NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Trump slams exadviser: President Trump on Thursday lashed out against former White House chief of staff John Kelly for being disloyal after he defended Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was among administration officials who raised concerns about Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president. “Like so many X’s, he misses the action & just can’t keep his mouth shut,” Trump tweeted about Kelly. Kelly said Vindman did exactly as he was trained in raising concerns after hearing “questionable” comments from Trump. Vindman was fired from his position on the White House National Security Council.
2 Harassment allegations: A former law clerk said she was repeatedly sexually harassed by the prominent federal judge she worked for, the late Judge Stephen Reinhardt, and that the judiciary’s new system for reporting misconduct remains inadequate. The former clerk, Olivia Warren, said in congressional testimony Thursday that Reinhardt often made disparaging comments about her appearance and had photographs in his office of female law clerks whom he found attractive. Warren worked for Reinhardt in 2017 and 2018 until his death at age 87. He was a staunch liberal who served for more than 37 years on the San Franciscobased 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
3 Pot convictions: Los Angeles County prosecutors are joining other California district attorneys to use technology to wipe out or reduce as many as 66,000 old marijuana convictions years after state voters broadly legalized the drug. The county is working with the Code for America nonprofit tech organization, which uses computer algorithms to find eligible cases that are otherwise hard to identify. Of those getting relief under the plan, approximately 32% are African American, 20% are white, 45% are Latino, and 3% are other or unknown.
4 Oklahoma executions: Oklahoma plans to resume executing Death Row inmates, five years after lethal injections were put on hold following a series of deathchamber mishaps, state officials announced Thursday. In a joint statement, Gov. Kevin Stitt, Attorney General Mike Hunter and Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Scott Crow said the state would resume executions using a threedrug lethal injection protocol — midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Oklahoma once had one of the busiest death chambers in the nation, but executions were put on hold following a botched lethal injection in 2014 that left an inmate writhing on the gurney and drug mixups in 2015 in which the wrong lethal drugs were delivered. 5 Johnsonera judge: A federal judge in New York City who was nominated by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 and contributed to the landmark case that struck down racial segregation in public schools is retiring at age 98. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein retired this week after moving his remaining cases to his fellow jurists in Brooklyn. He was the longestserving incumbent federal judge with nearly 53 years on the bench. Weinstein often said he pushed for the shortest prison sentences possible so people could try to build a better life.