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James Fields Guilty of First-Degree Murder in Death of Charlottesville Protester

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, New York Times

James Fields Guilty of First-Degree Murder in Death of Charlottesville Protester

Sixteen months after swastika-toting white supremacists swarmed the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, one of the demonstrators was convicted of first-degree murder Friday by a jury that found he intentionally drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring nearly 40 others. James Fields Jr., 21, faces up to life in prison for the death of Heather Heyer, 32. Fields, who traveled from Ohio to attend the Unite the Right rally, was also convicted of eight other charges, including aggravated malicious wounding and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Friday’s verdict was cheered by those fighting racial and religious hatred.

Trump Will Nominate William Barr as Attorney General

President Donald Trump said Friday that he would nominate William P. Barr, a skeptic of the Russia investigation who served as attorney general in the first Bush administration a quarter-century ago, to return as head of the Justice Department. Barr, 68, would become the nation’s top law enforcement official as Trump and his associates are under investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, for whether they conspired with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election and help elect Trump. Barr would oversee the inquiry as key aspects of it are coming to a close.

Arizona Lawmaker Faces Calls for Resignation After Saying Black People Don’t ‘Blend In’ With Society

An Arizona state legislator with a history of anti-immigrant commentary is facing calls to resign after he told university students that black people “don’t blend in” to society like European immigrants and “always look different.” Rep. David Stringer, who represents a Yavapai County area, made the comments after a public lecture at Arizona State University on Nov. 19. Students recorded a “private conversation” with Stringer afterward. Stringer can be heard saying that “diversity is relatively new” in the country, and that while European immigrants assimilated to society, “that’s not the case with African-Americans or other racial groups because they don’t melt in.”

Six Michigan Doctors Charged in $464 Million Insurance and Opioid Scheme

Six Michigan doctors have been charged with insurance fraud and unnecessarily prescribing opioids to patients in a $464 million scheme, according to court documents filed Tuesday and made public Thursday, by federal prosecutors. The 56-count indictment named Dr. Rajendra Bothra, 77, of Bloomfield Hills, who owned and operated the Pain Center USA in Warren and Eastpointe, Michigan, and the Interventional Pain Center in Warren. The other five doctors were employed by the clinics. The doctors have been charged with submitting false claims to Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield and diverting the proceeds to themselves, the indictment said.

Manafort’s Lies on Contact Are Detailed in New Filing

Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, lied to federal investigators about his contacts with Trump administration officials and his interactions with a Russian linked to Moscow’s intelligence services, the special counsel’s office said Friday. He also lied about a $125,000 payment and information he provided in another case, prosecutors working for the special counsel said in a court filing explaining why they withdrew last week from a plea agreement they had reached with Manafort in September. “Manafort told multiple discernible lies — these were not instances of mere memory lapses,” prosecutors wrote to Judge Amy Berman Jackson of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Trump Hints He Has Picked His Next Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman

President Donald Trump is expected to name Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Army chief of staff, to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top-ranking military position in the country, administration officials said Friday. Milley would succeed Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., whose term as chairman expires next autumn. It is unusual for a successor to the top military job to be chosen so early, but the president has long been known to have a preference for Milley, who is well known in the Pentagon and at Army bases around the world.

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