JUSTICE DEPT. PLANS TO SUE CALIFORNIA OVER SANCTUARY CITIES
WASHINGTON» In a lawsuit expected to be filed Tuesday evening, the Justice Department will allege that three recently enacted California laws violate the U.S. Constitution by intentionally obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration law. The Justice Department will ask a federal judge to block the laws, which officials say collectively harm public safety. The lawsuit dramatically escalates the Trump administration’s war on places with policies friendly to immigrants in the country without documentation. Although the court is being asked to consider only California, which became a “sanctuary state” to some fanfare effective this year, its decision could have wide-ranging consequences for other places with similar policies.
Mayor resigns after affair, pleads guilty to theft.
TENN.» Nashville has a NASHVILLE, new mayor. Vice Mayor David Briley was sworn in Tuesday to replace Meg Barry, who resigned hours earlier after she pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from the city while carrying on an extramarital affair with her bodyguard. Barry and former bodyguard Robert Forrest pleaded guilty to felony theft of taxpayer money related to their affair. Barry resigned as part of her plea agreement and agreed to reimburse the city $11,000. Forrest will return $45,000 he received from pay when he wasn’t actually performing security duties. Briley is a Democrat, as is Barry. He promised transparency and says he will work to restore the public trust.
Teachers cheer pay-hike deal to end walkout.
CHARLESTON,
W.VA.» Striking teachers cheered, sang and wept joyfully Tuesday as lawmakers voted to give them a 5 percent raise, ending a nineday walkout that closed schools across the state. A huge crowd of teachers packing the Capitol jumped up and down, chanted “We love our kids!” and sang John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The settlement came after a crippling strike had idled hundreds of thousands of students, forced parents to scramble for child care and cast a spotlight on government dysfunction in one of the poorest states in the nation.
Washington is latest state to ban bump stocks.
OLYMPIA,
Spurred by last year’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, Washington on Tuesday became the latest in a handful of states to ban trigger devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire more rapidly. Gov. Jay Inslee signed the ban on bump stocks, calling it a “commonsense piece of legislation.” Washington is one of more than 20 states to introduce legislation seeking to ban the devices after the Oct. 1 attack in Nevada.
Bans previously were passed by Massachusetts, New Jersey and the cities of Denver and Columbia, S.C.
Japanese volcano spews ash thousands of feet into sky, grounding flights nearby.
A column of volcanic ash spewed skyward and blanketed a city in southern Japan on Tuesday, grounding flights at a nearby airport as the ash reached a height of 7,500 feet in Mount Shinmoedake’s most violent eruption since 2011.
The volcano billowed smoke and ash from smaller eruptions last week, local media reported, but the new series of eruptions on the country’s southern island of Kyushu was a significant increase of potentially dangerous activity, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.
The smoke forced the Kagoshima Airport to cancel all flights after 3 p.m., an airport announcement read. The airport is about a 20-mile drive from the base of the volcano. It operates about 80 flights per day.
A thick film of soot covered cars in Kirishima city at the base of the volcano, about 4,660 feet tall. People wore surgical masks and covered their mouths with towels. Others used umbrellas to shield themselves from the settling ash. Lava continued to simmer inside the crater, and the meteorological agency warned about the risk of dense volcanic rocks hurling through the air.
As of Tuesday, entry was restricted for the immediate area around the volcano.
The volcano is among 110 active volcanoes in Japan, a prominent contribution to the Ring of Fire. The ring — a tracing of volatile tectonic plate activity in an arc from southern Chile up to Alaska and Japan and tapering off at New Zealand — is home to 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes.
George P. Bush wins primary during re-election bid.
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has won the Republican nomination to keep his post, topping a primary challenger from the right. Bush, whose grandfather and uncle were president and whose father was Florida’s governor, beat his predecessor as land commissioner, Jerry Patterson, on Tuesday. The 41-year-old Bush immediately becomes the overwhelming favorite for re-election in November. Bush began the year with $3.4 million in campaign funds compared with Patterson’s $100,000. He won despite campaigning lightly, spending much of his time visiting areas hit by Hurricane Harvey after his agency was tapped to lead the state’s housing recovery efforts.
Porn star sues Trump, claims agreement is invalid because he never signed it.
Stormy Daniels is taking President Donald Trump to court.
The porn star at the center of a presidential sex scandal filed a lawsuit against Trump on Tuesday, alleging that he never signed a nondisclosure agreement that she agreed to in exchange for $130,000.
Stormy, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, charges that the agreed-upon gag order about her “intimate” relationship with Trump is invalid because, while both she and Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen signed the agreement, Trump never did.
The lawsuit, obtained by the New York Daily News, was filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday.