Trump ally Bannon enters innocent plea
Stephen Bannon, the former Trump White House adviser who was indicted last week after defying a congressional subpoena, has pleaded innocent to contempt-of-Congress charges, but no trial date was set after his lawyers said in a Thursday hearing that pretrial preparation could be lengthy.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols agreed to waive formal arraignment Thursday for Bannon, 67, who entered his plea in writing Wednesday. Bannon and his attorneys appeared by video to discuss the status of the case.
Bannon has refused to comply with an order from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection to turn over records and testify about his actions leading up to the attack, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol trying to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's Electoral College win.
Democrats and a handful of anti-Trump Republicans argue that the indictment was necessary to enforce subpoenas issued by the Jan. 6 committee to associates of former President Donald Trump who are resisting cooperation.
Trump has maintained that he will use executive privilege claims to defy the House select committee's requests,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Vaughn told Nichols that "In our view, it's a very straightforward case about whether the defendant showed up."
But Bannon attorney Evan Corcoran said that the case was likely to be far more complicated.
NASA warns of more space station peril
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The International Space Station remains at increased risk from orbiting debris after this week's Russian weapons test, NASA said Thursday.
On Monday, Russia launched a missile to destroy a satellite at a slightly higher obit than the space station.
NASA said late Wednesday that the highest threat to the station and its seven residents was in the first 24 hours. Hatches between many of the station compartments were closed as a precaution, but they were reopened Wednesday.
The U.S. Space Command is tracking more than 1,500 satellite fragments, but hundreds of thousands of pieces are too small to see. NASA and the State Department have condemned the missile strike, saying it also puts satellites and China's space station at risk.
NASA said it's reviewing an upcoming spacewalk to replace a bad antenna and other station operations to assess the risks. The space agency also plans continued inspections for potential damage.
The space station currently is home to four Americans, two Russians and one German.
FCC votes to allow texting to hotline
U.S. regulators are requiring telephone companies to allow people to text as well as call a new "988" number for the suicide-prevention hotline.
The Federal Communications Commission last summer voted to require phone companies to support the 988 number for people to call to reach an existing suicide-prevention hotline. Recognizing that texting is critical to Americans, particularly young people and those who are deaf, have hearing loss or speech disabilities, the commission on Thursday voted 4-0 to require a texting option as well.
"For millions of us, especially young people and those with disabilities -- they are more likely to text than they are to call when they are in crisis," said FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during the agency's meeting Thursday.
Currently, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline uses a 10-digit number, 800-273-TALK (8255), which routes calls to about 170 crisis centers. Phone companies have until July 2022 to implement the 988 number for both calling and texting. The FCC said Thursday that the country's largest cellphone companies AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon already support calling 988.
Texas school district under rights probes
SOUTHLAKE, Texas -- A Texas school district is facing civil-rights investigations amid allegations of discrimination based on race and sexual orientation.
The civil-rights office of the U.S. Department of Education is conducting three investigations involving the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
"We can confirm that OCR has opened three investigations at the Carroll Independent School District into allegations related to discrimination based on race, color, national origin, or sex," a spokesman for the Department of Education wrote in an email.
Complaints begin three years ago when two videos of white students chanting racial slurs went viral. The complaints include a pending lawsuit accusing school board members using text messages to discussing a cultural action plan in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Most recently, Carroll's administrator told teachers that if they have books about the Holocaust in their classrooms, they should also have books that offer "opposing" or "other" viewpoints on the subject.
Karen Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for the school district, said in an email that the district is fully cooperating with the investigations.