Category Archives: Washington, DC

US man sues Powerball lottery after being told his apparent $340m win was error

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Game’s administrators said their website only showed John Cheeks’s numbers as the winning combination by mistake

A man who thought he had won a $340m Powerball jackpot is suing the lottery after the game’s administrators said their website only showed his numbers as the winning combination by mistake.

Washington DC resident John Cheeks purchased a Powerball lottery ticket at the center of the dispute on 6 January 2023. Although Cheeks did not see the Powerball drawing the following day, he saw his numbers posted on the DC lottery’s website two days later.

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Home explosion near Washington DC kills one firefighter and injures 11

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Firefighters were called to home in Sterling, Virginia, by report of gas smell, and explosion took place 30 minutes later, officials said

One firefighter was killed and nine others were injured on Friday when an explosion in a Washington DC suburb leveled a home where they were investigating a gas leak. Two other people were also injured.

The firefighters were called to the home in Sterling, Virginia, by a report of a gas smell shortly after 7.30pm and a fiery explosion took place about 30 minutes later, officials said.

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Grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 planes can return to service after inspection, says FAA

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US regulator makes announcement hours after CEO says planemaker will only allow jets to fly when ‘100%’ certain of safety

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved an inspection and maintenance process to allow grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to return to service, following a cabin panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight.

“The exhaustive, enhanced review our team completed after several weeks of information gathering gives me and the FAA confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase,” FAA administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement.

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‘We will never go away’: anti-abortion activists meet in Washington to plan further bans

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Abortion opponents are emboldened by the fall of Roe, but many states have enacted protections after ruling

Mike Pence had a message: always vote against abortion rights – even if, he suggested, that means voting for Donald Trump.

“That’s why we have primaries. We sort ’em out at every level. But after the primary’s over, you vote pro-life,” the former Republican vice-president to Trump told a downtown Washington DC ballroom of young, diehard anti-abortion activists on Saturday. “You go get behind men and women who are going to stand for the right to life.”

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Snow and storms across US as 55 reported killed in winter weather

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Cold snap continues from south to Pacific north-west, with thaw not expected until next week

The deep freeze affecting millions of people across the US is continuing this weekend, as bitterly frigid air spilled into the midwest from Canada amid high winds that could make it feel like -30F (-34C) outside in some areas.

The list of severe weather events was growing as the US struggled with the intense cold and news reports said at least 55 people across 10 states had been killed in weather-related incidents over the past week or so since the cold snap hit.

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Judge hints that Trump’s election interference trial might be delayed

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The case was automatically frozen after the ex-president appealed judge’s decision to reject his motion to toss criminal charges

The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results indicated on Thursday that the scheduled trial date would not hold as a result of the case being frozen while the former US president appeals to have the charges dismissed.

The US district judge Tanya Chutkan last summer scheduled the trial in Washington DC to start on 4 March – allowing Trump and his team seven months to prepare his defense – and has taken pains to ensure that date would not be delayed.

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White House targeted in ‘swatting’ attack while Joe Biden is away

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Multiple emergency personnel sent to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue following hoax call at 7.03am on Monday

The White House on Monday became the latest victim of a growing US problem of “swatting”: the summoning of large numbers of law enforcement personnel and other first responders to a hoax emergency incident.

Multiple Washington DC fire and ambulance crews rushed to the White House following an emergency call that was received at 7.03am, a spokesperson for District of Columbia fire and emergency medical services said. Joe Biden was not at the residence, and the call was later traced to a fake number.

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Thousands march on Washington to demand ceasefire in Gaza

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Flyers indicate protesters came from as far as Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Wisconsin to protest war and US aid to Israel

Thousands of marchers descended on Washington DC on Saturday to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to protest US aid to Israel, more than three months into an Israeli offensive against Hamas that is killing 250 Palestinians per day, according to the Oxfam charity.

The protest, called a march on Washington for Gaza, was promoted as likely to be the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in the US since the 7 October attack on southern Israel by Hamas fighters emerging from Gaza, which killed almost 1,200 people and led to a massive military response from Israel, backed by the US government.

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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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Senator ‘disappointed’ in staffer allegedly filmed having sex in hearing room

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Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland – due to retire in 2025 – said Aidan Maese-Czeropski is ‘no longer a Senate employee’

The US senator Ben Cardin said he is “angry” and “disappointed” in a now-former staffer who allegedly recorded himself having sex in a Capitol Hill hearing room.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Maryland Democrat declined to elaborate on either the ex-staffer or the episode, video of which was leaked. But Cardin said he considered the entire sequence “a breach of trust”.

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Multimillion-dollar ruling against Giuliani shows cost of spreading election lies

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As the 2024 election approaches, the $148m judgment against a key Trump ally sends a message that falsehoods have consequences

The judge had already decided Rudy Giuliani defamed the two former Georgia election workers, the question was just how much that cycle of lies and ensuing harassment should cost him.

A jury declared on Friday that it was worth an eye-popping $148m, far beyond expectations and a major blow to the former New York mayor and key Donald Trump ally.

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‘I was terrorized’: 2020 election worker testifies at Giuliani defamation trial

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Ruby Freeman’s testimony is at center of trial to determine how much in damages Giuliani will have to pay to her and her daughter

Ruby Freeman sobbed on the witness stand. The former election worker said she is afraid to tell anyone her name, has been driven from her home and was terrorized with threatening phone calls and letters after Rudy Giuliani, a key Trump ally and the former New York mayor, spread lies about her in 2020.

Freeman began her testimony in federal court on Wednesday by introducing herself to the jury as “Lady Ruby”, saying the name was “special, unique and classy”. But, she says, she’s stopped using the name because she fears what would happen if someone were to recognize her. When she goes out, she wears sunglasses and a mask.

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Blow to Trump as court upholds most of gag order in election interference case

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Federal appeals court rules Trump free to speak about special counsel Jack Smith but maintains other restrictions

Donald Trump may now assail the special counsel who brought the federal criminal case against him over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, in addition to being free to criticize the judge, the justice department, the Biden administration and the case as politically motivated.

The former president remains barred, however, from attacking potential trial witnesses, court staff or the special counsel’s staff, as well as the family members of any court staff or the special counsel’s staff.

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Activists calling for Gaza ceasefire begin hunger strike outside White House

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Activists including Cynthia Nixon say they are launching five-day fast ‘to showcase the actions of President Biden’

Leftwing activists including the actor Cynthia Nixon, famous for her role in Sex and the City, have begun a hunger strike outside the White House aimed at pressing Joe Biden into demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

The five-day fast was launched to coincide with what had been the scheduled end of a four-day truce in Israel’s military offensive into the Palestinian coastal territory, during which the Palestinian group Hamas released dozens of hostages. Israel has also released several batches of Palestinian prisoners, most of them women and minors. The truce was later extended by a further two days following mediation from Egypt and Qatar.

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January 6 rioter found guilty after judge calls defence argument ‘gobbledegook’

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Taylor James Johnatakis was found guilty of seven charges for his role in 2021 attack to stop Biden from being certified as president

A January 6 rioter who represented himself using “sovereign citizen” arguments – which a judge called “bullshit” and “gobbledegook” – was found guilty on Tuesday.

Taylor James Johnatakis, 39 and from Kingston, Washington, will be sentenced later.

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Democratic leadership says ceasefire protest ‘exceeded a peaceful demonstration’ and commends police amid activist criticism – as it happened

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Another video posted online appeared to show Capitol police officers rolling their bikes over candles that were laid out to mourn the 11,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes.

In a caption accompanying the video, Jewish Voice for Peace Action said:

“Last night, in DC Jews and allies carried out a vigil and a nonviolent, moral act of civil disobedience to call on Democrats to support a ceasefire to save Palestinian and Israeli lives. Within moments, police brutally assaulted peaceful protestors, injuring over 90.”

“Every hour of this horrific bombardment, more Palestinians are killed. Every hour, the lives of the hostages hang in the balance. Every hour increases the risk of a broader regional war, endangering the lives of millions of people across the entire region.

We the base of the Democratic party are here to say if you care about Palestinians, if you care about Israelis, if you care about Jews, if you care about humanity, we need you to call for a ceasefire, a hostage exchange, a deescalation, and to chart a path toward freedom and safety for all. Instead of heeding our call for a ceasefire, police violently attacked nonviolent protesters with pepper spray.”

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Protesters urging Gaza ceasefire accuse Washington police of violence

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Ceasefire Now Coalition says 90 activists injured by police using violent tactics to break up protest outside DNC headquarters

Protesters against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza were locked in a battle of words with Washington police on Thursday after accusing officers of violently breaking up a demonstration on Capitol Hill that organisers insist was peaceful.

Leaders of the Ceasefire Now Coalition said 90 of their activists were injured in confrontations that took place after they staged a candlelit vigil outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on Wednesday evening.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene claims Democrats failed to defend House from Capitol rioters

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Extremist Republican says in book ‘not one Democrat was willing to stay to defend the chamber’ but claim rejected as ‘patently false’

In a new book, the extremist Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claims no Democrats stayed in the House chamber on January 6 to help defend it against rioters sent by Donald Trump to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election win – a claim one Democrat who did stay labeled “patently false”.

Greene’s book, MTG, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.

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‘No ceasefire!’: tens of thousands march for Israel in Washington DC

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Speakers from Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer to Republican House speaker Mike Johnson greeted crowds

Tens of thousands of Israel supporters gathered in Washington DC on Tuesday to show support for its war against Hamas, declare their opposition to a ceasefire and decry a global rise in antisemitism.

Massed ranks of demonstrators bearing placards and draped in Israeli flags gathered in the capital’s National Mall amid ultra-tight security and under clear blue skies in an event designed, at least partially, as a riposte to large recent US rallies demanding an immediate halt to Israel’s military offensive.

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Donald Trump pushes for live broadcast of his trial over election subversion

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Ex-president’s attorneys request live coverage of proceedings, but a rule prevents broadcasting of federal trials

Donald Trump’s attorneys have requested authorization for live, in-courtroom television coverage of his trial on charges that he conspired to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss so that the former commander-in-chief can publicly argue that the proceedings are unfair.

The legal filing late on Friday, citing unsubstantiated allegations that Trump is the victim of persecution by the Biden White House, supports efforts by news organizations to provide live television coverage from inside the trial, which is scheduled to begin in March 2024.

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