Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A chilling new detail: “Federal authorities say Minnesota shooting suspect Vance Boelter visited the homes of four separate lawmakers on the night he allegedly killed two people and wounded two others.”
* In the Middle East: “Israel and Iran have begun a new round of attacks, as the conflict between the two heavily armed rivals enters its fourth day. At least 224 people have been killed since Israel began bombing Iran on Friday, Iranian state media reported, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least 24 people in Israel.”
* The latest on Saturday’s shooting in Utah: “An ‘innocent bystander’ at the ‘No Kings’ demonstration in downtown Salt Lake City was shot and killed Saturday, police said. Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, of Utah, died in a hospital, Salt Lake City police said in an update. Detectives believe Ah Loo was at the demonstration as a bystander and ‘was not the intended target of the gunfire.’”
* A Reagan-appointed judge issued a heartening ruling in the NIH case: “A federal judge deemed on Monday that some of the grant terminations by the National Institutes of Health are ‘void and illegal’ in a hearing regarding two lawsuits against the Trump administration. The decision comes after Judge William G. Young heard arguments for over two hours at the U.S. District Court in two suits filed against the administration over the termination of hundreds of research grants by the National Institutes of Health.”
* The GAO sides with the Institute of Museum and Library Services: “The Trump administration broke the law when it withheld funding for the nation’s libraries, a nonpartisan government watchdog said on Monday, a finding that inches the White House another step closer to a legal showdown over its powers to reconfigure the country’s spending. The decision by the Government Accountability Office was the second time in two months that oversight officials have found fault in the ways that President Trump and his top aides have tried to circumvent lawmakers in their quest to reshape the federal budget so that it conforms with their political views.”
* A lawsuit worth watching: “The American Bar Association sued the Trump administration on Monday, seeking an order that would bar the White House from pursuing what the ABA called a campaign of intimidation against major law firms. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the administration violated the U.S. Constitution in a series of executive orders targeting law firms over their past clients and lawyers they hired.”
* When radically dismantling federal agencies, it pays to think ahead: “Voice of America told about 75 employees to come back to work immediately Friday amid escalating military action between Iran and Israel. Most of the staffers restored from months-long administrative leave were from the Persian news division of the government-funded broadcaster.”
* A case we’ve been following: “A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump lacked the power to fire the three Democratic commissioners on the five-person Consumer Product Safety Commission, reversing their abrupt dismissals from last month and setting up a fresh test of presidential power to control independent agencies.”
* I remember when developments like these would put a nominee’s confirmation in real jeopardy: “President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration long described himself in his official biography as being certified to fly aircraft commercially — but records examined by Politico show that he does not hold any commercial license.”
See you tomorrow.