White supremacist receives prison in plot to target Md. power grid
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A Maryland woman affiliated with a neo-Nazi group was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday after admitting to a plot to attack Baltimore’s power grid, according to the U.S. Justice Department and court filings.
Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 36, sought to target five electrical substations around Baltimore, Maryland’s largest city, to further a white supremacist ideology that sought the collapse of American society, according to prosecutors.
“The Justice Department will continue to aggressively counter, disrupt and prosecute those who seek to launch these kinds of hate-fueled attacks that target our critical infrastructure, endanger entire cities, and threaten our national security,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Clendaniel pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to damage an energy facility and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Clendaniel was recorded telling an associate that the plan, if successful, “would completely destroy this whole city,” according to prosecutors.
One person killed in bus hijacking in Los Angeles
(NYT) — One passenger has died after a man with a gun hijacked a transit bus in Los Angeles early Wednesday, prompting a police chase through the city’s downtown, according to local authorities.
The suspect in the incident was taken into custody after an hourlong pursuit, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Two other passengers and the driver were on the bus during the hijacking, police said. One passenger died after being taken to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.
GOP lawmaker under fire for false claim about Haitian Americans
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Republican U.S. Representative Clay Higgins faced a call for censure on Wednesday for a repeating false claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, that the head of the Congressional Black Caucus denounced as inciting hate.
Democratic Representative Steven Horsford called for Higgins’ censure after the Louisiana lawmaker posted, and later deleted, a message repeating Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been eating their neighbors’ pets and calling on them to leave the country.
“These words on an official post do not reflect credibly on the House,” Horsford said. “In fact, they are inciting hate. They are inciting fear, and because of that, it is time for this body to stand with one voice and to ensure that there is accountability.”
The House went into recess afterward, without taking immediate action.
Donald Trump talks tariffs, immigration at North Carolina warehouse
MINT HILL, N.C. (TNS) — Former President Donald Trump returned to the Charlotte area Wednesday for a campaign event where he focused largely on immigration and the economy. He avoided the latest developments in North Carolina’s governor race.
The Republican nominee addressed a crowd of hundreds for a little more than an hour on the warehouse floor of a factory in Mint Hill. He repeated familiar rhetoric about crime and personal attacks on his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump pledged to support American manufacturing jobs by offering tax cuts to U.S.-based companies and imposing tariffs on foreign-made goods.
Referencing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, Trump described the world as being on the brink of a major global outbreak of violence.
Democrats sue Ga. governor to force ethics investigation of Election Board
ATLANTA (TNS) — Georgia Democrats went to court Wednesday to try to force Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to seek the removal of three members of the State Election Board, which has recently changed several election rules.
The lawsuit asks a Fulton County judge to order Kemp to conduct a hearing on whether three Republican members of the board violated ethics laws.
Kemp declined to start an ethics investigation earlier this month based on advice from Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who said citizens’ complaints are insufficient to trigger a hearing process.
“Our State Election Board has been hijacked by extreme partisan operatives,” said state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, a Democrat from Duluth who filed the suit. “They are determined to make sure our state helps get Donald Trump elected no matter what Georgia voters say, and, sadly, it appears that our governor has abdicated his responsibility to fix this.”
The three Republican board members, whom Trump praised as “pit bulls” during an Atlanta rally, have said their actions are driven by a desire for secure elections rather than partisanship.
“Let me reassure every Democrat and member of any other party and the citizens of Georgia that these rules will help to prevent a last-minute surprise of questioning the results,” one of the board members, Janice Johnston, said during a meeting Monday. “Everyone should take a deep breath and calm down.”