TV News LIES

The corporate parent of the Massachusetts natural gas utility that's the focus of explosions and fires that killed one and injured an estimated 25 had links to three previous gas line blasts, a review of federal and state records and court filings shows.

The links emerged as Columbia Gas of Massachusetts scrambled to provide assistance and information to residents of Lawrence, North Andover, and other Merrimack Valley communities on Friday, one day after the tragedy.

Attorneys for Donald Trump were dealt another major blow on Friday as Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman, agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of a deal that involved pleading guilty to two conspiracy charges.

Andrew Weissmann, a prosecutor from Mueller’s office, explained to the judge that as part of the deal, all other charges against Manafort will be dropped at sentencing or “at the agreement of successful cooperation.” Under the agreement, Manafort agreed to forfeit four properties and multiple bank accounts, along with cooperating with investigators by participating in interviews, providing documents and testifying in court.

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The New Yorker revealed more details Friday about the sexual-misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, which were included in a letter sent to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) in July by an unknown woman.

In the letter, the woman reportedly claims that while the pair were in high school, more than 30 years ago, Kavanaugh held her down at a party and attempted to force himself on her.

She said that Kavanaugh and a friend were both drinking, and that they allegedly turned up the music to muffle the sounds of her protests while Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand.

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Paul Manafort, the former chairman of President Donald Trump's campaign, was poised Friday to plead guilty to federal charges and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The deal enables Manafort, who was convicted of tax and bank fraud charges by a federal court jury in Virginia, to avoid a second trial in the District of Columbia.

The big slosh has begun, and the consequences could be disastrous.

Hurricane Florence's leading edge battered the Carolina coast Thursday, bending trees and shooting frothy sea water over streets on the Outer Banks, as the hulking storm closed in with 90 mph (135 kph) winds for a drenching siege that could last all weekend. Tens of thousands were without power.

Winds and rain were arriving later in South Carolina, and a few people were still walking on the sand at Myrtle Beach while North Carolina was getting pounded. Heavy rainfall began after dark.

France  acknowledged for the first time it was responsible for systematic torture during the Algerian war of independence in the mid-1950s.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Maurice Audin, a communist pro-independence activist who disappeared in 1957, "died under torture stemming from the system instigated while Algeria was part of France."

Macron, who paid a visit to Audin's widow on Thursday, was also set to announce "the opening of archives on the subject of disappeared civilians and soldiers, both French and Algerian."

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Emergency officials are urging people to get out of their houses and evacuate their neighborhoods in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover as firefighters battle dozens of gas explosions that leveled some houses and set fire to others over a large area.

"If you smell gas, you gotta get out of your home," Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera told reporters.

State police said any residents of the area with Columbia Gas service to their house should "evacuate immediately." State police are reporing 70 fires and gas explosions.

Police announced at 7 p.m that electricity in each of the three communities was being shut off to aid.

Former  Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has reportedly reached a "tentative" plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.

ABC News reported news of the tentative deal on Thursday, saying it is expected to be announced in court on Friday.

A pretrial conference is scheduled for Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C. On Thursday evening, Judge Amy Berman Jackson pushed the conference from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. No explanation was given for the delay.

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