Gianforte avoids jail time for assault

BOZEMAN, Mont. Montana’s next congressman, Greg Gianforte, avoided jail time Monday after pleading guilty to assaulting a reporter the day before he was elected.

Gallatin County Justice of the Peace Rick West sentenced the Republican technology entrepreneur to 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management counseling and ordered him to pay a $385 fine for the misdemeanor. If he remains law abiding for 180 days, he can petition for the conviction to be removed from his record.

Gianforte’s attorneys noted that he had already paid more than $4,600 in restitution to Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs for the assault, which cast a pall over his May 25 victory to serve the remainder of Ryan Zinke’s term. Zinke resigned to become Interior Department secretary.

Gianforte, 56, is expected to be sworn in to the state’s sole U.S. House seat later this month.

Jacobs said Gianforte knocked him to the ground when he asked a question May 24.

In a civil settlement, Gianforte agreed to give $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists and wrote Jacobs a letter of apology in which he acknowledged assaulting the reporter for asking a “legitimate question about health care policy.”

Pulse nightclub memorials: Church bells tolled 49 times, a giant rainbow flag hung from a county government building and the names of the victims of the Pulse nightclub attack were read aloud at various ceremonies Monday as people in Orlando, Fla., and beyond remembered the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. At 2:02 a.m., survivors, victims’ families, club employees and local officials gathered for a service at the Orlando gay club at the exact time Omar Mateen opened fire a year ago and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. He was eventually killed by police after a standoff on June 12, 2016.