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Shooter still on the run as 3 others charged

Shooter still on the run as 3 others charged

Mall of America shooting: Police searching for suspects

Three people, including Best Western employees, were charged in connection to the shooting at Mall of America last week. Story: https://www.fox9.com/news/mall-of-america-shooting-charges-filed-against-3-people

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) – Three people, including Best Western employees, were charged Monday in connection to the shooting at Mall of America on Thursday, Aug. 4. The shooter remains at large and has not been formally charged.

They’re accused of helping the shooter and another man evades arrest.

The three people charged are:

  • Denesh Raghubir, 21, of Minneapolis, is charged with aiding an offender to avoid arrest
  • Delyanie Kwen-Shawn Arnold, 23, of Burnsville, is charged with aiding an offender to avoid arrest
  • Selena Raghubir, 23, of Bloomington, is charged with aiding an offender to avoid arrest

Mall of America shooting: Shooter still on the run as 3 others charged

Three people, including Best Western employees, were charged Monday in connection to the shooting at Mall of America on Thursday, Aug. 4. The shooter remains at large and has not been formally charged. They’re accused of helping the shooter and another man evades arrest.

The charges

Police working at Mall of America responded to multiple gunshots at the Nike store, where they found three shell casings on the floor inside the entrance. Officers checked surveillance video, which showed a fight breaking out involving six people near the checkout of the store, causing customers to run away.

Then two people involved in the altercation left the store briefly before the suspect returned and fired a handgun several times at the males involved in the fight. The suspected shooter, identified Monday as 21-year-old Shamar Lark, and another man, identified as 23-year-old Rashad May, then ran out the north doors of the mall, into the IKEA parking lot, charges said.

It was later learned the two men may have been picked up by a Best Western hotel shuttle at IKEA and were taken to the hotel, just south of Mall of America.

May called Arnold a few minutes after the shooting, and he received five calls from Arnold between 4:20-4:23 pm, the complaint said. Arnold then contacted his girlfriend, Selena Raghubir, who is an assistant manager at the Best Western, as well as Selena Raghubir’s cousin, Denesh Raghubir, who picked up Lark and May at IKEA in the Best Western shuttle.

Denesh Raghubir told police he knew the two men were friends of Selena Raghubir, and when he dropped them off at Best Western, Selena Raghubir immediately left the front desk and he didn’t see her for about 45 minutes, charges said. He said Selena Raghubir later called him and asked him what time police left.

On Aug. 5, officers searched Arnold and Selena Raghubir’s home and vehicle, where they found the shirts the men were wearing at the time of the shooting, charges said.

People evacuating Mall of America after shooting

Security confirms Mall of America is on lockdown. Bloomington police officers are on scene. Several witnesses told FOX 9 they heard shots fired and then saw people frantically running through the mall.

The complaint says, “The assistance provided by Selena Raghubir, Denesh Raghubir and Arnold and the misinformation provided to police resulted in the flight of [the two men] and the interference in the investigation of the shooting at the Mall of America.”

The three people charged are in custody and are scheduled to make their first court appearance at 1:30 pm on Tuesday. The two people they’re accused of helping after the shooting remain at-large.

Shamar Lark (left) and Rashad May (right) are wanted after Thursday’s shooting at the Mall of America. (Supplied)

Search for the suspects

During a Monday afternoon news conference, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges released photos showing Lark and May. Hodges says May “prompted” Lark to shoot up the store – which Lark followed through on.

Thankfully, no one was hurt by the gunfire but the shooting created a panic with people rushing out of the mall while police with rifles swept the stores, looking for the shooters and victims.

Police are asking members of the public for help finding Lark and May. A nationwide warrant has been issued for their arrests.

“You cannot, in a free society, continue to enjoy all the freedoms that we have and when you show a complete lack of respect for humanity by firing in a crowded mall store,” said Chief Hodges. “We cannot tolerate that as a society.”

Chief Hodges also warned anyone else who might be helping the suspects that they will arrest any other individuals who aid the wanted men.

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Rep. Colin Allred details how climate, tax, health care bill will lower everyday costs

Rep. Colin Allred details how climate, tax, health care bill will lower everyday costs

As the United States faces decades-high inflation, people across the country are looking to lawmakers for respite.

Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas joined ABC News on GMA3 to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping climate, tax and health care package that the Senate passed over the weekend. The bill is now set for a vote in the House this week.

GMA3: So many American families are in a financial crisis right now. Tell us what makes this bill historic and what it’s actually going to do for those families who need some relief?

ALLRED: Well, it’s going to help you lower the cost of your health care. For the first time in so long, that we’ve been pushing for this, Medicare is going to have the ability to negotiate to lower the cost of prescription drugs. And it will be the drugs that we don’t have the market mechanisms to hold down the costs… So those are the ones that are really hitting families the hardest.

PHOTO: The Senate vote on the Inflation Reduction Act is seen in a still from video from the Capitol, Aug. 7, 2022.

The Senate vote on the Inflation Reduction Act is seen in a still from video from the Capitol, Aug. 7, 2022.

senate.gov

It’s also going to make sure that, if you’re using the individual market, that your rates stay low. That’s something we started in the American Rescue Plan. It’s extended those benefits.

But also for your homes, it’s going to encourage you — to give you tax credits toward getting more efficient energy use in your home, but also more efficient energy grids. So it should lower your costs overall in terms of what you’ll be paying to keep the lights on and the AC on, which we’re needing a lot of here in Texas right now.

GMA3: It is called the Inflation Reduction Act. You didn’t mention inflation in that answer… So are you comfortable selling this to your constituents as something that’s going to bring down inflation?

ALLRED: Well, it lowers costs. And that’s also a way of combating inflation, because when you have to spend more in some areas, if you can lower costs in other areas, that’s basically the same thing in terms of balancing out your budget and trying to help working families get by.

I was raised by a single mother who was a public school teacher here in Dallas. I know what it’s like to go to the store and wonder, are you going to be able to get all the things you need for the week? And so this is what we’re trying to do, is find areas that we can control, where we can lower your costs.

So much of what we’re dealing with in terms of inflation is a global issue that’s happening around the world caused by the pandemic and also the war that Russia [caused by] invading Ukraine.

So there’s some things that we can’t control. The areas where we can, that’s what we should target. And that’s all we’re trying to do here.

GMA3: How confident are you that this bill will make it to the president soon and in its current form? What still needs to be done?

ALLRED: Well, now that it’s gotten through the Senate, we have to get it through the House. And there’s always going to be some back and forth with my colleagues. That’s just the way that the House works. But I do think that we’ll pass it this week and send it to the president’s desk.

PHOTO: Rep. Colin Allred speaks during a press conference in Washington, June 24, 2020.

UNITED STATES – JUNE 24: Rep. Colin Allred speaks during a press conference in Washington, June 24, 2020.

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, FILE

This is a huge win for President Biden but, more importantly, for the American people. This is the biggest investment that we’ve ever made in combating climate change.

[The bill is] going to allow us to do so many things that we need to do to try and really head off what we know is a coming climate disaster for us down the road.

GMA3: Congressman, while we have you here… Brittney Griner, who is still being held in prison in Russia… Are you comfortable right now, relatively speaking, with where this process is?

ALLRED: Yeah, well, listen, I’ve known of Brittney since she was in high school when I was playing football at Baylor University. And she was a standout basketball player in Houston. And we were going to try and recruit her to come to Baylor to be part of our incredible women’s basketball team, which she eventually did. And she’s one of the best basketball players in the world. Ella she’s a Texan, and she’s somebody who we’re working extremely hard to get home.

Everybody should just know that the trial, so to speak, that you just saw was a sham. In Russia, if you reach that point, you have about a 98% chance that you’re going to be convicted. So it’s not really a trial.

And also that she was held, and is still being held, basically to exert pressure on the United States. And so we are doing everything we can to get her and Paul Whelan home.

But I actually do think that it’s a positive that we’re through the trial and sentencing phase, because we’ve known from the beginning that the Russians weren’t going to seriously discuss a swap with us until that happens.

So as sad as it’s been to see her receive a nine-year sentence and all of those things and to see the stress that she’s been under, it also means that we are closer to getting her home.

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NYC tries again on curbside compost collection, minus the ‘psychodrama’

NYC tries again on curbside compost collection, minus the 'psychodrama'

New York City is embarking on a new approach to curbside composting after a decade of fitful progress and scrapped promises, with a program that aims to strip organic recycling of its long-running “psychodrama.”

Set to launch in October, the pilot program will offer weekly pick-ups of food waste and yard scraps to all residents of Queens, no sign-ups required. While not mandatory, the initiative will encourage New Yorkers to separate their organics into sealed bins – with the goal of cutting down on both harmful emissions and rat- enticing street trash.

“We designed this program to be the last composting program that we roll out in New York City,” Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a press conference on Monday. “This is by far the cheapest, the most efficient, the easiest for New Yorkers to use.”

Leftover food and yard scraps make up roughly a third of the city’s residential waste stream – amounting to 8 million pounds per day of recyclable material that is left to rot in landfills and produces methane, one of the most harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Converting New Yorkers’ decaying mounds of egg shells, coffee grounds and soiled paper into nutrient-rich soil – or renewable energy, through a process known as anaerobic digestion – is crucial to the city’s climate goals. But previous attempts at municipal organics collection have floundered, with low participation that experts blame on a lack of funding for education and expansion.

After allowing pilot programs to languish in a handful of neighborhoods for years, former Mayor Bill de Blasio paused organic pick-ups as a result of COVID budget cuts. In February, Mayor Eric Adams squashed a planned expansion of the program, deriving the effort as largely “symbolic” and not worth the price-tag.

The revamped strategy, according to Adams, will meet his demands for a more targeted and cost effective approach. The city will spend just $2 million in “new needs” during the next fiscal year, with a cost per district of less than half the previous program, according to a Sanitation Department spokesperson, Joshua Goodman.

Because yard scraps are believed to make up the largest share of composting material in the start-up phase, the program will begin in Queens, home to 41% of the city’s street trees. Given the reduction in yard waste over the winter, the city will suspend pick-ups at the end of December, before resuming in late March.

Eric Goldstein, the New York City environment director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, questioned the wisdom of putting the program on hiatus just three months after its debut – especially as city officials stress the importance of recycling food waste.

“The details matter: For this program to be successful it has to be simple and consistent,” Goldstein said. “Stopping and starting the program sends a confusing message to city residents.”

Other tweaks will seek to incorporate past lessons, officials said. Unlike earlier initiatives, residents will not be required to sign up for pick-ups. They can also request a free brown bin from the city, or use their own, as long as it has a secure lid (yard scraps can go directly into bags).

Buildings with more than 10 units will receive a bin automatically, a response to previous complaints from residents that their landlords were blocking them from participating.

“If you live in a building and want to participate in the compost program, say to your building manager: ‘We know that you have a brown bin, it was delivered to you by the city of New York, where is it? I would like to put my food scrap in it,” Tisch said.

According to Goldstein, the key to the city’s composting success lies in building awareness through a sustained voluntary program, then rolling out a universal and mandatory curbside collection, similar to trash or recycling. Despite the major’s cost concerns, he notes that cities such as San Francisco or Seattle, which have adopted universal composting, have seen long-term taxpayer savings.

While Adams has not committed to a citywide program, a veto-proof majority of the City Council now supports requiring the curbside collections in all five boroughs.

“The Council likely forced [the mayor’s] hand here,” said Goldstein. “That’s a good thing.”

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Democrats celebrate as climate bill moves to House – and critics weigh in | US politics

Democrats celebrated the much-delayed Senate passage of their healthcare and climate spending package, expressing hope that the bill’s approval could improve their prospects in the crucial midterm elections this November.

The bill, formally known as the Inflation Reduction Act, passed the Senate on Sunday in a party-line vote of 51-50, with Vice-President Kamala Harris breaking the tie in the evenly divided chamber.

Raucous applause broke out on the Senate floor after Harris announced the final tally, and Democrats continued their victory lap once the vote had concluded amid a belief that the bill will give Biden – and many Democrats – a record of significant achievement to campaign on.

“I’m really confident that the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining feats of the 21st century,” the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said at a press conference after the bill’s passage. “To do small things with 50 votes is rough. To pass such a major piece of legislation – with only 50 votes, an intransigent Republican minority, a caucus running from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin – wow.”

Democrats’ work is not quite done though. The Senate-approved bill now heads to the House, which must pass the legislation before it can go to Joe Biden’s desk. The House is scheduled to return from its recess on Friday to take up the bill, and Democratic leaders have expressed confidence that it will pass.

“The House will return and move swiftly to send this bill to the president’s desk – proudly building a healthier, cleaner, fairer future for all Americans,” the Democratic speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement.

Democrats hope the bill’s passage could also help them persuade voters to keep them in control of Congress in November, when every House seat and 34 Senate seats will be up for grabs. So far, Democrats’ prospects in the midterm elections have appeared grim, as Republicans are heavily favored to regain control of the House of Representatives.

Asked on Monday morning whether he believed the bill’s approval would benefit Democrats running in November, Biden said, “Do I expect it to help? Yes, I do. It’s going to immediately help.”

Biden pointed to some of the bill’s healthcare provisions, including capping Medicare recipients’ out-of-pocket prescription costs at $2,000 a year, to argue that the legislation would provide concrete assistance to millions of Americans. But that policy will not go into effect until 2025, and Biden acknowledged that some of the bill’s most important provisions will take time to kick in.

That delayed implementation could prove detrimental to Democratic candidates trying to make a pitch to voters about how the party has made the most of its control of the White House and Congress.

Despite its name, the bill is also not expected to provide immediate relief to Americans struggling under the weight of record-high inflation. According to a report issued by Moody’s Analytics, the bill will “modestly reduce inflation over the 10-year budget horizon”.

Republicans accused Democrats of ramming through a partisan bill that failed to address voters’ top concerns, as polls show most Americans believe the economy is getting worse.

“Democrats have proven over and over they simply do not care about middle-class families’ priorities,” the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said after the bill’s passage. “They have spent 18 months proving that. They just spent hundreds of billions of dollars to provide it again.”

Republicans’ talking points were echoed by a surprising voice on Sunday: Bernie Sanders. The progressive senator expressed concern that the bill would do little to help working Americans, after he unsuccessfully pushed amendments to the bill that would have expanded its healthcare and financial assistance provisions.

“It’s a very modest step forward,” Sanders told MSNBC. “Bottom line is, I’m going to support the bill because given the crisis of climate change, the environmental community says this is a step forward. It doesn’t go anywhere near as far as it should. It is a step forward.”

Democrats have championed the bill’s environmental provisions, which mark America’s most significant legislative effort yet to address the climate crisis. Experts estimate that the climate policies in the spending package will slash US greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. That accomplishment will bring the US within striking distance of Biden’s goal to cut emissions in half by the end of the decade, which scientists say must be achieved to avoid climate disaster.

To win the support of the centrist senator Joe Manchin, the bill also includes controversial proposals to expand oil and gas development on federal lands, which have sparked outcry among some climate activists. But the bill’s defenders say the climate benefits of the legislation far outweigh the costs.

As the spending package moves to the House, Pelosi has the weighty task of keeping her entire caucus in line to ensure the bill’s passage. Given Democrats’ narrow majority in the lower chamber, Pelosi can afford to lose only a few votes and still get the bill passed. It seems like Pelosi will have the votes she needs, after moderates and progressives alike endorsed the package, so Biden could be reaching for her bill-signing pen by the end of the week.

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White House denies more IRS funding could increase audits on lower-income Americans

White House denies more IRS funding could increase audits on lower-income Americans

‘Fox Business Tonight’ host David Asman discusses how the new spending bill Joe Manchin voted for will benefit the IRS massively.

The Biden administration on Monday pushed back against concerns that an extra $80 billion in funding for the IRS that Democrats included in their latest health care and climate change spending package could increase audits on lower-income households.

When asked about the possibility of more audits on middle-class Americans, the White House pointed to a letter written by IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig last week, in which he maintained that additional funding for the tax-collecting agency will not increase audits on households earning less than $400,000.

“These resources are absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans,” Rettig wrote in the letter. “As we have been planning, our investment of these enforcement resources is designed around the Treasury’s directive that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000.”

Providing the IRS with an influx of funding has been a top priority for President Biden and is one of the most prominent provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that Senate Democrats passed along party lines early Sunday.

DEMOCRATS’ MINIMUM CORPORATE TAX WOULD HIT THESE INDUSTRIES THE HARDEST

President Joe Biden

President Biden speaks about inflation and the economy from the White House campus May 10, 2022. (Getty Images/Getty Images)

The Democrats projected that enhancing IRS funding could add an extra $124 billion in federal revenue over the next decade by hiring more tax enforcers who can limit tax evasion by rich individuals and corporations. Roughly $1 trillion in federal taxes goes unpaid yearly because of errors, fraud and a lack of resources to adequately enforce collections, the IRS estimated last year.

But Republican lawmakers have sounded the alarm over the proposal, warning that it could have serious ramifications for lower-income workers.

That’s because the IRS disproportionately targets low-income Americans when it conducts tax audits each year. In fact, households with less than $25,000 in earnings are five times as likely to be audited by the agency than everyone else, according to a recent analysis of tax data from fiscal year 2021 by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.

IRS charles rettig

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig testifies before the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee on March 17, 2022, in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The reason for that is a rise in what is known as “correspondence audits,” meaning the IRS conducts reviews of tax returns via letters or phone calls rather than more complex face-to-face audits. Just a fraction – 100,000 of the 659,000 audits in 2021 – were conducted in person.

According to the Syracuse study, more than half of the correspondence audits initiated by the IRS last year – 54% – involved low-income workers with gross receipts of less than $25,000 who claimed the earned income tax credit, an anti-poverty measure.

STRATEGISTS, TAX EXPERTS WEIGH IMPLICATIONS OF MANCHIN-BACKED BILL ON MIDTERM ELECTIONS

Even taxpayers with a total positive income that ranged from $200,000 to $1 million had one-third the odds of being audited by the IRS compared to the lowest-income wage earners. About 9 million taxpayers reported these high-income levels in 2021, but fewer than 40,000 of their returns were audited, or roughly 4.5 out of every 1,000. That contrasts sharply with lower-income Americans, who faced an audit rate of 13 out of every 1,000.

The discrepancy is primarily due to high-income taxpayers having complex investments that can easily shroud the gaps between taxes owed and paid vs. tax reported and paid.

capitol hill

Night falls at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite/AP Newsroom)

“Barring an unlikely significant change in the composition of IRS enforcement, the stepped-up IRS enforcement would subject taxpayers across the income spectrum to more scrutiny and greater audit risk,” the conservative Heritage Foundation said in a recent blog post.

Still, Rettig argued that hiring more enforcement officers and modernizing the agency’s antiquated technology could actually help the IRS to avoid auditing honest taxpayers.

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“Large corporate and high-net-worth taxpayers often engage teams of sophisticated representatives pursuing unsettled or sometimes questionable interpretations of tax law,” he said. “The integrity and fairness of our tax administrative system relies upon the ability of our agency to maintain a strong, visible, robust enforcement presence directed to these and other similarly situated noncompliant taxpayers.”

FOX Business’ Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report

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Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s approval, Wyoming primary: This week in politics

Inflation Reduction Act, Biden's approval, Wyoming primary: This week in politics

Lawmakers are racing toward the August recess, as President Biden prepares to sign a bill Tuesday that invests nearly $52 billion into the semiconductor chip manufacturing sector.

Meanwhile, the House is expected to vote this week on a roughly $430 billion spending package aimed at improving health care, addressing climate change, and making corporations pay their fair share of taxes. The Senate approved the measure over the weekend.

We’re also slated to see new inflation data on Wednesday, as US Rep. Liz Cheney makes a final sprint in her campaign to retain her Republican seat in a race against a Donald Trump-backed opponent.

Here’s more on the three big politics stories we’re watching this week:

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT

The House is expected to vote Friday on a massive spending package that Democrats say will help to curb inflation. It comes after Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote on Sunday in a party-line 51-50 vote. The package — brokered by centrist Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — is one of the most significant spending bills to move through the upper chamber since the start of the pandemic.

The bill includes $390 billion to combat climate change, while encouraging consumers to transition to electric vehicles. Democrats say the legislation will reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. The legislation also sets the corporate minimum tax rate at 15% for companies that book profits of more than $1 billion but use various deductions to pay less than the legal corporate tax rate of twenty-one%. The bill authorizes roughly $430 billion in new spending, and its proponents say it will create $740 in revenue.

INFLATION DATA

President Biden is facing low approval ratings for his handling of the economy, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday. Only 29% of polled voters approve of Biden’s handling of inflation, and 69% think the economy is getting worse.

The government is set to release new data on the Consumer Price Index on Wednesday, potentially hurting Biden’s approval rating if it shows inflation is still creeping up. Inflation hit 9.1 in the month of June, a new 40-year high. The report comes as the White House is trying to seize on momentum from Friday’s massive jobs report — a whopping 528,000 jobs that were added to the US economy in the month of July.

JACKSON, WY - JUNE 14: Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman meets attendees at a rally at the Teton County Fair & Rodeo Grounds on June 14, 2022 in Jackson, Wyoming. Hageman, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is running against Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in the August 16 GOP primary. (Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)

JACKSON, WY – JUNE 14: Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman meets attendees at a rally at the Teton County Fair & Rodeo Grounds on June 14, 2022 in Jackson, Wyoming. Hageman, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is running against Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in the August 16 GOP primary. (Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)

FINAL SPRINT FOR CHENEY PRIMARY

It’s the final sprint to the primary for US Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who faces her primary challenger Trump-backed Harriet Hageman next week. A Casper-Star Tribune poll performed from July 7 through July 11 has Hageman, an energy attorney, beating Cheney 52% to 30%.

Former-Vice President Dick Cheney recorded an ad for his daughter, who has built a national profile for herself given her position on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. A loss for Cheney would be a victory for Trump’s political machine, as it would unseat one of the most prominent Republicans in Congress. The primary is on Tuesday, Aug. 16.

Kevin Cirilli is a contributor to Yahoo Finance and a visiting media fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevcirilli

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Trump team tried to flush documents, Haberman book claims

Trump team tried to flush documents, Haberman book claims

A spokesman for former President Donald Trump has denied that he tried to dispose of White House documents by flushing them down toilets after Axios published two images of paper allegedly bearing Trump’s handwriting at the bottom of commodes.

“You have to be pretty desperate to sell books if pictures of paper in a toilet bowl is part of your promotional plan,” Taylor Budowich told the site, which published the images after they were obtained by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman ahead of the October publication of her book “Confidence Man.”

Budowich then added that “there’s enough people willing to fabricate stories like this in order to impress the media class — a media class who is willing to run with anything, as long as it anti-Trump.”

One photo, purportedly taken in the White House, shows a ripped note with the word “where” written on it at the bottom of a toilet.

The second photo, which was allegedly taken while Trump was on an overseas trip, featured a torn piece of paper bearing the names “Rogers” and “Stefanik” – presumably referring to upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) – in the toilet .

Haberman, who initially reported that Trump liked flushing his notes in February of this year, stood by her reporting during an appearance on CNN Monday.

Toilet with paper at bottom.
The paper allegedly bears former President Donald Trump’s handwriting.
Maggie Haberman via Axios

“People are going to make all kinds of jokes about toilets and so forth,” she said. “It would still be a story if it was a fireplace. And the point is about the destruction of records which are supposed to be preserved under the Presidential Records Act, which is a Watergate-era creation.”

“We knew that Trump had a habit of ripping up paper and that people had to tape it back together,” Haberman added. ” … And so what was happening was White House residence staff were finding pipes were clogged with paper that they believed he had flushed … I’d had additional reporting afterwards from people confirming that Trump had indeed done this and that it happened on at least two foreign trips and in the White House throughout his presidency.”

“Again, it’s important because who knows what this paper was. Only he would know and presumably whoever was dealing with it. But the important point is about the records.”

Toilet with paper at bottom.
Since leaving office, several reports have depicted former President Donald Trump as a notorious destroyer of records.
Maggie Haberman via Axios

The former president swiftly blasted the accusation back in February, calling it “another fake story,” “categorically untrue,” and “simply made up” by Haberman to distract Americans from “how horribly our Country is doing under the Biden Administration.”

Since leaving office, several reports have depicted Trump as a notorious destroyer of records – sensitive or not.

Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.
The images were obtained by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman ahead of the October publication of her book “Confidence Man.”
Amazon/Penguin Press

CNN reported Monday that Trump would instruct aides to carry boxes of unread memoirs, articles, and potential tweets aboard Air Force One, which he would then review and tear up.

One former senior administration official told the outlet that a deputy from the Office of Staff Secretary would pull things out of Trump’s trash or remove items from his desk after the president left the room to comply with federal recordkeeping laws.

Trump has also been accused of keeping boxes of White House documents — some of which contained classified material — at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The National Archives retrieved the boxes in January.

That caught the attention of the House Oversight Committee, which quickly launched an investigation into what it called “Potential Serious Violations” of the Presidential Records Act of 1978.

Federal investigators have also reportedly issued a subpoena for the documents as part of their own investigation into the matter.

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Houston nurse Nicole Linton charged with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter in Windsor Hills crash that killed 6

37-year-old woman arrested in fiery wreck near Los Angeles that killed 5

A nurse from Houston was charged Monday with six counts of murder and five counts of gross vehicular manslaughter for the fiery crash that killed six people, including an infant and a pregnant woman.

Nicole Lorraine Linton, 37, was behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz that barreled through a red light at Slauson and La Brea avenues last Thursday and slammed into several other vehicles in the Windsor Hills area, according to the CHP. The six people killed included all the members of one family — 23-year-old Ashley Ryanthe child she was pregnant with, her boyfriend, 24-year-old Reynold Lester, who was the father of her unborn son, and her infant son Alonzo, who was about to celebrate his first birthday.

The charges include six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter. District Attorney George Gascón said his office of him cannot file a manslaughter charge in a case involving an unborn child.

“This is a case that will always be remembered for the senseless loss of so many innocent lives as they simply went about their daily routines,” Gascón said in a statement.

Linton is expected to make an initial court appearance in the case on Monday. If convicted as charged, she could face 90 years to life in prison, Gascón said.

Surveillance video from the scene showed the Mercedes speeding through a red light in a 35 mph zone on La Brea at a speed authorities estimated was about 100 mph and broadsiding another vehicle, which exploded into flames. It was pushed into at least one other vehicle, and both ended up against a gas station sign on the corner of the intersection. The impact of the fiery crash left a trail of flames from the intersection.

Eight vehicles in total, including Linton’s, were involved in the crash. Linton’s Mercedes ended up near a bench down the street.

Two other women who died in the crash have yet to be identified, according to Gascón. The occupants of six other vehicles, including five in an SUV and another driver in another vehicle, were also injured.

“While the wreckage of this fiery crash at this intersection was removed and traffic eventually resumes, there is catastrophic damage to the families and friends of those killed and injured,” Gascón said. “It is not only a tremendous loss to the families but our entire community who learned of this incredible tragedy or have watched the now viral video of the collision.”

Gascón said there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash, but it has not yet been ruled out.

The traveling nurse from Houston was arrested friday while she was still hospitalized for moderate injuries she sustained in the crash. She was released from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center over the weekend, and is being held on a $9 million bail.

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Butler Twp. shooting suspect to remain jailed in Kansas; Second court appearance scheduled – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio

Butler Twp. shooting suspect to remain jailed in Kansas; Second court appearance scheduled – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio

Butler Twp. deadly shootings: Vigil at Vandalia-Butler HS Monday

BUTLER TWP. — The man suspected of shooting and killing four people in a Butler Twp. neighborhood Friday made his first appearance in a Kansas courtroom, following his capture of him over the weekend

>> RELATED: Lawrence PS: ‘We are extremely proud of our officers’ work;’ Butler Twp. shooting suspect in custody

Stephen Marlow, 39, has been charged with 13 counts including eight murder charges in Vandalia Municipal Court stemming from the killings of Clyde and Eva Knox, and Sarah and Kayla Anderson last week. Following a nationwide manhunt, Marlow was captured Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas.

Marlow appeared in a Douglas County, Kansas courtroom at 4 pm EDT, the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office confirmed with News Center 7.

During the hearing, a judge ruled to keep Marlow held in jail with no bond, as requested by the original jurisdiction that charged him, the district attorney spokesperson told News Center 7.

>> PHOTOS: Police investigate 4 killed in shooting in Butler Twp. neighborhood

An attorney was appointed for the extradition part of his case and Marlow will make his next appearance in Douglas County court Wednesday afternoon for a status hearing, the spokesperson said.

The extradition part of Marlow’s hearing will determine when Butler Twp. police can get him from Kansas and bring him back to face charges in Montgomery County.

The spokesperson added they’re expecting to learn if Marlow will waive the extradition hearing or not. If Marlow does not waive extradition, it will set a formal extradition proceeding, the spokesperson said.

The Douglas County DA’s Office confirmed Marlow is not facing any charges in Kansas.

The charges against Marlow in Vandalia Municipal Court are:

  • 8 counts of aggravated murder
  • 4 counts of aggravated burglary
  • 1 count of weapons under disability

Newly-obtained court records indicate Marlow spoke to a neighbor in between the deadly shootings at two homes on Hardwicke Place.

The witness told investigators he watched Marlow leave the home of Sarah and Kayla Anderson after the first shots were fired.

“(The witness) watched Stephen exit the garage of (the Anderson’s home) and spoke to him. (The witness) stated he watched Stephen holster a gun and Stephen made a vague threat to him. (The witness) was able to positively identify Stephen in a photo lineup,” investigators said in a court filing in Vandalia Municipal Court, obtained in a News Center 7 public records request.

>> Vandalia-Butler High School students gather to remember 15 year old victim of shooting

Investigators also outlined the series of events during the deadly shootings. Investigators allege Marlow first went into the open attached garage where the Andersons lived and shot and killed both Sarah and Kayla. The killings were caught on security cameras that were at the house, court records indicate.

Marlow then went to the home of Clyde and Eva Knox, which is one house to the south from the home where the Andersons lived, entered through the Knox’s detached garage and killed them, investigators allege in the court filings.

A second witness told investigators he heard the gunshots at the Knox’s home, looked outside and saw Marlow getting into a white Ford SUV moments before Marlow drove away, investigators allege in the court documents.

After the killings Marlow fled the area, sparking a nationwide search. Lawrence, Kansas police provided new details on the capture of Marlow Saturday, saying they were notified about 30 minutes before his arrest that Marlow was suspected to be in the Lawrence area.

A Lawrence officer spotted Marlow’s car, attempted a traffic stop in a grocery store parking lot, and Marlow was taken into custody without incident, Lawrence Patrol Lt. David Ernst said in a media availability Monday.

We’ll continue to update this story as we learn more.

Butler Twp Shooting: Police presence remains Photo by John Bedell/Staff

©2022 Cox Media Group

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Gov. Ricketts Releases Statement on Potential Special Session to Amend Nebraska’s Abortion Laws

Gov. Ricketts Releases Statement on Potential Special Session to Amend Nebraska's Abortion Laws

Media Contactyes:

Alex Reuss, 402-471-1970

Justin Pinkerman, 402-471-1967

Media Release:

Gov. Ricketts Releases Statement on Potential Special Session to Amend Nebraska’s Abortion Laws

LINCOLN- Today, Governor Ricketts received a letter from Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers. It indicated that 30 state senators support amending Nebraska’s abortion laws to prohibit abortions starting at 12 weeks in a special session. The Governor released the following statement in response:

“It is deeply saddening that only 30 Nebraska state senators are willing to come back to Lincoln this fall in order to protect innocent life. The proposal to change Nebraska’s state law that prohibits abortions starting at 20 weeks and reduces that to 12 weeks is a measured, reasonable step to protect more preborn babies in our state.”

“Right now, babies in Nebraska can be aborted up to 20 weeks. At this age, babies are nearly fully formed. They can kick, swallow, hear and respond to sounds outside the womb. They suck their thumbs. They can feel pain. And as medical advancements continue, more and more babies born at this stage can survive premature births and go on to live vibrant lives. Under Nebraska’s current law, these babies can still be killed before they have that chance.”

“Most of the free world has more reasonable abortion laws than Nebraska. Over 75 percent of countries around the world have placed restrictions on abortion at 12 weeks. Our 20 week abortion ban puts us in line with a narrow ten percent of countries – including countries like North Korea and China – that fail to protect preborn babies.”

“I ask all Nebraskans who are pro-life to look at the list of state senators who signed the letter. If your state senator is on that list, please call or email their office to thank them for their choice to stand with preborn babies. If your state senator is not on the list, please call or email them as well to encourage them to reconsider their decision on this reasonable change to Nebraska’s abortion laws.”

“This letter shows that elections have consequences. In our state, we must work to protect the most vulnerable, and that includes our preborn babies. There’s no more important issue. We cannot achieve equality for all if we silence human beings before they even have a voice.”

“The senators’ letter shows we don’t have the 33 votes needed to pass legislation to protect more preborn babies. For this reason, I will not be calling a special session. Nebraskans need to have more conversations on the value we place on human life so more meaningful protections can be passed in our state.”

“As Governor, I will continue doing whatever I can in my power to affirm the rights of preborn babies and to support pregnant women, children, and families in need.”

The letter from Speaker Mike Hilgers listing the state senators who supported prohibiting abortions starting at 12 weeks in a special session is available by clicking here.