Richter throws back most of the claims for evicting protesters in DC Park
WASHINGTON – A federal judge has dismissed much of the lawsuits filed by activists and civil rights groups accusing the Trump administration of civil rights violations of protesters previously forcibly removed by police using chemical agents from a park near the White House – President Donald Trump went to a nearby church to take a picture.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said Monday the allegations in the lawsuit alleging Trump and then Attorney General William Barr conspired to violate protesters’ rights last June were speculative and premature the court concludes whether the actions of law enforcement agencies were justified.
Friedrich dismissed lawsuits against Barr and other federal officials, including incumbent US parks chief Gregory Monahan, noting that there was insufficient evidence to prove that there was an agreement or plan to violate protesters’ rights . The judge also said the law granted them immunity in civil litigation.
In a 51-page ruling, the judge allowed lawsuits against the Metropolitan Police Department and the Arlington Police Department – whose officials were involved in clearing the park – to continue.
The lawsuit harks back to one of the most prominent moments of the Trump presidency, when state and local law enforcement officials aggressively pushed a group of largely peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square outside the White House, throwing smoke bombs and pepperballs into the crowd to disperse the group. Officials were seen pushing protesters and journalists as they pushed the crowd back.
Youth Home Director Says “Words Can’t Explain Alabama Crash”
CAMP HILL, Ala. Girls have often led lives of abuse, abandonment, or neglect until they end up in a Christian youth home in rural Alabama, but an annual beach trip with the headmistress and her family gave them a ray of hope in otherwise difficult times.
This year’s trip to the Gulf Coast ended in disaster when four residents of Tallapoosa County Girl’s Ranch, two of the director’s children, and two guests under ten were killed in a violent accident on a rainy freeway when Tropical Storm Claudette hurtled through Alabama .
In total, the storm claimed 14 lives before rolling through the Carolinas and out to sea, where it was expected to disintegrate. A 24-year-old man and 3-year-old boy were killed Saturday when a tree fell on their home outside of Tuscaloosa, and a 23-year-old woman from Fort Payne, southeast of Huntsville, died after her car drove off the Street in a swollen stream, said the authorities.
According to news outlets, search dogs have found the body of a man believed to have fallen into the water during a flash flood in Birmingham.
The van in the crash on Saturday went up in flames in the wreck along a wet Interstate 65 about 35 miles south of Montgomery. Butler County’s medical examiner Wayne Garlock said several vehicles were likely aquaplaned in the vacationer-populated area, he said he was “notorious” for dangerous conditions that involve the highway heading north down a hill to a small one Bach leads.
Wall Street is rebounding from its worst week since February
NEW YORK – Stocks rallied on Wall Street Monday, making up most of their sharp loss from last week as the initial jolt wears off the Federal Reserve’s reminder that it will eventually provide less help to markets.
The S&P 500 rose 58.34 points, or 1.4%, to 4,224.79, making up almost three-quarters of its worst weekly drop since February. Oil producers, banks and other companies led the way, and were particularly hard hit last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 586.89, or 1.8%, to 33,876.97 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 111.10, or 0.8%, to 14,141.48.
Investors are still expecting any ramifications from the Fed’s recent meeting on interest rate policy, which suggested it could begin raising short-term rates by the end of 2023. That is earlier than previously assumed. The Fed also began talks on slowdown programs designed to keep longer-term interest rates low, a recognition of the strengthening economy and the risk of higher inflation.
The market’s immediate reaction to last week’s Fed news was to lower stocks and raise interest rates. Any postponement by the Fed would be a big deal after investors enjoyed simple ultra-low interest rate terms for more than a year. Higher interest rates would make stock prices, which have risen faster than corporate earnings, appear even more expensive than they already do.
Rider who rammed a cyclist while racing in Arizona has DUI history
PHOENIX – Authorities on Monday identified the man who was accused of plowing his pickup truck into a group of cyclists participating in a weekend race in a mountain town in Arizona, which left several drivers seriously injured.
Shawn Michael Chock, 35, fled from the crash on Saturday’s Show Low, about a three-hour drive northeast of Phoenix, and was shot and killed by police while they were chasing him, said Kristine Sleighter, a police spokeswoman. Chock, who lives in the nearby White Mountain Lakes, is still being hospitalized in stable condition, and authorities are trying to determine a motive for the crash.
Prosecutors have been working with police investigators, but Navajo prosecutor Bradley Carlyon said his office usually doesn’t bring charges against suspects in the hospital until they’re released.
Online court records in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, show that someone matching Chock’s name and age has been arrested in the past for drug or alcohol driving and assault. In 2007 he was charged with aggravated assault. Several months later, he was charged with gun abuse and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
In 2010, three DUI-related charges, including a third DUI, were dropped under an agreement in which Chock pleaded guilty of major DUI and shoplifting crimes. He also advocated no challenge for grievous bodily harm.
By wire sources
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