Feds accuse Philly rep of corruption
Feds accuse Philly rep of corruption
PHILADELPHIA
U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah paid off an illegal $1 million campaign loan with federal grants and charitable donations, funneled campaign funds toward his son’s student loans and disguised a lobbyist’s bribe as payment for a Porsche his TV anchor wife never sold, prosecutors said Wednesday in announcing a racketeering indictment against him.
The 11-term Democrat from Philadelphia led a conspiracy that engaged in bribery, fraud, money- laundering and other crimes and netted him hundreds of thousands of dollars, federal investigators said.
The indictment describes four schemes, two involving efforts to erase debts from Fattah’s failed 2007 mayoral bid. The U.S. Department of Justice charged that Fattah used federal grants and donations to his educational foundations to pay back part of the wealthy donor’s $1 million loan.
Former Tuskegee Airman dies at 88
SMITHFIELD, Va.
William R. White, a former member of the famed squadron of African-American pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen, has died. He was 88.
White was a humble family man who rarely talked about his war experiences, family members said Wednesday. White died Friday at his home in Smithfield, his son Brandon White told The Associated Press.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the U.S. military’s first African-American aviators. The group went on to take part in more than 1,500 combat missions, earning more than 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses.
Teen charged in rape, death of girl
SANTA CRUZ, Calif.
Prosecutors charged a 15-year-old boy with murder, kidnapping and rape Wednesday in the death of an 8-year-old girl in an artists complex in a California beach town.
Police say Adrian Jerry Gonzalez lured Madyson Middleton into his family’s apartment from a courtyard where she had been riding her scooter over the weekend. Once inside, he tied her up, sexually assaulted and killed her, according a charging document.
Gonzalez remains in custody at the Santa Cruz County juvenile detention center, where he has been held since the girl’s body was found in a recycling bin Monday evening.
Big-game hunter dentist stays hidden
ST. PAUL, Minn.
A Minnesota dentist who has become the target of worldwide outrage for hunting and killing a protected lion in Zimbabwe advised patients Wednesday to seek care elsewhere and said he rarely discussed his big-game hunting because it can be a “divisive and emotionally charged topic.”
Walter James Palmer remained secluded in the face of protests at his suburban Minneapolis clinic and intense condemnation online. He has not appeared in public since being identified Tuesday as a party to the lion’s death.
Va. students sue Rolling Stone, author
RICHMOND, Va.
Three University of Virginia graduates and members of a fraternity profiled in a debunked account of a gang rape in a retracted Rolling Stone magazine story filed a lawsuit against the publication and the article’s author Wednesday, court records show.
The three men, George Elias IV, Stephen Hadford and Ross Fowler, filed suit U.S. District Court in New York. They also are suing Rolling Stone’s publisher, Wenner Media.
Associated Press