Source: The Hill

Business groups are lauding President Trump for announcing his intent to fill the last open seat on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with labor-law attorney William Emanuel.

Emanuel, who represents employers in labor and employment law matters at Littler Mendelson in Los Angeles, would round out the panel, which had two vacancies when Trump took office.

“It is long past time that these vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board are filled,” Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee and the National Right to Work Foundation said in a statement.

“The Senate should quickly confirm these qualified nominees.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/339844-trump-announces-second-labor-board-pick

Source: The Hill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday broke his silence on an FBI inquiry into his wife Jane Sanders, calling the probe a "pathetic" and politically motivated attack.

"My wife is about the most honest person I know," Sanders said on CNN's "OutFront" Tuesday. "All that I will tell you now is it's a sad state of affairs in America when not only we have politicians being destroyed ... but when you go after people's wives. That's pretty pathetic."

Sanders also suggested in the video that the inquiry was politically motivated, but wouldn't comment further.

"That's all I'm going to say. I think it's fairly pathetic that when people are involved in public life not only do they get attacked, but their wives and their families get attacked," Sanders added.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/339772-sanders-fbi-inquiry-of-wife-is-pathetic-attack

Source: AP/WSPA-TV

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP/WSPA) – A North Carolina man accused of plotting a U.S. terror attack that he discussed with a member of the Islamic State group pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. He pled guilty in November.

Justin Sullivan of Morganton is also accused of killing his neighbor and stealing his money so he could buy an assault rifle to carry out an IS-inspired shooting at a concert or club.

Sullivan will be observed by a doctor to determine if he is predisposed to schizophrenia.

The defense argued that being placed in a high security prison could trigger schizophrenia.

Read more: http://wspa.com/2017/06/27/nc-teen-get-life-for-supporting-isil/

Source: BBC News

A US man who opened fired in a Washington DC pizza restaurant because of an online conspiracy theory has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, burst into Comet Ping Pong on 4 December 2016 armed with a rifle and pistol.

He drove from North Carolina to pursue bogus claims that the restaurant was the nexus of a child sex ring linked to Hillary Clinton's inner circle.

No one was injured in what prosecutors described as an "armed invasion".

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40372407?ocid=socialflow_twitter

Source: WCTV

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Federal authorities have launched an investigation into redevelopment deals that involve business owners and developers as well as an ally of a Florida mayor running for governor.

A federal subpoena asks for records, texts and emails between the city of Tallahassee and a local redevelopment agency involving business owners, including Adam Corey, the former campaign treasurer of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.

Both the city and the agency have been ordered to turn over records to a federal grand jury in July. The Associated Press has obtained a copy of the subpoenas.

Amy Alexander, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of Florida, said she had no public information about the investigation.

Read more: http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Federal-authorities-launch-probe-into-city-of-Tallahassee-430164903.html

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Gillum has been picking up a lot of endorsements for his campaign for Governor. I suspect that he may not be getting a whole lot more for a while.

Source: McClatchy DC

WASHINGTON
In the summer of 2016, Tim Canova was the South Florida proxy for the dying embers of Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid.

After Sanders endorsed — on national television — Canova’s bid to oust Debbie Wasserman Schultz from her congressional seat, the Nova Southeastern University law professor raked in millions from disaffected liberal Democrats around the country upset with her leadership of the Democratic National Committee and her perceived favoritism toward Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary.

“Clearly I favor her opponent, his views are much closer to mine than to Wasserman Schultz’s,” Sanders said in May 2016.

Last week, Canova announced he will challenge Wasserman Schultz again in 2018 despite a 14-point loss in the Democratic primary to the longtime congresswoman from Weston.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article157374229.html

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This Canova is becoming toxic. We don't need any elected Democrats from the Alex Jones wing of the party.

Source: The Hill

Democrat Randy Bryce, who's challenging House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) for his Wisconsin seat, raised more than $100,000 in just over 24 hours after declaring his candidacy, he said Tuesday.

Bryce, a union ironworker who ran twice unsuccessfully for the state legislature, announced on Monday that he would challenge Ryan, the top congressional Republican who has represented Wisconsin's 1st district since 1999.

Bryce will face David Yankovich in the district's Democratic primary early next year. Both men backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) early on in the 2016 presidential elections.

Ryan is among the most well-connected Republicans in the country and is backed by a massive fundraising operation.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/338709-dem-who-launched-bid-against-paul-ryan-raises-100k-in-first-day-of-campaign

Source: The Hill

Blue Dog Democrats huddled with the leading members of President Trump’s economic team on Tuesday in the Capitol, where the lawmakers pressed the administration to seek bipartisan reforms to the nation’s tortuous tax code.

Just 18-members strong, the centrist Blue Dogs compose a tiny voice in the clamorous House, vastly outnumbered by even the liberals in their own caucus. But with GOP leaders struggling to rally their divided conference around big-ticket legislation, the Blue Dogs see themselves potentially stepping into the mix to broker a bipartisan deal for the sake of getting tax reform to Trump’s desk this year.

“If it’s constructive, if they’re genuinely interested in ideas and making it a bipartisan effort, then the Blue Dogs are certainly willing to participate,” said Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), a member of the group.

“You’ve got the far left, you’ve got the far right, and the Blue Dogs are in the center. And basically, we want a tax code that’s efficient [and] that works for everybody.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/338714-exclusive-blue-dog-democrats-meet-with-top-trump-aides-on-tax-reform

Source: The New York Times

A 22-year-old man accused of killing a Muslim teenager with a baseball bat in Virginia on Sunday is an undocumented immigrant who entered the United States illegally, federal authorities said on Tuesday.

The man, Darwin Martinez Torres, who was charged with murder in the death of Nabra Hassanen, 17, is believed to be from El Salvador, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said. The agency said it issued a so-called detainer on Monday with the Adult Detention Center in Fairfax, Va., where Mr. Torres is being held without bail, to keep him in custody in the event that he could be released.

ICE, which said it had no previous encounters with Mr. Torres, did not say when he came to the United States, how old he was at the time and whether he arrived with anyone else. Minors in El Salvador have fled that country in recent years, often traveling north through Mexico, to escape violent gangs. Under President Barack Obama, the White House expanded a humanitarian program to admit Central American refugees fleeing dangerous conditions.

The announcement by ICE came on a day that vigils for Ms. Hassanen were held in New York City, Washington and elsewhere, and as calls have mounted for the police in Fairfax County to charge Mr. Torres with a hate crime. While Ms. Hassanen was with a group of friends who were wearing Muslim head scarves and robes, the police in Fairfax County have said that the killing had resulted from a “road rage incident” and that no evidence had emerged to warrant a hate crime charge.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/us/muslim-girl-murder-virginia-illegal-immigrant.html

Source: The Financial Times

Donald Trump’s planned state visit to Britain has been postponed amid fears that it would attract mass public protests and undermine UK prime minister Theresa May’s attempts to build a closer bond with the US president.

The Queen’s Speech on Wednesday did not mention the proposed state visit — an omission widely seen as confirmation that Mr Trump will not come to the UK in the late summer or early autumn, as previously intended. Mrs May had first extended an invitation to the US president in January.

The monarch did list the forthcoming state visit of King Felipe of Spain in July, and the fact that Britain would host the Commonwealth summit next April.

UK government officials said that the omission of any mention of Mr Trump’s visit did not necessarily confirm he was not coming to Britain in 2017, but said it was “inevitable” that people would speculate that the visit had been delayed.

Read more: https://www.ft.com/content/c92f237e-5667-11e7-80b6-9bfa4c1f83d2