NEWS OF THE DAY
Antiabortion law: A federal judge has blocked Texas from enforcing new antiabortion measures that the Republicancontrolled Legislature passed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the state’s far more sweeping law. The temporary injunction issued Thursday by Austin-based U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel stops Texas from banning a common second-trimester abortion procedure. Similar bans have also been halted in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The Texas version was set to take effect Friday.
Cherokee Freedmen: Descendants of black slaves, known as freedmen, who were once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation have a right to tribal citizenship under a ruling handed down by a federal court in Washington, D.C. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ruled this week in a long-standing dispute between the Cherokee Freedmen and the second-largest tribe in the U.S. Freedmen have long argued that the Treaty of 1866, signed between the U.S. government and the Tahlequah, Oklahoma-based Cherokees, gave them and their descendants “all the rights of native Cherokees.” But Cherokee leaders have argued the tribe has the fundamental right to determine its citizens, and in 2007 more than three-fourths of Cherokee voters approved an amendment to remove the 3,000 Freedmen descendants from tribal rolls.
Prison cell phones: The U.S. Department of Justice is pressing federal regulators to come up with a solution to combat cell phones in the nation’s prisons. In a letter obtained Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Beth Williams wrote to the Federal Communications Commission that addressing the security threat posed by contraband cell phones “should be a chief priority.” It follows an appeal from South Carolina’s prisons director to Attorney General Jeff Sessions in June, beseeching the top prosecutor for help pursuing FCC permission to jam prison cell signals. Williams says smuggled cell phones enable inmates to continue criminal efforts outside prison and potentially plan insurrections. Telecommunications companies say jamming cell signals could interfere with legal cell users nearby.
Sheriff resigns: Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, a vocal supporter of President Trump who came under scrutiny for the conditions in his jails, resigned Thursday, according to the country clerk. It’s not immediately clear why Clarke resigned or what he intends to do next.
Police party robbery: The police response time was quicker than ever. Two men were arrested after police say they robbed a bar outside Baltimore while off-duty officers were there for a police retirement party. The Baltimore Sun reports the men allegedly demanded cash from the register at a Woodlawn bar Tuesday evening while a group of officers gathered for a longtime sergeant’s retirement. Joseph McInnis III and Tyree McCoy face charges of armed robbery and theft. Chronicle News Services