Special counsel’s Trump investigation includes Manafort case

The special counsel investigating possible ties between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia's government has taken over a separate criminal probe involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and may expand his inquiry to investigate the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, The Associated Press has learned. The Justice Department's criminal investigation into Manafort, who was forced to resign as Trump campaign chairman in August amid questions over his business dealings years ago in Ukraine, predated the 2016 election and the counterintelligence probe that in July began investigating possible collusion between Moscow and associates of Trump.

House Russia probe veers close to dysfunction at end of rocky week

The House intelligence committee's Russia investigation appeared Friday to be veering back off the rails after a rocky week, punctuated by the re-emergence of House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes as a force in the probe. A visibly angry House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday she has met with House Speaker Paul Ryan multiple times to complain about Nunes never fully stepping away from the Russia probe - despite the California Republican's promise two months ago that he would step aside.

Trump administration returning Senate torture report

The CIA and director of national intelligence will return their copies of the Senate intelligence committee's massive 6,700-page report on the CIA's interrogation and detention program under the George W. Bush administration, a Senate aide confirmed to CNN Friday. The decision means it's highly unlikely the report - which concluded that interrogation techniques such as waterboarding did not elicit useful intelligence from detainees - will be made public so long as Republicans control the Senate and the White House.

Post-riot review finds Delaware prison poorly run, managed

An independent review ordered by Delaware's governor after a deadly inmate riot describes the state's maximum-security prison as dangerously overcrowded, critically understaffed, and poorly run and managed. According to the preliminary report, prison workers consider communication to be the top problem at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center.

The Latest: 36 dead from smoke in Philippine casino attack

Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a high-resolution security camera that will provide a glimpse at the potential for increasingly intelligent computers to see and understand everything... Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a high-resolution security camera that will provide a glimpse at the potential for increasingly intelligent computers to see and understand everything going on in people's homes. Witnesses say gunshots and explosions have been heard at a mall, casino and hotel complex near Manila's international airport in the Philippine capital.

Senate to hear from Comey; Dems raise new Session questions

In this file photo, then-FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Comey, ousted last month amid a federal investigation into connections between Russia and the Trump campaign, is set to testify before Congress next week in a highly anticipated hearing that could shed new light on his private conversations with the president in the weeks before the firing.

Tell us your story and help preserve tax-exempt municipal bonds

With some Members of Congress talking about removing the tax exemption for municipal bonds as part of larger tax reform measures, the public power community must ensure that lawmakers understand all the benefits that flow from tax-exempt municipal bonds. In 2017, the American Public Power Association has ramped up advocacy efforts to maintain the tax exemption for municipal bonds.

States seek to fill the void after Trump dumped the climate pact

Leaders of California, Washington and other states said Thursday they will work to fill the international leadership vacuum created by President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement. Even before Trump was elected, California Gov. Jerry Brown had joined with other states and governments in Europe, Canada and China to pursue reductions in greenhouse gas emissions greater than those called for in the Paris pact.

Driver swallows false teeth then crashes into two parked cars on…

The driver of a minivan swallowed his false teeth, then hit a couple of parked cars near Fairview and Monroe. Spokane Police say the driver was heading south on Monroe, swallowed his teeth, lost control of the minivan ran into two cars in front of The Hub Tavern, forcing one of the parked cars to crash into the bar, causing major structural damage.

Trump’s budget cuts West Coast quake warning system funding

President Donald Trump's budget proposal would cut federal funding for an earthquake early warning system for California, Oregon and Washington state, a development that seismology experts and some local leaders say would be the end of the project. The system being developed in conjunction with various universities is intended at providing critical seconds of warning when an earthquake has started and potentially dangerous shaking is imminent, allowing time for people to take cover and to slow or halt such things as critical industrial processes and transportation systems.

Undercover Planned Parenthood Video Removed from YouTube at Judgea s…

Yesterday evening, the Center for Medical Progress undercover footage - recorded at the 2014 and 2015 National Abortion Federation conventions - was removed from YouTube, supposedly for a violation of the site's Terms of Service agreement. A few hours later, news emerged that Judge William Orrick - the California district judge who granted NAF and Planned Parenthood's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the release of this video footage - had ordered the CMP's lead investigator David Daleiden and his attorneys to appear at a June 14 hearing to consider holding them in contempt for releasing the footage yesterday morning.

Analysis: The Trouble With Trump’s Uneven Approach to Transparency

In January, Donald Trump and his lawyer Sheri Dillon held a press conference at which they laid out a plan for how the president would distance himself from his businesses. Among the steps they presented was a means to address concerns that foreign governments and leaders may attempt to curry favor with the president by staying at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. This, ethics experts said , would violate the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which states that government officials cannot "accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."