Man beaten at '17 rally found innocent
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- A black man who was severely beaten the day of a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., and then charged with misdemeanor assault in the same incident was found innocent Friday.
A Charlottesville judge acquitted 20-year-old DeAndre Harris, saying it was clear Harris didn't intend to harm the leader of a Southern nationalist group who made a complaint against him.
Photos and videos of the Aug. 12 attack on Harris by a group of men in a parking garage were widely shared online. Harris was left with serious injuries.
Harold Crews, North Carolina chairman of the League of the South -- which advocates for Southern states to again secede from the union -- sought the charge against Harris.
Harris testified that he thought Crews was attacking a friend of his with a flag pole and went over to defend him. Then he said someone sprayed him with mace and "everything was a blur after that," the newspaper reported.
Four men have been charged in connection with the attack on Harris: Alex Michael Ramos of Georgia, Daniel Borden of Ohio, Jacob Scott Goodwin of Arkansas and Tyler Watkins Davis of Florida.
The white nationalist rally was planned in part to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. It drew hundreds of people, and hundreds more came to protest them. Violence broke out before the event could get underway and clashes continued as authorities forced the group to disband.
It was afterward that the attack on Harris took place and a car drove into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman.
31-year veteran of Congress dies at 88
WASHINGTON -- Veteran U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Kentucky blacksmith's daughter who went on to chair one of Congress' most important committees, died Friday at a Washington hospital where she was being treated after falling in her home, her top aide said. She was 88.
The New York Democrat died at George Washington University Hospital a week after a fall in which Slaughter had sustained a concussion, said Liam Fitzsimmons, her chief of staff.
Slaughter was the first woman to serve as chairman of the House Rules Committee and was her party's top member on the panel when she died.
Slaughter was serving her 16th term in the House, and her 31 years in the chamber made her its third-longest-serving woman, according to the official House website. She chaired the rules committee from 2007 through 2010.
Slaughter had a degree in microbiology and was originally from Harlan County, Ky. Her soft, twangy accent always seemed out of place for someone representing a western New York district. But she was repeatedly re-elected -- including a narrow victory in 2014.
Trump gets GOP hopeful to switch bids
LAS VEGAS -- President Donald Trump cleared a primary election path for one of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans running for re-election this year by persuading U.S. Sen. Dean Heller's Republican opponent to drop out of the race and instead run for a House seat.
Republican Danny Tarkanian of Las Vegas, who has frequently criticized Heller for failing to be a strong supporter of Trump's agenda, announced Friday that, at the president's request, he decided to leave the Senate race against Heller. Instead, he filed to run Friday for Nevada's 3rd Congressional District south of Las Vegas, an office he unsuccessfully sought in 2016.
"I've switched because the president asked me, because he felt it would be the best opportunity to push forth his agenda," Tarkanian said as he filed campaign paperwork Friday in Las Vegas.
Tarkanian said he hadn't spoken directly to the president and instead spoke with Trump's 2020 re-election campaign manager, Brad Parscale.
In a statement Friday, Heller said he appreciated Trump's support and kind words and said he is focused on winning his re-election. His statement did not mention Tarkanian.
Kentucky House OKs child-marriage ban
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A bill that would ban most child marriages in Kentucky is now headed to the governor's desk.
The state House of Representatives unanimously approved Senate Bill 48 on Friday. It would ban any marriage in Kentucky if one of the parties is 16 or younger. Seventeen-year-olds can still get married, but they would need approval from a judge and their parents.
The bill says 17-year-olds would have to prove their "maturity and capacity for self-sufficiency" by having a job and housing for at least three months plus a high school diploma or equivalent degree or job training certificate.
Right now, Kentucky has no minimum age limit for marriage. Children younger than 16 can get married with a judge's permission as long as one of the parties is pregnant.
A Section on 03/17/2018