Trump benefit goes on, even without the guest of honor
Compiled from news services
PALMBEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump’s posh Mar-a-Lago Club was set to host a high-priced gala Saturday night intended to celebrate Mr. Trump’s first year in office and raise money for his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Tickets started at $100,000 per couple, Bloomberg News reported.
But with the government shut down and Congress in negotiations, the guest of honor postponed his scheduled departure from Washington. But he will still make money.
By holding the event at his own club, Mr. Trump will be able to collect tens of thousands of dollars in fees for food, ballroom rental and other costs. In effect, he will have transformed his supporters’ political donations into revenue for his business.
Mo. governor won’t resign
JEFFERSONCITY, Mo. — In his first interview since acknowledging an extramarital affair, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens said Saturday that there was “no blackmail” and “no threat of violence” by him in what he described as a months-long “consensual relationship” with his former hairdresser.
Mr. Greitens, a Republican, told The Associated Press that he has no plans to resign from office as a result of the affair, despite calls to step aside from several Republican and Democratic state lawmakers.
Mr.Greitens, 43, has remainedout of the public eye since shortly after delivering hisState of the State address Jan. 10. Later that night, St. Louis television station KMOVreported Mr. Greitenshad an extramarital affairin 2015 as he was preparingto run for governor.
Van Houten denied parole
LOSANGELES — The governor of California once again denied parole Friday for Leslie Van Houten, the youngest follower of murderous cult leader Charles Manson who blamed herself at her parole hearing for letting him control her life.
Gov. Jerry Brown said in his decision that Van Houten still lays too much of the blame on Manson, who died two months ago at 83.
Mr. Brown had acknowledged that Van Houten’s youth at the time of the crime, her more than four decades as a model prisoner and her abuse at the hands of Manson made it worth considering her release.
The 68-year-old Van Houten is serving life for the murders of wealthy grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, when Van Houten was 19. They were stabbed a day after other Manson followers killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four other people in Los Angeles.
Did gunman eye San Diego?
SANDIEGO — Last May 18, about four months before the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history unfolded on the Las Vegas Strip, gunman Stephen Paddock was thinking about San Diego.
On a laptop computer seized from one of his Mandalay Bay hotel rooms after the massacre, authorities found a web search from that Thursday in May for “La Jolla Beach,” as well as evidence that he had visited Sandiego.org, the region’s tourism website.
The findings were released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Friday in a report on the shootings.
From his perch on the 32nd floor of the hotel, Paddock sprayed gunfire for more than 10 minutes down on concertgoers attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on Oct. 1. Fifty-eight people were killed and more than 700 were injured.