Man accused of killing 5 at Wisconsin parade had lengthy police record
He had been arrested time and again since he was a teenager. Earlier this month, prosecutors said, he intentionally ran over a woman he knew with a maroon Ford Escape. But Darrell E. Brooks, 39, was quickly freed from jail on bond. By Sunday evening, as a Christmas parade was making its way through downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin, police were coming for Brooks again after receiving a report of a domestic dispute. But before Waukesha officers ever reached the site, a maroon Ford Escape toppled barriers along the parade route. Police said Brooks was the driver, and that he sped toward parade participants. Five adults died in the vehicle attack.
Justice Department to pay about $130M to Parkland shooting victims
The Justice Department will pay about $130 million to 40 survivors and families of victims of the 2018 massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida, over the FBI’s failure to properly investigate two tips in the months before the shooting that suggested the gunman might open fire at a school. The Justice Department said in court papers that it was in the process of completing a settlement, without disclosing the amount. Two people familiar with the case said it would total about $130 million, though the precise number could change before the final agreement.
Critical witness testifies at Netanyahu trial, reviving a drifting case
The slow-burning corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu shifted back into Israeli public consciousness Monday with the first appearance of a state witness crucial to the prosecution of the former prime minister. The witness, Nir Hefetz, a one-time government spokesman and later a trusted aide to the Netanyahu family, testified about his role in the relationship between Netanyahu and the owners of a major news website and telecommunications company while he was in power. The prosecution’s case hangs on proving that the owners at the time, Shaul and Iris Elovitch, routinely allowed Netanyahu’s family to influence their website’s political coverage in exchange for lucrative regulatory benefits.
Lawyers clash over whether pursuit of Arbery was justified
Prosecutors and defense lawyers made their closing arguments in the case of the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery on Monday, raising the question of whether race had been an issue. The lead prosecutor, Linda Dunikoski, told the 12 jurors who will decide the fate of three white men charged with murder that the men had launched an attack on Arbery “because he was a Black man running down the street.” The defense countered that the men were carrying out a legal citizen’s arrest in an area that had been gripped by crime concerns in the months leading up to February 2020, when they chased Arbery through their neighborhood.
House panel subpoenas Roger Stone, others in Capitol riot inquiry
The House committee investigating the Capitol attack issued five new subpoenas Monday, focusing on allies of former President Donald Trump who helped draw crowds to Washington before the riot Jan. 6, including political operative Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The subpoenas indicate that investigators are intent on learning the details of the planning and financing of rallies that drew Trump’s supporters to Washington based on his lies of a stolen election, fueling the violence that engulfed Congress. Stone promoted his attendance at the rallies Jan. 5 and 6. Jones helped organize the rally at the Ellipse near the White House before the riot.
Biden to keep Powell as Fed chair, Brainard gets vice chair
President Joe Biden said Monday he is nominating Jerome Powell for a second four-year term as Federal Reserve chair, endorsing his stewardship of the economy through a brutal pandemic recession in which the Fed’s ultra-low rate policies helped bolster confidence and revitalize the job market. Biden also said he would nominate as vice chair Lael Brainard, the lone Democrat on the Fed’s Board of Governors and the preferred alternative to Powell among many progressives.
Hundreds line up as Britain’s first Popeyes opens
One of the challenges for any company expanding internationally is translating the cultural elements of its brand to a new market. For Popeyes, the American fried chicken chain that opened its first outlet in Britain over the weekend, the challenge was biscuits, which in British English means cookies, not bread. On Saturday, hundreds of customers waited in line for hours in a food court at a shopping mall in East London for their first taste of Popeyes. Some said they had heard about the frenzy it stirred in the United States in 2019. Some Americans living in London said they were eager for a taste of home.
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