Prison for Giuliani associate
Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani who was a figure in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to a year and eight months in prison for fraud and campaign finance crimes by a judge who said fraud had become “a way of life” for Parnas.
Parnas, 50, had sought leniency on grounds that he had cooperated with the congressional probe of Mr. Trump and his efforts to get Ukrainian leaders to investigate President Joe Biden’s son.
U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken didn’t give Parnas credit for that assistance, which came only after the Soviet-born businessman was facing criminal charges.
The judge also ordered Parnas to pay $2.3 million in restitution.
No speeding, issues with Amtrak train
Federal investigators said Wednesday that an Amtrak train was traveling below the speed limit this week when it crashed into a dump truck, killing four people and injuring more than 100 others.
Authorities on Wednesday also identified the victims in Monday’s derailment in rural Missouri. They included two sisters on vacation and an 82-yearold Kansas City man.
At a Wednesday briefing, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said the train was moving at 87 mph in the 90 mph zone when it collided with the truck. It had been traveling at 89 mph a quarter-mile before the collision when its horn was blown.
She said investigators have found no mechanical problems with the train.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said train passengers Kim Holsapple, 56, and Rochelle Cook, 58, of Desoto, Kan.; and Binh Pham, 82, of Kansas City, Mo., were killed in the collision. Ms. Cook and Ms. Holsapple, who were seated in the same row, were pronounced dead at the scene. Mr. Pham died hours later at University Hospital in Columbia, Mo.
The driver of the dump truck was identified as Billy Barton II, 54, of Brookfield, Mo., which is a few miles from the location of the crash. Mr. Barton was pronounced dead at the scene. He was driving for MS Contracting LLC, which was working on an Army Corps of Engineers project, investigators said.
Missouri voters now must show photo ID
Despite pushback from voting rights advocates, Missouri voters will be required to show a photo ID at the ballot box under a new law signed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday.
The sweeping new law, sponsored by Rep. John Simmons, a Washington Republican, prohibits touchscreen voting machines after 2024 and allows the Missouri secretary of state to audit voter rolls. It also gets rid of presidential primaries in Missouri — replacing them with caucuses — and gives voters a two-week period to cast absentee ballots without an excuse.
A group of more than 2,100 voting rights advocates on Tuesday urged Mr. Parson to veto the bill, arguing it would create unnecessary hurdles for Missourians and undermine the state’s elections.