National News at a Glance
Suspect in Fatal Charlottesville Car Attack Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Hate Crimes
The Ohio man accused of killing one person and injuring others after ramming his car into a crowd of counterprotesters during a white nationalist rally last year pleaded not guilty Thursday to multiple federal hate crime charges. James Alex Fields Jr. entered his plea to all 30 charges brought against him by federal officials for his actions during the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12. Among the charges, Fields faces one count of a hate crime resulting in the death of Heather Heyer, 32, according to the indictment.
EPA Chief Pruitt Resigns Under a Cloud of Ethics Scandals
Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and architect of President Donald Trump’s aggressive effort to rewrite the government’s rule book on environmental regulations, resigned Thursday in the face of numerous ethics investigations that doomed his tenure. Trump announced the resignation in a tweet sent from Air Force One. He thanked Pruitt for an “outstanding job” and said the agency’s deputy, Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, would take over as the acting administrator. In his resignation letter, Pruitt cited “unrelenting attacks on me personally” as one reason for his departure.
Americans Are Having Fewer Babies. They Told Us Why.
At first, researchers thought the declining fertility rate was because of the recession, but it kept falling even as the economy recovered. Now it has reached a record low for the second consecutive year. There’s a lot of concern about why today’s young adults aren’t having as many children. Wanting more leisure time and personal freedom; not having a partner yet; not being able to afford child-care costs — these were the top reasons young adults gave for not wanting or not being sure they wanted children, according to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult for The New York Times.
3,000 Migrant Children Remain Separated From Parents; 100 Are Under Age 5
Five days before the first government-imposed deadline to reunite migrant parents and children who were separated after crossing the Southwest border, immigration officials are mounting a round-the-clock effort involving hundreds of federal workers to bring the families together, a senior Trump administration official said Thursday. Alex Azar, the secretary of Health and Human Services, said nearly 3,000 separated children remained in the government’s care, about 100 of whom were younger than 5. The youngest children must be reunited with a parent by Tuesday under a deadline imposed by a federal judge. Older children must be returned to their parents by July 26.
Judge Rules for California Over Trump in Sanctuary Law Case
A federal judge in California on Thursday denied a request by the Trump administration to suspend California’s sanctuary policies that limit cooperation between federal immigration authorities and state and local law enforcement. In a decision praised by opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, Judge John A. Mendez of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled that the state’s decision not to assist in federal immigration enforcement was not an “obstacle.” "Standing aside does not equate to standing in the way,” the judge wrote in a 60-page ruling that was at times impassioned.
Executive Ousted From Fox News in Scandal Joins White House Communications Team
Bill Shine, the former Fox News executive who was pushed out over his handling of sexual harassment scandals at the network, was named the White House deputy chief of staff for communications Thursday. Shine had been in talks with President Donald Trump about a job since the spring, even playing golf with the president and Sean Hannity, the Fox News host and one of Shine’s close friends. Shine was never accused of harassment himself at Fox New. But his boss, Roger E. Ailes, was, and Shine was accused in lawsuits of turning a blind eye to a climate that was hostile toward women.
Never Mind the Summer Heat: Earth Is at Its Greatest Distance From the Sun
On Friday, Earth will swing toward the outermost point in its orbit. Everyone on the planet will be 3 million miles farther from the sun than when we are closest to it. So, while record-breaking temperatures and raging wildfires in the Northern Hemisphere might lead you to believe the sun is punishingly close right now, remember that it is just the opposite. But do not expect any relief from summer. Seasons on Earth are the product of changes in the amount of direct sunlight as the planet tilts toward and away from the sun — not its orbital path.
