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Ex-IRS contractor pleads guilty in leak of tax return information of Trump, wealthy people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service charged with leaking tax information to news outlets about former President Donald Trump and thousands of the country’s wealthiest people pleaded guilty to a federal charge Thursday in an agreement with prosecutors. The Justice Department charged Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., with stealing tax return information and giving it to two news outlets between 2018 and 2020.U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she was deeply troubled by his actions that affected Trump and thousands of other people. “When we have people, for whatever reason, take the law into their own hands society doesn’t function,” she said. “Make no mistake, this was not acceptable. If anyone tells you the ends justify the means, they’re wrong.” Littlejohn pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information. The count carries up to five years in prison, but the ultimate se...

17 Florida sheriff’s deputies accused of stealing about $500,000 in pandemic relief funds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Seventeen Florida sheriff’s deputies appeared in court Thursday on charges that they stole about half a million dollars in pandemic relief funds.The Broward County deputies, who are charged separately, are accused of a range of crimes, according to court records. Most are charged with wire fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, though one deputy is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which has a maximum sentence of five years.The eight law enforcement deputies and nine detention deputies have been suspended, Sheriff Gregory Tony said during a news conference. He said his office is going through the legal process of firing them.“At the end of the day, they will be gone,” Tony said.The deputies collectively defrauded the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program out of about $500,000, said Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of Florida.“No matter the amou...

Hornets’ Miles Bridges faces more domestic allegations, clouding his future on and off the court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Hornets forward Miles Bridges’ latest legal issues have clouded his future on and off the basketball court.A criminal summons that was issued Wednesday for Bridges accuses him of violating a protection order stemming from a domestic violence case that derailed his career last year. The summons also includes accusations of misdemeanor child abuse and injury to personal property. In addition, a warrant for a protection order violation was issued for Bridges in January, although it has not yet been served, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office told The Associated Press.Bridges is currently serving three years of probation after pleading no contest in exchange for no jail time in the June 2022 domestic violence case involving the mother of his two children, who accused Bridges of assaulting her in front of the children.Bridges also must adhere to a 10-year criminal protection order for the woman, weekly narcotics and marijuana testing, and restitution, according...

Haiti refuses to open key border crossing with Dominican Republic in spat over canal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Haiti declined Thursday to join neighboring Dominican Republic in reopening a key commercial border crossing, leaving some trade at a standstill and prolonging a diplomatic crisis over the construction of a canal on Haitian soil.Dominican President Luis Abinader had closed all borders including the crossing at the northern Dominican city of Dajabon for nearly a month to protest the construction of the canal, which he says violates a treaty and will take water needed by Dominican farmers. Haiti says it has the right to build the canal and that it’s urgently needed because of a drought.Abinader’s government partially reopened the borders on Wednesday including the one at Dajabon — home to a key market for commerce between the countries — but allowed only limited trade and kept a ban on Haitians entering the Dominican Republic for work, school, tourism or medical issues. He also kept a ban on issuing visas to Haitian citizens.Haiti declined to f...

Woman stabbed taxi driver on interstate before injuring 2 others at Atlanta airport, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A woman with a knife stabbed a taxi driver as he was driving down an interstate and then slashed an airline employee and a police lieutenant at the Atlanta airport before she was tackled by another officer, according to a police report.The 44-year-old woman was arrested and charged with four counts of aggravated assault. She was being held in the Clayton County Jail and was denied bond during an initial court appearance Thursday, according to online court records. The records did not list an attorney who could comment on the charges.The taxi driver told police he picked the woman up at a MARTA train station Wednesday afternoon and she asked to be taken to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As he drove down Interstate 285, not far from the airport, the woman stabbed him in the upper chest, near his right shoulder. Then she grabbed his phone and threw it out the window, he told police.At the airport, someone told an Atlanta police officer that there was a...

$1.765 billion Powerball jackpot goes to a player who bought a ticket in a California mountain town

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

FRAZIER PARK, Calif. (AP) — A liquor store in a tiny California mountain town reverberated with excitement Thursday after word that the winning ticket for a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot was sold there.The drawing Wednesday night ended a long stretch without a winner of the top prize and brought news media to Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, a community of 2,600 residents about 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.“That’s the most exciting news ever (to) happen to Frazier Park,” said store co-owner Nidal Khalil.The winner had not come forward to him, he said, adding that he hoped it is one of his regular customers. Most are local retirees, he said.The winning numbers were: 22, 24, 40, 52, 64 and the Powerball 10. In California, winners’ names must be disclosed. The store will receive a $1 million reward for selling the lucky ticket. Clerk Janea Herrera at first thought it was a joke when she was told the winning ticket was sold at the store 6 mile...

One of two brothers pleads guilty in fatal shooting of Officer Ella French

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

CHICAGO — One of the two brothers accused in the fatal shooting of Chicago police officer Ella French has pleaded guilty.Eric Morgan, 25, pleaded guilty to several felonies in exchange for a seven-year prison sentence and his cooperation.His attorney said he will not serve a full seven years due to time already served and will likely be out in about a year and a half.Prosecutors said Eric's brother, Emonte Morgan, who is also in his 20s, killed French and shot her partner Carlos Yanez in the summer of 2021.When their SUV was pulled over in Englewood, Eric and another woman followed the officers' orders, but prosecutors said Emonte refused to get out of the car and a struggle ensued. Former NFL player Sergio Brown arrested in San Diego on murder warrant of mother Ella French's mother was in court and shared heartwrenching testimony about her daughter. She addressed Eric directly and said she didn't believe seven years was enough for what was taken from her. "Eric Morgan is basical...

Ex-Indiana officer gets 1 year in federal prison for repeatedly punching handcuffed man

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — A former northern Indiana police officer who was caught on video repeatedly punching a handcuffed man in 2018 was sentenced Thursday to just over a year in federal prison.A U.S. District Court judge in Hammond sentenced Joshua Titus to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by one year of supervised release. The former Elkhart police officer had pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of deprivation of civil rights and aiding and abetting. ‘I’m going to fall’: Northwest Indiana woman accused of letting kids ride on roof of car; daughter injured Surveillance video showed Titus and another Elkhart officer, Cory Newland, punching a handcuffed suspect in January 2018 after the man spit on one of them at the Elkhart police station in the city about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Chicago.A federal grand jury indicted both officers in March 2019 on a charge of depriving the suspect, Mario Ledesma, of his rights through excessive force. Both later...

Wisconsin GOP approves transgender sports restrictions, set to outlaw gender-affirming surgery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly signed off Thursday on contentious legislation limiting transgender youth participation in sports teams and was poised to approve another bill that would outlaw gender-affirming surgery for minors despite Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' vow to veto the proposals.GOP legislators across the United States want to limit the rights of transgender youths, sparking fierce pushback from the transgender community and triggering discrimination lawsuits along the way. Now the battle has come to Wisconsin.Assembly passage sends the legislation to the Republican-controlled state Senate. If that chamber passes the package it would go next to Evers, who has already promised the bills will never become law.“We're going to veto every single one of them (the bills),” Evers told transgender youth and their supporters who gathered at the state Capitol last week for packed hearings on the proposals. “I know you're here because you're pissed o...

What to know about the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:28:34 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Tens of millions of older Americans will see a modest increase in benefits this January when a new cost-of-living adjustment is added to Social Security payments.The 3.2% raise is intended to help meet higher prices for food, fuel, and other goods and services. The average recipient will see an increase of about $54 per month, according to government estimates. That’s a smaller percentage than last year, because consumer prices have eased, and the COLA is tied to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index.Still, Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says increased Medicare premiums will “absorb a disproportionate share of the COLA for most people.” One premium is rising by an estimated 6%, or roughly $9.90 a month.“Seniors and people with disabilities tend to spend a greater share of their incomes on health care, and medical prices are rising faster than overall inflation,” she said, ...