Keeping up with Trump Tower: Moscow

Thursday, November 29

Michael Cohen walks out of federal court Thursday in New York, after pleading guilty to lying to Congress about work he did on an aborted project to build a Trump Tower in Russia. Cohen told the judge he lied about the timing of the negotiations and other details to be consistent with Trump's "political message."

Long day? Short List. In the news today: Cohen pleads guilty to lying, U.S. life expectancy falls and biometric airport terminals.

Happy Thursday, Short Listers. No, we didn't nab any of those $600 Payless shoes, either. (It's not like we have Nick Saban money.) But we did curate today's stories in a neat package. It costs far less.

Timelines are important. Especially when building a Trump Tower in Russia

It's been a busy week for special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. On Monday, the office claimed Paul Manafort — President Donald Trump's former campaign chair — lied to the FBI. And Trump slammed the investigation particularly hard on Twitter. Then on Thursday, Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in federal court to lying to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Russia . Cohen aimed to minimize ties between Trump and the project, prosecutors said, and to imply the deal ended before 2016's presidential primaries. Trump, who has repeatedly denied having business interests in Russia, called Cohen a "weak person."

Adding to the drama, the president canceled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit — just hours after the plea. Trump claimed the last-minute decision was because Russia seized three Ukrainian ships over the weekend.

A Catholic prosecutor took on the church

What happens when a Catholic prosecutor takes on a diocese? Suspicious looks, mutterings and tsk-tsks at mass. That's what happened when former federal prosecutor David Hickton investigated a western Pennsylvania diocese over allegations that nearly 50 priests abused hundreds of children. Congregants' reactions act as an ugly preview of what federal prosecutors in Philadelphia may encounter during a broader investigation into alleged abuse by Catholic priests statewide. Students at Hickton's grade school are among more than 1,000 victims in a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report from August that found the church shielded 300-plus predator priests. "It's time to put a stop to this now," he told USA TODAY.

A creepy new way to speed up airport security

Airports and queues are practically synonymous. Wait in line for the kiosk. Wait in line to check your bag. Wait in line through security. Take off your shoes, put them back on and wait in line to board. What if some lines could be shortened, or eliminated altogether? Delta's trying: The airline says Atlanta airport's Terminal F has become the "first biometric terminal" in the United States where passengers can use facial recognition technology "from curb to gate." The airline expects it will speed up the boarding of international flights. Delta plans to expand the option to its Detroit hub next.

This photo provided by Delta Air Lines shows new biometric scanning technology at Terminal F in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

John Paul Van Wert via Delta Air Lines

How long do you expect to live?

The 2017 numbers are out, and they don't look good. Life expectancy fell to an average of 78.6 years for the total U.S. population. It's the longest overall downward trend in the U.S. since World War I. Two driving factors are preventable: suicides and opioid deaths. More than 47,000 people killed themselves in 2017, bringing the suicide rate increase since 1999 up to 33 percent. Meanwhile, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, increased 45 percent in just a year. The news from the CDC comes a day after first lady Melania Trump lamented that the opioid crisis has "truly taken hold of our country."

This compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network was brought to you by Sean Rossman, Alia E. Dastagir and Anne Godlasky.

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