Updated Sep 30, 2019

Rep. Chris Collins resigns ahead of guilty plea for insider trading

Marisa Fernandez

Rep. Chris Collins. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) is resigning ahead of a hearing Tuesday in which he is expected to change his "not guilty" plea in a criminal insider trading case, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office confirmed Monday.

Context: In August 2018, Collins was arrested in connection with an alleged insider trading scheme involving Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian drug company whose board he sat on for years. Prosecutors allege that Collins, the first congressman to endorse President Trump in 2016, received a tip about about a failed clinical trial involving the company's only product. He then allegedly called his son Cameron, who sold off shares of Innate stock the next day.

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Ursula Perano

Susan Collins condemns Trump's call for China to investigate Bidens

Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Saturday became the 3rd Republican senator to break ranks with GOP leadership and condemn President Trump's public call for China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, according to the Bangor Daily News.

The big picture: Collins joins Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) in publicly criticizing Trump's comments, which he made just days after Democrats launched a formal impeachment inquiry over revelations that he had made the same request to the president of Ukraine.

Go deeperArrowOct 6, 2019
Axios

Timeline: The major developments in the college admissions scandal

Michelle Janavs, whose family owns food manufacturing company Chef America, maker of Hot Pockets. Photo:
Boston Globe / Contributor

In what Department of Justice prosecutors have called the biggest admissions scam in U.S. history, parents allegedly bribed coaches and paid for forged standardized tests in a conspiracy to get their children into elite American colleges.

Driving the news: Michelle Janavs, whose family created Hot Pockets, was sentenced on Tuesday to five months in prison for agreeing to pay $300,000 in bribes to get her two daughters into universities.

Go deeperArrowUpdated Feb 25, 2020 - Economy & Business
Marisa Fernandez

Maryland man confesses guilt in Capital Gazette mass shooting

The cover of the Capital Gazette the day after the shooting on June 29, 2018. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

39-year-old Jarrod Ramos entered a guilty plea on Monday on 23 charges related to a mass shooting that killed five at the office of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, last summer, the Washington Post reports.

The big picture: Ramos originally pleaded not guilty ahead of his trial this week, citing a mental disorder. Prosecutors say Ramos had a grudge against the newspaper for covering a case in which he pleaded guilty to harassing a former high school classmate, per the Post. With a shotgun, Ramos methodically attacked employees of the Capital Gazette once he was in the building.

Go deeper: Capital Gazette shooting deadliest attack on U.S. journalists since 9/11

Keep ReadingArrowOct 28, 2019