Unanimous Supreme Court preserves access to widely used abortion medication
WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday preserved access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. last year. It marked the court’s first abortion decision since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. The justices concluded that the abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and the FDA’s subsequent actions to ease access to it. The widely watched case had the potential to to restrict access to mifepristone across the country, even in states where abortion remains legal.
G7 summit opens with deal to use Russian assets for Ukraine as Italy flexes its right-wing muscles
BORGO EGNAZIA, Italy (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden says the agreement to tap into the windfall profits on frozen Russian assets held in Europe would put that money to work for Ukraine. He says it’ll also serve as a “reminder to Putin: We’re not backing down. In fact, we’re standing together against this illegal aggression.” Biden spoke after the first day of a summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations
Elon Musk wins back his $44.9 billion Tesla pay package in shareholder vote
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla shareholders have voted to restore CEO Elon Musk’s record $44.9 billion pay package that was thrown out by a Delaware judge earlier this year. Vote totals were not immediately announced. The favorable vote doesn’t mean CEO Musk will get the all-stock compensation anytime soon. The package is likely to remain tied up in the Delaware Chancery Court for months as Tesla appeals the rejection. The court ruled in January that Musk essentially controlled the Tesla board when it approved the package in 2018, and that it failed to fully inform shareholders who approved it the same year. Tesla has said it would appeal, but asked shareholders to reapprove the package at Thursday’s annual meeting.
Cheers, cake and a fist-bump from GOP as Trump returns to Capitol Hill in a first since Jan. 6 riot
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has made a triumphant return to Capitol Hill to meet with House and Senate Republicans for the first time since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. GOP lawmakers find themselves newly energized and reinvigorated by Trump’s bid to retake the White House. This is despite the federal charges against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and his recent guilty verdict in an unrelated hush money trial. He held an hour-long closed-door morning meeting with House Republicans and then was meeting with Senate Republicans at campaign headquarters near the Capitol to discuss party priorities. It’s his first visit as the party’s presumptive nominee.
Phoenix police have pattern of violating civil rights and using excessive force, Justice Dept. says
PHOENIX (AP) — The Justice Department says Phoenix police discriminate against Black, Hispanic and Native American people, unlawfully detain homeless people and use excessive force, including unjustified deadly force. The sweeping government investigation released Thursday uncovers a host of civil rights violations by police in the nation’s fifth-largest city. Investigators say they found stark racial disparities in how police enforce certain laws, including low-level drug and traffic offenses. And the Justice Department says Phoenix police have violated the rights of people engaged in protected speech. The police department has yet to respond to the report. Attorney General Merrick Garland says the government is committed to working with the city and police on reform.
US submarine pulls into Guantanamo Bay a day after Russian warships arrive in Cuba
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Navy submarine has pulled into Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a show of force as a fleet of Russian warships gather for planned military exercises in the Caribbean. U.S. Southern Command says the USS Helena, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, arrived at the U.S. base in Cuba on Thursday. That’s a day after a Russian frigate, a nuclear-powered submarine, an oil tanker and a rescue tug crossed into Havana Bay after drills in the Atlantic Ocean. Pentagon officials say the Russian drills don’t represent a threat to the U.S. They come less than two weeks after President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike inside Russia to protect Kharkiv.
President Biden says he won’t offer commutation to his son Hunter after gun sentence
FASANO, Italy (AP) — President Joe Biden says he will not use his presidential powers to lessen the eventual sentence that his son Hunter will receive for his federal felony conviction on gun crimes. Biden, following the conclusion of a news conference held Thursday at the Group of Seven summit of the world’s wealthiest democracies, responded he would not when asked whether he plans to commute the sentence for his son. Hunter Biden’s sentencing date has not been set, and the three counts carry up to 25 years in prison, though that’s unlikely as a first-time offender.
Justice Clarence Thomas took more trips paid for by donor Harlan Crow, Senate panel reveals
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin says his committee has uncovered at least three additional luxury trips given to Justice Clarence Thomas by donors as part of the panel’s ethics investigation into the Supreme Court. Durbin said Thursday that the committee obtained information from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow that Thomas took three trips on Crow’s private jet that were given to him in 2017, 2019 and 2021. The panel also found evidence of private jet travel during trips to Indonesia and California that Thomas recently disclosed in an amendment to a 2019 financial disclosure report. The Democratic-led Judiciary panel launched the investigation last year.
Tropical rainstorms in South Florida lead to flight delays and streets jammed with stalled cars
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A tropical disturbance that brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida delayed flights at two of the state’s largest airports and left vehicles waterlogged and stalled in some of the region’s lowest-lying streets. Travelers across the area were trying to adjust their plans on Thursday morning after more than 20 inches of rain has fallen in some areas of South Florida since Tuesday, with more on the way. The disorganized storm system was pushing across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico at roughly the same time as the early June start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory amid concerns that climate change is increasing storm intensity.
Washington’s Makah Tribe could once again harpoon whales as US waives conservation law
SEATTLE (AP) — The United States has granted the Makah Indian Tribe in Washington state a long-sought waiver that helps clear the way for its first sanctioned whale hunts since 1999. The Makah is a tribe of 1,500 people on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula and is the only American Indian tribe with a treaty that specifically mentions a right to hunt whales. But it has faced more than two decades of court challenges, bureaucratic hearings and scientific review as it seeks to resume hunting for gray whales. Thursday’s decision would allow the tribe to hunt up to 25 Eastern North Pacific gray whales over 10 years.
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