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WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of the nation's oldest civil rights organization are set to meet today with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. They say his policy changes "signal a threatening decline" in the Justice Department's commitment to civil rights. Today's meeting comes after Sessions suggested the agency would pursue fewer federal investigations of troubled police departments. The Justice Department this week also abandoned an Obama-era challenge to a key aspect of Texas' voter ID law that is among the toughest in the nation. Sessions said this week that too much federal scrutiny on police departments could cause police to be less effective and crime to rise.
PHOENIX (AP) — Families who have lost loved ones to crimes committed by immigrants are praising President Donald Trump's announcement this week that he will create a new office to advocate on their behalf. Don Rosenberg is a Los Angeles-area man whose son was killed in a collision with a driver who was in the country illegally and lacked a license. He says he's glad Trump is reaching out to the families and hopes the office will help them navigate the difficult aftermath of their loss. Although immigrants are responsible for only a small fraction of the crimes committed daily around the country, the issue played an outsized role in the race for the White House.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are off to a mixed start on Wall Street ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later in the day. Investors will be listening for clues on whether the central bank will raise interest rates again later this month. Stocks slipped back yesterday from record-high levels.
DUBLIN (AP) — A mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland. That announcement today from government-appointed investigators supports efforts by a local historian to trace the fates of 800 children who perished at the facility. For decades, there have been suspicions that the vast majority of children who died at the home were interred on the site in unmarked graves. It was a relatively common practice at such Catholic-run facilities amid high child mortality rates in early 20th century Ireland.
NEW YORK (AP) — Patrick Stewart says he's applying for U.S. citizenship in order to fight and oppose President Donald Trump. The British actor said on yesterday's episode of "The View" that he and his wife went to Washington last month to visit friends and to ask them what they could do about Trump. He said the only answer was to "fight" and "oppose" Trump, but he can't do that because he's not a citizen. The 76-year-old Stewart starred in "X-Men" and "Star Trek."
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