Singer Kelly pleads innocent in sex case
CHICAGO -- R. Kelly pleaded innocent Monday to charges that he sexually abused four people dating back to 1998, including three underage girls, and the R&B star posted $100,000 bail that allowed him to go free while awaiting trial.
Kelly walked into a Chicago courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit after spending the weekend in the city's 7,000-inmate jail. He said little during the brief arraignment, telling the judge only his name. His lawyers spoke on his behalf.
The singer-songwriter was arrested Friday on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse. A judge on Saturday set bond at $1 million, meaning Kelly had to post 10 percent of that amount to be released. A spokesman for the Cook County sheriff's office said the money was posted late Monday afternoon and he was released from jail. He will be forbidden from having any contact with girls younger than 18.
The recording artist has been trailed for decades by allegations that he violated underage girls and women and held some as virtual slaves. Kelly has consistently denied any sexual misconduct, and he was acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008.
Trump donates $191,538 in hotel profits
NEW YORK -- President Donald Trump's company said on Monday that it donated nearly $200,000 to the U.S. Treasury to make good on its promise two years ago to hand over profits from foreign governments using its properties.
The Trump Organization said a check for $191,538 sent to Treasury represents profits from embassy parties, hotel stays and other foreign government spending at its Washington hotel and other properties last year. The voluntary donation is up from $151,470 sent a year ago to cover the president's first calendar year in office.
Trump announced the donation plan before his inauguration in response to criticism that in refusing to sell off his business, people would suspect his decisions in office would be influenced by spending at his properties.
Since then, Kuwait, the Philippines and other foreign governments have thrown parties at his Washington hotel. Trump is facing two lawsuits alleging that he is violating the Constitution's emoluments provisions.
Those clauses ban presidents from accepting gifts or payments from foreign or domestic governments without permission from Congress. The president's lawyers argue that the framers of the Constitution's ban on foreign gifts and payments did not intend for it to include such ordinary business transactions as hotel stays.
High court rejects dead judge's ruling
WASHINGTON -- Federal judges can't rule from beyond the grave, the Supreme Court said Monday.
"Federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity," the high court said in an unsigned opinion in a case involving the Federal Equal Pay Act that involved Stephen Reinhardt, a 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge. Reinhardt died on March 29 but was listed as the author of a decision issued 11 days after he died. A note on the decision said that Reinhardt, who was 87 when he died, "fully participated in this case" and that voting on it, his opinion and opinions written by other judges were completed and final before his death.
The Supreme Court said that Reinhardt was no longer a judge when the decision in the case was filed.
"That practice effectively allowed a deceased judge to exercise the judicial power of the United States after his death," the justices wrote.
The Supreme Court noted that without Reinhardt's vote, the majority opinion he wrote was only approved by 5 of the 10 living judges on the panel hearing the case. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the 9th Circuit for reconsideration.
Kissed by Trump, ex-aide's suit claims
MIAMI -- A former worker on President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging that Trump abruptly grabbed her by the hand and planted an unwanted kiss on her face during a Florida meeting with staff and volunteers.
Alva Johnson, who lives in the Huntsville, Ala., area, contends that Trump made the nonconsensual advance in August 2016 in Tampa, Fla. She says he "grasped her hand and did not let go" and kissed her on the corner of her mouth as she turned slightly away.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an order preventing the president from "grabbing, kissing or otherwise assaulting or harassing women without prior express consent."
White House spokesman Sarah Sanders called Johnson's allegations fabricated.
"This accusation is absurd on its face. This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts," Sanders said.
Johnson's lawsuit recounts similar allegations made by women against Trump. The suit said Johnson realized she was not alone after the Access Hollywood tape emerged in October 2016, in which Trump brags about groping and kissing women without asking permission. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 02/26/2019