FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP (RNC image).

Former president Donald Trump and his companies have been hit with $355 million in penalties for engaging in a scheme to mislead banks and other business partners with exaggerated states of his assets.

With interest, the amount could rise to over $450 million.

The penalties come after a judge assessed over $85 million in defamation charges. In each case, Trump won’t be compelled to pay them until all appeals have been exhausted.

Additionally, Trump was ordered by Judge Arthur Engoron to refrain from serving in a leadership role for any New York firm, including some of his own. The ban also extended – for two years – to Trump’s adult sons.

Putin’s foe dead in Russian hospital

Alexei Navalny, a dissident who conducted a dangerous campaign to resist Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime, has died in a Russian prison.

ALEXEI NAVALNY (Wikipedia).

Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence in a penal colony in the frozen Arctic.

He was once poisoned by a nerve agent which he claimed was a murder attempt by the Moscow government.

Three times he was arrested and imprisoned for offenses related to protesting the actions of Putin and his government.

President Joe Biden said, “there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something Putin and his thugs did.”

The Mahomes visit shooting victims

Patrick Mahomes, star quarterback of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, and his wife Brittany Mahomes, visited young victims of the shootings that had taken place previously at a Super Bowl celebration parade.

PATRICK MAHOMES (Flickr/202019).

“Just like #ChiefsKingdom has always been there for me and my family, we want to be there for them,” he wrote in a social media post. He paid a visit to a children’s hospital in nearby Overland Park, Kansas.

One person was killed and more than two dozen people were wounded in the altercation, which reportedly stemmed from a private dispute.

Mahomes also announced the creation of “Kansas City Strong” to offer emergency relief to victims and their families.

Israeli troops inside Gaza hospital

HAMAS vs. Israel (Shutterstock).

Israeli forces started attacking an area in Gaza on Friday, including the biggest functioning hospital in the Rafah region.

Troops are still in Nasser Hospital after a raid on Thursday, claiming they were hunting Hamas militants, which Hamas denied.

There’s some doubt as to whether electric power, clean water and heat were available to patients in the hospital. “There are still critically injured and sick patients” inside, said a spokesperson for the World Health Organization.

Weather: No rain on weekend, but …

The good news for us in our West Orange County area is that the coming rain won’t hit us until after the weekend. Saturday is expected to have morning clouds and afternoon sun with a daytime high of 65 and an overnight low of 52. Sunday will be cloudy with similar temps of 65 (55). The wet stuff should arrive Monday with a high of 62 (55). Tuesday should be similar at 61 (54).