California wildfires, state primaries and Paul Manafort trial: 5 things you need to know Tuesday
Paul Manafort trial: More explosive testimony expected
The tax and bank fraud trial of Paul Manafort, former chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, continues Tuesday with more testimony from the prosecution’s key witness Rick Gates. In explosive testimony Monday, Manafort’s former business partner told a federal court jury that he engaged in a seven-year criminal conspiracy with his former boss in which he assisted in filing false tax returns, failed to disclose multiple foreign bank accounts and provided phony documents to banks to acquire millions of dollars in loans. Gates, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI, acknowledged his own criminal activity as Manafort sat just a few feet away at the defense table. Manafort’s lawyers assert that Gates directed accountants to falsify Manafort’s tax returns because he had “embezzled millions of dollars” from their consulting firm.
Primaries may point to D.C. midterm moves
Primaries in Kansas, Washington, Michigan and Missouri on Tuesday could test Republican vulnerability in November as well as measure tensions within the divided left. With Kansas on Republican lockdown from governor to insurance commissioner, the ruby-red state may play a pivotal role in determining which party controls the U.S. House come midterms — specifically its 2nd and 3rd congressional districts. From a super-liberal candidate in Kansas to three political newcomers vying for Washington's 8th congressional seat, here's what you need to know about Tuesday's primaries. Curious about the special election in Ohio's 12th congressional district? Here's how Donald Trump turned the safe Republican seat into a toss-up.
Northern California fires become largest in state's history
Firefighters will be working around the clock to battle the deadly fires in California on Tuesday. Authorities said the Mendocino Complex fire, two fires in Northern California burning a few miles apart, is now the largest wildfire in history. The fires, north of San Francisco, have burned 75 homes, scorched 283,800 acres and are only 30 percent contained. More than 14,000 firefighters are battling over a dozen major blazes throughout California, state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott McLean said. Hotter weather attributed to climate change is drying out vegetation, creating more intense fires that spread quickly from rural areas to city subdivisions, climate and fire experts say.
SpaceX launches, lands Falcon rocket that could fly a third time
Is a SpaceX rocket ready for a three-peat? The Falcon 9 booster that blasted off from Cape Canaveral early Tuesday could become the company’s first to launch a third orbital mission — possibly before the end of this year.Tuesday’s launch delivered a much-needed satellite to orbit for PT Telkom Indonesia, that country’s largest telecommunications and network provider. With the introduction of the upgraded Falcon 9 and its successful re-flight, SpaceX begins in earnest its drive to transition reusable rockets from an experimental project into something more routine, like aircraft operations. SpaceX's latest Falcon 9 booster should return to Port Canaveral within three or four days, and will then undergo inspections to determine its fitness for a third launch.
Testing finds flaws with electronic car safety systems, group warns
Cars and trucks with electronic driver assist systems may not see stopped vehicles and could even steer you into a crash if you’re not paying attention, an insurance group warns. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety issued the warning Tuesday after testing five of the systems from Tesla, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo on a track and public roads. Among the scariest found by the Virginia-based institute was with the system in two Tesla vehicles, the Model S and Model 3. "They will help you with some steering or speed control but you really better be paying attention because they don’t always get it right," said David Zuby, the institute’s chief research officer, about the vehicles.
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