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Pa. Congressman Scott Perry acknowledges introducing Trump to lawyer at the center of election plot
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican from the Harrisburg area, acknowledged Monday that he introduced former President Donald Trump to a Department of Justice attorney sympathetic the president’s false election claims, and who later joined Trump in a plot to pressure Georgia officials to overturn the results in that state. Perry issued a statement confirming his role in linking a Philadelphia-born attorney, Jeffrey Clark, to Trump, in a move reported by the New York Times over the weekend. “Throughout the past four years, I worked with Assistant Attorney General Clark on various ...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Biden repeals Trump’s military transgender ban
President Joe Biden on Monday rescinded his predecessor’s widely reviled ban on transgender people in the U.S. military, describing the restrictions as irrational and detrimental to “our core values.” In addition to immediately scrapping the ban first implemented by former President Donald Trump in 2017, Biden used his executive power to require the Department of Defense to reinstate any service members who were discharged or denied enlistment because of it, according to a statement from the White House. “America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. The military is ...
New York Daily News
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Michigan athletic department: No choice but to shut down for 2 weeks
Michigan athletic department officials felt they had no choice but to shut down athletics for up to 14 days after receiving what they considered a mandate from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHSS). A spokesperson from the MDHSS said, however, it merely offered recommendations. While there is disagreement regarding the language of an MDHSS memorandum dated and sent Jan. 23 to the Michigan athletic department and obtained by The Detroit News, the bottom line is Michigan athletics are paused “until further notice and up to 14 days” because of confirmed cases of the COVID-1...
The Detroit News
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Michigan's top health official abruptly resigns without explanation, deputy replaces him
LANSING, Mich. — Robert Gordon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and a key, but controversial figure in the state's response to COVID-19, announced his resignation Friday from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration. Gordon gained the public spotlight after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Oct. 2 that Whitmer had violated her constitutional power by continuing to issue executive orders to combat COVID-19 without the approval of state lawmakers. The governor's administration quickly shifted to using epidemic orders issued by Gordon under the Public Health Code to ...
The Detroit News
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The Week Ahead: A predicament of patience
Economic data say the Federal Reserve has reason to continue to be patient when it considers its economic support in the week ahead. That patience may be tested in unexpected ways, though. Meeting one of the central bank’s two goals — maximum employment — remains distant. Total unemployment in December was almost 12 percent. This includes 4 million Americans who have gone more than six months without working. And more Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits the first week of January than since August. The agency also has runway ahead of it in meeting its second goal — stable price...
Miami Herald
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Georgia surpasses 700,000 coronavirus cases
ATLANTA — Georgia has recorded more than 700,000 confirmed coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, according to the latest figures released Thursday afternoon by the state Department of Public Health. The latest numbers include 701,308 cases, along with 11,511 deaths. On Wednesday, those numbers stood at 695,400 cases and 11,411 deaths. Over the last 24 hours, 5,969 more cases have been reported and 105 more deaths. Georgia ranked sixth worst in the nation for the rate of new coronavirus infections last week and the state vaulted up the rankings in the rate of new fatalities amid a surging...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Susan Tompor: Tricks scammers use around stimulus checks, taxes
And why wouldn't we suspect that the scammers would be tapping into all the buzz about the latest round of stimulus cash? Now, the Federal Trade Commission is warning us to be on the lookout for stimulus-related emails that supposedly are being sent by Joseph Simons, the FTC chairman who announced Tuesday that he plans to resign effective Jan. 29. During the past year, about 324,000 reports relating to COVID-19 and stimulus-related scams and ripoffs have been made to the FTC through Jan. 18. Consumers reported losing $307 million to fraud that plays up the pandemic. The latest coronavirus reli...
Detroit Free Press
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US soldier plotted attack on 9/11 memorial, feds say
NEW YORK — A U.S. soldier helped plot Islamic State attacks on New York City landmarks including the Sept. 11 memorial, prosecutors charged Tuesday. Cole Bridges, 20, discussed the attacks online starting in October with an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, according to a criminal complaint. The accused traitor offered to share Army training materials and went so far as to record a video of himself in body armor in front of an Islamic State flag, prosecutors said. During online discussions, he offered “training and guidance” and suggested t...
New York Daily News
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Texas man threatened to shoot family if they reported him going in US Capitol, FBI says
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Wylie man arrested over the weekend for going inside of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 told his family he went there "to protect the country" and threatened to shoot his children if they turned him in, authorities say. Guy Reffitt took his gun with him when they "stormed the Capitol" and recorded some of the events on his Go Pro camera that he was wearing on his helmet, according to a federal criminal complaint. Reffitt was arrested Saturday at his Wylie home and faces federal charges of obstruction of justice and knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building o...
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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6 suspects in Whitmer kidnapping plot set to stand trial in March
DETROIT — Three months after their arrests, six men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have been ordered to stand trial in March for their alleged roles in a scheme that was foiled by undercover FBI agents. Chief U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker set the trial date for March 23 in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, though that date is likely to get changed if past federal prosecutions involving militia members and threats against the government are any indication. For example, seven Hutaree militia members charged with plotting a violent revolt against the gove...
Detroit Free Press
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