Thursday, August 18 top stories
It is Thursday, August 18. Here are today’s top stories.
Trump Org. CFO pleads guilty to tax violations
Today Allen Weisselberg, who was the long-time CFO of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to tax violations and to helping to run a tax fraud scheme that lasted for years at the Trump Organization.
The plea deal will have Weisselberg serve five months in prison and pay fines of about $2 million. His actual prison time will be about 100 days because of time credits for good behavior.
The plea deal also requires Weisselberg to testify as a witness during the upcoming trial in New York for the Trump Organization in October.
His guilty plea means it will be harder for the Trump Organization to argue that they did nothing wrong.
9,560 people died on U.S. roads from January to March
The federal government said it estimates 9,560 people died from motor vehicle crashes during the first quarter of 2022, from January to March. It is the highest number of deaths for the first three months of a year since 2002.
An expert told ABC News that the surge in traffic deaths is due to multiple factors including less traffic enforcement on roads and the prevalence of dangerous behaviors among drivers including speeding.
Great Danes kill owner
In northwest Iowa, police said a 43-year-old woman died after she was attacked by her five Great Danes.
On Wednesday, a man saw the woman in a ditch but couldn’t get close because several large dogs were there. The man thought the woman was injured in a motorcycle accident.
When police arrived, they found the woman, Mindy Kiepe, dead at the scene. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be multiple dog bite injuries. Police said there was no motorcycle accident.
The five dogs were euthanized.
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Parts of U.S. could see northern lights tonight
CBS News explained that the sun sent out a series of bursts on Sunday that could trigger a strong geomagnetic storm when the bursts of energy hit Earth tonight. Because of this, parts of the northern U.S. and southern Canada could see the northern lights.
People in Albany, Erie, Cleveland, Chicago, and Des Moines and areas along the latitude could see them.
The NOAA provides a 30-minute forecast map of when and where northern lights will appear on Earth. You can view it on swpc.noaa.gov.
Experts recommend you to drive north as far as you can and find an area where it is very dark.
Another potential effect of a geomagnetic storm is issued with power voltage systems.
Deshaun Watson suspended 11 games, fined $5 million
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will be suspended for 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy based on allegations of sexual misconduct. The NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to the punishment in a settlement.
He was accused by over 20 women of sexual harassment and assault that occurred during massage therapy appointments.
In the beginning of August, a retired federal judge who is a disciplinary officer for the NFL and NFLPA heard arguments from both sides and decided that Watson should be suspended for six games after finding that Watson often used a small towel to drape himself during massages and had a “sexual purpose” in arranging the massage appointments without the knowledge or consent of the therapists. The retired judge said this was “nonviolent” sexual assault.
The NFL appealed the ruling because it wanted Watson to be suspended for a full NFL season. But now the case is resolved with this 11-game suspension settlement.
Judge orders DOJ to submit redacted Mar-a-Lago affidavit
Today a federal judge in Florida said the affidavit that was written by Department of Justice investigators to obtain the search warrant of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home can be unsealed but with redactions.
The judge, Bruce Reinhart, is the same judge who approved the search warrant. He gave the DOJ until next Thursday to submit a redacted affidavit.
The FBI removed about 20 boxes from Mar-a-Lago that consisted of 11 sets of classified information. The affidavit would provide more details on why federal agents felt the need to conduct a surprise search.
So we may see more details when the affidavit is released, but the redactions are likely to blur out key information on Trump’s case.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2022/08/18/allen-weisselberg-pleads-guilty-tax-fraud
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/nyregion/weisselberg-trump-plea-testify.html
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/traffic-deaths-1st-quarter-2022-highest-20-years/story?id=88496475
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/great-danes-attack-kill-owner-northwest-iowa-88515248
https://www.live5news.com/2022/08/18/woman-killed-by-her-5-great-danes-autopsy-finds/
https://kiwaradio.com/lightssirens/rossie-woman-apparently-killed-by-her-own-dogs/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/solar-ejection-sun-earth-northern-lights-power-voltage-issues/
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/18/deshaun-watson-suspended-appeal/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/sports/football/deshaun-watson-suspension-11-games.html
https://www.axios.com/2022/08/18/judge-trump-search-affidavit