NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
_1 Surveillance powers: The Senate passed legislation Thursday that would extend expired federal surveillance tools designed to help law enforcement track suspected terrorists and spies, moving one step closer to reviving them. The bill is a bipartisan compromise that has the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Provisions at issue allow the FBI to conduct surveillance without establishing that the subject is acting on behalf of an international terrorism organization, and to more easily eavesdrop on a subject who switches cell phone providers to thwart detection.
_2 Literacy lawsuit: The state of Michigan Thursday announced a settlement in a lawsuit over poor reading skills that was filed on behalf of Detroit schoolchildren, weeks after a federal appeals court issued a groundbreaking decision recognizing a constitutional right to education and literacy. The 2016 lawsuit that the appeals court had sent back to a federal judge in Detroit alleged that the city’s public schools were in “slumlike conditions” and “functionally incapable of delivering access to literacy.” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the plaintiffs announced the agreement in a joint statement.
_3 Repo shooting: A Kentucky man who fatally shot one person and wounded four others as they tried to repossess a vehicle has been charged with murder and assault, police said. Michael Justice, 47, was charged this week with killing Bryan Biggs, 37, of West Portsmouth, Ohio, and wounding the others during a dispute that broke out at a Lewis County home as the group was repossessing a 2004 Chevy Silverado, Kentucky State Police said. Thompson BiggsCox, Aaron Cottrell and Bonnie Dalton were taken to area hospitals for gunshot wounds, police said. Kari Biggs was shot, but refused treatment.
_4 Wild horses: Federal land managers say it will take two decades and cost more than $1 billion over the first six years alone to slash wild horse populations across 10 Western states to sustainable levels necessary to protect U.S. rangeland. The Bureau of Land Management’s latest plans envision capturing 200,000 mustangs over the next two decades. It also wants to build corrals to hold thousands more than current capacity and adopt regulations allowing the permanent sterilization of horses roaming federal lands for the first time. Nevada Farm Bureau Executive Vice President Doug Busselman said accelerated roundups and sterilizations are long overdue. “The current condition of overpopulation is not acceptable,” he said.
_5 Florida wildfires: A section of Interstate 75 known as Alligator Alley reopened Thursday after four brush fires that merged in southwest Florida caused it to close a day earlier, authorities said. The four fires grew into a 8,000acre fire, according to the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. The blaze was about 10% contained. The Collier County Sheriff ’s Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were coordinating voluntary evacuations. Alligator Alley extends from near Naples on the Gulf Coast, to Broward County.