NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Terror watch list: Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar submitted legislation that would force President Trump’s administration to disclose details about how it shares the FBI’s watch list of more than 1 million known or suspected terrorists with foreign countries. The legislation comes in a proposed amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act. It would require a report within 180 days detailing which foreign countries get access to the database and how such decisions are made. The watch list has been subject to multiple lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. Critics say the list is mismanaged and innocent Muslims end up on it with no recourse for clearing their names. Omar has expressed concerns that countries with poor human rights records such as Saudi Arabia and China receive the list and submit names for inclusion.
2 Fed up: Puerto Ricans have been battered by budget cuts, hurricanes and corruption scandals. And for many the last straw was a leaked series of chat group messages showing the governor and key aides mocking women, the disabled and victims of Hurricane Maria. Protests have been rocking the capital of San Juan on Wednesday to demand the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossello. They are also angry after Rossello’s former secretary of education and five other people were arrested on charges of steering federal money to unqualified, politically connected contractors. Rossello rejected calls for his resignation.
3 Cohen case: Federal prosecutors have told a judge in New York they have concluded their investigation into campaign finance crimes committed by President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen. The closure of the case is the strongest suggestion yet that prosecutors decided not to bring criminal charges against anyone besides Cohen in the scheme to protect Trump’s reputation during the 2016 presidential campaign. U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III made the disclosure in a court filing Wednesday as part of a legal fight over whether to unseal search warrant materials dealing with the investigation. In December, Pauley sentenced Cohen to three years in prison after the longtime personal lawyer to Trump pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and other charges. He began serving the sentence in May.
4 Opioids crisis: Newly released federal data shows how drug makers and distributors increased shipments of opioid painkillers across the U.S. as the nation’s addiction crisis accelerated from 2006 to 2012. The data, released this week by a federal court in Ohio as part of a farreaching opioids case, shows that companies distributed 8.4 billion hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to commercial pharmacies in 2006 and 12.6 billion in 2012. That’s an increase of more than 50%. During the same time frame, prescription opioids contributed to more than 100,000 deaths in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.