Rep.-elect Santos investigated for lying about his past

U.S. Rep.-elect George Santos of New York was under investigation by Long Island prosecutors Wednesday after revelations surfaced that the now-embattled Republican lied about his heritage, education and professional pedigree as he campaigned for office.

Despite intensifying doubt about his fitness to hold federal office, Santos has shown no signs of stepping aside — even as he publicly admitted to a long list of lies.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, a Republican, said the fabrications and inconsistencies were “nothing short of stunning.”

“The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the 3rd District must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress,” she said. “If a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”

Santos is scheduled to be sworn in Tuesday, when the U.S. House reconvenes. If he assumes office, he could face investigations by the House Committee on Ethics and the Justice Department.

Pope asks for prayers for “very ill” Benedict

Pope Francis on Wednesday asked those present at his weekly audience to pray for the retired Pope Benedict XVI, who Francis said is “very ill.” In their prayers, Francis said, people should ask God to console Benedict and “support him in this witness of love to the church, until the end.”

Matteo Bruni, a Vatican spokesman, said in a statement that, after the audience, Francis had visited Benedict, 95, at the monastery on Vatican City grounds where Benedict has lived since announcing his resignation in February 2013. Benedict was the first pope in six centuries to step down. Increasingly frail, he rarely has made public appearances in recent years.

Bruni said Benedict’s health had “deteriorated in recent hours because of advancing age.” The situation, he added, was “under control at the moment, and was constantly monitored by doctors.”

Oakland’s next mayor highlights political rise of Hmong-Americans

In November, Sheng Thao, 37, narrowly edged Loren Taylor, her fellow Oakland, Calif., council member, by a few hundred votes, thanks to support from progressive groups, labor unions and a tightly knit Hmong network that contributed about one-fifth of her campaign funds.

When she is sworn into office in January, Thao will become Oakland’s first Hmong mayor and the most prominent Hmong-American officeholder in the United States to date. She will lead a city of 440,000 residents that is grappling with a rise in violent crime and homelessness but remains a vibrant counterweight to the city across the bay, San Francisco.

Thao was part of a wave of Hmong-Americans to triumph this year in state and local elections across the country. In Minnesota, home to the nation’s second-largest concentration of Hmong residents, a record nine Hmong candidates won their races for the Legislature. In Wisconsin and California’s Central Valley, Hmong Americans also won local seats.

“I didn’t do this on my own; I did it with the help and support of Oaklanders and the Hmong community far and wide throughout the whole nation,” Thao said.

China to resume issuing passports, visas as virus eases

China says it will resume issuing passports for tourism in another big step away from anti-virus controls that isolated the country for almost three years, setting up a potential flood of Chinese going abroad for next month’s Lunar New Year holiday.

The announcement Tuesday adds to abrupt changes that are rolling back some of the world’s strictest anti-virus controls as President Xi Jinping’s government tries to reverse an economic slump. Rules that confined millions of people to their homes kept China’s infection rate low but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth.

The latest decision could send free-spending Chinese tourists to revenue-starved destinations in Asia and Europe for Lunar New Year, which begins Jan. 22 and usually is the country’s busiest travel season. But it also presents a danger they might spread COVID-19 as infections surge in China.

Florida police officer drags woman into jail, is fired

A police officer in Tampa, Fla., who was videotaped dragging a handcuffed woman into jail has been fired, authorities said. An internal investigation determined that former officer Gregory Damon violated department policies during the Nov. 17 incident, police announced Tuesday. The woman was being arrested for trespassing, according to the release. A body camera video shows her refusing to leave Damon’s vehicle at the Orient Road Jail and telling the officer, “I want you to drag me.”

Damon then removes the woman from the vehicle and pulls her by the arm across a concrete floor, stopping once to tell her to get up but the woman refuses. Damon drags the woman to a doorway then buzzes for additional officers to assist him before the body camera video cuts off.

The agency said it revised policy in 2013 to forbid officers from dragging uncooperative suspects on the ground. Officers instead should seek assistance from jail booking staff or other law enforcement officers, police said.

Flight attendant pleads guilty to trying to smuggle fentanyl

Terese White, a 41-year-old Mesa Airlines flight attendant from Dallas, has pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute. She faces up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced March 24 in federal court in the Southern District of California.

White admitted she was trying to use her flight attendant privileges to avoid the more robust security screening process to smuggle fentanyl, a U.S. attorney’s office in California said. White tried to skip the regular security screening that passengers go through by using what is called the “known crew member queue.” But White was selected randomly by TSA agents to go through regular security instead, which led to the officers’ discovering that she was trying to smuggle drugs.

— Denver Post wire services