CONGRESSMAN-ELECT SPARED JAIL TIME IN ASSAULT PLEA
Congressman-elect Greg Gianforte avoided jail time after pleading guilty Monday to an election-eve assault on a reporter that turned the race for Montana’s lone U.S. House seat into a full-fledged political spectacle.
The Republican tech entrepreneur instead will serve 40 hours of community service and attend 20 hours of anger management classes for throwing Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs to the ground at Gianforte’s campaign headquarters in Bozeman on May 24.
The judge, prosecutors and the incoming congressman’s attorneys maintained Monday he was treated like any other first-time misdemeanor offender.
Gallatin County Justice of the Peace Rick West said he would allow prosecutors and the defense several weeks to argue over his order that the rookie politician be fingerprinted, photographed and booked like other defendants.
VIDEO SHOWN FROM NIGHT OF PLEDGE’S FATAL INJURIES
Video footage from a Penn State fraternity house recorded after a Beta Theta Pi pledge suffered fatal injuries during a night of alleged hazing and drinking was shown publicly for the first time at a preliminary hearing Monday in Bellefonte, Pa.
Eighteen former fraternity members and the fraternity itself face charges from involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault to recklessly endangering the life of sophomore Timothy Piazza, who died Feb. 4. The hearing will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a trial.
Prosecutors used video from the former fraternity’s extensive surveillance system to help construct a timeline of the events that led to Piazza’s death, including multiple falls.
INTERIOR DEPT. TO TRUMP: DOWNSIZE UTAH MONUMENT
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke recommended Monday that President Trump vastly reduce the size of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, and seek congressional authorization to turn over the remaining landmarks to be co-managed with Native American tribes.
If adopted by Trump, it would be the largest reversal of publicland protections in the 111-year history of the Antiquities Act.
President Obama used the Teddy Roosevelt-era law to protect 1.35 million acres last year — a decision Trump called “an egregious abuse of federal power.”