Wayne Shorter, an influential jazz innovator and tenor saxophonist, died Thursday at the age of 85. He was a foundational member of two seminal jazz groups, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis Quintet, and released more than 25 albums over eight decades. He won 11 Grammy Awards, was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, and was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award and the Polar Music Prize.
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Four new members of Congress have expressed their views on what can be accomplished in the new Congress, with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) supporting D.C. statehood and home-rule, but not the changes the D.C. Council put forward. President Biden has said he would not veto the Republican-led resolution to roll back these changes, which have been criticized by Republicans for lowering the maximum sentences for certain crimes. If passed, the resolution could soon be enacted.
Prince George's County Police Department has arrested 47-year-old Patrick Wojahn, former mayor of College Park, Maryland, on 56 counts of possession and distribution of child pornography. The investigation began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified the police department of a social media account distributing suspected child pornography. Wojahn, who had been mayor since 2013 and a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 2007 to 2015, resigned from his position the same day. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the department's Child and Vulnerable Adult Unit.
The House Ethics Committee has voted to create an investigative subcommittee to investigate allegations of misconduct by Representative George Santos. The panel, chaired by Rep. Jackie Speier, will have the authority to review documents, take testimony, and issue subpoenas. The subcommittee will report its findings and recommendations to the full Ethics Committee, which will then decide whether to take further action.
The US Justice Department has argued that former President Donald Trump can be sued in civil lawsuits for damages incurred during the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, rejecting his claims of absolute immunity. The Department clarified that the brief does not determine whether Trump should be held liable, but argued that a president cannot be absolutely immune for speech that incites violence. The lawsuits allege that Trump incited the violence by making false claims about the election results and encouraging his supporters to march on the Capitol.
This article reports on the removal of a juror from the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh due to improper conversations outside the courtroom. The prosecutor argued that the case comes down to credibility and believability, while the defense claimed law enforcement was inconsistent or that evidence was fabricated. The alternate juror was sworn in and the defense began its closing arguments, with the jury expected to begin deliberations soon.
Court documents have revealed a cache of items seized from the family home of Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students. These items include knives, masks, laptops, clothing, boots, notebooks, medical records, and identifying documents. When Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania, investigators took black masks, the weapon, and other items. The evidence will be used in the ongoing investigation.
A Michigan man has been arrested and charged with making threatening interstate communications after allegedly using social media to threaten to kill Jewish members of the state's government. According to an FBI affidavit, Jack Eugene Carpenter III made threats on Twitter to "carry out the punishment of death" to anyone Jewish in the Michigan government. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was one of the targets of the suspect, who is now facing federal charges.