Politics

Roanoke’s CBS News affiliate reports: The Supreme Court of Virginia denied the petition by plaintiffs seeking to overturn Gov. Ralph Northam’s firearms ban at Capitol Square, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring’s office announced Friday evening. This comes after Herring filed a brief with the Supreme Court of Virginia Friday in response to an appeal made to that court by plaintiffs …

CNBC News reports: The Supreme Court will decide whether Electoral College voters have a constitutional right to cast ballots for candidates who didn’t win their state’s popular vote, the justices announced in an order on Friday. The justices said they will hear two cases brought by Electoral College voters in Washington state and Colorado who refused to vote for Hillary …

The BBC reports: Brazil’s culture minister has been sacked after using parts of a speech by Nazi Germany’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels in a video, sparking outrage. In the clip posted on the ministry’s Twitter page, Roberto Alvim detailed an award for “heroic” and “national” art. Lohengrin by Wagner, Hitler’s favourite composer, played in the background. Earlier, Mr Alvim said …

The Daily Beast reports: The View’s Meghan McCain took some shots at Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) on Friday after the lawmaker personally insulted a CNN reporter, pointing out that McSally didn’t “earn” the Senate seat she was appointed to after McCain’s father passed away. View co-host Ana Navarro speculated that McSally likely lashed out at Raju because she’s on “thin …

USA Today reports: Republican Sen. Susan Collins has surpassed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as the most unpopular U.S. Senator, according to a new tracking poll. The Maine Senator’s net approval rating has dropped 10 points since the end of September, leaving her with a 52 percent disapproval rating, a quarterly Morning Consult tracking poll found. The poll comes as …

Another excerpt from the coming A Very Stable Genius: The night of January 23 [2017], the first Monday of his presidency, Trump came face‑to‑face with House and Senate leaders from both parties at a White House reception. At a long table in the State Dining Room, Steve Bannon could not stop looking at Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi assumed Trump would open …

Ben Winslow reports for Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate: It was meant as a fun, Utah-themed way to raise awareness of HIV. Utah’s Department of Health planned to distribute 100,000 condoms turning some popular state slogans and landmarks into double-entendres. But it apparently did not amuse Governor Gary Herbert, who put a stop to the campaign just hours after it …

The Insider reports: Ukraine on Thursday announced that it would launch a federal criminal investigation into alleged threats against Marie Yovanovitch, the US’s former ambassador to Ukraine. The Ministry of Internal Affairs released a statement saying it “took note of the possible illegal surveillance on the territory of Ukraine by former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.” It added that …

The New York Times reports: The Senate is still discussing whether it will hear witness testimony from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, who has said he would comply with a subpoena during the impeachment trial. But he’s planning to reveal some of what he saw regarding the Ukraine matter in his upcoming book, according to people familiar with …

Reuters reports: Virginia moved to the brink of becoming the crucial 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on Wednesday, a momentous victory for many women’s rights advocates even though it is far from certain the measure will ever be added to the U.S. Constitution. The affirmative votes in both chambers of the Virginia legislature came decades after Congress …

Bloomberg News reports: When Erik Prince, a major Trump donor and private security mogul, traveled to Caracas in November for secret talks with Venezuela’s vice president, he was not, it turns out, the central figure orchestrating the meetings. That person was a controversial British deal-maker by the name of Ian Hannam. Hannam, a former JPMorgan banker, arranged the trip as …

Forbes reports: Michael Avenatti, the California attorney known for representing adult film star Stormy Daniels, was arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday by IRS agents during a disciplinary hearing for allegedly violating the terms of his pretrial release and is expected to appear before a federal court Wednesday. The arrest was made during a hearing in which California’s state bar was …

Bloomberg News reports: Democratic Senator Tim Kaine says he has enough votes to pass a resolution that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to carry out a military attack against Iran without congressional authorization. Kaine said Tuesday he has 51 “declared votes“ for a revised version of his war powers resolution. He said Republican senators Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Susan …

NBC News reports: Iran’s judiciary said Tuesday that it had arrested an undisclosed number of suspects involved in the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed all 176 aboard last week. The announcement came after days of protests shook Iran, with demonstrators railing against the government’s apparent early attempts to cover-up the downing of the plane. Thirty people …

MarketWatch reports: The Force isn’t strong with Facebook anymore. OG “Star Wars” star Mark Hamill quit the social network on Sunday, accusing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of turning to the Dark Side of capitalism. The actor who originated the iconic role of Luke Skywalker in the original “Star Wars” trilogy announced his Facebook boycott on Twitter, where he condemned Zuckerberg …

Courthouse News reports: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made a brief court appearance Monday in his bid to prevent extradition to the United States to face serious espionage charges. He and his lawyers complained they weren’t being given enough time to meet to plan their battle against U.S. prosecutors seeking to put him on trial for WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of …

The Associated Press reports: Online videos appeared to show Iranian security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protests as popular anger swelled Monday over the accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian jetliner and Iran’s failed attempt to conceal its role in the tragedy. The unrest comes amid soaring tensions between Washington and Tehran that have raised fears of …

The Voice Of America reports: Anti-government protests erupted again Sunday night in Iran for a second day of demonstrations against the military, which first denied and then admitted it mistakenly shot down a civilian Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 on board. “They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here,” one group of protesters chanted outside …

CNN reports: Iran’s sole female Olympic medalist, Kimia Alizadeh, has announced that she’s permanently left her country for Europe. “Let me start with a greeting, a farewell or condolences,” the 21-year-old wrote in an Instagram post explaining why she was defecting. “I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years.” …

Courthouse News reports: An Anchorage Superior Court judge on Friday directed Alaska’s Division of Elections to allow the effort to recall Governor Mike Dunleavy to proceed. Judge Eric Aarseth directed the division to distribute petition books no later than Feb. 10. Recall supporters gathered more than 49,000 signatures, nearly twice as many as the 28,501 required to submit the petition …