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WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Donald Trump is "extremely confident" that the Justice Department will produce evidence backing up his claim that his predecessor wiretapped his New York skyscraper during the election. The comments from spokesman Sean Spicer come one day after the Justice Department asked lawmakers for more time to produce that evidence. The House intelligence committee gave the department until March 20, the first day of its hearings on Russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible contacts between Trump advisers and Russians.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is delaying a new rule tightening safety requirements for companies that store large quantities of dangerous chemicals. Scott Pruitt is the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He has delayed the effective date of the Obama-era rule until June. The rule requires companies to make public the types and quantities of chemicals stored on site. The chemical industry and other business groups say that could make it easier for terrorists and other criminals to target high-value refineries, chemical plants and other facilities.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The company building the Dakota Access pipeline has asked a federal judge to reject the latest attempt by two American Indian tribes to halt the project. Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners says in court documents that it has suffered enough delays and that the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes are employing "a last-gasp litigation tactic." The company says crews expect to finish construction and conduct final testing this week, and that oil could flow as soon as Monday.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The former South Carolina police officer charged with killing an unarmed black man running from a traffic stop has asked a judge to allow a publicly funded lawyer to represent him. News outlets report Michael Slager made that request today during a hearing in Charleston. Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman says he'll issue a ruling later. Slager says his family of five lives under the poverty line. Slager was fired and charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Walter Scott following an April 2015 traffic stop in North Charleston. Slager's first trial ended in a hung jury. Prosecutors have said they would retry him, and that's set for August.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin appeals court says a white landlord had the right to kick a tenant out of his house because he is black. Michael Haller forced Martin Jones to move out of his home in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood in 2013 after Haller's wife said she didn't feel comfortable with an African-American living in their house. Wisconsin law prohibits landlords from discriminating against tenants based on race. But the 1st District Court of Appeals ruled that the law doesn't apply in this case because Jones was renting a bedroom in Haller's house rather than a separate dwelling unit. The court said Haller has the right to decide who shares his home.
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