Trump delays

NI nominee

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is trying to stop the confirmation process for his own nominee to head the nation’s intelligence agencies. Trump’s extraordinary move Wednesday upended Senate efforts to renew a crucial surveillance program that expired last week and fueled fresh tensions with fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Trump declared in a social media post he was delaying the nomination of Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence just hours before his scheduled hearing. Republicans eventually postponed the hearing for Clayton, who’s U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Further complicating matters, Trump says he won’t sign the surveillance program renewal without his legislation to require proof of citizenship for voters.

Heuermann

sentenced

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A Long Island architect who lived a secret life as the Gilgo Beach serial killer has been sentenced to to life in prison without parole.

Rex Heuermann had previously admitted in court to killing eight women, many of them sex workers. Police discovered the remains of several of the women along a coastal parkway not far from Long Island’s Gilgo Beach. Family members of victims delivered emotional statements during the court hearing.

Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, said, “You fill me with so much repugnance, I can’t stand it.”

Bystanders

help victims

(AP) — Investigators were on the scene Wednesday where a business jet crashed on a Texas highway, killing one person on board.

Local officials in Laredo said the toll in the fiery crash could have been much worse and credited bystanders for helping police rescue passengers and crew.

A business partner confirmed in a social media post that the person who died was Joshua Baer, a leader in Texas’ technology and startup sectors. The plane went down with six people on board late Tuesday near the Mexican border after its crew radioed the local airport seeking to make an emergency landing. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.