Republican wins seat in Montana

BOZEMAN,Mont. — The Democratic defeat in a hard-fought special House election in Montana on Thursday highlighted the practical limitations on liberal opposition to President Donald Trump and exposed a deepening rift between cautious Democratic Party leaders, who want to pick their shots in battling for control of Congress in 2018, and more militant grass-roots activists who want to fight the Republicans everywhere.

Rob Quist, the Democratic nominee in Montana, staked his campaign on the Republican health care bill but lost by 6 percentage points, even after his Republican opponent for the state’s lone House seat, Greg Gianforte, was charged with assaulting a reporter on the eve of the election.

Boehner blasts Trump

Former House speaker John Boehner this week continued a streak of remarkable candor since he has been out of office at a Houston energy conference, telling the audience that President Donald Trump’s term, except for foreign policy, has been a “complete disaster.”

“Everything else he’s done has been a complete disaster,” Mr. Boehner, ROhio, said, according to a report in Rigzone, an online energy publication. “He’s still learning how to be president.”

Mr. Boehner, who resigned from Congress in October 2015, had praised Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign. Among other remarks Wednesday, Mr. Boehner said Mr. Trump should not be allowed to tweet, the publication said.

Quake funds in danger

LOSANGELES — President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would cut $10 million in federal funding for an earthquake early warning system for California, Oregon and Washington state, a development that seismology experts and some local leaders say would be the end of the project — and a waste of the $23 million that has been spent on it.

The system being developed in conjunction with various universities is intended at providing critical seconds of warning when an earthquake has started and potentially dangerous shaking is imminent.

NFL cheerleader’s suit

SANFRANCISCO — A lawsuit accusing the NFL and team owners of conspiring to suppress wages for cheerleaders lacks evidence to support that claim, a federal judge said.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup dismissed the suit by a former San Francisco 49ers cheerleader that had sought class action status on behalf of all NFL cheerleaders.

A spate of legal actions in recent years has accused NFL teams of failing to pay cheerleaders for practice time and public appearances.

‘Beltway Sniper’ ruling

WASHINGTON— A federal judge in Virginia ruled Friday that the “Beltway Sniper” who terrorized the D.C. area in 2002 must be resentenced because the life sentences imposed when he was a teen are unconstitutional.

Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., ordered two state courts to hold new sentencing hearings for Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 when he was sentenced in 2002.

Malvo and an older man, John A. Muhammad, went on a shooting spree that left at least 10 people dead in Washington and its suburbs.