Chicago shooting kills off-duty officer
CHICAGO -- An off-duty police commander was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in downtown Chicago after he spotted a man matching the radio description of an armed suspect that officers were chasing on foot, the city's police superintendent said.
Cmdr. Paul Bauer, 53, was shot multiple times after he "saw the offender and engaged in an armed physical confrontation," Superintendent Eddie Johnson said.
The shooting occurred near the James R. Thompson Center, the state government office building. Johnson said officers initially confronted the suspect because he was acting suspiciously. Police captured the man a short time later, and a gun was found at the scene, he said.
There were initial media reports that the man may have been involved in the robbery of a local business, but Johnson did not provide details about what the man was doing that prompted officers to want to speak with him.
Judge: Citations to end DACA flawed
NEW YORK -- A federal judge in New York has ruled that President Donald Trump's administration didn't offer "legally adequate reasons" for ending a program that spared many illegal aliens from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. as children.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said in an order issued Tuesday that the Republican president "indisputably" has the power to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program but relied on flawed legal positions in doing so.
Garaufis said he wanted to make clear that he was not ruling that rescinding the deferred-action program is unlawful or that the administration may not end the program. And he said his order does not require the government to grant any particular program applications or renewal requests.
The ruling, which mirrors one issued in San Francisco in January, came in lawsuits filed by immigration groups and 15 states and the District of Columbia.
Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has said then-President Barack Obama's decision to implement the program was an unconstitutional exercise of authority.
In his ruling, Garaufis called that belief, "erroneous."
The judge ordered the administration to allow people already in the deferred-action program to continue enjoying protections. He declined to extend the program for new applicants.
Governor rejects redrawn districts map
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf will not submit a new Republican-drawn map of Pennsylvania's congressional districts to the state's high court, saying Tuesday that it uses the same unconstitutionally partisan tactics as the 6-year-old boundaries struck down in a gerrymandering case.
Wolf's move came six days before the deadline set by the Democratic-majority state Supreme Court to impose new boundaries for Pennsylvania's 18 congressional districts, routinely labeled as among the nation's most gerrymandered.
The court threw out Pennsylvania's GOP-drawn congressional map on Jan. 22, saying it violated the state constitution. A redrawn map of Pennsylvania districts could boost Democrats nationally in their quest to take control of the U.S. House.
Wolf's office said it remained possible that Wolf would submit his own proposal to the court. He also left open the possibility of working with the Legislature to submit a consensus map by Monday's deadline.
Republican lawmakers threatened a federal lawsuit and accused Wolf of lacking constructive ideas when he rejected their proposal. Some of his criticisms were "absurd," they said, and they challenged him to produce a fair map that can be put up for a vote.
Texas storm-mitigation funds lined up
HOUSTON -- Texas communities that were hit hard by Hurricane Harvey will be able to apply for more than $1 billion in federal funds that can be used on projects to help prevent or lessen damage from future storms, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday.
The funding can be used by cities and counties to pay for a variety of projects, including buyouts and elevations of homes, seawalls and large scale channeling of waterways.
The hurricane made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 25 and dumped more than 60 inches of rain in some areas of southeast Texas after weakening to a tropical storm. The storm flooded thousands of homes, was responsible for 68 deaths and caused an estimated $125 billion in damage.
Abbott encouraged communities to begin applying this week for the funding from the Federal Management Emergency Agency.
A Section on 02/14/2018