FBI agent who investigated Sandra Birchmore’s death to resume testimony in Matthew Farwell’s trial

A friend said Sandra Birchmore was overjoyed about her pregnancy and never mentioned suicide during testimony Thursday in a trial against a former Stoughton detective accused of killing her. It’s part of the federal case that challenges the state’s initial finding that Birchmore killed herself in her Canton apartment. Matthew Farwell, 40, is accused of strangling Birchmore, who was 23 and 8 to 10 weeks pregnant, in February 2021 and staging her death to look like a suicide. Lesley Davis, 30, told jurors that Birchmore was “so happy” about being pregnant and had asked Davis to be the baby’s godmother. She also testified that Birchmore said Farwell shoved her to the ground when she asked if he would sign the birth certificate, and that he denied he was the father. Days after Birchmore’s death, Davis said, she went to Canton police and urged them to investigate Farwell. Farwell has pleaded not guilty, and his defense team has argued that Birchmore killed herself because she was upset that Farwell ended their relationship. DNA testing later excluded him as the father.

As ranking member of the US Senate Environmental and Public Works committee, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse convened a “spotlight” hearing Tuesday, September 29, also attended by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Jeff Merkley, to highlight the consequences of industry and Trump administration attacks on climate science. Senator Whitehouse invited me to testify at the hearing, on the topic of these attacks on science, the industries benefiting from these attacks, and the harm they’ve caused that affect the health and safety of everyone in the US. My full written testimony is here, and the oral testimony I delivered yesterday is below. You can also watch the full hearing. The Supreme Court will be considering the question of fossil fuel industry accountability for climate deception and its resulting harms on Monday, October 5, in oral arguments for the case Suncor v Boulder. I’ll be speaking at the People vs Big Oil rally outside the Supreme Court that morning in support of justice for the people of Boulder, Colorado, and all of us whose health, safety, and livable environment are at risk because of the decades of deception perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry.

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know! The William Penn School District on Monday afternoon reinstated a number of fall sports  following last week’s abrupt decision to suspend all middle and high school athletics in response to an unspecified incident involving an unnamed Penn Wood sports team.

Mississippi's attorney general says a Senatobia police officer was justified in the use of force in the June shooting death of a 1-year-old boy while responding to a shoplifting call.