Land management moving HQ to Colorado
DENVER -- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management Tuesday confirmed the bureau's headquarters would move from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction, Colo., to get it closer to the lands it oversees.
The bureau oversees nearly 388,000 square miles of public land, and 99% is in 12 Western states. Those lands produce oil, gas and coal, and ranchers graze livestock on them as well.
The Interior Department, which oversees the bureau, said about 300 jobs would move to Western states, but fewer than 30 appeared headed to Grand Junction.
The department said about 85 jobs would be shifted to Colorado, with most going to suburban Denver, where the federal government has a large campus with regional offices for several agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management.
The plan to move the government's largest land management office drew a mix of praise, criticism and questions.
"This is a victory for local communities, advocates for public lands and proponents for a more responsible and accountable federal government," Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said.
But Steve Ellis, a retired bureau official who served as deputy director of the agency, questioned how effective senior leaders could be if they are in western Colorado while budget negotiations and briefings for Congress take place in Washington.
The bureau has 9,000 employees who are mostly scattered among 140 state, district or field offices.
Trump accepts ruling on census question
President Donald Trump's administration has agreed to a court order that will formally block it from asking about citizenship on the 2020 census, Justice Department lawyers told a judge.
New York and immigrant advocacy groups successfully sued to block the question. After the Supreme Court ruled against Trump in June, he said he was still considering ways to place a citizenship query on the once-a-decade census. But last week, Trump announced he would drop his bid for a citizenship question and would instead look for other ways to gather the information.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, government lawyers said on Tuesday that they don't oppose an order barring the U.S. from asking about citizenship on the 2020 survey. Census data is used to set political representation and direct the flow of billions of dollars in federal funds.
Furman signed off on the order later on Tuesday. He will keep jurisdiction over the case for purposes of enforcing the order, until the census is completed by the end of 2020.
Judge tightens gag order on Roger Stone
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge Tuesday barred Roger Stone from posting on social media after concluding that the longtime confidant of President Donald Trump repeatedly flouted her gag order.
Stone, who is charged with witness tampering and lying to Congress in the Russia investigation, has used social media repeatedly to disparage the case against him and the broader election interference probe.
Though U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson did not send Stone to jail or find him in contempt, she made clear her anger over behavior that she said was more appropriate for middle school than a court of law.
"You've shown me that you're unwilling to stop talking about the investigation, which means that you're unwilling to conform your conduct to the orders of the court," the judge said.
The social media ban lasts for the duration of the criminal case and extends well beyond an earlier order from February that restricted him from publicly commenting on the case. That order, which Jackson said was "clear as day," was imposed after Stone posted a photo of the judge with what appeared to be cross hairs of a gun.
New York law raises smoking age to 21
ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York will raise its smoking age from 18 to 21 under legislation signed into law Tuesday by the state's governor.
The change, which takes effect in 120 days, will apply to the sales of traditional tobacco products as well as electronic cigarettes and vaporizers.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said too many children and teens pick up smoking despite decades of efforts to snuff out the habit, in part because of marketing aimed at young people.
"By raising the smoking age from 18 to 21, we can stop cigarettes and e-cigarettes from getting into the hands of young people in the first place and prevent an entire generation of New Yorkers from forming costly and potentially deadly addictions," he said in a statement announcing his signature.
According to the American Cancer Society, 95 percent of all smokers begin using tobacco before age 21. Raising the smoking age to 21 -- a proposal the Society dubs "tobacco 21" -- had been a major priority for the group in New York.
Sixteen states have approved raising the smoking age to 21, though in some the changes won't take effect until later in 2019 or in coming years.
A Section on 07/17/2019