Ex-US congressman among 9 charged in insider trading cases
In one of the most significant attacks by law enforcement on insider trading in a decade, nine people have been charged in four separate and unrelated insider trading schemes They include a former U.S. congressman from Indiana, technology company executives, an investment banker, and a man training to be an FBI agent. The charges were announced Monday in Manhattan. One indictment identified Stephen Buyer as someone who misappropriated secrets he learned as a consultant to make about $350,000 illegally. Buyer was a Republican congressman from 1993 through 2011. He was arrested Monday in Indiana. His lawyer said he is innocent and his stock trades were lawful.
AP-NORC poll: 2 in 3 in US favor term limits for justices
About 2 in 3 Americans say they favor term limits or a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices. That’s according to a new poll that finds a sharp increase in the percentage of Americans saying they have “hardly any” confidence in the court. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 67% of Americans support a proposal to set a specific number of years that justices serve instead of life terms, including 82% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans. The poll was conducted just weeks after the high court issued high-profile rulings stripping away women’s constitutional protections for abortion and expanding gun rights.
Trump returning to Washington to deliver policy speech
Former President Donald Trump is returning to Washington for the first time since leaving office. He’ll deliver a policy speech Tuesday night before allies who have been crafting an agenda for a possible second term. Trump will address the America First Policy Institute’s two-day America First Agenda Summit. Some advisers are urging him to spend more time talking about his vision for the future and less time relitigating the 2020 election as he prepares to announce an expected 2024 White House campaign. His potential 2024 rivals, including former Vice President, Mike Pence, have been taking increasingly overt steps to challenge Trump’s status as the GOP’s standard-bearer.
Feds sue poultry producers, alleging unfair worker practices
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against some of the largest poultry producers in the United States. It’s part of an effort to end what the government says are longstanding deceptive and abusive practices for workers. The suit names Cargill, Sanderson Farms and Wayne Farms, along with a data consulting company. The Justice Department alleges the companies have been engaged in a multiyear conspiracy to exchange information about the wages and benefits of poultry plant workers to suppress competition for those workers. The companies haven’t responded to messages seeking comment.
Smuggling migrants at the border now a billion-dollar business
Migrant smuggling on the southern U.S. border has evolved over the past 10 years from a scattered network of freelance “coyotes” into a multibillion-dollar international business controlled by organized crime, including some of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels. The deaths last month in San Antonio of 53 migrants packed in the back of a suffocating tractor-trailer without air conditioning — the deadliest smuggling incident in the country to date — came as tightened U.S. border restrictions, exacerbated by a pandemic-related public health rule, have encouraged more migrants to turn to smugglers. More than 5,046 people were arrested and charged with human smuggling last year, up from 2,762 in 2014.
California’s largest wildfire slows after exploding near Yosemite
After growing explosively to become California’s largest wildfire in 2022, a blaze in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada moderated Sunday, with firefighters able to defend communities a dozen miles from Yosemite National Park. The Oak fire, which was ignited Friday, has burned 16,800 acres and still could threaten 3,300 homes and businesses. As of Monday morning, seven structures had been destroyed and more than 3,000 residents had been ordered to evacuate. Cal Fire, the state’s main firefighting agency, said Sunday night that firefighters had made “good headway” against the blaze and that protective clearing by fire crews was shielding the small communities of Lushmeadows and Mariposa Pines.
Ukraine pushes to try alleged war crimes as fighting rages
The appeal of Ukraine’s first war crimes conviction has been adjourned. The hearing for former Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin was postponed until July 29 due to his lawyer’s ill health. It comes as Ukrainian prosecutors are pushing ahead to hold Russia legally accountable for atrocities even as fighting rages in Ukraine’s south and east. Around the capital region, where Russian forces pulled out four months ago, much of the work of documenting crime scenes and interviewing witnesses has been done. Now a more difficult phase in the search for accountability is underway. Ukrainian prosecutors have registered over 20,100 potential war crimes, and police in the Kyiv region have exhumed more than 1,300 bodies.
Myanmar executes 4 democracy activists despite UN outcry
Myanmar’s military regime announced Monday that it had executed four pro-democracy activists, the first executions in the nation in more than three decades and what was seen as the latest attempt to instill fear in a resistance movement that has continued to battle the junta since it seized power in a coup last year. The four activists were executed in secret on Saturday. The executions signaled a rebuke to Western leaders, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who have all sought to persuade the junta to free political prisoners and halt the violence that has swept the nation since the coup.
Rare 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card going up for auction
A mint condition 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card could break records at auction. The auction house estimates it could exceed $10 million. The card’s current owner is a New Jersey waste management entrepreneur who bought the rare card for $50,000 in 1991 at a New York City card show. Pre-bidding has started and the auction ends Aug. 27. The record for a baseball card is $6.6 million, which was for a 1909 Honus Wagner card that was sold at auction a year ago. Another Mantle card from 1952 went for $5.2 million last year.
By wire sources
