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Riley Williams: Pennsylvania woman charged in Nancy Pelosi’s laptop theft sentenced to prison

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Riley Williams: Pennsylvania woman charged in Nancy Pelosi’s laptop theft sentenced to prison


A Pennsylvania girl linked to a far-right extremist motion was sentenced on Thursday to a few years in jail for storming the U.S. Capitol, the place she invaded then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s workplace with different rioters.

Riley June Williams, 23, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was charged however not convicted of serving to steal a laptop computer from Pelosi’s workplace suite throughout the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

A federal jury convicted Williams in November of six fees, together with a felony rely of civil dysfunction, after a two-week trial. However it deadlocked on two different counts, together with “aiding and abetting” the laptop computer’s theft.

Jurors additionally deadlocked on a cost of obstructing an official continuing, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Then-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress evacuated the Home and Senate chambers when rioters attacked the Capitol.

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Prosecutors had requested U.S. District Choose Amy Berman Jackson to condemn Williams to seven years and three months in jail.

“In every single place she went, Williams acted as an accelerant, exacerbating the mayhem. The place others turned again, she pushed ahead,” prosecutors wrote in a courtroom submitting.

Protection attorneys requested a time period of imprisonment of 1 yr and at some point for Williams, who was 22 in January 2021.

“In some respects, she is starkly totally different from the common January sixth defendant – significantly given her youth and that she is a feminine,” they wrote. “In different methods she is much like lots of different January sixth defendants with no prior prison document, that have been caught up with the mob that day, appearing on impulse and with out thought to the results of their actions.”

Jackson additionally sentenced Williams to a few years of supervised launch after her jail time period and ordered her to pay $2,000 in restitution, in keeping with the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the District of Columbia.

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Williams was an ardent supporter of the white nationalist “Groyper” motion led by web persona Nick Fuentes, in keeping with prosecutors. They mentioned Williams was “obsessed” with Fuentes and fixated on baseless claims — amplified by Fuentes — that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.

Williams’ attorneys argued that her political opinions should not be a consider her sentencing. They mentioned the First Modification protects her curiosity in Fuentes and his “Groyper Military” of followers.

Fuentes has used his on-line platform to spew antisemitic and white supremacist rhetoric. In November, former President Trump dined at his Mar-a-Lago membership with Fuentes and the rapper previously referred to as Kanye West, who’s now referred to as Ye.

Different Fuentes followers have been charged with Jan. 6-related crimes, together with former UCLA pupil Christian Secor, who waved a flag related to Fuentes’ motion when he entered the Capitol. Secor was sentenced final yr to a few years and 6 months in jail.

Williams wore a inexperienced “I am with Groyper” T-shirt when she traveled to Washington, D.C., along with her father and his pals on Jan. 6. They attended Trump’s “Cease the Steal” rally earlier than heading to the Capitol. Williams entered the constructing via the Senate Wing Door two minutes after different rioters breached the doorway.

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Williams used males carrying helmets and physique armor like a “human battering ram,” pushing them ahead to interrupt via police strains contained in the Capitol, prosecutors mentioned. Coming into Pelosi’s most important convention room, she stole a gavel and inspired one other rioter to take a laptop computer from atop a desk, in keeping with prosecutors.

“As the opposite rioter later manipulated the laptop computer and its cords, Williams filmed the theft that she had simply commanded and inspired, and additional instructed the rioter, ‘Dude, placed on gloves!’” prosecutors wrote.

Williams then went to the Rotunda, the place she shouted insults at police and urged different rioters to affix her in pushing towards officers.

Williams spent roughly 90 minutes within the Capitol. After leaving, she climbed on the roof of a parked police automotive.

Williams destroyed proof earlier than her arrest, deleting her social media accounts, resetting her iPhone and utilizing software program to wipe her pc, in keeping with prosecutors.

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Williams bragged on-line that she stole Pelosi’s gavel, laptop computer and exhausting drives and that she “gave the digital units, or tried to present them, to unspecified Russian people,” prosecutors mentioned in a June 2022 courtroom submitting.

“To this point, neither the laptop computer nor the gavel has been recovered,” they added.

A witness described as a former romantic associate of Williams informed the FBI that she meant to ship the stolen laptop computer or exhausting drive to a pal in Russia who deliberate to promote it to Russia’s international intelligence service. However the witness mentioned Williams saved the machine or destroyed it when the switch fell via, in keeping with the FBI.

When the FBI questioned her, Williams denied stealing the laptop computer. She accused an ex-boyfriend of fabricating the allegation.

Williams was taken into custody after the jury convicted her on Nov. 21.

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Roughly 1,000 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Greater than 400 have been sentenced, with over half of them receiving phrases of imprisonment starting from seven days to 10 years.



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Pennsylvania

Suspect in killing of woman in Pa. motel in custody in N.J., cops say

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Suspect in killing of woman in Pa. motel in custody in N.J., cops say


A suspect in the homicide of a woman in Bensalem, Pennsylvania is in custody at the Trenton Police Department, police said Wednesday afternoon.

The suspect and victim’s identities have not been made public.

The Bensalem, Pennsylvania police and the Buck County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that officers found a woman dead at the Sleep Inn & Suites, on Street Road, early Wednesday. They did not detail the circumstances of her death.



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Shapiro threatens to pull Pennsylvania out of PJM over electricity prices

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Shapiro threatens to pull Pennsylvania out of PJM over electricity prices


Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) is warning regional electricity grid operator PJM that the state will consider leaving the organization if it doesn’t do more to protect consumers against soaring power prices.

Shapiro’s letter marks a sharp escalation of his dispute with PJM, the largest U.S. wholesale power market and transmission coordinator, serving 65 million people from the Atlantic Seaboard to Chicago.

The risk of more power price escalation “threatens to undermine public confidence in PJM as an institution,” Shapiro said in his letter to Mark Takahashi, chair of PJM’s board of managers.

In a statement Tuesday, PJM said, “We appreciate the governor’s letter and have reached out to his office to discuss next steps.”

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Group weighs potential and peril of performance funding for Pa. universities • Pennsylvania Capital-Star

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Group weighs potential and peril of performance funding for Pa. universities • Pennsylvania Capital-Star


A group of lawmakers, university administrators and the head of the Department of Education heard Tuesday about the possibilities — and perils — of tying public funding of state-related universities at least in part to their performance and students’ academic outcomes.

The Performance-Based Funding Council was created by the General Assembly last summer and tasked with making recommendations on a performance-based funding formula by the end of April. Members include four lawmakers, Interim Acting Secretary of Education Angela Fitterer and three non-voting members from the state-related schools that would be affected: Penn State, Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh. Lincoln University, an HBCU and a fourth state-related university, would not be affected.

Currently, the three state-related schools collectively receive more than $550 million in state funding annually. The move to a performance-based funding formula has been supported by lawmakers from both parties, as well as Gov. Josh Shapiro.

“These legislative hearings offer a unique opportunity to fundamentally reassess how we align public resources and educational outcomes,” said Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford), the council chairperson. “I believe we need to show the public how those resources are used and why — why we invest in higher education.”

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More than 30 states already use a performance-based funding model. According to testimony heard by the council, the most common academic targets in states with performance-based funding models include graduation rates, student retention and degree or credential completion. But a potential formula could also take into account factors like research output, administrative efficiency, and employment rates of graduated students.

While policies vary greatly around the country, about 10% of money sent to four-year schools in states with performance-based funding formulas is based on the targeted metrics, according to testimony by Andrew Smalley, a policy specialist who focuses on higher education at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

But experts warned that coming up with a comprehensive formula can be “daunting.”

“Everyone knows that colleges and universities subject to these formulas find themselves in a bit of a Catch-22,” said Charles Ansell, vice president of research, policy and advocacy at Complete College America, a nonprofit focused on best practices in higher education. “They need funds for their performance and improved graduation rates, but they cannot access funds without demonstrating improvement first.”

One potential solution, another expert testified, could be awarding funds based on improvements at an individual school over time instead of an arbitrary benchmark, like graduation rate, that applies to all schools.

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Experts also warned that some performance-based funding models can exacerbate disparities in educational outcomes between high- and low-income students, and between white and minority students.

“Performance funding is typically tied to advantages for the advantaged students and disadvantages for the disadvantaged,” said Justin Ortagus, an associate professor of higher education administration and policy at the University of Florida. Though he noted that a funding formula can take these pitfalls into account by incentivizing enrollment and degree or certification attainment for students in impacted groups.

Speakers also highlighted the benefits of performance-based funding models. Ortagus noted that they can promote institutional accountability.

It could also provide predictability when it comes to school budgets.

As it stands, Pennsylvania’s method for funding these universities requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature, which has led to months-long delays in the past. Creating a predictable funding formula that would be distributed through the Department of Education would mean future appropriations would only require a simple majority.

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Moreover, lawmakers could use performance metrics to encourage specific educational outcomes. Part of the funding formula, for example, could rely on students enrolling or graduating in programs of study that would lead to them entering high-demand fields in the job market.  

The state could also target specific outcomes based on goals like increasing low-income, veteran or minority student graduation rates, encouraging adult education and incentivizing students to enter high-demand jobs by focusing on particular majors. And the formula can be adapted when new needs or issues arise.

“It’s very common for states to revise these frequently,” Smalley said.

The council expects to hold three more hearings, some at the campuses of affected state-related universities.  Its recommendations are due to the legislature and governor April 30.

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