Crime

The Atlantic reports: A black church in Greenville, Mississippi, was set on fire on Tuesday night. Fire fighters arrived to find Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church “heavily engulfed in flames,” Mayor Errick Simmons said in an interview; the fire took nearly an hour to contain. No one was in the church at the time, and no one was injured. On the …

The Des Moines Register reports: Authorities are investigating whether the suspect in Wednesday’s killings of police officers is tied to a man’s removal from Urbandale High School’s football stadium on Oct. 14 after the man claimed his Confederate flag was stolen by other spectators, police and school district officials said. The stadium is at the intersection where one of officers …

Yahoo News reports: A newly uncovered video appears to contradict Donald Trump’s claim that he never knew a high-stakes gambler who was banned from New Jersey casinos for alleged ties to organized crime. The reputed mob figure, Robert LiButti, can be seen standing alongside Trump in the front row of a 1988 “WrestleMania” match in Atlantic City, N.J. LiButti wasn’t …

Iowa Public Radio reports: A Des Moines woman has been charged with Election Misconduct, a Class D felony, after allegedly voting twice for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. Terri Rote says she was afraid her first ballot for Trump would be changed to a vote for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. “I wasn’t planning on doing it twice, it was spur …

The Associated Press reports: A former Rutgers University student whose roommate killed himself after being secretly recorded on a web camera kissing another man pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted invasion of privacy. Dharun Ravi’s plea comes after a New Jersey appeals court last month threw out a 15-count conviction against him and ordered a new trial on other counts. The …

Voter fraud is REAL. The Des Moines Register reports: A Des Moines woman has been arrested on suspicion of voting twice this month in the general election, police and court records show. Terri Lynn Rote, 55, was booked into the Polk County Jail about 3:40 p.m. Thursday on a first-degree election misconduct charge, which is a Class D felony. Rote, …

NBC News reports: The Equality House in Topeka, Kansas, which stands directly across the street from the notoriously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, has been a symbol of the LGBTQ rights movement since it was first painted Pride flag colors in March of 2013. This week, however, the colorful symbol of equality was subjected to hate when spray-painted slurs and bullet …

Reuters reports: A federal court jury on Thursday acquitted anti-government militant leader Ammon Bundy and six followers of conspiracy charges stemming from their role in the armed takeover of a U.S. wildlife center in Oregon earlier this year. Bundy and others, including his brother and co-defendant Ryan Bundy, cast the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a …

NJ.com reports: A Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey has been arrested on child pornography charges. Kevin Gugliotta, 54, of Mahwah allegedly uploaded illicit images from a computer in his vacation home in Lehigh Township, Pa. on July 9, the Wayne County District Attorney said in a news release on Wednesday. Gugliotta worked at Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church in …

Deadline reports: Donald Trump’s star on the iconic Hollywood Walk of Fame was destroyed early Wednesday morning by a man dressed as a city construction worker wielding a sledgehammer and pick-ax. The man, who told Deadline his name was Jamie Otis, said he was trying to extract the star to auction it off and raise funds for the women who …

This morning numerous major sites were inaccessible across the northeast of the United States after unknown hackers launched a denial of service attack on a major DNS host. The initial attack was “mitigated” in about two hours but another wave launched early this afternoon is presently also affecting accessibility on much of the west cost. Politico reports that your earlier …

Wikileaks connection? Reuters reports: Czech police have detained a Russian man wanted in connection with hacking attacks on targets in the United States, the police said, without giving further details. The arrest was carried out in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Czech police said on their website on Tuesday evening. Interpol had issued a so-called Red Notice …

The Charlotte Observer reports: Hillsborough police are investigating an apparent firebombing of the Orange County Republican headquarters, an incident that one state GOP official called an act of “political terrorism.” Police say the incident occurred when a bottle of flammable liquid was thrown through the front window of the office on Ja-Max Dr. “The office itself is a total loss,” …

Gothamist reports: Jon Girodes, the Republican State Senate candidate who recently came under fire for planning to donate Kool Aid, KFC, and watermelons to his prospective East Harlem constituents, was arrested on Friday for allegedly ripping off 10 people in a Craigslist rent scam. According to the Post, Girodes listed his luxury apartment at 635 W. 42nd for just $1,000 …

The Associated Press reports: The chief executive officer of the website Rentboy.com pleaded guilty Friday to promoting prostitution. Jeffrey Hurant faces up to 21 months in prison when he’s sentenced Feb. 2 in the federal case in Brooklyn. The successful site operated for nearly 20 years in an open and racy way, with male escorts paying for ads to attract …

Politico reports: A hacker persona with alleged ties to the Russian government has posted what the hacker claims are files stolen from the Clinton Foundation. “Hillary Clinton and her staff don’t even bother about the information security,” the hacker calling himself “Guccifer 2.0” wrote in the post revealing the files. “It was just a matter of time to gain access …

CNN reports: Kim Kardashian West was held at gunpoint and robbed in Paris by men dressed as police officers in her private apartment, French officials said. A spokesperson for Kardashian West said the celebrity was “badly shaken but physically unharmed” following the incident, which took place early Monday morning local time. The French Interior Ministry said five men threatened the …

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s brand-new Washington hotel was vandalized Saturday with messages supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, according to D.C. police. The spray-painted slogans appeared on either side of the entrance to the Trump International Hotel, which opened its doors last month. Photos posted on social media indicated that the hotel attempted to cover up the defaced portions of …

The Associated Press reports: An Oregon man faces a charge of disorderly conduct after police say he installed a large speaker on his rooftop and played a “pro-hatred” message on loop as a group rallied against hate crime at a nearby park. Springfield police say the amplified message could be heard from blocks away Thursday, and it attracted about 30 …

The Associated Press reports: A Virginia businessman was convicted Thursday of international parental kidnapping and conspiracy for helping a mother take her daughter out of the country to avoid losing custody to her former partner. A federal jury in Buffalo returned the verdict against Philip Zodhiates, of Waynesboro, on Thursday after hearing during a weeklong trial how he had driven …