By Nathaniel "Beltway" Steele
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke was indicted Friday, one of five people charged in a corruption investigation that has shadowed Hawaii's state government for months, according to the New York Times.
Luke had already taken a leave of absence while investigators built their case. The Times reports she was among five defendants named in Friday's charges, though the specific counts against her and her co-defendants were not detailed in available reporting.
What happens next — to her office, her leave status, and the four others charged alongside her — is not yet clear from the record available to this desk. Hawaii voters elected Luke to the state's second-highest office; an indictment of a sitting lieutenant governor is a rare and serious event in any state, and the coming arraignment and any plea will determine whether she can continue to serve.
This is a developing story. The Times has not yet published the underlying charging documents, and this desk will follow the arraignment closely.
Read the footnotes. The story's always in the footnotes.
— Compiled from reporting by The New York Times.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."