Nation & World Glance
GOP candidate charged with misdemeanor assault of reporter
BOZEMAN, Mont. — The Republican candidate for Montana’s sole congressional seat was charged with misdemeanor assault Wednesday night after witnesses told police Greg Gianforte grabbed a reporter by the neck and slammed him to the ground the night before polls close in the nationally-watched election.
Gallatin County Sheriff’s Brian Gootkin made the announcement late Wednesday in a statement posted to the county web site. Gianforte would face a maximum $500 fine or 6 months in jail if convicted. The statement added that the reporter’s injuries did not meet the legal definition of felony assault.
Gianforte was in a private office preparing for an interview with Fox News when Jacobs came in without permission, campaign spokesman Shane Scanlon said.
The Fox News crew watched in astonishment as, after Jacobs pressed him on the GOP health care bill, “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him,” Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna wrote in an article. She added that Gianforte then began to punch Jacobs.
Jury of 12 on Bill Cosby sex assault case includes 2 blacks
PITTSBURGH — The jury that will hear the sex assault case against Bill Cosby will include two blacks among its 12 members in a case Cosby believes could be racially motivated.
Prosecutors and the defense team on Wednesday also chose six alternate jurors, two of them black.
“It’s a terrific jury made up of people of all demographics,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said. “We’re past this nonsense about the optics and things.”
Cosby’s lawyers had complained this week that prosecutors were trying to keep blacks off the jury with their seven strikes. The judge, though, found prosecutors had other valid reasons to strike two black women earlier this week. The jury makeup of 17 percent is higher than the 13 percent black population in Allegheny County.
Cosby thanked local officials and fans as he left the Pittsburgh courthouse Wednesday evening, including “all of the people who have come to see my shows.”