Deal reached on plan for more than $9 billion in gas refunds to California drivers
Gov. Gavin Newsom and leaders of the California Legislature have agreed to provide more than $9 billion in refunds to taxpayers to offset high gas prices and inflation. The deal comes after months of slow negotiations at the state Capitol and disagreement between Democrats over how much relief to offer.
news.yahoo.comPelosi: SCOTUS 'is eviscerating Americans' rights'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted the Supreme Court's abortion ruling Friday overturning Roe v. Wade, calling it "an evisceration of Americans' rights" and warning that "Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban." (June 24)
news.yahoo.comEx-Trump officials say GOP congress members requested pardons during final days of Trump administration
Former Trump administration officials at the Jan. 6 committee hearing Thursday said that Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona inquired about presidential pardons, while Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio talked about pardons, during the waning days of the administration.
news.yahoo.comGun bill on road to passage as Senate overcomes GOP delays
Thursday's roll call ending the blockade by conservative GOP senators was 65-34, five more than the 60-vote threshold needed. Final passage of the $13 billion measure was expected by week's end with a House vote to follow, though timing was uncertain. “This is not a cure-all for the all the ways gun violence affects our nation,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., whose party has made gun restrictions a goal for years. “They want both of those things at once, and that is just what the bill before the Senate will have accomplished.”Yet while the Senate measure was a clear breakthrough, the outlook for continued congressional movement on gun curbs is dim. The measure expands the use of background checks by rewriting the definition of the federally licensed gun dealers required to conduct them.
wftv.comWisconsin Republican lawmakers reject abortion ban repeal
Republican legislators in Wisconsin were poised Wednesday, June 22, to meet in a special session Evers called to repeal the battleground state's dormant abortion ban and quickly adjourn without taking any action. Tony Evers’ bid to repeal the battleground state’s dormant abortion ban was headed toward defeat Wednesday, as Republican senators convened and immediately adjourned a special session without taking any action. Wisconsin adopted a ban on abortion except to save the mother's life in 1849, a year after the territory became a state. GOP leaders in the Assembly also planned to gavel in to start the special session and then end it by gaveling out immediately. The special session came six weeks after the Madison office of the anti-abortion group Wisconsin Family Action was vandalized.
wftv.comJan. 6 committee delays hearing schedule until July
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol is pressing pause on its hearings for next week and picking them up again in July. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the committee, told reporters Wednesday that the committee would hold off on the two final hearings it had planned for…
news.yahoo.com'Groundhog Day' at IRS: Returns pile up, phone delays worsen
IRS Tax Season FILE - Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig prepares to testify before the Senate Finance Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, April 7, 2022. Scott Applewhite, File) (J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON — (AP) — It’s Groundhog Day at the IRS. The National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent watchdog within the IRS, also said taxpayers are experiencing longer wait times on the telephone, and delays in processing paper returns have been running six months to one year. The agency fell short on its goal to bring on 5,473 new employees to process returns, with just 2,056 employees hired. Additionally, phone wait times increased to 29 minutes on average, compared with last year's 20-minute average wait time.
wftv.comWisconsin GOP lawmakers set to end session on abortion ban
Republican legislators in Wisconsin were poised Wednesday, June 22, to meet in a special session Evers called to repeal the battleground state's dormant abortion ban and quickly adjourn without taking any action. Tony Evers called to repeal the battleground state's dormant abortion ban and quickly adjourn without taking any action. The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that essentially legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 nullified the ban. GOP leaders in the Assembly and Senate planned to gavel in to start the special session around noon Wednesday and then end it by gaveling out immediately. The state ban will likely be challenged in court should Roe v. Wade be overturned.
wftv.comGOP lawmakers poised to end special session on abortion ban
(AP Photo/Andy Manis, File) (Andy Manis)MADISON, Wis. — (AP) — Republican legislators in Wisconsin were poised Wednesday to meet in a special session Democratic Gov. The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that essentially legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 nullified the ban. The court is expected to overturn Roe v. Wade this month, which would allow Wisconsin's ban to go back into effect. GOP leaders in the Assembly and Senate planned to gavel in to start the special session around noon Wednesday and then end it by gaveling out immediately. The state ban will likely be challenged in court should Roe v. Wade be overturned.
wftv.com1/6 panel lawyer urged to run for Missouri US Senate seat
Election 2022 Missouri Senate FILE—John Wood, committee investigative staff counsel, at the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol hearing at the Capitol in Washington, June 16, 2022. An effort is underway in Missouri to get Wood to run as an independent for U.S. Senate. Supporters on Monday, June 20, launched a website, and former U.S. Sen. John Danforth said he also supports a run by Wood. A committee on Monday launched a website encouraging John F. Wood to run for retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt's seat. Danforth, 85, said in an interview that he had nothing to do with the website but also wants Wood to run.
wftv.comTrump says he would look ‘very, very seriously’ at pardons for Jan 6 defendants if reelected
Former President Trump said on Friday that he would look “very, very seriously” at pardoning those charged in connection with storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, if he ran for and became president again. Speaking during a Faith and Freedom event in Nashville, Tenn., Trump said the defendants charged in the Capitol riot were…
news.yahoo.comJan. 6 probe says Pence's 'life was in danger' during Capitol riot after he rejected Trump's demands: Here are the other takeaways from the hearing
The panel focused on John Eastman, a lawyer advising Trump who pushed the theory that Pence could take decisive action that could overturn Biden's election win.
cnbc.comPanel sharpens focus on Trump's "crazy" Jan. 6 plan
Rioters came within 40 feet of the place at the Capitol where Pence and others had been evacuated. “Pence betrayed us,” says another rioter, wearing a Make America Great Again hat in a selfie video inside the Capitol. By refusing Trump's demands, Pence "did his duty," said the panel's vice-chair, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. The panel played video showing Eastman repeatedly invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while being interviewed by the committee. The panel is considering whether to send a referral for criminal charges against Trump to the Justice Department.
wftv.comKentucky court delves into use of cell phones for tracking
Cell Phone Tracking Court FILE - Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. listens to arguments before the Kentucky Supreme Court at the state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky. on June 10, 2021. Kentucky's Supreme Court has dove into using cell phones as tracking devices by police Thursday, June 16, 2022. In the 4-3 decision, the court’s majority said the robbery suspect was subjected to a warrantless search when police obtained his real-time cellphone location information. On appeal, the state Court of Appeals said the obtaining of Reed's real-time cellphone location information amounted to a warrantless, unreasonable search. Minton noted “the ease with which technology allows police to obtain warrants and the invasive nature" of searching a person's cell location information.
wftv.comThere was just ‘40 feet between the vice president and the mob’ on Jan. 6, Aguilar says
The violent mob that spilled into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was at times dangerously close to then-Vice President Mike Pence, posing an immediate threat to his life, according to testimony during Thursday's Jan. 6 hearing.
latimes.comGOP Congressman Deletes Unbelievably Dumb Post About CNN
Thomas McKinless/CQ Roll Call; Drew Angerer/GettyApparently lacking a fundamental understanding of how television works, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) on Thursday confidently blared on Twitter that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed CNN to broadcast its Jan. 6 committee hearings coverage from the floor of the Capitol.“In case you forgot the sham #January6thcommitteehearings are purely for TV ratings,” Steube wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “Pelosi let The Communist News Network build a full TV set whe
news.yahoo.com1/6 panel: Plan for Pence to reject electors 'nuts,' 'crazy'
The pressure Trump put on Pence, including at a Jan. 6 rally, led directly to the insurrection at the Capitol, the panel said. By refusing Trump’s demands, Pence “did his duty,” said the panel’s vice-chair, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Short said Pence didn't want the world seeing the vice president leaving the Capitol when "a hallmark of democracy” was under siege. With competing slates for Trump or Biden, Pence would be forced to reject them, returning them to the states to sort it out, under the plan. Unlike other national traumas that have pulled the country together, the Jan. 6 Capitol attack appears to have left many Americans divided.
wftv.comJan. 6 takeaways: Pence under pressure, and in danger
The committee tried to show how that pressure incited an angry mob to lay siege to the Capitol. But in the coming weeks, the committee laid out, Pence would come under pressure to invalidate Biden’s win and find a way to keep Trump in power. The committee showed video from that rally in which Trump said that if Pence doesn’t come through, “I won't like him as much." During and after the speech, Trump’s supporters – hundreds of whom were now marching to the Capitol – focused on Pence. The panel showed video of the rioters threatening violence toward the vice president if and when he declined to stop Biden’s victory.
wftv.comJan. 6 panel wants to hear from Ginni Thomas, chairman says
WASHINGTON — (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol will ask Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for an interview, the panel's chairman said Thursday. Eastman was advising Trump in the weeks and days ahead of the attack as the president pushed Vice President Mike Pence to try to object or delay Biden’s certification on Jan. 6. He said her name could also come up at some point in the panel's hearings that are being held throughout June. The emails between Eastman and Thomas were first reported by The Washington Post. It is not the first time members of the panel have said they want to talk to Thomas.
wftv.com3 Central Florida residents arrested in connection with Capitol breach
3 Central Florida residents arrested in connection with Capitol breach (WFTV)ORLANDO, Fla. — A St. Cloud couple and another person were arrested in connection with the Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021. Federal authorities arrested Leslie Gray, 56, Traci Isaacs, 52, and her husband, Luis Hallon, 67, all of St. To date, investigators have arrested more than 800 people since that attack in Washington last year. Of those arrests, 87 have been Florida residents.
wftv.comThe plot thickens on a GOP congressman’s pre-Jan. 6 tour of the Capitol complex
There remains no proof that Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) led a “reconnaissance” tour for insurrectionists. But that allegation looks less speculative now -- and Loudermilk clearly hadn’t shared the whole story.
washingtonpost.comWednesday’s Jan. 6 hearing postponed; the next hearing will be held Thursday
Chaos at the Capitol: A timeline of the Jan. 6 riot (NCD)The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack has postponed Wednesday’s hearing. >> Read more trending newsThe committee announced Tuesday that it was dealing with technical issues and that the hearing would be rescheduled. Jeffrey Rosen, who was acting attorney general on Jan. 6, 2021, was set to testify before the committee in Wednesday’s hearing, as was former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and Steve Engel, former assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel. That hearing will focus on former President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence “to refuse to count certain electoral votes on Jan. 6,” according to Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming. The committee also announced the dates and times for two more hearings: June 21 and June 23, both at 1 p.m.
wftv.comOfficer hailed as hero testifies at Capitol riot trial
Capitol Riot Bench Trial FILE - U.S. Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman watches never-before-seen security footage of rioters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, during the second day of former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021 in the Capitol in Washington. McFadden, whom Trump nominated in 2017, is the only judge to a hold a bench trial for a Capitol riot case so far. McFadden has criticized prosecutors' handling of Capitol riot cases. At least four other Capitol riot defendants have bench trials scheduled for this year. Juries have unanimously convicted five Capitol riot defendants of all charges, a perfect record for prosecutors so far.
wftv.comTexas massacre casts shadow over hearing for ATF pick
Less than a day after a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas, a Wednesday Senate hearing for President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reflected the deep political divisions over guns.
Prosecutors debunk Colorado clerk's 2020 election claims
Prosecutors in a western Colorado county say they found no evidence of tampering in the 2020 presidential election as alleged by a clerk who has become a prominent voice among those promoting former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election.
Warren slams McCarthy as ‘liar and a traitor’ over Jan. 6 tape
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is slamming Rep. Kevin McCarthy as a “liar and a traitor” over recordings that show the House Republican leader, despite his denials, placing responsibility on Donald Trump for the Capitol riot and suggesting Trump should resign.