Trump calls for Tester’s resignation
Compiled from news services
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., “should resign” for his role in helping to sink Dr. Ronny Jackson’s nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Jackson, who is the White House physician, withdrew his name from consideration Thursday after the Republican-led Senate Veterans Affairs committee delayed his confirmation hearing amid multiple reports of alleged onthe-job misconduct by Dr. Jackson.
Mr. Tester is up for reelection in 2018 in a state that strongly backed Mr. Trump in 2016, and Mr. Trump has indicated that he wants repercussions for Mr. Tester, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate committee.
The White House said Friday that its internal records disprove some of the allegations.
“Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false,” Mr. Trump tweeted Saturday morning. “The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign.”
Texas voter ID upheld
HOUSTON — A federal appeals court upheld a revamped version of Texas’ voter identification law Friday, saying that it does not discriminate against black and Hispanic voters.
The decision, by a threejudge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, overturned a lower-court ruling that had struck down the new law.
It was the latest milestone in a yearslong legal battle over the state’s efforts to require voters to show government-issued identification to cast a ballot.
The panel’s decision, by a vote of 2-1, was the first time a federal court had upheld the new law, the state’s attempt to soften what had been one of the toughest voter ID restrictions in the country.
Extra money scrutinized
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In Alabama, the less sheriffs spend on feeding inmates, the more money they get to put in their pockets.
For decades, sheriffs have made extra money — sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars — under a Depression-era system by feeding prisoners for only pennies per meal.
Critics say the meals can be unhealthy, and a lawsuit against dozens of sheriffs combined with media reports about the practice threaten to end the one-of-akind system.
Republican Sen. Arthur Orr said he is working on a bill to abolish the practice.
“This law is from the 1930s. Times change. It’s time we move on into the 21st century,” Mr. Orr said.
AWOL Marine charged
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — Authorities pulled the body of a North Carolina grandmother from a creek Friday and charged her grandson, a Marine who had been AWOL, in connection to her murder.
Authorities in Rocky Mount arrested 18-year-old Isaiah Kahleal Evans Caesar at a hotel where he had used his grandmother’s credit card to purchase a room, according to local news reports.
Authorities had been looking for Sallie Copeland Evans, the 74-year-old grandmother from Roanoke Rapids, for several days after her family filed a missing-persons report.
Her sister Mattie Copeland Parker said Ms. Evans was last seen the evening of April 22.