Hollywood asks, who knew what on Weinstein?
NEWYORK — As the grim scope of the allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein continued to expand Wednesday, the organization that bestows the Academy Awards moved to distance itself from the film mogul, and scrutiny fell on who knew what about the film mogul’s behavior over the decades it allegedly took place.
A key and potentially volatile component of Tuesday’s New Yorker expose was the claim that “a culture of complicity” has existed at both The Weinstein Co. and his previous film company, the Walt Disneyowned Miramax. “Numerous people throughout the companies (were) fully aware of his behavior but either abetting it or looking the other way,” the magazine reported.
Further scrutiny has followed the contention that Mr. Weinstein’s conduct was “an open secret” in Hollywood. Focus has turned, in part, to not just the workplace environments Mr. Weinstein operated in, but the stars who may have had some knowledge of Mr. Weinstein’s alleged behavior but who failed to raise any alarms.
Immigrant walks free
Facing deportation to Mexico and fearing separation from his children, Javier Flores Garcia took refuge last year in a Methodist church in Philadelphia. Members of the congregation prepared a makeshift bedroom for him in the basement and promised to give him sanctuary, no matter how long he needed it. On Wednesday, after nearly 11 months, Mr. Flores walked out of the church for good.
His case was resolved in an unusual way: He has been promised a special type of visa given to victims of crime who assist the police. But even so, Mr. Flores’ freedom gives the growing sanctuary movement, organized by houses of worship across the country to protect unauthorized immigrants, a small victory in the face of a widespread federal crackdown.
Mandate for more guns
ATLANTA — A little-noticed mandate from the Trump administration has cleared the way for some people with outstanding arrest warrants to purchase guns, a change that worries law enforcement officials who say it could be allowing dangerous criminals to arm themselves.
Six months after the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo redefining who is a fugitive from justice — and cannot have a gun — more than a half a million names have been dropped from a national law enforcement database used to determine who may purchase firearms and/or obtain a carry permit, according to FBI records provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
LSU student’s fatal hazing
Ten current or former students at Louisiana State University were arrested Wednesday in connection with the death last month of an 18-year-old freshman who became severely intoxicated during a fraternity hazing ordeal, the latest in a series of student deaths following such rituals.
On the morning of Sept. 14, Maxwell Gruver was taken by two fellow students to a Baton Rouge hospital, where he was declared dead. He had passed out on a couch at the fraternity house around midnight.
A toxicology report on Mr. Gruver, of Roswell, Ga., revealed that his blood alcohol content was 0.496 percent, more than six times the legal limit for driving, and that he had aspirated vomit into his lungs.