October 7, 2019 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The disclosure of a second whistleblower threatens to undermine arguments made by President Donald Trump and his allies that a whistleblower complaint was improperly filed because it was largely based on secondhand information. Attorney Mark Zaid told The Associated Press in a text message Sunday that the second whistleblower, who also works in intelligence, has spoken to the intelligence community’s internal watchdog. This person hasn’t filed a complaint but does have “firsthand knowledge that supported” the original whistleblower.
Trump has rejected the accusations he did anything improper. The original whistleblower, a CIA officer, filed a formal complaint with the inspector general on Aug. 12 that triggered the impeachment inquiry being led by House Democrats. The complaint alleged Trump was “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country” in the 2020 election.
October 7, 2019 4:15 am
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – A new court filing has revealed the federal government began a fraud investigation into coal company Blackjewel LLC prior to the company’s sale last week of two Wyoming coal mines. The Casper Star-Tribune reports the document filed Saturday indicates the investigation also preceded Blackjewel’s July bankruptcy filing. Court documents say Blackjewel owes the federal government about $50 million. The court filing says the government has been investigating Blackjewel’s potential violations of the False Claims Act, which holds corporations liable for defrauding the government. The government has asked a West Virginia federal bankruptcy court to delay discharging Blackjewel of its debts, which would allow the investigation to continue. A federal judge approved the sale of the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines to Eagle Specialty Materials without Blackjewel’s debt obligations.
October 7, 2019 4:14 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s court system is telling county judges to make public information about candidates when filling government vacancies by appointment. The Williamsport Sun-Gazette reported Sunday the state Supreme Court rule ends a years-long effort by the paper, prompted by its inability to get a list of 30 candidates seeking to fill a vacancy among the Lycoming County commissioners. The rule says that judges must release the list of candidates and application materials upon request. The issue arose after Jeff Wheeland left the board to take a state House seat, and the paper was unable to get the list of the applicants being considered from President Judge Nancy Butts. Another judge subsequently ruled the records weren’t subject to disclosure. The state’s Right-to-Know Law requires the courts to disclose only certain financial records.
October 7, 2019 4:13 am
NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. (AP) – A judge has ordered the defense to turn over to prosecutors background material on a man charged in the shooting death of a western Pennsylvania police officer almost two years ago. The Tribune-Review reports that defense attorneys had argued that their case would be damaged if prosecutors were given the report detailing reasons why the life of 31-year-old Rahmael Sal Holt should be spared should he be convicted in the November 2017 slaying of New Kensington officer Brian Shaw. Attorney Tim Dawson said the report concluded that Holt has no mental health or intellectual disabilities, but aspects of his life and upbringing could persuade jurors to impose a life term. Holt says he wasn’t the one who fired the shots that killed Shaw following a traffic stop in New Kensington.
October 6, 2019 6:35 am
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) – Anger in Afghanistan is mounting over the increasing numbers of civilians dying in misdirected U.S. aerial strikes and heavy-handed tactics of a CIA-trained Afghan force. Increasing civilian deaths in stepped-up U.S. airstrikes and operations by Afghan forces highlight the conundrum the U.S. military and its Afghan allies face, 18 years into the war: How to hunt down their Islamic State group and Taliban enemies, while keeping civilians safe and on their side. A U.N. report says civilian deaths caused by U.S. and Afghan government forces are rising, and surpassed for the first time those caused by the Taliban and other insurgents. It found that U.S. and Afghan forces killed 717 civilians and injured 680 in the first six months of the year, up 31% from the same period in 2018.
October 6, 2019 6:34 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis is opening a divisive meeting on preserving the Amazon and ministering to its indigenous peoples, as he fends off attacks from conservatives who are opposed to his ecological agenda. Francis was to celebrate an opening Mass on Sunday with global attention newly focused on the forest fires that are devouring the rainforest, which scientists say is a crucial bulwark against global warming. On hand are more than 180 cardinals, bishops and priests from the region who have gathered at the Vatican for three weeks of debate. Among the most contentious proposals on the agenda is whether married elders could be ordained priests to address the chronic priest shortages in the region. Currently indigenous Catholics in remote parts of the Amazon can go months without seeing a priest or having a proper Mass.
October 6, 2019 6:33 am
DALLAS (AP) – Authorities say a witness in the murder trial of a white Dallas police officer who fatally shot her black neighbor has been killed in a shooting. The Dallas Morning News reports that authorities said Joshua Brown, who lived in the same apartment complex as Officer Amber Guyger and her neighbor Botham Jean, was fatally shot Friday. Police would not confirm to The Associated Press that it was Brown who was shot, pending family notification. They said police responded to the shooting shortly after 10:30 p.m. Friday. They said several witnesses flagged officers down and directed them to an apartment parking lot where the man who was shot was lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. The man was taken to a hospital where he died. The 28-year-old Brown testified in Guyger’s trial about the night that Jean was killed. Guyger was convicted Tuesday and sentenced the next day to 10 years in prison. Guyger said she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own and thought he was an intruder when she fatally shot him in September 2018.
October 6, 2019 6:32 am
HONG KONG (AP) – Shouting “Wearing mask is not a crime,” thousands of protesters are braving the rain to march in central Hong Kong as a court rejected a second legal attempt to block a mask ban at pro-democracy rallies. The ban took force Saturday, triggering more violence over the last two days. A teen protester was shot Friday night in the thigh after an off-duty police officer fired his pistol in self-defense. Lawmaker Dennis Kwok says the High Court on Sunday refused to grant an injunction on the mask ban, but it will hear later this month an application by 24 legislators against Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s use of emergency powers to impose the measure by circumventing the legislature. Lam said the mask ban was needed to stop the violence.
October 6, 2019 6:31 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the State Department intends to follow the law as House Democrats seek documents and other information about President Donald Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine to investigate a political opponent. What the law requires of the Trump administration in terms of meeting Democrats’ demands has been a subject of dispute. In remarks to reporters, Pompeo made clear that the State Department has yet to turn over any documents but intends to follow a proper review. Pompeo has become a key figure in the Democrats’ investigation. He was on the line during the July phone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, despite no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens.
October 6, 2019 6:29 am
ALLEGHENY CO., Pa. (WPXI) – An Allegheny County 911 dispatcher has been suspended after he was charged with assaulting his 2-month-old son. Michael Koban, 34, is facing charges of aggravated assault and endangering welfare of children after investigators said he caused multiple the baby to have skull and rib fractures. According to a police criminal complaint, emergency responders first were called to his home on Bower Hill Road in Scott Township on Sept. 3 around noon. Koban was watching two of his sons — 2-months and 17-months-old, respectively — and then texted his wife saying the youngest child was hurt. Koban initially told police that his 2-month-old son had fallen from his swing in the living room and hit his head, causing a large bump. However, when doctors evaluated the baby, he was found to have a skull fracture, “underlying intracranial hemorrhage, and healing rib fractures.” The rib fractures were between two and five weeks old, and doctors told investigators those injuries more than likely were caused by a “squeeze or possible strike.”
