ABC News

The back and forth between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump over when and where the State of the Union will be delivered — if at all — came to a conclusion, if temporary, late Wednesday night. Trump will not give a speech until after the partial government shutdown is over.

The president tweeted the news in a two-part missive just before midnight, saying, “As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative – I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over.”   Continue reading “Trump says he will not give State of the Union until after shutdown ends”

Wall Street Journal

Democrats in Congress are making election reform their top legislative priority, and we’ve criticized it as a majority protection act. To understand why, consider that Democrats are trying to do for the country what they’ve done with election laws in California.

The Golden State is where Republican candidates went to bed on election night in November with leads in most of their competitive House races, only to lose in the ensuing weeks of vote counting. In Orange County, Young Kim was poised to become the first Korean-American woman in Congress, with a sizable lead on Election Day over her Democratic opponent. She lost by three percentage points. Republican Rep. Mimi Walters’s 6,074-vote lead on Nov. 6 turned into an 11,866-vote loss to Democrat Katie Porter.   Continue reading “Harvesting Democratic Votes – Liberals want to impose the California voting model on all 50 states.”

The Hill

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took no action on whether it will hear disputes over the Trump administration’s decision to wind down the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

No action from the court may mean protections for some 700,000 young people brought to the country illegally as children may remain in place for several more months. Many viewed this as the last opportunity for the court to review the case this term given the court’s already full calendar. The justices typically don’t agree to hear cases over the summer.   Continue reading “Supreme Court takes no action on DACA”

Yahoo News

WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday let President Donald Trump enforce his policy barring certain transgender people from joining or staying in the military as the justices put on hold lower court rulings blocking the plan on constitutional grounds.   Continue reading “U.S. top court lets Trump transgender troop restrictions take effect”

Yahoo News

A police officer in Florida ran over two people lying on a dark road to watch the lunar eclipse, leading them requiring hospital treatment.

The West Palm Beach Police Department has confirmed the officer ran over the two people, who were taken to the hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the incident on Sunday night.   Continue reading “Florida police run over couple lying in the road to watch lunar eclipse”

Houston Chronicle – by Sergio Chapa

A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers is seeking to strengthen the ties of the U.S. energy sector to Mexico even as the political battle over the border wall partially shut down the federal government.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, has filed House Resolution 132, which seeks to boost U.S. funding for the North American Development Bank, or NADBank, and give the binational financial institution authority to fund cross-border natural gas pipelines and natural gas-fired power plants.   Continue reading “Bipartisan group aims to boost natural gas exports to Mexico”

The Hill

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed a bill on Thursday that will require gun dealers and shops to be regulated and certified by the state.

The bill bans retailers from selling guns without certification and allows the state to gather information on private sales and illegal gun transfers.   Continue reading “Illinois governor signs gun dealer licensing bill”

Yahoo News

DENVER (AP) — An off-duty sheriff’s deputy who was shot by a police officer in Colorado following a car chase died Friday.

Deputy Jesse Jenson, 41, was removed from life support after he was shot by a LaSalle police officer late Wednesday night, according to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.   Continue reading “Off-duty deputy shot by Colorado officer after chase dies”

The Washington Examiner – by Naomi Lim

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, questioned the relevancy of the U.S. Constitution and the American experiment which began more than two centuries ago during a recent interview.

During an interview with the Washington Post, the potential 2020 contender was pressed on whether he believed the U.S. could reinvent how it approached divisive issues that have contributed to current political paralysis or whether he thought it was impossible for the country to introduce any reforms.   Continue reading “Beto O’Rourke asks: Are the ‘principles’ of the US Constitution still relevant?”

Fox News

A massive data leak has been discovered at the Oklahoma Securities Commission, in which millions of records — including files related to sensitive FBI investigations over the last seven years, emails dating back 17 years and thousands of Social Security numbers — have been exposed.

The breach was uncovered last month by Greg Pollock, a cybersecurity researcher at UpGuard, who claims the millions of files were publicly available on an online server and didn’t require any password to access them.   Continue reading “FBI records, emails, Social Security numbers exposed in massive data leak, security experts say”

The Telegraph

Hundreds of Honduran migrants began the long trek north on Monday, part of new US-bound caravan that hopes to succeed even as a previous wave of Central Americans were unable to quickly enter the United States.

Central American migrant caravans have become a flashpoint in the debate over US immigration policy, as President Donald Trump has remained adamant that the migrants will be barred from crossing the border. Continue reading “New migrant caravan leaves Honduras as US extends border troop deployment until September”

Fox News

A North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper was shot in the face while conducting a routine traffic stop Monday night, prompting an hours-long interagency manhunt that led to the arrest of the alleged gunman and two other suspects, WRAL reported.   Continue reading “North Carolina state trooper shot in face, prompting manhunt for suspect: police”

ABC News

LOGAN TWP., N.J. (WPVI) — Multiple police agencies and the FBI are responding to an active shooter situation at a UPS facility in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

The incident was reported around 9 a.m. Monday on Birchcreek Road in Logan Township.

Police officers could be seen ducking behind police vehicles outside a loading ramp.   Continue reading “Active shooter situation at UPS facility in Gloucester County, New Jersey”

New York Times

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which has been struggling with a financial crisis stemming from California’s historic wildfires, intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by the end of the month, according to a regulatory filing.

The company, which is the largest investor-owned utility in California, said it faced an estimated $30 billion liability for damages from the 2017 and 2018 wildfires that killed scores in Northern California, a sum that would exceed its insurance and assets.   Continue reading “PG&E Plans Bankruptcy Filing Over Deadly California Fires”

Yahoo News

Across some of the biggest U.S. cities, rent prices are continuing to rise for lower-income Americans. Meanwhile, an estimated 553,000 people experienced homelessness in 2018, according to Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data.

And a recent Zillow study — which estimated the number of homeless people in America to be closer to 661,000 — found a specific correlation between rent affordability and the rate of homelessness at a certain threshold: “Communities where people spend more than 32 percent of their income on rent can expect a more rapid increase in homelessness.”  Continue reading “Research details the ‘rapid increase in homelessness’ in certain U.S. cities”

ABC News

Two police officers were shot and one — a sergeant who in 2016 helped rescue two little girls buried under a collapsed roof — was killed Sunday when they confronted an armed suspect while working on a car-burglary sting operation in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, officials said.

Gunfire erupted at 1:59 a.m. when the officers, one working undercover, approached two suspects they spotted allegedly trying to break into a car, Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith said at an early morning news conference.   Continue reading “2 police officers shot, 1 killed while working a car-burglary sting in Alabama”

ABC News 

One person is dead and a dozen others were rushed to the hospital after an apparent mass fentanyl overdose in Chico, California, on Saturday morning.

Four of those taken to the hospital are in critical condition, according to authorities. Police called the 13 people “friends and acquaintances,” but did not provide exact relationships to the homeowner. The victims ranged in age from 19 to “about 30,” police said.   Continue reading “1 dead, 12 hospitalized in mass fentanyl overdose in California”

Yahoo News

DAVIS, Calif. (AP) — Natalie Corona was a rising star in her police department with a sparkling smile and a huge heart who had followed in her father’s footsteps and became an officer, fulfilling a lifelong dream just a few months ago when her dad pinned the badge on her uniform.

On Friday, her father and a stunned community mourned the 22-year-old who was shot and killed on duty while responding to a multi-vehicle crash in the small college town of Davis, California. Investigators believe she was ambushed by a gunman on a bicycle, but they haven’t a determined the motive for his actions.   Continue reading “Rookie cop in Northern California ‘ambushed’ at crash scene”