Author: chicagoinquirer

by Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister NEW YORK — Jurors at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial were barely seated on the trial’s first day when they were shown a video of the hip-hop mogul viciously attacking his longtime girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie. Over the next seven weeks, jurors heard from 34 witnesses. All were called to the stand by prosecutors, but each was questioned by defense lawyers as they tried to challenge the portrayal of Combs as an out-of-control, violent boss who drove his employees and associates to fear him as he demanded their help in carrying…

by Tim Reynolds INDIANAPOLIS — Season on the line, the Indiana Pacers did what they’ve done time and time again. They bucked the odds. And the NBA Finals are going to an ultimate game. Obi Toppin scored 20 points, Andrew Nembhard added 17 and the Pacers forced a winner-take-all Game 7 by rolling past the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-91 on Thursday night. The first Game 7 in the NBA Finals since 2016 is Sunday night in Oklahoma City. “The ultimate game,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. Pascal Siakam had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, while Tyrese Haliburton —…

by Geoff Mulvihill The abortion funding system across the U.S. is battered three years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to enforce bans. An initial surge of donations has subsided, scores of clinics have closed and advocates fear that federal policy changes will result in more shutting down. “We’re all collectively struggling,” said Ramsie Monk, director of development at the Women’s Health Centers of West Virginia and Maryland, which opened a clinic in 2023 in western Maryland after abortion was banned in West Virginia. “I honestly don’t know if it’s a sustainable model,” said Mercedes…

by Nicole Winfield Justin Kambumba and Chinedu Asadu ROME — The Vatican on Sunday beatified a Congolese customs worker who was killed for resisting a bribe, giving young people in a place with endemic corruption a new model of holiness: Someone who refused to allow spoiled rice to be distributed to poor people. The head of the Vatican’s saint-making office, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, presided over the beatification ceremony of Floribèrt Bwana Chui Bin Kositi on Sunday at one of the pontifical basilicas in Rome, St. Paul Outside the Walls. The event attracted a cheering crowd of Congolese pilgrims and much…

CHICAGO (AP) — R. Kelly collapsed in prison and was hospitalized, attorneys said in court filings this week, adding the details to the singer’s extraordinary allegations of a murder plot by prison officials that he argues require temporary release on home detention. Government lawyers have dismissed the claims as a “fanciful conspiracy.” Kelly, 58, is serving time at a Butner, North Carolina federal facility related to separate convictions for child sex crimes and racketeering. In a series of filings that started last week, Kelly’s attorneys claim prison officials sought out leaders of a white supremacist gang to kill him and…

An actor who worked on the Tyler Perry-created TV drama “The Oval” has filed a lawsuit alleging Perry leveraged his industry power to repeatedly sexually assault and harass him while keeping him quiet. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by actor Derek Dixon, who appeared on 85 episodes of the BET series, seeks at least $260 million in damages. “Mr. Perry took his success and power and used his considerable influence in the entertainment industry to create a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic with Mr. Dixon — initially promising him career advancement and creative opportunities, such as producing his…

by Mark Sherman and Lindsay Whitehurst WASHINGTON— Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson received more than $2 million last year for her best-selling memoir, “Lovely One,” according to her annual financial disclosure, released Tuesday. Jackson’s outside income exceeded that of her court colleagues combined, the reports showed. Justice Neil Gorsuch reported $250,000 for the book he published last year, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she received $134,000 in royalties and an advance for a new book due out next year. The annual reports paint a partial picture of the justices’ finances, as they are not required to reveal the value…

by Mathew Lee WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has given 36 countries, most of them in Africa, a Wednesday deadline to commit to improve vetting of travelers or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States. A weekend diplomatic cable sent by the State Department instructs embassies and consulates in the 36 countries to gauge their host countries’ willingness by Wednesday to improve their citizens’ travel documentation and take steps to address the status of their nationals who are in the United States illegally. The cable, which was described to The Associated Press, asks the countries to take…

by Christopher Rugaber WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy is mostly in good shape but that isn’t saving Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell from a spell of angst. As the Fed considers its next moves during a two-day meeting this week, most economic data looks solid: Inflation has been steadily fading, while the unemployment rate is still a historically low 4.2%. Yet President Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs may push inflation higher in the coming months, while also possibly slowing growth. With the outlook uncertain, Fed policymakers are expected to keep their key interest rate unchanged on Wednesday at about 4.4%. Officials…

by Michael P. Sisak and Larry Neumeistter NEW YORK — The possibility that music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs might testify at his federal sex trafficking trial all but vanished Tuesday after his lawyer predicted a defense presentation lasting as little as two days and a judge said jurors could begin deliberations as early as next week. Attorney Marc Agnifilo offered the hint when Judge Arun Subramanian asked him for an estimate on the length of the defense case, and the attorney said their presentation could last less than two days — but not more than five. If Combs testified, it…