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US-SUPREME-COURT-TRUMP-TAXES
Supreme Court rules Manhattan DA can obtain Trump taxes
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has upheld a prosecutor’s demand for President Donald Trump’s tax returns as part of a criminal investigation into hush-money payments to women who claim they had affairs with Trump. The court ruled 7-2 Thursday in a case in which it heard arguments by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic. The records are held by Trump’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, which has said it would comply with a court order.
SUPREME COURT-INDIAN COUNTRY
Justices rule swath of Oklahoma remains tribal reservation
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal cases in a large chunk of eastern Oklahoma that remains an American Indian reservation. The court’s ruling casts doubt on hundreds of convictions won by local prosecutors. The case was argued by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic. The case revolved around an appeal by a Native American man who claimed state courts had no authority to try him for a crime committed on reservation land that belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The reservation once encompassed 3 million acres, including most of Tulsa, the state’s second-largest city.
WISCONSIN LAME-DUCK-LAWSUIT
Wisconsin Supreme Court OKs GOP-authored lame-duck laws
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld Republican-authored lame-duck laws that curtailed the powers of the incoming Democratic attorney general. The ruling Thursday rejected arguments that the laws were unconstitutional, giving Republican yet another victory. The Republican-controlled Legislature passed a series of laws in December 2018 designed to weaken Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul, both Democrats, before they took office in January 2019. The laws prohibit Evers from ordering Kaul to withdraw from lawsuits, give legislators the right to intervene in lawsuits without using Kaul’s Justice Department lawyers and force Kaul to get GOP legislators’ permission before settling lawsuits.
MANHATTAN-FEDERAL PROSECUTOR-CONGRESS
House to interview fired NY prosecutor probing Trump allies
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ousted U.S. attorney leading investigations into President Donald Trump’s allies is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee for a private interview. The former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, engaged in an extraordinary standoff last month when Attorney General William Barr sought to have him leave office. Berman refused to go, relenting only after being assured his office’s probes of Trump’s circle would continue. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler called Berman’s dismissal “part of a clear and dangerous pattern” of behavior by Barr.
AP-US-CONGRESS-PENTAGON-LEADERS
Pentagon leaders face grilling on use of military in unrest
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s top leaders are going before Congress for the first time in months. They are likely to be questioned Thursday afternoon on several major controversies, including their differences with President Donald Trump over the handling of protests near the White House last month during unrest triggered by the killing of George Floyd in police hands. It is the first congressional testimony by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, since March, before the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic became apparent and before nationwide civil unrest led to a crisis in White House relations with the Pentagon.
AP-FINANCIAL-MARKETS
Stocks steady on Wall Street after latest read on job market
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are showing little movement at the open on Wall Street Thursday following the latest reading on the U.S. job market. More than 1.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, still a historically high pace though down from a week earlier. Technology and consumer-focused companies are seeing early gains. U.S. stocks have recovered most of this year’s losses, although a rising numbers of American coronavirus infections threatens to derail an improving economy. Stocks in China continued their recent run and are up more than 9% this week.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-INDIANA ATTACK
Woman arrested in hit-and-run at Indiana protest
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana woman has been arrested in a hit-and-run crash that sent one woman to the hospital and caused minor injuries to a man during a southern Indiana protest over the assault of a Black man by a group of white men. Monroe County Sheriff's Deputy Barry Grooms says 66-year-old Christi Bennett, of Greensburg, was booked into the Monroe County Jail early Thursday on preliminary charges of leaving the scene of an accident. Authorities expect prosecutors to file formal charges later. The confrontation happened near the Monroe County courthouse in Bloomington on Monday evening.
CHILD SHOT-ATLANTA
Police: 9-year-old boy, 2 others wounded in Atlanta shooting
ATLANTA (AP) — Authorities said three people were shot and wounded in Atlanta, including a 9-year-old boy. Atlanta police say the shooting happened Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m. Police say officers found one man with a gunshot wound and witnesses told police more people were shot during the incident. A man and a 9-year-old boy were later found at a hospital. The man was shot in the hand and the boy suffered gunshot wounds to both legs. Police said all three victims were expected to survive. Police believe an argument lead to the shooting. No suspects were in custody. The shooting comes after 8-year-old Secoriea Turner was shot and killed in Atlanta over the Fourth of July weekend.
SEVERE WEATHER
Authorities: 1 dead after tornadoes hit western Minnesota
DALTON, Minn. (AP) — Authorities say two powerful tornadoes damaged farms and left one person dead in western Minnesota as severe storms moved across parts of the Midwest. The National Weather Service says one tornado struck at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday near Dalton. Three farmsteads were hit, and one of those farmhouses was flattened. Otter Tail County says two people were taken to a hospital and one fatality was confirmed, but details weren't immediately released. The weather service says one tornado crossed Interstate 94 but no vehicles were affected. Other possible tornado activity was reported in Colorado as well as parts of Nebraska and Illinois.
CLIMATE-GLOBAL TEMPERATURES
UN: World could hit 1.5-degree warming threshold by 2024
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. weather agency says the world could see average global temperatures rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average for the first time in the coming five years. The 1.5-C mark is the level to which countries have agreed to try to limit global warming. Scientists say average temperatures around the world are already at least 1 C higher now than during the period from 1850-1900 because of manmade greenhouse emissions. The World Meteorological Organization said Thursday there is a 20% chance that the 1.5 C level will be reached in at least one year between 2020 and 2024.
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