to dozens of charges accusing Alex Murdaugh of stealing nearly $5 million in settlement money from lawyers who sued him over the death. Murdaugh now faces additional charges involving money laundering, a narcotics ring, a staged attempt on his life and millions of additional stolen funds.And while Murdaugh seemed wealthy, prosecutors said it was a series of land deals worsened by recession that “permanently changed his finances.”The events of the past 18 months have marked a steep fall for the Murdaughs. The family founded a massive civil law firm over 100 years ago in tiny Hampton County, where — alongside four surrounding counties — Murdaugh’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather dominated the legal scene as the area’s elected prosecutors for more than eight decades.“The jury will need to understand the distinction between who Alex Murdaugh appeared to be to the outside world — a successful lawyer and scion of the most prominent family in the region — and who he was in the real life only he fully knew — an allegedly crooked lawyer and drug user who borrowed and stole wherever he could to stay afloat and one step ahead of the detection,” Waters wrote Thursday.

Susan Inks believes the killing of Rodney Pettit, 41, at a bar in Omaha, Nebraska, should have never happened if prosecutors would have charged the same suspect in her son's death two years ago.Omaha police said Pettit was assaulted before midnight Saturday and died Monday morning at Nebraska Medicine.Over the weekend, police released photos of Parliament Pub patrons they wanted to question in Pettit's assault. Inks saw the photos on social media and her heart dropped."I immediately, of course, recognized him and said, 'Yes, that's him,"' Inks said. "I immediately emailed Omaha police and said, 'His name is Nolan King.'"Inks knows King as the man who killed her son, Shane Inks, 31, in September 2019 at 33rd and Howard streets. "He was stabbed over 17 times in the face neck and chest," she said.Police never charged King, who was 19 at the time. Detectives said the stabbing was self-defense.Inks said she's angry and took to social media posting how another person is dead and King is the suspect. "It's pretty heartbreaking. It opens a lot of old wounds," she said.Now Pettit's family and friends are feeling the same pain."We had a meeting and pulled the whole team together. There was not a dry eye in the house," David Dunn said. "They were talking about how willing he was he would do whatever it took to help them be successful and I think that sums him up." From Oklahoma, Pettit's boss at Legend Driven Honda described how important Pettit was to the success of their car dealership during COVID-19.Pettit moved to Lawton from Omaha two years ago to work as the general sales manager.Dunn said he and Pettit, a father of four, with a 3-month-old, just had a nice conversation last week about finding his happiness. "Great changes in his life, recently married, brand new baby...he felt like things were coming together, as well as they had for him and his life. It's so devastating," Dunn said.Inks hope Pettit's family will get the justice she's been waiting for."He should have gone to jail when he killed my son and then his daughter would have a dad," Inks said. Police booked King for first-degree assault with a weapon, but not a gun.Those charges are expected to be upgraded. Police are not saying how Pettit died.His friends said he was in town for a networking event.

OMAHA, Neb. —

Susan Inks believes the killing of Rodney Pettit, 41, at a bar in Omaha, Nebraska, should have never happened if prosecutors would have charged the same suspect in her son's death two years ago.

Omaha police said Pettit was assaulted before midnight Saturday and died Monday morning at Nebraska Medicine.

Over the weekend, police released photos of Parliament Pub patrons they wanted to question in Pettit's assault.

Inks saw the photos on social media and her heart dropped.

"I immediately, of course, recognized him and said, 'Yes, that's him,"' Inks said.
"I immediately emailed Omaha police and said, 'His name is Nolan King.'"

Omaha Police Department

Inks knows King as the man who killed her son, Shane Inks, 31, in September 2019 at 33rd and Howard streets.

"He was stabbed over 17 times in the face neck and chest," she said.

Police never charged King, who was 19 at the time. Detectives said the stabbing was self-defense.

Inks said she's angry and took to social media posting how another person is dead and King is the suspect.

"It's pretty heartbreaking. It opens a lot of old wounds," she said.

Now Pettit's family and friends are feeling the same pain.

"We had a meeting and pulled the whole team together. There was not a dry eye in the house," David Dunn said. "They were talking about how willing he was he would do whatever it took to help them be successful and I think that sums him up."

From Oklahoma, Pettit's boss at Legend Driven Honda described how important Pettit was to the success of their car dealership during COVID-19.

Pettit moved to Lawton from Omaha two years ago to work as the general sales manager.

Dunn said he and Pettit, a father of four, with a 3-month-old, just had a nice conversation last week about finding his happiness.

"Great changes in his life, recently married, brand new baby...he felt like things were coming together, as well as they had for him and his life. It's so devastating," Dunn said.

Inks hope Pettit's family will get the justice she's been waiting for.

"He should have gone to jail when he killed my son and then his daughter would have a dad," Inks said.

Police booked King for first-degree assault with a weapon, but not a gun.

Those charges are expected to be upgraded. Police are not saying how Pettit died.

His friends said he was in town for a networking event.

A New York family who came together by chance 21 years ago has now shared their remarkable story in a children's book.Pete Mercurio was walking out the door to meet his then-partner (now husband) Danny Stewart for dinner in August 2000 when his phone rang. It was Stewart, calling to tell him he'd be late. He'd found an abandoned baby in the subway and had called 911 from a payphone.Stewart, a social worker, had spotted a tiny bundle wrapped in a sweatshirt while walking through an eerily empty station. At first, he thought it was a doll, perhaps left behind by a child, until he saw a tiny leg move. He quickly discovered it was a newborn baby, the umbilical cord still attached.Mercurio, who authored a book about this chance encounter, spoke to CNN about that night, and about how he and Stewart ended up raising the baby as their own.The baby boy was just hours old when Stewart found him"He had actually tried to get on an express train and couldn't get on one," Mercurio recalls of Stewart's path that fateful day. "The fact that he even got on a local was kind of miraculous because who knows if he had gotten on an express if he'd even he even had found the baby."Mercurio says something made Stewart glance back at the bundle and see the newborn's small motion. The baby, a boy, was alive and breathing. Authorities said he was just hours old when they arrived.Mercurio ran to the station, a block away from his apartment, and found Stewart there with two police officers."One of them was carrying the baby in his arms," he says. "Just a chill raced up my spine. Like, it's an unbelievable thing."The baby boy was transported to a nearby hospital, and the men were overcome with emotion at what had just occurred."At one point I just turned to Danny and I said, 'You're going to be -- we're going to be -- connected to this baby in some way or another for the rest of your life.' I said, 'Maybe not tomorrow or next week or a year or five years from now, but eventually he's gonna learn about this night and he might want to try to find you and maybe we can send a gift or be in touch with him on this day, every year.'"The couple had no idea what was about to unfold.A stroke of good luck smoothed the adoption processThe baby, who was named Daniel Ace Doe after Stewart and the A/C/E subway line, was in the state's care while a citywide search was underway for the boy's parents.Three months later, Stewart was asked to testify at a hearing about the day the baby was found. The judge asked him an unexpected question."In December of 2000, at that hearing, the judge asked him, 'Would you be interested in adopting?' He said, 'Yes, but I know it's not that easy.' She said, 'Well, it can be.' We didn't know what she meant by that," Mercurio says.The two became foster parents to the baby, who they named Kevin, and adopted him two years later in December of 2002."And then that was it. We never saw the judge again. And in 2012, when we were deciding to get married, Kevin on a walk to school said he knew that there was a judge involved in creating our family," Mercurio says."We shared everything with him, so he knew everything. He said, 'Don't judges marry people?' So, I said, 'Do you want to meet the judge that finalized your adoption?' And he nodded his head. And so that's how I got in touch with the judge again, ten years later."When the couple spoke with the judge, they asked her how she was able to help facilitate Kevin's adoption so quickly.In one of many small miracles that brought Kevin to them, the judge said that at the time Kevin was found there was a pilot program in New York that gave her the authority to expedite the adoption process in specific cases of abandonment to place a baby in a loving home."She was able to make quick decisions to place that baby in a pre-adoptive home as quickly as possible," Mercurio says. "So he didn't languish in the system."That pilot program lasted only six months and was then discontinued, according to Mercurio. "So many little things like that added up without our knowledge," Mercurio says.Kevin is now a senior in college. He's not sure about trying to find his birth parentsAt the time Kevin arrived, the couple didn't have a lot of money. They were in student-loan debt, but they made it work. Family and friends got them everything they needed for Kevin, and they figured it out along the way.Kevin, now 21, is a student at Swarthmore College. Mercurio is sharing their family's story with Kevin and Stewart's encouragement, but they declined to be interviewed."We still can't believe it. I mean, we believe it because we have a 21-year-old kid that's graduating from college this spring," Mercurio says. "I love this kid more than anything in the world, I really didn't know this kind of love existed in this world until my son came into our life. And Danny feels the same way."As Kevin grew up, the two discussed their family story with him."We talked about how our family became a family openly in front of him. When he went in social gatherings, anybody would ask, we didn't shield him from hearing it from a very young age," Mercurio says.They wanted Kevin to feel positive about their family origin story, so Mercurio wrote a book about it that they read to him every night. When he was five, Kevin realized it was about him."I pasted together a book of his story, which tells the whole thing about Danny being on the subway and the baby being found," Mercurio says.Last year, that very personal story was published with the title "Our Subway Baby," which Mercurio calls a "love letter to our son."While Kevin's biological parents are still unknown, Mercurio says they feel only compassion for them."One way or another, that's a desperate measure to take. And I can only imagine the anguish that was leaving your child," he says. "We've always told Kevin from a very young age that he was left out of love, so that he could be found and cared for. We never used the word abandonment or abandoned. We said she left you where you could be found by us."

NEW YORK —

A New York family who came together by chance 21 years ago has now shared their remarkable story in a children's book.

Pete Mercurio was walking out the door to meet his then-partner (now husband) Danny Stewart for dinner in August 2000 when his phone rang. It was Stewart, calling to tell him he'd be late. He'd found an abandoned baby in the subway and had called 911 from a payphone.

Stewart, a social worker, had spotted a tiny bundle wrapped in a sweatshirt while walking through an eerily empty station. At first, he thought it was a doll, perhaps left behind by a child, until he saw a tiny leg move. He quickly discovered it was a newborn baby, the umbilical cord still attached.

Mercurio, who authored a book about this chance encounter, spoke to CNN about that night, and about how he and Stewart ended up raising the baby as their own.

The baby boy was just hours old when Stewart found him

"He had actually tried to get on an express train and couldn't get on one," Mercurio recalls of Stewart's path that fateful day. "The fact that he even got on a local was kind of miraculous because who knows if he had gotten on an express if he'd even he even had found the baby."

Mercurio says something made Stewart glance back at the bundle and see the newborn's small motion. The baby, a boy, was alive and breathing. Authorities said he was just hours old when they arrived.

Mercurio ran to the station, a block away from his apartment, and found Stewart there with two police officers.

"One of them was carrying the baby in his arms," he says. "Just a chill raced up my spine. Like, it's an unbelievable thing."

The baby boy was transported to a nearby hospital, and the men were overcome with emotion at what had just occurred.

"At one point I just turned to Danny and I said, 'You're going to be -- we're going to be -- connected to this baby in some way or another for the rest of your life.' I said, 'Maybe not tomorrow or next week or a year or five years from now, but eventually he's gonna learn about this night and he might want to try to find you and maybe we can send a gift or be in touch with him on this day, every year.'"

The couple had no idea what was about to unfold.

A stroke of good luck smoothed the adoption process

Picasa

The baby, who was named Daniel Ace Doe after Stewart and the A/C/E subway line, was in the state's care while a citywide search was underway for the boy's parents.

Three months later, Stewart was asked to testify at a hearing about the day the baby was found. The judge asked him an unexpected question.

"In December of 2000, at that hearing, the judge asked him, 'Would you be interested in adopting?' He said, 'Yes, but I know it's not that easy.' She said, 'Well, it can be.' We didn't know what she meant by that," Mercurio says.

The two became foster parents to the baby, who they named Kevin, and adopted him two years later in December of 2002.

"And then that was it. We never saw the judge again. And in 2012, when we were deciding to get married, Kevin on a walk to school said he knew that there was a judge involved in creating our family," Mercurio says.

"We shared everything with him, so he knew everything. He said, 'Don't judges marry people?' So, I said, 'Do you want to meet the judge that finalized your adoption?' And he nodded his head. And so that's how I got in touch with the judge again, ten years later."

Peter Mercurio

When the couple spoke with the judge, they asked her how she was able to help facilitate Kevin's adoption so quickly.

In one of many small miracles that brought Kevin to them, the judge said that at the time Kevin was found there was a pilot program in New York that gave her the authority to expedite the adoption process in specific cases of abandonment to place a baby in a loving home.

"She was able to make quick decisions to place that baby in a pre-adoptive home as quickly as possible," Mercurio says. "So he didn't languish in the system."

That pilot program lasted only six months and was then discontinued, according to Mercurio.

"So many little things like that added up without our knowledge," Mercurio says.

Kevin is now a senior in college. He's not sure about trying to find his birth parents

At the time Kevin arrived, the couple didn't have a lot of money. They were in student-loan debt, but they made it work. Family and friends got them everything they needed for Kevin, and they figured it out along the way.

Kevin, now 21, is a student at Swarthmore College. Mercurio is sharing their family's story with Kevin and Stewart's encouragement, but they declined to be interviewed.

Picasa

"We still can't believe it. I mean, we believe it because we have a 21-year-old kid that's graduating from college this spring," Mercurio says. "I love this kid more than anything in the world, I really didn't know this kind of love existed in this world until my son came into our life. And Danny feels the same way."

As Kevin grew up, the two discussed their family story with him.

"We talked about how our family became a family openly in front of him. When he went in social gatherings, [if] anybody would ask, we didn't shield him from hearing it from a very young age," Mercurio says.

They wanted Kevin to feel positive about their family origin story, so Mercurio wrote a book about it that they read to him every night. When he was five, Kevin realized it was about him.

"I pasted together a book of his story, which tells the whole thing about Danny being on the subway and the baby being found," Mercurio says.

Last year, that very personal story was published with the title "Our Subway Baby," which Mercurio calls a "love letter to our son."

While Kevin's biological parents are still unknown, Mercurio says they feel only compassion for them.

"One way or another, that's a desperate measure to take. And I can only imagine the anguish that was leaving your child," he says. "We've always told Kevin from a very young age that he was left out of love, so that he could be found and cared for. We never used the word abandonment or abandoned. We said she left you where you could be found by us."

For more than 30 days, Val Laidlaw wrote letters to her son while he was hospitalized with COVID-19. Although she became a cheerleader for her son, the words she wrote have brought comfort to others. Kyle Roos had gone to North Dakota State University to become a pharmacist, later worked and raised his family in the Twin Cities and was "a proud hockey dad of a girl," his mom said. Because he had asthma, Roos was careful when the pandemic hit, but eventually tested positive and was hospitalized. Laidlaw told WDAY she wrote her son a letter the first day of his battle. "Dear Kyle, I know you are fighting. It is in your Viking blood. I remember you before your first breath. So still that for a moment, then you breathed in and let out a strong cry," her letter read. "You are a warrior, you are fighting a tough battle and you needed another weapon. Now you have it. We are all hopeful and praying for you, Kyle."Every day, Laidlaw continued writing a letter to her son. She never missed a day."I just wanted him to know how proud I am of him and how happy and honored I am to have been his mom," Laidlaw said.The hope was that Roos would recover and be able to come home and read the letters and share them with his daughters. But just hours before Christmas, his loved ones and friends said goodbye to him on a video call. That's when Laidlaw wrote a letter no mom could imagine writing. The last one."You put up such a strong battle Kyle, I am so proud of you," she wrote.

Kayden Bibb and his father Brent were doing the one thing they love to do Wednesday evening: fishing.They were fishing out in Scottsburg, Indiana. A few fish and a couple of laughs later, it was time to go home, but as Kayden attempted to cross the street to go to his father, the unthinkable happened."I was just in shock," said Brent Bibb. "I couldn't believe my little boy was just laying there, bleeding out. Multiple times we've been fishing here, and nothing like that ever happened. I never thought it would happen."Kayden was struck by a vehicle, making him airborne before landing in the water. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. The person behind the wheel was a 17-year-old.Scott County Sheriff Jerry Goodin calls it the worst-case scenario for a parent."Who would've thought a little fishing day out with dad would cause this tragedy?" said Tina Gladden, Kayden's grandmother.Although the incident is still under investigation, Goodin said no charges are expected."We have no reason to believe whatsoever she did it on purpose," said Goodin. "We've got to figure out what happened. There is a reason why it happened, and that's why they call them crashes. They don't call them accidents anymore."For now, the family is hoping this incident serves a lesson for parents everywhere, that even on the best of days, tomorrow is never promised."He was a fun, caring, laughing, loving little boy and he was a very good fisherman," said Gladden. "We got to keep our faith in God, and we have to remember that he had better plans for Kayden than we did. That's why he took him home."The family has set up a GoFundMe for anyone interested in helping them pay for the funeral. Sheriff Goodin said the investigation is still ongoing.