Restless Democratic newcomers bringing change to House
Restless Democratic newcomers bringing change to House
WASHINGTON
Ready or not, change is coming to the House Democrats.
Across the country, a new generation is making its way to Washington. It’s not just that some of the Democrats, such as 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are young and progressive. They are. Or that many are women entering politics who want to fight President Donald Trump. They do. Or even that some of them live in Trump country.
They also come to politics steeped in an era of resistance and revolt, like the tea party Republicans who rose against President Barack Obama and the so-called Watergate babies elected after President Richard Nixon.
If the newcomers provide the numbers to give Democrats control of the House, or even fall short and end up in the ranks of the minority, they will be a force to be reckoned with upon arrival. That holds especially true for Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the longtime House Democratic leader.
“There is a hunger for generational change, for a new generation of leadership,” said freshman Rep. Ro Khanna of California
Police: Man stabs 9 people at toddler’s birthday party
BOISE, Idaho
A man who had been asked to leave an Idaho apartment complex because of bad behavior returned the next day and stabbed nine people, including six children, at a toddler’s birthday party, police said.
Timmy Kinner showed up late Saturday at the complex, which houses many resettled refugee families in Boise. Kinner, who is not a refugee, targeted the party that was held a few doors down from the apartment where he had stayed for a short time, police said.
“This incident is not a representation of our community but a single evil individual who attacked people without provocation that we are aware of at this time,” Police Chief William Bones said Sunday.
The victims included the 3-year-old birthday girl and five other children ages 4 to 12. Three adults who came to their defense were also hurt. Some were gravely wounded, Bones said.
Gunfire, clashes amid Iran protests over water scarcity
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Gunfire erupted as Iranian security forces confronted protesters early Sunday amid demonstrations over water scarcity in the country’s south, violence that authorities said wounded at least 11 people, mostly police.
The protests around Khorramshahr, some 400 miles southwest of Tehran, come as residents of the predominantly Arab city near the border with Iraq complain of salty, muddy water coming out of their taps amid a yearslong drought.
The unrest there only compounds the wider unease felt across Iran as it faces an economic crisis sparked by President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Protests began in Khorramshahr, Abadan and other areas of Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province on Friday. The demonstrations initially were peaceful, with protesters chanting in both Arabic and Farsi.
Border Patrol arrests drop sharply in June
MCALLEN, Texas
Border Patrol arrests fell sharply in June to the lowest level since February, according to a U.S. official, ending a streak of four-straight monthly increases.
The drop may reflect seasonal trends or it could signal that President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy to criminally prosecute every adult who enters the country illegally is having a deterrent effect.
The agency made 34,057 arrests on the border with Mexico during June, down 16 percent from 40,344 in May, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the numbers are not yet intended for public release. The June tally is preliminary and subject to change.
Arrests were still more than double from 16,077 in June 2017, but the sharp decline from spring could undercut the Trump administration’s narrative of a border in crisis.
Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol, declined to comment on the numbers, saying it doesn’t discuss them as a matter of policy until public release “to ensure consistency and accuracy.”
The administration announced in early May that it was prosecuting every illegal entry, including adults who came with their children. The separation of more than 2,000 children from their parent sparked an international outcry, and Trump reversed course on June 20, ordering that families should stay together.
Evacuations ordered as winds fuel Northern California fires
GUINDA, Calif.
Evacuations were ordered as dry, hot winds fueled a wildfire burning out of control Sunday in rural Northern California, sending a stream of smoke some 75 miles south into the San Francisco Bay Area.
The fast-moving blaze that broke out Saturday in western Yolo County charred at least 34 square miles of dry brush and threatened more than two dozen structures in ranchland northwest of Sacramento. No injuries were reported, and the exact number of people evacuated was unclear. There was no containment.
Autumn Edens marveled as a huge plume blocked the sun while she drove to her job as manager of the Corner Store in Guinda, a town of about 250 people just north of the fire.
“You can see the smoke and you can see an orange-red glow from the flames. It looks like a movie,” she said. “I’ve never seen a fire like that up close and it’s an intense feeling.”
It was one of two major wildfires in the northern part of the state, where temperatures were soaring, humidity was dropping, and winds were steady.
Heavily armed men in helicopter free notorious French inmate
PARIS
A notorious French criminal serving 25 years for murder made an audacious escape from prison Sunday after several heavily armed men landed a helicopter in a courtyard, freed him from a visiting room and carried him away.
It was the second daring escape by Redoine Faid, who once blasted his way out of a different prison with explosives hidden in tissue packs.
His latest escape, from Reau Prison, took only “a few minutes,” France’s Justice Ministry said. Unarmed guards said they could do nothing to prevent it.
Dressed all in black, two men wearing balaclavas and police armbands got off the chopper and entered the prison to look for Faid. They used a grinding machine to open the door to the visiting room, Martial Delabroye, a representative of the guards’ union, told BFM television.
The men set off smoke canisters to hide from video cameras, and the helicopter touched down in the only part of the complex that was not covered by anti-helicopter netting, said another union member, Loic Delbroc.
Collins would oppose court pick with Roe v. Wade ‘hostility’
WASHINGTON
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a key vote on President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, said Sunday she would oppose any nominee she believed would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
The White House is focusing on five to seven potential candidates to fill the vacancy of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, a swing vote on the court. The Maine senator said she would only back a judge who would show respect for settled law such as the 45-year-old Roe decision, which has long been an anathema to conservatives.
“I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade because that would mean to me that their judicial philosophy did not include a respect for established decisions, established law,” Collins said.
Associated Press