A juvenile male was shot and killed on a neighborhood street in Boston just before sunset on Wednesday evening, police said.
The incident happened around 7:30 p.m. along Ellington Street near a playground.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the victim was a “young child” but authorities declined to provide any additional information about the victim.
“Anytime there is any incident of gun violence in our community, it is absolutely unacceptable,” Wu said. “When we see the loss of life, and particularly a young child, we are all robbed of the potential, the life, that was ahead of this young person. I am deeply devastated and here with community members to say we need to get guns off of our streets.”
The shooting took place in the area of the Erie-Ellington Playground, located at the corner of Ellington and Erie streets.
“When someone as young as this loses their life tragically to gun violence, I will echo what the mayor has said,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said. “We need to address and get these guns off our streets.”
“One homicide in our city is one too many, they’re all tragic, but when it happens to someone of tender years, what happens to a young teenager, that obviously strikes right at the very heart and right the very fabric of our communities and our children,” Hayden said. “Our heart goes out to this community. It goes out to this young man’s family.”
“There was a very quick response here and there’s still a lot of evidence being gathered and a lot of information coming in,” Hayden said.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Boston police homicide detectives at 617-343-4470.
A grand jury on Wednesday indicted the man accused of killing seven people at a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb on 117 charges, many of which stem from the dozens of other people who were wounded and injured.
Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III admitted to the mass shooting in Highland Park in a voluntary statement to authorities this month, officials said. He had previously been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.
He is now charged with 21 counts of first-degree murder, according to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office. There are three first-degree murder charges per victim.
Law enforcement officers search after a mass shooting in Highland Park, Ill., on July 4.Nam Y. Huh / AP File
The indictment also charges him with 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm for every person who was wounded by a bullet or shrapnel.
Crimo is scheduled to appear for his arraignment next week. Court records indicate he is represented by a public defender and do not name an attorney.
Authorities identified those killed in the shooting as Katherine Goldstein, 64; Irina McCarthy, 35; Kevin McCarthy, 37; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69.
Kevin and Irina McCarthy were at the parade with their 2-year-old son, Aiden, who was physically unharmed. The boy’s grandfather Michael Levberg told the Chicago Sun-Times that Kevin McCarthy was shielding Aiden when he died.
“He had Aiden under his body when he was shot,” Levberg said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., on Wednesday unveiled a long-anticipated reconciliation package that would invest hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change and advance clean energy programs.
The 725-page piece of legislation, called the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” provides $369 billion for climate and clean energy provisions, the most aggressive climate investment ever taken by Congress. The bill’s climate provisions (summarized here) would slash the country’s carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030, according to a summary of the deal.
The abrupt announcement of the deal came less than two weeks after Manchin, a key centrist who holds the swing vote in the 50-50 Senate, said he wouldn’t support any climate provisions until he had a better understanding of the inflation figures for July.
If passed and signed into law, the act would include funding for the following:
Manufacturing clean energy products, including a $10 billion investment tax credit to manufacturing facilities for things like electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels, and $30 billion for additional production tax credits to accelerate domestic manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical minerals processing. It would also include up to $20 billion in loans to build new clean vehicle manufacturing facilities across the U.S., and $2 billion to revamp existing auto plants to make clean vehicles.
Cutting emissions, including $20 billion for the agriculture sector and $3 billion to reduce air pollution at ports. It also includes unspecified funding for a program to reduce methane emissions, which are often produced as a byproduct of oil and gas production, and are more than 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere. In addition, the act allocates $9 billion for the federal government to buy American-made clean technologies, including $3 billion for the U.S. Postal Service to buy zero-emission vehicles.
Research and development, including a $27 billion clean energy technology accelerator to support deployment of technologies that curb emissions and $2 billion for breakthrough energy research in government labs.
Preserving and supporting natural resources, including $5 billion in grants to support healthy forests, forest conservation, and urban tree planting, and $2.6 billion in grants to conserve and restore coastal habitats.
Support for states, including about $30 billion in grant and loan programs for states and electric utilities to advance the clean energy transition.
Environmental justice initiatives, amounting to more than $60 billion to address the unequal effects of pollution on low-income communities and communities of color.
For individuals, a $7,500 tax credit to buy new electric vehicles and a $4,000 credit for buying a new one. Both credits would only be available to lower and middle income consumers.
“I support a plan that will advance a realistic energy and climate policy that lowers prices today and strategically invests in the long game,” Manchin said in a statement on Wednesday. “This legislation ensures that the market will take the lead, rather than aspirational political agendas or unrealistic goals, in the energy transition that has been ongoing in our country.”
After months of internal debate, the Biden administration has offered to exchange Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year US prison sentence, as part of a potential deal to secure the release of two Americans held by Russia, Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, according to people briefed on the matter.
These sources told CNN that the plan to trade Bout for Whelan and Griner received the backing of President Joe Biden after being under discussion since earlier this year. Biden’s support for the swap overrides opposition from the Department of Justice, which is generally against prisoner trades.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday that the US presented a “substantial proposal” to Moscow “weeks ago” for Whelan and Griner, who are classified as wrongfully detained.
Speaking at a press conference at the State Department, Blinken said Biden was “directly involved” and signed off on the proposal. Although Blinken did not directly confirm Bout was part of the deal, saying he “can’t and won’t get into any of the details of what we proposed to the Russians over the course of so many weeks now,” he said “in terms of the President, of course he was not only directly involved, he signs off on any proposal that we make, and certainly when it comes to Americans who are being arbitrarily detained abroad, including in this specific case.”
The top US diplomat said he intended to discuss the matter on an expected call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week – his first conversation with his counterpart since the war in Ukraine began – telling reporters, “my hope would be that in speaking to Foreign Minister Lavrov, I can advance the efforts to bring them home.”
“There is in my mind utility in conveying clear, direct messages to the Russians on key priorities for us. And as I mentioned, these include securing the return home of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan,” he said.
A senior administration official suggested Moscow has not been responsive to the “substantial offer” first presented in June, telling CNN “it takes two to tango.”
“We start all negotiations to bring home Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained with a bad actor on the other side. We start all of these with somebody who has taken a human being American and treated them as a bargaining chip,” the official said. “So in some ways, it’s not surprising, even if it’s disheartening, when those same actors don’t necessarily respond directly to our offers, don’t engage constructively in negotiations.”
Administration continues to communicate offer
The official declined to comment on the specifics of the “substantial offer.” They said it was in Russia’s “court to be responsive to it, yet at the same time that does not leave us passive, as we continue to communicate the offer at very senior levels.”
The families of Whelan, who has been held by Russia for alleged espionage since 2018, and WNBA star Griner, jailed in Moscow for drug possession since February, have urged the White House to secure their release, including via a prisoner exchange if necessary.
National Security Council Strategic Coordinator for Communications John Kirby said Wednesday that a senior administration official spoke with the families prior to Blinken’s announcement about the “substantial proposal.” Biden recently spoke by phone with Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth.
Griner, who pleaded guilty in early July but said she unintentionally brought cannabis into Russia, testified in a Russian courtroom Wednesday as part of her ongoing trial on drug charges, for which she faces up to 10 years in prison. It is understood that her trial will have to conclude prior to a deal being finalized, according to US officials familiar with the Russian judicial process and the inner workings of US-Russia negotiations.
During months of internal discussions between US agencies, the Justice Department opposed trading Bout, people briefed on the matter say. However, Justice officials eventually accepted that a Bout trade has the support of top officials at the State Department and White House, including Biden himself, sources say.
The US government has long resisted prisoner swaps, claiming concerns that they only incentivize countries to detain Americans so they can be used as bargaining chips. Advocates have questioned these concerns and have argued that it is more important that Americans are able to come home.
Among senior Biden administration officials, the idea of prisoner swaps gained new momentum earlier this year after the successful release of Trevor Reed, a former Marine who was held captive in Russia for more than two years. Reed was traded for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot then serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for cocaine smuggling conspiracy.
Biden officials had been concerned the decision to swap Reed for Yaroshenko would be criticized by Republicans. Instead, it won bipartisan praise, including from a handful of Republicans who are normally sharp critics of the administration. That reception, sources say, led the administration to reexamine all options – including potential swaps – to get Whelan and Griner out of Russia.
“Whatever the kind of moral indignity of them holding innocent people and trying to extract from us someone like a Mr. Yaroshenko, who is the opposite of that, we nonetheless are so committed to bring our people home that we will make those painful choices in certain circumstances,” the senior administration official told CNN.
Securing their release would also give the White House a much-needed political win ahead of the midterm elections in November, a point that some officials quietly acknowledged when speaking privately to CNN. There is also a sense of urgency to bring the two detainees home as the White House faces growing public scrutiny from the families of Americans unlawfully detained abroad.
This story has been updated with additional comment.
CNN’s Michael Conte and Christian Sierra contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday approved a sweeping package aimed at boosting domestic production of computer chips and helping the United States stay competitive with China.
The 64-33 vote represents a rare bipartisan victory a little more than three months before the crucial November midterms; 17 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting yes. The package, known as “CHIPS-plus,” now heads to the House, which is expected to pass it by the end of the week and send it to President Joe Biden for his signature.
“Are we on the brink of another generation of American ingenuity, of American discovery, of American leadership? By passing our chips and science bill today, the Senate says, ‘Yes, we are,’ and in a loud bipartisan voice,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor before the vote.
“Today, by approving one of the largest investments in science, technology and manufacturing in decades — in decades — we say that America’s best years are yet to come.”
The centerpiece of the package is more than $50 billion in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research.
Supporters on Capitol Hill, as well as key members of Biden’s Cabinet, have argued that making microchips at home — rather than relying on chipmakers in China, Taiwan and elsewhere — is critical to U.S. national security, especially when it comes to chips used for weapons and military equipment.
The package also includes tens of billions more in authorizations for science and research programs, as well as for regional technology hubs around the country.
The Congressional Budget Office said CHIPS-plus would cost nearly $80 billion over the next decade.
The final chips bill is a slimmed-down version of a much-broader China competitiveness package that House and Senate lawmakers had been negotiating. Earlier, the Senate passed its bill known as USICA, while the House passed its own version, the America COMPETES Act. But lawmakers couldn’t resolve their differences, and leading Democrats decided to switch their strategy and scale back the legislation.
The final package more closely resembled the House-passed bill, a senior House Democratic aide said.
In recent weeks, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks had been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, pushing for a narrower chips-focused bill and arguing that failing to act by the summer recess would put America’s national security at risk.
The global pandemic and related supply-chain issues led to a chip shortage in the U.S., affecting businesses including car manufacturers as well as makers of smartphones and household electronics. Raimondo said 90% of the world’s most advanced chips are manufactured in Taiwan, which is facing threats from China.
“The purpose of all of these monies is to have more chips made in America,” Raimondo said in a recent appearance on CNBC. “The national security vulnerability here … is nearly unique in the fact that we are so dependent on Taiwan and this is a product so necessary for innovation and military equipment.”
The bill’s passage marked the second time this summer that Senate Democrats and Republicans have come together to pass major bipartisan legislation as national attention turns to the midterm elections.
In June, the Senate passed the most sweeping gun bill designed to prevent gun violence in decades in the wake of mass shootings at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. This week, lawmakers responded to an economic crisis: the chips shortage, which they said has contributed to rising inflation.
After the vote, a group of senators from both parties stood together at a news conference and took a victory lap.
“I’ve been struck, not just by the substance of this legislation, but during this time of tribalistic politics and a lot of cynicism, frankly, about our federal government,” said Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., a top GOP negotiator.
“I think we should underscore the importance of this moment for the institution of the United States Senate or broadly of the Congress and our federal government,” he said. “We can do hard things. We can do really important things amidst all the Sturm und Drang.”
Still, more than 30 Republicans voted no, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and some other rumored 2024 candidates.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, also voted no, railing against the bill as “massive corporate welfare” for the semiconductor industry.
“All of that profound and serious concerns about the deficit fades away when it comes to providing a $76 billion blank check for the highly profitable microchip industry, with no protections at all for the American taxpayer,” Sanders said on the Senate floor.
The Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $1 billion for the third time in the history of the lottery. This illustration photo shows a Mega Millions lottery ticket in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
The Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $1 billion for the third time in the history of the lottery. This illustration photo shows a Mega Millions lottery ticket in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
The Mega Millions lottery is a draw for many who want just that — a chance at winning millions of dollars — but especially when the jackpot balloons to astronomical amounts. As the amount grows, so does the hype, with many rushing to local convenience stores to join in on the gamble.
But if you’ve never played Mega Millions or even another lottery game, you might not know where to start — or if you even want to play. Here are some things you might want to know before you decide.
The next drawing is Friday at 11 p.m. ET, and folks, this is one of the big ones. The Mega Millions jackpot is at $1.025 billion. It’s the third largest jackpot in Mega Millions history and only the third time for the jackpot to be above $1 billion.
Can I play if I’m not a U.S. citizen?
Yes, players do not need to be residents of the United States to win.
Can I buy tickets online?
You can buy tickets online in Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia, but you have to register with the local lotteries. Also, if you live in New York, there is Mega Millions subscription available.
As far as other online ticket purchasing goes, you probably want to be cautious and do your best to make sure you’re not buying into a scam.
What happens if I’m in a state with no Mega Millions?
Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah do not have Mega Millions, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play if you live there. If you buy your ticket elsewhere and win you’ll just have to redeem it in the same state, so you’ll have to travel to get there.
How do you play?
Tickets are $2 per play. With each ticket, you pick six numbers. The first five numbers are from the range 1 to 70 — these are your white ball numbers. The last number you choose is from 1 to 25 and will be your pick for the gold Mega Ball. Not sure what you pick? There are “Easy Pick” or “Quick Pick” options that randomly generate the numbers as you are purchasing your tickets. Mega Millions also has a random number generator on its site if you want to draw your numbers before you purchase your tickets.
To win the jackpot, all six of your numbers need to match what is drawn. But there are other prize levels that depend on fewer matching numbers.
What are my odds of winning?
At 1 in 302.5 million, your odds of winning are not great. Your odds get marginally better for the other prizes, but in the end, playing the lottery is still a gamble.
What’s the difference between the cash payout and the annual payout?
Mega Millions jackpot winnings can be paid out in one of two ways. You can choose to get a lump sum of money right when you win, but it’s not as much. For this jackpot, the total is $1.025 billion, but if you want your winnings immediately you’d get $602.5 million in cash.
The other option is an annual payout. With this, you get one payment immediately after winning and then annual payments over the next 29 years. Those payments increase by 5% each time in what Mega Millions says is meant to help “protect winners’ lifestyle and purchasing power in periods of inflation.”
What’s the largest jackpot ever?
The largest jackpot ever won in Mega Millions history was a grand total of $1.537 billion in October 2018. That winning ticket was purchased in South Carolina.
The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, rioting at the U.S. Capitol, now includes questions for witnesses about the communications of people close to then-President Donald Trump and his reelection campaign, CBS News has confirmed.
That news, first reported by The Washington Post, was confirmed to CBS News by a U.S. government official familiar with the investigation and a source with knowledge of what’s been presented by the Justice Department to a grand jury.
It is not evident that Trump himself is a target of the investigation, only that that prosecutors are asking questions related to him and his aides.
One part of the investigation concerns the efforts to swap out electors won by President Biden in several battleground states for fake electors who supported Trump. Another is examining the actions surrounding Jan. 6, when thousands of Trump supporters, many armed, overran the Capitol on the day that Congress was to count the electoral ballots and affirm Mr. Biden’s victory in the 2020.
According to the source close to the grand jury witnesses, among the topics of interest to federal prosecutors are Trump’s discussions with law professor John Eastman, who came up with the plan to try to involve Vice President Mike Pence in the attempt to keep Trump in power, and the pressure exerted on Pence, who presided over the counting of electoral ballots on Jan. 6.
The news follows multiple actions by law enforcement targeting those alleged to be connected to Trump’s attempts to stay in power — including the seizure of Eastman’s phone and the recent raid of the Virginia home of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark. Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, testified before a Washington, D.C., grand jury last week under subpoena as part of the investigation, a person familiar with the probe confirmed to CBS News.
The report by the Post about the Justice Department’s investigation was published Tuesday, hours after the former president’s return to Washington, D.C., for the first time since he had left at the end of his presidency, in late Jan. 2021.
“I always say I ran the second time and did much better,” Trump said at an event at the America First Policy Institute. “And you know what, that’s going to be a story for a long time. What a disgrace it was. But you know what, we may have to do it again.”
The Jan. 6 select committee has examined these matters separately in a series of eight public hearings. Among the information that has emerged is testimony by GOP Arizona House speaker Rusty Bowers about a plan undertaken by Trump and his allies to replace the Arizona Biden electors with phony Trump electors. Bowers refused to take part in the plot, despite the pressure exerted on him by Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
The committee has also uncovered an attempt to deliver fake Wisconsin electoral ballots to Pence on Jan. 6. Pence, urged by Trump and his allies to reject ballots from battleground states won by Mr. Biden, also refused to take part in the scheme.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has only spoken broadly about the investigation, reiterating in an interview on “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” Tuesday that the Justice Department has been “moving urgently to learn everything we can about this period, and to bring to justice everybody who was criminally responsible for interfering with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another.”
He gave no indication that Trump, a former president, would receive any special consideration, given that status, as well as the possibility he might run again.
“We pursue justice without fear or favor,” Garland replied. “We intend to hold everyone, anyone who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding Jan. 6, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable, that’s what we do. We don’t pay any attention to other issues with respect to that.”
The Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $1 billion for the third time in the history of the lottery. This illustration photo shows a Mega Millions lottery ticket in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
The Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $1 billion for the third time in the history of the lottery. This illustration photo shows a Mega Millions lottery ticket in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
The Mega Millions lottery is a draw for many who want just that — a chance at winning millions of dollars — but especially when the jackpot balloons to astronomical amounts. As the amount grows, so does the hype, with many rushing to local convenience stores to join in on the gamble.
But if you’ve never played Mega Millions or even another lottery game, you might not know where to start — or if you even want to play. Here are some things you might want to know before you decide.
The next drawing is Friday at 11 p.m. ET, and folks, this is one of the big ones. The Mega Millions jackpot is at $1.025 billion. It’s the third largest jackpot in Mega Millions history and only the third time for the jackpot to be above $1 billion.
Can I play if I’m not a U.S. citizen?
Yes, players do not need to be residents of the United States to win.
Can I buy tickets online?
You can buy tickets online in Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia, but you have to register with the local lotteries. Also, if you live in New York, there is Mega Millions subscription available.
As far as other online ticket purchasing goes, you probably want to be cautious and do your best to make sure you’re not buying into a scam.
What happens if I’m in a state with no Mega Millions?
Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah do not have Mega Millions, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play if you live there. If you buy your ticket elsewhere and win you’ll just have to redeem it in the same state, so you’ll have to travel to get there.
How do you play?
Tickets are $2 per play. With each ticket, you pick six numbers. The first five numbers are from the range 1 to 70 — these are your white ball numbers. The last number you choose is from 1 to 25 and will be your pick for the gold Mega Ball. Not sure what you pick? There are “Easy Pick” or “Quick Pick” options that randomly generate the numbers as you are purchasing your tickets. Mega Millions also has a random number generator on its site if you want to draw your numbers before you purchase your tickets.
To win the jackpot, all six of your numbers need to match what is drawn. But there are other prize levels that depend on fewer matching numbers.
What are my odds of winning?
At 1 in 302.5 million, your odds of winning are not great. Your odds get marginally better for the other prizes, but in the end, playing the lottery is still a gamble.
What’s the difference between the cash payout and the annual payout?
Mega Millions jackpot winnings can be paid out in one of two ways. You can choose to get a lump sum of money right when you win, but it’s not as much. For this jackpot, the total is $1.025 billion, but if you want your winnings immediately you’d get $602.5 million in cash.
The other option is an annual payout. With this, you get one payment immediately after winning and then annual payments over the next 29 years. Those payments increase by 5% each time in what Mega Millions says is meant to help “protect winners’ lifestyle and purchasing power in periods of inflation.”
What’s the largest jackpot ever?
The largest jackpot ever won in Mega Millions history was a grand total of $1.537 billion in October 2018. That winning ticket was purchased in South Carolina.
Griner, 31, was detained in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after Russian authorities said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. Medicinal and recreational cannabis are legal in many U.S. states, but both are prohibited in Russia.
A center for the Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Griner’s lawyers argue that she packed her bags quickly and didn’t intend to bring the vape cannisters into Russia.
In her previous appearance of the weekslong proceedings at Khimki regional court near Moscow, her defense team argued Tuesday that, like many international athletes, she uses medicinal marijuana to help with injury pain.
Wednesday’s hearing started around 3 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET), and opened with Griner being cross-examined by the defense.
She told defense lawyer Maria Blagovolina of how, after she went through passport control and security at the Moscow airport on Feb. 17, a staff member with a dog asked her to open her bags, before finding two cartridges.
Another worker “opened the cartridges, smelled them” and then her passport was taken and she signed some documents that she needed Google translate to understand, Griner said. There was an interpreter but she didn’t explain what she was signing, and she was never read her rights, she added.
By this time she had missed her connecting flight to Yekaterinburg, the central city where she plays basketball in the Russian premier league. She called her lawyer, but her phone was then confiscated and her lawyers were not allowed to see her until the early hours of the next morning, Griner told the court.
“At that point it felt like I was being held against my will,” she said. “I asked again what’s going on and when can I see my lawyer. I was then told I have to be interrogated.”
She was then cross-examined by the prosecution, which asked her whether she pleaded guilty to drug smuggling.
“I do understand charges against me, I do take responsibility for them being in my bag, but I didn’t plan on bringing anything to Russia,” she told the court.
The hearing finished around 5:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), with the next one scheduled for August 2.
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have said Griner is being “wrongfully detained,” and supporters fear she is being used as a political pawn by Russia.
On Tuesday, Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine freed from a Russian prison in a prisoner exchange in April, said he believes President Joe Biden isn’t doing enough to bring her home.
“In my opinion, the White House has the ability to get them out extremely fast, and they clearly have chosen not to do that. So no, in my opinion, they’re not doing enough,” Reed said in an exclusive interview with “Hallie Jackson NOW,” also referring to corporate executive Paul Whelan, who was detained by Russia in 2018.
The White House on Tuesday responded to Reed’s comments by saying Griner and Whelan have “been top of mind for the president and for our national security team.”
“President Biden has been clear about the need to see every American who is wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad released, including Brittney Griner,” Adrienne Watson, White House spokesperson, told NBC News.
“If a U.S. citizen” was “smuggling drugs, and she does not deny this, then this should be commensurate with our Russian local laws, and not with those adopted in San Francisco, New York and Washington,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“If drugs are legalized in the United States, in a number of states, and this is done for a long time and now the whole country will become drug-addicted, this does not mean that all other countries are following the same path,” she added.
Washington has not officially commented on any possible prisoner swaps for Griner, despite speculation in Russian state media in May that she could be exchanged for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the U.S.
NBC News wasn’t able to confirm those reports.
Tatyana Chistikova reported from Moscow, and Alexander Smith and Yuliya Talmazan reported from London.
Nearly 3,000 firefighters and first responders have flooded the Sierra foothills of Mariposa County battling the explosive Oak fire, but it’s the guys in camouflage fatigues and surplus war vehicles that have most alarmed some evacuees and monitors of extremist groups.
As fire crews made headway Tuesday against a blaze that has roared through 18,000 acres, destroyed 25 homes and forced thousands to flee their homes, the presence of a self-described militia whose members handed out food and offered help to evacuees has raised concerns among some.
Calling itself the Echo Company of the California State Militia’s 2nd Regiment, the group had set up a field kitchen off Highway 140 recently and told the Merced Sun-Star it was offering food, water and a place to stay for those in need. Online, the group posts videos of members training with rifles, shields and other equipment, along with the group’s tagline: “We who dare.”
The Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office announced on Facebook on Sunday that it had been “made aware” of the presence of a local militia in the area. “We appreciate their efforts and any of the efforts of other private groups or entities helping our community,” the statement read.
But those who monitor extremist groups questioned whether their actions were truly altruistic.
Self-described militia groups have often inserted themselves into natural disaster zones, they said. Sometimes the groups claim to provide help and supplies, while actually promoting right-wing extremist ideologies, anti-government sentiment and conspiracy theories.
“It puts these groups in a positive light and extends to them a type of de-facto authority that they really don’t have under the law, which poses significant issues,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino. “When you have a system that allows unregulated extremists to cosplay at times of disaster, you get, well, unqualified extremists cosplaying at times of disaster.”
The Sheriff’s Office had not requested the militia’s presence and said members were acting on “their own courteous accord.”
An increase in catastrophic wildfires has reduced California tree cover by 6.7% since 1985, and researchers fear the lost trees will never grow back.
“The public should be aware that the militia has not been activated or requested to act for any purpose by the Sheriff’s Office or any agency working the Oak fire,” the agency said on Facebook. “We are not unsupportive of groups helping those affected by the Oak fire, however, it is important that we inform the community of resources available to them by the incident and Mariposa County.”
The group’s presence came as firefighters appeared to make significant gains, even after the fire had destroyed 41 structures and kept thousands from their homes.
The northeast side of the fire was continuing to push against steep terrain and was at risk of bumping around the 2018 Ferguson fire burn scar, which could then ignite new brush and forest and make the fire harder to control, said Escondido Fire Department public information officer Dominic Polito, who was working with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on the blaze.
“If it runs up around the Ferguson scar, then we’re off to the races,” he said. “If not, then we’re looking very good.”
By Tuesday, the fire reached 26% containment, according to Cal Fire. Several residents were allowed to return to their homes by Friday evening as evacuation orders for some areas were reduced to fire advisements.
Still, about 1,440 buildings remained threatened as the fire continued to press on the eastern boundary, and firefighters continued to fight through steep terrain.
As the sun rose over the Sierra Nevada foothills, it appeared burnt orange through hazy skies in Mariposa County.
“The terrain is very slippery,” said Fresno Fire Capt. Chris Garcia. “Even putting firefighters up there is very hazardous. What can happen when walking is a dislodged rock can hit another firefighter, and we’re currently hitting a lot of snags, which is what we call a burnt out tree that ends up falling.”
Those residents that had been forced to flee were still reeling from the blur of packing up what they could and leaving their homes in uncertainty.
“I had never seen [smoke] that close before,” said Richard Perez, a 40-year resident of Mariposa County.
He and his wife packed their belongings and stuffed them into two cars, including their dogs and chickens.
“That’s my dream home, you know,” he said, “I worked my whole life to finally get a place.”
They ushered their three German shepherds into one car, and 11 of their chickens in the other. After one night at a local hotel, they stayed at the American Red Cross shelter at Mariposa Elementary along with about 40 other evacuees.
“I’ve been there for 20 years, and to lose everything,” he said, his voice trailing off. “It’s just material stuff, but it’s home.”
It’s residents like Perez that the uniformed militia group said it was looking to help.
Daniel Latner, a member of the group, told the Mercury News that around 20 members arrived with large military-surplus vehicles to help feed residents. Members, he said, were not armed.
Yet some residents found their presence unsettling.
“The last thing I’m going to do is take a free tri-tip sandwich from a right-wing extremist group,” a woman, who declined to be identified citing fear of provoking the group, told the Mercury News.
The group in Mariposa County had once been affiliated with a larger militia with a similar name, but the larger militia cut ties with Echo Company because of an incident in 2020, it said, when they inserted armed members between Black Lives Matter supporters and pro-police groups in a protest in Atwater.
In a 2020 statement, the larger group wrote online that it disavowed Echo Company because of “potential legal liability in light of the continued militant activities of other units,” and called the actions “inciteful.”
The Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
The presence of militia in natural disaster zones can seem well-intentioned, but can in fact be harmful because members are taking on actions that can interfere with trained government agencies that are coordinating a response, Levin said.
Many extremists groups are also known to use similar incidents to gain media attention and recruit new members.
Militia groups have also gained newfound scrutiny after the involvement of similar groups in the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C. Members of groups including the Oath Keepers — which years earlier had appeared at hurricane zones and conducted trainings for local residents to prepare for natural disasters — have been indicted for their alleged role in the attack.
Levin said he is also concerned that, even if the group is providing assistance to residents, law enforcement’s subtle approval raises questions about the public’s interaction with them.
“If it turns out there’s extremists within those ranks, that’s a critical juncture where people are at their most vulnerable,” he said. “Vulnerable people at vulnerable times require a qualified response, and they don’t need to be exposed to the possibility of extremism.”
SYDNEY (AP) — Nancy Pelosi hasn’t said if she’s going to Taiwan, but if she does she’d be entering one of the world’s hottest and most contentious spots. While U.S. officials say they have little fear that Beijing would attack the U.S. House speaker’s plane, they are aware that a mishap, misstep or misunderstanding could endanger her safety. So the Pentagon is developing plans for any contingency.
Officials told The Associated Press that if Pelosi goes to Taiwan — still an uncertainty — the military would increase its movement of forces and assets in the Indo-Pacific region. They declined to provide details, but said that fighter jets, ships, surveillance assets and other military systems would likely be used to provide overlapping rings of protection for her flight to Taiwan and any time on the ground there.
Any foreign travel by a senior U.S. leader requires additional security. But officials said this week that a visit to Taiwan by Pelosi — she would be the highest-ranking U.S. elected official to visit Taiwan since 1997 — would go beyond the usual safety precautions for trips to less risky destinations.
Asked about planned military steps to protect Pelosi, D-Calif., in the event of a visit, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that discussion of any specific travel is premature. But, he added, “if there’s a decision made that Speaker Pelosi or anyone else is going to travel and they asked for military support, we will do what is necessary to ensure a safe conduct of their visit. And I’ll just leave it at that.”
Pelosi would be the highest-ranking American lawmaker to visit the close U.S. ally since a predecessor as speaker, Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., traveled there 25 years ago.
China considers self-ruling Taiwan its own territory and has raised the prospect of annexing it by force. The U.S. maintains informal relations and defense ties with Taiwan even as it recognizes Beijing as the government of China.
The trip is being considered at a time when China has escalated what the U.S. and its allies in the Pacific describe as risky one-on-one confrontations with other militaries to assert its sweeping territorial claims. The incidents have included dangerously close fly-bys that force other pilots to swerve to avoid collisions, or harassment or obstruction of air and ship crews, including with blinding lasers or water cannon.
Dozens of such maneuvers have occurred this year alone, Ely Ratner, U.S. assistant defense secretary, said Tuesday at a South China Sea forum by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. China denies the incidents.
The U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues, described the need to create buffer zones around the speaker and her plane. The U.S. already has substantial forces spread across the region, so any increased security could largely be handled by assets already in place.
The military would also have to be prepared for any incident — even an accident either in the air or on the ground. They said the U.S. would need to have rescue capabilities nearby and suggested that could include helicopters on ships already in the area.
Pelosi has not publicly confirmed any new plans for a trip to Taiwan. She was going to go in April, but she postponed the trip after t esting positive for COVID-19.
The White House on Monday declined to weigh in directly on the matter, noting she had not confirmed the trip. But President Joe Biden last week raised concerns about it, telling reporters that the military thinks her trip is “not a good idea right now.”
U.S. officials have said the administration doubts that China would take direct action against Pelosi herself or try to sabotage the visit. But they don’t rule out the possibility that China could escalate provocative overflights of military aircraft in or near Taiwanese airspace and naval patrols in the Taiwan Strait should the trip take place. And they don’t preclude Chinese actions elsewhere in the region as a show of strength.
Security analysts were divided Tuesday about the extent of any threat during a trip and the need for any additional military protection.
The biggest risk during Pelosi’s trip is of some Chinese show of force “gone awry, or some type of accident that comes out of a demonstration of provocative action,” said Mark Cozad, acting associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the Rand Corp. “So it could be an air collision. It could be some sort of missile test, and, again, when you’re doing those types of things, you know, there is always the possibility that something could go wrong.”
Barry Pavel, director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, scoffed at U.S. officials’ reported consideration of aircraft carriers and warplanes to secure the speaker’s safety. “Obviously, the White House does not want the speaker to go and I think that’s why you’re getting some of these suggestions.”
“She’s not going to go with an armada,” Pavel said.
They also said that a stepped-up U.S. military presence to safeguard Pelosi risked raising tensions.
“It is very possible that … our attempts to deter actually send a much different signal than the one we intend to send,” Cozad said. “And so you get into … some sort of an escalatory spiral, where our attempts to deter are actually seen as increasingly provocative and vice versa. And that can be a very dangerous dynamic.”
On Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the presidential phone call. However, spokesperson Zhao Lijian reiterated China’s warnings over a Pelosi visit. “If the U.S. insists on going its own way and challenging China’s bottom line, it will surely be met with forceful responses,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing. “All ensuing consequences shall be borne by the U.S.”
Milley said this week that the number of intercepts by Chinese aircraft and ships in the Pacific region with U.S. and other partner forces has increased significantly over the past five years. He said Beijing’s military has become far more aggressive and dangerous, and that the number of unsafe interactions has risen by similar proportions.
Those include reports of Chinese fighter jets flying so close to a Canadian air security patrol last month that the Canadian pilot had to swerve to avoid collision, and another close call with an Australian surveillance flight in late May in which the Chinese crew released a flurry of metal scraps that were sucked into the other plane’s engine.
U.S. officials say that the prospects of an intercept or show of force by Chinese aircraft near Pelosi’s flight raises concerns, prompting the need for American aircraft and other assets to be nearby.
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group is currently operating in the western Pacific, and made a port call in Singapore over the weekend. The strike group involves at least two other Navy ships and Carrier Air Wing 5, which includes F/A-18 fighter jets, helicopters and surveillance aircraft.
Prior to pulling into port in Singapore, the strike group was operating in the South China Sea. In addition, another Navy ship, the USS Benfold, a destroyer, has been conducting freedom of navigation operations in the region, including a passage through the Taiwan Strait last week.
CHICAGO — Google will take over the Thompson Center in The Loop, officials announced Wednesday.
The tech giant has agreed to buy all of the building for $105 million after it is renovated by other organizations. The Thompson Center will be “entirely redeveloped” into an office suite for Google’s workers as part of the deal, Gov. JB Pritzker said at a news conference. The sale will benefit the company, as well as Illinois taxpayers and Chicagoans, he said.
“Google is one of Chicago’s most important companies,” Pritzker said. “You are an integral part of our community, and you have invested in your future while investing in ours.”
As part of the deal, the state will receive $30 million in cash and will get 115 S. LaSalle St. That will be renovated, and state employees will then work from there.
Consolidating Downtown real estate will save taxpayers nearly $1 billion over the next 30 years, Pritzker said. And selling the building to Google will generate tax revenue for the city and bring more life to The Loop, he said.
Credit: LivestreamGov. JB Pritzker answers questions after announcing Google will buy the Thompson Center at a press conference Wednesday.
The Thompson Center will be renovated, though officials will respect “its iconic design,” said Google executive Karen Sauder. Quintin Primo III, chairman and CEO of Capri, which will work on the renovations, said changes will be made to make the building as energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable and inclusive as possible.
It’s the latest twist for the famed building, which opened in 1985 and has been used for governmental offices — but which has faced costly infrastructure issues that have led to several lawmakers attempting to sell it.
Officials revealed few details about Google’s redevelopment plans for the Thompson Center. But real estate information company CoStar — which first revealed the pending sale in June — has said Google will set up offices throughout the 17-story building.
Google has more than 2,000 employees in Chicago and office space at 1KFulton, 1000 W. Fulton St., and 210 N. Carpenter St., according to CoStar. The tech giant has previously said it plans to add thousands more workers to cities across the nation, including Chicago.
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The Department of Justice is investigating former President Donald Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, an administration official familiar with the investigation said.
The inquiry is related to the department’s broader probe of efforts overturn the 2020 election results and not a criminal investigation of Trump himself, the official said.
The Washington Post first reported that the Justice Department was investigating Trump’s actions leading up to Jan. 6, citing four people familiar with the matter, whom it did not name. The department declined to comment on the investigation.
NBC News has reached out to a spokesperson for Trump for comment.
The Post, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported that prosecutors have asked witnesses before a grand jury about conversations with Trump. Some of the questions focused on substituting Trump allies for electors in states President Joe Biden won and on a pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election, the newspaper reported.
The Post also reported that the Justice Department has gotten phone records of aides that include former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows. The Department of Justice, a spokesperson for Trump, and a lawyer for Meadows did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment. NBC News has not confirmed the details of the Post’s report about the DOJ’s line of questioning or the phone records.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said an interview that aired on NBC Nightly News Tuesday that “anyone” would be held accountable.
“We will hold accountable anyone who was criminally responsible for attempting to interfere with the transfer, legitimate, lawful transfer of power from one administration to the next,” Garland told NBC Nightly News’ Lester Holt.
More than 850 people across all 50 states have been arrested in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was formally counting the electoral votes that showed Biden had won, according to officials.
The House Jan. 6 committee has been airing hearings and interviews about the actions that led up to that day and the actions Trump took, or did not take, as it unfolded.
Last month it was revealed that members of Trump’s team challenged the 2020 election by organizing slates of alternative “fake electors” in seven pivotal states.
Fake electors submitted false certifications of Trump victories to the National Archives in hopes of having then-Vice President Mike Pence substitute them for the actual electoral votes that made Biden president, according to testimony and documents presented at a June hearing of the committee.
Garland said in the NBC News interview that aired Tuesday that the Justice Department is conducting “the most wide ranging investigation in its history.”
Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, appeared Friday before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack, a source familiar with his testimony told NBC News on Monday.
Short was with Pence at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack. He would be the highest-ranking former Trump administration official known to have testified before the federal grand jury.
Garland said in the NBC News interview that Trump’s possible candidacy for president in 2024 would not impact the Justice Department investigation. Trump has not said whether he will run again.
No former president in U.S. history has ever been charged with a crime. Richard Nixon, the only president to resign from office, was pardoned by then-President Gerald Ford. Nixon was never charged with any crime.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong earthquake set off landslides and damaged buildings in the northern Philippines on Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring dozens. In the capital, hospital patients were evacuated and terrified people rushed outdoors.
The 7-magnitude quake was centered in a mountainous area of Abra province, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, who described the midmorning shaking as a major earthquake.
“The ground shook like I was on a swing and the lights suddenly went out. We rushed out of the office, and I heard screams and some of my companions were in tears,” said Michael Brillantes, a safety officer of the Abra town of Lagangilang, near the epicenter.
“It was the most powerful quake I’ve felt and I thought the ground would open up,” Brillantes told The Associated Press by cellphone.
At least five people died — mostly in collapsed structures. One villager died when hit by falling cement slabs in his house in Abra, where dozens of others were injured. In Benguet province, a worker was pinned to death after a small building that was under construction collapsed in the strawberry-growing mountain town of La Trinidad.
Hundreds of houses and buildings had cracked walls, including some that collapsed in Abra, where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office less than a month ago, planned to travel Thursday to meet victims and local officials.
Marcos Jr. told a news conference he was in his office at the riverside Malacanang presidential palace complex when the chandeliers began swaying and making clanking sounds. “It was very strong,” he said of the ground shaking.
In a chilling near-death experience, Filipino photojournalist Harley Palangchao and companions were traveling downhill in two vans in Mountain Province when they suddenly heard thunder-like thuds and saw an avalanche of boulders as big as cars raining down just ahead of them from a towering mountain.
Amid screams of his companions in their van to “back up, back up!” the 44-year-old father of three raised his camera in the front seat and snapped what he feared could be the final pictures of his life. The van in front of them was grazed by a boulder, injuring one, but he and others in the second van drove backward fast enough and escaped unscathed.
“I was thinking there should be at least a record if something happened to us,” Palangchao told the AP. “It was a horrific experience.”
The Red Cross issued a picture of a three-story building precariously leaning toward a debris-covered road in Abra. A video taken by a panicking witness showed parts of an old stone church tower peeling off and falling in a cloud of dust on a hilltop.
Patients, some in wheelchairs, and medical personnel were evacuated from at least two hospitals in Manila, about 300 kilometers (200 miles) south of Lagangilang, but were later told to return after engineers found only a few minor cracks on walls.
The quake’s strength was lowered from the initial 7.3 magnitude after further analysis. The quake was set off by movement in a local fault at a depth of 17 kilometers (10 miles), the institute said, adding it expected damage and more aftershocks.
The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur. It is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
A magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.
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Associated Press journalist Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report.
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Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist who was thrown into the national spotlight after a 10-year-old rape victim traveled from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion, said the case has made people recognize the impact of laws restricting abortions.
According to Indiana records, Bernard is the doctor who provided a medication-induced abortion to the 10-year-old on June 30. Due to privacy laws, she’s unable to confirm that.
“I think we’re at a time in our country where people are starting to realize the impact of these anti-abortion laws,” Bernard told “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell in an exclusive television interview on Tuesday.
“This has been going on for a long time — becoming harder and harder in many states for people to access abortion,” she said. “And now when it’s finally become impossible for some people, we’re realizing what that is going to look like, what the real-life implications are for people who need abortion care. I think people realize that that is actually not what they intended. That is not what they want for children, for women, to be put in these situations of life-threatening conditions, of traumatic pregnancies. They realize that abortion needs to be safe and legal.”
When asked how often she receives calls from out-of-state doctors about young women who have been raped and need an abortion, Bernard said, “unfortunately, sexual assault in children is not uncommon.”
“I’m not the only provider who has taken care of young children needing abortion care,” she said.
Earlier this month, Bernard gave an interview to the Indianapolis Star about the 10-year-old rape victim after Ohio’s near-total abortion ban went into effect following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. The state’s law bans abortions from the time a fetus’ cardiac activity can be detected, which is typically around six weeks of pregnancy.
Prominent Republicans questioned Bernard’s account and accused her of lying. Attorney General Todd Rokita said he would investigate whether Bernard violated child abuse notification or abortion reporting laws, as well as federal medical privacy laws for speaking to the Indianapolis Star about the case. Indiana law requires doctors to report abortions performed on girls younger than 16 within three days of the procedure. Bernard submitted her report about the girl’s abortion on July 2, according to records obtained by CBS News.
Rokita’s office reached out to Bernard’s office for the first time Tuesday, CBS News has learned. Kathleen DeLaney, Bernard’s attorney, told CBS News that indicates the investigation is in the “very early days since our first notice was today.” She added, “it’s unclear to us the nature of the investigation and what authority he has to investigate Dr. Bernard.”
Since the initial doubt from some, a 27-year-old Ohio man has been charged with raping the girl.
“Come spend a day in my clinic,” Bernard said when asked about those who accused her of fabricating the story. “Come see the care that we provide every single day. The situations that people find themselves in, and in need of abortion care are some of the most difficult that you could imagine. And that’s why we, as physicians, need to be able to provide that care unhindered, that medical decisions need to be made between a physician and their patients.”
Bernard, who told O’Donnell she has felt threatened, moved to sue Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita for defamation, saying he made false statements about her after the June 30 case came to light.
Bernard also said the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade will have ramifications for other reproductive health care, not just abortions, that could endanger women’s lives.
“When you take away the right to privacy in your medical decision-making, it puts you in a situation where you don’t know where to turn,” she said. “And it makes it incredibly difficult, not just to provide abortion care, but full-spectrum reproductive health care. You know, this will affect our ability to take care of miscarriages. This will affect our ability to take care of complications in early pregnancy that could kill someone. This will affect our ability to provide infertility treatment, contraception, the list goes on.”
Asked what she would say to those who believe abortion is immoral, Bernard said their personal religious beliefs should not impede on others’ access to medical care.
“What I would say is if you don’t believe that you would have an abortion, then don’t have one,” she said. “You cannot stop other people from accessing medical care that they need based on your personal religious beliefs. You would never want somebody to do that to you.”
After discovering the Gateway Arch was closed to visitors, Tuesday, July 26, 2022, due to flooding, Eric Aldrich, of Columbia, Mo., along with his daughters, Rylee, 6, and Allie, 10, right, along with their step-grandmother Evelyn Barton, left, of St. Louis, decide what to do. Photo by Hillary Levin, hlevin@post-dispatch.com
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