Investigators remain tight-lipped as new details emerge in investigation. #Tucker
The families of the 58 people killed in the Las Vegas massacre last year will be given $275,000 a piece from a pot of roughly $31.5 million in the Las Vegas Victims Fund, the group announced Friday.
The fund, which originally started as a GoFundMe effort after the shooting, will also pay the same maximum amount to 10 other people who suffered permanent paralysis or brain damage in the bloody rampage on Oct. 1, 2017.
Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock fired a stream of bullets from his suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino into a crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas. In addition to the dozens killed, hundreds of others were injured in the shooting spree.
A chart, shared by the group, outlines the anticipated 532 total payment claims. Included in that is more than $10 million that will be split among 147 people who were in the hospital for various lengths of time.
The group is planning to distribute 100 percent of the money raised, with payments set to start on Monday, victims fund spokesman Howard Stutz told The Associated Press.
Al Etcheber, whose sister-in-law, Stacee, died in the shooting, seemed to appreciate the gesture.
“In no way can it replace someone’s life,” Etcheber told the outlet. “Still, it is a real nice way to help families who lost someone they loved.”
More than 90,000 donations poured into the fund, now a nonprofit corporation, with about 40 percent streaming in from southern Nevada gambling, tourism and entertainment companies. The proceeds of a Vegas Strong benefit concert raked in nearly $700,000 and apparel sales at a high school in Henderson brought in more than $66,000.
Disbursements were determined by a committee of victim advocates, mental health and medical professionals, lawyers, donors and others. The committee held two town hall meetings to hear from victims and their families.
The committee reportedly reviewed more than 1,600 email and written comments, with advice from national experts, including victim compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg and the National Center for Victims of Crime.
Cagle, a Republican who is running for governor, defended the move against Delta, saying Friday that although the airline is a “beloved bedrock” of Georgia’s economy, the company’s message to conservatives was: “We find your views deplorable.”
After a nearly daylong manhunt, authorities took into custody a college student from the Chicago suburbs who police said fatally shot his parents on the campus of Central Michigan University.
The university and local police said 19-year-old James Eric Davis Jr., of Plainfield, was taken into custody after being seen passing through the campus after midnight Saturday.
“Law enforcement personnel responded and arrested the suspect without incident,” according to the university’s website.
Authorities said Friday evening they had more than 100 officers from multiple agencies searching. They had warned that Davis should be considered armed and dangerous.
breast cancer survivor and had worked as a flight attendant.
People who knew the family called Davis Jr. “respectful” and “a good kid” and his parents “upstanding,” and said they saw no obvious signs of trouble with the teenager, who was a sophomore at the school in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
“He was a good kid, always,” said Deantre DeYoung, 20, who met Davis Jr. when they were high school freshmen at Plainfield South High School and had kept in touch. “You would never expect something like this to come from James.”
The Davises were reportedly picking up their son from college for spring break when the shooting happened about 8:30 a.m. inside Campbell Hall on campus.
But Lt. Larry Klaus of the campus police department said Davis Jr. was taken to a hospital Thursday night by campus police because of a drug-related health problem, possibly an overdose. Authorities did not elaborate.
Bellwood Police Chief Jiminez Allen confirmed Friday that Davis Sr. was a part-time officer in the village and called it “a very difficult time” for the department.
An Illinois legislator whose district includes Bellwood, Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, said in a Tweet on Friday afternoon: “My sincerest condolences go out to the family of Bellwood Police Officer James Davis Sr. and his wife who were shot and killed this morning. May they RIP.”
The younger Davis attended Plainfield South High for three years, then completed high school at Plainfield Central, where he played basketball and graduated in 2016, Plainfield Community School District 202 officials confirmed.
They declined any further comment “out of respect to the family.”
olice warned the public not to confront
Jordan Murphy, a longtime friend of Davis Sr., said they worked together as Illinois Army National Guard recruiters after being deployed together as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Murphy said Davis Sr., who went by Eric, brought his son to Murphy’s home on several occasions.
“Junior was a very respectful man, raised by upstanding parents, who would do anything to protect him and his siblings,” Murphy said. “This is an incredibly tragic event, and I pray for Eric’s other children. This is so incredibly out of character, something went wrong somewhere.”
Murphy called Eric and Diva Davis “loving, ever-present parents who doted on their children.”
Besides Davis Jr., the couple had a daughter and another son.
Lt. Col. Brad Leighton, public affairs director of the Illinois National Guard, said Davis Sr. served with the guard for 24 years before retiring in 2014.
His time in the guard included a 2003 deployment to Iraq, when he was with the 1244th Transportation Co. out of North Riverside. Later, he worked as a recruiter out of the Joliet Armory, Leighton said.
Julian Leal, who lives on the same block as the Davis home in Plainfield, called Davis Sr. a good neighbor, the type who would shovel out his neighbors after a snowstorm.
“We had picnics in our backyard,” Leal said. “I just had a beer with him last week. We talked about our kids who are in college. He was proud of his son.”
Leal added there was no hint of any problems or violence.
“We’re all confused and at a loss,” he said. “We’re telling our kids to be strong and pray for them. They wouldn’t want us to fall apart.”
The shooting occurred on the last day of classes before spring break at the Mount Pleasant campus, which is about 70 miles north of Lansing and is about a 270-mile drive from Chicago. Parents who were trying to pick up students were told instead to go to a local hotel where staff would assist them while the manhunt was ongoing.
The school posted an alert Friday morning on social media about shots being fired at Campbell Hall. An automated phone message also was sent to students.
Halie Byron, 20, said she locked herself in her off-campus house, about a 10-minute walk from Campbell Hall. She had planned to run errands before traveling home to the Detroit area.
“It’s scary thinking about how easy a shooter can come into a college campus anywhere — a classroom, a library. There’s so much easy access,” Byron said.
Chicago Tribune’s Robert McCoppin and Rosemary Sobol contributed. Associated Press contributed.
Deputies arrested the parents, Mona Kirk, 51, and Daniel Panico, 73, on suspicion of willful cruelty to a child, and Children and Family Services took custody of the children. On Friday, Kirk and Panico were charged with three counts each of felony child abuse.
The Securities and Exchange Commission late last year dropped its inquiry into a financial company that a month earlier had given White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family real estate firm a $180 million loan.
While there’s no evidence that Kushner or any other Trump administration official had a role in the agency’s decision to drop the inquiry into Apollo Global Management, the timing has once again raised potential conflict-of-interest questions about Kushner’s family business and his role as an adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump.
The SEC detail comes a day after The New York Times reported that Apollo’s loan to the Kushner Cos. followed several meetings at the White House with Kushner.
“I suppose the best case for Kushner is that this looks absolutely terrible,” said Rob Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “Without presuming that there is any kind of quid pro quo … there are a lot of ways that the fact of Apollo’s engagement with Kushner and the Kushner businesses in a public and private context might cast a shadow over what the SEC is doing and influence consciously or unconsciously how the agency acted.”
Apollo said in its 2018 annual report that the SEC had halted its inquiry into how the firm reported the financial results of its private equity funds and other costs and personnel changes. Apollo had previously reported that the Obama administration SEC had subpoenaed it for information related to the issue.
The SEC, which often makes such inquiries of financial firms, declined Friday to comment on the probe or its decision to halt it.
Apollo said the company founder who met with Jared Kushner did not discuss with him “a loan, investment, or any other business arrangement or regulatory matter involving Apollo.” It added that the Kushner loan to refinance a Chicago skyscraper went through the “standard approval process” and that the founder was not involved in the decision.
Kushner Cos. said in a statement that the implication that Kushner’s position in the White House had affected the company’s relationships with lenders is “without substantiation.”
Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Jared Kushner attorney Abbe Lowell, had no comment on the dropped SEC inquiry or whether it was influenced by Kushner’s contacts with Apollo. He added that Kushner has “had no role in the Kushner Companies since joining the government and has taken no part of any business, loans or projects with or for the Companies after that.”
According to the Times report, Kushner also met with the CEO of Citigroup at the White House early last year. Property records show that Citigroup lent $325 million in March to Kushner Cos. and two partners for a collection of buildings in Brooklyn.
Both lenders had important business before the federal government last year, according to lobbying records and regulatory filings. Both Apollo and Citigroup were pushing for tax breaks in the recently passed overhaul, and Citigroup was lobbying for a rollback of some financial crisis regulation.
Combined, the two companies spent nearly $7 million on lobbying last year.
For its part, Citigroup said in a statement that it didn’t deal with Kushner Cos. at all in arranging the loan, and talked instead to one of the Kushner Cos. partners. It added that its CEO was not involved in the transaction and “never discussed it” with Jared Kushner.
Details on the loans, like the interest rates charged, are not publicly available, so it’s unclear whether the Kushner Cos. got any special breaks.
The Kushner family’s biggest holding, a skyscraper on Fifth Avenue, is 30 percent unoccupied and has a $1.2 billion mortgage due early next year. That has fueled speculation that the company needs money, and fast.
But the Kushner Cos. has repeatedly pushed back on depictions that it is anything but in solid financial shape and needs help.
The company said Thursday that linking the loans to Jared Kushner’s meetings at the White House has “nothing to do with reality.”
“Jared does not tell us who he meets with nor do we ask him,” said Kushner Cos. spokeswoman Christine Taylor. “We do not update Jared on what’s going on in our business nor does he ask.”
Regardless, ethics experts said the optics are bad and Kushner should not have been having meetings with Apollo and Citigroup officials while his family business was seeking loans from them.
“I’d never seen anybody come in to the government with as much debt exposure as Trump and Kushner,” said Virginia Canter, a former ethics official in the Obama and Clinton White Houses who is now with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
BOSTON — The Northeast is bracing for a powerful storm that will kick off the volatile month of March, bringing damaging winds, moderate to major coastal flooding, rain and snowfall, CBS Boston reports.
Heavy rain, intermittent snow and high winds with gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour are expected as the storm moves up the Eastern seaboard, beginning in New York and Connecticut on Thursday evening. Along the East Coast, authorities told residents of coastal communities to be prepared to evacuate if necessary in advance of Friday morning’s high tide.
Meanwhile on the West Coast, a huge amount of snow is headed toward the Sierra Nevada, according to CBS Boston meteorologist Eric Fisher. Three to five feet of snow is expected across the Sierra. Across southern California, there’s the risk of dangerous debris, flooding and mudslides.
Ahead of the storm, many airlines have issued travel waivers to allow passengers to change their flights without penalty, CBS News’ Kris Van Cleave reports.
Here’s how the storm looks as of Thursday afternoon.
Massachusetts
For the first time since a blizzard hit the region in early January, New England will see “bombogenesis” — signifying an intense and rapidly deepening storm, CBS Boston reports.
The storm has the potential to be a historic, crippling event for southern New England. With major coastal flooding, destructive winds and torrents of rain followed by a plastering of heavy, wet snow, the damage will be widespread and significant. Power outages will likely be numerous and lengthy.
A satellite photo shows a nor’easter over New England on March 1, 2018.
The nor’easter will not have a quick exit, instead blocked by a large area of high pressure over Greenland. Combine a very slow moving storm with the highest astronomical tides of the month and you have the recipe for major coastal destruction.
From midnight to 6 a.m. Friday, rain is expected to arrive from south to north, starting as snow in western Massachusetts.
The storm will become an absolute monster southeast of Nantucket on Friday and only slowly pull away farther to the southeast on Saturday. There will be a large and powerful wind field, extending out several hundred miles from the storm’s center.
Cape Cod and the Islands, as well as Cape Ann, are at greatest risk for widespread, damaging winds, ranging as high as 55-80 mph Friday and Saturday. The rest of eastern Massachusetts will see winds gusting 35-55 mph, enough to cause tree and property damage and cause some power outages.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency director has urged residents in vulnerable coastal communities to evacuate, saying the powerful nor’easter is likely to destroy homes.
“It will be dangerous to remain in the homes,” MEMA director Kurt Schwartz said. “Not only may rescue not be possible, but homes will be subject to significant structural damage. We expect to lose homes during this storm. If you’re in one of those areas, you need to get out.”
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said he has activated the National Guard. About 200 guardsmen will work with local and state officials during the powerful storm.
“I can’t stress this enough. This isn’t a snowstorm in eastern Mass, but the storm itself, especially along the coast, is shaping up to be more severe than the storm on January 4,” said Baker. “While crews were able to perform rescues in between high tide cycles in January, it’s possible first responders will be unable to reach all flooded areas at peak high tide tomorrow.”
Coastal residents are warned that the storm’s impact could be felt for several days. Residents should plan to have medicine, food, clothing, and money for an extended period.
“If you are in one of these typically effected areas do not ride out the storm in your home if you are told to evacuate,” Baker said. “Rescue during the storm might not be possible. Staying in homes in flood prone areas puts yourself and first responders at risk.”
Baker said the storm “will impact the entire state,” though what impact is felt depends on location.
Snowfall is the biggest wildcard in the storm for some areas. In at least parts of New England, the first half of the storm will almost certainly be rain, followed by colder air Friday evening and overnight, changing the rain to a heavy, wet snow.
Snowfall in the hills of Worcester and in the Berkshires could easily top 6 inches before tapering off Saturday morning. Several inches are possible in the eastern part of the state Friday night. With the heavy, wet nature of the snow combined with strong winds, power outages may become a big issue.
Rhode Island, New York and Connecticut
The National Weather Service said all of Rhode Island will be under flood and high wind watches from Friday to Sunday morning, calling the situations “life threatening.”
In Connecticut and New York City, rain is expected to begin on Thursday evening. Moderate coastal flooding in Queens and Long island is expected Friday.
The U.S. Coast Guard is advising boaters to exercise “vigilance and extreme caution” Thursday night through Saturday. Authorities recommend residents of coastal communities be prepared to evacuate if necessary in advance of Friday morning’s high tide.
A flood watch is in effect from Friday morning through late Friday night for southern Connecticut and southeast New York.
New Jersey
High winds and flood watches have been issued around New Jersey, where most rains will begin Thursday afternoon, getting heavier in the evening. The storm will then usher in a wet and windy Friday, with gusts of up to 60 mph in Jersey Shore communities. Warning signs are posted at Wildwood beaches and some residents are already boarding up their homes there.
Officials in the state worried that the storm could take a chunk out of beaches just south of Atlantic City that are still being repaired because of damage from previous storms. The National Weather Service said flooding is possible Saturday. Waves of up to 12 feet are in the forecast at the shore in New Jersey.
Power outages are also a concern for coastal areas. Officials say Thursday’s dry morning and afternoon hours are a good time for folks to get supplies and batten down the hatches.
Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, heavy rain, high wind and even some whiteout snow conditions are expected in the coming days. The National Weather Service says communities from Pittsburgh east to Philadelphia and the Poconos will be affected.
Rain will start in the state Thursday afternoon in most places and is expected to get heavier overnight. On Friday afternoon, the storm will usher in high winds, with gusts of up to 60 mph near Lancaster, and up to 50 mph in suburban Philadelphia and Allentown. Rain could turn to snow in parts of the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, causing whiteout conditions with the high winds.
Pittsburgh is also under a flood advisory, and the same storm is expected to bring heavy rain and high winds to a swath of western Pennsylvania from Thursday and into the weekend.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is building a case against the Russians who hacked and leaked private information of several key Democrats during the 2016 election, NBC News reported.
These new charges rely heavily on intelligence gathered by the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and target a different group of Russian actors than those indicted last month, according to NBC.
A possible new indictment would include details on the Russian intelligence operation that released emails stolen from both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, NBC reported. Democratic emails made public through website Wikileaks factored heavily in the 2016 election, embarrassing Democrats and adding fuel to the Trump campaign.
Sources told NBC News that Mueller has long had sufficient evidence to make a case, but has been waiting for a strategic moment.
Mueller’s team has reportedly asked witnesses whether Trump was aware that the emails he repeatedly referenced throughout his campaign had been stolen and whether he was involved in their release, according to NBC News.
President Trump has repeatedly denied collusion with Russian intelligence actors.
Read more about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation from NBC News.
In a sign of the gulf that has opened between gun-rights purists and Republicans with a more pro-business bent, Mr. Deal this week appeared to chastise fellow Republicans who sought to punish Delta, and thus potentially harm Georgia’s business-friendly reputation.
“Ours is a welcoming state — the epitome of ‘Southern Hospitality,’” said Mr. Deal, who will leave office because of term limits early next year. “We were not elected to give the late-night talk show hosts fodder for their monologues or to act with the type of immaturity that has caused so many in our society to have a cynical view of politics.”
In addition to being one of Georgia’s biggest employers, Delta is the economic engine of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the busiest airport in the world and a bragging point in the city’s claim to national and even international stature.
The divisions over gun control are stark in Georgia, where Mr. Cagle is among a handful of Republicans who are seeking to be the next governor. They are particularly eager to make an impression among the hard-right conservatives who will have a big voice in the Republican primary in May.
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Mr. Cagle, the presumptive front-runner in the governor’s race, presides over the State Senate, and his threat on Monday to kill the tax break was interpreted here as a way to protect his right flank from his Republican rivals.
“I think that obviously Delta is free to make any decision that they want to,” Mr. Cagle said during an appearance on “Fox and Friends” this week. He added that Delta “chose to single out the N.R.A. and their membership, law-abiding gun owners, and I don’t think that’s right.” Delta announced on Saturday that it was ending a discount for N.R.A. members traveling to the association’s annual convention.
Other Republican candidates for governor were also eager to weigh in in favor of rescinding the tax break. Secretary of State Brian Kemp said lawmakers should reject the perk to airlines and instead focus on creating a sales tax holiday for buyers of guns, ammunition, holsters and safes where guns can be stored.
On the floor of the Senate on Thursday, Senator Michael Williams, another Republican candidate for governor, praised his fellow lawmakers for stripping the tax exemption, saying they “stood strong” in the face of pressure from liberals, the media and big business.
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Mr. Deal has said he was “committed to finding a pathway forward for the elimination of sales tax on jet fuel, which is nonnegotiable.” But the political reality seems to leave him with few options.
Democrats have argued that the attack on Delta, which did not comment Thursday, could harm the ability to attract new businesses, chief among them Amazon. The online retailer named metropolitan Atlanta as one possible location for its new headquarters.
“Unfortunately, we’re looking at political gamesmanship, and trying to send ultraconservative messages for the Republican primary,” said Senator Steve Henson, the minority leader. “I think it does not enhance our chances to get Amazon.”
Yes, this, in a sense, is the culmination of the issues we have been talking about. From the very beginning, Jared Kushner had trouble getting a security clearance, partly because he had these very complex business interests around the world, he wasn’t willing to divest himself of those.
And then also, of course, at the very beginning, he made errors when he filed for his clearance. He left off contacts with more than 100 foreign officials, later amended those forms. But after 13 months in office, usually, a senior White House official has their clearance. They’re fast-tracked. He hadn’t gotten it.
And by last month, we were hearing from members of the intelligence community, law enforcement that they were concerned. They felt that there was something in his profile, in his portfolio that meant he ultimately couldn’t receive that.
And for that, it’s very hard to work at that high level in the White House if you don’t have access to that intelligence.
