WASHINGTON – A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from paying any claims through a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for the Republican president’s allies who believe they were victims of a weaponized government. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday also barred the government from moving forward with the fund’s creation while litigation is pending to challenge it. The judge scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend the order blocking payouts from an “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which the government created to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. The White House declines to comment.
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s holding a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward with a deal to extend the Iran ceasefire. Iran says the agreement has not been finalized. Trump confirmed the high-level talks on Friday, the day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement. The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – Louisiana lawmakers have passed a new congressional map to pick up a Republican seat while leaving the state with one of its two majority-Black House districts. The map approved Friday is designed to give Louisiana a 5-1 split in Republicans’ favor. The U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down one of the state’s majority-Black districts as an illegal racial gerrymander, weakening the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act. That decision intensified a national battle over partisan redistricting fueled by President Donald Trump’s efforts to protect the GOP’s slim House majority in this year’s midterm elections. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign the measure.
STAFFORD, Virginia – Virginia State Police say a bus struck six vehicles on Interstate 95 as traffic slowed for a work zone, killing five people and sending 34 to hospitals. The crash happened at about 2:35 a.m. Friday on southbound I-95 in Stafford County. A state police statement says all five of those killed were in vehicles hit by the bus. Most of the injured were taken to hospitals in Stafford and Fredericksburg. Three of the injured were in critical condition, police said. Police said the crash is under investigation and charges are pending. The southbound lanes were reopened by noon, with traffic backups.
– The Associated Press
