Washington
NPR sues Trump administration over EO to cut federal funding to public media
WASHINGTON (AP) — National Public Radio and three local stations filed a lawsuit Tuesday against President Donald Trump, arguing that an executive order aimed at cutting federal funding for the organization is illegal.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington by NPR, Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KUTE, Inc. argues that Trump’s executive order to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR violates the First Amendment.
Trump issued the executive order earlier this month that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. Trump issued the order after alleging there is “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.
“The Order’s objectives could not be clearer: the Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes and chill the free exercise of First Amendment rights by NPR and individual public radio stations across the country,” the lawsuit alleges.
“The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR’s and the Local Member Stations’ freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion,” it said.
New Hampshire
State to pay $2.25M to mother of 5-year-old killed by father
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire has agreed to pay $2.25 million to the mother of Harmony Montgomery, a 5-year-old girl whose father was convicted of murdering her.
Crystal Sorey filed a negligence lawsuit against the state last May accusing social workers of ignoring signs that her daughter was being physically abused by her ex-husband after he was awarded custody in early 2019.
Adam Montgomery is serving a minimum of 56 years in prison after being convicted of murdering Harmony and moving her corpse around for months before disposing of it. Police believe he killed Harmony nearly two years before she was reported missing in 2021. Her body has not been found.
The state does not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement agreement reached last month.
“The state agreed to these settlements to avoid prolonged litigation and support closure for the families. We recognize their profound loss and hope this brings some measure of peace,” Attorney General John Formella said.
In July, the state agreed to pay $5.75 million to the mother of a Laconia boy the state placed with a grandmother who is now charged with his 2019 death. In December, it settled with the father of 5-year-old boy Merrimack killed by his mother in 2021.
In 2018, the state created an Office of the Child Advocate to serve as an independent watchdog agency, but lawmakers are considering eliminating it in the next state budget.
Hawaii
Environmentalists’ lawsuit challenges Trump’s order to allow commercial fishing in Pacific monument
HONOLULU (AP) — Environmentalists are challenging in court President Donald Trump’s executive order that they say strips core protections from the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument and opens the area to harmful commercial fishing.
On the same day of last month’s proclamation allowing commercial fishing in the monument, Trump issued an order to boost the U.S. commercial fishing industry by peeling back regulations and opening up harvesting in previously protected areas.
The monument was created by President George W. Bush in 2009 and consists of about 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers) in the central Pacific Ocean. President Barack Obama expanded the monument in 2014.
A week after the April 17 proclamation, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them a green light to fish commercially within the monument’s boundaries, even though a long-standing fishing ban remains on the books, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Honolulu.
The first longline fisher started fishing in the monument just three days after that letter, according to Earthjustice, which has been tracking vessel activity within the monument using Global Fishing Watch.
The Department of Justice declined to comment Friday.
The lawsuit noted that commercial longline fishing, an industrial method involving baited hooks from lines 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) or longer, will snag turtles, marine mammals or seabirds that are attracted to the bait or swim through the curtain of hooks.
“We will not stand by as the Trump administration unleashes highly destructive commercial fishing on some of the planet’s most pristine, biodiverse marine environments,” David Henkin, an Earthjustice attorney, said in a statement. “Piling lawlessness on top of lawlessness, the National Marine Fisheries Service chose to carry out President Trump’s illegal proclamation by issuing its own illegal directive, with no public input.”
Designating the area in the Pacific Ocean to the south and west of the Hawaiian islands as a monument provided “needed protection to a wide variety of scientific and historical treasures in one of the most spectacular and unique ocean ecosystems on earth,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit added that allowing commercial fishing in the monument expansion harms the “cultural, spiritual, religious, subsistence, educational, recreational, and aesthetic interests” of a group of Native Hawaiian plaintiffs who are connected genealogically to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific.
Johnston Atoll, the closest island in the monument, is about 717 nautical miles (1,328 kilometers) west-southwest of Hawaii.
California
Utility to pay $82M settlement in lawsuit stemming from 2020 wildfire
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California utility has agreed to pay the federal government $82.5 million stemming from an enormous 2020 wildfire that churned through mountains northeast of Los Angeles and into the Mojave Desert, officials said Friday.
The U.S. Justice Department announced the payment by Southern California Edison on Thursday. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement that the settlement provides “meaningful compensation to taxpayers for the extensive costs of fighting the ... fire and for the widespread damage to public lands.”
Edison agreed to pay the settlement within 60 days of its effective date, May 14, without admitting wrongdoing or fault, prosecutors said.
Utility spokesperson Diane Castro said, “Our hearts are with the people who were affected by the Bobcat Fire. We are pleased to have resolved this matter and will continue to advance wildfire mitigation measures.”
The settlement stemmed from a 2023 lawsuit filed by federal prosecutors on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service against Edison and Utility Tree Service to recover costs from fighting the so-called Bobcat Fire and for the extensive damage that it caused to the Angeles National Forest.
The government alleged that the fire ignited when trees that were not properly maintained by the utility and its tree maintenance contractor came into contact with power lines. Damage from the fire closed campgrounds and more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) of trails for years and harmed habitat for the federally endangered wildlife-mountain yellow-legged frog and federally threatened fish and birds, the government said.
“These resources will help us rehabilitate burned areas, restore wildlife habitats and strengthen our forests’ resilience to future wildfires,” said Deputy Forest Supervisor Tony Martinez of the Angeles National Forest.
The fire charred about 178 square miles (461 square kilometers).
Last year, the utility agreed to pay $80 million to settle claims on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service connected to a massive wildfire that destroyed more than a thousand homes and other structures in 2017.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of the Eaton Fire, which destroyed at least 7,000 homes and other structures and laid waste to entire neighborhoods earlier this year. Lawsuits against SCE say the utility’s equipment sparked the blaze.
Washington
Privacy and hunger groups sue over USDA attempt to collect personal data of SNAP recipients
Privacy and hunger relief groups and a handful of people receiving food assistance benefits are suing the federal government over the Trump administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of millions of U.S. residents who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Thursday says the U.S. Department of Agriculture violated federal privacy laws when it ordered states and vendors to turn over five years of data about food assistance program applicants and enrollees, including their names, birth dates, personal addresses and social security numbers.
The lawsuit “seeks to ensure that the government is not exploiting our most vulnerable citizens by disregarding longstanding privacy protections,” National Student Legal Defense Network attorney Daniel Zibel wrote in the complaint. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and Mazon Inc.: A Jewish Response to Hunger joined the four food assistance recipients in bringing the lawsuit.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a social safety net that serves more than 42 million people nationwide. Under the program formerly known as food stamps, the federal government pays for 100% of the food benefits but the states help cover the
administrative costs. States also are responsible for determining whether people are eligible for the benefits, and for issuing the benefits to enrollees.
As a result, states have lots of highly personal financial, medical, housing, tax and other information about SNAP applicants and their dependents, according to the lawsuit.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 20 directing agencies to ensure “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs” as part of the administration’s effort to stop “ waste, fraud and abuse by eliminating information silos.”
That order prompted Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the USDA to ask states and electronic benefit vendors to turn over the info earlier this month. Failing to do so may “trigger noncompliance procedures,” the USDA warned in a letter to states.
Some states have already turned over the data, including Alaska, which shared the personal info of more than 70,000 residents, according to the lawsuit. Other states like Iowa plan to turn over the information, the plaintiffs say.
They want a judge to declare the data collection unlawful, to order the USDA to destroy any personal information it already has, and to bar the agency from punishing states that fail to turn over the data.
NPR sues Trump administration over EO to cut federal funding to public media
WASHINGTON (AP) — National Public Radio and three local stations filed a lawsuit Tuesday against President Donald Trump, arguing that an executive order aimed at cutting federal funding for the organization is illegal.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington by NPR, Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KUTE, Inc. argues that Trump’s executive order to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR violates the First Amendment.
Trump issued the executive order earlier this month that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. Trump issued the order after alleging there is “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.
“The Order’s objectives could not be clearer: the Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes and chill the free exercise of First Amendment rights by NPR and individual public radio stations across the country,” the lawsuit alleges.
“The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR’s and the Local Member Stations’ freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion,” it said.
New Hampshire
State to pay $2.25M to mother of 5-year-old killed by father
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire has agreed to pay $2.25 million to the mother of Harmony Montgomery, a 5-year-old girl whose father was convicted of murdering her.
Crystal Sorey filed a negligence lawsuit against the state last May accusing social workers of ignoring signs that her daughter was being physically abused by her ex-husband after he was awarded custody in early 2019.
Adam Montgomery is serving a minimum of 56 years in prison after being convicted of murdering Harmony and moving her corpse around for months before disposing of it. Police believe he killed Harmony nearly two years before she was reported missing in 2021. Her body has not been found.
The state does not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement agreement reached last month.
“The state agreed to these settlements to avoid prolonged litigation and support closure for the families. We recognize their profound loss and hope this brings some measure of peace,” Attorney General John Formella said.
In July, the state agreed to pay $5.75 million to the mother of a Laconia boy the state placed with a grandmother who is now charged with his 2019 death. In December, it settled with the father of 5-year-old boy Merrimack killed by his mother in 2021.
In 2018, the state created an Office of the Child Advocate to serve as an independent watchdog agency, but lawmakers are considering eliminating it in the next state budget.
Hawaii
Environmentalists’ lawsuit challenges Trump’s order to allow commercial fishing in Pacific monument
HONOLULU (AP) — Environmentalists are challenging in court President Donald Trump’s executive order that they say strips core protections from the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument and opens the area to harmful commercial fishing.
On the same day of last month’s proclamation allowing commercial fishing in the monument, Trump issued an order to boost the U.S. commercial fishing industry by peeling back regulations and opening up harvesting in previously protected areas.
The monument was created by President George W. Bush in 2009 and consists of about 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers) in the central Pacific Ocean. President Barack Obama expanded the monument in 2014.
A week after the April 17 proclamation, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them a green light to fish commercially within the monument’s boundaries, even though a long-standing fishing ban remains on the books, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Honolulu.
The first longline fisher started fishing in the monument just three days after that letter, according to Earthjustice, which has been tracking vessel activity within the monument using Global Fishing Watch.
The Department of Justice declined to comment Friday.
The lawsuit noted that commercial longline fishing, an industrial method involving baited hooks from lines 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) or longer, will snag turtles, marine mammals or seabirds that are attracted to the bait or swim through the curtain of hooks.
“We will not stand by as the Trump administration unleashes highly destructive commercial fishing on some of the planet’s most pristine, biodiverse marine environments,” David Henkin, an Earthjustice attorney, said in a statement. “Piling lawlessness on top of lawlessness, the National Marine Fisheries Service chose to carry out President Trump’s illegal proclamation by issuing its own illegal directive, with no public input.”
Designating the area in the Pacific Ocean to the south and west of the Hawaiian islands as a monument provided “needed protection to a wide variety of scientific and historical treasures in one of the most spectacular and unique ocean ecosystems on earth,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit added that allowing commercial fishing in the monument expansion harms the “cultural, spiritual, religious, subsistence, educational, recreational, and aesthetic interests” of a group of Native Hawaiian plaintiffs who are connected genealogically to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific.
Johnston Atoll, the closest island in the monument, is about 717 nautical miles (1,328 kilometers) west-southwest of Hawaii.
California
Utility to pay $82M settlement in lawsuit stemming from 2020 wildfire
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California utility has agreed to pay the federal government $82.5 million stemming from an enormous 2020 wildfire that churned through mountains northeast of Los Angeles and into the Mojave Desert, officials said Friday.
The U.S. Justice Department announced the payment by Southern California Edison on Thursday. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement that the settlement provides “meaningful compensation to taxpayers for the extensive costs of fighting the ... fire and for the widespread damage to public lands.”
Edison agreed to pay the settlement within 60 days of its effective date, May 14, without admitting wrongdoing or fault, prosecutors said.
Utility spokesperson Diane Castro said, “Our hearts are with the people who were affected by the Bobcat Fire. We are pleased to have resolved this matter and will continue to advance wildfire mitigation measures.”
The settlement stemmed from a 2023 lawsuit filed by federal prosecutors on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service against Edison and Utility Tree Service to recover costs from fighting the so-called Bobcat Fire and for the extensive damage that it caused to the Angeles National Forest.
The government alleged that the fire ignited when trees that were not properly maintained by the utility and its tree maintenance contractor came into contact with power lines. Damage from the fire closed campgrounds and more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) of trails for years and harmed habitat for the federally endangered wildlife-mountain yellow-legged frog and federally threatened fish and birds, the government said.
“These resources will help us rehabilitate burned areas, restore wildlife habitats and strengthen our forests’ resilience to future wildfires,” said Deputy Forest Supervisor Tony Martinez of the Angeles National Forest.
The fire charred about 178 square miles (461 square kilometers).
Last year, the utility agreed to pay $80 million to settle claims on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service connected to a massive wildfire that destroyed more than a thousand homes and other structures in 2017.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of the Eaton Fire, which destroyed at least 7,000 homes and other structures and laid waste to entire neighborhoods earlier this year. Lawsuits against SCE say the utility’s equipment sparked the blaze.
Washington
Privacy and hunger groups sue over USDA attempt to collect personal data of SNAP recipients
Privacy and hunger relief groups and a handful of people receiving food assistance benefits are suing the federal government over the Trump administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of millions of U.S. residents who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Thursday says the U.S. Department of Agriculture violated federal privacy laws when it ordered states and vendors to turn over five years of data about food assistance program applicants and enrollees, including their names, birth dates, personal addresses and social security numbers.
The lawsuit “seeks to ensure that the government is not exploiting our most vulnerable citizens by disregarding longstanding privacy protections,” National Student Legal Defense Network attorney Daniel Zibel wrote in the complaint. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and Mazon Inc.: A Jewish Response to Hunger joined the four food assistance recipients in bringing the lawsuit.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a social safety net that serves more than 42 million people nationwide. Under the program formerly known as food stamps, the federal government pays for 100% of the food benefits but the states help cover the
administrative costs. States also are responsible for determining whether people are eligible for the benefits, and for issuing the benefits to enrollees.
As a result, states have lots of highly personal financial, medical, housing, tax and other information about SNAP applicants and their dependents, according to the lawsuit.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 20 directing agencies to ensure “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs” as part of the administration’s effort to stop “ waste, fraud and abuse by eliminating information silos.”
That order prompted Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the USDA to ask states and electronic benefit vendors to turn over the info earlier this month. Failing to do so may “trigger noncompliance procedures,” the USDA warned in a letter to states.
Some states have already turned over the data, including Alaska, which shared the personal info of more than 70,000 residents, according to the lawsuit. Other states like Iowa plan to turn over the information, the plaintiffs say.
They want a judge to declare the data collection unlawful, to order the USDA to destroy any personal information it already has, and to bar the agency from punishing states that fail to turn over the data.
