Consumer bureau chief quits; 2 at helm
NEW YORK — The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resigned Friday and named his own successor, only for President Donald Trump to later announce budget director Mick Mulvaney as the acting head of the agency.
That means there are now effectively two acting directors of the bureau.
Typically an acting director position would be filled according to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. But Richard Cordray, along with his resignation, elevated Leandra English, who was the agency’s chief of staff, into the deputy director position.
Under the Dodd-Frank Act that created the bureau, English would become acting director. Cordray — appointed by former President Barack Obama — specifically cited the law when he moved English, a longtime employee of the bureau and ally of his, into that position.
Within a few hours, Trump picked Mulvaney, who is currently director of the Office of Management and Budget, to lead the bureau. Mulvaney is a longtime critic of the bureau.
The person nominated to be director of the bureau requires confirmation by the Senate.
Man charged in Texas trooper’s death
DALLAS — The suspect in the fatal shooting of a state trooper in east Texas during a Thanksgiving Day traffic stop was charged Friday with capital murder of a law enforcement officer.
Dabrett Black, 32, of Lindale, was being held in the Brazos County jail in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston. He is accused in the shooting death of Trooper Damon Allen on Thursday.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said in social media posts late Thursday that Allen initiated a traffic stop shortly before 4 p.m. on Interstate 45 near Fairfield, about 90 miles south of Dallas. The department said Black shot Allen with a rifle after the trooper walked back to his vehicle.
Allen died at the scene, officials said. He had been with the department since 2002 and was married with four children.
The department said Black fled the scene in a car and was spotted about three hours later more than 100 miles south of Fairfield, in Waller County.
7 protesters arrested at St. Louis mall
ST. LOUIS — A protest forced a large suburban St. Louis shopping mall to close for an hour on one of the year’s busiest shopping days, and renewed concerns by protest leaders about how police handle demonstrations.
Protesters marched Friday at the St. Louis Galleria mall. Richmond Heights, Mo., police say seven people were arrested for failure to disperse. One of the seven also was cited for assaulting an officer. Among those arrested was state Rep. Bruce Franks Jr., a Democrat.
Activist Darryl Gray said protesters were leaving when police forced a man to the ground. Gray, a pastor, said Franks tried to intervene on the man’s behalf.
Franks and Gray are leaders of the protest movement that began in September after white former St. Louis officer Jason Stockley was acquitted on Sept. 15 in the 2011 death of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black man.