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Protests/Racial and Social Justice
- Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly who oversees the transportation bureau said the city is fining the federal government $500 every 15 minutes – the maximum charge allowed — until it removes an unpermitted fence blocking a bike lane on Southwest Third Avenue.
- On the sixty-second consecutive night, protests continued in downtown Portland with hundreds of demonstrators converging on the area of the Multnomah County Justice Center and federal courthouse.
Around 9:30 p.m., the Wall of Moms, a group of moms that received national attention for positioning themselves between demonstrators and police during recent protests, joined demonstrators already gathered in downtown Portland.
- Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan (D) said U.S. agents deployed to the city to protect federal property have left after local officials complained their presence was escalating tensions.
- Seven people were arrested in connection to a Black Lives Matter protest in Tempe on Monday night, according to officials.
- Police say a man captured on surveillance video breaking windows at a south Minneapolis auto parts store in the days after George Floyd’s death is suspected of ties with a white supremacist group and sought to incite racial tension.
Police identified the 32-year-old suspect through an emailed tip last week and, though police will not release his name, he is understood to be a Hell’s Angels member who was bent on stirring up social unrest.
- A GOP state lawmaker in Alabama is facing criticism and calls for his resignation after he posted on social media about honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate army general and founder of the Ku Klux Klan.
“Had a great time at Fort Dixie speaking and giving the invocation for Nathan Bedford Forrest annual birthday celebration,” Rep. Will Dismukes wrote in a since-deleted post.
- The American Civil Liberties Union petitioned a federal court to hold federal agents in contempt for alleged attacks on journalists and legal observers at protests in Portland.
- A Black family in Florida received a racist note last week over decorations outside their home celebrating their twin daughters’ graduation from high school.
Trump Administration
- The Trump administration says it will renew deportation protections for DACA recipients for one year instead of the usual two years while it reviews the Supreme Court ruling that stopped Trump from ending DACA. But, any new applications for DACA will be rejected.
- Attorney General William Barr faced criticism from Democrats as he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee.
For a thorough recap of the proceedings, visit The Hill https://bit.ly/thehillbarr
- The head of the Park Police said he knew that President Trump was going to Lafayette Square on June 1, but denied that was why protesters were cleared from the area before the president’s visit, which ended with him posing with a Bible outside St. John’s Church.
- California sued the Trump administration to require it to count undocumented immigrants in the census for the purpose of allocating congressional representation.
Presidential Campaign
- Rock legend Neil Young said he is now exploring the possibility of suing President Trump for using his music after previously saying he believed he had no legal recourse against it.
- A nonpartisan watchdog filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee alleging President Trump’s reelection campaign broke the law by “laundering” $170 million in spending in an effort to conceal payments to people close to the Trump family and campaign.
- Joe Biden Tweeted: “My housing plan will give a $15,000 tax credit to first-time home-buyers, expand affordable housing, and reverse President Trump’s efforts to gut fair housing enforcement. We’re going to remove the barriers to homeownership that hold back too many Americans of color.”
- Joe Biden told reporters he would name his running mate in the first week of August, days before he formally accepts his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
- Joe Biden was photographed during an event holding talking points about Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a former rival in the Democratic presidential primary who is in top contention to be his running mate.
Sources: ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post
The Past 24 Hours Or So 