NEWS OF THE DAY
Manafort in court: President Trump’s former campaign chairman pleaded not guilty on charges including tax evasion and bank fraud. Paul Manafort did not speak during the Thursday arraignment at a northern Virginia courthouse. A trial date of July 10 has been set, four months earlier than the defense had wanted. The grand jury indictment in the Washington suburb of Alexandria accuses Manafort of hiding from the Internal Revenue Service tens of millions of dollars he earned advising pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine.
Deadly error: Authorities are trying to determine why Missouri police officers responding to a 911 call were sent to the wrong house, where they say James Waters opened fire, killing Officer Christopher Ryan Morton and wounding two others before he, too, died. Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Bill Lowe said whoever placed the 911 call on Tuesday night didn’t speak to the dispatcher, but two women could be heard arguing in the background, so officers were sent to check on the disturbance. For reasons that authorities still are trying to determine, the officers were sent to the address in Clinton where they were shot instead of the home from where the call was made, which was about 15 miles away in Windsor.
Northeast storm: Residents in the Northeast dug out from as much as 2 feet of wet, heavy snow Thursday, while utilities dealt with downed trees and electric lines that snarled traffic and left hundreds of thousands without power after two strong nor’easters in less than a week. With many schools closed for a second consecutive day Thursday, forecasters tracked the possibility of yet another late-season snowstorm to run up the coast early next week. Snow still was falling Thursday in places including Vermont, where storm warnings were in effect until the evening. More than 800,000 customers were without power, including some who have been without electricity since last Friday. Thousands of flights across the region were canceled. Abortion restriction: Mississippi lawmakers on Thursday passed what would be the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, making the procedure illegal in most cases after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The state’s only abortion provider pledged to sue, and the attorney general said he expected a tough legal battle ahead. Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Legislature appeared not only to expect, but to encourage, such challenges in hopes the issue will eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sewage train: A train transporting sewage from New York and New Jersey has prompted complaints of a rotten stench and fly infestations in Alabama with Birmingham city officials saying they’re working with authorities to clear the air. The stench is nearly unbearable, Birmingham City Councilman John Hilliard said this week at a city council meeting.