NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Emoluments case: Ina legal victory for President Trump, a federal appeals court panel Wednesday ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that profits earned by his Washington hotel while he is in office violate the Constitution. A threejudge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., found that the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia had no legal standing to sue Trump. Attorneys general for Maryland and the District of Columbia alleged that evidence would show that Trump had violated anticorruption clauses of the Constitution that restrict the ability of federal officials to obtain financial benefits or “emoluments” from state or foreign governments.
2 More flooding: The federal government is warning Americans to brace for a “floodier” future. Government scientists predict 40 places in the U.S. will experience higher than normal rates of socalled sunny day flooding this year because of rising sea levels and an abnormal El Niño weather system. A report released Wednesday by the Silver Spring, Md.based National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that sunny day flooding, also known as tidal flooding, will continue to increase. Nationwide, the agency predicted, average sunny day flooding could reach 7 to 15 days a year by 2030, and 25 to 75 days a year by 2050.
3 Corruption charges: Puerto Rico’s former secretary of education and five other people were arrested Wednesday on charges of steering federal money to unqualified, politically connected contractors, federal officials said. Federal officials said Wednesday morning that former Education Secretary Julia Keleher, former Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration head Ángela ÁvilaMarrero, businessmen Fernando Scherrer Caillet and Alberto VelazquezPinol, and education contractors Glenda E. PonceMendoza and Mayra PonceMendoza, who are sisters, were arrested by the FBI on 32 counts of fraud and related charges.
4 Cash spill: Drivers on Atlanta’s busy perimeter highway were bombarded by flying money after a door swung open on an armored truck. WSB Radio reports that the rain of cash prompted a dozen or more drivers to pull over on Interstate 285. A video shows people spilling out of their cars to scoop up the bills in traffic lanes. Amazingly, no one was hurt. By the time police arrived, the opportunists had driven off with the money. Dunwoody Police Sgt. Robert Parsons said taking the money off the road is a crime. Parsons says they’re going to need that cash back.
5 Student’s death: A tech worker was charged Wednesday with murder and kidnapping in the death of a Utah college student whose body was found in a wooded area with her arms bound behind her. Prosecutors said Ayoola Ajayi, 31, was the last person Mackenzie Lueck communicated with before she disappeared on June 17. She died of blunt force trauma to the head, District Attorney Sim Gill said.