Utah will prohibit transgender people from using bathrooms in public schools and government-owned buildings that align with their gender identity, after Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill on Tuesday imposing the restrictions.
Demonstrators protest the bill on the steps of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City.Marielle Scott/The Deseret News, via Associated Press
Background
The bill, House Bill 257, which passed the Legislature last week, set sweeping restrictions for transgender people.
Under the bill, also known as Sex-Based Designations for Privacy, Anti-Bullying and Women’s Opportunities, transgender people can use bathrooms that match their gender identity only if they can prove that they have had gender-affirming surgery and have had the sex on their birth certificates changed.
In public schools, students can now use only a bathroom, shower room or locker room that aligns with their sex assigned at birth, with few exceptions. For government-owned buildings, including state universities, the restrictions apply only to showers and locker rooms.
Violators may face charges for loitering, and government-owned institutions may face fines if they do not enforce the new rules. The state auditor will be required to establish a process to receive and investigate reports of violations.
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KCRA 3's weather team is calling Wednesday and Thursday Impact Days because of the potential for heavy rain and gusty winds from the strongest storm headed to Northern California so far this year. Get California Storm ReadyDownload our app for the latest breaking news and weather alertsTrack live California Doppler radarSee our live traffic mapChain controls? Track the latest California road conditions informationSend us your weather videos and photosSacramento County activates respite centers ahead of storms, seeks donations ( Video below: A look at storm impacts through Thursday.) The front half of Wednesday will be dry under overcast skies with a subtle breeze. Bigger changes arrive with rain across the region by the afternoon. The winds will begin to increase during the midday and get gusty by the afternoon. Valley gusts of 35-45 mph are expected, especially after sunset. The strongest winds are expected between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Parts of the Bay Area could see 50 mph wind gusts. (Video below: A closer look at the forecast for gusty winds.)Rain will intensify late in the evening through the overnight. That could make for roadway flooding concerns for the Thursday morning commute in poor-drainage areas. The Valley could see an inch or an inch and a half of rainfall. The Foothills are likely to see three-quarters of an inch to an inch of rain.Chain control is expected in the Sierra beginning Wednesday evening. Snow levels will start high on Wednesday, near 6,000 feet. Expect up to a foot of snow over the passes by Thursday. Travel will likely be slow over the mountain passes through Thursday with some improvement Friday.(Video below: When to avoid Sierra travel this week.)On Thursday, rain and snow will turn showery for the afternoon and there's the chance of isolated thunderstorms as well. After a few hit-and-miss showers on Friday, Saturday looks mainly dry. The next Impact Day is Sunday because of more rain, wind and snow. | The science behind forecasts | California water agency helps analyze atmospheric river forecasts (Video below: A closer look at the wettest storms of the season so far in Northern California.)Follow our KCRA weather team on social mediaChief meteorologist Mark Finan on Facebook and TwitterMeteorologist Tamara Berg on Facebook and TwitterMeteorologist Eileen Javora on FacebookMeteorologist Dirk Verdoorn on FacebookMeteorologist/climate reporter Heather Waldman on Facebook and TwitterWatch our forecasts on TV or onlineHere's where to find our latest video forecast. You can also watch a livestream of our latest newscast here. The banner on our website turns red when we're live.We're also streaming on the Very Local app for Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV.
KCRA 3's weather team is calling Wednesday and Thursday Impact Days because of the potential for heavy rain and gusty winds from the strongest storm headed to Northern California so far this year.
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
(1/4) Wind will pick up this afternoon.
There may be some light rain for the evening drive around Sacramento, but the heaviest rain holds off until after 8.
Rainfall totals still expected to be between 1-1.5" in the valley. Most of that comes between 10pm and 3am. @kcranewspic.twitter.com/Jsd4IEByGS
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
(2/4) The strongest wind gusts should come just ahead of the heaviest rain band late tonight.
Here's what Futurecast shows at 11:00 pm. Rainfall rates could reach 0.25"-0.30" per hour for a brief time. @kcranewspic.twitter.com/s6RDhOUwtK
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
(3/4) Steady rain sill be done in the valley by the Thursday morning commute, but there may be some roads with standing water.
We'll keep an eye on Deer Creek near Rancho Murieta, but otherwise waterways should be able to handle tonight's rain. @kcranewspic.twitter.com/cG70tSn5sP
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(4/4) Traveling through the Sierra?
Today is fine. Tonight and tomorrow there will be delays with chain controls.
( Video below: A look at storm impacts through Thursday.)
The front half of Wednesday will be dry under overcast skies with a subtle breeze. Bigger changes arrive with rain across the region by the afternoon.
The winds will begin to increase during the midday and get gusty by the afternoon. Valley gusts of 35-45 mph are expected, especially after sunset. The strongest winds are expected between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Parts of the Bay Area could see 50 mph wind gusts.
(Video below: A closer look at the forecast for gusty winds.)
Rain will intensify late in the evening through the overnight. That could make for roadway flooding concerns for the Thursday morning commute in poor-drainage areas.
The Valley could see an inch or an inch and a half of rainfall. The Foothills are likely to see three-quarters of an inch to an inch of rain.
Hearst Owned
Chain control is expected in the Sierra beginning Wednesday evening.
Snow levels will start high on Wednesday, near 6,000 feet. Expect up to a foot of snow over the passes by Thursday.
Hearst Owned
Travel will likely be slow over the mountain passes through Thursday with some improvement Friday.
(Video below: When to avoid Sierra travel this week.)
On Thursday, rain and snow will turn showery for the afternoon and there's the chance of isolated thunderstorms as well.
After a few hit-and-miss showers on Friday, Saturday looks mainly dry.
The next Impact Day is Sunday because of more rain, wind and snow.
Donald Trump has not always enjoyed a warm relationship with the Republican Party’s well-heeled donor set, though he has made courting them a priority this time around. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Donald Trump is aggressively courting potential megadonors to his campaign, targeting those who’ve kept their powder dry so far this cycle and at least one who was the biggest backer of his chief primary rival.
The former president is set to dine with more than two dozen of the party’s biggest check-writers on Thursday evening at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor John Paulson, a Trump ally who has pledged to support his campaign.
And while in Las Vegas on Saturday, he met with several Republican megadonors — hotel executive Don Ahern, casino billionaires Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta and aerospace tycoon Robert Bigelow, who was Ron DeSantis’ biggest donor in the primary. The former president has secured financial commitments from each, according to those familiar with the discussions and granted anonymity to speak freely.
After huddling separately with Ahern and Bigelow at his hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, Trump invited them to ride on his motorcade to a rally he was set to hold. While onstage, Trump gave shout-outs to both.
Trump’s courtship resembles an effort by his team to position the former president for the general election campaign, even as they keep a toe in the GOP primary. It also underscores the degree to which Trump has focused on the nitty gritty of campaigning during his third run for the White House. Trump has not always enjoyed a warm relationship with the party’s well-heeled donor set, though he has made courting them a priority this time around.
Trump is targeting, among others, donors that have not previously given to him. He has spent months courting Bigelow, who contributed $20 million to a pro-DeSantis super PAC before publicly criticizing the Florida governor’s campaign. He has never before donated to Trump.
Another donor relatively new to the Trump fold is Texas oil billionaire Tim Dunn, who has given $5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. The donation is the most Dunn has given to a committee since he started writing political checks more than two decades ago. Dunn in recent years had been a contributor to the Club for Growth, a conservative group that has opposed Trump.
Trump has also worked to bring Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, back into his orbit. While the Mercers were once among the most prominent conservative donors — and were major benefactors of Trump’s 2016 campaign — they have significantly pared back their political giving in recent years.
Trump met with Rebekah Mercer at his Mar-a-Lago estate last year, and the Mercers are financially supporting him in his current campaign, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Rebekah Mercer did not respond to a request for comment.
The effort to bring aboard major donors will continue this week, when senior Trump adviser Susie Wiles appears before a Palm Beach gathering of the American Opportunity Alliance, a network of major GOP donors. While the group includes some Trump backers, it also includes figures who’ve previously opposed him. During the 2016 primary, some leaders of the group, including New York hedge fund manager Paul Singer, bankrolled a super PAC devoted to stopping Trump from winning the party’s nomination.
Trump does not have the cash race to himself. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has remained in the primary despite losing the first two nominating contests, has scheduled a number of fundraisers in the weeks leading up to next month’s South Carolina GOP primary.
But many Republican donors say they’re moving on to the general election.
“If it’s Trump against Biden,” said grocery store mogul and Trump backer John Catsimatidis, “I’m voting for Trump.”
And Ed McMullen, a South Carolina-based fundraiser who served as Trump’s ambassador to Switzerland, said the money spigot turned on after Trump won the Iowa caucuses earlier this month.
“Everyone was wanting to know, ‘How can we get involved?’ And then New Hampshire, same thing,” said McMullen who is organizing a forthcoming Trump fundraising event. “The quality of the donors is large gifts, very strong people who were very much involved in ‘16 and ‘20, some of whom decided they wanted to try something different, and now they’ve come home.”
While in office, Trump was often reluctant to woo the party’s donor elite. But as a candidate, he has significantly ramped up his outreach. The former president spends at least five hours per week calling contributors and has sent souvenirs like thank you notes and signed coffee table books to those who’ve opened their wallets, according to multiple people close to him granted anonymity to speak freely.
The Thursday dinner is expected to draw a range of major Republican donors, those familiar with the planning say. Paulson, the host of the event, was present at Trump’s New Hampshire victory celebration last week, and the former president acknowledged him from the podium.
“America is at a crossroads and needs the leadership that President Trump can provide,” Paulson said in a statement. “We have organized this event with accomplished leaders to ensure that President Trump has the support to win in November.”
Taylor Budowich, the chief executive officer of the pro-Trump MAGA Inc., which as a super PAC is allowed to collect checks of unlimited amounts, said in a statement that major donors are “stepping up earlier and bigger than ever before.” He said the money is necessary to compete with large sums raised by Democrats ahead of the November election.
Trump has also scheduled a high-dollar fundraiser to take place next month at Mar-a-Lago, an event that is expected to draw large sums to his campaign.
Some of the donors have helped Trump in the past, but are only now getting off the sidelines in the current campaign. The list includes Wall Street billionaire Howard Lutnick, Jimmy John’s founder Jimmy John Liautaud and casino mogul Steve Wynn. Wynn, a longtime Trump friend, also spent the evening of the New Hampshire primary with the former president.
There is also Oklahoma energy executive Harold Hamm, who recently had lunch with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
“The fundraising has been as easy as anything I’ve ever seen,” McMullen said. “Normally, you’re making the phone calls. Now you’re answering the phone calls and trying to get back to people.”
Laso was tired and had asked a worker to show her the way to the gondola so she could descend the hill, she told the outlet. But two minutes after she boarded, the gondola stopped, she said.
"I didn't have a phone, a light, or anything," Laso told KCRA in Spanish.
She remained stuck on the gondola for 15 hours and was forced to spend the night in the cabin, per KCRA. Temperatures fell to around 24 degrees that night, per the National Weather Service.
Laso told KCRA that she tried getting the attention of workers she could see below, but they couldn't hear her.
"I screamed desperately until I lost my voice," Laso said, per the outlet.
The gondola started running again on Friday morning, after which resort crews found Laso.
Meanwhile, her friends had reported her missing to the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, per KCRA.
Heavenly Ski Resort operates a gondola ride that is 2.4 miles long and runs daily, per its website.
"I'm very curious to hear the story," Kim George, a spokesperson for South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue, told the Associated Press.
She said her department had "never responded to anything like that" in her 23-year tenure there, per the AP.
The fire rescue department arrived at 8.30 a.m. on Friday to treat Laso, and said she was responsive and declined to be sent to a hospital, the AP reported.
Heavenly Ski Resort is investigating the incident, its chief operating officer, Tom Fortune, told Business Insider.
"The safety and wellbeing of our guests is our top priority at Heavenly Mountain Resort," Fortune said.
January 28, 2023: This story was updated to reflect comment from Heavenly Mountain Resort, which operates the ski resort.
WASHINGTON — The former Internal Revenue Service contractor who leaked the tax records of former President Donald Trump to The New York Times as well as the tax records of billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to ProPublica was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.
Charles Littlejohn pleaded guilty in October, and prosecutors sought the statutory maximum of five years in federal prison, saying that he "abused his position by unlawfully disclosing thousands of Americans’ federal tax returns and other private financial information to multiple news organizations." Prosecutors said that Littlejohn "weaponized his access to unmasked taxpayer data to further his own personal, political agenda, believing that he was above the law."
Littlejohn was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes at a hearing at the federal courthouse in Washington. He will also have to pay a $5,000 fine.
“You can be an outstanding person and commit bad acts,” Reyes said. “What you did in targeting the sitting president of the United States was an attack on our constitutional democracy,” she added.
Reyes compared Littlejohn’s actions to other recent attacks and threats against elected officials as well as to Jan. 6 defendants she has recently sentenced. She described his actions as a deliberate, complex, multiyear criminal scheme, but said she believed he “sincerely felt a moral imperative” to act as he did.
Littlejohn's attorney argued that he had committed the offense "out of a deep, moral belief that the American people had a right to know the information and sharing it was the only way to effect change" and that he believed he was right at the time.
While Littlejohn's conduct was "inexcusable," his lawyer said, and "breached the trust placed in him by the United States government and violated the privacy of thousands of taxpayers," a "strong message of general deterrence" had already been sent to the public.
Littlejohn, 38, who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, briefly addressed the court before receiving his sentence, saying that he "acted out of a sincere but misguided belief that I was serving the public."
Taxpayers deserved to know how easy it was for the wealthy to avoid paying into the system, Littlejohn added, saying he believes that Americans make their best decisions when properly informed.
“I made my decision with the full knowledge that I would likely end up in a courtroom,” he said.
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Alex Murdaugh was back in a South Carolina courtroom Monday, but this time the convicted killer, disbarred attorney and admitted thief wasn't the one fidgeting in the spotlight.
Instead, it's the jurors who found him guilty of the shooting deaths of his wife and son who are being questioned by a judge on whether comments by a court clerk influenced their conviction. Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison.
The first juror questioned Monday said Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill did tell jurors to watch Murdaugh's actions and “watch him closely.”
“She made it seem like he was already guilty,” said the woman, identified only as Juror Z. Asked whether this affected her vote to find him guilty, she said “Yes ma'am.”
In later questioning the juror said she supports a sworn statement she gave months ago that her fellow jurors, more than the clerk's statements, influenced her to vote guilty.
Several other jurors called later said they didn't hear any comments about the case from the clerk and that nothing from outside the testimony and evidence influenced their verdicts. One said he heard Hill say “watch his body language” before Murdaugh testified, but said her comment didn't change his mind.
Each juror's testimony lasted only about three minutes as the judge asked the same questions from her written sheet.
In another surprising twist, a bailiff interrupted the hearing to share that because the jurors' cellphones were not taken from them on arrival at court, several were able to watch the Court TV live feed and heard everything the first juror said.
Despite the setback, the judge said she would proceed to get the jurors’ testimony on the record, and resumed the hearing after a short break, in part to enable herself to calm down, she said. “We are going to get through this,” she declared.
The unusual hearing comes in response to the tampering allegations by Murdaugh's attorneys.
Hill also is expected to be grilled by lawyers for Murdaugh, whose fall from his role as an attorney lording over his small county to a sentence of life without parole has been exhaustively covered by true crime shows, podcasts and bloggers.
Jury tampering is the basis for Murdaugh's appeal, but Judge Jean Toal’s rulings after a pretrial hearing this month have set a difficult standard for his lawyers to prove.
Toal ruled the defense must prove that potential misconduct including alleged comments by Hill warning jurors not to trust Murdaugh when he testifies directly led jurors to change their minds to guilty.
The defense argued if they prove the jury was tampered with, it shouldn't matter whether a juror openly said their verdict changed, because the influence can be subtle and still keep Murdaugh from getting a fair trial.
“According to the State, if Ms. Hill had the jury room decorated like a grade-school classroom with colorful signs saying ‘Murdaugh is guilty’ that would not violate Mr. Murdaugh’s right to a fair trial ... so long as jurors did not testify that they voted guilty because of the decor,” the defense wrote in a brief.
Toal also won't let the defense call the trial judge Clifton Newman as a witness, nor prosecutors or other court workers who might testify that Hill seemed certain of Murdaugh's guilt or tried to influence the case.
The judge also limited what can be asked of Hill. Toal told lawyers they can't question the elected clerk about a criminal investigation announced by state agents into whether she used her office for financial gain, emailed prosecutors with suggestions on how to discredit a defense expert, conspired with her son who is charged with wiretapping county phones, or plagiarized part of her book on the case using a passage from a BBC reporter who accidentally emailed her instead of her boss with a similar address.
“I’m very, very reluctant to turn this hearing about juror contact into a wholesale exploration about every piece of conduct by the clerk," Toal said.
Hill, in a sworn statement, has denied any jury tampering.
Murdaugh, 55, is expected at the hearing in a prison jumpsuit. Even if he gets a new murder trial he won't walk out free. He's also serving 27 years after admitting he stole $12 million from his law firm and from settlements he gained for clients on wrongful death and serious injury lawsuits. Murdaugh promised not to appeal that sentence as part of his plea deal.
But Murdaugh has remained adamant that he did not kill his younger son Paul with a shotgun and his wife Maggie with a rifle since the moment he told deputies he found their bodies at their Colleton County home in 2021. He testified in his own defense.
The jurors, their anonymity protected, will be allowed to enter the Richland County Courthouse through a private entrance. The hearing will be televised, but their faces cannot be shown and they will only be identified by their juror numbers.
If this effort fails, Murdaugh hasn't even started the regular appeals of his sentence, where his lawyers are expected to argue a number of reasons why his murder trial was unfair, including the judge allowing voluminous testimony of his financial crimes. They said this enabled prosecutors to smear Murdaugh with evidence not directly linked to the killings.
Amelia Earhart's disappearance over the central Pacific Ocean 87 years ago remains one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history. Countless theories about her fate have emerged in the decades since, but now a deep-sea exploration team searching for the wreckage of her small plane has provided another potential clue.
Deep Sea Vision, a Charleston, South Carolina-based team, said this week that it had captured a sonar image in the Pacific Ocean that "appears to be Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra" aircraft.
The company, which says it scanned over 5,200 square miles of the ocean floor starting in September, posted sonar images on social media that appear to show a plane-shaped object resting at the bottom of the sea. The 16-member team, which used a state-of-the-art underwater drone during the search, also released video of the expedition.
Deep Sea Vision said that it had captured a sonar image in the Pacific Ocean that "appears to be Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra" aircraft.Deep Sea Vision
Tony Romeo, a pilot and former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, told the Wall Street Journal that he funded the $11 million search by selling off his commercial real estate properties.
"This is maybe the most exciting thing I'll ever do in my life," he told the Journal. "I feel like a 10-year-old going on a treasure hunt."
Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, while flying over the Pacific Ocean during Earhart's attempt to become the first female aviator to circle the globe. They vanished without a trace, spurring the largest and most expensive search and rescue effort by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard in American history. Earhart and Noonan were declared dead two years later.
Multiple deep-sea searches using high-tech equipment have tried but failed over the years to find Earhart's plane.
Romeo told the Journal that his team's underwater "Hugin" submersible captured the sonar image of the aircraft-shaped object about 16,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean's surface less than 100 miles from Howland Island, where Earhart and Noonan were supposed to stop and refuel before they vanished.
Romeo's team didn't find the image until about three months into the trip, and at that stage it was impractical to turn back, he told the Journal, so they intend to return for a closer look.
Sonar experts told the Journal that only a closer look for details matching Earhart's Lockheed aircraft would provide definitive proof.
"Until you physically take a look at this, there's no way to say for sure what that is," underwater archaeologist Andrew Pietruszka told the newspaper.
There other theories about where Earhart may have vanished. Ric Gillespie, who has researched Earhart's doomed flight for decades, told CBS News in 2018 that he had proof Earhart crash-landed on Gardner Island — about 350 nautical miles from Howland Island — and that she called for help for nearly a week before her plane was swept out to sea.
Gillespie told CBS News the calls weren't just heard by the Navy, but also by dozens of people who unexpectedly picked up Earhart's transmissions on their radios thousands of miles away. Reports of people hearing calls for help were documented in places like Florida, Iowa and Texas. One woman in Canada reported hearing a voice saying "we have taken in water… We can't hold on much longer."
Gillespie's organization, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, has also claimed that it found forensic evidence, including bones on the island, that were likely Earhart's.
Still, nearly 90 years later, no wreckage has ever been found, and Romeo thinks his team's sonar image may finally show the long-lost aircraft.
Romeo, who was joined on the expedition by two of his brothers who are also pilots, told the Journal that their aviation expertise provided a fresh perspective during the search.
"We always felt that a group of pilots were the ones that are going to solve this, and not the mariners," Romeo told the newspaper.
Arizona’s Republican Party now has a new chair after Jeff DeWit’s abrupt resignation over a leaked recording that appeared to show him offering MAGA diehard Kari Lake money if she left politics for a couple of years.
Lake nominated Gina Swoboda, another right-winger who was endorsed by Donald Trump, on Saturday at a GOP meeting in north Phoenix, where she was reportedly met with boos and jeers as she took the stage. But that didn’t stop Swoboda from winning a majority of the votes and clinching party chair in a landslide.
Swoboda, who runs the nonprofit Voter Reference Foundation, was the Trump campaign’s state Election Day director in 2020, and her group has spread false claims about the integrity of the election system.
She replaces former party chair DeWit just days after he dramatically resigned amid an audio recording scandal involving Lake.
In a leaked recording that emerged earlier this week in the Daily Mail, DeWit appeared to dangle a bribe in front of Lake if she would sit out the upcoming Senate race in Arizona, telling her that there are “very powerful people that want to keep you out” and repeatedly asking her if there was any specific compensation that would entice her to drop out. The election denier can be heard telling DeWit “that would be immoral” and insisting that she can’t be bought.
Upon his resignation, DeWit accused Lake of editing their conversation and of leaking the tape, allegations to which she has not publicly responded. The crowning of Swoboda as the new party leader in Arizona signals a shift toward far-right control of the party in a state where elections are closely battled between Democrats and Republicans.
Lake, who’s endorsed by Trump, is currently the frontrunner to clinch the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Arizona. She’s expected to face Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who’s running for the Democratic nomination, in the general election.
Kevin Howell, 51, the town manager in Carmel, Maine, and his 4-year-old son fell through the ice while crossing a pond. He rescued his son, who ran home to get help.
The manager of a town in Maine died after saving his 4-year-old son from a frozen pond that they both fell into while on a walk on Friday, officials said.
The manager, Kevin Howell, 51, of Carmel, was with his son when they both fell through the ice while crossing Etna Pond, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.
Mr. Howell got his son out of the water and onto the ice, and told the boy to get his mother.
The boy ran home, about a third of a mile away from the pond, and his mother called 911. She told the boy to stay at home while she rushed to the pond. She grabbed an anchor and rope and ran to the pond, the sheriff’s office said.
When the woman, whose name was not released, got to the water, she secured the rope to the shore, but ended up breaking through the ice as well, the authorities said.
Sheriff Detective Jordan Norton arrived after hearing the 911 call.
“Seeing the wife in the water, he began crawling across the treacherous ice, holding onto the rope, and was able to pull the mother out” and get her to shore, the sheriff’s office said.
However, he could not find any trace of Mr. Howell. Six divers with the Maine Warden Service and one State Police diver were called. Two dove in around 1:40 p.m. and found Mr. Howell’s body about 20 minutes later. It was unclear how thick the ice was at the time.
Town officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday.
As manager of Carmel, a town of under 3,000 people that is 16 miles west of Bangor, Mr. Howell was responsible for oversight and management of the local government’s departments.
He was recognized in 2018 for his work to improve the town’s recycling program and was honored with the annual Leadership Award by the Maine Town, City and County Management Association in 2020, which is given to public administrators who lead innovative projects or solve difficult problems in their roles.
E. Jean Carroll says she's going to 'do something good' with the $83.3 million in defamation damages that Trump owes her: 'I'm not going to waste a cent'
Donald Trump on Friday was ordered to pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll in a defamation case.
"I'm not going to waste a cent of this," Carroll told The New York Times in a Saturday interview.
Trump has vowed to appeal, but Carroll said she already has plans to buy "premium" food for her dogs.
After a judge on Friday awarded E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in defamation damages against former President Donald Trump, many thoughts went through her mind.
Trump has vowed to appeal the verdict, meaning it could be a while before she actually sees any money. But Carroll on Saturday told The New York Times that she'd be careful with the money once it's in her hands.
"I'm not going to waste a cent of this," she told the newspaper. "We're going to do something good with it."
Carroll told the Times that while she was still determining how she'd spend the money awarded to her by the jury, she would at least treat her two dogs to upmarket food.
"I'm going to be able to buy some premium dog food now," she told the newspaper.
Last May, Trump lost a separate civil trial where a court found the former president liable for the sexual abuse of Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, in the 1990s. In that particular case, Trump was ordered to pay $5 million in damages to Carroll.
After the latest trial, Carroll said women were the true victors of the decision.
"This win, more than any other thing, when we needed it the most — after we lost the rights over our own bodies in many states — we put out our flag in the ground on this one. Women won this one," she told the newspaper. "I think it bodes well for the future."
Trump on Friday lashed out at the verdict, writing on Truth Social: "Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon."
The former president then emphasized that he "fully" disagreed with the verdict, but he did not reference Carroll directly. Carroll told the Times she didn't know if that meant Trump might finally cease his attacks on her.
"I can't possibly guess what Donald Trump will ever do or not do," she told the newspaper. "Can't make a guess."
Carroll revealed to the Times that she was "terrified" headed into the trial, as she'd have to face the individual whom she had accused of assaulting her. But once she was in the courtroom, she said she felt energized.
"When you've actually faced the man, he's just a man with no clothes on," Carroll said. "It's the people around him that are giving him the power."
A truck hauling zebras and camels for a series of weekend circus performances caught fire early on Saturday on a north-eastern Indiana highway, prompting a police rescue of the animals, which roamed along the freeway, some munching on grass.
The tractor-trailer caught fire at about 2am along Interstate 69 in Grant county, and a state trooper, a Grant county sheriff’s deputy and a third person rescued the five zebras, four camels and a miniature horse by leading them off the smoked-filled trailer, said Sgt Steven Glass with the Indiana state police.
Both officers were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and later released, but none of the animals were injured, he said. The truck driver, a 57-year-old Sarasota, Florida, man, was not injured. All northbound lanes of I-69 were closed until about 6.30am once the area had been cleaned up and the animals taken away by another truck.
The Grant county sheriff’s office posted photos and videos on Facebook of camels walking on the highway and later standing along its shoulder and its median with zebras and law enforcement officers. The posting included the message: “No harm to our furry friends.”
One video shows some of the zebras munching on grass in a surreal scene several miles east of the city of Marion, located about 60 miles (97km) north-east of Indianapolis.
“It’s not something we see every day,” said deputy Brent Ressett with the Grant county sheriff’s office.
The truck was bringing the animals from Florida to Fort Wayne for four weekend circus performances in the north-eastern Indiana city benefitting the Mizpah Shrine Circus, said Steve Trump, its circus director.
He said the performances are annual fundraisers for the Mizpah Shrine Circus to help pay for the upkeep of the Shrine Center in Fort Wayne to “allow us to use our other fundraisers for what we’re known best for, taking care of kids”.
Trump said the truck’s crew stopped the vehicle along the highway to check a problem with it and discovered a fire that quickly spread, threatening the animals in the trailer.
The fire destroyed the truck, and a second truck was sent from Fort Wayne to bring the animals to Fort Wayne’s Memorial Coliseum to await their roles in the weekend’s family-friendly circus performances, he said.
“I was thrilled that things worked out that way,” Trump said.
In a letter to House Republicans, speaker Mike Johnson warned that the immigration deal under consideration in the Senate may be “dead on arrival” in his chamber, while also vowing to move forward with plans to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The Republican leader’s statement bodes ill for the bargaining in the Senate, which is seen as crucial to unlocking GOP support for aid to Ukraine, as well as Israel and Taiwan. Democrats and Republicans in the upper chamber have been negotiating for months on an agreement to restrict immigration policy in a bid to keep undocumented migrants from entering the United States. While no compromise has yet been reached, Johnson said today that “if rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway.”
Johnson said he would support the effort to impeach Mayorkas, who Republicans have accused of mishandling border security.
“When we return next week, by necessity, the House Homeland Security Committee will move forward with Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas. A vote on the floor will be held as soon as possible thereafter,” he wrote.
Impeachments of cabinet secretaries are exceedingly rare, and the Senate’s Democratic majority will almost certainly refuse to convict Mayorkas.
Immigration officials did not document the medical necessity of at least two hysterectomies they authorized for women in their custody, according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.
Investigators contracted with an OB/GYN to review six hysterectomies performed on migrant women who were in federal custody. The doctor found that in two of the cases, officials had failed to document whether it was medically necessary, the watchdog report states.
“Our contracted OB/GYN concluded that for two of six hysterectomies performed, the detained non-citizens’ IHSC medical files did not demonstrate that a hysterectomy was the most appropriate course of treatment and was medically necessary,” investigators wrote. “[Immigration health] officials agreed that their medical files did not contain the necessary documentation to demonstrate the medical necessity of these two hysterectomies.”
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) finding was part of a larger review that concluded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) did not follow proper procedures to authorize dozens of such surgeries between fiscal years 2019 and 2021. Looking at a sample of 227 major surgeries, investigators found 72 of them – about a third – did not follow proper procedures.
While a clinical director is supposed to approve all major surgeries, investigators found these surgeries were approved by other healthcare personnel, like a nurse or nurse practitioner.
Based on that sample, OIG said it could infer with 95 percent confidence that between 137 and 217 of 553 major surgical procedures were not properly approved in the timeframe it studied.
The Guardian will have a fuller report on this on our website soon.
The prospects of Congress voting on a deal to tighten immigration policy and approve military aid to Israel and Ukraine faced a new threat in the form of Republican House speaker Mike Johnson’s objection to reported provisions in the deal. Johnson’s opposition came a day after fury erupted when the top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, told his lawmakers behind closed doors that he may reject whatever deal is reached to allow Donald Trump to campaign on immigration. McConnell reportedly walked back those comments in another meeting with his party, but the prospects of a bargain to address one of the most intractable issues in American politics continue to look grim.
Johnsonalso pledged to move forward with impeaching homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on claims he is responsible for the surge in migrants crossing the southern border.
The Biden administrationpaused approvals of new natural gas export terminals, citing their impact on the climate.
Trump’s attorney Alina Habba has just wrapped up her closing arguments in the defamation lawsuit against him.
We are now hearing the rebuttal from author E Jean Carroll’s attorney.
In her closing arguments, Donald Trump’s lead attorney Alina Habba said the former president was the real victim, because of the backlash caused by E Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit.
Carroll, she said, wasn’t “accepting any responsibility for the media and the press frenzy and the public profile that she wanted and still enjoys.”
“There is no one that can truly express the frustration of the last few years better than my client, the former president of the United States.”
Habba then played a video that had been introduced by Carroll’s lawyers – because they considered it defamatory – in which Trump doubled down on his denials.
“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. The verdict is a disgrace, a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time,” Trump said in the clip.
“You’re right that’s how he feels,” Habba continued. “The president has been consistent, she’s right, he has said this same thing over and over and over again and do you know why he has not wavered? Because it’s the truth,” she said shortly thereafter, prompting an objection from Carroll’s team.
Habba then started to attack Carroll’s credibility, which appeared to edge toward breeching judge Lewis Kaplan’s prohibition on litigating the facts.
“If you violate my instructions again, Ms Habba, you may have consequences,” he warned.
Joe Biden has meanwhile characterized his administration’s decision to pause approval of new permits for natural gas export terminals as important to addressing the climate crisis. Here’s more about it, from the Guardian’s Oliver Milman:
Joe Biden’s administration has hit the brakes on the US’s surging exports of gas, effectively pausing a string of planned projects that have been decried by environmentalists as carbon “mega bombs” that risk pushing the world further towards climate breakdown.
On Friday, the White House announced that it was pausing all pending export permits for liquified natural gas (LNG) until the Department of Energy could come up with an updated criteria for approvals that consider the impact of climate change.
The pause, which will likely last beyond November’s presidential election, could imperil the future of more than a dozen gas export terminals that have been planned for the Gulf of Mexico coast. According to one analysis, if all proposed LNG projects go ahead and ship gas overseas, it will result in 3.2bn tons of greenhouse gases – equivalent to the entire emissions of the European Union.
A vigorous campaign by climate activists and local residents has pressed Biden to curb the rapid growth of LNG exports, pointing to its contribution to global heating and the direct pollution suffered by surrounding communities.
The US president said the pause will allow his administration to “take a hard look at the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security, and our environment”.
“This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is - the existential threat of our time,” Biden said, adding that Republicans who support ever-expanding fossil fuel infrastructure “wilfully deny the urgency of the climate crisis”.
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson also objected to the Biden administration’s decision to pause approval of liquid natural gas export permits, saying it undermined efforts to support Ukraine.
Calling the decision “as outrageous as it is subversive” Johnson said:
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, American petroleum producers have increased LNG shipments to our partners in Europe to prevent a catastrophic, continent-wide energy crisis and to provide an alternative to Russian energy exports.
It is outrageous that this administration is asking American taxpayers to spend billions to defeat Russia while knowingly forcing allies to rely on Russian energy, giving Putin an advantage. This policy change also flies in the face of the commitments made when the White House announced the joint US-EU Task Force less than two years ago to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russia and strengthen energy security.
After Donald Trump stormed out of the closing arguments of his defamation trial in New York City, judge Lewis Kaplan remarked: “Excuse me, the record will reflect that Mr Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom.”
Before the former president’s abrupt departure, Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for E Jean Carroll was providing a chronology of the harm endured by her client due to Trump’s attacks.
“Donald Trump’s denials and vicious accusations were all complete lies. That has already been proven, right in this courtroom, by a jury,” Kaplan said.
“That’s why Donald Trump’s testimony was so short yesterday. He doesn’t get a do-over.”
“This case is also about punishing Donald Trump for what he has done and for what he continues to do,” Kaplan said, adding shortly thereafter, “This trial is about getting him to stop, once and for all.”
Kaplan noted that Trump started to smear Carroll within a day of her last court victory, which found that he had defamed her. “Donald Trump, however, acts as if these rules and laws just don’t apply to him,” and pointed out that he spent “this entire trial” attacking Carroll with nefarious posts.
It was right about this time that Trump walked out of court.
“Excuse me,” judge Kaplan said. “The record will reflect that Mr Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom.”
Not long after Roberta Kaplan said in her closing: “Trump is required to follow the law, whether he likes it or not.”
Responding to Mike Johnson’s vow to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, White House spokesman Ian Sams accused him of acting “out of partisan political bloodlust”:
In a letter to House Republicans, speaker Mike Johnson warned that the immigration deal under consideration in the Senate may be “dead on arrival” in his chamber, while also vowing to move forward with plans to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The Republican leader’s statement bodes ill for the bargaining in the Senate, which is seen as crucial to unlocking GOP support for aid to Ukraine, as well as Israel and Taiwan. Democrats and Republicans in the upper chamber have been negotiating for months on an agreement to restrict immigration policy in a bid to keep undocumented migrants from entering the United States. While no compromise has yet been reached, Johnson said today that “if rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway.”
Johnson said he would support the effort to impeach Mayorkas, who Republicans have accused of mishandling border security.
“When we return next week, by necessity, the House Homeland Security Committee will move forward with Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas. A vote on the floor will be held as soon as possible thereafter,” he wrote.
Impeachments of cabinet secretaries are exceedingly rare, and the Senate’s Democratic majority will almost certainly refuse to convict Mayorkas.
As E Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial against Donald Trump neared its final stage Friday morning in New York, proceedings quickly took a turn for the absurd with the judge threatening his lawyer with “lockup” and the ex-president leaving about 10 minutes into closing arguments.
Trump’s abrupt departure came as Carroll’s lead attorney, Roberta Kaplan, was speaking, and shortly after she noted that he had continued to defame the former Elle writer even during this very trial. At that point, Trump left.
CNN heard from both Democratic and Republicans senators yesterday who were not interested in throwing out months of negotiations over the complex deal to change immigration policy and unlock aid to Ukraine and Israel, simply to help Donald Trump.
Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat who is a party to the talks, expressed dismay that Trump could wield so much power. Meanwhile, James Lankford, the Oklahoma Republican who is the party’s lead on the issue, downplayed the former president’s effect on the negotiations. Here’s more:
After meeting yesterday with their leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Republicans told Politico that earlier comments he had made expressing opposition at Donald Trump’s urging to a deal to arm Ukraine and Israel while enacting conservative immigration policies were misunderstood.
McConnell’s remarks were “flipped around”, Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville said, adding “he just tried to get it straight … some of the senators came out and got kind of misconstrued on what he was talking about.”
“McConnell has not changed his point of view,” according to Mississippi’s Roger Wicker, who said McConnell had earlier just been speaking plainly about the political calculations that would go into approving the deal. “And I don’t think anybody disagreed with him. We are at a particular set of crossroads and intersections,” Wicker said.
Yesterday kicked off with the somewhat shocking news that Senate Republicans were, at Donald Trump’s behest, willing to walk away from a deal they had been negotiating with Democrats for months to implement some conservative immigration policies in exchange for approving new aid to Ukraine and Israel’s militaries. The reason, the Senate’s top Republican Mitch McConnell told his lawmakers in a private meeting, was that Trump wanted to be able to attack Joe Biden over immigration on the campaign trail, and passing the deal would undermine that. The comments unsurprisingly sparked outrage from Democrats and some Republicans, and later on Thursday, McConnell seems to have walked them back.
According to Politico, he again convened his party to tell them that he was still behind the deal. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen – the odds of enacting legislation in an election year dealing with one of the most divisive issues in American politics, immigration, were also going to be long, but the parties seem resolved to at least try. We’ll see what more is revealed about this kerfuffle over the course of the day.
Here’s what else is happening:
Trump will once again be in a New York City courtroom for author E Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against him, where closing arguments are expected today.
The top UN court ordered Israel to “take all measures” to prevent genocide during its military campaign in Gaza, but did not order a ceasefire, as the country’s critics had hoped. Follow our live blog for more on this developing story.
Joe Bidenpaused all pending natural gas export permits over concerns they’d further fuel climate change.
