Justice Kennedy remains silent about retirement

May 5, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

WASHINGTON

As one justice settles into his new job at the Supreme Court, is another about to leave?

Eighty-year-old Justice Anthony Kennedy is so far refusing to comment on speculation that he may soon retire after 29 years on the court.

But that hasn’t stopped President Donald Trump and, obliquely, the Republican senator in charge of high court confirmation hearings from weighing in on the prospect that Kennedy could step down as soon as this spring or summer.

If not this year, several former law clerks said they would not be surprised to see the justice retire in 2018.

Deputies save girl trying to livestream suicide on Facebook

MACON, Ga.

Authorities said a Georgia teenager who took pills, placed a bag over her head and tried to livestream her suicide on Facebook Live was saved by deputies after viewers watching the haunting scene called 911.

The Telegraph reported that three patrol cars and an ambulance sped to the teen’s home in Macon after being alerted Tuesday night.

Sgt. Linda Howard of the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office told WMAZ-TV that deputies received multiple calls reporting the broadcast, and that Facebook also reached out to the sheriff’s office to get help for her.

Howard said the girl was taken to a hospital.

House backs new sanctions against North Korea

WASHINGTON

Determined to exert greater economic pressure on North Korea, the Republican-led House on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang targeting its shipping industry and use of slave labor.

Lawmakers approved the measure on a 419-1 vote as tensions continued to mount over North Korea’s advancing nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Adm. Harry Harris Jr., the top American military officer in the Pacific, has warned lawmakers that it’s a question of when, not if, Pyongyang successfully builds a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the U.S.

The Senate must take up the measure next.

Old tech, passwords hurt US tracking of visa holders

LOS ANGELES

U.S. immigration agents waste their time logging in and out of archaic computer systems while trying to track down foreigners suspected of overstaying their visas only to find out later that many visa holders have left the country, said a government watchdog report released Thursday.

Agents and analysts must use 10 to 40 passwords to access the computer systems, and 40 percent of the cases investigated one year turned out not to be overstays, said the report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

The report also disclosed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been locked out of computer systems for periods ranging from several minutes to days.

Some agents kept their passwords written out on their desks, creating a security risk, the report said.

Associated Press