Tag Archives: feds

Bloomberg reports: When the U.S. Justice Department said last week it was reversing policy on the $7 billion marijuana business, it failed to first notify federal officials who advise banks in states where the drug is legal, sources in Congress said. The announcement by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a longtime critic of legalizing marijuana, caused confusion among banks about …

The Washington Examiner reports: A federal judge in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a case Thursday which would have compelled the State Department and the U.S. archivist to continue searching for emails from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state in which she used a private email server and address. The case, brought by Cause of …

The Los Angeles Times reports: A federal judge in Hawaii on Tuesday issued an order blocking major parts of President Trump’s newest travel ban, suggesting it amounted to unconstitutional discrimination against Muslims and violated immigration law. The decision from U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu stops the administration’s travel restrictions nationwide before they were scheduled to take full effect …

Via press release: Today, the US Census Bureau reversed a previous decision to exclude a question on sexual orientation from the Census Barriers, Attitudes and Motivators Study. In response to this victory, Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, issued the following statement. “Make no mistake – public pressure on the Trump Administration works. It was messages …

The Associated Press reports: Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency are attending mandatory training sessions this week to reinforce their compliance with laws and rules against leaking classified or sensitive government information. It is part of a broader Trump administration order for anti-leaks training at all executive branch agencies. The Associated Press obtained training materials from the hourlong class. Government …

Politico reports: The U.S. Office of Government Ethics has quietly reversed its own internal policy prohibiting anonymous donations from lobbyists to White House staffers who have legal defense funds. The little-noticed change could help President Donald Trump’s aides raise the money they need to pay attorneys as the Russia probe expands — but raises the potential for hidden conflicts of …

Via press release from the ACLU: The Justice Department filed a brief today with the Supreme Court arguing that businesses that are open to the public have a constitutional right to discriminate against LGBT people. The brief was filed in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the case in which a Colorado bakery refused to serve a same-sex couple …

Bloomberg reports: Two federal watchdog agencies are taking an active look at the controversial General Services Administration lease for the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Bloomberg BNA has learned. Both the Government Accountability Office and GSA’s Office of Inspector General have opened probes into the lease, officials with both groups confirmed. The GAO since June has been looking into GSA’s …

The Washington Post reports: A Los Angeles-based tech company is resisting a federal demand for more than 1.3 million IP addresses to identify visitors to a website set up to coordinate protests on Inauguration Day — a request whose breadth the company says violates the Constitution. “What we have is a sweeping request for every single file we have” in …

The Washington Post reports: The Commerce Department has removed language from its annual equal opportunity statement barring discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, prompting a protest from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists. In a statement Thursday afternoon, the Commerce Department said the statement “was never intended to change the policy or exclude any protected categories.” “The Department …

Via press release from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: In recognition of LGBTI Month, the Department of State affirms its solidarity with the human rights defenders and civil society organizations working around the world to uphold the fundamental freedoms of LGBTI persons to live with dignity and freedom. We also recognize that LGBTI persons continue to face the threat of …

Her real actual name is Reality Winner. The Washington Examiner reports: A 25-year-old federal contractor is facing charges she leaked a classified National Security Agency document to a news outlet in May. The charges against Reality Leigh Winner came about an hour after the publication of a story based on an NSA document detailing Russian attempts to hack American voting …

The New York Times reports: Eleven weeks into the Trump presidency, the Secret Service is grappling with how to constrain the rising costs and unexpected strain that have come with protecting a new first family as large, mobile and high-profile as any in modern American history. To keep up, dozens of agents from New York and field offices across the …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump plans to unveil a new White House office on Monday with sweeping authority to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and fulfill key campaign promises — such as reforming care for veterans and fighting opioid addiction — by harvesting ideas from the business world and, potentially, privatizing some government functions. The White House Office of American …

Reuters reports: The victims of a mass shooting at a Florida nightclub in June 2016 will receive nearly $8.5 million for emotional and financial support for victims’ families, those wounded in the attack and responders, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday. In a statement, the department’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) said the funds would be granted …

Talking Points Memo reports: For the last six years, the Justice Department has sided with the citizens and civil rights groups fighting Texas’ voter ID law, which a federal judge at one point found to be intentionally discriminatory against black and Latino voters. But its position changed Monday when the department decided to drop its claim that Republican state lawmakers …

The Daily Dot reports: As the Trump administration rapidly shuts down the lines of communication between federal agencies and the public, an anonymous Twitter account is upholding the ethos of the National Parks Service. @AltUSNatParkSer gained more than 170,000 followers overnight after the Badlands National Park Twitter account made headlines by tweeting and then deleting a series of climate change …

The Washington Post reports: Airplanes belonging to Donald Trump’s businesses will be inspected over the next four years by employees of the Federal Aviation Administration that he will lead. Disputes over Trump’s trademark registrations could be reviewed by judges appointed by his hand-picked commerce secretary. His Department of Housing and Urban Development could reverse its past opposition to a potentially …

So much for “clean diesel.” NBC News reports: Volkswagen will pay a $4.3 billion penalty for diesel emissions rigging, the U.S. Justice Department and several other federal agencies announced on Wednesday. As a result of the criminal investigation into the diesel scandal, regulators also revealed that six executives have been indicted on charges ranging from wire fraud to conspiracy to …

Politico reports: Secretary of State John Kerry is formally apologizing to gay, lesbian and other employees of the State Department who faced past discrimination because of their sexual orientation. The apparently unprecedented apology, issued in a statement Monday, is the latest step that the Obama administration has taken to promote inclusion of the LGBT community in its ranks. It comes …