TRUMP’S PICK FOR DRUG CZAR WITHDRAWS
President Donald Trump’s pick to be the nation’s drug czar, Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., withdrew from consideration Tuesday after news reports focused attention on his role in pushing legislation that weakened the Drug Enforcement Administration’s power to investigate bulk shipments of prescription opioids.
Members of Congress now say they will try to reverse Marino’s bill, and the Department of Justice plans to assess whether the 2016 law restricts investigations.
The law made it harder for the DEA to restrict shipments of opioids by pharmaceutical wholesalers that law enforcement officials consider suspect, such as shipments to pharmacies that vastly exceed what their local markets could consume.
Designer Donna Karan begs forgiveness.
Fashion designer Donna Karan is begging forgiveness for her on-camera victim shaming when she was asked last week about the case of fallen entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein.
She told Women’s Wear Daily in an interview published Monday that her comments were “stupid” in suggesting sexual harassment victims were “asking for it” by the way they dressed. The comments went viral, triggering outrage and a drop in the stock price of G-111, which owns the company that bears her name.
The film company Weinstein co-founded fired him Oct. 8, days after he was accused of sexually harassing women in stories by The New York Times and The New Yorker. Weinstein denies the allegations.
Somali families on grim hunt for survivors.
Anguished families scoured Somalia’s capital Tuesday in search of at least 70 people still missing from Saturday’s bomb blast that killed more than 300 people in one of the world’s deadliest attacks in years.
Mogadishu Mayor Thabit Abdi called for a citywide march on Wednesday in honor of the victims — and as a show of defiance. “We must liberate this city which is awash with graves,” he said.
Somalia’s government has blamed the attack on the al-Shabab extremist group.
Women dressed as nuns arrested for bank heists.
Two women charged with robbing a pair of New Jersey banks are also suspected of trying to rob a bank in Pennsylvania while dressed as nuns.
Swahilys Pedraza-Rodriguez, 19, and Melissa Aquino Arias, 23, appeared before a judge in New Jersey on Monday. They’re charged with robbing banks in Garfield and Teaneck, while one or both wore head scarves. They’re also suspected in an attempted robbery in Pennsylvania in August.
Judge: It’s not OK to handcuff kids at school.
A Kentucky sheriff’s deputy who handcuffed an 8year-old boy and 9-yearold girl at school violated the children’s constitutional rights, a federal judge ruled, labeling the move “excessive force” and an unnecessary reaction to their misbehavior.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued on the children’s behalf, said the ruling vindicates its position that schools should not use police officers to deal with misbehaving students, particularly children with disabilities.