Three rappers found dead near Detroit
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. -- Three bodies found in a vacant Detroit-area apartment building have been identified as those of three aspiring rappers who disappeared nearly two weeks ago, police said Friday.
Michigan State Police said Friday afternoon on Twitter that investigators identified the bodies as those of Armani Kelly, 27, of Oscoda; Montoya Givens, 31, of Detroit; and Dante Wicker, 31, of Melvindale.
"We offer our condolences to their family and friends," police said.
The Michigan men were supposed to perform at a party at Lounge 31 in Detroit on Jan. 21, but they vanished after that appearance was canceled. Their bodies were found Thursday in the basement of an abandoned, rat-infested apartment building in Highland Park, near Detroit.
Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said the Wayne County Medical Examiners Office would conduct autopsies of the three male bodies found Thursday. He said it could take up to 48 hours for results to be released because the bodies were found in "extreme cold" conditions. He said investigators were reviewing "all the evidence that we gathered in that apartment complex."
The three met while in prison. Kelly and Givens were on parole, according to the state corrections department.
Police officer critical after shooting
MEMPHIS -- A Tennessee police officer who was shot at a public library while responding to a trespassing complaint remained in "extremely critical condition" Friday, Memphis police said.
The officer was hospitalized Thursday after the shooting at the Poplar-White Station Public Library, a small building on a busy street surrounded by high-rise office buildings, restaurants and stores.
Officers were called to the library and encountered a man who had been the subject of a trespassing call in the neighborhood, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Keli McAlister said.
The man had started a confrontation with another person in the library, and when two officers attempted to talk with him, he pulled out a weapon and shot one of them, McAlister said. The other officer drew his weapon, shooting and killing Torence Jackson Jr., 28, of Indianapolis, the bureau said.
Jackson was a Black man. The two officers involved are also Black.
There were employees and patrons in the library, but no one else was injured, McAlister said.
Ex-Navy captain sentenced for bribery
SAN DIEGO -- A former U.S. Navy captain who was caught up in a huge contracting scandal was sentenced Thursday to 2½ years in federal prison for taking nearly $91,000 in bribes.
Retired Capt. David Haas also was ordered to make restitution and pay a $30,000 fine.
Prosecutors said Haas, 54, of Kailua, Hawaii, was among dozens of Navy officials who were bribed to help obtain defense contracts for a man known as "Fat Leonard" Francis.
Francis owned Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., which supplied food, water and fuel to vessels for decades. He has acknowledged overbilling the Navy by $35 million with the help of officers whom he plied with prostitutes, Kobe beef, cigars and other bribes so they would direct their ships to ports that Francis controlled in Southeast Asia.
More than 30 people have been convicted or pleaded guilty in the sweeping corruption case. Francis, who also pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2015, was awaiting sentencing when he fled home confinement in San Diego last year and is now in custody in Venezuela, where he has requested asylum.
From 2011 to 2013, Haas, who was captain of the 7th Fleet command ship Blue Ridge, accepted tens of thousands of dollars' worth of entertainment, including hotel rooms, prostitutes, alcohol and dinners, during multiday parties arranged by Francis overseas, prosecutors said.
In federal court in San Diego on Thursday, Haas told the judge he had brought shame on his family and the Navy and tarnished his two-decade career, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
"I should never have had a relationship with that guy," Haas said. "I should never have allowed Leonard Francis into anywhere."
Biden's top economic adviser leaving
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden's top economic adviser, Brian Deese, is leaving his post.
Biden said Thursday in a statement that Deese would step down as director of the White House National Economic Council. That position had him coordinating policy across the government and negotiating with Congress on coronavirus aid, the budget, infrastructure, the tax code, clean energy incentives, investments in computer chip plants and other measures that the president counts as key victories.
"Brian has a unique ability to translate complex policy challenges into concrete actions that improve the lives of American people," Biden said. "He has helped steer my economic vision into reality and managed the transition of our historic economic recovery to steady and stable growth."