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Man cited for using fake skeleton to drive in HOV lane

A 62-year-old man was cited in Arizona this week after trying to disguise a fake skeleton as a passenger just to use the HOV lane. The Arizona Department of Public Safety says a trooper pulled over the man on Thursday after noticing he had placed a fake skeleton in the passenger's front seat. Department spokesman Raul Garcia said troopers cite about 7,000 HOV lane violators every year.

Head on a pike? Republican senators object after Schiff cites impeachment threat

Representative Adam Schiff, making his closing argument in the impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, seemed to have the Senate chamber more or less rapt, with lawmakers listening respectfully, whether they agreed with his arguments or not. Then the Democratic congressman mentioned a CBS News report about a Trump confidante suggesting serious ramifications for Republican senators if they voted against the president, and the mood on the Republican side of the aisle shifted. "Not true," Senator Susan Collins of Maine declared out loud as fellow Republicans responded audibly and disgustedly at Schiff's remarks.

He started a fight at the Chick-fil-A drive-thru, Florida cops say. Things escalated.

A trip to get a late lunch turned violent at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru in Naples on Jan. 18.

Radio reporter says Pompeo cursed at her after testy interview

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cursed at a National Public Radio reporter and repeatedly "used the F-word" in a shouted diatribe after she questioned him about Ukraine and the ousted American ambassador to Kiev in an interview on Friday, the reporter said. Mary Louise Kelly conducted a testy interview lasting about nine minutes with Pompeo for NPR's "All Things Considered" program, asking him about Iran and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was ousted by President Donald Trump last May. Yovanovitch's removal was a key event in the actions that prompted Trump's impeachment in the House of Representatives last month.

New Orleans: Protesters demand action on damaged hotel

Dozens of protesters marched from the site of the partially collapsed Hard Rock Hotel on the edge of the French Quarter to City Hall on Friday, demanding that something be done about the hotel and that the two bodies still inside be recovered. The Hard Rock Hotel was under construction when it partially collapsed on Oct. 12, sending plumes of dust into the air, killing three people and injuring dozens. The bodies of two of the three workers who died are still inside what is left of the building, which city officials have decided to take down through implosion in March.

Trump lawyer: Joe and Hunter Biden have 'relevant evidence' for impeachment trial

A member of President Trump’s defense team says that former Vice President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden have “relevant evidence” and could be summoned to testify if the Senate votes next week to permit witnesses in the impeachment trial. 

Haggis is growing in popularity, and not just in Scotland

Carried high by the cook on a silver platter behind a kilted piper at formal dinners, the haggis is the essential dish for anyone celebrating the birthday of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, on Saturday. Now the spicy meat is more popular than ever, with exports up 136% over the past decade with sales to faraway places such as Hong Kong and Ghana as well as across Europe. The fame of the dish beyond Scotland is largely thanks to Burns himself, whose birthday is celebrated by festive dinners with haggis, whisky, speeches and poetry.

Woman charged with killing kids faced child-welfare scrutiny

A woman charged with murder in the deaths of her three young kids in Phoenix was the subject of several home visits by police and child-welfare authorities when she previously lived in Oklahoma, according to police reports. The reports released Friday by police in Prague, Oklahoma, say a relative was given custody of Rachel Henry’s children for seven days in August 2018 while child-welfare authorities decided whether to take them away permanently or return them to their mother. The children were temporarily taken away because Henry was caught at her apartment with her boyfriend, Pedro Genaro Rios, who had been accused earlier of threatening Henry and one of her children, according to the reports.

Fiat Chrysler asks U.S. court to toss out GM racketeering claims: filing

Fiat Chrysler's motion to dismiss GM's civil racketeering lawsuit was expected. The company has said GM's lawsuit is baseless and aimed at disrupting the Italian-American automaker's proposed merger with France's Peugeot SA .

Killings in Mexico are at an all-time high, but the government’s not doing much about it | Opinion

Official new figures showing that 2019 was the most violent year on record in Mexico — and that homicides are spreading to some tourist areas — corroborated what many of us suspected: that President Andres M. López Obrador’s “hugs-not-bullets” strategy to curb violence is a pipe dream.

Snowplow kills 2 walking along highway in Kansas

A snowplow struck and killed two pedestrians in Kansas before sunrise Friday after a winter storm coated parts of the Midwest with snow. The collision involving a Riley County plow truck happened shortly after 5 a.m., after the National Weather Service issued winter weather advisories across parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and a large swath of Missouri. The Kansas Highway Patrol said Stephen Toler, 22, and Jayden Rosa, 20, both of Manhattan, were walking in a lane of U.S. 24 when they were hit by the snowplow north of Kansas State University and near Tuttle Creek State Park.

The best of Adam Schiff from the impeachment trial

Rep. Adam Schiff received praise for his performance during President Trump's impeachment trial — including from some Republicans.

Officials identify remains found in burnt-out Hawaii home

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the remains of two people found in a burnt-out home where a man allegedly shot and killed two Honolulu police officers and attacked a neighbor before setting the house ablaze last weekend. Officials on Friday released a statement identifying the homeowner, Lois Ann Cain, 77, as one of the two people found in the house that was destroyed by fire in an upscale neighborhood near Waikiki Beach.

Union president attacks non-union workers for encroaching on Indiana job site, feds say

The president of an Indiana Iron Workers union and a colleague pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting a group of non-union workers at a construction site for a Christian school, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Union president attacks non-union workers for encroaching on Indiana job site, feds say

The president of an Indiana Iron Workers union and a colleague pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting a group of non-union workers at a construction site for a Christian school, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Former top U.S. general Dunford joining Lockheed Martin's board

The former top U.S. military official, General Joseph Dunford, has been elected to the board of Lockheed Martin Corp , the Pentagon's largest weapons supplier, the company said on Friday. Dunford, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2015 to 2019, will join the board of the F-35 fighter jet maker on Feb. 10. Critics of U.S. military spending have long complained of a revolving door between Pentagon leadership and the defense industry.

Schiff lobbies Chief Justice Roberts to rule on questions of executive privilege

Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House prosecutor, called on Chief Justice John Roberts to expedite rulings on any disputes between Congress and President Trump over witness testimony and documents, if the Senate votes to allow them.

California couple pleads guilty to plotting $1B Ponzi scheme

The owners of a San Francisco Bay Area solar energy company pleaded guilty Friday to charges that they plotted a massive Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $1 billion. As part of their plea deal, prosecutors said the husband and wife team from Martinez agreed to forfeit over $120 million in assets, including a fleet of collector cars and v acation homes in the Caribbean, Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas purchased entirely with cash. Jeff Carpoff, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, which carry a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's office in Sacramento said.

Fact, along with Trump, is on trial in the Senate

There is a confounding question at the heart of the impeachment inquiry: If one side believes in fixed truth, and the other treats truth as a fluid concept, how can the two parties even begin to seriously debate the articles of impeachment?

Rosie Perez backs up Annabella Sciorra's rape allegation in Weinstein trial

After Annabella Sciorra testified that disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s, Rosie Perez took the stand Friday to back her up.Perez testified in the ongoing Weinstein rape trial after Sciorra told jurors Thursday that in 1993 or 1994, Weinstein raped her in her New York apartment. Bolstering Sciorra's claim, Perez said Friday that in 1993, Sciorra told her, "I think I was raped," The New York Times reports.Although Perez testified that Sciorra initially did not name the alleged perpetrator, she said Sciorra later told her it was Weinstein."She swore me never to tell anybody," Perez said. "I told her to go to the police, and she said: 'I can't. He will destroy me. He will destroy my career."Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 80 women, is facing charges of sexual assault and rape. He has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex acts. Prosecutors allege Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on a woman in 2006 and raped a woman in 2013, but Sciorra testified as a "prior bad acts" witness as prosecutors attempt to establish a pattern of behavior. If convicted, Weinstein faces possible life in prison.More stories from theweek.com Trump debuts official Space Force logo — and it's literally a ripoff of Star Trek 14 dead, hundreds injured after 6.7 earthquake in eastern Turkey Donald Trump and the moral decline of the pro-life movement