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A former staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee has been indicted and arrested on charges of making false statements to the FBI during an investigation into the leak of classified information, the Justice Department announced Thursday. As part of the investigation, law enforcement officials seized years worth of phone and email records of a New York Times reporter, Ali Watkins, who had previously been in a romantic relationship with the staffer, the newspaper reported Thursday evening. The Senate staffer, James A. Wolfe, was indicted on three counts of making false statements while he served as the committee’s director of...

The Department of Justice reportedly seized a New York Times reporter's phone and email records this year in an effort to probe the leaking of classified information, the first known instance of the DOJ going after a journalist's data under President Trump. The Times reported Thursday that the DOJ seized years' worth of records from journalist Ali Watkins's time as a reporter at BuzzFeed News and Politico before she joined The Times in 2017 as a federal law enforcement reporter, according to the report Thursday. Watkins was alerted by a prosecutor in February that the DOJ had years of records...

Using taxpayer funds, government officials in Orange County have spent the last 16 years arguing the most absurd legal proposition in the entire nation: How could social workers have known it was wrong to lie, falsify records and hide exculpatory evidence in 2000 so that a judge would forcibly take two young daughters from their mother for six-and-a-half years? From the you-can't-make-up-this-crap file, county officials are paying Lynberg & Watkins, a private Southern California law firm specializing in defending cops in excessive force lawsuits, untold sums to claim the social workers couldn't have "clearly" known that dishonesty wasn't acceptable in...

During a particularly heated moment during the fifth Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas, Ted Cruz outlined how the USA Freedom Act allowed anti-terrorism officials to actually look at more phone data, only they needed a warrant.  During the exchange, he mentioned some specific numbers and stats concering the NSA surveillance program.  Immediately, a senior staffer for the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence used her Twitter account to imply Cruz compromised national security.  Here's the tweet: Cruz shouldn't have said that.— Becca Glover Watkins (@beccaglover) December 16, 2015 The next day, after initially saying he would investigate whether...

AUSTIN — As Dallas County district attorney, Craig Watkins inappropriately spent about $80,000 from an asset forfeiture fund for legal fees covering personal behavior, excessively expensive travel for himself and aides, and a recreational football league sponsorship, a state audit has found.

COLLEGE HILL, OH - A College Hill, Ohio woman is accused of beheading her infant daughter, a source close to the investigation told WCPO. Deasia Watkins, 20, is charged with aggravated murder in connection with the death of her 3-month-old girl, according to police.

A former Connecticut high school teacher awaiting sentencing over a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student has been arrested again after allegedly threatening to kill one of her accusers. Police say 32-year-old Danielle Watkins of Norwalk was arrested Friday. She was first arrested in July, accused of having sex with one student at Stamford High and giving marijuana to another. Police say she threatened one of the victims at a doughnut shop Friday. Watkins pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor last month under a deal with prosecutors. The agreement calls for her to...

A Stamford High School teacher accused of threatening to fail an 18-year-old student if he did not have sex with her and providing him and a friend with marijuana, turned herself over to police early Thursday. Danielle Watkins, 32, of Fort Point St., Norwalk, was charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sale of marijuana and one count of risk of injury to a minor ... A day after the student reported the allegations, police executed a search warrant of Watkins's car during a motor vehicle stop in Norwalk. During the stop, police said Watkins tried to...

A Virginia state senator is set to resign on Monday after cutting a deal with Republicans, a stunning move that gives the state GOP the upper hand in an ongoing fight over the state's budget and an expansion of the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act. Democratic state Sen. Phillip Puckett will step down on Monday, news first reported by The Washington Post. According to the report, Puckett's resignation leads the way for him to get a job as deputy director of the state tobacco commission and for his daughter to be confirmed for a state judgeship. It also...

How could Democratic state Sen. Phil Puckett's resignation move the budget and Medicaid impasse? Counting noses, it means what was a 23-17 Senate majority (20 Democrats, three Republicans) for a budget that includes a provision for tapping Affordable Care Act dollars to extend health insurance for low income Virginians now stands at 22-17. But it also means what was a 20-20 split, with Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam a tie-breaker on everything except the budget, is now a 20-19 GOP majority. So, look for movement this week to bring the state Senate back into session (it takes nine to call...

Six-month-old Jonylah Watkins was fatally shot over a stolen video game console, Chicago police said Monday as they announced an arrest in a slaying that has come to symbolize the city's deadly gun culture. Authorities charged Koman Willis, 33, with killing the infant and shooting her father while they sat parked in a minivan in the Woodlawn neighborhood on March 11. A bullet entered Jonylah's right shoulder and traveled down through her left thigh. She died the following day. Her father, Jonathan Watkins, survived multiple gunshot wounds.

It's been a year and a half since the new-age bluegrass virtuosos from Nickel Creek went their separate ways, and Sara Watkins, former fiddle player and vocalist for the group, is finally releasing her solo debut. Band members Watkins, her brother Sean and Chris Thile split up in 2007 after 18 years of performing together, each going on to explore separate projects. While all three were child prodigies, mandolinist Thile always overshadowed the talented brother-sister duo with his lightning-fast fingers and rock star stage attitude. But now, with a new band, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones as producer and her...

10. “bell hooks” Born Gloria Watkins, spells new name in lower case. Has written, “It is difficult not to hear in standard English always the sound of slaughter and conquest” and “I am writing this essay sitting beside an anonymous white male that I long to murder.” hooks is a distinguished professor of English at City College in New York. 9. Amiri Baraka Born Everett Leroy Jones in 1934, adopted current name after converting to Islam in 1968. Former poet laureate of New Jersey. Has written: “… the white woman understands that only in the rape sequence [by a black...

1/19/05- G overnor Jennifer Granholm has called for the resignation of Superintendent of Public Schools Tom Watkins. There have been rumors circulating for the past few weeks that the governor is not pleased with Superintendent Watkins. Those rumors were put to rest. Liz Boyd: "We know that Tom Watkins has a commitment to children. We know he has a commitment to public education. We simply don't feel that he exercises the kind of leadership that the governor expects from the superintendent of public instruction in the state of Michigan, and it's time for him to leave." And with that, Liz...

Sorry for asking, but I just read about the last American soldier they ID'd today. I don't recall ever hearing what became of the F-15 that was shot down over Baghdad a couple weeks ago ... does anyone know what became of the crew? ... I have not seen them as returning and just wanted to know ...

Three days after a made-for-TV movie catapulted him to national fame, Portland's best-known door-to-door salesman, Bill Porter, has found himself knocking on doors at the rate of 80 per second. A nice pace for a 69-year-old man with cerebral palsy who overcame the label "unemployable" to become a top-grossing salesman. This week, following Sunday's premiere of the TV movie "Door to Door," Porter is getting 80 hits a second on his Web site, where he now sells Watkins household products. That's not all. The movie, starring Academy Award nominee William H. Macy as Porter, drew U.S. television's biggest audiences Sunday...