Politics

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill Friday stripping citizen oversight boards of their power to investigate police misconduct. The bill, HB 601, instead allows local chiefs of police agencies to create their own “civilian oversight” boards composed of three to seven members, all appointed by the chief or sheriff. But these boards can only …

“The smear artists @washingtonpost are writing yet another hit piece attacking me for serving my country—even asking questions about my medical history and demanding my personal records. I’m done playing the liberal media’s game—here’s how DC ‘reporters’ treat veterans. “And get this—after sending my campaign a 1000+ word email trying to discredit every aspect of my service, then they only …

Florida Politics reports: Florida cities and counties will be barred from requiring businesses to give water breaks or other “cooling measures” to employees who work outside after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 433. The measure also removes the power of local governments to require contractors to pay higher wages, or use higher pay as an incentive in awarding bids. The …

Axios reports: Virginia has become the first state in the South to ban child marriage. Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill this week that closes a loophole in state law allowing minors to marry if they’re emancipated. Only 11 other states in the U.S. have made it illegal for children to marry without exceptions, according to Unchained at Last, an …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate Judiciary Committee sent a subpoena Thursday to conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo as part of a months-long inquiry into undisclosed gifts to Supreme Court justices and he promptly rejected it, calling the move “politically motivated.” “I am not capitulating to his lawless support of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and the left’s dark money effort to …

CBS News reports: A Colorado campaign that’s trying to enshrine abortion rights into the state’s constitution has gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot this November, CBS News has learned. To amend Colorado’s constitution, petitioners must gather 124,238 signatures from the state’s voters, including 2% of the total registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 Senate districts, …

Reuters reports: The United States said on Thursday it had restricted its employees in Israel and their family members from personal travel outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva areas amid Iran’s threats to retaliate against its regional adversary. Iran has vowed revenge for the April 1 airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus, ratcheting up tension in …

Nashville’s NBC affiliate reports: A bill passed in the Tennessee House that would make it illegal to marry your first cousin in the state, but it did not pass without argument from one lawmaker who pushed an amendment to make it legal for cousins to marry each other if they first received genetic counseling. The bill as amended by Rep. …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Four out of 10 Florida voters support a referendum that would enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution, a poll showed Thursday, far short of the 60% majority needed for passage. The Emerson College Polling survey found 42% of voters said they support the amendment. Another 25% said they would vote no. The fate of the …

Axios reports: Samantha Power, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), told lawmakers Wednesday that people in parts of northern Gaza have begun facing famine. Power is the first U.S. official to publicly say that famine has started in parts of the enclave, which had been on the verge of famine for months because of humanitarian aid …

Mediaite reports: Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton revealed to CNN host Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday that he voted for former Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2020 presidential election and would write him in again this year. Collins asked, “Who did you write in in 2020? You’ve never revealed that before.” Bolton replied, “Well, I might as well …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: When national Republicans opened a new Asian American outreach center in the Gwinnett County suburbs in 2021, an enormous crowd of local dignitaries and state officials packed the Berkeley Lake shop to celebrate. Then Senate candidate Herschel Walker commemorated its first anniversary a year later, and multiple national news outlets focused on the center for stories …

The Hill reports: Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said Tuesday that she’s confident voters will have the opportunity to enshrine abortion rights in November and reverse a decision from the state’s Supreme Court that makes virtually all abortions in the state illegal. Hobbs joined CNN’s Anderson Cooper hours after the state’s highest court rejected arguments for a 15-week abortion ban …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: While family and friends distributed posters of a missing Republican Party of Florida executive director last week, he was holed up in a Hampton Inn, where authorities say he trashed his room. George Riley Jr., who was reunited with his family this weekend, was kicked out of a room at the Hampton Inn in Kissimmee …

The New York Times reports: In an unusual move, the five major broadcast and cable news networks have prepared a joint open letter that urges President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump to participate in televised debates ahead of Election Day, according to two people with direct knowledge of their plans. The letter — endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, …

From the Justice Department: Michael Soghomonian, 35, previously of Northridge, California was arrested on April 7, 2024, pursuant to a federal criminal complaint charging him with using fire to damage the building at One Church Street in Burlington, Vermont – a building used in interstate commerce and as a place of activity affecting interstate commerce. According to court records, Soghomonian …

Axios reports: Chef José Andrés called the Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers last week “unforgivable,” per an ABC interview that aired Sunday. “This doesn’t seem a war against terror. This doesn’t seem anymore a war about defending Israel. This really, at this point, seems it’s a war against humanity itself,” Andrés told “This Week” co-anchor …

The Washington Post reports: Many Republican lawmakers have largely accepted that their inability to govern is a predicament of their own making. They acknowledge that overcoming their legislative impasse relies on not just keeping control of the House in November, but growing their ranks significantly to neutralize the handful of hard-liners who wield influence by taking advantage of the narrow …

Florida Politics reports: People arrested by law enforcement are in line to get guns back sooner from police forces after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to that effect Friday. SB 1286, sponsored by Sen. Jay Collins, holds that “weapons, electric weapons or devices, or arms that are taken from a person … that are not either seized as evidence or …

ABC News reports: There could be potential general election ballot access concerns for President Joe Biden in Ohio, the state’s Secretary of State’s office said in a letter to Ohio Democratic Chair Liz Walters on Friday. In the letter, obtained by ABC News, legal counsel for Secretary of State Frank LaRose sought clarification for “an apparent conflict in Ohio law” …