95.1 The Bee

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of President Joe Biden’s term. With Warnock’s victory, Democrats will have a 51-49 Senate majority, gaining a seat from the current 50-50 split with John Fetterman’s victory in Pennsylvania. There will be divided government, however, with Republicans having narrowly flipped House control.

Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes in last month’s election out of almost 4 million cast, but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Walker, a football legend who first gained fame at the University of Georgia and later in the NFL in the 1980s, was faced with damaging allegations against him, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends’ abortions.

About 1.9 million runoff votes were cast by mail and during early voting, with state officials estimating an additional 1.4 million votes cast — slightly more than in the November midterm and the 2020 election. The Democrats outright majority in the Senate means the party will no longer have to negotiate a power-sharing deal with Republicans — and won’t have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break as many tie votes. Warnock’s victory also cements Georgia as a battleground state expected to play a prominent role in the 2024 presidential election. Democrats have now won three Senate races in the past two years in the former Republican stronghold; Democratic President Joe Biden carried Georgia in 2020.

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On Tuesday, a New York jury found the Trump Organization guilty of all charges in a 15-year tax fraud scheme that prosecutors alleged was orchestrated by top executives at the company. Jurors deliberated for just over a day before returning the guilty verdicts on a total of 17 counts, including scheme to defraud, conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. The company faces roughly $1.6 million in fines at sentencing.

The Trump Organization and its former longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, were indicted last year after a multiyear investigation into the company’s financial practices by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Prosecutors alleged that two corporations that are a part of the company — Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. — paid executives including Weisselberg more by “cheating on their taxes” through a series of schemes that included off-the-books perks like luxury cars and free apartments.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday: “For 13 years the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation got away with a scheme that awarded high-level executives with lavish perks and compensation while intentionally concealing the benefits from the taxing authorities to avoid paying taxes … Today’s verdict holds these Trump companies accountable for their long-running criminal scheme.”

Trump, who was not charged, complained about the case on social media Tuesday morning. The former president said the district attorney’s office had been “fighting a political Witch Hunt for D.C. against ‘Trump.’”

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The police chief in Tampa, Florida resigned Monday after using her position to escape a ticket during a traffic stop on Nov. 12 by a Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy, involving a golf cart driven by her husband.  Chief Mary O’Connor submitted her resignation after an internal affairs review found she violated police department policy. The internal review found O’Connor, who had been on the job less than a year, violated regulations on standards of conduct and “abuse of position or identification.”

The stop, which was recorded on video by the deputy’s body camera, shows O’Connor identifying herself as the Tampa chief, flashing her badge and saying “I’m hoping you will let us go tonight.” The deputy issued only a verbal warning instead of a citation. The golf cart did not have a license tag, a requirement for when such vehicles are driven on public streets. O’Connor’s husband, Keith, said they had just come from a restaurant and didn’t usually drive the cart on streets.

O’Connor had issued a statement apologizing for her conduct: “In hindsight, I realize how my handling of this matter could be viewed as inappropriate, but that was certainly not my intent,” she said. In her resignation letter, O’Connor took responsibility for her actions: “I would never want my personal mistake to stand in the way of the progress I have made in mending relationships between the police department and the community … so for that reason, I am resigning.”

Mayor Jane Castor, a former Tampa police chief herself, said in a statement requesting the resignation: “The Tampa Police Department has a code of conduct that includes high standards for ethical and professional behavior that apply to every member of our police force. As the Chief of Police, you are not only to abide by and enforce those standards but to also lead by example. That clearly did not happen in this case.” Castor has appointed assistant chief Lee Bercaw as acting chief.

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Long Island, NY prosecutors said Monday that a New Jersey inmate dubbed the “Torso Killer” pleaded guilty to a 1968 slaying near New York City, as well as admitting to four other homicides. Richard Cottingham — believed to be one of America’s most prolific serial killers — admitted to strangling 23-year-old Diane Cusick on Feb. 15, 1968, at the Green Acres Mall in Nassau County Officials said that in addition to Cusick’s case, he also confessed to four other Long Island slayings, officials said.

Cusick had left her job at a children’s dance school and then stopped at the mall to buy a pair of dance shoes when the New Hyde Park woman was strangled by Cottingham, authorities said. District Attorney Anne Donnelly told reporters in Mineola, NY: “Today is one is one the most emotional days we’ve ever had the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office … In the case of Diane Cusick, her family has waited nearly 55 years for someone to be held accountable for her death.”

Nassau County investigators said Cottingham could be responsible for as many as 13 homicides in their jurisdiction, but these slayings are the only ones they can positively link him to now. He’s been dubbed the “Torso Killer” due to the savage manner he maimed some of his victims. Cottingham had also been called the “Times Square Killer” for murders he committed in New York City.

Cottingham is in poor health and living out his days in a New Jersey prison, serving life for murders committed there. The 76-year-old appeared via remote feed from New Jersey.

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