August 1, 2016

Anti-debt crusader Rand Paul owes more than $300,000 in presidential campaign bills

Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a self-described fiscal conservative who calls debt “the greatest threat to our national security,” has more than $300,000 in unpaid bills from his failed presidential run last winter.

Rand Paul for President reported $301,108 in debts and $2,558 in cash on hand as of June 30 in its most recent filing to the Federal Election Commission. The campaign owes dozens of businesses and individuals in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere, for rent, insurance, telemarketing, phone and internet access, legal fees, consulting, facility and equipment rental and expense reimbursements promised to campaign workers.

Peter Kutrumanes said his company “just won’t do business” with Paul again in the future.

“We try to get payment up front. Unfortunately, in this particular case, for whatever reason, we didn’t,” said Kutrumanes, general manager of Hartford Technology Rental in East Dundee, Ill., which is owed $3,962 for equipment it leased to Paul’s campaign. “We’re a little company. That amount, it’s a salesperson’s salary for a month. It’s absolutely a big deal.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article92936187.html

August 1, 2016

Federal court declines to prosecute Hayes woman accused of stealing millions in jewelry

Mary Catherine Hunt, a resident of Hayes in Gloucester County and a graduate of Woodside High School in Newport News, wants to clear her name.

Hunt, 30, is facing a charge of grand theft in Florida.

Scott Patrick Mitchell, her former fiance, told investigators she took nearly $2.1 million in diamonds, gold and jewelry from his mansion in Palm Harbor, Fla., last fall after the couple split up.

Hunt and her attorney adamantly deny Mitchell's allegations. The U.S. Attorney's Office recently declined to prosecute Hunt on the charge in federal court. The charge remains in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court but no trial date has been set.

Read more: http://www.dailypress.com/news/gloucester-county/dp-nws-mid-mary-hunt-update-20160731-story.html

August 1, 2016

Lawyers given 30 days to file briefs in McDonnell corruption case

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has given former Gov. Bob McDonnell and prosecutors until Aug. 29 to file a proposed briefing schedule or a joint status report.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Attorney’s Office asked the Richmond-based appeals court to hold off taking any action for 30 days concerning last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that tossed out McDonnell’s corruption convictions so that both sides can analyze the ruling.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme sent formal notice of its June 27 ruling to the parties and to the 4th Circuit and the appeals court reopened the case.

McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted in 2014 of performing “official acts” in exchange for $177,000 in gifts and loans from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., who was CEO of Star Scientific at the time.

Read more: http://www.fredericksburg.com/townnews/law/lawyers-given-days-to-file-briefs-in-mcdonnell-corruption-case/article_b9b8add2-fc7a-5b56-999b-62ffcc56eb8d.html

August 1, 2016

Kansas company to put trains back on Norfolk Southern lines in WV

After being mostly silent for months, the sound of steel wheels on steel rail and the wail of train horns will return to Norfolk Southern railroad tracks in the Kanawha Valley next week.

“It’s going to get noisy again around here real soon,” said Steve Wilson, a manager for the Kanawha River Railroad, a new short line railroad that will operate a route from outside of Mullens in Wyoming County, through the Kanawha Valley, and on to Columbus, Ohio.

In February, as part of system-wide cost-cutting efforts, Norfolk Southern suspended operations on most of the Ohio portion of the route. While the portion of track through West Virginia from Point Pleasant through the Kanawha Valley and on southeast, technically remained open, traffic on the line plummeted.

That’s when Pittsburg, Kansas-based Watco Companies stepped in, leasing the 309 miles of rail line and creating the Kanawha River Railroad.

- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20160730/kansas-company-to-put-trains-back-on-norfolk-southern-lines-in-wv

August 1, 2016

Appalachian Bible College sues over donation

Appalachian Bible College is suing a Pennsylvania company in federal court claiming it failed to honor a donor commitment.

The school in Mount Hope in Raleigh County says Foremost Industries pledged $4 million before the company was sold.

Ralph Michael made a deal to sell his manufactured homes company in May 2015 below what it was worth as long as the buyer honored his commitment to the school, the lawsuit states.

The asking price for Foremost Industries was $10 million, but Michael agreed to sell it to Daniel Gordon for $3 million plus the $4 million Michael had promised the school, according to the complaint. Gordon allegedly led Michael to believe he intended to continue to operate Foremost Industries, keep the employees working and satisfy the gift agreement, when he really had no such intention, the lawsuit states.

- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-cops-and-courts/20160731/appalachian-bible-college-sues-over-donation