In the news today: A government shutdown looms as the House rejects Trump-backed bill; an AP investigation into medical rulings in arrest-related deaths; and why France’s military is being ousted from more African countries. Also, if you’re planning on staying sober this holiday season, we have some tips. |
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
|
House rejects Trump-backed plan on government shutdown, leaving next steps uncertain |
A day before a potential government shutdown, the House resoundingly rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s new plan Thursday to fund operations and suspend the debt ceiling, as Democrats and dozens of Republicans refused to accommodate his sudden demands. The cobbled-together plan didn’t even get a majority, with the bill failing 174-235. Read more.
|
|
|
-
Republicans ran into a wall of resistance from Democrats, who were in no hurry to appease demands from Trump. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were sticking with the original deal with Speaker Mike Johnson and called the new one “laughable.”
The new proposal whittled the 1,500-page bill to 116 pages and dropped a number of add-ons. Adding an increase in the debt ceiling to what had been a bipartisan package is a show-stopper for Republicans who want to slash government and routinely vote against more borrowing. Almost three dozen Republicans voted against it.
-
For Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of a Jan. 3 House vote to remain speaker, Trump’s demands left him severely weakened and forced to abandon his word with Democrats. Trump’s allies even floated the idea of giving billionaire Elon Musk the speaker’s gavel, since the speaker is not required to be a member of the Congress.
|
|
|
Accident or homicide? Medical rulings in arrest-related deaths can dictate what happens to police |
Police in the United States rarely face criminal charges when civilians die after the use of force such as physical blows, restraints or Tasers. An investigation led by the Associated Press found that official death rulings in cases involving police restraint can be so riddled with inconsistencies, suspect science or conflicts of interest that even extensive force may matter little. Read more.
|
|
|
-
The investigation identified 1,036 deaths over a decade after police used physical blows, restraints or weapons that aren’t supposed to kill. Some people were causing little or no trouble, while others were committing violent crimes. Many died after officers broke widely known safety practices, or after medics injected them with powerful knock-out drugs, sometimes at the urging of police.
-
Accident was the most common conclusion of medical investigations in AP’s case database. When deaths are ruled accidental, prosecutions of officers are exceedingly rare — of the 443 cases AP identified, just two resulted in criminal charges. The degree of physical and professional separation a medical examiner or coroner had from local law enforcement appeared to affect rulings. Deaths were ruled accidents more frequently when medical examiners or coroners were in the same community as the department under investigation, or when they fell under the control of law enforcement.
|
|
|
US carries out 25 executions this year as death penalty trends in nation held steady
|
The number of executions in the U.S. remained near historic lows in 2024. It was mostly carried out in a small group of states, including Alabama, which became the first state to use nitrogen gas as an execution method, according to an annual report on capital punishment. The report also found that four states — Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas — carried out 76% of executions this year. Read more.
|
|
|
While support for the death penalty remains entrenched in Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, some conservative lawmakers and prosecutors in those states publicly supported efforts to stop several executions. In Texas, a bipartisan group of lawmakers used an unconventional strategy to delay Robert Roberson’s execution: issuing a subpoena for him to testify after his execution date. Meanwhile, state prosecutors and lawyers for Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to ask that his conviction and death sentence be overturned.
The Supreme Court continued to retreat from the role it has historically played in regulating and limiting use of the death penalty, said Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. In 2024, the Supreme Court granted just three out of 117 inmate requests to stay an execution or review claims in a case, the report said.
|
|
|
|
