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Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska has been indicted, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Prosecutors said in a tweet that a federal grand jury indicted Fortenberry on charges of lying to federal investigators, and another crime in connection with a probe about illegal campaign donations provided by a foreigner.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said in a press release: ““The indictment alleges that Fortenberry repeatedly lied to and misled authorities during a federal investigation into illegal contributions to Fortenberry’s re-election campaign made by a foreign billionaire in early 2016.” The announcement of the indictment in Los Angeles federal court came hours after a YouTube video was posted, featuring Fortenberry, his wife, dog and 1963 Ford 100 pickup truck, revealing he expected to be indicted for allegedly lying to FBI agents.

Fortenberry is due to be arraigned in that court Wednesday. He is charged with one count of scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators looking into illegal contributions to his 2016 campaign.

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Officials say that a freshman at the University of Kentucky died from alcohol toxicity Monday night after he was found unresponsive at his fraternity house. University police officers were called to FarmHouse Fraternity at about 6:22 p.m. Monday where Thomas Lofton Hazlewood, an 18-year-old fraternity member, was unresponsive. Hazlewood, an agricultural economics major. was taken to a hospital where he died.

The Fayette County Coroner’s Office said Hazlewood’s cause of death was “presumed alcohol toxicity” pending investigation, and the manner of death was ruled an accident. In a statement on Tuesday, the University of Kentucky said: “Foul play is not suspected, but police are investigating the circumstances of his death.”

FarmHouse Fraternity CEO Christian Wiggins said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Thomas ‘Lofton’ Hazelwood, a new member of the University of Kentucky chapter of FarmHouse Fraternity. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and loved ones as well as the entire community. We have encouraged all members and new members to cooperate with any investigation prompted by Mr. Hazelwood’s death. The thoughts of the entire UK community are with his family and all those who knew him.”

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Former Secretary of State and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell died on Monday due to complications from COVID-19, his family said. He was 84. Powell’s family announced his death in a post to Facebook. Powell, 84, was fully vaccinated from Covid-19, his family said, and had been treated at Walter Reed National Medical Center. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” the family said. Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of a type of white blood cell. It’s unclear what complications he experienced from Covid-19 or when he tested positive for the disease.

Powell was born in 1937 in Harlem, New York, to immigrants from Jamaica and grew up in the South Bronx, going on to get a bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York. He became the first Black secretary of state under President George W. Bush.  After rising through the military ranks, Powell became a four-star general and then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He had served as U.S. national security adviser and deputy national security adviser for President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Powell served twice in Vietnam — during the first tour, he was wounded in action and on the second tour, he received the Soldier’s Medal for rescuing several men from a burning helicopter..

Bush said in a statement on Monday that he and former first lady Laura Bush were deeply saddened by Powell’s death, adding: “He was a great public servant, starting with his time as a soldier during Vietnam. Many presidents relied on General Powell’s counsel and experience. He was such a favorite of presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom — twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend.” Bush added that he and his wife sent Powell’s widow, Alma, and their three children “our sincere condolences as they remember the life of a great man.”

President Joe Biden ordered American flags at the White House lowered to half-staff in Powell’s honor, calling him a “patriot of unmatched honor and dignity.”  Biden said in a statement:  “He believed in the promise of America because he lived it. Colin was always someone who gave you his best and treated you with respect. Time and again, he put country before self, before party, before all else — in uniform and out — and it earned him the universal respect of the American people.” Despite serving Republican presidents, Powell broke with his party on several occasions in recent years, including when he endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president in 2008 over Republican Sen. John McCain. Powell endorsed Obama again in 2012 over the GOP’s nominee that year, Mitt Romney, and later became a vocal critic of President Donald Trump.

Colin Powell is survived by his wife, Alma Powell, 83, and their three children.

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On Monday, the Justice Department filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court asking to it bar the implementation of a new Texas law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The application, signed by Acting U.S. Solicitor General Brian Fletcher, asks the high court to block the controversial Texas law known as ‘Senate Bill 8’ until legal challenges against it run their course.  The government said that Senate Bill 8 defies a “half a century” of Supreme Court precedents holding that “a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.”  The DOJ argued that the Texas law violates the Court’s landmark rulings in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey and Roe vs. Wade “by banning abortion long before viability — indeed, before many women even realize they are pregnant.”

Monday’s filing comes after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week sided against the Justice Department and allowed Texas’ abortion ban, the most restrictive in the nation, to stand. The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 Thursday against the Justice Department’s request to block the law on the grounds of it being unconstitutional, staying an earlier ruling by Judge Robert Pitman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

The controversial law went into effect Sept. 1 banning physicians from performing abortions once cardiac activity of the fetus is detected, which generally occurs at around the six-week mark of a pregnancy and before many women even know they are pregnant. The ban is enforced by the public, who are incentivized to sue through civil court anyone who performs, aids or abets an abortion.