North Carolina proposes laws allowing teachers to carry guns in schools

State politicians see arming teachers as a way to better secure the school even as polls show it remains largely unpopular

North Carolina is planning controversial new laws that aim to ease gun restrictions in schools and allow teachers to carry weapons while on school grounds and even provide a financial incentive for educators to arm themselves.

The proposed laws – one in the state house and one in the state senate – were filed shortly after 2018 ended as the deadliest year for school shootings in the US since a US naval postgraduate school database began recording data. After last year’s school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people and spurred the March for Our Lives movement, public interest in creating more effective school security has grown.

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US college admissions scandal: how did the scheme work and who was charged?

Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among 50 charged in scheme to get children into universities via bribery and cheating

There are 50 people charged in the case, including actors Felicity Huffman, known for her role on the TV show Desperate Housewives and the feature film Transamerica, and Lori Loughlin, a cast member on the TV series Full House. Defendants in the case include parents and college athletics coaches.

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Felicity Huffman among dozens charged over admissions fraud at top US schools

Scheme helped wealthy Americans buy their children’s way into elite universities including Yale, Georgetown and Stanford

US federal prosecutors have charged the Hollywood actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, along with almost 50 other people, over a $25m scheme to help wealthy Americans buy their children’s way into elite universities including Yale, Georgetown, Stanford and the University of Southern California.

Huffman appeared in court in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, where a magistrate judge said she could be released on a $250,000 bond. The judge ordered the Desperate Housewives star to restrict her travel to the continental United States. Huffman’s husband, the actor William H Macy, attended his wife’s initial court appearance. He has not been charged and authorities have not said why.

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Paul Manafort: Trump’s ex-campaign chief sentenced to 47 months

Paul Manafort, the former chairman of Donald Trump’s campaign, has been jailed for nearly four years for bank and tax fraud uncovered during the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference.

Wearing a green prison jumpsuit, Manafort sat still in a wheelchair and betrayed little emotion as the US district judge TS Ellis of the eastern district of Virginia pronounced the sentence, which will be partially offset by nine months already served.

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The neo-Nazi plot against America is much bigger than we realize

Lt Christopher Hasson is the product of traditions in white supremacist circles, and experts say there are ‘thousands like him’

In the early summer of 2017, US coast guard lieutenant Christopher Hasson had an idea. He had been trying to figure out an effective way of killing billions of people – “almost every last person on Earth” – but found himself coming up against the daunting logistics of such a task.

Related: America's dark underbelly: I watched the rise of white nationalism

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R Kelly due in court following arrest on 10 sexual abuse charges

  • R&B singer taken into custody in Chicago on Friday
  • Cook county state’s attorney says abuse dated back as far as 1998

The R&B star R Kelly is due in court in Chicago on Saturday, charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse involving four victims, including at least three between the ages of 13 and 17.

Related: R Kelly in police custody after being charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse

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R Kelly in police custody after being charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse

Indictment filed in Illinois and seen by Guardian includes nine counts involving victims aged between 13 and 17

R Kelly is in police custody in Chicago after turning himself in at the Chicago police precinct on Friday night.

Earlier in the day, the R&B star had been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Illinois for incidents dating back as far as May 1998.

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El Chapo’s lawyers request new trial after report of juror misconduct

Allegations emerged this week that jury members followed media coverage of high profile trial, despite orders not to

Lawyers for convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán intend to petition for a new trial after a news report indicated that multiple jurors followed media coverage of the trial against the instructions of the judge in the case.

Allegations of juror misconduct came to light earlier this week in an article published by Vice News. In the piece, an anonymous juror said jurors had routinely violated the judge’s instructions to “stay away from media coverage, not doing any research on the internet or otherwise and [to not] communicate anything about the case to anyone”.

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Jussie Smollett staged attack because he was unhappy with salary, police say

  • Empire actor appeared in court where bail was set to $100,000
  • Police say scratches and bruises ‘most likely self-inflicted’

The actor Jussie Smollett claimed he was attacked and beaten by two masked men shouting racist and homophobic slurs because he was “dissatisfied with his salary” on the TV show Empire, Chicago police have said.

Related: Trump targets Jussie Smollett over what police say was fake attack – live updates

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Jussie Smollett charged: actor accused of filing false report in alleged attack

Smollett has said two masked men abused him with racist and homophobic slurs before beating him up

The Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report when he said he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack in downtown Chicago late last month, Chicago police said on Wednesday.

The police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said prosecutors charged Smollett with felony disorderly conduct, an offense that could carry one to three years in prison and force the actor to pay for the cost of the investigation into his report of the beating. Authorities were trying to get in touch with Smollett’s attorneys to “negotiate a reasonable surrender”, Guglielmi said.

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Neo-Nazi in coast guard plotted attack on Democrats and journalists, say prosecutors

Lieutenant Christopher Hasson allegedly intended to ‘murder civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country’

A neo-Nazi serving as a lieutenant in the US coast guard has been caught plotting to attack Democratic members of Congress, including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and well-known media personalities, according to prosecutors.

Christopher Hasson intended “to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country”, according to a filing to federal court in Maryland. Law enforcement officers seized 15 guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition from his home.

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Jussie Smollett: Chicago police still seeking follow-up interview

  • Actor’s lawyers angrily reject reports he may have staged attack
  • Police spokesman says trajectory of investigation ‘shifted’

Chicago police are still seeking a follow-up interview with Jussie Smollett after receiving new information that “shifted” their investigation of a reported attack on the Empire actor.

Related: Jussie Smollett attorneys dismiss reports of involvement in own 'attack'

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Jussie Smollett: brothers arrested in alleged attack on Empire actor released

Chicago police say they no longer consider the brothers suspects in reported assault

Chicago police have released two Nigerian brothers arrested in connection with the alleged assault on Empire TV series actor Jussie Smollett and said they have new evidence to investigate as a result of questioning them.

“The individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete,” Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.

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Aurora shooting: sacked employee kills five in Illinois warehouse

  • Five officers were also wounded, police chief Ziman said
  • The shooter was shot and killed at the scene

A gunman opened fire at an Illinois manufacturing warehouse had just been fired from his job when he killed five fellow workers,authorities said.

Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said the assailant, identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, had worked at the Henry Pratt Company for 15 years before the violence unfolded at the firm’s sprawling warehouse in Aurora, west of Chicago.

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Serial killer’s drawings of alleged victims released by FBI

Agency hopes sketches by Samuel Little, who has confessed to killing 90 women, may help solve dozens of homicides

The FBI has released sketches made by a serial killer of his alleged victims, in the hope that they may help solve dozens of unsolved homicides.

The agency released the drawings and other information on a string of cold-case homicides that investigators say Samuel Little has admitted to having carried out.

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El Chapo trial: Mexican drug cartel boss found guilty

Joaquín Guzmán, 61, could spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted following three-month New York trial

The notorious cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has been found guilty of 10 counts of drug trafficking, at the end of a three-month New York trial that featured dramatic testimony of prison escapes, gruesome killings and million-dollar political payoffs.

Related: Behind the El Chapo trial: what's been left unsaid in a New York courtroom

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Jeffrey Epstein: US opens inquiry into light sentence for wealthy sexual abuser

Plea deal, involving attorney who became Trump’s labor secretary, saw financier avoid severe penalty for abusing girls

The justice department has opened an investigation into federal prosecutors’ handling of a plea deal in which a wealthy, politically connected Florida financier avoided potentially severe penalties for sexually abusing teenage girls in favor of a relatively light state conviction.

The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Republican senator Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, that it would examine whether professional misconduct occurred in the highly publicized case of Jeffrey Epstein. The letter cited a series of recent articles by the Miami Herald that focused new attention on how the deal came about.

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Rapper 21 Savage arrested by US immigration – for being British

  • Atlanta rapper held early on Sunday in Super Bowl city
  • Star is nominated for two awards at Grammys next week

The rapper 21 Savage was arrested in Atlanta early on Sunday morning by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).

Related: 'I'm the gay Tupac': Jussie Smollett plays first concert since alleged attack

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Four-year-old shoots mother in face after finding gun under mattress

  • Pregnant woman, 27, has ‘life-threatening’ injuries
  • New Washington state law governs unsafe gun storage

Authorities said a pregnant Washington state woman was shot in the face on Saturday by her four-year-old son, after the boy found a loaded and unsecured gun under a mattress.

The King county sheriff’s office said the 27-year-old woman, who is eight months pregnant, was taken to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

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