Category Archives: US News

FBI investigating threats directed at Colorado supreme court justices after Trump ruling

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Court voted 4-3 last week that ex-president was ineligible to run for White House again under US constitution’s insurrection clause

Colorado police are working with the FBI to investigate threats directed at justices of the state’s supreme court after its decision to remove Donald Trump from the presidential primary ballot.

The court voted 4-3 last week that the former president was ineligible to run for the White House again, citing a rarely used clause in the US constitution and his role in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

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Former congressman Jeff Fortenberry’s conviction reversed by appeals court

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Republican convicted over false statements about payment from billionaire should not have been tried in Los Angeles, court says

An appellate court on Tuesday reversed a 2022 federal conviction against former Nebraska congressman Jeff Fortenberry, ruling that the Republican should not have been tried in Los Angeles.

Fortenberry was convicted in March 2022 on charges that he lied to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 contribution to his campaign from a foreign billionaire at a 2016 Los Angeles fundraiser. He resigned his seat days later after pressure from congressional leaders and Nebraska’s Republican governor.

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Blizzard conditions hit US northern plains and upper midwest

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Freezing weather affecting more than a million people expected in parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado

Snow, freezing rain and high winds are hitting the northern plains and upper midwest states, with the National Weather Service warning that “blizzard conditions for central South Dakota into parts of Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado [are] resulting in difficult to near impossible travel” soon after Christmas.

Parts of South Dakota were expected to receive up to 13in of snow, with wind gusts as high as 55 mph, according to the weather forecasting agency. The conditions affecting more than a million people could last through early Wednesday, forecasters said.

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Alex Murdaugh trial: court clerk accused of plagiarism

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Becky Hill, who Murdaugh’s lawyers accuse of jury-tampering, alleged to have plagiarized passages in memoir from BBC article

The court clerk who helped steer the murder trial of South Carolina’s Alex Murdaugh and has since been hit with accusations of jury-tampering – potentially leading to a retrial – is now embroiled in a plagiarism controversy.

Soon after the trial, in which Murdaugh was convicted of killing his wife and son near a dog kennel at their Low Country home, Becky Hill published a book named Behind the Doors of Justice: the Murdaugh Murders.

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Biden poised to loosen restrictions on marijuana, but some say it’s not enough

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Legalization advocates say reclassifying drug to schedule III from schedule I doesn’t resolve state and federal law conflicts

The US government appears poised to announce next year the most sweeping changes in decades to how it handles marijuana, the psychoactive drug dozens of states allow to be sold from storefronts, but which federal law considers among the most dangerous substances.

Evidence suggests that Joe Biden’s administration, responding to a policy the president announced last year, is working on moving marijuana to schedule III of the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), a change from its current listing on the maximally restrictive schedule I. That would lessen the tax burden on businesses selling the drug in states where it is legal, and potentially change how police agencies view enforcement of marijuana laws.

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Beyoncé’s childhood home catches fire on Christmas morning

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Blaze reported about 2am but was quickly contained and family living at property escaped safely

Beyoncé’s childhood home in Houston caught fire early on Christmas morning, though the family living there escaped safely.

The fire was reported at about 2am on Monday. The local fire department arrived on the scene of the two-story brick house within three to five minutes, the Houston Chronicle reported.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene among US public figures hit by threats and swatting

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Congresswoman said hoaxer tried to trigger police response while Colorado justices who ruled against Trump face threats

The political became personal over the Christmas holiday as the homes of politicos and judges were targeted by threats, protests and “swatting” hoaxes by pranksters who call in fake emergencies to authorities in the hopes of prompting a forceful police response.

A swatting hoax targeted the Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Authorities said they were investigating threats against the Colorado supreme court justices who ruled that Trump could not appear on the state’s ballots in the 2024 presidential election because he incited an insurrection on the day of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

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Six-year-old boy put on wrong flight from Philadelphia to Florida

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Spirit Airlines sent boy to Orlando instead of Fort Myers, leaving his grandmother to drive 160 miles to pick him up

A six-year-old boy boarded the wrong airplane last week, making a holiday trip look more like a Home Alone sequel in Philadelphia.

Spirit Airlines placed Casper on the wrong flight on Thursday, making his first flight one to remember. His grandmother was expecting him to arrive in Fort Myers, Florida, but instead he landed in Orlando.

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Animal shelter in Pennsylvania empty for first time in 47 years

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Just in time for Christmas, Adams county SPCA adopts out 598 animals and reunites 125 with their owners

An animal shelter in Pennsylvania reached a milestone this Christmas season, celebrating one of the rare moments where less is more.

The Adams county SPCA, which houses dogs, cats and other homeless, abandoned or lost animals, was empty for the first time in 47 years, according to a Facebook post from the shelter, reported by CNN.

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Houston Chronicle compares people crossing border to Mary and Joseph

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Editorial board publishes opinion piece in response to hard-right Republican governor’s latest immigration crackdown

A stinging Christmas opinion issued by the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle newspaper asks Texas’s hard-right Republican leader: “How would governor Greg Abbott treat Mary and Joseph at the border?”

The leading media outlet in the Democratic-voting city published an editorial article on Christmas Eve and posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Christmas Day protesting at the red state’s latest crackdown on people seeking refuge by crossing the US-Mexico border without authorization.

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A split among Democrats may threaten ‘the Squad’ – and help Trump – in 2024

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Centrists are taking on progressives in upcoming House races, as some say they’re losing sight of the big picture

A looming clash between the centre and left of the Democratic party could unseat members of the “the Squad” of progressives and hand a gift to Donald Trump’s Republicans in the 2024 elections.

The war in Gaza has divided Democrats like no other issue and is likely to play a key role in party primaries that decide which candidates run for the House of Representatives.

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‘No Xmas as usual’: pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate in US cities

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Organizers focus on second-most popular shopping day in cities including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters waved the pan-Arab colors flag and wore the symbolic Palestinian keffiyeh in a series of coordinated “No Xmas as Usual in a Genocide” rallies and marches across the US on Saturday.

Organizers with Shut It Down for Palestine said the organization had focused its protests on the second-most popular shopping day of the year – the day before Christmas Eve – as part of ongoing civic and commercial disruptions. Organizers said they planned to “organize actions to boycott, disrupt and rally at commercial centers”.

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Trump asks appeals court to throw out 2020 election subversion charges

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Lawyers argue Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions taken while serving as president in latest battle with special counsel

Donald Trump has asked an appeals court in Washington DC to throw out charges that he sought to subvert the 2020 election, in the latest of a series of high-stakes legal maneuvers between the former president’s lawyers and the US department of justice.

In a filing late on Saturday lawyers for Trump argued to the DC circuit court of appeals that he is legally cloaked from liability for actions he took while serving as president.

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One person killed, another injured in shooting at Florida shopping mall

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Police say the victim was likely ‘targeted’ in the attack at the Paddock mall in Ocala, about 80 miles north-west of Orlando

A man has died in a shooting at a shopping mall in central Florida two days before Christmas in which the victim was apparently “targeted” for the attack, police said.

Ocala police chief Mike Balken told reporters on Saturday evening that the man was killed after he was shot multiple times in a common area at Paddock Mall in Ocala, located about 80 miles north-west of Orlando. A woman was shot in the leg, police said.

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US band Dixie Chicks ‘shocked and saddened’ by death of co-founder Laura Lynch

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Lynch, 65, who died following a car crash outside El Paso, played upright bass and sang on three albums in the early 1990s

The US country band the Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, have said they are “shocked and saddened” by the death of founding member Laura Lynch following a car crash.

“Laura was a bright light … her infectious energy and humor gave a spark to the early days of our band,” the band said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Laura had a gift for design, a love of all things Texas and was instrumental in the early success of the band.

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Officers acquitted in death of Manuel Ellis, bringing scrutiny to police accountability law

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Three officers were first to be tried under five-year-old Washington law, which removes need to prove officer acted with actual malice

A Washington state law aimed at improving police accountability is under scrutiny after three Tacoma officers were acquitted in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained facedown on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath.

The measure approved by voters in 2018 was designed to make it easier to prosecute police accused of wrongfully using deadly force. Initiative 940, referred to as I-940, removed a requirement that prosecutors prove an officer acted with actual malice in order to bring a case – a requirement no other state had – and established that an independent investigation should be conducted after use of force results in death or great bodily harm, among other things.

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California man rescued after being trapped in beachside crevice for three days

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Rescuers were concerned about the man drowning, but were able to extricate him by using micro-explosives to break apart rocks

A California man who became trapped on the side of a cliff for days was finally rescued by first responders after a daring, nearly 24-hour rescue effort.

Rescue crews finally freed the man on Friday morning after he had been trapped in a hole for days near the side of the Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, California, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

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Nikki Haley surges in poll to within four points of Republican leader Trump

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Former South Carolina governor still trails the ex-president, but has made strides in polling ahead of the New Hampshire primary

The former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has pulled within four percentage points of frontrunner Donald Trump in New Hampshire’s 2024 Republican presidential primary, a contest which could prove closer than expected for the ex-president, according to a new poll.

In an American Research Group Inc poll released on Thursday which had asked voters whom they preferred in the New Hampshire primary scheduled for 23 January, Haley earned 29% support to Trump’s 33%. That meant the gap between Haley and Trump was within the survey’s 4% margin of error after the former president had long held dominating polling leads in the race for the 2024 Republican White House nomination.

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Alabama woman with two uteruses gives birth twice in two days

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Kelsey Hatcher, 32, delivered healthy daughters after 20 hours of labor, one day apart – giving each twin a separate birthday

An Alabama mother with a rare double uterus has delivered a set of twins, the hospital treating her announced on Friday.

In what doctors are calling a “one-in-a-million” pregnancy, 32-year-old Kelsey Hatcher delivered a set of twin daughters, one of whom was in each womb, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) hospital.

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Revealed: how US residents are funding illegal settlements in the West Bank

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Crowdfunding site IsraelGives allows US residents to donate millions to paramilitary groups, IDF units and settlers

An Israeli crowdfunding platform, IsraelGives, has allowed US residents to donate millions of dollars since 7 October to causes including illegal West Bank settlements, paramilitary groups, and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units currently operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Legal experts say that some of these campaigns may be illegal under US tax law, but that this is rarely enforced on donors to Israeli causes.

This article was amended on 23 December 2023 to correct the year given in which IsraelGives was founded. It was 2009, not 2019. It also was amended to correct the spelling of Joseph Gitler’s name.

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