Associated Press
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WATCH LIVE: President Trump impeachment hearings continue, 2 key witnesses to testify
WASHINGTON— House impeachment investigators will hear on Thursday from two key witnesses who grew alarmed by how President Donald Trump and others in his orbit were conducting foreign policy in Ukraine, capping an intense week in the historic inquiry. David Holmes, a political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, says he was having lunch with Ambassador Gordon Sondland this summer when he heard Trump on the phone asking the envoy about the investigations he wanted from the Ukraine president. The colorful […]
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Trump directed Ukraine quid pro quo, key witness says
WASHINGTON — Ambassador Gordon Sondland declared to impeachment investigators Wednesday that President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani explicitly sought a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine, leveraging an Oval Office visit for political investigations of Democrats. But he also came to believe the trade involved much more. Besides the U.S. offer of a coveted meeting at the White House, Sondland testified it was his understanding the president was holding up nearly $400 million in military aid, which Ukraine badly […]
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Pritzker orders restrictions on schools’ ‘timeout’ rooms
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. J.B. Pritzker has ordered severe restrictions on public schools’ use of isolation rooms for troubled children. The Democrat said Wednesday he directed the Illinois State Board of Education to issue emergency rules governing so-called timeout rooms. The order came a day after the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica published a report based on thousands of records showing schoolchildren were regularly isolated for reasons that often violate the law. Records kept by schools often showed no safety reason for using […]
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SEALs face review following death of Islamic State militant
SAN DIEGO — Navy officials on Wednesday notified a SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State militant and three of his superior officers during a 2017 deployment to Iraq that all four will face a review to determine if they should remain on the elite force. Attorneys for Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher said the Navy is trying to remove his Trident pin, designating him as a SEAL, in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision last week to […]
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Buttigieg looks to prove his staying power in Atlanta debate
ATLANTA — Pete Buttigieg’s dramatic rise in the Democratic race makes him a prime target at Wednesday’s debate as the candidates bunched at the front of the pack seek to distinguish themselves with just three months until 2020 presidential voting begins. The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has gained significant ground in recent months in Iowa, which holds the nation’s first caucuses on Feb. 3. But with top-tier status comes added scrutiny, as the other front-runners discovered in four […]
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Mother, child found dead in car in pond near St. Louis
ROXANA, Ill. — Police in suburban St. Louis are investigating after a woman and her young son were found dead inside a vehicle that drove into a pond. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the victims were inside a car submerged in about 10 feet of water near Roxana, Illinois. Madison County Sheriff’s Lt. Brian Koberna says the vehicle was pulled from the water early Wednesday after a witness reported seeing headlights bobbing in the pond. Names of the victims have […]
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Jussie Smollett files counterclaim against Chicago for malicious prosecution
CHICAGO — Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett said his $10,000 payment after the close of a criminal case should prevent Chicago from seeking reimbursement for a police investigation of his claim that he was a victim of a racist and homophobic attack. Smollett’s attorneys filed a response Tuesday to Chicago’s lawsuit in federal court. They also filed a counterclaim against the city, saying Smollett was the victim of a malicious prosecution that caused humiliation and extreme distress. Smollett told police […]
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Judge refuses to expunge record of Chicago police officer in fatal shooting
CHICAGO — A judge has refused to expunge the record of white, former Chicago police officer who was acquitted of fatally shooting an unarmed black woman. Dante Servin last week asked that his records tied to the 2012 death of Rekia Boyd be stricken from police and court databases. In rejecting the request, the judge noted a not guilty verdict doesn’t always mean a defendant is innocent. Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter for shooting the 22-year-old Boyd as she […]
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Parents upset students opened child-proof bottles as part of science fair project at LaSalle County school
LELAND, Ill. — Parents of students at a northern Illinois elementary school are angry after an older student led an experiment that asked their children to open child-proof medicine bottles. Parents were not told in advance about Friday’s project at Leland Elementary School in LaSalle County. On Sunday, the principal and Leland School District Superintendent Jodi Moore sent parents a letter saying that a junior high school student had worked with some kindergartners and first graders “to gather data for […]
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Republicans assail security aide who reported Trump call
WASHINGTON — A career Army officer on Donald Trump’s National Security Council testified Tuesday he was duty-bound to object to the president’s clearly “improper” phone call seeking Ukrainian investigations of U.S. Democrats. Republicans answered him with doubts about his loyalty to the United States. Arriving on Capitol Hill in military blue with medals across his chest, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told impeachment investigators he felt no hesitation in reporting the president’s request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Vindman, a 20-year […]
