Start your week smart: Fani Willis, Russian election, Realtor commissions, Pence endorsement, arrest in poisoning
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The public absence of Catherine, Princess of Wales, has morphed into an international punchline with amateur detectives combining real concern with outlandish conspiracy. Here’s what else you need to know to Start Your Week Smart. • Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can stay on and prosecute the Georgia 2020 election interference racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and 14 of his co-defendants, a judge ruled. Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor with whom she engaged in a romantic relationship, resigned from the case.• On the third and final day of voting in Russia’s presidential election, lines at some polling stations grew after supporters of the deceased opposition leader Alexey Navalny called on people to protest the election. A wave of Ukrainian drones also targeted various parts of the country, including Moscow.• The 6% commission, a standard in home purchases, is no more. In a sweeping move expected to reduce the cost of buying and selling a home, the National Association of Realtors announced a settlement with homesellers, agreeing to end landmark antitrust lawsuits by paying $418 million in damages and eliminating rules on commissions.• Former Vice President Mike Pence said he “cannot in good conscience” endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, a stunning repudiation of his former running mate and the president he served with.• Blaise Taylor, an analyst at Texas A&M and son of the associate head coach, was arrested after being indicted in the 2023 deaths of his girlfriend and her unborn child, authorities said. Taylor is a former college football star at Arkansas State. TuesdaySeveral states are holding primary elections, including Arizona, Florida and Illinois. The primary for the special election to fill former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s seat is also on Tuesday. He represented California’s 20th Congressional District and announced last year that he was stepping down. WednesdayThe Fed will announce a decision on interest rates. Federal Reserve officials said the economy is likely to soften this year, allowing the central bank to start cutting rates. The US economy added 275,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ThursdayThe owners of a Colorado funeral home accused of improperly storing bodies will be in court for an arraignment hearing. In January, a judge determined there was probable cause for multiple counts against Jon and Carie Hallford, including money laundering, forgery and abuse of a corpse. An investigation began after a foul odor was reported at the funeral home in Penrose.
The first week of testimony in Brian Walshe’s murder trial in Dedham, Massachusetts, has come to an end. The jury heard from about two dozen witnesses called by the commonwealth in its case against Walshe as prosecutors work to prove he killed his wife, Ana Walshe, around New Year’s Day in 2023.
The US Army officially stood up a new command on Friday to oversee the Army’s activities in the Western Hemisphere in the latest signal of increasing focus on homeland defense.
A former high-level Drug Enforcement agent was indicted on charges of conspiring to traffic drugs and launder millions of dollars for a Mexican cartel.
A federal judge in Florida ordered the unsealing of grand jury transcripts and other records in the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein granting the Justice Department’s request.
The Indiana House approved new congressional maps designed to hand Republicans all nine of the state’s US House seats on Friday, setting the stage for a showdown next week in the state Senate.
Honduran presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla said last-minute interference from US President Donald Trump in the country’s closely fought election had damaged his chances of winning and left him trailing as vote counting dragged on.
Vice President JD Vance said he and second lady Usha Vance are largely amused by the online chatter dissecting their marriage, including a recent spate of headlines over photos of her without a wedding ring.
During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen, providing perhaps the first indication of a possible motive for the bombs placed near the DNC and RNC headquarters, people briefed on the matter said.
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The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?