KYIV, Ukraine — It wasn’t an easy case to crack. Ukrainian investigators had to stitch together radio intercepts, satellite images, security camera footage, witness statements and even social media posts.

But this week, they made a breakthrough and, for the first time since the war began, Ukrainian officials published the identities and photos of 10 Russian soldiers who they said had committed war crimes in the town of Bucha, a suburb north of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, that was the site of some of the war’s worst atrocities.

The clenched fist of military forces that Russia mustered in eastern Ukraine appears to be losing some of its punch, with the effort to capture all of the Donbas region stalling, according to a senior Pentagon official and other military analysts.

The Russian offensive seems to be several days behind schedule, the Pentagon official said on Friday. It is facing stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces and suffering from some of the same problems with logistics and low troop morale that have plagued the Russian military since it launched a sweeping invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the official said.

Andrea Bernstein introduces Will Be Wild, a new 8-part series about the forces that led to the January 6th insurrection and what comes next. Through in-depth stories from a wide range of characters – from people who tried to stop the attack to those who took part – hosts Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz explore the ongoing effort to bring autocracy to America, the lasting damage that effort is doing to our democracy, and the fate of our attempts to combat those anti-democratic forces. Because January 6th wasn't the end of the story, January 6th was just a practice run.

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/trumpinc/episodes/introducing-will-be-wild

WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as members of the AMTRAK Board of Directors:

David Capozzi, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Anthony Coscia, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Christopher Koos, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Samuel Lathem, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Robin Wiessmann, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors

David Capozzi, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors

David Capozzi is a retired federal senior executive. He was the Executive Director of the U.S. Access Board from 2008-2020 and was the Director of the Board’s Office of Technical and Information Services from 1992-2008. Prior to joining the Access Board, Capozzi was Director of Project ACTION and Vice President of Advocacy for Easter Seals, and was the National Advocacy Director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America. He was a member of the legal team and lobbying captain for the disability community that helped craft the Americans with Disabilities Act. Capozzi was the lead negotiator on the Department of Transportation’s Federal Advisory Committee that negotiated proposed regulations implementing the Air Carrier Access Act, and chaired the Urban Mass Transportation Administration’s (UMTA) ADA Federal Advisory Committee.

He received the 2020 Service to the Citizen Award and an award from the Zero Project recognizing his longstanding cooperative efforts with the European Commission to harmonize global ICT accessibility standards. Capozzi serves on the United Spinal Association’s Board of Directors, Mobility Fitness’ Advisory Committee, and Access Living’s Program Committee. He is an Advisory Council Member for Morphic, and a Member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals Built Environment Taskforce. Capozzi graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo School of Law, and was an honors graduate and Phi Beta Kappa recipient at SUNY at Buffalo with an undergraduate degree in Psychology. He and his wife Patti live in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and are the proud parents of adult triplets and their older brother.

Anthony Coscia, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors

Anthony R. Coscia serves as Chairman of AMTRAK Board of Directors appointed to the Board by President Barack Obama in 2010 and reappointed in 2015. Coscia is a partner and Executive Committee member of Windels Marx, LLP one of the region’s oldest law firms and has for over 30 years worked on transactions in the finance, real estate, healthcare, and infrastructure areas. Coscia also serves as a Director of OceanFirst Financial Corp and the Neighborhood Property Group, LLC; Vice Chairman of the Gateway Development Commission; and Senior Advisor to Oaktree Transportation Infrastructure Fund, L.P. He previously served as Chairman of Suez North America Inc. and a Director of Suez SA. He recently served on New Jersey Governor Murphy’s Restart and Recovery Commission.

Coscia was Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 2003 through January 2011 where he played a leadership role in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after 9/11. From February 1992 to March 2003, Coscia served as Chairman of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. In addition, Coscia serves on the Board of Directors of Georgetown University, the New Jersey Community Development Corporation, and the Regional Plan Association. He is also a member of The Partnership for New York City and The Economic Club of New York. Coscia is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and received his J.D. degree from Rutgers University School of Law.

Christopher Koos, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors

Mayor Chris Koos was elected to his first term on the Normal Town Council in April of 2001. He was sworn in as Mayor of the Town of Normal on February 17, 2003, and his current term runs until 2025. Koos has the longest running term of any mayor in Normal’s history. Koos is a Bloomington-Normal native, and attended Central Catholic High School and Illinois State University. He served his country in Vietnam as an Infantry Platoon Leader with the Army 101st Airborne/Airmobile Division. He served as Chairman of the Town of Normal Historic Preservation Commission for ten years, and during the restoration of the historic Normal Theater, served as Chair of the Restoration Advisory Committee and on the Normal Theater Advisory Board.

During his tenure on the Town Council, Koos represented the Town on the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Committee, Economic Development Council, and Illinois Municipal League. He is also very involved with the Bloomington-Normal Japanese Sister Cities Committee. The expertise of Koos in urban development and transportation were provided in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee in 2014, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Transportation and Public Assets in 2016. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Transportation for America and is Vice Chair for Passenger Rail with the US Conference of Mayors. During his tenure as the Chief Elected Official for the Town of Normal, development in the Central Business District included a Multimodal Transportation Center/City Hall, the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, the Hyatt Place Hotel, the Children’s Discovery Museum, and other major multi-use construction.

Samuel Lathem, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors

Rev. Samuel E. Lathem was elected as the first African-American President of Delaware State AFL-CIO in October 2003, a position that he continues to hold today. In 1965, Lathem began work at the Chrysler Plant in Newark, Delaware. He was elected and served two three-year terms as Chief Steward in the Body Shop at Newark Assembly Plant. He was appointed as Civil Rights Chairman of Local 1183 UAW. He was then assigned the position of Administrator of the UAW-Chrysler Training Center in 1990 and was promoted to an International Rep of the UAW in February 1999. Lathem was ordained a Baptist Preacher in 1992 at the First Baptist Church of Morton, Pennsylvania by the New Hope Baptist Association. He currently serves as Associate Minister at Cornerstone Fellowship Baptist Church in Wilmington, Delaware.

Lathem’s spiritual integrity and diligence to serve his church and community has earned him the privilege of honored appointments such as the following: by Governor Dale Wolf to serve on the Interagency Council on Literacy, and by Governor Carper to serve on the Board of Directors for the Diamond State Port Corporation (Port of Wilmington) and the Workforce Investment Board. Lathem also serves as Chairman of the Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Vocational Education, and was appointed by Governor Minner to serve as the first African-American Delaware Commissioner on the Board of Directors of the Delaware River Bay Authority. Lathem serves on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement, Kids Count Steering Committee, 4-H Foundation Committee, Board of Directors of SURJ (Stand Up for What’s Right and Just), Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, and United Way of Delaware, and serves as a Member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Lathem is married to Jean Lathem, and has two stepsons and two grandsons.

Robin Wiessmann, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors

Robin Wiessmann is Executive Director and CEO of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA). As CEO of PHFA, she manages operations and directs initiatives that promote development of affordable rental housing, and provide financing for homeownership. Prior to PHFA, Wiessmann served as Secretary of Banking and Securities in the cabinet of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, and previously as State Treasurer of the Commonwealth. Wiessmann has devoted her career to both the private and public sectors. As a national infrastructure investment banker, Wiessmann was a Founding Principal and President of Artemis Capital Group, the first women-owned investment banking firm on Wall Street, and held positions at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Wiessmann served as Chairman of the Board for Vantagepoint Funds Mutual Fund, an Act 40 company, on the Board of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, a self-regulatory organization under the SEC, and as a Board member of the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy. She chaired the Environmental Financing Advisory Board during the Clinton Administration.

Wiessmann is Secretary/Treasurer of the National Council of State Housing Agencies and is on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Economic and Community Advisory Council. She served as Secretary of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and Chair of the Non-Depository Committee, and served multiple other economic development, policy, and supervisory boards, including the Public School and State Employees’ Retirement Systems and the Investor Protection Trust. She is a recipient of the Arthur E. Armitage, Sr. Distinguished Alumni Award from Rutgers Law School and is a graduate of Lafayette College.

Boris Becker has been jailed for two years and six months for hiding millions of pounds’ worth of assets after being made bankrupt in June 2017.

Sentencing Becker, the judge, Deborah Taylor, said: “I take into account what has been described as your ‘fall from grace’. You have lost your career and reputation and all of your property as a result of your bankruptcy.”

But she added: “You have not shown remorse, acceptance of your guilt and have sought to distance yourself from your offending and your bankruptcy. While I accept your humiliation as part of the proceedings, there has been no humility.”

The former tennis star, sentenced under the Insolvency Act, will serve half the full prison term. He was found guilty of four charges by a jury at Southwark crown court this month but acquitted of a further 20 counts relating to his 2017 bankruptcy. He had faced a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

A member of the ISIS terror cell nicknamed the “Beatles” was sentenced to life in prison on Friday by US District Judge T. S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, after gut-wrenching statements in court from family members of victims.

Alexanda Kotey had pleaded guilty in September to taking part in a hostage scheme that led to the deaths of American, Japanese and British citizens in Syria. As part of his plea, Kotey will be transferred to the UK, where members of his family live, to serve the rest of his term after serving 15 years in the US.

“You get a life sentence,” Ellis said, for what he called “about the most serious crimes that can be committed.”

After handing down Kotey’s sentence, Ellis said he hoped it would serve as a deterrence to future terror groups. “We don’t give up,” he said of the US government. “We will look for you. We will find you.”

The Ukrainian military told Zelenskiy that Russian strike teams had parachuted into Kyiv to kill or capture him and his family. “Before that night, we had only ever seen such things in the movies,” Andriy Yermak, his chief of staff, told the magazine.

Gunfights broke out around the government quarter as night fell on the first day of the war, Shuster wrote. “Guards inside the compound shut the lights and brought bulletproof vests and assault rifles for Zelenskiy and about a dozen of his aides.”

One of the few officials who knew how to use the weapons was Oleksiy Arestovych, a veteran of Ukraine’s military intelligence service. “It was an absolute madhouse,” Arestovych told Time. “Automatics for everyone.”

Russian troops made two attempts to storm the compound while Zelenskiy’s family were still inside, according to Shuster.

What happened: We've run the numbers and all but two of the 35 House Democratic frontline members outraised their Republican opponents during the most recent quarter. That money may not be enough in a hostile political environment but certainly can't hurt.

The exceptions: Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), who got outraised by Eli Crane — $650,000 to $579,000. And Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who raised a hefty $869,000 but saw Republican Paul Junge raise $1.3 million (thanks to a $1 million contribution from himself).

...snip...

1) The class of 2018 continues to crush it with fundraising. Some of these would be good numbers for Senate races.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.): $3.2 million
Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.): $1.2 million
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.): $1.14 million
Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.): $1.2 million
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): $1.34 million.

2) Some veterans not used to competitive races struggled. A lot of veteran Democratic lawmakers are facing competitive races for the first time in recent memory thanks to redistricting.
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.): $360,508
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio): $441,234
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.): $441,443