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Robbins: Congress targets bank’s bid to obscure Nazi links

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

Until lately, America’s longstanding tradition of bipartisan Congressional investigations had been robust, recognized even by partisans as an essential feature of Congress performing the job Americans need it to do. The tradition has taken  hits recently, falling victim to extreme, vitriol-infused polarization and the erosion of what had been assumed to be sturdy civic norms.But it got a boost last month, when a subpoena issued jointly by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) forced into daylight a transparent attempt by banking giant Credit Suisse to abruptly terminate an investigation that was in the process of reinforcing its reputation for scandal. The investigation had already uncovered new evidence that Credit Suisse had actively, ardently serviced high-ranking Nazi leaders while Hitler was in power, facilitated the Nazis’ retention of assets plundered from their victims and helped Nazis escape prosecution after...

Nathan Fletcher resigns from County Board of Supervisors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Nathan Fletcher has officially resigned from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.This comes nearly six weeks after he announced his intention to step down from elected office in March -- hours after allegations of sexual misconduct from a former Metropolitan Transit System employee were made public in a lawsuit filing against him.The Supervisor, who was out of the state for treatment of post-traumatic stress and alcohol abuse, said that his resignation would be effective on Monday, May 15 at 5 p.m. Timeline: Unfolding of the Nathan Fletcher scandal Board Chairwoman Nora Vargas held a press conference ahead of Fletcher's official resignation to provide an update on next steps. She reiterated to that the county will continue to be focused on representing those in District 4, despite the vacant seat.According to the county, staff from the District 4 office will remain as county employees, serving as a liaison for constituents, the county and other departments. They...

Rollover crash prompts road closure in South Bay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- Authorities on Monday closed down a major road in Chula Vista due to a crash, police said.The collision occurred around 2:19 p.m. at Telegraph Canyon Road between Paseo Del Rey and Medical Center Drive, which is completely closed at the moment, Chula Vista Police Department tweeted. Drivers are encouraged to use alternative routes. Afghan on terror watch list reportedly arrested near San Diego border SkyFOX captured video of a pickup truck rolled over on its side in the center of the road while a van can be seen crashed onto the sidewalk.Police were investigating the crash scene.Check back for updates on this developing story.

4 dead, including suspect, after New Mexico shooting: police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

FARMINGTON, N.M. (KRQE) – At least four people are dead, including the suspect, and multiple others are injured after a shooting in northwestern New Mexico Monday, according to the Farmington Police Department. The shootings occurred at around 11 a.m. in Farmington, a city of about 50,000 people that serves as a modern-day trading post to the adjacent Navajo Nation reservation and is a supply line and bedroom community to the region’s oil and natural gas industry.Officers received several calls about a shooting and found “a chaotic scene” where a man was firing at people on a residential street, Farmington Police Deputy Chief Baric Crum said during a news conference.Police confronted the suspected shooter before fatally shooting him. They found three people dead and nine others injured. Two officers were injured during the incident. Details on those injuries have not been released, but authorities say the officers - one from Farmington, the other from the New Mexico State Polic...

US Supreme Court sides with Alabama inmate who seeks to die by nitrogen hypoxia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with an Alabama death row inmate, who had his lethal injection called off at the last minute in November, and argues he should be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia when he is ultimately executed. Justices without comment rejected the Alabama attorney general’s request to review an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith. The state argued the decision disregarded Supreme Court precedent that an inmate challenging an execution method must show that an alternative method is readily available, not just feasible. Alabama has authorized nitrogen hypoxia — death as a result of breathing pure nitrogen — as an execution method but no state has attempted to use the untested method to put an inmate to death. Smith was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Nov. 17, 2022, for the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife.On the day of the execution, a divided ...

Payback? Project funds axed after Kansas lawmaker defies governor on abortion, trans rights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Democratic governor vetoed state funding on Monday for a project long advocated by a Democratic lawmaker who broke ranks to override the governor’s vetoes and give Republicans crucial support for laws restricting abortion and rolling back transgender rights.Apparently, Rep. Marvin Robinson’s decision had consequences. Gov. Laura Kelly axed $250,000 in the next state budget for drafting a state plan to develop the Quindaro Ruins in Kansas City, Kansas, which Robinson represents. Quindaro was a short-lived town and a station on the Underground Railroad that helped enslaved people escape to Canada. A proposal to build a landfill there in the 1980s led to an investigation of the site and the discovery of multiple buildings’ foundations. Robinson, who is Black, advocated for the site’s restoration and development as a national historic landmark for several decades before he won an open House seat last year. Democratic leaders call...

UN chief in Jamaica urges international response to Haiti’s spiraling crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.N. Secretary General António Guterres warned Monday that Haiti’s “tragic situation” is threatening the security of the Caribbean region and beyond as he pressed the international community for a response.Guterres spoke after meeting behind closed doors with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in his first visit to the island, which comes more than three months after Holness announced that his government was willing to send soldiers and police officers to Haiti as part of a proposed international armed forces deployment.Guterres noted that no other country has stepped forward despite the plea from Haiti’s prime minister and other top officials last October for the immediate deployment of an international force to fight a surge in gang violence.“We are kind of in a stalemate right now,” he said, adding that it’s been difficult to mobilize the will of countries who could best lead such an operation.Holness, who visited Haiti in February as part of a re...

Court order that could end US health law’s preventative care mandate put on hold

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court in New Orleans temporarily put on hold Monday a federal judge’s ruling striking down a part of the Affordable Care Act that requires most insurers to cover preventative care including vaccines and screenings for cancer, diabetes and HIV. Without comment, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an “administrative stay” of the March 30 ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of Texas.The Biden administration had asked for a stay as it appealed the March 30 decision. Administration lawyers said in court filings that O’Connor’s decision would affect preventive care for 150 million people. O’Connor, a nominee of former President George W. Bush, is the same judge who ruled more than four years ago that the entire health care law, a signature achievement of former President Barack Obama, was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned that ruling.In his March ruling, O’Conner blocked only the r...

Trump claimed the Durham probe would uncover the ‘crime of the century.’ Here’s what it really found

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An investigation into the origins of the FBI’s probe into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign has finally been concluded, with the prosecutor leading the inquiry submitting a much-awaited report that found major flaws.The report, the culmination of a four-year investigation into possible misconduct by U.S. government officials, contained withering criticism for the FBI but few significant revelations. Nonetheless, it will give fodder to Trump supporters who have long denounced the Russia investigation, as well as Trump opponents who say the Durham team’s meager court record shows their probe was a politically motivated farce.A look at the investigation and the report:WHO IS JOHN DURHAM?Durham has spent decades as a Justice Department prosecutor, with past assignments including investigations into the FBI’s cozy relationship with mobsters in Boston and the CIA’s destruction of videotapes of its harsh interr...

US Virgin Islands says it can’t find Elon Musk to serve a subpoena in Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands told a federal judge Monday that it can’t find billionaire Elon Musk to serve him with a subpoena for documents in its lawsuit seeking to hold JPMorgan Chase liable for sex trafficking acts committed by businessman Jeffrey Epstein. It wants to serve his electric vehicle company instead.Lawyers asked Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan in a court filing to let it serve the subpoena on Tesla Inc. because it has not been able to give the papers to Musk or his lawyers since it issued the subpoena on April 28.They said they hired an investigative firm to search public records databases for possible addresses for Musk and reached out to one of his lawyers by email but received no response.A message sent to a lawyer for Musk seeking comment Monday was not immediately returned.The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands said it believes Epstein may have referred or tried to refer Musk to JPMorgan.It sued JPMorgan last year, saying its ...