Author: chicagoinquirer

by Alanna Durkin Richer WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases, the latest moves by the Trump administration targeting attorneys connected to the massive prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, according to two people familiar with the matter. Those dismissed include two attorneys who worked as supervisors overseeing the Jan. 6 prosecutions in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington as well as a line attorney who prosecuted cases stemming from the Capitol attack, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.…

NEW YORK — For seven weeks, a jury in Manhattan has listened as prosecutors laid out a criminal sex trafficking and racketeering case against rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs. They heard his ex-girlfriends and other witnesses deliver shocking accounts of violence and drug-fueled sexual marathons. On Monday, jurors are set to begin deliberating, ultimately deciding whether Combs was running a criminal enterprise, as the government says, or — as his lawyer insists — merely living a swinger lifestyle that included recreational drug use and, regrettably, domestic violence. The answer will determine the future of one of the biggest music moguls and…

by Farnoush Amiri and David Rising DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday that his country had delivered a “slap to America’s face” by striking a U.S. air base in Qatar and warned against further attacks in his first public comments since a ceasefire agreement with Israel. Khamenei’s prerecorded speech that aired on Iranian state television, his first appearance since June 19, was filled with warnings and threats directed toward the United States and Israel, the Islamic Republic’s longtime adversaries. The 86-year-old, a skilled orator known for his forceful addresses to the country’s…

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…