Negasi Zuberi, a 29-year-old man from Klamath Falls, Oregon, has been arrested and charged with federal crimes after kidnapping a woman in Seattle, Washington, and holding her captive in a makeshift cinderblock jail cell in his garage. The woman was able to escape and flag down help, and authorities are now looking for additional victims after linking Zuberi to sexual assaults in at least four other states. The FBI is asking anyone with information to contact the Portland Field Office.
Posts published in “US”
U.S. Capitol Police locked down and evacuated the Russell Senate Office Building on Wednesday afternoon in response to a report of an active shooter. Videos posted to Twitter showed people evacuating the cluster of three Senate office buildings located on the north side of the Capitol complex. After a thorough search, no injuries and no shooter were located and the lockdown has since been lifted. Capitol Police are continuing to investigate the incident and are asking anyone with information to contact them.
Nicholas Alahverdian, an American fugitive accused of faking his own death to avoid a rape charge in Utah, has been ruled eligible for extradition to the U.S. by a judge in Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Despite Alahverdian's claims of mistaken identity and insistence that he was an Irish orphan, Judge Norman McFadyen found his claims to be "implausible" and "fanciful." Alahverdian's lawyers argued that he should not be extradited due to his poor health, but the judge ruled that his health was not a factor in his decision. Alahverdian is now expected to be extradited to the U.S. to face the charges against him.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has indicted former President Donald Trump on four counts related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. Several of Trump's GOP rivals have used the indictment to call into question his fitness for office and to urge him to step away from the campaign, while Trump remains the clear front-runner in the Republican presidential primary. Asa Hutchinson, a former congressman and former Arkansas governor, has said that now the system of justice will determine whether Trump is criminally responsible.
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, nominated to the judiciary by former President Barack Obama, has been assigned to oversee the case against former President Donald Trump. She is known for handing out some of the most aggressive sentences to rioters involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and has expressed a desire to "get out of town" in response to the assignment. Judge Chutkan's past record suggests that she will not be lenient in her ruling for the case against Trump.
A transgender former student has filed a lawsuit against the Platte County R-3 School District in Missouri, alleging that the district violated their rights by forcing them to use the boys' bathrooms or the school's single-stall gender-neutral bathroom. The ACLU is seeking a court order to stop the school district from enforcing its policy, as well as damages for the former student, arguing that the policy is a violation of Title IX. The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal challenges to school policies that require transgender students to use bathrooms that do not match their gender identity.
Russell Laffitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for helping convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh steal nearly $2 million from clients' legal settlements. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel also ordered Laffitte to pay more than $3 million in restitution, marking the end of a long and complicated investigation into the Murdaugh family finances. The case has highlighted the need for increased oversight of financial institutions and the importance of holding those who break the law accountable.
Robert Bowers has been sentenced to death by a federal jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for perpetrating the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. The jury reached its decision after a two-week trial, and the sentence marks the first time since 1988 that a jury has recommended execution for a hate crime. U.S. Attorney Scott Brady has expressed hope that the decision brings closure to the victims and their families.