Secret Service chief admits lack
of certainty on sniper locations
at Trump rally
(NYTimes) — The Secret Service’s acting director, Ronald Rowe, acknowledged Friday that when he told congressional investigators that local law enforcement snipers should have been able to see the gunman who shot former President Donald Trump at a July 13 rally, he did not have details from the snipers themselves on their locations. Rather, Rowe said his understanding of where the local snipers were positioned was based on a review of the agency’s operational plan and his agents’ descriptions. Local law enforcement officials have contested his account, saying the Secret Service appears to be trying to shift blame for the agency’s failures, even as it claims to take responsibility for them.
Former FBI agent sentenced to life plus 20 years for sexually abusing child
(NYTimes) — A former FBI agent-turned-Alabama state trooper who was convicted of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl over several years was sentenced Thursday to life plus 20 years in prison. The former agent, Christopher Bauer, 45, was hired by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency as a trooper in 2019 after he forged a letter to make it look as if he had a clean record despite having been forced out of the FBI after claims surfaced that he raped a co-worker at knifepoint, The Associated Press reported. Bauer is also facing child sex abuse charges in Louisiana, and the State Police there plan to extradite him, according to The AP.
Golf course atop ancient Native American earthworks to be removed
(NYTimes) — After more than a decade of at-times acrimonious back-and-forth, Ohio’s state historical society has reached a deal with a country club that operates a golf course on land it owns that contains ancient Native American earthworks that were built as sacred sites about 2,000 years ago. Under the agreement, the Ohio History Connection will acquire the club’s long-term lease on the property and open the site for full public access, the society announced Thursday. The financial terms were not disclosed, but the settlement allows both parties — which were initially millions of dollars apart in their negotiations — to avoid a jury trial to determine the fair market value of the lease.
Many of Gaza’s medical workers have been
detained or killed
(NYTimes) — More than 300 of the Gaza Strip’s health workers are in Israeli detention, the enclave’s health ministry says, while others have been detained for a time and then released. And the World Health Organization says 500 have been killed in the war, out of a prewar total of about 20,000. Based on estimates of the war’s toll, that means medical workers have been killed and detained at higher rates than Gaza residents generally, a severe blow to a health care system whose facilities have been devastated, and a population weakened by hunger, lack of clean water and the rampant spread of diseases.
Convicted assassin is a Russian security agent, Kremlin acknowledges
(NYTimes) — The convicted assassin who was the linchpin of the biggest prisoner swap in decades is a member of the most powerful security agency in Russia, the Kremlin acknowledged Friday, and had served in a special unit with some agents who now guard President Vladimir Putin. The ties help explain Putin’s determination to free Vadim Krasikov from the German prison where he was serving time for murder. On Thursday, Krasikov and seven other former prisoners returned to Moscow after an exchange with Western nations that involved 24 adults and seven countries.
Russian dissident says he was traded against his will in inmate swap
(NYTimes) — Ilya Yashin, one of the Russian dissidents traded to the West in Thursday’s prisoner exchange for a group of Russian agents, cybercriminals and an assassin, said Friday that he did not want his freedom if it meant leaving his country. “I will never make peace with the role of an emigrant,” Yashin, 41, said at a news conference with other newly freed Russians in Bonn, Germany. He said he was told that if he attempted to return to Russia, he would meet the same fate as Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who died in February in a penal colony.
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