News

The New York Daily News reports: The city filed a lawsuit Wednesday aimed at sinking the billboard-carrying barges that float on New York waterways. City attorneys write that the company behind the LED advertisements, Ballyhoo Media, has brazenly disregarded requests to dock the barges because they are a public nuisance, distract drivers and violate zoning regulations. “Our waterways aren’t Times …

Bloomberg reports: A second blackout in less than a week occurred in Venezuela on Wednesday, leaving the vast majority of the country’s residents without internet connections or other electrical needs. A graph tracking disruptions to the country’s internet connectivity by NetBlocks.org showed about 91 percent of the country offline just before 6:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, the worst outage the …

USA Today reports on a coming book about Barbara Bush: How did she think things were going in the USA in the Age of Trump? “I’m trying not to think about it,” she said in an interview as the first anniversary of Trump’s election approached. “We’re a strong country, and I think it will all work out.” Even so, she …

“No American should be prosecuted for something they said in a private phone call unless a judge gave a warrant to the government and said they can listen to the phone call. They listened to General Flynn because they were spying on the ambassador. Okay, that’s foreign intelligence, but that shouldn’t be domestic prosecution. So what they did to Flynn––not …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Southwest flight — a Boeing 737 MAX that was grounded after two crashes — with just two pilots aboard made an emergency landing Tuesday afternoon at Orlando International Airport, a spokeswoman said. The pilots were flying to California when they encountered engine problems about 10 minutes after takeoff, said Rod Johnson, spokesman for the Greater Orlando …

“I want you to know that not for a moment was it in vain. I’ve been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I was accused of. This has been an incredibly difficult time. Honestly, one of the worst of my …

The Washington Post reports: Sales for Michelle Obama’s memoir “Becoming” continue to skyrocket. According to publisher Penguin Random House, the book has sold more than 10 million copies — including hardcover, audiobooks and e-books — since its November release. That puts it near the top, if not the pinnacle, of all-time memoir sales. Markus Dohle, Penguin Random House’s chief executive, …

From the Hollywood Reporter: At an event billed as ‘A Day of Unreasonable Conversation,’ it seemed only fitting that journalist and provocateur Andrew Sullivan provided the audience with its most uncomfortable moment. During a Monday morning panel probing how Hollywood screenwriters and showrunners portray “the other side,” Sullivan criticized “Hollywood” for regularly painting non-coastal elites in unflattering terms, which has …

“There was a big difference between whether there was evidence of collusion — and I think that evidence is in plain sight — and whether you can establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a criminal conspiracy You have an attorney general who applied for the job by talking down any potential obstruction conviction or indictment who then went to …

Axios reports: Google is launching the Local Experiments Project, an effort to fund dozens of new local news websites around the country and eventually around the world. The tech giant says it will have no editorial control over the sites, which will be built by partners it selects with local news expertise. Big tech companies like Google and Facebook are …

NewJersey.com reports: New Jersey is poised to become the eighth state to allow doctors to write a lethal prescription for terminally ill patients who want to end their lives. The state Assembly voted 41-33 with four abstentions Monday to pass the “Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act.” Minutes later, the state Senate approved the bill 21-16. Gov. …

Politico reports: The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases that will test the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering — the practice of drawing voting districts to favor a particular political party or group. The congressional map being challenged in Maryland helped Democrats unseat a 20-year Republican incumbent by adding thousands of Democratic voters in the Washington, D.C. suburbs …

CNBC reports: Celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti denied on Tuesday that he had tried to shake down Nike, and he accused the sports apparel giant of committing a “crime and coverup.” Avenatti tweeted his denial a day after he was arrested on federal charges, including trying to extort up to $25 million from the sports apparel company by threatening to reveal …

The Hill reports: Adult-film star Stormy Daniels said Monday that she was “saddened but not shocked” at charges brought against her former attorney, Michael Avenatti. “Knowing what I know now about Michael Avenatti, I am saddened but not shocked by news reports that he has been criminally charged today,” Daniels said in a statement. “I made the decision more than …

TechCrunch reports: Apple today unveiled a revamped Apple News app which now includes a premium tier called Apple News+, offering access to over 300 magazines and newspapers for $9.99 per month. At launch, the subscription includes magazine titles like Bon Appétit, People, Vogue, National Geographic Magazine, ELLE, Glamour, and others, along with top publishers like The Wall Street Journal and …

CNBC reports: Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenattii has been arrested on charges related to an alleged $20 million extortion of the athletic apparel company Nike, federal authorities said Monday. A press conference is scheduled to discuss the charges against Avenatti in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. Avenatti had represented porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump and …

Two Parkland survivors also took their lives last week. The Hartford Courant reports: The father of Avielle Richman, one of 20 first-grade students and six educators killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting, was found dead of an apparent suicide at Edmond Town Hall early Monday, police said. Jeremy Richman, 49, was found by an electrician working in the …

Slate reports: One of Germany’s richest families is coming to terms with a disturbing past. The family that owns a controlling stake in Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Panera Bread, among others, will donate $11 million to charity after learning that their ancestors were staunch supporters of Adolf Hitler and extensively used forced labor. The family announced its planned charitable donation …

ABC News reports: A second survivor of the Parkland shooting has died by suicide, the Coral Springs Police Department in Florida confirmed to the Miami Herald on Sunday. Police told the newspaper that a current Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student died in “an apparent suicide” on Saturday night. The death of this student follows that of 19-year-old Sydney Aiello, …

The Washington Post reports: Facing mounting criticism over her comments about two men who say they were molested as children by Michael Jackson, legendary singer and actress Barbra Streisand rushed Saturday to explain that she felt “nothing but sympathy” for Jackson’s accusers and tweeted that she was “profoundly sorry for any pain or misunderstanding I caused.” Streisand said in a …