Alex Jones trial moves to punitive damages phaseHARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Infowars host Alex Jones faces the possibility of having more steep penalties heaped onto the vast amount he already owes for spreading conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as the punitive damages phase began Friday in a lawsuit filed by the victims’ families.A Connecticut jury last month ordered Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, to pay $965 million to the Sandy Hook families for harm they suffered after he persuaded his audience that the 2012 shooting that killed 26 people was a hoax perpetrated by “crisis actors.”The jury also said punitive damages should be awarded.US employers are hiring briskly even in face of rate hikesGermany's Scholz urges Xi to exert influence on RussiaWidespread Twitter layoffs begin a week after Musk takeoverRussian soldiers enter Kherson homes, dig in for urban warThe plaintiffs’ lawyers, in court filings, suggested punitive damages under the act could total $2.75 trillion based on one hypothetical calculation, but they have not asked for a specific amount.“Indeed, most defendants would be driven into bankruptcy, their livelihood destroyed, and their future transformed into the bleak prospect of a judgment debtor saddled for decades with a debt that cannot be satisfied.In a calculation in a plaintiffs’ court filing, they said Jones’ comments about Sandy Hook were viewed an estimated 550 million times on his and Infowars’ social media accounts from 2012 to 2018."