Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein says worshipper Lori Kaye died protecting him from a 19-year-old man who opened fire at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego. Goldstein lost one of his index fingers when he held up his hands in defence as the gunman fired. In an emotional statement, he recalled how Kaye threw herself between the gunman and him. Two others were wounded in the attack
Continue reading...Category Archives: US crime
Trump’s record on white nationalism under new scrutiny after synagogue shooting
Kellyanne Conway, the president’s counselor, sought to defend Trump’s record during CNN interview: ‘He does think it’s a threat’
The Trump administration faced fresh scrutiny on Sunday over the president’s fraught record on white nationalism in the wake of a suspected hate crime at a synagogue in California on Saturday, which left one woman dead and three injured.
Trump unequivocally condemned the shooting, telling a rally on Saturday evening in Wisconsin: “Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded, and stands in solidarity with the Jewish community. We forcefully condemn the evil of anti-Semitism and hate, which must be defeated.”
Continue reading...San Diego synagogue shooting: vigil held for victims – video report
Dozens of residents gathered on Saturday evening for a vigil of song and prayer at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian church in San Diego, after a 19-year-old gunman opened fire on worshippers inside a nearby synagogue, killing a woman and wounding a rabbi and two other people. The suspect claimed to have been motivated by the deadly attack on two mosques in New Zealand last month
- San Diego synagogue shooting: one dead and three injured
- San Diego shooting suspect posted 'open letter' online
John Earnest: San Diego shooting suspect posted ‘open letter’ online
Antisemitic screed says 19-year-old was motivated by New Zealand mosque massacres and Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
• Full report: one dead and three injured in synagogue shooting
The 19-year-old California man detained by police after a hate-motivated shooting at a synagogue near San Diego claimed to have been motivated by the deadly attack on two mosques in New Zealand last month.
Police in the US said the gunman, named as John T Earnest, opened fire inside the synagogue in Poway, about 30 kilometres north of San Diego, killing one person and injuring three others including a rabbi.
Continue reading...Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman pleads guilty in alleged sex cult case
- Bronfman, 40, admits credit card fraud and immigration charges
- Plea means Nxivm founder Keith Raniere will stand trial alone
The Seagram liquor heiress Clare Bronfman pleaded guilty on Friday to harboring an undocumented immigrant and enabling credit card fraud as part of an alleged sex cult based in upstate New York, where women have reported they were branded with the initials of the founder.
Bronfman, 40, entered her plea to the two criminal counts before Judge Nicholas Garaufis in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
Continue reading...Turpin children read statements during sentencing of parents – video
David and Louise Turpin were sentenced on Friday during an emotional hearing that saw some of the children speak publicly about the abuse for the first time. Their parents watched in tears as the children talked about being chained and beaten. The California couple's years of torture and abuse on 12 of their 13 children was only discovered when one of their daughters jumped out of a window of the family’s squalid home and called 911.
The Turpins, who pleaded guilty in February to torture and other abuse, were sentenced to life in prison on Friday with with the possibility of parole after 25 years
Continue reading...Three naked Florida women lead police on 21-mile chase
- Women applying lotion told trooper they were “air drying”
- Tampa Bay Times says no link to area nudist community
Authorities said three naked women who were seen applying suntan lotion at a Florida rest stop led police on a 21-mile chase, drove a car at one deputy and threatened another with a bat.
The Florida highway patrol said that when a deputy approached the women at the Interstate 75 rest stop on Wednesday in Dade City, Pasco county, they started dressing. The women told the trooper they had been staying at a relative’s home but went to the rest stop after an altercation and had nowhere else to go.
Continue reading...Jussie Smollett: Chicago sues Empire actor to recoup cost of investigation
Actor had refused to reimburse city for overtime as police sought to verify his account of a racist, anti-gay attack
Chicago filed a lawsuit against Jussie Smollett on Thursday in a bid to recoup the costs of investigating a racist, anti-gay attack that authorities say was orchestrated by the Empire actor as a publicity stunt.
The 12-page civil lawsuit, filed in Cook county court, is the latest volley in a legal battle that shows no signs of abating since Smollett reported that masked men beat him up on 29 January in Chicago, shouting slurs and wrapping a rope around his neck.
Continue reading...Netflix postpones Felicity Huffman film after actor admits college fraud
- Desperate Housewives star to admit bribing college officials
- Actor is one of 50 people charged over university scam
Netflix has postponed the release date of a film starring Felicity Huffman after the actor agreed to plead guilty to fraud for her part in the largest US college admissions scam ever prosecuted.
Huffman, known for the TV series Desperate Housewives, is one of 13 people who have admitted paying bribes to get their children into desirable colleges such as Yale, Stanford and the University of Southern California, according to court documents.
Continue reading...Felicity Huffman to plead guilty in college admissions cheating case
The actor and 12 other parents will plead guilty after being accused of paying to rig children’s test scores and bribe coaches
Felicity Huffman has agreed to plead guilty in the college admissions cheating scandal, the biggest celebrity name so far to admit to her involvement in the scheme. Court documents made public on Monday show that 12 other prominent parents, in addition to Huffman, will also plead guilty in the case.
The actor was accused of paying $15,000 to have a proctor boost her older daughter’s SAT score in order to ease her way into college.
Continue reading...Students accused of cheating Apple out of nearly $1m in fake iPhone scheme
Two Oregon college students allegedly submitted thousands of repair requests over the course of a year using counterfeit phones
Many of us have waited trepidatiously in the Apple Store, clasping our broken iPhone we’ve long since lost the receipt for, while the Genius Bar overlords decide whether to take pity on us and give us a new one or show us the gladiatorial thumbs down.
But two Oregon students had rather a lot more riding on Apple’s replacement policy. They allegedly frauded Apple of nearly $1m by sending the company counterfeit iPhones, claiming they were faulty, and receiving brand-new genuine models as replacements.
Continue reading...Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin in court to face admissions scam charges
Pair among others charged in scheme in which, authorities say, parents paid consultant to fake children’s college test scores
Actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are expected in court on Wednesday to face charges that they participated in a wide-ranging college admissions cheating scam that rocked the US.
The actors, along with Loughlin’s fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli and dozens of others, were charged last month in a scheme in which authorities say parents paid an admissions consultant to bribe college coaches and rig test scores to get their children into elite universities.
Continue reading...North Dakota: police discover several bodies inside Bismarck building
- Police say ‘several people deceased inside’ at Mandan business
- Vehicles clustered around RJR Maintenance and Management
Police responding to a medical call at a North Dakota business on Monday found “several” bodies, authorities said.
The Mandan police department issued a three-sentence news release confirming that officers had found “several people who were deceased inside” the business in the city of about 22,000 just across the Missouri River west of Bismarck.
Continue reading...New Orleans to apologise for worst mass lynching in America’s history
Mayor LaToya Cantrell will say sorry for 1891 killing of 11 Italian Americans after some were acquitted of murdering police chief
The mayor of New Orleans is to apologise to Italian Americans for the historical lynching of 11 Italian immigrants in what is considered the nation’s worst such incident.
“This has been a longstanding wound,” said Michael Santo of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy. Santo said that when the city was asked earlier this year for an apology, Mayor LaToya Cantrell embraced the idea, appointing Human Relations Commission head Vincenzo Pasquantonio as liaison.
Continue reading...Jussie Smollett: Chicago orders actor to pay $130,000 for cost of investigation
Donald Trump has said the FBI and justice department will review the case after city prosecutors abruptly dropped charges
Chicago city officials on Thursday ordered the Empire actor Jussie Smollett to pay $130,000 to cover the cost of the investigation into his report of a street attack that police say was staged to promote his career.
A letter from the city’s legal department to Smollett and his attorneys said that figure covers overtime worked by more than two dozen detectives and officers who spent weeks looking into Smollett’s claim in January, including reviewing video and physical evidence and conducting interviews.
Continue reading...Jussie Smollett: prosecutors drop charges against actor accused of fabricating attack
State’s attorney’s office says 16 counts against Empire actor dropped ‘after reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case’
Prosecutors agreed on Tuesday to drop criminal charges against the Empire actor Jussie Smollett for faking a hate crime attack in Chicago.
Smollett was charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly hiring two men to stage a racist, homophobic attack against him in downtown Chicago earlier this year.
Continue reading...Jussie Smollett: Chicago mayor attacks ‘whitewash of justice’ as charges dropped
- Decision to suddenly drop 16 charges questioned
- Smollett: ‘I have been truthful and consistent on every level’
Prosecutors have agreed to drop criminal charges against the Empire actor Jussie Smollett for apparently faking a hate crime attack in Chicago, drawing claims from mayor Rahm Emanuel of a “whitewash of justice”.
Smollett was earlier this year charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly hiring two men to stage a racist, homophobic attack against him in downtown Chicago.
Continue reading...Michael Avenatti, ex-lawyer for Stormy Daniels, arrested on extortion charges
Avenatti charged with attempting to extort millions from Nike, and also charged with wire and bank fraud in separate case
The high-profile attorney Michael Avenatti was charged with trying to extort more than $20m from the sports company Nike.
Avenatti, the former lawyer for Stormy Daniels and a prominent critic of Donald Trump, threatened to release damaging information about Nike unless it paid him off, according to a criminal complaint filed by federal authorities in New York.
Continue reading...What happens after rich kids bribe their way into college? I teach them | Anonymous
A professor at an elite US school says an influx of unskilled and entitled students is monopolizing faculty time: ‘They will eat you alive’
- If you have an experience or story tip on this topic to share with the Guardian, contact college.admissions.tips@theguardian.com
If you think corruption in elite US college admissions is bad, what happens once those students are in the classroom is even worse.
I know, because I teach at an elite American university – one of the oldest and best-known, which rejects about 90% of applicants each year for the small number of places it can offer to undergraduates.
Continue reading...Barbra Streisand apologises for comments on Michael Jackson’s accusers
- Singer, 76, condemned for remarks on alleged sexual abuse
- Said of Jackson: ‘His sexual needs were his sexual needs’
Barbra Streisand has apologised over her remarks about Michael Jackson and two men who have accused him of sexual abuse, saying she should have chosen her words more carefully and that she admires the accusers for “speaking their truth”.
Streisand had been strongly criticized for her comments about two men who accused Jackson of sexual abuse in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.
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