Author: chicagoinquirer

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  — Tennessee Republicans have expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislaturefor their role in a protest calling for more gun control. Here’s a look at what could happen next: WHAT HAPPENED? Republicans voted Thursday to expel two Black lawmakers who last week approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn and participated in a chant after joining protesters calling for passage of gun-control measures. The protests followed the March 27 shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville. Six people were killed, including three 9-year-old children. GOP leaders argued that the move…

by Mark Sherman WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Friday he was not required to disclose the many trips he and his wife took that were paid for by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. Describing Crow and his wife, Kathy, as “among our dearest friends,” Thomas said in a statement that he was advised by colleagues on the nation’s highest court and others in the federal judiciary that “this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.” Thomas did not name the other justices or those in the…

SAN PEDRO CUTUD, Philippines (AP) — Eight Filipinos were nailed to crosses to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a gory Good Friday tradition that draws thousands of devotees and tourists to the Philippines despite being rejected by the Catholic church. The real-life crucifixions in the farming village of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga province north of Manila resumed after a three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. About a dozen villagers registered but only eight men participated, including 62-year-old sign painter Ruben Enaje, who was nailed to a wooden cross for the 34th time in San Pedro Cutud. In a…

by Kimberlee Kruesi and Jonathan Mattise NASHVILLE, Tenn.  — Tennessee’s GOP-dominated House has expelled two of three Democratic members for their roles in a demonstration in favor of gun control following the Nashville school shooting. The vote to oust Rep. Justin Pearson on Thursday came after fellow Democratic Rep. Justin Jones was expelled but a vote to oust Rep. Gloria Johnson failed. The expulsions are extraordinary moves the chamber has used only a handful times since the Civil War. They came a week after the trio chanted back and forth from the chamber floor with gun control supporters who packed…

by Zeke Miller and Normaan Merchant WASHINGTON  — President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday laid the blame on his predecessor, President Donald Trump, for the deadly and chaotic 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that brought about some of the darkest moments of Biden’s presidency. The White House publicly released a 12-page summary of the results of the so-called “ hotwash ” of U.S. policies around the ending of the nation’s longest war, taking little responsibility for its own actions and asserting that Biden was “severely constrained” by Trump’s decisions. It does acknowledge that the evacuation of Americans and…

STAMFORD, Conn.  — Former NBA guard Ben Gordon was arrested on weapons and threatening charges after he began behaving erratically in a Connecticut juice shop, police said. The episode started just before 10 a.m. Tuesday when several 911 callers reported “a male acting aggressively and in a bizarre manner” inside a juice shop in Stamford, the city’s assistant police chief, Richard Conklin, said Thursday. The man, identified as Gordon, continued to act erratically when officers arrived and tried to take him into custody, Conklin said. The officers eventually subdued Gordon and placed him under arrest. They found a folding knife…

by Agency reports WASHINGTON  — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has for more than two decades accepted luxury trips nearly every year from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow without reporting them on financial disclosure forms, ProPublica reports. In a lengthy story published Thursday the nonprofit investigative journalism organization catalogs various trips Thomas has taken aboard Crow’s yacht and private jet as well as to Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks. A 2019 trip to Indonesia the story detailed could have cost more than $500,000 had Thomas chartered the plane and yacht himself, ProPublica reported. Supreme Court justices, like other federal judges,…

by Kareem Chehayeb BAGHDAD  — Nawal Sweidan quietly folded her son’s clothes and straightened the bedsheets in his room as she always used to do when he was out at work or at university. She still does it regularly, even though he hasn’t been home for almost 10 years since he was taken away by militiamen. Her son Safaa vanished in late July 2014. At around 1:30 a.m., just days before the holy month of Ramadan was to end and holiday celebrations were to begin, a group of men showed up at the family’s doorstep and asked for Safaa, a…

CHICAGO  — A firefighter died Wednesday after being critically injured while battling a blaze in a high-rise building on Chicago’s North Side, authorities said. Lt. Jan Tchoryk, 55, “went down” on the stairs on the building’s 11th floor, Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt told reporters. The blaze was reported before 8 a.m. on the 27th floor of the condo and apartment building in the Gold Coast neighborhood. A medical examiner will determine Tchoryk’s cause of death. Tchoryk is the second Chicago firefighter to die this week. Jermaine Pelt, 49, died on Tuesday and two other firefighters were injured while battling a…

by Charles Gardner MILWAUKEE  — Wrapping up the top seed in the NBA playoffs was the order of business for the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. Despite being without the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo and losing Khris Middleton to an injury early in the game, the Bucks made a second-half push to beat the Chicago Bulls 105-92. The Bucks went on a 15-0 run in the third quarter to overcome a 10-point deficit and pulled away in the fourth quarter. Bobby Portis had 27 points and 13 rebounds, starting in place of Antetokounmpo, and center Brook Lopez finished with 26 points.…