NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
_1 GOP probe: House Republicans are opening investigations of the Obama administration’s 2010 decision to approve the sale of American uranium mines to a Russian-backed company, lawmakers said Tuesday. Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said at a news conference that his panel and the House Oversight Committee would jointly probe the deal, which President Trump has called “the real Russia story.” Nunes and other Trump supporters have raised the 7-year-old uranium deal while four congressional committees and Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III are looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Moscow had any direct links to the Trump campaign. Trump and his supporters frequently cite the 2010 purchase of Uranium One by Rosatom, a Russian-run company, as a counter to questions about Russian support for Trump’s presidential bid.
_2 Police shooting lawsuit: Court records show the estate of a man who was fatally shot in 2014 by an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper has settled a lawsuit out of federal court for $175,000. The Tulsa World reports Joshua Stand was shot by trooper Jerrod Martin after authorities received a call about a man walking in street with a weapon. The civil rights lawsuit filed in 2016 alleged that Martin used “objectively unreasonable and excessive deadly force.” It also alleged Stand had a closed pocketknife and “posed no immediate threat of serious harm to anyone.”
_3 Teen can get abortion: A U.S. appeals court has cleared the way for a 17-year-old immigrant held in federal custody to obtain an abortion. The ruling Tuesday by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overruled a decision by a three-judge panel of the court that at least temporarily blocked the teen from having the procedure. The panel ruled Friday that the government should get more time to try to release the teen, who is being held in a Texas facility, so she could obtain the abortion outside government custody. The panel ruled 2-1 that the government should have until Oct. 31 to release the girl into the custody of a so-called sponsor, such as an adult relative in the U.S. The teen could then obtain the procedure. _4 Smartphone ban: Honolulu has passed a law, which will take effect Wednesday, that allows the police to fine pedestrians up to $35 for viewing their electronic devices while crossing streets in the city and surrounding county. Honolulu is thought to be the first major city to enact such a ban. In 2016, pedestrian deaths in spiked 9 percent from the year before, rising to 5,987, the highest toll on American roads since 1990, according to federal data. One reason may be the sharp rise in smartphone use, “a frequent source of mental and visual distraction” for both drivers and walkers, a report by the Governors Highway Safety Association found.