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Trump’s criminal conviction won’t stop him from getting security clearance as president

Current News / News & Features /

Former President Donald Trump is the president-elect. He is also a convicted felon, thanks to a jury verdict after a trial in New York state court for a hush money conspiracy before he became president the first time.

Normally, a president-elect gets access to highly classified information, including a version of the President’s ...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Should judges keep the mentally ill out of Rikers? Not my problem, one says

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NEW YORK — An attempt to keep a schizophrenic man out of Rikers Island — where deplorable conditions for the mentally ill have been well documented — ran into a brick wall recently when a Manhattan Criminal Court judge said: “I don’t pick the jails that people go to when crimes are committed.”

Judge Pamela Goldsmith lit into public ...Read more

Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ethics panel to meet on Gaetz report amid Trump's AG pick blowback

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WASHINGTON — Ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general took a new hit Monday as the House Ethics Committee reportedly set a meeting where it may discuss releasing its report on explosive sex and drugs allegations against him.

With some Republican senators questioning President-elect Trump’s pick, the panel will meet Wednesday ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

'Magic list' of Madigan-connected lobbyists shown to jury in ex-Illinois speaker's corruption trial

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CHICAGO — Out of all the electronics, emails, and other documents seized by the FBI in a raid on the downstate Quincy home of Michael McClain in May 2019, one item stood out.

Inside a tote bag in McClain’s silver Toyota Avalon were handwritten notes scrawled on stationery from a Chicago boutique hotel, listing the names of allies of then-...Read more

Joe Amon/The Denver Post/TNS

81-year-old Vietnam veteran from Nebraska killed in Colorado plane crash

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DENVER — A small plane crashed into a Weld County field last week, killing the 81-year-old Nebraska pilot and kick-starting a federal investigation.

Alex Watson, a Nebraska man known as Ben by friends and family, earned his final set of wings on Friday.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the Beech 35-B33 — a private, ...Read more

Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

'Say his name! Robert Jones!': Family of man killed by off-duty Philly detective rallies at City Hall

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PHILADELPHIA — Family and friends of an unarmed man who was shot and killed by an off-duty Philadelphia homicide detective last month rallied outside City Hall on Monday, calling on District Attorney Larry Krasner to bring charges against the officer.

Robert Jones, 54, was shot and killed by Detective Christopher Sweeney in Northeast ...Read more

Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/TNS

3 stabbed, 2 fatally, by attacker on unprovoked spree across Manhattan

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NEW YORK — Three people were stabbed in Manhattan Monday morning, two fatally, in what appears to be an unprovoked spree by a lone attacker, police said.

The suspect, taken into custody after the third stabbing, is a 51-year-old resident of the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on East 30th Street near First Avenue who appeared to randomly select his ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

Steve Bannon's NYC trial in border wall scam pushed to February

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NEW YORK — Steve Bannon’s trial on charges of duping conservatives into donating for a “border wall” project has been pushed back to February.

Bannon, 70, had been set to stand trial beginning Dec. 9, but Manhattan Supreme Court Justice April Newbauer moved the date to Feb. 25 in a hearing Monday morning.

The case against Bannon began ...Read more

Natrice Miller/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Georgia officials approve details for new school 'voucher' program

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ATLANTA — Georgia officials have approved the initial components of a program that would let qualifying families use up to $6,500 of public money for education expenses, including private school tuition.

The program is part of Senate Bill 233, known as the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, approved by state lawmakers earlier this year. The ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Investigators say Jose Ibarra's clothing on Snapchat confirmed suspicions in Laken Riley case

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ATHENS, Ga. — Hours before the killing of nursing student Laken Riley, Jose Ibarra posted photos of himself on social media.

In those images, he’s wearing a black-and-white shirt, a black Adidas hat and a blue jacket.

That’s significant, an FBI agent testified, because a security camera captured video of a similarly dressed man ...Read more

Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/TNS

Queens hotel whose owner has been tied to Adams administration officials raided by feds

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NEW YORK — A Queens hotel that is being used by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and whose owner has been tied to top Eric Adams administration officials was raided last week as part of a federal investigation, the Daily News has learned.

The hotel, the Mayflower Hotel in Long Island City, is owned by Weihong Hu, who has ties to ...Read more

Daniel Mears/The Detroit News/TNS

79 Michigan communities challenge state's solar, wind farm permit rules in court

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LANSING, Mich. — Nearly 80 Michigan municipalities have challenged the legality of the state’s processing of permitting requests for large-scale solar and wind energy facilities — a controversial policy passed by Michigan Democratic lawmakers last year that diminishes local control.

The legal appeal, filed Nov. 8 in the Michigan Court of ...Read more

Genya Savilov/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Will Biden's approval of Ukraine using US long-range missiles to strike Russia matter?

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WASHINGTON — Two months before President-elect Trump moves into the White House again, President Biden has reportedly made a major change in U.S. policy toward Ukraine, authorizing it for the first time to use U.S.-supplied missiles to hit targets deeper inside Russia.

Moscow responded angrily on Monday, with the Kremlin warning of potential ...Read more

Luiz C Ribeiro/Gardiner Anderson/Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/TNS

MTA approves $9-a-day congestion pricing as race to beat the clock on Trump kicks into gear

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NEW YORK — The MTA’s board voted 12 to 1 to approve Gov. Hochul’s modified congestion pricing plan Monday, effectively reviving the controversial toll deigned to fund system improvements.

“This is a hopeful moment,” MTA chairman Janno Lieber said ahead of the vote. “It shows that New Yorkers — we collectively — can take on and ...Read more

Your cool black kitchenware could be slowly poisoning you, study says. Here's what to do

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LOS ANGELES — Go to your kitchen, grab your black spatula and throw it in the trash. Immediately.

That's the alarming message from a new study published in the journal Chemosphere. Cooking with any plastic utensil has long been seen as worrisome because heat can cause chemicals in the plastic to migrate into the food you're about to eat. But ...Read more

Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images North America/TNS

Sean 'Diddy' Combs demands info on how feds got jail cell notes amid witness tampering allegations

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Amid fresh allegations that Sean “Diddy” Combs is managing a PR campaign from behind bars intended to intimidate witnesses and influence jurors, lawyers for the embattled hip-hop mogul on Monday demanded a hearing into how federal authorities obtained his paperwork from Brooklyn MDC.

In arguments opposing Combs’ latest request to be ...Read more

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump nominees will face friendlier Senate, with bigger majority

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WASHINGTON — Donald Trump will return to the White House with a Senate Republican majority that is larger than the start of his first term and friendlier to him overall, a combination that gives him a powerful advantage to filling his Cabinet and other positions.

There’s a high likelihood that Republicans will have a 53-seat majority when ...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Hundreds attend funeral for slain Chicago Police officer Enrique Martinez

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CHICAGO — Hundreds of law enforcement officers stood at attention on the north lawn of St. Rita of Cascia church Monday morning, rain sprinkling down on them, as pallbearers carried the casket of slain Chicago Police officer Enrique Martinez inside the church.

Martinez, 26, was fatally shot on Nov. 4 while he and other officers responded to a...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump backs 'emergency' plan to use military for mass deportations

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President-elect Donald Trump Monday backed an “emergency” plan to use the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, which he has said could target more than 10 million people.

“True!!!” Trump posted on his social media site in response to an ally’s claim that the incoming president would use unspecified ...Read more

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images North America/TNS

Burgundy and hold: What's next for the RFK stadium site bill?

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WASHINGTON — Coming off Thursday night’s loss in front of 65,000 raucous Philadelphia Eagles fans, the Washington Commanders may face an even more unreceptive crowd in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The panel is slated to consider a host of bills Tuesday, including one that would grant the District of Columbia a 99-year ...Read more