TV News LIES

A long-awaited-for trial that promises a first-ever exploration of the sexual misdeeds of billionaire convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is expected to begin Dec. 4 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

During a two-hour hearing on Wednesday, Circuit Judge Donald Hafele dispensed with a series of routine motions filed by attorneys representing Epstein and those representing his longtime nemesis, lawyer Bradley Edwards.

Unless the two agree to settle their differences during yet another mediation session on Sept. 21, the civil lawsuit is expected to go to a jury nearly 10 years after it was filed.

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who rose to fame representing the pornographic film actress Stephanie Clifford and positioned himself as a crusading critic of President Trump and fierce advocate of women’s rights, was arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of domestic violence, a spokesman for the city’s Police Department said.

The spokesman for the Los Angeles police, Josh Rubenstein, said Mr. Avenatti’s arrest had “stemmed from an incident on the Westside” of the city. Another department spokesman later specified that the episode had happened sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning in the tony neighborhood of Century City, noting that a police report was subsequently taken.

Paul G. Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates before becoming a billionaire philanthropist who invested in conservation, space travel, arts and culture and professional sports, died Monday. He was 65.

He died in Seattle from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, his company Vulcan Inc. announced.

Gates said he was heartbroken about the loss of one of his "oldest and dearest friends."

"Personal computing would not have existed without him," Gates said in a statement.

Marty Balin, founder and lead singer of the 1960s pioneering rock band Jefferson Airplane, has died at age 76, his spokesman announced.

Balin died Thursday in Tampa, Florida while en route to a hospital, spokesman Ryan Romenesko said Friday. No details were available on the cause of death. Balin was a driving force behind San Francisco’s psychedelic rock scene in the 1960s and a fixture of the city’s counterculture community at the time.

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A former Southwest Airlines employee has filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming the airline allowed employees to create a whites-only break room at Houston’s Hobby Airport.

Jamel Parker, who was fired by Southwest last year, says he learned about the so-called “WB” when he started working for the airline in 2013. He claims it existed for years until a recent renovation of Hobby Airport.

Parker’s lawsuit also claims black employees found a noose made of bungee cords at a Southwest gate at Hobby.

His lawsuit alleges black employees are held to a higher standard than their white counterparts.

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Tropical Depression Florence is continuing to bring relentless, torrential rain to much of the South. Florence has already set a record for rainfall in the state of North Carolina, and thousands have evacuated to shelters in North and South Carolina to ride out the storm.

Florence was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday morning, but officials warn the worst of the storm is not yet over, with river levels rising, along with the risk of flash floods. The storm's death toll has reached at least 14, and officials expect that number to grow.

"Flood waters are still raging across parts of our state, and the risk to life is rising with the angry waters," said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on Sunday. "The storm has never been more dangerous than it is now."

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