Conyers resigns from Congress amid harassment allegations

Democratic Rep. John Conyers resigned from Congress on Tuesday after a nearly 53-year career, becoming the first Capitol Hill politician to lose his job in the torrent of sexual misconduct allegations sweeping through the nation’s workplaces.

The 88-year-old civil rights leader and longest-serving member of the House announced what he referred to as his “retirement” on Detroit talk radio, while continuing to deny he groped or sexually harassed women who worked for him.

“My legacy can’t be compromised or diminished in any way by what we’re going through now,” said the congressman, who called into the radio show from the hospital where he was taken last week after complaining of lightheadedness. “This, too, shall pass. My legacy will continue through my children.”

Former Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown sentenced to 5 years for fraud

Former U.S. Representative Corrine Brown of Florida was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison for her role in helping raise more than $800,000 for a bogus charity that was used as a slush fund, federal court officials said.

Brown, 71, was convicted in May on 18 counts of participating in a conspiracy involving a fraudulent education charity, concealing material facts required on financial disclosure forms and filing false tax returns.

Brown, a Democrat from Jacksonville who served 24 years in Congress, lost her re-election bid last year after being indicted.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan said he considered Brown's years of public service in deciding her punishment. But he determined that "probation for a member of Congress convicted of 18 counts involving mail, wire, and tax fraud would not be sufficient," according to a transcript of his comments.

Brown maintains her innocence and will appeal, her lawyer, James Smith, told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Jacksonville on Monday. The former congresswoman declined to comment.

April Ryan: White House did not want me at White House Christmas Party

While on CNN"s Reliable Sources April Ryan, the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks discussed not being invited to the White House Christmas Party. She stated that she believes that they simply did not want her there. Watch her comments below:

University of Chicago Honors African American Woman Scholar With Bronze Bust

A bust has been unveiled at the University of Chicago honoring an African-American woman who obtained a doctorate degree when the school was a bastion of white males.

Georgiana Rose Simpson’s story came alive after university seniors and political science majors Shae Omonijo and Asya Akca stumbled upon it.

Simpson arrived at Chicago in 1907 after teaching in Washington, D.C. Her presence in a dormitory sparked controversy because she was black, and she was forced to move off campus. She completed her master’s degree in 1920 and her doctorate in 1921 at age 55.

Simpson went on to write articles for W.E.B. Dubois’ publications and retired after teaching German at Howard University.

Nearly $50,000 was raised for the bronze bust of Simpson. It was unveiled Tuesday at the Reynolds Club, once reserved for white men.

Ex-congressman gets 13-year sentence reduced to time served

A former congressman convicted nearly a decade ago on bribery charges had his sentence reduced Friday to time served, knocking nearly eight years off a prison term in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling make it tougher to convict public officials of bribery.

The resentencing ended a 12-year legal saga for William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, whose case made headlines in 2005 after he was caught with $90,000 stashed in his freezer.

Jefferson walked out of an Alexandria courtroom a free man Friday, now facing only a year of post-release supervision after serving five years and five months of his original 13-year-prison sentence.

"I'm going to go back home and get a Christmas dinner," a smiling Jefferson told reporters after Friday's hearing.

Jefferson, 70, was convicted on 10 bribery-related counts in a 2009 trial. In October, though, the judge who sent him away ordered him freed. He said that a 2016 ruling by the Supreme Court overturning the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on corruption charges changed the law as to what constitutes an "official act" for which a public official can be charged with bribery.

The judge, T.S. Ellis III, tossed out seven of ten counts of conviction against Jefferson, and said Jefferson was entitled to a new sentencing hearing on the three counts that held up.

The new landscape prompted prosecutors and Jefferson's lawyers to negotiate, and this week they jointly proposed a universal settlement in which Jefferson's sentence would be reduced to time served plus a $189,000 fine, which amounts to what has already been collected on a $470,000 judgment entered at the time of his conviction.

At Friday's hearing, Ellis had the option to impose a stiffer sentence, but said the negotiated deal represented a reasonable conclusion to the case.

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