Crime

The New York Daily News reports: More John 3:16, less Glock-22. Florida’s Turnpike was the site of an unholy showdown last week when a North Carolina priest allegedly leveled his handgun at two people in another vehicle in a road rage incident. Rather than turn the other cheek, William Rian Adams, the rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Fletcher, N.C., …

The Associated Press reports: An Iowa woman charged with voting twice for Donald Trump last fall has pleaded guilty to election misconduct. Court records show Terri Lynn Rote entered a plea on June 27 to the felony charge and a district court judge in Des Moines accepted the plea. Sentencing is set for Aug. 15. Rote, who is 56 and …

CNN reports: An unruly passenger who authorities say was trying to open an exit door on a Delta Air Lines flight to Beijing fought with the cabin crew and a passenger and was conked over the head by a flight attendant with two wine bottles, a criminal complaint alleges. Joseph Daniel Hudek IV, a 23-year-old passenger from Florida, was arrested …

Buzzfeed News reports: The detention of LGBT people has resumed in the Russian republic of Chechnya, where dozens of gay men were reportedly tortured or killed by authorities earlier this year, according to the activist group Russia LGBT Network. The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta first reported that around 100 people had been kidnapped in the crackdown in April, but …

From Russia’s TASS agency: US President Donald Trump’s possible question on the LGBT rights in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya at the upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t be left unanswered, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday. “If there is such a question [on gay rights] then there will be an answer,” Peskov said, pledging: …

CNBC reports: Federal prosecutors late Monday asked a judge to slap a gag order on “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, three days after he blasted them as the “junior varsity” during a surprise courthouse rant to reporters covering his trial. Those prosecutors said Shkreli’s off-the-cuff remarks, made against the desperate wishes of his lawyers, “risks tainting the jury,” according to a …

The New York Daily News reports: A Brooklyn man claimed he was provoked when he spewed homophobic slurs and knocked a lesbian unconscious over a seat on the train, according to newly released court documents. Antoine Thomas entered a plea of not guilty in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Monday after he was arraigned on charges including assault as a hate …

The Associated Press reports: For years as a Kentucky judge, Tim Nolan sat in judgment of others. Now he sits in jail, awaiting trial on explosive accusations by prosecutors that he snared 17 women and juveniles into having sex over a seven-year period by using money, drugs and threats. Nolan faces charges of human trafficking, rape, prostitution, witness tampering and …

The New York Times reports: Over the past several weeks, Monalisa Perez of Halstad, Minn., and her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III, began their quest for YouTube fame by creating and posting videos of mostly harmless pranks: Mr. Ruiz climbing onto a tenuous tree branch and falling a short distance, or Ms. Perez feeding him a doughnut covered in baby powder …

The Guardian reports: Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic and the third-ranking official in the Vatican, has been charged with multiple sexual offences by police. The charges were served on Pell’s legal representatives in Melbourne on Thursday and they have been lodged also at Melbourne magistrates court. He will appear at Melbourne magistrates court on 18 July. “Cardinal Pell …

The Associated Press reports: Arkansas’ new Ten Commandments monument was smashed to pieces early Wednesday by someone driving a vehicle into it less than 24 hours after the 6-foot (1.8 meter) granite statue was placed on state Capitol grounds. Secretary of State’s Office spokesman Chris Powell said capitol police arrested the male suspect early Wednesday. Pulaski County jail records show …

The BBC reports: Companies across the globe are reporting that they have been struck by a major ransomware cyber-attack. British advertising agency WPP is among those to say its IT systems have been disrupted as a consequence. Ukrainian firms, including the state power company and Kiev’s main airport were among the first to report issues. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant …

The New York Times reports: More than 120 potential jurors in the fraud trial of Martin Shkreli were dismissed Monday, with some calling him “a snake,” “the most hated man in America” and “the face of corporate greed.” Several potential jurors on Monday blamed Mr. Shkreli broadly for the problems of the pharmaceutical industry. Three, for instance, castigated him for …

The BBC reports: The Grenfell Tower fire in London started in a fridge-freezer, and outside cladding and insulation failed safety tests, police say. The Metropolitan Police say manslaughter, health and safety, and fire safety charges will be considered. A total of 79 people are feared dead after the blaze destroyed 151 homes in the Kensington tower block and nearby. Meanwhile, …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: San Francisco police detained a motorcyclist who they said drove his bike at a group of protesters demonstrating against the federal health care bill in an apparent attempt to hit them, according to witnesses as well as photographs and videos from the scene. The red 2015 BMW motorcycle captured in photographs is registered to San …

ABC News reports: The New York State Senate struck down a bill Wednesday that would have loosened the statute of limitations of child molestation for the 11th year in a row. “New York has the worst laws on the books anywhere in the country pertaining to the statute of limitations for crimes of child sexual abuse,” Senator and Bill Sponsor …

From the Montana Democrats: Today, convicted criminal Greg Gianforte – who, after infamously picking up another person, slamming him to the ground, and then punching him, blamed it on the victim – will be sworn into Congress. To celebrate the occasion, the Montana Democratic Party mailed him a gift. Everyone knows you need plenty of suits to work on Capitol …

In a piece that was teased last night by Rachel Maddow, this morning Bloomberg published a report detailing the Trump family’s dealings with a “shadowy” real estate development firm linked to a notorious Russian mobster. An excerpt: One of Bayrock’s principals was a career criminal named Felix Sater who had ties to Russian and American organized crime groups. Before linking …

CNBC reports: A federal judge has rejected, for now, Martin Shkreli’s bid to reduce his criminal release bail from $5 million to $2 million during a hearing that exposed his high tax debts, legal fees, and off-beat collectibles. Shkreli’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman also said that the accused securities fraudster, who claimed to be worth up to $70 million when he …

Via press release from HBO: VICE News has obtained exclusive access to Argun Prison in Chechnya where it is alleged that gay men were rounded up and tortured as part of an unprecedented ‘anti-gay purge’ by Chechnya’s law enforcement. VICE News is the first international news organization to be allowed into the location, capturing images and footage from the now …