Trump administration sued over shift in asylum policy

Judge to weigh fight over citizenship question on US census

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Trump administration will try to persuade a U.S. judge Friday to let it add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census for the first time in nearly 70 years, a move that opponents say would lead to an undercount of immigrants and Latinos. Lawsuits by California and numerous cities... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Immigration, News

Make El Chapo pay for a border wall? Don’t count on it

NEW YORK (AP) — After El Chapo’s conviction in a drug-trafficking trial that included florid testimony of jewel-encrusted guns, a fleet of cash-laden jets and a personal zoo with roaming big cats, some Americans have floated an idea they see as poetic justice: Why not take some of the Mexican drug lord’s billions in ill-gotten... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Drugs, News

El Chapo

Wife of imprisoned Chicago officer fears he’s in danger

CHICAGO (AP) — The wife of a Chicago police officer who was convicted of fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald demanded on Thursday to know why her husband was transferred from an Illinois state prison where he was kept from harm to a federal prison in Connecticut where he was assaulted and where she fears... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Guns, Law Enforcement, News

Jason Van Dyke

Second Fairfax accuser is intensely private single mother

GLEN BURNIE, Md. (AP) — The Maryland woman who has accused Democratic Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of raping her while they were students at Duke University in 2000 is a single mother who values her privacy, worked for several years as a school fundraiser and had a sometime-turbulent personal life, according to friends and... Read More

1 of Houston-area ‘Black Girl Magic’ judges dies

DALLAS (AP) — One of the 17 black women elected as Houston-area judges last year as part of a “Black Girl Magic” campaign has died at age 57. Judge Cassandra Hollemon’s daughter, Brandy Hollemon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her mother died Monday, about a week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Hollemon... Read More

Murder trial of Navy SEAL postponed for 3 months

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A military judge has postponed the murder trial of a Navy SEAL accused of fatally stabbing an Iraqi war prisoner. The three-month delay came Wednesday after defense lawyers asked for more time to go over the prosecution’s evidence. Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from... Read More

Edward Gallagher

Navy officer guilty of manslaughter in bridge plunge deaths

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Navy petty officer whose car plunged off a soaring bridge in San Diego and killed four people below was convicted Wednesday of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. A jury also found Richard Sepolio, 27, guilty of driving under the influence causing injury but acquitted him of the more serious charges of... Read More

Richard Sepolio

Suspect charged with murder in NYPD friendly fire death

NEW YORK (AP) — A robbery suspect with a long rap sheet and a habit of bizarre stunts was charged Wednesday with murder in the death of a New York City police detective struck by friendly fire while responding to a stick-up Tuesday night. Detective Brian Simonsen died after being hit once in the chest... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Guns, Law Enforcement, News

Christopher Ransom

Sentencing set in race-based shooting amid Katrina chaos

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A white man who fired a shotgun at three black men in a race-based attack amid the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was set for sentencing Thursday in a federal courtroom in New Orleans. Prosecutors were seeking a 10-year prison sentence for Roland Bourgeois Jr., who pleaded guilty to two federal criminal... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Guns, News

Roland Bourgeois Jr.

Jason Van Dyke, Laquan McDonald

Wife says Chicago officer assaulted in Connecticut prison

CHICAGO (AP) — A white Chicago police officer who fatally shot black teenager Laquan McDonald was assaulted by inmates in his cell at a Connecticut prison, the officer’s wife said Wednesday. Jason Van Dyke was transferred earlier this month to a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. He was placed in the prison’s general population hours... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Guns, Law Enforcement, News

Infowars host ordered to sworn deposition in Sandy Hook case

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones must undergo a sworn deposition in the defamation case brought against him by family members of Sandy Hook school shooting victims. Discussions on Jones’ web show have called the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax, and lawsuits by families of... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, Guns, News

Alex Jones, Infowars, Sandy Hook

Lawyers sue ICE over videoconference immigration hearings

NEW YORK (AP) — A group of detained immigrants and the lawyers representing them filed a federal lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accusing the agency of violating their constitutional rights by forcing them to use videoconferencing for their court appearances instead of bringing them in person. In the suit, which the seven detainees along... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Immigration, News

Immigration