Justice Dept. to appeal order voiding travel mask mandate
The Justice Department is filing an appeal seeking to overturn a judge’s order that voided the federal mask mandate on planes and trains and in travel hubs. The notice came minutes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked the Justice Department to appeal the decision handed down by a federal judge in Florida earlier this week. A notice of appeal was filed Wednesday in federal court in Tampa. The CDC says it is its “continuing assessment that at this time an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health.”
Florida Senate passes congressional map giving GOP big edge
Florida Republicans are poised to adopt one of the nation’s most aggressive congressional maps, pressing forward with a proposal from Gov. Ron DeSantis that would most likely add four congressional districts for the party while eliminating three held by Democrats. The map, which the Florida Senate approved by a party-line vote of 24-15 Wednesday during a special session of the Legislature, was put forward by DeSantis after he vetoed a version approved in March by state legislators that would have added two Republican seats and subtracted one from the Democrats. The new proposal would create 20 seats that favor Republicans, and just eight that tilt toward Democrats.
Most Americans support keeping mask rules for public transportation, new poll finds
Mask requirements for public transportation are disappearing although most Americans continue to support them, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll, published Wednesday, found that 56% of Americans favored requiring people on planes, trains and buses to wear masks, while 24% opposed such requirements. The poll was conducted in all 50 states from Thursday to Monday, just before a federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate for public transportation, prompting many major airlines and transit agencies to drop their mask requirements. The changes were met with both cheers and alarm from travelers, and the Biden administration appealed the ruling.
Checking out: Trump Hotel sale will end an era
The Trump International Hotel in Washington, which for much of former President Donald Trump’s four years at the White House served as his dining-out spot, is slated to be sold in the coming days to a Florida investor group that will take down the Trump name and rebrand it as a Waldorf Astoria. The hotel is being sold to a Miami-based investment firm, CGI Merchant Group, for $375 million, delivering an estimated profit of more than $100 million to the Trump family. The sale is expected to close before the end of the month, according to an executive involved in the transaction.
Trump campaign ordered to pay $1.3 million in NDA case
A court arbitrator has ordered former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to pay nearly $1.3 million in legal fees to Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former “Apprentice” star, White House aide and author of the first tell-all book about the Trump White House. The award, handed down Tuesday, concludes a protracted legal fight after Trump unsuccessfully sued Manigault Newman over her book, “Unhinged,” arguing that she had violated a nondisclosure agreement she had signed while working for his campaign in 2016. Trump lost the arbitration case in September 2021, one in a string of failed attempts to enforce nondisclosure agreements against former employees.
Tennessee GOP removes Trump-backed House candidate from ballot
The Tennessee Republican Party voted Tuesday to drop Morgan Ortagus, whose bid for a House seat was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, from the primary ballot. Scott Golden, chair of the state Republican Party, said the vote to remove Ortagus and two other candidates, Baxter Lee and Robby Starbuck, from the 5th Congressional District primary “was all about their voting records.” None of the three had met the party’s requirement of having voted in three of the last four statewide primaries, he said. The district is held by Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat, who announced in January that he would retire.
Putin tests advanced missile
With a pointed warning to Ukraine’s Western allies, Russia test-launched a new intercontinental missile Wednesday, even as it unleashed a hail of bombs, artillery and missiles inside Ukraine in a drive to weaken Ukrainian defenses for a major ground offensive in the east. The new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile “will force all who are trying to threaten our country in the heat of frenzied, aggressive rhetoric to think twice,” President Vladimir Putin of Russia said in televised remarks. The launch came as the Russian military made probing attacks along a 300-mile front line winding through Ukraine’s southeastern Donbas region.
Mystery persists over China jet crash
A preliminary report released Wednesday by China’s aviation safety regulator failed to dispel much of the mystery about why a China Eastern jet suddenly went into a nosedive in clear weather last month and crashed into a muddy hillside, killing all 132 people aboard. The report mainly cataloged what was previously known about the crash. The report also suggested that obtaining more evidence from the plane’s two flight recorders could take some time. This month, Wu Shijie, a safety official from Civil Aviation Administration of China, cautioned against a plethora of theories about the crash that have spread online within China.
Assange one step closer to extradition
A London court Wednesday ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, the latest but not the last step in a long-running battle in British courtrooms. The order to extradite Assange, who is being sought in connection with charges under the Espionage Act, must be signed by British Home Secretary Priti Patel. Assange has four weeks to appeal to her directly, and he also has the right to take his case to the English High Court after she issues her decision. Assange has fought extradition following his arrest in 2019, after he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorean Embassy to avoid detention.
By wire sources