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November 20, 2019 at 9:46 am
Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is facing federal charges related to what prosecutors say was a plot to enrich herself through sales of her self-published children’s book series, according to a grand jury indictment made public Wednesday.
Pugh, 69, is expected to self-surrender to U.S. Marshals Thursday before her first court appearance before U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow, according to a news release.
The former mayor, who resigned her post in May amid the book sale controversy, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, seven counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of tax evasion. The indictment was returned Nov. 14.
Prosecutors say Pugh, who became Baltimore's 50th mayor on Dec. 6, 201...
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November 20, 2019 at 9:31 am
BALTIMORE — Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is under investigation for her book deals through her Healthy Holly LLC that were made while she was a member of the University of Maryland Medical System Board of Directors. Here's what you need to know.
March 14, 2019
City Solicitor Andre Davis says Mayor Pugh was not required to disclose her position as a UMMS board member in city ethic filings.
March 15, 2019: Governor calls on UMMS board members to resign
Gov. Larry Hogan calls on members of the UMMS board to resign and clear conflicts of interest.
March 18, 2019: Mayor Pugh resigns from UMMS board
Mayor Pugh resigns from the University of Maryland Medical System's Board of Directors.
March 20, 2019: Mayor Pugh returns $100K payment to UMMS
May...
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November 20, 2019 at 9:25 am
Baltimore, MD - Nov. 20, 2019 — An 11-count federal indictment against former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh was made public Wednesday morning.
Pugh, 69, is federally charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, seven counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and two counts of tax evasion. Pugh was charged on Nov. 14 and the charges were made public Wednesday.
Pugh is scheduled for an initial appearance and arraignment in U.S. District Court in Baltimore before U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow on Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. Pugh is expected to self-surrender to the U.S. Marshals prior to the hearing.
Pugh has been under investigation for her book deals through her Healthy Holly LLC that were made while she was a member of the University of Marylan...
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November 20, 2019 at 8:30 am
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 20, as part of the impeachment probe into President Donald Trump. Sondland recently revised his closed-door testimony to state that he had told an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that U.S. aid would not be resumed unless Zelensky made "the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.” Sondland is scheduled to testify in the morning. Afterwards, Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, and David Hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, will testify in the afternoon. The impeachment inquiry centers on a July 25 call in which Trump asked Zelensky to investigate former vice pres...
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November 19, 2019 at 11:25 pm
Baltimore, MD - Nov. 11, 2019 - Imagine walking into one of the wonderful Baltimore Yeshivos and finding 5 empty classrooms, classrooms filled with desks and chairs just waiting to be filled with smiling children. Thanks to you, the Baltimore Community, the Yeshiva classrooms are filled! Your support of Bonei Olam has resulted in 100 Baltimore babies being born in the last 10 years; enough to fill 5 classrooms! &...
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November 19, 2019 at 11:21 pm
The seventh annual international Shabbat Project reached 1,685 cities and 106 countries across the world this year, attracting record numbers of participants in many of those cities.
The 2019 Shabbat Project that took place from Nov. 15-16 called on Jews to “Jump Together” in response to rising levels of violent anti-Semitism in the United States and worldwide.
American Jews responded to the call through a dramatic uptick in participation, with events including challah bakes, Havdalah concerts, family and community dinners, festive prayer services and children’s activities taking place in 771 U.S. cities.
Other major Diaspora communities such as France (51 cities), Russia (36 cities) and Argentina (21 cities) also continued to expand their involvement in the effort.
&...
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November 19, 2019 at 11:05 pm
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A white supremacist manifesto that appeared to be a copy of one linked to a man accused of attacking two mosques in New Zealand was circulated electronically at Syracuse University, campus law enforcement said Tuesday, adding to a string of racist episodes that have shaken the upstate New York campus.
Federal Investigators and local authorities were working to determine the origin of the document after receiving reports that it was posted in an online forum and that attempts were made to send it to the cellphones of students at a campus library Monday night via AirDrop, a file-sharing service that allows iPhone users to send pictures or files to other iPhones or iPads near them when devices are within Bluetooth and Wi-Fi range of each other.
Officials said the...
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November 19, 2019 at 11:05 pm
In light of the plan of the Tel Aviv municipality and several other localities to begin bus service on Shabbos, the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah has issued the following request that each person work on strengthening their own and their family’s shemiras Shabbos:At this time, when our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel need rachamei Shomayim to protect them from malicious enemies, rachmana litzlan, it is shocking to hear that there are some within Klal Yisroel who seek to profane the precious gift of Shabbos. Every Jewish heart should feel anguish over what is happening in the palace of the King. Our tefillos are always that those wayward sons who stray from Torah return to their Father and to mesoras Yisroel.But the mandate of the hour is for all Jews faithful to To...
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November 19, 2019 at 11:00 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Amazon has considered adding facial recognition technology to its Ring doorbell cameras, according to a letter to a U.S. senator defending its video-sharing partnerships with police.
The company told Sen. Ed Markey that facial recognition is a “contemplated, but unreleased feature” of its home security cameras but that there are no plans to coordinate that feature with its law enforcement partnerships.
Markey wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in September raising privacy and civil liberty concerns about Ring’s video-sharing agreements with hundreds of police departments across the country. The company has invited police to tap into Ring’s Neighbors app, a forum for residents to share videos of suspicious activity captured by their home securit...
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November 19, 2019 at 10:54 pm
JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In response to rocket fire launched from Iranian targets in Syria on Tuesday, the IDF has launched an airstrike. According to reports, dozens of Iranian targets were hit by the IDF on Wednesday, according to military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Avichay Adraee. His full statement states, “Warplanes raided dozens of military targets belonging to the Iranian Quds Force and the Syrian Army inside Syrian territory, including surface-to-air missiles, headquarters, weapons depots and military bases, in response to yesterday’s rocket fire from Syria towards Israel.”
The IDF has released an official statement on the airtsrike, saying “In response to the rockets fired by an Iranian force from Syrian territory at Israel last night, IDF fight...
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November 19, 2019 at 10:51 pm
WILLIS, Texas (AP) — Authorities say a guard fatally shot a person suspected of trying to rob an armored truck at a bank north of Houston and another suspect remains on the run.
Police Chief James Nowak says two individuals tried to rob a Brink’s armored truck Tuesday morning outside a Chase bank in Willis.
Authorities say one of the truck’s guards fatally shot and killed one of the suspects.
Deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office are searching a nearby wooded area for the other suspect, who fled on foot. That suspect is described as tall and dressed in black.
Authorities have not released the name of the suspect killed during the attempted robbery.
Willis is located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Houston.
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November 19, 2019 at 10:50 pm
NEW YORK (VINnews) — Approximately 3 weeks ago, Ezras Nashim filed a request for a Certificate of Need allowing them to operate an ambulance in Boro Park and Kensington. As explained by Ezras nashim founder Hon. Ruchie Freier, the organization wants an ambulance in order to enable them to expand their services and treat the growing needs of local women more effectively.
At a subsequent hearing that took place to address this request, it became clear that not all members of the community were in favor of this initiative. In an attempt to discredit the organization and it’s agenda, Hatzalah came prepared with a number of women who stated that they were satisfied with the treatment they had received at the hands of male Hatzalah volunteers. They also questioned Ez...
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November 19, 2019 at 10:48 pm
Trump slams the House Democrats impeachment push as a ‘disgrace’ and an ’embarrassment to our nation,’ while denying knowing Lt. Col. Vindman.
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November 19, 2019 at 10:47 pm
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told a House investigative committee Tuesday that he spoke to an intelligence official about President Donald Trump’s July 25 request that Ukraine investigate his political opponents, but he declined to identify the official when pressed to do so.
His refusal came as Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the House Intelligence Committee’s ranking Republican – who kicked off the hearing by calling for the testimony of the whistleblower whose complaint launched the impeachment investigation – asked witnesses to identify anyone outside the White House with whom they shared details of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Republicans used the exchange to raise questions about whether Vindman was the source for infor...
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November 19, 2019 at 10:47 pm
Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director on the National Security Council, takes issue with California Congressman Devin Nunes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
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November 19, 2019 at 10:44 pm
Texas Representative Mike Conaway upbraided Intel Committee Chair Adam Schiff over his position on keeping the whistleblower’s identity anonymous.
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November 19, 2019 at 10:40 pm
The White House Press secretary Stephanie Grisham made the claim that aides to former President Barack Obama left behind disparaging messages around the White House on the day President Donald Trump was inaugurated.
During a radio interview Tuesday, Grisham said that White House aides left “Obama books” throughout the White House and taped a big ‘You will fail’ sign on the door of the press office before Trump aides moved in – claims that sparked a chorus of condemnation from former Obama administration officials.
“This is another bald faced lie,” Susan Rice, who was serving as Obama’s national security adviser through the end of his administration, wrote Tuesday on Twitter in response to Grisham’s initial remarks.
“This is abs...
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November 19, 2019 at 10:39 pm
Democratic White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg surged to a 10-point lead in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, according to a new Saint Anselm College poll released Tuesday.
Buttigieg gets the support of 25 percent of self-identified likely Democratic primary voters, marking the first time the South Bend, Ind., mayor has emerged atop a poll in the Granite State.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are tied for second at 15 percent, while no other candidate breaks double digits. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sits in third place at 9 percent.
Read more at The Hill.
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November 19, 2019 at 8:46 pm
Republicans sounded a celebratory note as Democrats' House impeachment inquiry began wrapping up another day of public hearings on Tuesday evening, saying the day's witnesses had served only to repeatedly highlight fundamental problems in the case against President Trump.
“Did anyone ever ask you to bribe or extort anyone at any time during your time in the White House?" House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., asked at one point in Tuesday's hearing.
Former National Security Council aide Tim Morrison: "No."
U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker: “No."
Later, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., hit the same notes in asking the witnesses about Trump's fateful July 25 call with Ukraine...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:41 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal safety officials say Boeing should redesign part of the casing on some engines to prevent the kind of accident that occurred when engine debris blew out a window on a Southwest Airlines plane and killed a passenger.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined Tuesday that the April 2018 accident was caused by a cracked fan blade that broke off in flight, hitting the engine case at a critical location. Parts of the engine turned into shrapnel, striking the fuselage.
After a harrowing emergency descent from 32,000 feet, with one passenger blown partly out of the plane, the pilots of Southwest flight 1380 were able to land the crippled Boeing 737 in Philadelphia.
Safety board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said engine and aircraft manufacturers should devel...
