A 6-year-old boy is dead and his mother is hurt after a driver struck them in a crosswalk in Columbia, Maryland, Monday afternoon, police say.

Isaac Gill and Nazia Gill were walking in a crosswalk at Harpers Farm Road and Twin Rivers Road when the vehicle hit them.

Medics took Isaac to a hospital in critical condition about 2 p.m. He died a short time later.

Nazia Gill, 38, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

The man driving the car stayed at the scene.

Police are still investigating the crash.

No charges have been filed at this time.

After a big year for its plant-based burger, Impossible Foods has something new on its plate.

The California-based company unveiled Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage on Monday evening at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas.

It’s Impossible Food’s first foray beyond fake beef. The Impossible Burger, which went on sale in 2016, has been a key player in the growing category of vegan meats. Like the burger, Impossible Food’s pork and sausage are made from soy but mimic the taste and texture of ground meat.

Impossible Pork will be rolled out to restaurants first. The company isn’t yet saying when it will come to groceries. Impossible Foods only recently began selling its burgers in grocery stores, although they’re available at more than 17,000 restaurants in the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.

Burger King will give consumers their first taste of Impossible Sausage. Later this month, 139 Burger King restaurants in five U.S. cities will offer the Impossible Croissan’wich, made with plant-based sausage coupled with the traditional egg and cheese. Burger King did a similar test of the Impossible Whopper last year before expanding sales nationwide.

The pork products and the Impossible Burger are made in a similar way. Impossible Foods gets heme — the protein that gives meat its flavor and texture — from soy leghemoglobin, which is found in the roots of soy plants. To make heme in high volume, it inserts the DNA from soy into yeast and ferments it. That mixture is then combined with other ingredients, like coconut oil.

The company tweaked the ingredients to mimic pork’s springy texture and mild flavor. For the sausage it added spices.

Impossible Pork has 220 calories in a four-ounce serving. That’s not much less than a serving of Smithfield 80% lean ground pork, which has 260 calories. Smithfield’s animal-derived pork has more total fat, at 20 grams, than Impossible Pork, which has 13 grams. But Impossible Pork has far more sodium, at 420 milligrams. Smithfield has 70 milligrams.

But health concerns are only part of the reason consumers are eating more plant-based meats. Animal welfare and environmental concerns are also a factor. Nearly 1.5 billion pigs are killed for food each year, a number that has tripled in the last 50 years, according to the World Economic Forum. Raising those pigs depletes natural resources and increases greenhouse gas emissions.

“Everything that we’re doing is trying to avert the biggest threat that the world is facing,” Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown told The Associated Press.

Brown said the company decided pork should be its next product because customers were frequently requesting it. Impossible Foods started working on the new products about 18 months ago and accelerated development in the second half of 2019.

Brown said ground pork is also critical to meeting the company’s international expansion goals. While Americans eat more beef and chicken, pork is the most widely consumed meat worldwide, according to the National Pork Board. Chinese consumers eat more than 88 pounds (40 kilograms) of pork per year, compared to 65 pounds (30 kilograms) for Americans.

Brown said he believes a product like Impossible Pork is critical in China, which has limited arable land and relies heavily on imported meat. Last year, Chinese pork prices surged after African swine fever wiped out millions of pigs.

Brown said Impossible Foods is talking to Chinese regulators and potential partners that could make Impossible Pork — as well as plant-based burgers — in China.

“This is a huge opportunity for China in terms of its food security,” Brown said.

Impossible Foods is also waiting for approval from European regulators to sell its products there.

In the U.S., 2019 was a breakout year for plant-based meat. U.S. sales jumped 10% last year to nearly $1 billion; traditional meat sales rose 2% to $95 billion in that same time, according to Nielsen.

Impossible Foods rival Beyond Meat — which already sells plant-based sausage links — had a successful public stock offering in the spring. Impossible Foods ran short of burgers in the first half of the year thanks to the buzz from Burger King. After partnering with OSI Group, a food service company, Brown said Impossible Foods produced twice as much of its plant-based meat in the last quarter of 2019 as it sold in all of 2018.

“We have to keep scaling up as fast as we possibly can,” Brown said.

Brown said he welcomes new competitors in the space, including deep-pocketed rivals like Nestle and Tyson Foods. The meat industry is vast, he said, and plant-based meats are still only around 1% of sales.

His only concern is that plant-based products taste good enough to convince meat eaters to switch.

“A crappy product won’t win over meat lovers,” Brown said.

IKEA has agreed to pay $46 million to the parents of a 2-year-old boy who died of injuries suffered when a 70-pound (32-kilogram) recalled dresser tipped over onto him, the family’s lawyers said Monday.

Jozef Dudek, of Buena Park, California, died in 2017 of his injuries, and his parents sued the Swedish home furnishings company in a Philadelphia court in 2018.

In the lawsuit, the Dudeks accused IKEA of knowing that its Malm dressers posed a tip-over hazard and that they had injured or killed a number of children, but that the company had failed to warn consumers that the dressers shouldn’t be used without being anchored to a wall. The dresser was recalled in 2016, according to the suit.

The settlement also requires IKEA to meet with the advocacy organization, Parents Against Tip-overs, and broaden its outreach to consumers about the recall of IKEA dressers, according to the Dudek’s lawyers, Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock Dodig.

The Dudek family will donate $1 million from the settlement to organizations that advocate for more rigorous stability testing for dressers, they said.

In a statement, IKEA said it offered its deepest condolences and is working to address “this very important home safety issue,” including offering consumer education and safety workshops and working to make safer products.

“While no settlement can alter the tragic events that brought us here, for the sake of the family and all involved, we’re grateful that this litigation has reached a resolution,” it said.

A driver crashed into a Maryland home early Tuesday morning, causing the car to burst into flames.

Prince George’s County firefighters received a call shortly after 1:12 a.m. for a small garage fire on Wheeler Road near Brierfield Road in the Glassmanor area.

No injuries have been reported, but four occupants of the house have been displaced.

There was no information immediately available on the driver or any charges. The cause of the crash is not yet known.

Virginia’s capital city has voted to ask the General Assembly for local control over Confederate monuments on city-owned land. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the Richmond City Council voted 6-2 at a special meeting on Monday.

Richmond has a prominent display of Confederate statues and has long debated whether to remove or alter them. State law prohibits local governments from moving or changing such memorials. But some proponents believe there’s potential the law could change now that Democrats control the Assembly, which convenes again on Wednesday.

Opponents of the resolution said their constituents would rather the city focus on other priorities.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has launched work on a $2.5 million project to improve the intersection whose name is synonymous with traffic congestion.

The corner of Routes 123 and 7 in Fairfax County, otherwise known as Tysons Corner, is the site of construction work that will continue through late 2020. The construction will rehabilitate the bridges that carry Route 123 over Route 7.

Construction work will take place only in the overnight hours, and will require lane closures.

Route 123, also known as Chain Bridge Road, carries 30,000 vehicles a day at the intersection. Route 7, also known as Leesburg Pike, carries 80,000 vehicles daily.

Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of “Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America,” died Tuesday at a hospital in Manhattan, her husband said. She was 52.

Wurtzel announced in 2015 that she had breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy.

Her husband, Jim Freed, said the breast cancer had metastasized to her brain, according to The Washington Post.

Wurtzel rose to fame with the publication of “Prozac Nation,” published in 1994 when she was 26. The memoir documented her struggles with depression and substance abuse. The book garnered wide acclaim for sparking dialogue about clinical depression.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com.

Former Washington Redskins star Clinton Portis and several other former NFL players will stand trial in March on federal charges that they launched a scheme to defraud a healthcare program for retired NFL players. 

A judge scheduled the trial to begin March 9 at the federal court in Lexington, Kentucky. The trial is expected to last a week.

Portis and the other accused players will stand trial together, according to newly released court records.

Authorities say the former players submitted claims to get reimbursements for expensive medical items they never actually bought. They allegedly pocketed nearly $4 million.

Portis, who played for the Redskins from 2004 to 2010 and contributed to NBC4’s “Redskins Showtime,” pleaded not guilty.

The court granted him permission to travel in South Carolina. No information was given as to why he was there.

Joe Horn, former star wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, pleaded guilty in the case. Authorities said he agreed to help prosecutors.

Drivers were seeing bumper-to-bumper traffic in the D.C. area Tuesday afternoon as people tried to make it home as snow fell.

Snow had barely begun to fall in D.C. at 2 p.m. but the roads were packed. All federal workers had been sent home by 1 p.m.

Twitter users and members of the NBC4 and Telemundo 44 team reported gridlock. T44 Meteorologist Joseph Martinez said it took him an hour to travel seven miles.

AAA Mid-Atlantic warned that commute times could double across the region. They reminded drivers to expect the unexpected on slick roads.

“Drivers braving the first snow of 2020 should remain cautious and slow down to keep from being in a crash during the earlier than usual afternoon rush hour,” spokesman John B. Townsend II said in a statement.

Go here to see the latest road conditions and here for the latest forecast.

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Employees at the Shoppers location in Franconia, Virginia, found out their store is next on the list to close.

United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400, which represents Shoppers workers, said it is extremely disappointed to learn about the closing. Initially, they were told that the Franconia store would be renovated, but it will close by Feb. 16, and all employees will be laid off. About 50 employees work at the store.

The Franconia location is the sixth closure announced, including stores in Manassas, Alexandria and Kensington. Thirteen locations have been sold. Shoppers is owned by United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI).

Shoppers Stores to Be Sold and Closed

United Natural Foods, Incorporated (UNFI) will sell 13 and close 4 Shoppers and Food & Pharmacy stores.

Source: UNFI
Credit: Anisa Holmes/NBC Washington

The union will host a job fair Saturday for all Shoppers workers affected by the store closures from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at UFCW Local 400 Headquarters, 8400 Corporate Drive, Suite 200, Landover, Maryland.

The president of the union released the following statement:

“For months, we have demanded that this company show our union and our members some basic respect. Employees who have dedicated their careers to Shoppers should not be left to wonder where their next paycheck will come from. But UNFI seems determined to leave them in the dark for as long as possible.

“UNFI has claimed it wishes to “thoughtfully” divest from its retail operations, but it has clearly given no thought to the many store associates who have spent their careers making Shoppers a success. This is not how a responsible employer exits our community.

“While negotiations continue over severance and other benefits for workers impacted by store closures, our union has joined with community partners to host a Resource Fair for all affected workers on Saturday, January 11. We will do everything we can to ensure our members are not left out in the cold.

“As we have stated before, we intend to do everything in our power to hold UNFI accountable under the law and under our union contract. We will continue to make it clear that we expect our members to be taken care of in the event of their store closing, including:

• Significant severance pay
• Continuing healthcare coverage after a store closure
• Providing job search assistance and retraining
• Following our current collective bargaining agreement in any purchase agreements

“There is no reason UNFI cannot agree to these terms and assure us that every Shoppers associate is treated with dignity and respect.”

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Puerto Rico before dawn on Tuesday, killing one man, injuring at least eight other people, knocking out power and collapsing buildings in the southern part of the island.

The quake was followed by a series of strong aftershocks, part of a 10-day series of temblors spawned by the grinding of tectonic plates along three faults beneath southern Puerto Rico. Seismologists say it’s impossible to predict when the quakes will stop or whether they will get stronger.

The 6.4-magnitude quake cut power to the island as power plants shut down to protect themselves. Authorities said two plants suffered light damage and they expected power to be restored later Tuesday. Puerto Rico’s main airport was operating normally, using generator power.

“I’ve never been so scared in my life,” said Nelson Rivera, a 70-year-old resident who fled his home in the city of Ponce, near the epicenter of the quake. “I didn’t think we would get out. I said: ‘We’ll be buried here.’”

Puerto Rico’s governor, Wanda Vásquez, declared a state of emergency and activated the territory’s National Guard. She said some 300,000 households remained without running water by late Tuesday afternoon, and several hundred people were in shelters in affected municipalities. She said she had not spoken to President Donald Trump by late morning.

Teacher Rey González told The Associated Press that his uncle was killed when a wall collapsed on him at the home they shared in the city of Ponce. He said 73-year-old Nelson Martínez was disabled and that he and his father cared for him.

Eight people were injured in the city of Ponce, near the epicenter of the quake, Mayor Mayita Meléndez told WAPA television. Hundreds of people sat in the streets of the city, some cooking food on barbeque grills, afraid to return home for fear of structural damage and aftershocks.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.4 quake hit at 4:24 a.m. just south of the island at a shallow depth of six miles (10 kilometers). It initially gave the magnitude as 6.6 but later adjusted it. At 7:18 a.m. a magnitude-5.6 aftershock hit the same area. That was downgraded from an initial 6.0 measurement. People reported strong shaking and staff at a local radio station said live on air that they were leaving their building.

Video from a Telemundo broadcast showed the moment the 5.8 aftershock hit.

“We can’t predict how long this will keep going,” John Geiger, a geophysicist with USGS, told NBC. “There will be aftershocks. Usually, they are smaller than the main shock but that’s not always the case.”

He said that statistically there is a 3 percent chance within the next week of a quake larger than the 6.4 quake that hit. The odds of a larger one go down after that, according to historic statistics from quakes.

A tsunami alert was initially issued for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but later canceled.

Trump was briefed on the earthquakes in Puerto Rico in the past month, including the one on Tuesday, said Judd Deere, White House deputy press secretary.

“Administration officials, including FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor, have been in touch with the Governor and her team today, and we will continue to monitor the effects and coordinate with Puerto Rico officials,” Deere said.

In the historic district of Ponce, authorities evacuated more than 150 people from two buildings they said were in danger of collapsing. Among them were more than two dozen elderly patients from a nursing home who sat in their wheelchairs in silence as the earth continued to tremble.

Amir Señeriz leaned against the cracked wall of his Freemason Lodge in Ponce and wailed.

The roof of the 1915 building was partially collapsed and dust and debris lay around him.

Outside, he had already carefully placed 10 large historic paintings. The earth continued trembling as he went back into the building to recover more artifacts.

Helping him was artist Nelson Figueroa, 44, who said he slept in his street clothes.

“It was chaos,” he said, adding that there was a traffic jam in his coastal neighborhood as terrified people fled.

Much of the damage was reported in the southwest coastal town of Guayanilla, where the mayor said the municipality won’t have power for at least two weeks.

A 19th-century church in Guayanilla partially collapsed.

Ruth Caravallo, 73, held on to the church’s wrought-iron gate as she cried.

“My sister was the secretary here,” she said. “My husband died two months ago, and I held services for him here.”

Around the corner, Father Melvin Díaz spoke to a friend on the phone and described damage to the church’s icons.

“The Virgin fell, Saint Judas is intact,” he said, chuckling.

Díaz surveyed the collapsed church and said he was optimistic about rebuilding.

“This isn’t a problem, it’s a challenge,” he said.

Some people rode their bicycles around the public plaza while others sought shade under lush trees that shook occasionally as the aftershocks continued.

In one corner of the plaza, 74-year-old Alvin Rivera paused as he scrutinized the damage around him.

“It’s terribly sad,” he said. “People are panicked.”

Puerto Rico’s governor, Wanda Vasquez, ordered government offices closed for the day and urged citizens to remain calm and not check damage to their homes until daylight.

A 5.8-magnitude quake that struck early Monday morning collapsed five homes in the southwest coastal town of Guanica and heavily damaged dozens of others. It also caused small landslides and power outages. The quake was followed by a string of smaller temblors.

The quake collapsed a coastal rock formation that had formed a sort of rounded window, Punta Ventana, that was a popular tourist draw in the southwest town of Guayanilla.

Residents in the south of the island have been terrified to go into their homes for fear that another quake will bring buildings down.

The flurry of quakes in Puerto Rico’s southern region began the night of Dec. 28. Seismologists say that shallow quakes were occurring along three faults in Puerto Rico’s southwest region: Lajas Valley, Montalva Point and the Guayanilla Canyon, as the North American plate and the Caribbean plate squeeze Puerto Rico.

One of the largest and most damaging earthquakes to hit Puerto Rico occurred in October 1918, when a magnitude 7.3 quake struck near the island’s northwest coast, unleashing a tsunami and killing 116 people.

“It’s definitely expected there will be aftershocks for sure, but how long that will last we don’t know,” said Geiger with USGS.

Recent 2.5+ Magnitude Earthquakes Near Puerto Rico

Dec. 28, 2019 to Jan. 7, 2020

Updated Jan.7, 2020 at 10 a.m.
Source: USGS

–NBC’s Sophie Reardon and Daniel Macht contributed to this story.

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Jack Evans, the longest-serving member of the D.C. Council, will resign from office two business days before the Council was expected to expel him amid findings of multiple ethics violations.

Evans remained silent at the Council’s breakfast meeting and Tuesday’s legislative session, but as the session was ending, he handed Council Chairman Phil Mendelson a letter saying he will leave office on Jan. 17.

“After nearly 30 years of public service to the District of Columbia, I have advised the Board of Elections that I resign my position as the Ward 2 Councilmember on the Council of the District of Columbia,” he wrote.

“I am proud of the contributions I have made in helping to create a vibrant city,” the Ward 2 Democrat continued, with no mention of the ethics findings.

“I think it’s a very sad moment,” Mendelson said. “I also think it’s the appropriate set of actions that are occurring.”

The Council was set to vote Jan. 21 on whether to remove him from office.

Evans declined to comment Tuesday.

“To me it was a big surprise,” said community activist Adam Eidinger, who led a petition effort to remove Evans from office. “I’m relieved he’s finally doing the right thing.”

In a historic vote, D.C. Council members voted 12-0 on Dec. 3 to recommend Evans’ expulsion. The Council had never voted to expel a council member. 

“If we don’t expel, what rises to the level of expulsion? We’re saying this is acceptable,” Council member Elissa Silverman said. “I don’t think we should pass the buck to voters. This is about us.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said last month that she supported the Council’s decision.

“Throughout this investigation, I have called on the Council to be fair and urgent in their considerations, but to act quickly to regain the public’s trust in the Council as an institution,” she said in a statement. “As a former member of the Council and now mayor, I stand by them as they make these very difficult decisions.”

Evans, who is under federal investigation, previously fought an attempt to have him recalled from office. He filed a challenge to a petition calling for his recall, alleging more than a third of the collected signatures are invalid.

A 97-page report issued in November found that Evans repeatedly violated the Council’s code of conduct and accepted outside income from 10 companies.

Evans violated the D.C. Council ethics rules 11 times since 2014 and earned $400,000 from clients who were deemed “prohibited sources,” according to the investigation by a law firm the council hired.

One such client was Colonial Parking. According to the report, Evans worked to block proposed tax increases that would have impacted Colonial Parking.

The report also found that Evans acted repeatedly to support the merger between Pepco and Exelon. At the same time, he tried to get a job with the law firm handling the merger and the report says Evans did get the job after the merger was approved.

A previous investigation found that Evans, who served as chairman of the Metro Board, violated Metro ethics. He stepped down from his post on the board when that chairmanship expired, acknowledging that he didn’t disclose a profitable conflict of interest.

Evans was first elected in 1991.

The Board of Elections will schedule a special election to fill the vacancy. That must happen within 174 days. It is possible for Evans to run to regain his seat.

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Just one day into their new jobs, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors took a lot of heat Tuesday over the issue of gun control legislation.

The board just flipped from a Republican majority to Democratic control and is set to vote on a resolution signaling its support for new gun safety measures being considered by the General Assembly in Richmond — an about-face from the former board’s position last month.

Resident Colin Robinson expressed support for the move.

“Last I knew, Democrats ran, every Democrat ran on a program of gun control legislation, and we’re here to give it to you, and get ready and it will be reasonable,” he said.

But the overflow crowd was dominated by gun rights activists angry because last month the outgoing GOP board declared Prince William a constitutional county, showing support for the Second Amendment and gun owners.

“It seems that those who won the last election seek to erase our constitutional right to bear arms,” resident Linda Unthank said.

“We have the right of the people to keep, own and bear arms, and that right shall not be infringed,” resident Ed Huebner said to cheers.

Fiery meetings like this have been staged all over the commonwealth in recent weeks as gun rights activists push local elected leaders to take a stand against new gun control measures that could be coming from Richmond. Dozens of communities now call themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries.

“Now Virginia ranks No. 4 safest state in the nation right now,” Huebner said. “We don’t want to be like Chicago.”

Not everyone at Tuesday’s meeting opposed the idea of new gun safety laws.

“Like most rights, the Second Amendment is not unlimited,” resident Harry Wiggins said. “It’s not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner for any purpose whatsoever.”

But anyone who spoke in favor of gun violence prevention legislation got booed upon leaving the board room.

Police suspect a man killed his wife in Prince George’s County, Maryland, last week.

After 42-year-old Nika Dorsey’s body was found in a car parked outside an auto glass repair place in Capitol Heights, detectives quickly determined her husband, James Dorsey, was their suspect.

Dorsey stabbed his wife multiple times and abandoned her body in a warehouse district where a worker discovered her, police said.

“Well I thought maybe they had an appointment, you know, to get the window replaced, and so I didn’t think a whole lot of it until I realized it was so cold out, and I’m like, you know, it’s 25, 26 degrees outside, I said, ‘If she was sleeping, she’d be freezing. It doesn’t make sense,’” the worker said.

Police want the public’s help finding Dorsey but warn he should be considered armed and dangerous.

“We are calling Mr. Dorsey armed and dangerous, not only for this particular incident but also he has a history of violence that may be something that we want to put on people’s radar, so do not approach him. Just give us a call and let the police handle it accordingly,” Prince George’s County police Cpl. Lamar Robinson.

Dorsey’s criminal record includes domestic abuse charges.

According to court records, Nika Dorsey started to file a restraining order against her husband but did not complete the process.

“We do feel that there is someone out there who does know where he is, and if that person was watching us today, knows his whereabouts and has a heart, we definitely want to give some resolve to Mrs. Dorsey’s family, so we encourage that person, whoever he or she may be, to please give us a call to help us close this case,” Robinson said.

Nika Dorsey’s grandparents, who raised her, said she was a loving mother of a son and a daughter. She had her 10-year-old daughter with James Dorsey.

Anyone who has information is asked to call Prince George’s Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS.

A woman fatally shot another woman in the head outside a gas station in Northeast D.C. on Monday, police say.

The shooting happened outside the Valero gas station at Minnesota Ave. and Ames Street NE shortly before 4 p.m., D.C. police said.

Medics rushed 21-year-old Tia Carey to a hospital, where she later died.

“She was only 21. So young. She didn’t even get to see her baby grow up,” Carey’s mother, Demaris Carey, told News4 on Tuesday.

Carey was the mother of two girls, a 5-year-old and a 2-month-old. Demaris Carey is now taking care of her grandchildren.

“Senseless violence. I mean, you know, we encountered things every day… situations, but this was just an act of senseless violence,” Demaris Carey said.

Witnesses and family told News4’s Pat Collins that Carey had picked her daughter up from school and stopped at the gas station to get something to drink. They said she then got into an physical argument with the suspect, 21-year-old Tierra Posey.

The women were throwing punches at each other and then Posey allegedly took out a gun and fired two shots.

Witnesses said they had to physically sit on top of Posey to keep her from running from the scene.

D.C. police arrested Posey, of Southeast D.C., and charged her with second-degree murder while armed.

Stay with News4 and NBCWashington.com for updates to this developing story.

Fotis Dulos, the husband of a suburban Connecticut mother of five who vanished after dropping her children off at school in late May, has been charged with capital murder, murder and kidnapping in his estranged wife’s disappearance, State Police said Tuesday.

His ex-girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, Connecticut State Police said. Both were taken into custody safely and without incident. They had previously pleaded not guilty to charges of evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, whose remains have not been found.

Fotis Dulos’ lawyer Norm Pattis told reporters outside his client’s Farmington home Tuesday that he had just learned of the arrest warrant and said two other arrests were happening simultaneously — one on a charge of murder, another on a charge of conspiracy.

“I’m not surprised that the state decided to bring the charge,” his current lawyer Pattis said Tuesday. “I haven’t seen the warrant. I’ll be surprised if they can win it. Mr. Dulos contends he was not involved and I don’t think the evidence will show that he was.”

At a later press conference, Pattis said that they “categorically deny that Mr. Dulos had any involvement in the disappearance of his wife Jennifer, and we defy the state to prove that she is in fact dead.”

He added that the charges came as a relief to them “because after months of listening to innuendo, suggestion and rumor, we now have something to shoot at, and we intend to begin firing those shots at Mr. Dulos’ bond hearing.”

Bond for Fotis Dulos has been set at $6 million; his arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday morning in Stamford.

Former Fotis Dulos attorney, Kent Mahwinney, was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder, according to police. Bond for Mahwinney was set for $2 million, as police suspect he helped cover-up the crime.

According to police, Mawhinney was arrested twice in 2019 in an unrelated case. The first was a domestic violence incident in January 2019 in which he was arrested for sexual assault, disorderly conduct and unlawful restraint. The second arrest, according to police, was for violating a protective order that was put in place as a result of the first arrest after he allegedly attempted to use a third party to contact the victim.

Attorney information for Mawhinney was not immediately known. Pattis said that they were surprised Mawhinney had been arrested, and expressed concern that the charges would make him unavailable to testify as a witness.

“It is an extraordinary thing to charge a member of the bar with a crime, especially a crime as serious as conspiracy to commit murder,” Pattis said. “Mawhinney was an important part of our defense, we believe he was with Mr. Dulos that morning.”

For her part, Troconis’ bond was set at $2 million. News 4 has reached out to her attorney for comment.

Both Troconis and Mawhinney are also scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Last year, Connecticut State Police released a 38-page arrest affidavit for Fotis Dulos laying out step-by-step their allegations of evidence tampering in his wife’s disappearance. Evidence included blood stains in his estranged wife’s New Canaan home, missing vehicle seats, a mystery trip to an auto detailer and a license plate in a drain, among other reported pieces to the puzzle. Read the full affidavit below.

In a new state warrant release Tuesday, investigators revealed extensive DNA evidence, including Jennifer’s found in various locations and Dulos’ fingerprint on a garbage bag dumped in a trash receptacle in Hartford. They also found a logo from a bicycle police believe the 52-year-old took from his garage, brought to New Canaan and rode to Jennifer’s house.

Investigators theorize that Fotis Dulos waited before going on the attack, then used zip ties to “secure and incapacitate Jennifer for some time” as he put her body in her SUV which he then drove to and left at a nearby park.

Law enforcement officials are under the belief that Jennifer is no longer alive, following a medical examiner’s findings that “categorized the event as a Homicide of violence, to likely include some combination of blunt force injuries.”

Fotis Dulos has denied the tampering charges that were filed against him. Most of his court hearings have been brief; and when he has spoken to the press, it has simply been to profess his love for his five children and say how much he misses them.

The five children have been living with Jennifer Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, in her Upper East Side townhouse, supposedly under armed bodyguard protection, since their mother went missing. Fotis Dulos has been banned from any sort of contact with the kids.

Farber has filed for sole custody of the children; Fotis Dulos has battled her claim and recently sought to dissolve his divorce proceedings, arguing that his estranged wife has not been present to appear in court to propel them forward.

As for what happened to Jennifer Dulos, Fotis Dulos and his attorneys have offered a series of scenarios, including one where Jennifer Dulos ran off to punish him, like the female lead in the novel and film “Gone Girl.”

The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos

Suburban mother of five from Connecticut vanished May 24, 2019

Fotis Dulos Dec 27, 2019

Fotis Dulos, Husband of Missing New Canaan Mother, Wants Divorce Case Dismissed

Jennifer Dulos Dec 12, 2019

State Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Gag Order in Fotis Dulos Case

Thanksgiving Nov 24, 2019

Family of Jennifer Dulos Issues Statement Six Months After Her Disappearance

In an exclusive one-on-one interview with NBC 4 New York, Fotis Dulos asked that the public wait for all the facts to come out.

“I know what I’ve done, I know what I haven’t done,” he told NBC 4 New York in July, about two months after his wife vanished.

In that interview, he sent his prayers to Jennifer’s family, and said that any notion he wished her ill was “ludicrous.”

“I had my differences with Jennifer like many people do when they go through a marriage, but that doesn’t mean that I wish her ill in any way … I never wanted Jennifer out of the way, ” he said.

Jennifer Dulos’ family has rejected Fotis Dulos’ defenses at every turn.

In a statement following news of the arrest, Jennifer Dulos’ family said in part: “Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us there is no sense of closure. Nothing can bring Jennifer back. We miss her every day and will forever mourn her loss.”

For those in the town of New Canaan, where Jennifer was from and was last seen, news of the arrest did not come as a surprise, but rather with a sense relief. Many in the town had been waiting on Fotis Dulos to be arrested for months, and had been wondering why he hadn’t yet faced charges.

“I think the community really wants to find the killer because for anyone to do that anywhere … they should get justice. And if [Fotis Dulos] did it, he should go to prison,” said neighbor Brian Sullivan.

Some in the town said that as soon as the news broke, people started honking car horns to alert one another of the update.

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Increasingly alarmed that Bernie Sanders could become their party’s presidential nominee, establishment-minded Democrats are warning primary voters that the self-described democratic socialist would struggle to defeat President Donald Trump and hurt the party’s chances in premier House, Senate and governors’ races.

The urgent warnings come as Sanders shows new signs of strength on the ground in the first two states on the presidential primary calendar, Iowa and New Hampshire, backed by a dominant fundraising operation. The Vermont senator has largely escaped close scrutiny over the last year as his rivals doubted the quirky 78-year-old’s ability to win the nomination. But less than a month before Iowa’s kickoff caucuses, the doubters are being forced to take Sanders seriously.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, previously a senior aide to President Barack Obama, warned Democrats that Sanders’ status as a democratic socialist and his unwavering support for “Medicare for All” won’t play well among swing voters in the states that matter most in 2020.

“You need a candidate with a message that can help us win swing voters in battleground states,” Emanuel said in an interview. “The degree of difficulty dramatically increases under a Bernie Sanders candidacy. It just gets a lot harder.”

The increasingly vocal concerns are coming from a number of political veterans tied to the Obama administration and the 2020 field’s moderate wing, including those backing former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet.

In some ways, the criticism is not surprising.

Sanders has spent decades fighting to transform the nation’s political and economic systems, creating a long list of political adversaries along the way. Many people connected to Hillary Clinton, for example, still blame Sanders for not working hard enough to support her after their long and bitter presidential primary feud in 2016. Some Democrats still accuse him of not being enough of a team player.

Sanders’ chief strategist Jeff Weaver dismissed the growing criticism as a reflection of the strength of his candidacy.

He raised more money than any other Democratic candidate in the last quarter — virtually all of it from small-dollar donors — and he’s considered a legitimate contender to win Iowa and New Hampshire next month.

“People in establishment Washington are terrified of Bernie Sanders,” Weaver said. “The truth of the matter is their centrist tacking over the years has led us to the place where someone like Donald Trump can get elected.”

Less than four weeks before Iowa’s Feb. 3 caucuses, Sanders’ critics are making a concerted effort to turn up the volume.

The ranks of the concerned include many Democrats tasked with preserving the party’s majority in the House and expanding its minority in the Senate and governors’ mansions across the country.

California Rep. Ami Bera, a leader in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “frontline” program to protect vulnerable House members this fall, warned that a Sanders nomination would force more than 40 Democratic candidates in competitive districts — most of which were carried by Trump four years ago — “to run away from the nominee.”

Specifically, Bera cited Sanders’ signature health care plan, which would replace the nation’s private insurance system with a government-run Medicare for All system.

“You have to take Sen. Sanders seriously,” said Bera, who has endorsed Biden. “Those are going to be tough positions for our members to run on.”

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who led the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm the last time Trump was on the ballot, warned that Republicans “are really good at making elections about who’s at the top of the ticket.”

“I come from a state that’s pretty damn red. There is no doubt that having ‘socialist’ ahead of ‘Democrat’ is not a positive thing in the state of Montana,” Tester, who has not endorsed any 2020 candidate, said of Sanders. “He can overcome that, but I think it’s something he’s going to have to do.”

Several Sanders critics noted that he has largely escaped intense scrutiny throughout the campaign, in part because some assumed that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another progressive firebrand, was a stronger candidate who would cannibalize his support. With Warren’s candidacy struggling to maintain momentum, however, those assumptions are now being questioned.

“He has now emerged as somebody who’s got the ability to win the nomination,” said former Obama aide Ben LaBolt, who isn’t aligned with any 2020 campaign but opposes Sanders.

LaBolt seized on Sanders’ short list of accomplishments over three decades in Congress. Over that time, the senator wrote just a handful of bills that ultimately became law, though Sanders’ camp insists he’s effected meaningful change in and out of Washington.

“He’s more concerned about shouting in the wilderness to make an ideological point than getting things done,” LaBolt said.

Sanders is also facing lingering questions about his age, having suffered a heart attack late last year. He is the oldest candidate in the race, and, if elected, he would be the oldest president in U.S. history.

Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who is supporting Bennet’s underdog bid, was reluctant to single out any of the candidates for criticism. But he said Sanders wouldn’t be the strongest nominee and suggested it was fair to take Sanders’ age into account.

“I think health has become an issue, whether we like it or not,” Hart, 83, said in an interview. “I’m older than Sen. Sanders, so I can say things like that. I think it’s time for generational change.”

Marshall Matz, who was a policy adviser for Sen. George McGovern’s failed 1972 bid for president, was more direct in his warning for Democrats. If they nominate Sanders, he said, the party should expect the same landslide loss that McGovern suffered decades ago to President Richard Nixon.

“I think he would not just lose but would lose badly — and I don’t think the country can afford that,” Matz said, noting that McGovern generated large crowds and enthusiasm just as Sanders has.

Indeed, on the ground in Iowa, there are signs that Sanders is in a strong position as caucus day approaches.

Josh Kennedy, a 36-year-old Sanders supporter from West Branch, Iowa, said he had previously been curious about Warren but hadn’t been impressed by her on the campaign trail. He’s back on board with Sanders.

“You know exactly what you get with him,” Kennedy said.

Sanders drew consistently large crowds as he crisscrossed the state over the New Year holiday. His campaign said he spoke to nearly 6,000 supporters across 16 events, with more than 1,300 people gathered for a Des Moines party on New Year’s Eve.

The supporters turned out in rural areas as well.

Tracy Freese, chair of the Grundy County Democratic Party and a Sanders supporter, said she counted around 250 people at the Grundy Center Community Hall for Sanders last weekend, a number she called “incredible.”

“To put that many people in a room, in a small red county, for Bernie was crazy on a Saturday,” she said.

Peoples reported from New York.

Iran struck back at the United States early on Wednesday for killing its most powerful military commander, firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases that house American troops in what the Iranian supreme leader said was a “slap” against America’s military presence in the region.

The retaliation risks a dangerous escalation in the Middle East. Still, behind the dramatic barrage of more than a dozen missiles, Iran averted casualties by giving some advance warning before hitting heavily fortified bases. This could open a path to step away from an immediate spiral of more direct strikes between U.S. and Iran.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made clear that Iran’s ballistic missile strikes were in revenge for the U.S. killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qasem Soleimani, whose death last week in an American drone strike in Baghdad prompted angry calls to avenge his slaying and drew crowds of Iranians, said to number in the millions, to the streets to mourn him. Khamenei himself wept at the funeral in a sign of his bond with the commander.

“Last night they received a slap,” Khamenei said in a speech after the missile strikes. “These military actions are not sufficient (for revenge). What is important is that the corrupt presence of America in this region comes to an end.”

Despite the heightened rhetoric, there were some indications that there would not be more immediate retaliation on either side.

‘All is well!’ President Donald Trump tweeted shortly after the missile attacks, adding, ‘So far, so good’ regarding casualties.

Moments earlier, Iran’s foreign minister tweeted that Tehran had taken “& concluded proportionate measures in self-defense,” adding that Tehran did “not seek escalation” but would defend itself against further aggression.

It appeared Iran gave advance warning of the strikes. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said he received notification from Iran just after midnight that its retaliation “was starting or would start soon” and would focus only on American positions. Finland and Lithuania’s militaries, which had personnel at one of the targeted bases, said they received information about an imminent attack and had time to move to shelters or leave the base.

Iran’s attacks “appeared designed for maximum domestic effect with minimum escalatory risk,” said Henry Rome, analyst with Eurasia Group.

“For a president who wants to avoid a war in the Middle East during an election year, the Iranians have provided an off-ramp he will likely take,” Rome said.

Tensions have risen steadily in the Middle East since Trump’s decision to unilaterally withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

The Iranian strikes on the bases marked the first time in recent years that Iran has directly attacked U.S. positions rather than through proxies in the region.

It raised the chances of open conflict erupting between the two rivals, who have been at odds since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis.

Adding to the chaos, a Ukrainian airplane with 176 people crashed after takeoff just outside Tehran on Wednesday morning, killing all on board, Iranian state TV and Ukrainian officials said. Mechanical issues were suspected.

The Boeing 737-800 had taken off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, bound for the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The plane carried 167 passengers and nine crew members. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Vadym Prystaiko, said there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians on board — the Ukrainian nationals included two passengers and the nine crew. The rest were Swedish, Afghan, German and British nationals.

The U.S. Federation Aviation Administration earlier warned of a “potential for miscalculation or mis-identification” for civilian aircraft in the Persian Gulf. The agency barred U.S. pilots and carriers from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace.

The U.S. has been deploying more troops in the region. U.S. Gulf allies that host thousands of American troops are concerned of an outbreak of direct conflict and retaliation from Iran. The Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have called for de-escalation.

“The situation is not currently a war situation,” UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei told reporters Wednesday, stressing that Iran is a neighbor and the last thing the country wants is more tension in the region.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned the U.S. and its allies against retaliating over the missile attack.

“We are warning all American allies, who gave their bases to its terrorist army, that any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted,” the Guard said in a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. It also threatened Israel.

The Iranians fired a total of 15 missiles in Wednesday’s strike, two U.S. officials said. Ten hit the Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq’s western Anbar province and one targeted a base in Irbil in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Four failed, said the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about a military operation.

“As we evaluate the situation and our response, we will take all necessary measures to protect and defend U.S. personnel, partners and allies in the region,” Jonathan Hoffman, an assistant to the U.S. defense secretary, said.

Two Iraqi security officials said a missile appeared to have struck a plane at Ain al-Asad, igniting a fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the attacks, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they had no permission to talk to journalists.

Ain al-Asad was first used by American forces after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, and it later was used by American troops amid the fight against the Islamic State group. It houses about 1,500 U.S. and coalition forces. Trump visited it in December 2018, making his first presidential visit to troops in the region. Vice President Mike Pence also has visited the base.

As Iran reels from Soleimani’s death and the loss of life on the plane crash, it is also contending with the aftermath of a deadly stampede that broke out Tuesday at Soleimani’s funeral, killing 56 people and injuring more than 200. Shortly after Wednesday’s missile attack, Soleimani’s shroud-wrapped remains were lowered into the ground as mourners wailed at the grave site in his hometown of Kerman.

The general’s funeral procession in major cities spanning three days was an unprecedented honor for Soleimani, seen by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force in the face of U.S. pressure.

The U.S. blames him for killing U.S. troops in Iraq. The Trump administration alleges he’d been plotting new attacks just before he was killed.

Many Sunni Muslims in the region, however, view him as a destabilizing figure who commanded dangerous and deadly Shiite proxy militias. Soleimani led forces supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad in that country’s civil war.

Since his killing Jan. 3, Tehran has abandoned the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. In Iraq, lawmakers and pro-Iranian factions in parliament have voted to oust American troops from Iraqi territory.

Kuwait said Wednesday that its state-run KUNA news agency’s Twitter account was hacked and posted a false story on U.S. troops withdrawing from the nation. The fake alert went out on its account, Kuwait said. More than 13,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Kuwait, with more now on the way.

Iran Jan 7

Death of Iran General Spurs Anxiety Over Fate of US Hostages

Trump administration Jan 7

Trump Retreats From Threat to Attack Iranian Cultural Sites

Iran Jan 7

US Prepares for Possible Iranian Reprisal After Drone Strike

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Lolita C. Baldor and Zeke Miller in Washington, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed.

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A man who previously was a high school wrestling coach in Charles County and school building worker in Calvert County is accused of sexually abusing a child.

George Andrew Taylor, 34, was charged Tuesday with sex abuse of a minor and related charges, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office announced. Officials did not say whether the child was a student at a school where Taylor had worked.

The Waldorf resident, “who is known to the victim’s family,” allegedly assaulted the child in Calvert and Charles counties.

He was most recently employed by Calvert County Public Schools, the sheriff’s office said, without specifying his position. Previously, he was a building worker in Charles County Public Schools, between 2014 and 2018.

He worked at John Hanson Middle School and T. C. Martin Elementary School, and was a junior varsity wrestling coach at St. Charles High School, officials said.

Investigators in both Calvert and Charles counties are working to determine whether Taylor victimized students. The Charles County Sheriff’s Office asked parents to talk with their children.

“Out of precaution, parents are asked to speak with their children about Taylor and report any activity that could be deemed inappropriate,” a statement said.

An Atlanta couple said they came home from a winter vacation to find their house had been ransacked by an unusual suspect: a squirrel.

Kari and Dustin Drees bought their first home last month in Atlanta’s affluent Buckhead district and went to visit family a week later, news outlets reported.

During their vacation, an alarm went off in the home but friends said the doors and windows were not breached.

When the couple came home, their house was a mess, with floors scratched up, baseboards chewed on and a kitchen faucet running, Kari Drees said.

A squirrel had fallen down their chimney and was trapped in the house, defecating and scratching at everything to get out. Eventually it made a nest in the couple’s couch.

“We’re stressed at first, but we were like, ‘This is why you have homeowner’s insurance. It’s in situations like this.’ … and so we weren’t too stressed,” Kari Drees said.

But the couple’s home insurance provider Mercury Insurance told them it wouldn’t cover the damages because “a squirrel is a rodent,” which is not covered under the policy.

A representative from Mercury told news outlets that the contract “explicitly stated” the insurance does not cover damages by rodents.

The couple was told if a raccoon destroyed the house, the damages would have been covered.

The couple will need to repair furniture, windows, floors, walls and have the home professionally cleaned.

Mercury said that while they won’t cover the damages, they have offered to pay for safe housing for the family for up to two weeks.

A woman in Virginia has been charged in the death of a newborn baby nearly 17 years after his body was found in a park.

A grand jury in the city of Chesapeake indicted Melissa Sue Chrisman, 41, on charges of felony murder and felony child abuse and neglect, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

Police spokesman Leo Kosinski declined to identify Chrisman’s relation to the child.

Known as Baby Daniel, the infant found with his umbilical cord still attached froze to death. He was found on Jan. 17, 2003 and was wrapped in two blankets and wearing a diaper.

Court documents say a Chesapeake detective recently assigned to the case sent two blankets to a lab for testing. Police also sought a search warrant to collect a DNA sample from Chrisman.

Chrisman had been sent to a city jail. It’s unclear if she has an attorney.

The case was featured last summer on the City of Chesapeake’s TV station and its YouTube channel.

City Detective James Thomas said, “We don’t know if it’s gonna be a young mother who got rid of her child out of fear of telling her parents she was pregnant, or possibly an older lady who got pregnant but didn’t want any more children.”

Baby Daniel was buried in a donated plot in Suffolk, Virginia. A grave marker reads “Loved by many.”

Virginia law allows for a parent to surrender their baby to a hospital emergency room within 14 days of birth. Go here for more information on infant “safe haven” laws.

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D.C. will hold a special election to replace Council member Jack Evans, officials announced a day after Evans said he will step down.

A special election for the Ward 2 Council seat will be held June 16, the Board of Elections announced Wednesday. That’s two weeks after the primary election June 2, which also includes the Ward 2 seat, so candidates would be running for the primary and the special election at the same time.

Elections officials picked the date to minimize confusion among voters over the primary and special election, provide adequate time for candidates to obtain the 500 signatures they need, and adhere to the mandated timeline of 174 days since the seat became vacant, a board spokesperson said.

Evans said in a letter Tuesday that he will resign from office on Jan. 17, two business days before the council was expected to expel him amid findings of multiple ethics violations.

An investigation found that Evans violated D.C. Council ethics rules 11 times since 2014 and earned $400,000 from clients deemed “prohibited sources.” A federal investigation is ongoing.

Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke publicly on Wednesday for the first time since Evans made his announcement.

“Obviously [it’s] very sad that a public servant who had dedicated his career to improving the District made some very significant mistakes and he’s reaping those consequences,” she said. “But like most people, I’m ready to turn the page and focus on the business of the District of Columbia.”

It’s possible that Evans could run to recapture his old seat.

Ward 2 covers a portion of downtown, Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom. Go here to find out which ward you live in.

Evans, the longest serving elected official in the history of D.C. government with more than 28 years on the Council, still faces a federal investigation.

Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story.

Northbound lanes of Interstate 95 before Joplin in Triangle, Virginia, were closed Wednesday morning after a fatal crash, authorities said.

About 1:15 a.m. a truck contracted by the Virginia Department of Transportation to treat roads was northbound in the right lane of I-95 near mile marker 149 when it was struck from behind by a 2002 Dodge Ram pulling a fifth-wheel trailer, Virginia State Police said. The contracted truck wasn’t treating roads at the time but had its lights activated.

The crash caused the lights on Dodge’s trailer to turn off, and minutes later, a 2018 Subaru swerved to avoid the trailer but struck it anyway and caught fire, police said.

The first state trooper to reach the scene pulled the driver of the Subaru out of the car, police said.

The passenger of the Dodge, 42-year-old Chad D. Shifflett of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, died at the scene, police said. The drivers of the Dodge and the Subaru were taken to hospitals with serious injuries. The driver of the contract truck was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

Neither the driver nor the passenger in the Dodge was wearing a seatbelt.

A backup stretching over 9 miles formed behind the multi-vehicle crash, causing heavy traffic near Marine Base Quantico. The closure was lifted around 9 a.m.

Transportation authorities warned of icy spots on roads Wednesday morning and urged drivers to exercise caution.

The cause of the crash between the contracted truck and the Dodge remains under investigation, but weather does not appear to be the cause, police said. Charges are pending.

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The crash of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people in Iran touched off mourning Wednesday in both Ukraine and Canada — where many of the victims were from or were headed — and raised a host of questions about what went wrong. But U.S. intelligence officials said there was no immediate evidence it was shot down.

The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at U.S. forces. While the timing of the disaster led some aviation experts to wonder whether it was brought down by a missile, Iranian officials disputed any such suggestion and blamed mechanical trouble.

“The rumors about the plane are completely false and no military or political expert has confirmed it,” Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for the Iranian armed forces, was quoted by the semiofficial Fars news agency as saying. He said the rumors were “psychological warfare” by the government’s opponents.

In Washington, a Democrat who attended a classified briefing from Trump administration officials on Capitol Hill — including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and CIA Director Gina Haspel — said the briefers had no intelligence indicating the plane was shot down. The lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. The crash just before dawn scattered flaming debris and passengers’ belongings across a wide stretch of farmland.

Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were bound for Canada.. The flight also included a family of four and newlyweds, too. The manifest listed several teenagers and children, some as young as 1 or 2.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

“Know that all Canadians are grieving with you,” he said, addressing the victims’ families.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy cut short a visit to Oman to return to Kyiv and said a team of Ukrainian experts would go to Tehran to help investigate the crash.

“Our priority is to find the truth and everyone responsible for the tragedy,” he wrote in a Facebook statement.

Ukrainian officials, for their part, initially agreed that the 3½-year-old plane was brought down by mechanical trouble but later backed away from that and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is going on.

While the cause of the tragedy remained unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeing’s reputation, which has been battered by the furor over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months. The uproar led to the firing of the company’s CEO last month.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims’ families and said it stands ready to assist.

Authorities said they found the plane’s so-called black boxes, which record cockpit conversations and instrument data.

But given the near state of war between Iran and the U.S., it was not immediately clear whether the Iranians would share the devices with investigators from the United States and its allies or whether Tehran would invite the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to take part.

Normally investigators from the country of the plane’s origin — in this case, the U.S. — participate in the investigation of major crashes in other nations.

Immediately after the crash Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran’s Road and Transportation Ministry, said it appeared a fire erupted in one of its engines and the pilot lost control of the plane, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The news report did not explain how Iranian authorities knew that.

Major world airlines, meanwhile, rerouted flights crossing the Middle East to avoid danger amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration barred American flights from certain Persian Gulf airspace, warning of the “potential for miscalculation or misidentification” of civilian aircraft.

Ukraine International Airlines President Yevhen Dykhne, said the aircraft “was one of the best planes we had, with an amazing, reliable crew.” The jet last underwent routine maintenance on Monday, according to the airline. As for the pilots, it said, “Given the crew’s experience, error probability is minimal. We do not even consider such a chance.”

The Ukrainian plane slammed into the ground near the town of Shahedshahr, causing fires that lit up the darkened fields before daybreak. Din Mohammad Qassemi said he had been watching the news about the Iranian missile attack on U.S. troops in Iraq in revenge for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani when he heard the crash.

“I heard a massive explosion and all the houses started to shake. There was fire everywhere,” he said. “At first I thought (the Americans) have hit here with missiles and went in the basement as a shelter. After a while, I went out and saw a plane has crashed over there. Body parts were lying around everywhere.”

The crash left a wide field of debris scattered across farmland, including pieces of the shattered aircraft, a child’s cartoon-covered electric toothbrush, a stuffed animal, luggage and electronics.

It was the first fatal crash involving Ukraine International Airlines, which began flying in 1992, according to the Aviation Safety Network, which tracks accidents.

As for the Boeing 737-800 model that went down, thousands of the twin-engine jetliners introduced in the late 1990s are in use around the world, and it has one of the best safety records among popular airliners.

The Aviation Safety Network said there have been eight fatal crashes involving the Boeing 737-800 out of nearly 5,000 built. A FlyDubai crash in Russia in 2016 killed 62 people, and an Air India Express disaster in India in 2010 left more than 150 dead.

The 737-800s have been the subject of inspections and repairs since last year, after airlines started reporting cracks in a part that keeps the wings attached to the fuselage.

Following a blustery afternoon in the D.C. area Wednesday afternoon, t he temperature will fall into the teens and 20s Thursday morning, which will cause refreezing and ice in some areas, but that won’t be widespread.

Public schools in Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Culpeper and Fauquier counties will open two hours late Thursday.

The temperature will be in the 30s most of Thursday with a high around 40 before springlike weather moves in for the weekend.

A wind advisory was issued then canceled by the National Weather Service Wednesday, but potentially damaging gusts about 40 mph howled around the D.C. area Wednesday afternoon. The wind died down Wednesday evening.

Commuters Wednesday morning faced leftover slick or icy spots from Tuesday’s snow. School districts throughout Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia closed or delayed to protect students from hazardous road conditions.

Public schools in Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Page, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties declared Wednesday a snow day in anticipation of slick roads. Arlington, Alexandria City, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County public schools opened two hours late. Go here to see a full list of school closures and delays.

Parts of Loudoun and Montgomery counties were also hit by a snow squall — a fast-moving storm that could quickly impact road visibility. The warning has since ended for the D.C. area.

D.C. has activated its hypothermia alert due to the low temperatures. If you or someone you know in D.C. needs shelter, call 311.

Much warmer air will arrive Friday, with highs in the 50s, and be here through the weekend.

A springlike storm will accompany the springlike warmth. Expect isolated showers Saturday and morning showers Sunday with highs in the upper 60s both days.

Maryland’s annual legislative session began Wednesday with new leadership, including the first new Senate president in more than three decades and the first black woman to preside as speaker over the House of Delegates at the start of the state’s 90-day session.

Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, was elected unanimously by senators to take Sen. Thomas V. Mike Miller’s place at the head of the chamber. Ferguson, a former teacher, was quick to highlight the importance of a wide-ranging measure aimed at investing more to improve education. The proposal promises to be a top issue before the General Assembly.

The measure, a result of three years of study by a state commission, aims to bring equality to the state’s public schools.

“What we know is that despite the positive examples that we have seen over and over, we have far too many schools where the ZIP code, the race or an individual’s tax bracket determine a child’s life outcome,” Ferguson said. “In a great state like Maryland, that is not something that we should expect as normal or OK.”

The proposal focuses on five key policy areas. They include pre-K, teaching and increased teachers’ pay, college and career readiness, aid for struggling schools and accountability in implementing the plan. While Gov. Larry Hogan has expressed support for some of the recommendations, he has criticized the $4 billion it’s estimated to cost annually by the time the program is fully implemented a decade from now.

“There is no formula for where the money comes from,” Hogan said Wednesday morning during an appearance at the Annapolis Summit, sponsored by The Daily Record. “It’s just all make believe at this point.”

Both lawmakers and Gov. Larry Hogan also have plans to boost school construction funding.

House Speaker Adrienne Jones was reelected to lead the chamber of 141 delegates. Jones, of Baltimore County, was first elected in a one-day special session in May, after the death of Michael Busch. This will be her first full session at the helm.

“It’s a new year, a new decade, and our House members look more like our state than ever before,” Jones said. “It’s such an honor to be part of the significant changes going on here in Maryland, and I thank each and every one of you for your faith in me to lead this House.”

She paid tribute to Busch.

“Too soon, we lost a giant in Maryland government — an ultimate public servant and honorable man in Michael Erin Busch,” she said.

Like Ferguson, Jones also highlighted the importance of education. The speaker said she visited a Maryland school that literally could not open its doors.

“If we can’t ensure that every school in our state can open its doors and be ready to provide a world-class education to our children, we are failing,” Jones said. “That’s why we are making school construction and educational funding a priority so every child across the state has the opportunity to succeed regardless of their zip code.”

Del. Nic Kipke, the House minority leader, said Republicans will be offering proposals to reform education and increase accountability.

“It’s a lot more money for very few meaningful reforms,” Kipke said of the 10-year plan. “So, without those meaningful reforms, we’re going to have to come to the table and work together to do a better job, if we really are serious about improving standards for students in classrooms.”

“If you’re going to have more teachers, you need more classrooms,” Montgomery County Executive Mark Elrich said. “If you’re going to have more classrooms, you need more teachers. These two things go together, and Montgomery County’s needs are both those areas.”

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said better schools are needed but worries that Prince George’s County can’t afford to pay its share.

“It means that the counties and the cities that need it most can least afford it,” she said. “It means this transformative education that we’re talking about is not affordable.”

The elections of Jones and Ferguson have prompted some uncertainty in how new leadership styles will affect the outcome of the next 90 days. Both Miller and Busch held their respective posts longer than anyone in the state’s history. Ferguson, 36, is viewed as more liberal than Miller, 77.

“I think you’ll see a little bit of an ideological and a generational shift, but I don’t think it’s going to be as radical as folks think,” said Sen. Will Smith, a Montgomery County Democrat who is the new chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. “The main goal is to have some semblance of stability.”

While education is clearly a marquee topic this year, lawmakers also are expected to revisit gun control, sports betting and a proposal to rebuild the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore to keep the Preakness Stakes — the second leg of the Triple Crown — in the city.

Hogan announced plans on Tuesday to introduce legislation aimed at tightening ethics laws, after a number of public corruption cases in recent years.

A historically diverse Virginia General Assembly convened Wednesday, led for the first time in more than two decades by Democrats who promised to enact a litany of changes.

Likely the most prominent debate this year will be on gun control, an area where Democrats have promised significant changes.

The House quickly elected Eileen Filler-Corn at the new speaker, the first woman to serve in that role. She is also the first Jewish speaker. She represents Virginia’s 41st House District, which lies in Fairfax County and includes Springfield and Burke.

“A new torch is being passed today, one that ushers in a modern era representing all Virginians,” Filler-Corn said on the House floor.

Virginia Politics

Andrea Swalec Nov 9, 2019

Virginia Democrats Nominate First-Ever Female Speaker of the House

Virginia Feb 21, 2019

ERA Activist Jailed Without Bond for Exposing Breast in Virginia

Many Democratic lawmakers wore blue Wednesday, a nod to the November blue wave that helped them take full control of the General Assembly for the first time in a generation. Democrats have made strong gains in Virginia since President Donald Trump was elected in 2016, significantly changing the makeup of the General Assembly. Women, people of color and millennials have all made gains.

African-American lawmakers are set to have most power at the legislature in Virginia’s 400-year history, including leading several powerful legislative committees.

“It is our time,” Sen. Jennifer McClellan, vice chairwoman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, said Wednesday morning. She said the black caucus was committed to eliminate the “last vestiges of racism and white supremacy in Virginia law.”

Ghazala Hashmi, a first-time candidate who unseated a Republican incumbent to help Democrats flip the Virginia Senate, became that chamber’s first Muslim female member.

In the weeks since Democrats won majorities in the state House and Senate, they have laid out an ambitious agenda. It includes high-profile issues Republicans thwarted for years, including gun control measures and criminal justice reforms. They also have pledged to ease restrictions on abortion access, raise the minimum wage, prohibit discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community and make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

Lawmakers also will be tasked with passing a two-year state budget and deciding whether to legalize casinos.

Gun issues figure to be the most high-profile area of debate. Some of the new restrictions Gov. Ralph Northam and other Democratic lawmakers want include universal background checks, banning assault weapons and passing a red flag law to allow the temporary removal of guns from someone who is deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others.

Republicans and gun-rights groups have pledged stiff resistance. Gun owners are descending on local government offices to demand that officials establish sanctuaries for gun rights. More than 100 counties, cities and towns have declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries and vowed to oppose any new “unconstitutional restrictions” on guns.

“If Democrats don’t see that outpouring of rejection for the policies they are proposing and react to it, it strikes me as being extremely arrogant,” said Del. Dave LaRock, R-Hamilton.

But the Democrats say they got a much different message from voters in November.

“This is not taking away Second amendment rights,” said Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William. “We are proposing legislation that protects all Virginians.”

As debate over gun legislation heats up security at the Capitol has been ramped up. Thousands of gun rights activists are expected there for their annual rally Jan. 20, but this year there is special security planning underway to make sure everything stays peaceful.

Democrats indicated early Wednesday they were not going to pass a set of rules organizing how the House will operate, as is traditional on its first day. The delay allows Democrats to put off a contentious floor debate on whether to ban guns from the Capitol, which likely would have overshadowed much of Wednesday’s events.

The Equal Rights Amendment was expected to be another top issue. Democrats say their caucus unanimously supports ratifying the gender equality measure and have pledged to do so quickly.

Hundreds of advocates for what could become the next amendment to the U.S. Constitution staged a lively rally outside an entrance to the Capitol, where they cheered as Democratic lawmakers walked in and chanted “E-R-A” as several Republicans followed.

ERA supporters formed a gauntlet to welcome lawmakers — chanting “get it done” — just like they did last year only to have their hopes dashed when the GOP majority refused to even take a vote on the measure.

“I come here just absolutely euphoric,” ERA supporter Elizabeth Johnson. “I know that the ERA will pass.”

In her opening speech, Filler-Corn made the promise ERA backers wanted to hear.

“This House will pass the Equal Rights Amendment,” she said.

Opponents held a press conference Wednesday morning where they warned ratification would lead to the rollback of abortion restrictions as well as a host of negative consequences for women.

“Would our women-owned small business programs, would they go away since they discriminate based off of sex?” said Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper. “These are legitimate questions that we keep asking.”

Critics of the measure say the ERA is not lawfully before the states for ratification, in part because of a congressional deadline that passed decades ago.

ERA advocates’ efforts in Virginia “will be nothing more than political commentary. The time to ratify the ERA expired more than 40 years ago,” said Kristen Waggoner, senior vice president of the U.S. Legal Division and Communications for Alliance Defending Freedom.

A memo by Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel says an expired pair of deadlines imposed by Congress on ratification of the measure means it’s too late for additional states to ratify it now. Congress sent it to states in 1972, attaching a 1979 ratification deadline to it. That deadline was later extended to 1982. During that time just 35 states ratified it — three short of the 38 needed.

But Engel’s finding is unlikely to be the last word on the amendment. On Tuesday, supporters of the ERA filed a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts aimed at clearing a legal path for adoption of the amendment. The lawsuit argues that because the deadline was set forth in legislation authorizing states to ratify the amendment — and not in the three-sentence amendment itself — it’s not constitutionally binding and Virginia’s vote would put the amendment over the top.

Engel also said Congress may not revive a proposed amendment after a ratification deadline has expired. He said the only option is for Congress to begin the process again.

Efforts by ERA opponents are underway to block its ultimate adoption as the Constitution’s 28th Amendment, including a lawsuit filed in federal court in mid-December by Alabama, Louisiana and South Dakota.

Later Wednesday night, Northam, who has largely rebounded from a blackface scandal that almost drove him from office a year ago, is set to address lawmakers. He’s also promising sweeping changes to the state’s criminal justice reforms that include decriminalizing marijuana, softening the penalties for people caught stealing smaller-dollar items and reducing the number of Virginians whose driver’s licenses are suspended.

Wednesday also marked the return of Joe Morrissey, a former Virginia lawmaker who used to spend his days at the General Assembly and his nights in jail after being accused of having sex with his teenage secretary. Morrissey defeated a Democratic incumbent in a primary to win a Richmond-area senate seat.

Republicans have cast Democrats’ agenda as extreme, saying it would bring Virginia in line with liberal California or New York. They’ve promised to look for ways to hold the majority accountable, keep Virginia business friendly and exercise fiscal restraint.

“We think that very quickly, the voters of Virginia will begin to get buyer’s remorse about what they’ve done here,” incoming House Minority Leader Del. Todd Gilbert said.

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One student stabbed another during a fight on a middle school soccer field in Montgomery County, Maryland, police say.

A fight broke out Tuesday afternoon between two groups of students from different schools on the soccer field beside Newport Mill Middle School in Kensington, police said.

During the fight, a student stabbed a boy with a pocket knife, according to police.

The boy was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

The other student was charged with first-degree assault and was later released, police said.

Montgomery County Public Schools sent a statement to parents saying that there was a “serious incident” involving two students. One of the students involved goes to Newport Mill Middle School, the letter said.

The school told parents there would be increased police and security during dismissal going forward.

A tractor trailer crashed on Interstate 95 near the Quantico exit Wednesday night, putting northbound traffic at a standstill and causing more than 5 miles of delays.

All northbound lanes were blocked for about two hours. One left lane is now getting by, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Virginia State Police said a flatbed tractor trailer ran off the road at the 148 mile marker about 7:15 p.m. and crashed into the woods.

The driver was hospitalized with serious, non-life threatening injuries, police said.

WTOP reports there was guardrail damage and a diesel spill. Southbound traffic in the Express Lanes was also stopped for debris cleanup.

The crash isn’t far from the site of a fatal crash that closed northbound I-95 for hours Wednesday morning.

Stay with News4 and NBCWashington.com for updates to this developing story.

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Two dead spouses, two missing children and rumors of a cult. Confusion is growing around a series of mysterious deaths and the disappearances of a 7-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl that tie back to a couple who have since vanished themselves.

Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan haven’t been seen since September. Lori Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, never reported them missing and disappeared soon after being questioned about the children. What has followed is a twisted tale spanning two states that revealed the deaths of both their previous spouses, the couple’s doomsday beliefs and children who slowly slipped away from relatives who are desperate to find them.

“All I want before I go is just to see those children, and especially — and I’m being greedy — especially my boy JJ. My little man,” grandfather Larry Woodcock said Tuesday at a press conference in Idaho announcing a $20,000 reward for information leading to the kids.

Wife Kay Woodcock’s brother, Charles Vallow, adopted JJ when he was a baby. Charles and his wife, Lori Vallow, also raised Lori’s daughter from a previous relationship at their home in suburban Phoenix.

Lori Vallow was a hairdresser, always keeping JJ’s hair trimmed and styled, Larry Woodcock said. The Woodcocks, who live in Lake Charles, Louisiana, visited their grandson often and shared frequent phone calls and video chats when they couldn’t be there in person.

“I do know that Lori always had the best, the absolute best interest in heart for JJ. She and Charles were the absolute best parents,” he said.

But things began to change a few years ago, Kay Woodcock said. Her brother confided that he feared Lori was cheating on him with Chad Daybell, an author of several religious-themed fiction books about prophecies and the end of the world.

Charles Vallow eventually filed divorce documents in an Arizona court last February claiming that Lori believed she was a “translated being” and “a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020,” The Arizona Republic newspaper reported.

He also accused Lori of threatening to kill him if he got in her way, prompting him to seek a protection order.

“He was highly concerned about it: Her emotional state, her mental state, and the fact that she had made threats about him,” Kay Woodcock said Tuesday. “It all culminated into that cult that she’s in.”

Lori Vallow and Daybell did Preparing A People podcasts run by a small multimedia company that says it’s not a cult or even a group to join and distanced itself from the couple’s beliefs. It advertises its lectures, podcasts and videos as readying people for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Charles and Lori Vallow’s divorce was never completed — Charles was killed in July by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox. Cox told authorities that the shooting was in self-defense after Charles Vallow hit him with a baseball bat, but the case is unsolved. Whatever the findings, Cox won’t stand trial — he died of unknown causes in December. Toxicology results could take weeks.

Kay Woodcock said Lori acted strangely when she told the family about Charles’ death, not mentioning the cause. A relative had to search Charles’ name online to find out he had been shot.

“We knew it was a murder, we knew Charles’ death wasn’t a justifiable homicide,” Kay Woodcock said. “It was like they set him up.”

After the death, Kay and Larry Woodcock said they had a harder time reaching JJ. The once-frequent calls dwindled and grew short. The last one, in August, lasted just 36 seconds and seemed scripted, they said.

That month, Lori moved to Rexburg, Idaho, with the kids. It brought her closer to Chad Daybell’s hometown of Salem, Idaho, where he lived with his wife, Tammy Daybell.

The Daybells ran a publishing company that produced his fiction books about end times and theology around The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as other authors’ works. He also spoke at Preparing A People events, hosted by Color My Media.

“‘Preparing A People’ is part of a media company that films speakers on a variety of topics not affiliated with any specific religion,” Color My Media owners Michael and Nancy James wrote on the company’s website. “It is not a ‘group’ and is not a ‘Cult’ or something people join, but has educational lecture events that can be attended or watched on video.”

They also said they didn’t share any of Daybell or Vallow’s beliefs “if they are contrary to Christian principles of honesty, integrity and truth or if they do not align with the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Church spokesman Eric Hawkins declined to comment, saying the case doesn’t involve the faith.

Two months after Lori Vallow moved to Idaho, Tammy Daybell died at her home. She was just 49, and her obituary said she died of natural causes on Oct. 19. Police would later question that and have her body exhumed for an autopsy, whose results have not been released yet.

Chad Daybell married Lori Vallow just two weeks after Tammy’s death.

In the meantime, relatives were growing more concerned about the children. Larry and Kay Woodcock said they were only able to reach JJ a few times after his father died in July. They have left voice messages, emails and texts since August but haven’t heard back.

Investigators later determined JJ and Tylee had not been seen since September, but Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell never reported them missing.

Julie Rowe, a self-described “visionary” and “energy worker” who says she has long been friends with Daybell, uploaded a video on her website defending him and claiming his innocence in the children’s disappearances and the death of his previous wife. She said Daybell repeatedly told her he had a vision of Tammy’s death. Rowe claimed to have the same vision.

“My angels tell me that Chad Daybell is being falsely accused of the suspicious death of his wife,” she said in the video. “I have talked to Tammy’s spirit.”

Two days before Thanksgiving, officers visited Lori and Chad to check on the children after getting calls from worried family members.

Investigators said the couple claimed JJ and Tylee were visiting relatives in Arizona. After discovering the lie, investigators returned to the home the next day — only to find Lori and Chad had left town.

Local, regional and state authorities are still searching for the couple and the children, with help from the FBI. Chad and Lori have been named persons of interest in the children’s disappearances.

Sheriff’s deputies searched Daybell’s home last week, removing 43 items including computers, cellphones, medication and journals.

An attorney for the couple didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The U.S. and Iran stepped back from the brink of possible war Wednesday, as President Donald Trump indicated he would not respond militarily after no one was harmed in Iran’s missile strikes on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.

Speaking from the White House, Trump seemed intent on deescalating the crisis, which reached a new height after he authorized the targeted killing last week of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force. Iran retaliated overnight with its most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, firing more than a dozen missiles from its territory at the installations in Iraq.

Trump credited an early warning system “that worked very well” for the fact that no Americans or Iraqis were killed. He added that Americans should be “extremely grateful and happy” with the outcome.

Trump, facing one of the greatest tests of his presidency, said Wednesday that Iran appeared to be “standing down” and said the U.S. response would be to put in place new economic sanctions “until Iran changes its behavior.”

Hours after Trump’s address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced that the House would vote on Thursday seeking to limit Trump’s military actions related to Iran, adding that Congress members have “serious, urgent concerns about the Administration’s decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward.”

“Today, to honor our duty to keep the American people safe, the House will move forward with a War Powers Resolution to limit the President’s military actions regarding Iran,” Pelosi said in a statement.

The strikes had pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and put the world’s attention on Trump as he weighed whether to respond with more military force. The Republican president delivered his remarks surrounded by his national security advisers in the foyer of the White House. His comments came after a late-night tweet in which he insisted “All is well!” after the strikes.

Despite the conciliatory talk, the region remained on edge Wednesday. Americans forces, including a quick reaction force dispatched over the weekend, remained on high alert. The conflict could still play out in unpredictable ways in the weeks and months to come, with Tehran’s proxies in the region able to carry out attacks. And there was no obvious route toward a rebooting of diplomatic engagement, as Trump pledged to ratchet up the “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions that helped bring on the recent escalation.

Iran, for days, had promised to respond forcefully to Soleimani’s killing, but its limited strike on two bases — one in the northern Iraqi city in Irbil and the other at Ain al-Asad in western Iraq — appeared to signal that it was also uninterested in a wider clash with the U.S. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the country had “concluded proportionate measures in self-defense.”

Trump, who is facing reelection in November, campaigned for president on a promise to keep the United States from engaging in “endless war.”

On Wednesday he said the United States is “ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.” That marked a change in tone from his Tuesday warning, “If Iran does anything that they shouldn’t be doing, they’re going to be suffering the consequences, and very strongly.”

Trump opened his remarks by reiterating his promise that “Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” even as that country announced in the wake of Soleimani’s killing that it would no longer comply with any of the 2015 nuclear agreement’s limits on enrichment that had been put in place to prevent it from building a nuclear device.

He seized on the moment of calm to call for new negotiations to replace the deal from which he withdrew the U.S., objecting that it didn’t limit Iran’s ballistic missile programs or constrain its regional proxy campaigns like those led by Soleimani.

The president spoke directly to Iran, saying, “We want you to have a future and a great future.”

Trump also announced he would ask NATO to become “much more involved in the Middle East process.” While he has frequently criticized NATO as obsolete and has encouraged participants to increase their military spending, Trump has sought to have the military alliance refocus its efforts on modern threats.

Like U.S. troops in the region, NATO forces have temporarily halted their training of Iraqi forces and their counter-Islamic State efforts, and re-positioned some forces due to the current instability.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking on Wednesday, said the overnight strike was not necessarily the totality of Iran’s response.

“Last night they received a slap,” Khamenei said. “These military actions are not sufficient (for revenge). What is important is that the corrupt presence of America in this region comes to an end.”

Soleimani’s death last week in an American drone strike in Baghdad prompted angry calls for vengeance and drew massive crowds of Iranians to the streets to mourn him. Khamenei himself wept at the funeral in a sign of his bond with the commander.

The Iranians fired a total of 15 missiles in the latest strikes, two U.S. officials said. Ten hit the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq’s western Anbar province and one targeted a base in Irbil in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Four failed, said the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about a military operation.

U.S. defense officials said American early warning systems detected an incoming ballistic missile well in advance, providing U.S. and coalition forces adequate time to take shelter at both bases. Officials also said that the U.S. was aware of preparations for the attack. It’s unclear if any intelligence identified specific targets or was more general.

Ain al-Asad was first used by American forces after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, and it later was used by American troops in the fight against the Islamic State group. It houses about 1,500 U.S. and coalition forces. Trump visited it in December 2018, making his first presidential visit to troops in the region. Vice President Mike Pence visited both Ain al-Asad and Irbil in November.

Trump spoke of new sanctions on Iran, but it was not immediately clear what those would be. The primary agencies involved in implementing such penalties – the departments of Commerce, State and Treasury – do not preview those actions to prevent the targets from taking steps to evade them.

Since withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, the administration has already imposed harsh sanctions on nearly every significant portion of Iran’s economic, energy, shipping and military sectors.

The effort to deescalate the conflict comes after world leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, appealed to both sides for restraint.

The fallout for Trump’s order to kill Soleimani had been swift.

Iraq’s Parliament voted to expel U.S. troops from Iraq, which would undermine efforts to fight Islamic State militants in the region and would strengthen Iran’s influence in the Mideast.

The counterattack by Iran came as Trump and his top advisers were under pressure to disclose more details about the intelligence that led to the American strike that killed Soleimani.

Top Senate Democrats, citing “deep concern” about the lack of information coming from the Trump administration about the Iran operation, called on Defense Department officials to provide “regular briefings and documents” to Congress.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the senators also registered their “grave concern” with Trump’s comments on targeting Iranian cultural sites and asked for clarification.

Members of Congress were being briefed on the strike Wednesday afternoon in closed-door sessions on Capitol Hill.

Trump and top national security officials have justified the airstrike with general statements about the threat posed by Soleimani, who commanded proxy forces outside Iran and was responsible for the deaths of American troops in Iraq.

One lawmaker who has read the classified notification that Trump sent Congress after the U.S. airstrike that killed Soleimani said the two-page document did not describe any imminent planned attacks or contain any new information. The lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the classified document, said the letter gave a historic account of attacks that have been reported publicly.

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann, Robert Burns, Kevin Freking, Lolita Baldor, Darlene Superville, Alan Fram and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.

D.C. police say they have arrested a 17-year-old boy suspected of killing a 16-year-old boy last summer in an abandoned apartment near the Waterfront Metro station. 

Jwhan Simpson, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was arrested and charged in the Aug. 30 death of Domonique Franklin, police said Wednesday.

Simpson is charged with first-degree murder while armed.

Construction workers found Franklin’s body with multiple gunshot wounds in a public housing unit in the 200 block of M Street SW. 

There was a surveillance camera directly above the unit, but it wasn’t working, police said after the killing. Information was not immediately released on how Simpson was identified as a suspect. 

The month that Franklin was killed, he went missing for two weeks. He was reported missing Aug. 14 and was found Aug. 28. Two days later, he was killed. 

A friend of Franklin’s previously said that he didn’t have any enemies.

“He actually had a good head on his shoulders,” he said. “It’s just surprising to see.”

Britain’s royal family scrambled Thursday to contain the fallout from the surprise announcement by Prince Harry and Meghan that they plan “to step back” from royal duties and pursue a new path that will allow them to be financially independent.

The couple’s announcement that they planned to forge a “progressive” new path for royals in the modern world and clearly upset senior royals — who apparently weren’t told of the decision in advance. Hours after Harry and Meghan’s announcement, Buckingham Palace issued a second statement, saying many issues still had to be worked out before the couple’s plan could be realized.

A statement issued Wednesday evening by Buckingham Palace, described as “a personal message from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” said Harry and Meghan intend to become “financially independent” and to “balance” their time between the U.K. and North America.

“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” the statement said. “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support her majesty the queen.”

The rift dominated Britain’s media, which reported that Queen Elizabeth II had not been informed of the decision. The Sun described the departure as “Megxit” — a play on Brexit, Britain’s departure from the European Union. The term was also adopted by the New York Post, another title owned by Rupert Murdoch — which featured a cover cartoon drawing of the duchess holding a cigarette while Harry cradles a beer in front of a television.

The 35-year-old Harry, the youngest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, is Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson and sixth in line to the British throne. With his ginger hair and beard, he has become one of the royal family’s most popular members.

Before marrying the prince in a royal wedding watched around the world in 2018, the 38-year-old Duchess of Sussex was an American actress known as Meghan Markle and a star of the TV show “Suits.” The couple’s first child, Archie, was born in May 2019.

The message about their future plans was also posted on the couple’s official Instagram page and referred readers to a website, sussexroyal.com, for information.

The statement and launching of the website was apparently not cleared with senior royals or their advisers.

Buckingham Palace’s later communique hinted that Harry and Meghan’s statement had caught the royal household by surprise. The palace statement said discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were “at an early stage.”

“We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through,” it read.

It was not known exactly where in the Americas the couple plan to spend their time. Meghan grew up in Los Angeles and filmed TV shows in Toronto. Harry and his family skipped the queen’s traditional Christmas gathering at her Sandringham estate last month to visit Canada and see Markle’s mother Doria, who lives in California.

The royal pair described their new roles on their website. The site noted that the Sovereign Grant, which funds the monarchy, covers just 5% of the costs for the duke and duchess and is used for their official office expenses but they want to cut this financial tie.

The couple also announced a new media relations policy “to ensure diverse and open access to their work.” The policy includes opting out of a pool system that guarantees media coverage of royal events to Britain’s media.

“Under this system, the rota, or pool, gives these British media representatives the opportunity to exclusively cover an event, on the understanding that they will share factual material obtained with other members of their sector who request it,” the website said. “The current system predates the dramatic transformation of news reporting in the digital age.”

As an actress and a human rights activist, the duchess was accustomed to media attention before her marriage, but she has made no secret of the fact that the transition to being a global celebrity and part of Britain’s royal family was difficult. The royal couple particularly took issue with their treatment at the hands of the British tabloids, whose aggressive coverage of all things royal is legendary.

The royal couple revealed their struggles with the media during an ITV documentary “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey,” which followed them on a recent tour of Southern Africa. Both said they had struggled with the spotlight, particularly because they say much of what is printed is untrue.

The duchess told ITV last year that her British friends warned her not to marry the prince because of the intense media scrutiny that would follow in his country. But the U.S. television star said she “naively” dismissed the warnings, because as an American she didn’t understand how the British press worked.

“I never thought this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair. And that is the part that is hard to reconcile,” she said. “But (I) just take each day as it comes.”

The duchess said the pressure was aggravated by the fact that she went quickly from being a newlywed to being pregnant and then a new mother.

The British media have also made much of an alleged split between Harry and his older brother, Prince William, who is second in line to the throne. Harry and Meghan last year opted out of living at Kensington Palace in London, where William and his family lives, and moved to a Frogmore Cottage at Windsor.

In the ITV interview, Harry acknowledged there have been some differences between him and the 37-year-old William, although he said most of what has been printed about a rift between the two brothers has been “created out of nothing.”

“Part of this role and part of this job and this family being under the pressure that it’s under, inevitably stuff happens,” he said. “But, look, we’re brothers. We’ll always be brothers. We’re certainly on different paths at the moment, but I will always be there for him, as I know he’ll always be there for me.”

Associated Press reporters Jill Lawless and Gregory Katz contributed.

Residents in the path of wildfires razing southeast Australia were urged to evacuate on Thursday if they don’t intend to defend their homes as hot and windy conditions are forecast to escalate the danger over the next two days.

The Rural Fire Service in New South Wales state has told fire-weary community meetings south of Sydney in the coastal towns of Nowra, Narooma and Batemans Bay that northwesterly winds were likely to once again drive blazes toward the coast. Vacationers have retreated to beaches and into the ocean in the area in recent weeks as destructive fires and choking smoke have encroached on the tourist towns, scorching sand dunes in some places.

In neighboring Victoria state, fire-threatened populations were urged to act quickly on evacuation warnings.

“We can’t guarantee your safety and we don’t want to be putting emergency services — whether it be volunteers or paid staff — we do not want to put them in harm’s way because people didn’t follow advice that was given,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said.

Temperatures in the threatened area were expected to reach into the mid-40s Celsius (more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday, and conditions remained tinder dry.

“If you can get out, you should get out,” said Andrew Crisp, Victoria’s emergency management commissioner. “Because tomorrow is going to be a dangerous and dynamic day.”

The unprecedented fire crisis in southeast Australia that has claimed at least 26 lives since September, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched an area twice the size of the U.S. state of Maryland has focused many Australians on how the nation adapts to climate change. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under withering criticism both at home and abroad for downplaying the need for his government to address climate change, which experts say helps supercharge the blazes.

Last year was Australia’s hottest and driest on record. The Bureau of Meteorology’s head of climate monitoring, Karl Braganza, said while the country’s rainfall was expected to pick up a bit, it wouldn’t be enough to snuff out the blazes anytime soon.

“Unfortunately, we’re not looking at widespread, above-average rainfalls at this stage,” he said. “That’s really what we need to put the fires out fairly quickly. It is going to be a campaign, in terms of the fires. We are not looking at a short and sharp end to the event — it looks like something that we will have to persist with for some time.”

Along a main roadway in southern New South Wales, forests of evergreen eucalyptus trees have taken on a ghostly autumnal appearance, with golden leaves and blackened trunks. The forests appear devoid of any wildlife. Outside, it often smells like a campfire that has been recently snuffed out, and hazy waves of smoke drift past.

In many small towns, most homes appear untouched apart from one or two that have been razed to the ground, sometimes with only a chimney stack still standing. People have hung signs and banners thanking the volunteer firefighters they call “firies.” There are cars that are nothing more than burned-out chassis and wooden power poles that have been reduced to stumps. Not far from the communities, smoke can be seen rising from hills where the wildfires continue to rage.

Morrison has faced fierce backlash over what many Australians perceive as a slow, detached response to the wildfire crisis. On Thursday, he found himself on the defensive again over an awkward exchange he had with locals on fire-ravaged Kangaroo Island. In a video of his visit to the island, where an outback safari operator and his son were killed in the blazes, Morrison was seen telling locals: “Thankfully, we’ve had no loss of life.”

After he was corrected, he continued: “Yes, two, that’s quite right. I was thinking about firefighters, firstly.”

It was the latest in a string of gaffes for Morrison, who created a public uproar when he took a family vacation to Hawaii in the middle of the disaster. He has tried to strike a more compassionate image since, and earlier this week promised the government would commit an extra 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) toward the fire recovery effort.

“Tomorrow’s going to be a very difficult day in the eastern states,” Morrison said during a news conference on Thursday. “Once again, I express my sincere condolences and sympathies to the families of all of those who have lost loved ones during the course of this terrible disaster. We will continue to remember them, but also their families in particular in what they need, in supporting them.”

The New South Wales government responded to the crisis on Thursday by announcing an additional AU$1 billion ($690 million) to be spent over the next two years on wildfire management and recovery.

The Australian disaster is seen by many as a harbinger for other countries of the future consequences of global warming.

Pope Francis has joined world leaders in expressing solidarity with the Australian people.

“I’d like to ask for you all to pray to the Lord to help the (Australian) people at this difficult moment, with these powerful fires. I’m close to the Australian people,” Francis said at the end of his general audience on Wednesday, drawing applause from congregants.

Associated Press journalists Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, and Kristen Gelineau in Sydney contributed to this report.

A Northern Virginia physician has been charged with handing out illegitimate prescriptions for amphetamines.

Forty-eight-year-old Gurpreet Bajwa of Oakton was arrested Wednesday and charged in federal court in Alexandria with illegal distribution of Adderall.

He was ordered to be held pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday.

Undercover officers visited Bajwa’s office in Fairfax in 2018 and obtained Adderall prescriptions under flimsy pretexts, an FBI affidavit said.

The FBI began its investigation after local police said his prescriptions had been linked to drug trafficking and overdoses. 

From January 2017 through September 2018, Bajwa issued 15,000 prescriptions for controlled substances to more than 1,000 patients in high quantities, the affidavit stated.

Bajwa’s license was suspended briefly in 2012 in relation to his prescriptions.

Fran Drescher is bringing her style and flair to Broadway.

The actress is teaming up with her ex-husband Peter Marc Jacobson again to take her hit ’90s show “The Nanny” from the small screen to the stage. The show about a Jewish woman from Queens who works for a Broadway producer as a child caretaker is currently syndicated on Cozi TV and still wildly beloved.

Emmy Award winners Rachel Bloom, who starred and co-wrote songs on her TV musical comedy “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” and Adam Schlesinger will be writing the lyrics and music.

Known for her iconic, nasal voice and thick New York accent, Drescher says no one has been cast yet for her role.

“Of course I would do it myself,” she said in a statement, “but we’d have to change the title to The Granny.”

Bloom said the show was a fundamental part of her childhood because it was the first time she saw an openly Jewish female protagonist on television.

“The story of Fran Fine, however, is a universal one that has touched the hearts of people of every race, religion and orientation,” Bloom said.

Drescher was even referenced in an episode of “Crazy Ex” when Bloom’s character visited her mother in New York to celebrate her philanthropic work in the Jewish community.

The director of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” Marc Bruni, is expected to direct “The Nanny.”

Currently, Drescher working on a new sitcom “Indebted,” which premieres Feb. 6 on NBC.

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A group of parents who say the Charles County school system has not been accountable after an alleged sexual assault on a playground say they are turning to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Three 10-year-old boys allegedly made threats of rape and had inappropriate physical contact with three girls in the fourth grade on the Gale-Bailey Elementary School playground on Oct. 29.

One boy was charged with a fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault. All of the boys remain at the school.

“We want to see change made in the school system. We want kids to know that they can’t get away with these things. We want the school system to know that they have to discipline these terrible acts,” Seth Heisserman, the father of one of the girls, said Wednesday.

The parents of the girls say their children are still afraid to go back to school.

“Their innocence was taken, and for the school system to continually say this is a game of tag, for them to minimize this and say it wasn’t that big of a deal or it was just words — there’s nothing else to call that other than lies,” Heisserman said.

A spokesperson with the Charles County school system says they’ve filed a response to the parent’s complaint with DOJ.

“Charles County Public Schools filed an initial response to the complaint on Jan. 6 that explained that the factual allegations set forth in the parents’ complaint are in dispute,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The teachers who were supervising recess on the day in question vehemently deny observing or being made aware of any sexual assault while on the playground.”

Charles County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Hill reassigned Principal Verniece Rorie and Vice Principal Timothy Rosin in November.

But the parents say that’s not enough.

“They are not being reprimanded for what they did not do, which was to protect my child,” parent Senika Butler said.

PETA, the animal rights organization known for splashing red paint on fur, delivered 200 fur coats to a D.C. homeless shelter on Wednesday.

Employees with the Department of Human Services and the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness distributed the coats to people at Adam’s Place Emergency Shelter in Northeast D.C.

People who “had a change of heart about the cruelty behind fur” donated the coats to PETA, the organization said in a news release.

“PETA can’t bring back the rabbits, minks, and foxes who were caged and electrocuted or trapped and beaten for their fur, but we can still help those in desperate need,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in the release.

“We encourage people everywhere to donate their fur or fur-trimmed coats to help those who have few options in life — the only people with any excuse to wear them.”

PETA says animals used for fur spend their lives in cramped cages and suffer before they are killed.

The organization says on its website that it donates furs to the homeless to counteract the notion that fur is “‘upscale,’ ‘chic,’ or a status symbol.”

Parents in Virginia say their underage daughters were sexually exploited online but little is being done about it.

Stephanie Levenson of Winchester said a boy took pictures from her high school daughter’s private social media and posted them in a lewd thread on the website Reddit.

“These are children being exploited sexually for adults’ pleasure,” she said. “Something needs to be done.”

She and her daughter’s father said that in addition to their daughter, there were photos of more than 20 other local girls. Some were in bathing suits, some were in pajamas, but there were no nudes.

They said there were posts offering more photos on request or derogatory comments.

“I wanted to throw up, because you could see these grown men asking for images of my kid,” Levenson said.

The parents said they notified James Wood High School, but a Frederick County Schools spokesperson said because the posts weren’t made on school computers, they won’t take action against the accused boy.

Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Aeva Doomes said the girls’ privacy was violated but this should begin a community conversation.

“This is what privacy and respect means, this is what the social norms that we are expecting are, and this is how they were violated,” she said.

Reddit’s policy says it prohibits sexually suggestive content of minors. “Depending on the context, this can in some cases include depictions of minors that are fully clothed and not engaged in overtly sexual acts.”

Levenson said the photos have since been removed.

“We don’t know how many other predators, you know, have access to them now because this kid was exposing them,” she said.

The parents said they contacted authorities but were told no crime was committed.

The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office has not returned News4’s request for comment.

Efforts to revive the Equal Rights Amendment have hit a roadblock.

The Justice Department has issued a finding that an expired pair of deadlines imposed by Congress decades ago means it’s too late for more states to ratify it now.

Thirty-five states ratified the ERA before the deadlines expired — three short of the 38 needed. Virginia is poised to become the 38th, but Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel said the amendment has expired and Congress would have to start all over again.

Supporters of the amendment disagree and have filed a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts hoping to pave a legal path.

ERA supporters chanted “ERA now” outside the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond on Wednesday, as Democrats took control of the General Assembly.

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With a woman in charge of the House and the new Democratic majority, activists said they’re confident this is the year Virginia will become the key 38th state to ratify the ERA.

“I come here just absolutely euphoric. I know that the ERA will pass,” Elizabeth Johnson of Alexandria said.

The crowd of supporters included a woman baring a breast in an apparent impression of the bare-breasted woman on the Virginia State flag. A woman was jailed last year for doing the same. The woman arrested in February 2019, Michelle Sutherland, did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

The proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution would outlaw discrimination based on gender, providing Congress with firmer grounding to pass anti-discrimination laws, while giving lawsuits more strength in the courts.

Some of the ERA-related arguments surfacing now are similar to those that flared in the 1970s. Would ratification mean that women, as well as men, are subject to the military draft? Would it undermine workplace laws intended to protect women?

Some of the liveliest debate over the coming months will likely deal with two hot-button social issues that have evolved significantly since the ’70s: abortion access and the rights of transgender people.

The failure of a last-ditch effort for approval of the ERA in Virginia in February 2019 evoked frustration and tears in Richmond.

Air Force veteran and ERA supporter Daphne Portis shouted on the House floor when lawmakers voted down the measure.

“I defended my country. You should be defending women!” Portis said.

“I’m disgusted by this vote,” she continued in the halls of the General Assembly.

An 18-year-old man was shot and killed in Northwest D.C. late Wednesday night, marking the city’s seventh homicide just over a week into the year.

D.C. police officers went to the 1300 block of 7th Street NW near N Street NW after hearing gunshots about 11:30 p.m. They found Malick Cisse of Northwest D.C. shot in the head, police said.

He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Police are looking for a white SUV in connection with the shooting.

A string of shootings has claimed the lives of several people in the District so far this year. Last year was the deadliest year in D.C. in more than a decade, with more than 165 homicide victims.

An Ohio man who claimed to be a child who disappeared at age 6 pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated identity theft and will serve two years in prison, minus time served.

Brian Michael Rini, 24, of Medina, will be on one year of probation to be served at the end of his sentence, U.S. Judge Michael Barrett told him. Rini will be credited for time served dating to his arrest April 4, 2019.

Rini, now with a neatly trimmed beard, answered Barrett with a soft “Yes, sir,” when asked whether he understood the consequences of his plea.

Prosecutors dropped charges of lying to FBI agents. Barrett ordered a presentencing investigation into Rini’s background, but both sides agreed that the federal identity theft statute requires a two-year sentence and that Rini will remain jailed without bond during the official sentencing.

Rini last year pleaded not guilty to identity theft and lying to FBI agents. He would have faced as many as eight years in prison if convicted of all charges.

Judge Barrett ruled Oct. 31 that Rini was competent to stand trial, after he underwent an evaluation in a federal facility in Chicago. A court transcript of the that hearing showed that the defense and prosecution had discussed settling the case.

Police said Rini was wandering the streets of Newport, Kentucky, last April 3. Police said he told them he was Timmothy Pitzen, an Aurora, Illinois, boy who disappeared in 2011 at age 6. Authorities said Rini claimed he had just escaped captors who sexually abused him.

Federal authorities said they were suspicious after he refused to be fingerprinted. DNA testing quickly revealed his true identity.

Rini had been released from a state prison last March after serving more than a year on burglary and vandalism charges. Prison records show he was accused of making up stories during his time there.

Richard Monahan, a federal public defender, told Barrett that Rini still faces state probation violation charges, among other pending legal matters.

When confronted with the DNA results, Rini said he’d watched a story about Timmothy on ABC’s “20/20” and wanted to get away from his own family, the FBI said. Authorities said he twice earlier portrayed himself in Ohio as a juvenile victim of sex trafficking.

A federal magistrate had cited Rini’s lack of a permanent address, past mental health issues and “a lengthy criminal history” that goes back to age 13. In 2017, Rini was treated at an Ohio center for people with mental health or substance abuse problems, according to court records.

The hoax had briefly raised hope last year among Timmothy’s relatives.

Timmothy vanished after his mother pulled him out of kindergarten, took him on a two-day road trip to the zoo and a water park, and then killed herself at a hotel. She left a note saying that her son was safe with people who would love and care for him, and added: “You will never find him.”

So, you’re a D.C.-area resident? You can go ahead and cross one destination off your travel list, then, because Washington, D.C., is topping the New York Times’ list of 52 Places to Go in 2020.

“Away from the halls of government, Washington presents a diverse identity as a majority-minority city and a cosmopolitan crossroads where American society blends with international influences,” the Times’ Zach Montague writes.

The Times gives a nod to U Street’s culture and history as “Black Broadway,” as well as D.C.’s burgeoning dining scene, which has seen “a younger, forward-thinking crop of restaurants emerge, with Ethiopian and Laotian food well represented.”

The Times’ list names the British Virgin Islands and Rurrenabaque, Bolivia, as its #2 and #3 spots to visit, respectively. You can see its full list of 52 locations here.

In 2017, I decided to quit my job working for a London publisher and move to Japan. I enjoyed my work and had a great social life, but was craving something new and different.

After living in Tokyo for six months, I became fascinated by how small details, mindfulness, and incremental changes were given more emphasis in Japanese daily life.

It was unlike anything I had ever experienced, and it encouraged me to slow down and make some lifestyle improvements — specifically, in my frivolous and impulsive spending habits. So when I heard about a Japanese budgeting method called kakeibo, I was intrigued and decided to give it a try.

‘Kakeibo’: The Japanese method of saving money

Kakeibo, pronounced “kah-keh-boh,” translates as “household financial ledger.” Invented in 1904 by a woman named Hani Motoko (notable for being Japan’s first female journalist), kakeibo is a simple, no-frills approach to managing your finances.

Some people don’t struggle with overspending and can live a satisfying life with just essentials. I was never one of those people. Instead, I had a habit of shopping when I felt bored, stressed, or unhappy about something. I also shopped when I was in a good or celebratory mood, with a tendency to go beyond my means.

As many people would agree, changing bad financial habits isn’t easy to do — partly because our spending habits are deeply cemented into our daily routine, and the act of spending also includes an emotional aspect that is difficult to detach from.

Luckily, for the past 116 years, kakeibo has been effective in helping people make smarter financial decisions.

No technology—just a notebook and pen

Like all budgeting systems, the idea behind kakeibo is to help you understand your relationship with money by keep a ledger of everything that is incoming and outgoing.

What sets kakeibo apart, however, is that it doesn’t involve any budgeting software, apps or Excel sheets. Similar to bullet journaling, it emphasizes the importance of physically writing things down — as a meditative way to process and observe your spending habits.

Research has proven again and again the numerous benefits of writing by hand: It can help you make positive changes by encouraging you to be more present and aware, while also acknowledging the triggers behind your bad habits.

According to the kakeibo method, you must ask yourself the following questions before purchasing any non-essential items — or the things you buy on impulse, but might not necessarily need:

• Can I live without this item?
• Based on my financial situation, can I afford it?
• Will I actually use it?
• Do I have the space for it?
• How did I come across it in the first place? (Did I see it in a magazine? Did I come across it after wandering into a gift shop out of boredom?)
• What is my emotional state in general today? (Calm? Stressed? Celebratory? Feeling bad about myself?)
• How do I feel about buying it? (Happy? Excited? Indifferent? And how long will this feeling last?)

While kakeibo was effective in helping me stay on top on my finances, what it really did — that other systems I’ve tried in the past didn’t — was force me to think about my purchases and what motivated me to buy them.

In other words, I was finally able to conquer my fear of being completely honest about my “needs” and “wants.” As a result, I got better at making faster, smarter and more logical decisions about whether to spend money on a particular item.

It’s important to note that kakeibo isn’t designed to cut all joy out of your life. If you’re feeling glum about something, then flowers are a fairly inexpensive way to cheer yourself up. Rather than requiring you to do anything drastic, the goal is to change your bad habits through mindfulness and incremental changes.

How to spend more mindfully

In order to see significant results in your savings, it’s important to stay committed in asking the right questions before making any non-essential purchases.

Here are some simple kakeibo-themed strategies to ensure that you spend more mindfully:

1. Leave the item for 24 hours. This highlights whether you genuinely want or need it. If you’re still thinking about the item the next day and can afford it, then make the purchase. You’ll feel a greater sense of satisfaction about your decision.
2. Don’t let “blowout sales” tempt you. I used to be a sucker for big sales. But that often meant spending money on items I knew I wouldn’t use. So for each item that you have in your basket during a sale, ask yourself whether you would buy it if it were full price.
3. Check your bank balance regularly. Checking your balance will help you feel more in control of your finances because it brings into focus how much money you have to spend. Now, the first thing I do every morning is check my balance. It’s a scary habit to try at first, but does wonders for worry levels.
4. Spend in cash. Physically handing over cash rather than just mindlessly swiping your card makes you more conscious of what you’re spending, and you will find it easier to budget. Try taking out a set amount of cash to use for the week and only spending what you have.
5. Put reminders in your wallet. My friend came up with the brilliant idea of attaching a sticker to her credit card that bluntly says, “Do you REALLY need this?!” Anything that prompts you to take a step back before making a purchase will help you make smarter decisions.
6. Change the environments that cause you to spend. If you notice that you often spend money after clicking on a marketing email or seeing pictures of an Instagram influencer wearing a particular brand, for example, then unsubscribe or unfollow. Or, if you buy clothes or makeup when you have time to kill, try using that time to do another activity instead, such as taking a walk in the park.

I still occasionally treat myself with non-essentials. This is fine and even encouraged! Remember, kakeibo is about using mindfulness to cut out purchases that might only give you a temporary boost of happiness.

The acts of mindful spending and saving are very much interlinked, and the small changes I’ve made using kakeibo have had a cumulative effect on my bank account.

My savings are growing at a faster rate than I ever imagined possible. More importantly, I’m making wiser decisions about how to invest that money for things that really matter.

Sarah Harvey is the author of “Kaizen: The Japanese Secret to Lasting Change.” Previously, she worked as a publishing consultant in Tokyo, where she fell in love with the Japanese culture. Sarah now lives in London and works as a literary agency. Follow her on Twitter.

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Nine-year-old Nelle David and her mom, Megan, like to relax at home by doing face masks together.

Nelle recently put on a shimmery “unicorn” sheet mask that looked fun — but the family said it left her with a burning, swollen face.

“After like four minutes, I started feeling stinging, so I just pulled it off and I’m like, ‘Ow, my face really, really hurts and it’s really red,” she recalled Thursday in her family’s home in Vienna, Virginia.

Nelle’s face was red everywhere the face mask had touched, the family said. Her worried mom said Nelle’s face appeared to be getting redder, was hot to the touch and was getting puffy. She didn’t usually have sensitive skin.

The irritation didn’t die down until about 24 hours.

Megan David said she found multiple bad reviews of the Yes to Grapefruit Vitamin C Glow-Boosting Unicorn Paper Mask.

Now the company says they’ll stop selling it.

“We apologize to anyone who was affected in this way, especially over the holiday season. While our products are all independently tested for safety, irritation, and allergy — and while we provide both warnings and instructions on our products about the potential for skin irritation — the safety and satisfaction of our customers are our main concerns,” the company Yes To said Jan. 3 in a statement.

“We have decided to pull this particular product off of the shelves while we investigate the complaints that we have received and seen online,” they continued.

As of Thursday afternoon, the product still appeared on the Yes To website.

Yes To said they told stores to take the face mask off shelves. “We hope to have all products completely removed by Friday,” the company said. They said they told stores to give refunds to anyone who bought one of the masks but hasn’t used it yet. Anyone who already has used it is asked to contact Yes To directly.

The company apologized to the Davids and offered a $10 gift certificate to use at the store where they bought the mask.

The mother says it was a “huge learning experience” and that she’ll be more careful about products, especially those that her daughter uses.

The following content is created in partnership with the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington. It does not reflect the work or opinions of NBC Washington’s editorial staff. Click here to learn about Restaurant Week. 

Even with a foodie landscape as fertile as Washington’s, it can be easy to fall into a rut: Craving some Dijon baked salmon? You tend to head over to that same Northern Italian place in nearby Logan Circle. How about some pra ram chicken? If you’re in Wheaton, you have your favorite Thai eatery (there are certainly a number to choose from). Maybe you just want a burger? Of course, you have your go-to grill on Capitol Hill.

Twice a year, Restaurant Week gives you a chance to taste new adventures—and at appetizing prices ($22 for lunch and brunch; $35 for dinner, at participating venues).  

“Our chefs and restaurant owners are very creative about Restaurant Week—whether that’s anything and everything on their menu for $35 or whether it’s a menu curated specifically for the promotion,” says Kathy Hollinger, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association, Metropolitan Washington. And, to put the cherry on the parfait, “Our restaurants are very homegrown—many different flavors and many different concepts, whether it’s full service or fast casual.” All the more reason to stretch your palate at a participating eatery outside your usual feeding zone.

Ready to broaden your horizons? This Restaurant Week, consider these five dynamic metropolitan Washington neighborhoods—and the dining establishments within that we showcase below.

Frederick, MD
“Frederick has grown into a culinary destination for the surrounding area since we first arrived in 2011,” says Jason Miller, owner of the chophouse, the Wine Kitchen on the Creek. “We have seen growth in every aspect of dining out. Restaurants of all shapes and sizes have landed here.” Miller notes the arrival of many fine American restaurants specializing in beer or cocktails, along with outstanding Thai, Cuban, and Pho places—accompanied by growth in vegetarian options everywhere.

As for his own restaurant, Miller says, “The Wine Kitchen on the Creek stands out because we bring a new and modern approach to the steakhouse. All our beef is locally raised, grass-fed, and finished on grain. Not only do we have an impressive selection of beef, we have vegetarian and pescatarian and even a vegan dessert. We have created a vegetable dish using butternut squash that mimics the flavors and texture of a fillet.  Plus, we have a focused wine list while our cocktail program has grown into an impressive selection of drinks that reflect whatever the current season is.”

For Restaurant Week, the Wine Kitchen on the Creek will offer a special dinner menu with a number of options for each course—many being brand new, Miller says.

Silver Spring, MD
“Since we opened five years ago in downtown Silver Spring, the area has been continuously evolving and developing,” says Molly Horn, general manager of the All Set Restaurant & Bar, an American restaurant with a coastal New England influence. “There have been exciting additions to the neighborhood. Silver Spring has always been a great spot for Ethiopian, but in recent years we have also gotten a great Mexican concept as well as an exciting, well-reviewed, upscale-casual Cuban spot. We have also seen the openings of a few local chains, such as Lebanese Taverna and Matchbox.”

In terms of what makes her restaurant special, Horn credits “our overall vibe—our service, our ambiance, our décor,” she says. “We also have a Certified Sommelier—our owner, Jennifer—as well as four Level One Sommeliers, and an excellent, easy-to-navigate wine list. I think that makes us super-unique in Silver Spring. And obviously our food is delicious, so that doesn’t hurt either.”

This Restaurant Week, All Set will offer a number of off-menu specials for lunch and dinner.

Shaw, D.C.
“The Shaw neighborhood was once considered a food desert, where the most prevalent food options were fast food, carryouts, and convenience stores,” recalls Kristal Williams, director of operations for the FishScale fish-burger restaurant in Washington. “Now, Shaw offers more cultural and health-conscious restaurants to satisfy several taste palates.”

Williams’ restaurant “FishScale typifies the new Shaw cuisine, reimagining the classic burger. The eatery’s chef, Brandon Wiliams, crafts burgers using fresh, quality ingredients from the ocean and local organic food scene. FishScale’s cast consist of a seasonal rotation of various types of wild-caught sustainable fish such as rockfish, speckled sea trout, black sea bass, sheepshead, and true-blue Maryland crab. FishScale burgers, incidentally, aren’t served with traditional condiments like ketchup and mustard. Instead the burgers are paired with house-made condiments. The goal is to never overpower the taste of the seafood.

In celebration of Restaurant Week, FishScale will offer lunch and dinner specials featuring signature fish burgers, crab burgers, and accompaniments “with some twists.”

Alexandria, VA
As in other metro Washington neighborhoods, the Alexandria food scene continues to evolve. “New restaurants are popping up all the time, including new breweries and cideries” says Iain Roberts, general manager of Brabo Brasserie, which serves traditional French cuisine in Old Town. “We’re welcoming a diversity of cuisines and serving styles.” In other trends, “A lot of the newer restaurants weren’t accepting reservations the first couple of years,” Roberts notes. “Now they’re loosening up their reservation policies. I’m also seeing an increase in tableside presentations.”

Brabo, too, includes guests in that regard. “We try to do as much as we can at the table,” Roberts says. “An example of that is when we bring out our baked Alaska, a signature dessert. We really give that sense of theater to our guests.”

Brabo tries to shine in other ways. For instance, executive chef Sebastien Rondier highlights a new flavor every season. Right now, it’s eggnog: The aforementioned baked Alaska takes on a new life as an eggnog‎ soufflé, consisting of spiked eggnog, cinnamon cake, and orange meringue, served flambé. Indeed, the restaurant, is often thought of as the place to go for special occasions (though it serves as a place for regulars too). Another example: signature dishes such as its Le Grand Duck Flambé—enough to feed a table (and which is available with 24-hours notice).

Brabo’s Restaurant Week menu “will be a representation of who we are and our values,” Roberts says. “And that’s what we’ve done with this particular menu.”

Mount Vernon Triangle, D.C.
“If you were to drive through Mount Vernon Triangle a few years ago, there were just a few restaurants,” recalls Alex Levin, director, of strategic business & pastry programs for Schlow Restaurant Group (SRG). “There was a lot of construction and a lot of people in the city just didn’t know what the neighborhood was. That’s totally changed. The neighborhood’s nearly finished and there’s 12 to 15 restaurants to choose from.”

The neighborhood, Levin says, has attracted lots of families and young adults. As such, the eateries here avoid high price points. “That kind of dictates the kind and size of restaurants that come to the neighborhood,” Levin says. In fact, one of SRG’s restaurants there, the Nama sushi bar, factored this in when creating its menu. “If you walk around and see the different sushi options in D.C. good quality sushi is really, really, expensive,” Levin says. “Nama offers exquisitely, high-quality sushi. But we also, have figured out ways to make the menu approachable for the neighborhood. Everything’s within reach.” For instance, Nama hosts a sushi happy hour every day from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, offering the entire sushi menu at discounted prices. 

In celebration of Restaurant Week, Nama will offer a $35 three-course menu, starting with small plates, continuing with sushi, and finishing with dessert.

To see restaurants participating in this month’s Restaurant Week—running Monday, January 13 through Sunday, January 19—and to get a look at some of the three-course menus, visit the Restaurant Week site.

Evidence indicates it is “highly likely” that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran late Tuesday, U.S., Canadian and British officials said Thursday. They said the strike, which killed all 176 people on board, could well have been a mistake amid missile launches and high tensions throughout the region.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general. Four U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent and the airliner could have been mistaken for a threat.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the downing, said in Toronto: “We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.”

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile.”

Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested he believed Iran was responsible for the shootdown and dismissed Iran’s initial claim that it was a mechanical issue with the plane

“Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side.” Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a “pretty rough neighborhood.”

The U.S. officials wouldn’t say what intelligence they had that pointed to an Iranian missile. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communication interceptions and other similar intelligence.

It was not immediately clear how the U.S. and its allies would react to the downing of the airliner. Despite efforts by Washington and Tehran to step back from the brink of possible war, the region remained on edge after the killing of the Iranian general and Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes. U.S. troops were on high alert.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spent much of Wednesday at the White House and on Capitol Hill briefing on the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and the resulting attacks by Iran.

The New York Times posted a video Thursday it said it had verified showing the moment the apparent missile struck the plane over Iran. The video shows a fast-moving object rising before a fiery explosion. An object, apparently on fire, then continues in a different direction.

A preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said that the airliner pilots never made a radio call for help and that the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Iran’s early denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn’t speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

Before the U.S. assessment, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hasan Rezaeifa, the head of the civil aviation accident investigation commission, claiming that “the topics of rocket, missile or anti-aircraft system is ruled out.”

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, Tehran time, after nearly an hour’s delay at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though “no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations,” the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the “black boxes” that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

Hours before the plane crash the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued an emergency flight restriction barring U.S. carriers and pilots from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace warning of the “potential for miscalculation or misidentification” for civilian aircraft due to heightened political and military tensions.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

“A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash,” Danilov said.

Ukrainian investigators who arrived in Iran on Thursday awaited permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007, and Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as “psychological warfare” by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, “Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash. We will surely find out the truth.”

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Prime Minister Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

The U.S. accident investigator, the National Transportation Safety Board, is talking to the State Department and the Treasury Department about traveling to Iran to inspect the U.S.-built aircraft and working with Iranian authorities despite U.S. economic sanctions against that country. Federal officials are concerned about sending employees to Iran because of the heightened tensions.

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies reported from Canada.

The Democratic-controlled House approved a non-binding measure Thursday aimed at limiting President Donald Trump’s ability to take military action against Iran as criticism of the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general intensifies.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the war powers resolution, which does not require Trump’s signature, nonetheless “has real teeth” because it is “a statement of the Congress of the United States. I will not have that statement be diminished by whether the president will veto it or not.”

The Democratic measure passed Thursday over solid Republican opposition, with most House members voting along party lines. Eight Democrats, however, voted against passing the resolution, and three Republicans voted to approve it.

A similar proposal by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., faces an uphill fight in the GOP-run Senate. Kaine’s efforts received a boost Thursday as Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, an ex-Marine, said he might support the war powers measure. Two other Republican senators said Wednesday they would back the Kaine plan.

“We are members of a separate and distinct branch of government. It is our duty not to take anyone’s word for things as we are dealing with matters of life and death,” Young said, adding that he wished Trump administration officials had provided more intelligence information during a briefing Wednesday on a U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general.

Pelosi announced the vote Wednesday, declaring that last week’s drone strike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani was “provocative and disproportionate.”

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, denounced the Democratic measure as little more than “a press release designed to attack President Trump,” noting that it has no binding effect and cannot be signed into law.

“This resolution only wastes our valuable time, plays politics with our national security and damages our ability to protect American lives and interests in the Middle East,” Scalise said.

The House vote comes a day after the Trump administration briefed lawmakers on its actions in Iran. Democrats and at least two Republicans called the briefings inadequate, adding that officials did not provide enough details about why the attack was justified.

Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that Soleimani “was traveling the region making plans to bring an attack against American personnel and American forces.” He said it was not possible to share full details of the intelligence with lawmakers because doing so “could compromise sources and methods.”

Trump said at a news conference Thursday that Soleimani was planning to “blow up” the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, a claim Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said was not supported by the facts presented at the classified briefing. Speaking on MSNBC Thursday, Hollen questioned why the administration didn’t tell lawmakers in a highly classified setting about the alleged plot and accused the White House of “making this up as they go.”

“The reality is they provided very little facts, and the facts clearly did not establish their claim of an imminent threat,” Hollen told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell.

On Twitter Thursday, Trump urged House Republicans to vote against the resolution. And John Bolton, his former national security adviser, insisted the war powers resolution is unconstitutional. “It reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Constitution allocated foreign affairs authority between the president and Congress,” he tweeted Thursday. “The resolution should be repealed.”

The House vote was scheduled shortly after a briefing on Iran Wednesday by top administration officials that many Democrats criticized as lacking specific justification for the killing. Iran retaliated early Wednesday local time by launching missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops. No casualties were reported.

“Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the Administration’s decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward,” Pelosi said in her statement Wednesday.

“Congress hereby directs the President to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military” unless Congress declares war on that country or enacts legislation authorizing use of force to prevent an attack on the U.S. and its forces, the five-page resolution says.

“I think it’s extremely important that we as a country, if we are going to — either intentionally or accidentally — slide into war, that we have a debate about it,” said freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., the measure’s sponsor. Slotkin is a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official who served in Iraq.

Trump administration Jan 8

‘Insulting and Demeaning’: 2 GOP Lawmakers Rip Trump Administration After Iran Briefing

US Military Jan 4

Trump: Aim of Killing Iranian General Was to ‘Stop a War’

“I want to understand … what’s your strategy?” she said, referring to the Trump administration. “How do you know you’re succeeding and not just escalating us into something more and more dangerous? We are owed concrete, specific details on strategy.”

Trump did not consult with congressional leaders ahead of the attack that killed the Iranian general and afterward sent Congress a notification explaining the rationale, but kept it classified.

In justifying the attack, the Trump administration has said an Office of Legal Counsel opinion supports its decision to take action. Pelosi called that assertion misleading.

“The office of legal counsel is a tool of the President of the United States. That’s who that is. So whatever the president wants to be declared legal, his Office of Legal Counsel declares it so,” Pelosi said Thursday during a weekly news briefing.

Congress has allowed its war powers role to erode since the passage of Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001 to fight terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, and passage of another AUMF for the invasion of Iraq in 2002.

Fallout from those votes deeply divided Congress and the nation, with many lawmakers, particularly Democrats, now saying they were mistakes. Yet Congress has been paralyzed on the question of whether to repeal or change those authorities.

Trump, facing one of the greatest tests of his presidency, said Wednesday that Iran appeared to be “standing down” and said the U.S. response would be to put in place new economic sanctions “until Iran changes its behavior.”

The strikes by Iran had pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and put the world’s attention on Trump as he weighed whether to respond with more military force.

Republicans have largely supported Trump’s actions, saying the president was well within his power to take out Iran’s architect of proxy operations against Americans in the Middle East. The U.S. considered Soleimani a terrorist.

Democrats were unconvinced that the threat posed by Soleimani was imminent or that other alternatives to the killing were pursued in good faith. By not disclosing many details of the threat, Trump was asking the American public to trust the very intelligence reports he has often disparaged, Democrats said.

Some Republicans also criticized the briefing by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top officials. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said it was “probably the worst briefing I’ve seen, at least on a military issue,” in the nine years he’s served in the Senate.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said administration officials justified killing Soleimani based on the 2002 authorization of force in Iraq. “That is absurd. That’s an insult,” he said.

Like Lee, Paul said he would support the war powers resolution being offered by Kaine.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Padmananda Rama contributed to this story.

Two days after a Catholic school announced it would include news of same-sex marriages in its alumnae magazine, a nun and administrator received threats to bomb the school and kill nuns.

Sonia Tabizada, of California, was charged with making a bomb threat against Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, D.C., according to court documents filed this week.

Tabizada pleaded not guilty, and her lawyer did not respond to an inquiry.

The elite private girls’ school owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Church announced on May 13, 2019 that it would begin including news of former students’ same-sex unions in its alumnae magazine.

“We reached this decision as a school and Monastery leadership after much prayerful consideration and thoughtful dialogue,” a letter to the community said.

Two days later, a nun and school leader who graduated from the school in 1948 received two threatening phone calls.

First, prosecutors say Tabizada left a message early the morning of May 15 saying, in part, that “sinners” have to “be separate,” that the school should remove gay people from the magazine and that she would burn and bomb the church.

A minute later, prosecutors say she called back.

“I’m gonna f—king blow up the school and call it a mission from God,” she allegedly said, in part.

Tabizada is not a graduate of the school, a school representative said. A judge ordered her held in jail until a court proceeding later this month.

District leaders said Thursday they will not release a 2018 cybersecurity report that was produced to be shared with public.

Just last week, the News4 I-Team reported the delay in the report’s release after spending several months trying to get answers from District officials.

The report was created by the District’s Homeland Security Commission, which by law is tasked with creating an annual report for the mayor and D.C. Council members. The D.C. Code also specifies the commission “shall make the report available to the public.” The last report was released in 2015.

NEW YORK Apr 25, 2018

In Age of Daily Threats, Nearly Defunct D.C. Homeland Security Commission Gets New Life

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DC Homeland Security Commission ‘Annual’ Report Long Overdue

The cybersecurity report has heightened meaning now, in light of growing concerns raised by the situation in Iran. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C.’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Director Chris Rodriguez held a news conference regarding the District’s overall preparedness.

When asked about the report, which identifies cybersecurity vulnerabilities and makes recommendations for improvement, Rodriguez tied the District’s decision to withhold the report from the public to the ongoing situation in Iran.

“The events of the last week, particularly with the heightened cyberthreat from overseas, only reinforces the fact that that report right now will not be made public,” Rodriguez said.

But commission members, who are experts in varying security-related fields including cybersecurity, have been advocating for the report’s release for about a year. It was completed in December of 2018.

The I-Team obtained emails showing the D.C. auditor inquired about the report in November 2018 and February 2019 and was told “it was in final review stages” and should be “finalized within the next month or so.”

The minutes from a Homeland Security Commission meeting in April 2019 show a member asked publicly about the report’s release but the discussion was held until “closed session.” The minutes stated only that the report was “awaiting final approval.”

In a statement to the I-Team, city leaders said, “D.C. government remains laser-focused on detecting and defending against cybersecurity threats,” and District leaders had received “confidential briefings” on the report. 

“A lot of the recommendations in the report have already been implemented by the mayor, and so we feel confident that we have a strong cyber posture,” Rodriguez said.

The District has not said what changes were made or what any of the prior vulnerabilities included.

Rodriguez stated Council members had also been briefed on the report and were aware of the findings.

But a spokesman for Council member Charles Allen told the I-Team he was just briefed on the report two days ago. Allen oversees the District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency and has also expressed concern about the functioning of the Homeland Security Commission.

The commission is supposed to meet quarterly, but has not convened since May. Rodriguez publicly blamed that on the Homeland Security Commission chairman.

“The reason why they have not met was because for one reason or another we were not able to contact the chair of the commission to set up a report, I’m sorry, to set up a meeting,” Rodriguez said.

But the I-Team found there is no current chairman of that commission.

David  Heyman was appointed by the mayor in 2017. His two-year term expired in February 2019. He told the I-Team he continued holding meetings as long as he could, through May, when the mayor opted not to reappoint him. Records show she reappointed other commission members during that same time frame.

In 2018,  Heyman told the I-Team he welcomed the opportunity to revive the Homeland Security Commission, which had been nearly defunct. It had only produced two reports in 12 years since its inception. Records show  Heyman regularly held meetings during his tenure. In fact, he exceeded the number required.

Heyman, a cybersecurity expert and former assistant secretary of policy for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told the I-Team his commission members worked hard on the report for roughly a year and are extremely proud of its contents.

Heyman said he spent many months pushing behind the scenes for the  cybersecurity report to be released to Council members and the public and sees no reason why it should remain secret. 

Bowser seemed surprised by Rodriguez’s characterization that Heyman was responsible for the failure to meet and said if it related to one of her appointees, which Heyman was, then she’d address it. She seemed unaware that the Homeland Security Commission currently has no chair.

Heyman said the current commission members would have to hold a meeting to designate a new chairperson. Rodriguez said new members had been sworn in in recent months and a meeting would be held in early February.

Councilman Allen said he plans to address this situation at  the agency’s upcoming oversight hearing next month.