NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
_1 Oil pipeline: A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request from the operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline to suspend an order to shut down the oil pipeline during a lengthy environmental review. Earlier in the week, the judge ordered the pipeline shut down by Aug. 5 for an additional assessment more than three years after it began pumping oil. The move was a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux. The $3.8 billion pipeline crosses beneath the Missouri River just north of the tribe’s reservation, which straddles the North DakotaSouth Dakota border. The tribe draws its water from the river and has concerns about pollution.
_2 Utah unrest: Gov. Gary Herbert declared a state of emergency late Thursday in response to protests in Salt Lake City that erupted after authorities said the fatal police shooting of a man in May was justified. Prosecutor Sim Gill ruled there would be no criminal charges against the two officers who shot Bernardo PalaciosCarbajal, 22, on May 23. After the announcement, protesters who had gathered for weeks in front of the district attorney’s office, part of the nationwide movement against police violence and racism, marched downtown. Police said protesters broke windows and officers were doused with pepper spray. The governor’s order remains in effect until midnight Monday.
_3 Execution halted: A federal judge in Indiana on Friday halted the first federal execution planned in 17 years over COVID19 concerns. Daniel Lee, a convicted killer, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday. But the court in Indianapolis ruled the execution would be put on hold because the family of the victims wanted to attend but were afraid of traveling during the pandemic. The injunction delays the execution until there is no longer such an emergency. The Justice Department is appealing the ruling.
_4 Epstein associate: A close confidant of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein who is jailed on charges she helped him sexually abuse young women and girls should be released to home arrest while she awaits trial, her lawyers argued in court papers filed Friday. British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, was arrested last week. She has been detained at a lockup in New York City. Prosecutors have labeled her an “extreme risk of flight” and said they want her jailed until trial. A judge has set a hearing Tuesday for bail arguments and to arraign Maxwell on multiple charges, including that she conspired to entice girls as young as 14 to engage in illegal sex acts with Epstein. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail last August while he awaited trial.
_5 Missing actress: Authorities descended on the waters of Lake Piru in Ventura County on Friday as the search for the body of actress Naya Rivera, who authorities say likely drowned while boating with her young son, stretched into a third day. The 33yearold was reported missing Wednesday after her 4yearold son was found in a rental boat by himself. Officials said the search of the lake could take up to a week. Rivera played Santana Lopez, a high school cheerleader in 113 episodes of the musicalcomedy “Glee,” which aired on Fox from 2009 until 2015.
Chronicle News Services