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Mangione faces federal charges in CEO murder [Video]

The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcares CEO was whisked back to New York by plane and helicopter Thursday to face new federal charges of murder and stalking, escalating the case after his earlier state indictment.Luigi Mangione agreed to return to New York after a morning court appearance in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last week after five days on the run. He was expected in a Manhattan federal court in the afternoon.After his Pennsylvania court hearing, Mangione was immediately turned over to at least a dozen New York Police Department officers who were in the courtroom and led him to a plane bound for Long Island. He then was flown to a Manhattan heliport, where he was walked slowly up a pier by officers with assault rifles.The federal complaint unsealed Thursday charges him with two counts of stalking and one count each of murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offense. One of the federal charges, murder by firearm, could bring the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted. Federal prosecutors have not said whether they will pursue such a punishment.The state charges include murder as an act of terrorism, which carries a possible sentence of life in prison without parole. New York does not have the death penalty.In Pennsylvania, Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks said Thursday that he wanted to turn Mangione over to New York authorities as soon as possible.He is now in their custody. He will go forth with New York to await trial or prosecution for his homicide and related charges in New York,” Weeks said.The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate is accused of ambushing and shooting Brian Thompson on Dec. 4 outside a Manhattan hotel where the head of the United States largest medical insurance company was walking to an investor conference.Authorities have said Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, fake IDs and about $10,000 when he was arrested while eating breakfast on Dec. 9 at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania.Mangione, who initially fought attempts to extradite him, made two brief court appearances Thursday, first waiving a preliminary hearing on forgery and firearms charges before agreeing to be sent back to New York.Investigators believe Mangione was motivated by anger toward the U.S. health care system and corporate greed. But he was never a UnitedHealthcare client, according to the insurer.According to the federal complaint, a notebook Mangione was carrying when he was arrested included several handwritten pages expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.An August entry said that the target is insurance because it checks every box, according to the filing. An entry in October describes an intent to wack the CEO of one of the insurance companies at its investor conference, the document said.The killing ignited an outpouring of stories about resentment toward U.S. health insurance companies while also shaking corporate America after some social media users called the shooting payback.Video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson, 50, from behind and then firing several more shots. The suspect eluded police despite authorities widely circulating photos of his unmasked face until Mangione was captured in Altoona, about 277 miles west of New York.Mangione, a computer science graduate from a prominent Maryland family, was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies parasitic and complained about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week.One of his lawyers has cautioned the public against prejudging the case.Mangione repeatedly posted on social media about how spinal surgery last year had eased his chronic back pain, encouraging people with similar conditions to speak up for themselves if told they just had to live with it.In a Reddit post in late April, he advised someone with a back problem to seek additional opinions from surgeons and, if necessary, say the pain made it impossible to work.We live in a capitalist society, Mangione wrote. Ive found that the medical industry responds to these key words far more urgently than you describing unbearable pain and how its impacting your quality of life.He apparently cut himself off from his family and close friends in recent months. His family reported him missing in San Francisco in November. His relatives have said in a statement that they were shocked and devastated by his arrest.Thompson, who grew up on a farm in Iowa, was trained as an accountant. A married father of two high-schoolers, he had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.

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Small Business Marketing

Top Republican demands answers from Zuckerberg, accusing Meta of shadow banning military content [Video]

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said in a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that he needs to answer for purported “shadow banning” of military-related postings.

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Small Business Marketing

Maine’s Christmas tree industry having a good year in 2024 [Video]

A handful of Christmas tree stands say they experienced a shortage early in this selling season. However, the Maine Christmas Tree Association says this concern about a shortage is not a widespread issue.Gammon’s Garden Center in Auburn said their vendor backed out at the last minute due to a poor growing season. Tyler Gammon said he was rushed to find another option at the end of October to have enough trees to sell this Christmas season. He explained, “When they’re doing shearing, things like that, some of the trees didn’t come out as full and as dense as they would in a normal season.”Lib’s Dairy Treat in Portland is another stand dealing with a shortage. They posted on social media to warn shoppers about a limited supply. Rice’s Tree Farm in Durham is not selling any trees this season to let their trees grow bigger for next year. North Parrish Christmas Tree Farm in Turner is closed as well. They wrote on social media, “This is due to an insect pest that has impacted the aesthetic value of a significant number of trees.”President-elect of the Maine Christmas Tree Association, Matt Quinn, told Maine’s Total Coverage, “Mother Nature is a very fickle business partner.”Quinn explained it takes 7 to 10 years for a Christmas tree can be harvested. He said overly dry or wet conditions in previous growing seasons or overselling in past years could be contributing factors to a limited number of available trees. But Quinn feels most farms in the association are actually having a good year, but people should be open to all trees on the lot. “There’s a tree for every home and a home for every tree,” he said. “These trees are not perfect. Just like people, no one’s perfect. They all have their quirks. They are all different.”Expect the prices to be different, too. Quinn explained that most farms do what they can to keep costs low, but stands that buy from wholesalers can only be so flexible with their prices. The American Christmas Tree Association reports the average price of a real Christmas tree is around $90. Gammon suggests shopping small for Christmas decorations this year. He said you’ll find the best selection of trees at family-run businesses.

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Small Business Marketing

Peter Navarro served prison time related to Jan. 6. Now Trump is bringing him back as an adviser [Video]

Former White House adviser Peter Navarro, who served prison time related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, will return to serve in Donald Trumps second administration, the president-elect announced Wednesday.Navarro, a trade adviser during Trumps first term, will be a senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, Trump said on Truth Social. The position, Trump wrote, leverages Peters broad range of White House experience, while harnessing his extensive Policy analytic and Media skills.The appointment was only the first in a flurry of announcements that Trump made on Wednesday as his presidential transition faced controversy over Pete Hegseth, Trumps choice for Pentagon chief. Hegseth faces allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement, and Trump has considered replacing him with another potential nominee.As he works to fill out his team, Trump said he wanted Paul Atkins, a financial industry veteran and an advocate for cryptocurrency, to serve as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He wrote on Truth Social that Atkins recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.Trump also said he was changing course on his choice for White House counsel. He said his original pick, William McGinley, will work with the Department of Government Efficiency, which will be run by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with the goal of cutting federal spending. Now David Warrington, who has worked as Trumps personal lawyer and a lawyer for his campaign, will serve as White House counsel.In addition, Trump announced the selections of former Rep. Billy Long of Missouri as IRS commissioner; the CEO of financial technology company Fiserv, Frank Bisignano, as Social Security Administration commissioner; former Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia to lead the Small Business Administration; Daniel Driscoll, an Army veteran who was a senior adviser to Vice President-elect JD Vance, as Army secretary; Jared Isaacman, a tech billionaire who conducted the first private spacewalk on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket, as NASA administrator; and Adam Boehler, a lead negotiator on the Abraham Accords team, as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.Navarro was held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. Sentenced to four months in prison, he described his conviction as the partisan weaponization of the judicial system.Hours after his release in July, Navarro spoke on stage at the Republican National Convention, where he told the crowd that I went to prison so you wont have to.”Navarro, 75, has been a longtime critic of trade arrangements with China. After earning an economics doctorate from Harvard University, he worked as an economics and public policy professor at the University of California, Irvine. He ran for mayor of San Diego in 1992 and lost, only to launch other unsuccessful campaign efforts, including a 1996 race for Congress as a Democrat.During Trumps initial term, Navarro pushed aggressively for tariffs while playing down the risks of triggering a broader trade war. He also focused on counterfeited imports and even helped assemble an infrastructure plan for Trump that never came to fruition.Navarro often used fiery language that upset U.S. allies. In 2018, after a dispute between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Navarro said theres a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door.Canadians were outraged, and Navarro later apologized.Issacman has reserved two more flights with SpaceX, including as the commander of the first crew that will ride SpaceXs mega rocket Starship, still in test flights out of Texas. He said he was honored to be nominated.Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history, he said via X.Trump kept rolling out positions on Wednesday afternoon. He announced Gail Slater as assistant attorney general for the Justice Departments antitrust division. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector.Slater worked for Trumps National Economic Council during his first term, and she’s been an adviser to Vance.Trump also said Michael Faulkender would serve as deputy treasury secretary. A professor at the University of Marylands Smith School of Business, Faulkender was the Treasury Departments assistant secretary for economic policy during Trumps initial term. He has also been the chief economist at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank formed to further the Trump movements policy agenda.Outside the White House, Trump said that he had asked Michael Whatley to remain on as chair of the Republican National Committee. Whatley ran the committee during the election along with Lara Trump, the wife of Trumps son Eric.___AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington and Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.