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President Joe Biden has said the US will try to bring home one of the longest-held American hostages following the sudden collapse of the Syrian government. Speaking at the White House, Biden said the US must first pinpoint the location of Austin Tice, with Syria in chaos. Mr Tice, a freelance journalist, is thought to have been taken captive close to Damascus on 14 August 2012 while he was covering the country's civil war. On Sunday, rebel fighters seized the Syrian capital in the culmination of a lightning offensive launched two weeks ago. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country. Biden said Assad's exit was a "fundamental act of justice" after decades of repression, but also "a moment of risk and uncertainty" for the Middle East. "We are mindful that there are Americans in Syria," Biden said on Sunday, "including those who reside there, as well as Austin Tice, who was take captive more than 12 years ago. "We remain committed to returning him to his family." On his way out of the room, Biden turned to answer a question from the media about Tice. "We believe he's alive," said the president. "We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet." The president added: "We have to identify where he is." Mr Tice, 43, was last seen in a video, blindfolded and in apparent distress, posted online weeks after his capture. While no government or group claimed responsibility for his disappearance, US officials soon said they believed that the former US Marine was being held by the Syrian government. Mr Tice's sister, Abigail Edaburn, told the BBC on Friday they believe he is still in Syria. "We don't know the exact circumstances of the place that he's being held, but we do know it is in Syria and that he is healthy and well," she said. "I don't know how much I can say, but there have been independent, trusted sources that have been able to verify this information," she added. The US has about 900 troops in Syria, and Biden said on Sunday he planned for those forces to remain. The president also said US forces had conducted "dozens" of what he called "precision air strikes" on Sunday against Islamic State group camps and operations in eastern Syria. President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday that the US should not intervene militarily in Syria. "THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT," he wrote on social media. The Syrian opposition that brought down Assad is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which has been designated a terrorist group by the Biden administration. The US, UK, UN and others consider HTS as an al-Qaeda affiliate, though HTS says it broke off ties with the Sunni Islamist organisation years ago.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was on the verge of backing a 16-week federal abortion ban earlier this year when aides staged an intervention. According to Time magazine's cover story on his selection as its 2024 Person of the Year, Trump's aides first raised concerns in mid-March that the abortion cutoff being pushed by some allies would be stricter than existing law in numerous states. It was seen as a potential political liability amid ongoing fallout over the overturning of Roe v. Wade by a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that includes three justices nominated by Trump in his first term. Trump political director James Blair went to work assembling a slide deck — eventually titled “How a national abortion ban will cost Trump the election" — that argued a 16-week ban would hurt the Republican candidate in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the magazine reported. “After flipping through Blair’s presentation" on a flight to a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in April, Trump dropped the idea, according to the report. "So we leave it to the states, right?" Trump was quoted as saying. He soon released a video articulating that position. At the time, Trump’s campaign denied that he was considering supporting the 16-week ban, calling it “fake news” and saying Trump planned to “negotiate a deal” on abortion if elected to the White House. Here are other highlights from the story and the president-elect's 65-minute interview with the magazine: Trump reaffirmed his plans to pardon most of those convicted for their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. “It’s going to start in the first hour,” he said of the pardons. “Maybe the first nine minutes.” Trump said he would look at individuals on a “case-by-case" basis, but that “a vast majority of them should not be in jail.” More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot that left more than 100 police officers injured and sent lawmakers running into hiding as they met to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory . More than 1,000 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial of charges, including misdemeanor trespassing offenses, assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. Trump insisted he has the authority to use the military to assist with his promised mass deportations , even though, as his interviewers noted, the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of the military in domestic law enforcement. “It doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country, and I consider it an invasion of our country," he said. “I’ll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows. And I think in many cases, the sheriffs and law enforcement is going to need help." Trump did not deny that camps would be needed to hold detained migrants as they are processed for deportation. “Whatever it takes to get them out. I don’t care," he said. “I hope we’re not going to need too many because I want to get them out and I don’t want them sitting in camp for the next 20 years.” Trump told Time he does not plan to restore the policy of separating children from their families to deter border crossings, but he did not rule it out. The practice led to thousands of children being separated from their parents and was condemned around the globe as inhumane. “I don’t believe we’ll have to because we will send the whole family back,” he said. “I would much rather deport them together, yes, than separate.” Trump dismissed the idea that Elon Musk will face conflicts of interest as he takes the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency , an advisory group that Trump has selected him to lead. The panel is supposed to find waste and cut regulations, including many that could affect Musk's wide-ranging interests , which include electric cars, rockets and telecommunications. “I don’t think so," Trump said. “I think that Elon puts the country long before his company. ... He considers this to be his most important project." Trump lowered expectations about his ability to drive down grocery prices. “I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will,” he said. Trump said he is planning “a virtual closure" of the "Department of Education in Washington.” “You’re going to need some people just to make sure they’re teaching English in the schools," he said. “But we want to move education back to the states.” Yet Trump has proposed exerting enormous influence over schools. He has threatened to cut funding for schools with vaccine mandates while forcing them to “teach students to love their country" and promote “the nuclear family,” including “the roles of mothers and fathers” and the “things that make men and women different and unique.” Asked to clarify whether he was committed to preventing the Food and Drug Administration from stripping access to abortion pills , Trump replied, “It’s always been my commitment.” But Trump has offered numerous conflicting stances on the issue, including to Time. Earlier in the interview, he was asked whether he would promise that his FDA would not do anything to limit access to medication abortion or abortion pills. "We’re going to take a look at all of that,” he said, before calling the prospect “very unlikely.” “Look, I’ve stated it very clearly and I just stated it again very clearly. I think it would be highly unlikely. I can’t imagine, but with, you know, we’re looking at everything, but highly unlikely. I guess I could say probably as close to ruling it out as possible, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to do anything now.” Pressed on whether he would abandon Ukraine in its efforts to stave off Russia's invasion , Trump said he would use U.S. support for Kyiv as leverage against Moscow in negotiating an end to the war. “I want to reach an agreement,” he said, “and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.” Trump would not commit to supporting a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as he had previously. “I support whatever solution we can do to get peace," he said. "There are other ideas other than two state, but I support whatever, whatever is necessary to get not just peace, a lasting peace. It can’t go on where every five years you end up in tragedy. There are other alternatives.” Asked whether he trusted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , he told Time: “I don’t trust anybody.” Trump would not rule out the possibility of war with Iran during his second term. “Anything can happen. It’s a very volatile situation," he said. Asked if he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Nov. 5 election, Trump continued to play coy: "I can’t tell you. It’s just inappropriate.” Trump insisted that his bid to install Matt Gaetz as attorney general ”wasn’t blocked. I had the votes (in the Senate) if I needed them, but I had to work very hard.” When the scope of resistance to the former Republican congressman from Florida became clear, Trump said, “I talked to him, and I said, ‘You know, Matt, I don’t think this is worth the fight.'" Gaetz pulled out amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations, and Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the Cabinet post. Trump, who has named anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, did not rule out the possibility of eliminating some childhood vaccinations even though they have been proved safe in extensive studies and real world use in hundreds of millions of people over decades and are considered among the most effective public health measures in modern history. Pressed on whether “getting rid of some vaccinations” — neither Trump nor the interviewers specified which ones — might be part of the plan to improve the health of the country, Trump responded: “It could if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end.” “I think there could be, yeah," Trump said of the prospect of others in his family continuing in his footsteps. He pointed to daughter-in-law Lara Trump , who served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee and is now being talked about as a potential replacement for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump has chosen for secretary of state. Trump said the former and soon-to-be first lady Melania Trump will be joining him at the White House during second term and will "be active, when she needs to be.” “Oh yes,” he said. “She’s very beloved by the people, Melania. And they like the fact that she’s not out there in your face all the time for many reasons.”Islanders hold on for win, but Patrick Roy angry that his team didn't support goalie Ilya Sorokin late
NEW YORK — They have seen him smiling on a hostel security camera, but don't know his name. They found the backpack he discarded while fleeing, but don't know where he's gone. As the search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killer goes on, investigators are reckoning with a tantalizing dichotomy: They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma. Police don't know who he is, where he is, or why he did it, though they are confident it was a targeted attack instead of a random act. "The net is tightening," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Saturday. Hours after he spoke, police divers were seen searching a pond in Central Park, where the killer fled after the shooting. Officers have been scouring the park for days for any possible clues and found his bag there Friday. Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspected shooter that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi. The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue, medical-style mask. Retracing the gunman's steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus soon after the shooting Wednesday morning outside the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. With the high-profile search expanding across state lines, the FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone. Police provided no updates on the hunt Saturday, but investigators are urging patience — even with a killer on the loose. Hundreds of detectives are combing through video recordings and social media, vetting tips from the public and interviewing people who might have information, including Thompson's family and coworkers and the shooter's randomly assigned roommates at the Manhattan hostel where he stayed. "This isn't 'Blue Bloods.' We're not going to solve this in 60 minutes," Kenny told reporters Friday. "We're painstakingly going through every bit of evidence that we can come across." The shooter paid cash at the hostel, presented what police believe was a fake ID and is believed to have paid cash for taxi rides and other transactions. He didn't speak to others at the hostel and almost always kept his face covered with a mask, only lowering it while eating. But investigators caught a break when they came across security camera images of an unguarded moment in which he briefly showed his face soon after arriving in New York on Nov. 24. Police distributed the images to news outlets and on social media but so far haven't been able to ID him using facial recognition — possibly because of the angle of the images or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to use that technology, Kenny said. On Friday evening, investigators found a backpack in Central Park that had been worn by the gunman, police said. They didn't immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be tested and analyzed. Another potential clue, a fingerprint on an item he purchased at a Starbucks minutes before the shooting, has so far proven useless for identifying him, Kenny said. Aided by surveillance cameras on nearly every building and block, police have been able to retrace the shooter's movements. They know he ambushed Thompson at 6:44 a.m. as the executive arrived at the Hilton for his company's annual investor conference, using a 9 mm pistol that resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise. They know ammunition found near Thompson's body bore the words "delay," "deny" and "depose," mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics. Kenny said the fact that the shooter knew UnitedHealthcare group was holding a conference at the hotel and what route Thompson might take to get there suggested that he could possibly be a disgruntled employee or client. Investigators know from surveillance video that the shooter fled into Central Park on a bicycle and ditched it around 7 a.m. near 85th Street. He then walked a couple blocks and got into a taxi, arriving at 7:30 a.m. at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is near the northern tip of Manhattan and offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington. Investigators don't know what happened next. They are searching through more surveillance video but have yet to locate video of the shooter getting on a bus or exiting the station. "We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City," Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN on Friday. Police have determined from video that the gunman was in the city for 10 days before the shooting. He arrived at Manhattan's main bus terminal on a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta, though it's not clear whether he embarked there or at one of about a half-dozen stops along the route. Immediately after that, he took a cab to the vicinity of the Hilton and was there for about a half hour, Kenny said. At around 11 p.m. on the night he arrived, he went by taxi to the HI New York City Hostel. It was there, while speaking with an employee in the lobby, that he briefly pulled down the mask and smiled, giving investigators the brief glimpse they are now relying on to identify and capture a killer.86,000 SIMs blocked over anti-Pakistan activities, NA told
ROSEN, A TRUSTED AND LEADING FIRM, Encourages Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz Investors to Secure Counsel Before Important Deadline in Securities Class Action First Filed by the Firm – KSPIHiking, biking and s'more: These are the best gifts for outdoorsy peoplePublished 4:15 pm Friday, November 22, 2024 By Ernest Bowker Briarfield Academy's Ryder Jones (5), Jack Woodall and Calvin Barnes (56) celebrate with the MAIS Class 1A football championship trophy after beating Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 for the state title on Friday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Wilkinson County Christian Academy's Deshun Smith tackles Briarfield Academy quarterback Brock Johnson (12) during the MAIS Class 1A championship game Friday in Jackson. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy offensive lineman Calvin Barnes (56) and his teammates run a play in the MAIS Class 1A championship game Friday against WCCA. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy cheerleaders root on their Rebels before the start of the MAIS Class 1A football championship game against Wilkinson County Christian Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy's Hayden Smith (1) and WCCA's Deshun Smith (21) fight for a pass in the end zone during the MAIS Class 1A football championship game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy football assistant coach Derrick Watson talks to Trecin Baker (9) on the sideline during the MAIS Class 1A football championship game against WCCA. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy cheerleaders stand at attention for the National Anthem before the start of the MAIS Class 1A football championship game against Wilkinson County Christian Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Wilkinson County Christian Academy defensive back Charles Grezaffi (12) tackles Briarfield Academy's Jack Woodall during the MAIS Class 1A championship game Friday in Jackson. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Wilkinson County Christian Academy's Dax Doyle sacks Briarfield Academy quarterback Brock Johnson during the MAIS Class 1A championship game Friday in Jackson. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy football player Boone Sanderson (35) celebrates with a team manager after the Rebels beat Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 to win the MAIS Class 1A championship on Friday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy football head coach Beau Travis puts a gold state champion's medallion around the neck of Jack Martin after the Rebels beat Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 on Friday to win the MAIS Class 1A title. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy football players and cheerleaders pose for a photo with the championship trophy and banner after beating Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 on Friday to win the MAIS Class 1A title. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) JACKSON — Briarfield Academy has had to scratch, claw and grind for most of what it’s gotten this football season. The thing it wanted most was no exception. The Rebels got off to a slow start, then had a two-score lead evaporate in the second half before pulling away late to beat Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 in the MAIS Class 1A championship game on Friday. It’s Briarfield’s (12-1) fourth MAIS eight-man football championship in eight years, and first since 2020. “It feels incredible. Incredible. I’ve never felt a feeling like this. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my life,” said senior running back Ryder Jones, who had 125 total yards. “To get a two-score lead, and then they almost make a comeback, we get multiple penalties over and over, to go out and perform like that and put in some heart, it’s incredible. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” After a scoreless first quarter, Briarfield found the end zone three times in the second to take a 20-6 halftime lead. Jack Woodall broke off a 77-yard touchdown run, and Trecin Baker and Brock Johnson also scored. WCCA (9-4) came out of the halftme break on fire, though. It recovered an onside kick to start the third quarter, as well as a fumble on Briarfield’s first play, and cashed in both opportunities. Jacob Sessions threw touchdown passes of 23 yards to Easton Buteaux and 25 yards to Charles Grezaffi to pull the Rams to within 20-18 with 4:04 left in the third quarter. WCCA’s two-point conversion attempts failed both times, as did another following its first touchdown in the second quarter. Briarfield coach Beau Travis said he knew that could be a factor after his Rebels beat WCCA 30-28 in the regular-season finale a month ago. “We kept them out and I think we got all but two. We knew the two-points were big because last time we won by two points. Hats off to our boys,” Travis said. As it turned out, Briarfield did the rest of the scoring. The Rebels answered WCCA’s comeback with a scoring drive of their own, capped by a 10-yard TD pass from Johnson to Hayden Smith that made it 26-18 with 1:09 left in the third quarter. In the fourth, after a WCCA drive inside the 10 ended on downs, the Rebels delivered the kill shot. On third-and-17 from their own 30, Smith got behind the secondary and Johnson hit him with a deep pass down the middle. Smith took it for a 70-yard touchdown and a 32-18 lead with 3:12 to go. “That play has worked almost every time we have run it this year,” Travis said. “You set them up by throwing screens, throwing screens, throwing screens, they look for the screen and you slip him out. You lull them to sleep and then hit them over the top.” Johnson finished 4-of-13 passing for the Rebels, for 149 yards and two touchdowns. He also had one rushing touchdown. Smith caught two passes for 80 yards and two TDs, and Woodall had 91 rushing yards and one TD. Briarfield’s defense was the real star, though. It had five sacks, forced two turnovers, and got key stops when it needed to. Although Sessions passed for 158 yards and three touchdowns, WCCA had two red zone drives end with no points. The last was midway through the fourth quarter, when an injury to Sessions was followed by a fumbled snap, two pre-snap penalties, and finally a sack. Jones had two of Briarfield’s sacks and 10 total tackles. Jack Martin led the Rebels with 12 tackles and one forced fumble. “That’s the way it’s been all year. We’ve always been a second half team. We always come back in the second half. It’s what we do, and what we do best,” Jones said. “When they started closing that gap it downed us a lot. A lot of guys started hanging their heads and I was trying to tell them to keep fighting and play with some heart, and eventually we did and we made some stuff happen.” Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.
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CARY, N.C. , Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Fathom Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: FTHM) (Nasdaq: FTHM) ("Fathom" or the "Company"), a national, technology-driven, end-to-end real estate services platform integrating residential brokerage, mortgage, title, and SaaS offerings for brokerages and agents, today announced the expansion of its joint venture, Verus Title Elite, into Amarillo, Texas . With this expansion, Verus Title Elite now operates in four Texas markets, including Plano , Flower Mound , and Waxahachie , emphasizing its focus on community-centered service and localized expertise. The move into Amarillo reflects Verus Title Elite's commitment to empowering Fathom agents and meeting the region's dynamic real estate market needs. Lori Quinlin , a seasoned title professional with strong ties to the Amarillo community, will lead the new office. Lori's extensive industry knowledge and dedication to client service will play a pivotal role in ensuring Verus Title Elite continues delivering exceptional real estate experiences. "We are excited to bring Verus Title Elite to Amarillo ," said Monica Schroeder , President of Verus Title. "This expansion aligns with our vision of providing exceptional title and escrow services to communities across Texas . Lori's leadership will be instrumental in establishing our presence and delivering on our promise of unparalleled customer care. We look forward to becoming integral to Amarillo's vibrant real estate community." As Fathom Holdings continues to grow its integrated real estate services platform, Verus Title Elite exemplifies the Company's innovative approach to enhancing agent and client experiences through strategic market expansion and collaborative partnerships. About Verus Title Verus Title is a subsidiary of Fathom Holdings Inc. that offers comprehensive title insurance and settlement services. It is committed to innovation, technology, and customer satisfaction and provides real estate professionals and consumers with efficient, transparent, and reliable solutions. For more information, visit www.verustitle.com . About Fathom Holdings Inc. Fathom Holdings Inc. is a national, technology-driven real estate services platform that integrates residential brokerage, mortgage, title, and SaaS offerings to brokerages and agents by leveraging its proprietary cloud-based software, intelliAgent. The Company's brands include Fathom Realty, Encompass Lending, intelliAgent, LiveBy, Real Results, and Verus Title. For more information, visit www.FathomInc.com . Investor Contact: Matt Glover and Clay Liolios Gateway Group, Inc. 949-574-3860 FTHM@gateway-grp.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fathom-holdings-expands-verus-title-elite-into-amarillo-texas-302323076.html SOURCE Fathom Holdings Inc.
CHICAGO — Newly unsealed court records now link embattled Chicago rapper Lil Durk — already facing murder-for-hire charges in Los Angeles — to the fatal 2022 shooting of an alleged gang leader outside a community center on Chicago’s Far South Side. The warrant application was filed in April 2023 but was not unsealed until Wednesday, in advance of a scheduled Thursday detention hearing in Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire case. Lil Durk — born Devontay Durk Banks — was charged last month with funding a cross-country murder-for-hire plan to exact revenge for the 2020 killing of fellow Chicago rapper King Von in Atlanta. The newly unsealed filing in U.S. District Court in Chicago alleges Banks was behind the Jan. 27, 2022 killing of Stephon Mack , 24, who was shot to death shortly after he exited the Youth Peace Center of Roseland on West 111th Street. At the time of his death, according to the FBI, Mack was the leader of the Smashville faction of the Gangster Disciples. Banks’ brother, Dontay Banks, was shot to death outside a nightclub in south suburban Harvey in 2021. According to the warrant application, another Gangster Disciples faction with ties to Smashville carried out the murder. “Lil Durk was and still is offering money for people to kill those responsible for his brother’s murder, and more specifically, offering to pay money for any Gangster Disciple that is killed,” a federal agent wrote in April 2023. Banks has not been charged in the Chicago investigation, which law enforcement sources told the Tribune is still open and active. Earlier this year, federal prosecutors in Chicago charged two men, Anthony Montgomery-Wilson and Preston Powell, with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in Mack’s killing. Banks, though, is not charged in Mack’s death. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are expected to point to the shooting as reason to keep Banks in police custody before trial. In probing Mack’s death, federal investigators analyzed jail phone calls, social media postings, firearms purchases, as well as lyrics from Lil Durk’s song “Ahhh Ha,” released about a month after the shooting. The warrant application goes on to say Montgomery-Wilson and Powell “may have exchanged text messages concerning payment for Mack’s murder.” Montgomery-Wilson was arrested on an unrelated charge a few weeks after Mack’s death. A detective with the New Lenox police department then applied for and was granted a warrant to search the contents of his cellphone. Investigators then discovered a two-person text message conversation that mentioned “OTF” — the rap consortium founded by Lil Durk that prosecutors have linked to the alleged murder-for-hire plot in Los Angeles. On Feb. 10, 2022, one of the people in the text conversation asked, “Wassup with otf,” to which the other person responded, “Nothing.” Eight days later, in the same conversation, another text message read, “Did durk gave (sic) u that money.” In a statement last week, Banks’ attorneys blasted the prosecution’s focus on Lil Durk’s music and noted his yearslong record of philanthropy in Chicago. “When you see an artist’s rap lyrics quoted as ‘evidence’ against them, it is a glaring indication that there is no real evidence against that person,” Banks’ attorneys said in a statement to the Tribune. “The real truth is that Durk Banks is a Grammy Award-winning artist, a dedicated father and a loving husband,” Banks’ attorneys added. “Mr. Banks has been intensely committed to giving back to the Chicago community he loves through his Neighborhood Heroes Foundation and has put on more than a dozen charitable events over the last few years. He is looking forward to fighting against these false allegations in court.” In mid-October, federal authorities charged five others in a plot to kill rapper Quando Rondo — born Tyquian Terrel Bowman — in retaliation for the November 2020 shooting death of King Von. Banks is accused of bankrolling the effort to kill Bowman.. Bowman, his sister and his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, 24, were riding in Bowman’s black Cadillac Escalade near a gas station in West Hollywood in August 2022 when gunmen opened fire, according to the federal charges. Bowman and his sister were not injured, but Robinson was struck multiple times and killed. ©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Trump is stacking his White House roster with uber-rich backers - CNBC