The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting by a sheriff’s deputy of Sonya Massey, a woman who had called police because she thought a prowler was outside her home and was killed after an exchange with responding officers over a pot of hot water.

In a letter to officials in Sangamon County, Illinois, the Justice Department said that it had reviewed reports about the shooting of Massey, who was Black, and that they raised “serious concerns” about the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office’s interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities.

The Justice Department is also investigating the county and its central emergency dispatch system for possible violations of federal nondiscrimination policies, according to the letter, which a Sangamon County spokesperson shared with The New York Times on Sunday.

The deputy, Sean Grayson, who is white, shot Massey, 36, inside her home in Springfield, Illinois, on July 6.

The day before the shooting, Donna Massey, Massey’s mother, had called 911 and asked for help, saying her daughter was having a mental breakdown and was vulnerable, according to call recordings that Sangamon County released in August.

The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office said evidence showed that Grayson, who has been charged with murder and fired from the sheriff’s office, had not been “justified in his use of deadly force.”

Grayson was also charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He has pleaded not guilty.

Typhoon Man-yi slams into Philippines

MANILA, Philippines >> A powerful typhoon wrecked houses, caused towering tidal surges and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to emergency shelters as it cut across the northern Philippines on Sunday in the sixth major storm to hit the country in less than a month.

Typhoon Man-yi slammed into the eastern island province of Catanduanes on Saturday night with sustained winds of up to 125 miles per hour and gusts of up to 149 mph. The country’s weather agency warned of a “potentially catastrophic and life-threatening situation” in provinces along its path.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the typhoon, which was forecast to blow northwestward on Sunday across northern Luzon, the archipelago’s most populous region. The capital region of metropolitan Manila would likely be spared from a direct hit but was placed, along with outlying regions, under storm alerts and warned of dangerous coastal storm surges.

Kim speaks of expanding NK nukes

SEOUL, South Korea >> North Korean leader Kim Jong Un renewed his call for a “limitless” expansion of his military nuclear program to counter U.S.-led threats in comments reported Monday that were his first direct criticism toward Washington since Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election.

At a conference with army officials on Friday, Kim condemned the United States for updating its nuclear deterrence strategies with South Korea and solidifying three-way military cooperation involving Japan, which he portrayed as an “Asian NATO” that was escalating tensions and instability in the region.

Kim also criticized the United States over its support of Ukraine against a prolonged Russian invasion. He insisted that Washington and its Western allies were using Ukraine as their “shock troops” to wage a war against Moscow and expand the scope of U.S. military influence, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim has prioritized his country’s ties to Russia in recent months, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and displaying a united front in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s broader conflicts with the West.

Two people are dead in New Orleans shooting

NEW ORLEANS >> New Orleans police were investigating after two people were killed and nine others were wounded in two separate shootings along a parade route.

Officers responding to reports of gunfire shortly after 3:30 p.m. along an avenue in the St. Roch neighborhood found eight victims with gunshot wounds, according to a news release from the New Orleans Police Department. All eight were hospitalized in unknown condition.

About 45 minutes later, police received another report of gunfire on the same avenue, about half a mile to the north. One person died at the scene and another died at a hospital, the news release said. A third victim was driven to a hospital in a private car and is in stable condition, police said.

The shootings occurred in the area where a “second line,” a celebration following a parade, was taking place, officials said.

Tropical Storm Sara weakens after landfall

POTRERILLOS, Honduras >> Tropical Storm Sara on Sunday weakened to a tropical depression after making landfall in Belize, where forecasters expected heavy rain to cause flash flooding and mudslides.

The storm hit Belize after drenching the northern coast of Honduras, where it stalled since Friday, swelling rivers and trapping some people at home. The U.S. National Hurricane Center expected Sara to continue to lose strength as it moved further inland Sunday over the Yucatan Peninsula.

Portions of Belize, El Salvador, eastern Guatemala, western Nicaragua and Mexico’s state of Quintana Roo could see up to 5 inches of rain, with localized totals reaching 15 inches. The conditions “will result in areas of flash flooding, perhaps significant, along with the potential of mudslides,” according to the Hurricane Center.

Meanwhile, northern Honduras was not in the clear yet. The center expected Sara to drop up to 3 inches of rain there, but some areas could see the totals hit 40 inches, with “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” still possible.

Bangladesh to seek Hasina’s extraditiion

DHAKA, Bangladesh >> Bangladesh’s interim leader and Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus said Sunday that his administration will seek the extradition of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India, where has been in exile since fleeing a mass uprising in August.

In a televised address to the nation on his first 100 days in office, Yunus said that the interim government will try those responsible including Hasina for hundreds of deaths during the student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Yunus took the helm on Aug. 8, three days after Hasina fled the country.

He said that not only the deaths in the uprising but all other violations of human rights, including alleged enforced disappearances while Hasina was in power, would be investigated.

Iowa pollster retiring after questionable call

J. Ann Selzer, a vaunted Iowa political pollster who released an eyebrow-raising poll just before Election Day, said Sunday that she would end her election polling operation.

Selzer, 68, has long been a trusted voice in the polling industry, predicting the state’s margins of past presidential elections with an accuracy few rivaled. So when her last poll before Election Day showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump in Iowa, it created a political shock wave.

It was a surprising result, showing Harris leading by 3 percentage points. And observers noted it was an outlier. But many trusted Selzer’s expertise and her track record. Nearly every other poll in Iowa showed Trump leading the state by a healthy margin, and in 2020, Trump won the state by 8 points. By the time ballots were counted early this month, Trump led Harris by more than 13 points en route to his overall victory.

‘Voice’ winner on mend after shooting

TYLER, Texas >> Country singer Sundance Head, a winner on “The Voice,” is recovering at home after he was accidentally shot in the stomach while handling a firearm on a hunting trip at his East Texas ranch, his agent said Sunday.

Head, winner of the 11th season of NBC’s “The Voice” in 2016, was leaning into his vehicle to grab his .22 caliber pistol when it fell out of its holster and onto the exterior of the vehicle and fired off a shot that hit Head in the stomach, his agent, Trey Newman said in an email.

Newman said Head was airlifted to a hospital. He said no vital organs were hit and no surgery was needed.

— From news services