by Don Early and Aaron Martinez for Basin Life Magazine
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2019
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and the underlying materials.
Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York is asking for the information by May 1.
That’s also the day when Attorney General William Barr is scheduled to testify before a Senate committee and one day before Barr is set to appear before Nadler’s committee.
The subpoena is the opening shot in what could be a lengthy legal battle.
If the Justice Department doesn’t respond, Democrats could hold officials in contempt of Congress or eventually fight the battle in court.
The Judiciary Committee voted 24-17 earlier this month to give Nadler permission to issue subpoenas for the final report, its exhibits and any underlying evidence or materials prepared for Mueller’s investigation.
After Attorney General Barr’s statement on the Mueller report, the Judiciary Committee released a statement that says in part quote, “Although the details of the report are shocking, much of it still remains redacted and many questions remain.”
They continue by saying quote, “We must get the full report and the underlying evidence, including grand jury material, in order to perform our constitutional duties, including deciding whether new legislation is necessary.”
The U.S. flu season is dragging on, and is now the longest in recent history say health officials.
The CDC announced on Friday the flu season has been officially going for 21 weeks. That makes it the longest U.S. flu season in 10 years, and among the longest seen since the government started tracking flu season duration more than 20 years ago.
What’s made flu linger? An unusual second wave of flu hit just as a first wave was starting to fade. Some experts likened it two different flu seasons compressed, back-to-back, into one.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest flu statistics.
The good news is that a CDC official says flu cases are dropping and the season should be over soon.
Newly elected California Governor Gavin Newsom says he will tackle the California homelessness problem. Newsom in an interview with reporters yesterday admitted the problem worsens daily and said yet he’s proud of how aggressive his administration has been during his first 100 days in office.
From homelessness in L.A., San Diego and San Francisco, to withdrawing most of the National Guard troops from the border to pushing for foreign aid to address the migrant crisis, the governor has displayed sharp contrasts to President Trump administration’s immigration policy.
“They’re already sending people to sanctuary cities. Ask the folks in San Diego. A sanctuary city where migrants are being dumped on the streets and sidewalks every day and have been for years,” said Newsom.
On the issue of homelessness, Newsom says mayors can’t solve this alone and the state will put funding toward converting old motels into housing for the homeless.
“You have a lot of these old roadside
motels. Tons of them up and down the state. Many are vacant. Many are places
that need to be shut down for other reasons. The ability to rehab those, bring
on on-site services provides us a huge bridge opportunity,” said
Newsom.
One of Newsom’s biggest moves in his first 100
days was scaling back California’s high-speed rail project because he says the
money isn’t there. Trump has vowed to pull federal funding for the
project.
“Even if he takes back the money in the
short term, which may be a headline, the trend line is one where the response
is a lawsuit and the overwhelming majority of those lawsuits, we win. They have
no legal standing. This is pure political retribution,” said Newsom.