![Hunter who killed and skinned a Connecticut family's pet dogs claims he thought they were coyotes](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/03/02/da27089e-fd75-45c9-aea2-487ec3173fa8/thumbnail/1200x630/74135523499bb60ad960e5a9dbae7cf4/vxpclzbzngzvayv-800x450-nopad.jpg)
Hunter who killed and skinned a Connecticut family's pet dogs claims he thought they were coyotes
CBSN
A hunter who told authorities he killed and skinned what he thought were two coyotes, but later discovered they were a Connecticut family's pet German shepherds, has been criminally charged.
During a hearing in Danbury Superior Court on Wednesday that drew dozens of people including the dogs' owners and animal rights advocates, Michael Konschak, 61, of Carmel, New York, said he was ashamed of what he did.
"Please know that it was never my intent that morning to harm the victims' pets," he said.
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More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
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In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
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The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.