Trump’s national security adviser has coronavirus
President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the highest-ranking official to test positive so far.
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Judge blocks US agents from arresting observers in Portland
A federal judge specifically blocked U.S. agents from arresting or using physical force against journalists and legal observers at protests in Oregon’s largest city where President Donald Trump is testing the limits of federal power.
Judge frees ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen from prison
A judge ordered the release from prison of President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer on Thursday, saying he believes the government retaliated against him for planning to release a book about Trump before November’s election.
Trump administration $21M gamble on Pepcid as a COVID remedy fizzles
As the coronavirus began its deadly march through the world, two well-respected American doctors identified a possible but seemingly unlikely remedy: Pepcid, the heartburn medication found on drugstore shelves everywhere. There were no published data or studies to suggest its effectiveness against the novel coronavirus. But that didn’t stop the Trump administration from granting a $21 million emergency contract that is now the subject of whistleblower complaints.
Poll: 3 in 4 Americans back requiring wearing masks
Three out of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, favor requiring people to wear face coverings while outside their homes, a new poll finds, reflecting fresh alarm over spiking coronavirus cases and a growing embrace of government advice intended to safeguard public health.
Judge hears Oregon request to restrain federal agents
A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday on Oregon’s request for a restraining order against federal agents sent to Portland to attempt to quell protests that have spiraled into nightly clashes between authorities and demonstrators.
Trump, Barr to expand anti-crime surge to several US cities
President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr are expected to announce Wednesday that federal agents will surge into several American cities including Chicago to help combat rising crime, expanding the administration’s intervention in local enforcement as Trump runs for reelection under a “law and order” mantle.
Courts, attorneys fear wave of COVID evictions
A moratorium on evictions of families in federally subsidized housing is set to end July 25, and Indiana’s moratorium prohibiting evictions is set to end July 31. Advocates warn a wave of evictions is coming that could leave many Hoosiers without a place to live, but because of how these cases are tracked, they lack data to how big that wave will be and when it will arrive.
Scams and schemes rising with spread of coronavirus
Schemes to con people out of their stimulus checks, to get money for face masks that are never delivered and to get payments for bogus COVID-19 treatments or cures have surged. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has a special coronavirus page on its website devoted to advising consumers on how to identify real contact tracers and to ignore offers for home test kits.
US executes 3 in first federal death sentences since 2003
The federal government last week carried out its first executions in almost two decades after the US Supreme Court in separate 5-4 rulings turned away last-minute appeals from two condemned inmates’ legal teams. Their executions, and that of a third defendant, were carried out by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute.
Indiana AG supports new Title IX rule for campus sexual assault allegations
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill has joined other Republican attorneys general in supporting the new Title IX regulation for how colleges and universities should handle sexual misconduct complaints, saying the new rule combats sexual harassment and protects constitutional liberties.
One reporter, two executions and haunting last words
Daniel Lewis Lee, a condemned man and convicted murderer, was asked if he wanted to make a final statement from the execution chamber at the federal prison in Terre Haute. He did. He leaned his head up and we locked eyes. “You’re killing an innocent man,” Lee said, looking directly at me. Those were his last words. He said them to me.
Iowa meth kingpin is third executed by US government this week
The U.S. government on Friday afternoon put to death an Iowa chemistry student-turned-meth kingpin convicted of killing five people, the third execution by the federal government this week at the federal prison in Terre Haute.
Investigators list potential crimes in Monroe Co. assault case
State investigators identified six potential crimes Thursday in an incident report concerning the reported assault on a Black man at a southern Indiana lake.
7th Circuit upholds dismissal of Indiana Harbor rail lease litigation
A lease dispute between the majority and minority owners of Chicago-area rail switch carrier Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad was properly dismissed, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
US executes 2nd man in a week; lawyers said he had dementia
The United States on Thursday carried out its second federal execution this week, killing by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute a Kansas man whose lawyers contended he had dementia and was unfit to be executed.
Judge halts execution amid claims inmate isn’t mentally fit
A judge on Wednesday halted the execution of a man said to be suffering from dementia, who had been set to die by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute in the federal government’s second execution after a 17-year hiatus.
Trump administration rescinds rule on foreign students
The Trump administration has rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer schools or leave the country if their colleges hold classes entirely online this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Executed man’s defense team blasts ‘shameful’ process
The defense team for a man executed in Terre Haute on Tuesday morning in the first federal death sentence carried out in nearly two decades blasted what they called a “shameful” middle-of-the-night process that they contend should awaken public outrage.
US carries out first federal execution in nearly 2 decades
The U.S. government on Tuesday carried out the first federal execution in almost two decades, putting to death a man who killed an Arkansas family in a 1990s in a plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. The execution came over the objection of the victims’ family.