WEATHER
*Partly cloudy this morning and overcast this afternoon high 56
LOCAL
*The Department of Justice wants to help St. Louis build relationships with the community. They plan to give the city around $2 million to hire 15 officers whose job it would be to do that. In exchange the department would have to help the DOJ with federal immigration investigations. The program will go on for 3 years.
NATIONAL
Trump Charitable Foundation To Shutter-
President Trump's charitable foundation is shutting down.
After being elected last year, Trump promised to dissolve the Donald J. Trump Foundation to avoid a conflict of interest. The organization is moving to dole out its remaining assets as soon as possible. The Trump foundation still can't close down completely because it's under investigation by the New York attorney general under suspicion of breaking the state's charity laws.
In 2016, the foundation gave more than $2 million to military and veterans' support organizations like Disabled American Veterans, the Green Beret Foundation and America's VetDogs.
Source: NBC News
White House Shares Roy Moore Position-
The Trump administration is trying to stay out of the Roy Moore fray.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says the Alabama Senate runoff election will be settled by the people of Alabama. During a briefing yesterday, Sanders stepped around more questions about embattled Republican candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of interactions with underage girls.
While Sanders stayed true to the “let voters decide message,” Trump staffer Kellyanne Conway got snagged by “Fox and Friends.” After the usual political chit chat, the hosts asked her about the Moore situation and she lambasted his opponent Doug Jones, saying he’d vote against tax cuts, the border wall, and more. That set up this question from Brian Kilmeade… “So vote Roy Moore?”
Conway was taken by surprise and responded with “I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through. And if the media were really concerned about all these allegations and that’s what this was truly about … Al Franken would be on the ash heap of bygone, half-funny comedians. He wouldn’t be here on Capitol Hill.”
Former judge Moore has denied numerous accusations of sexual misconduct. Moore plans to remain in next month's runoff, despite calls from congressional Republican leaders to drop out.
Source: Washington Post
Whitefish Stops Restoring Puerto Rico Power Because Of Non-Payment-
A company that got a no-bid contract to help repair Puerto Rico's energy system is stopping work because it hasn't been paid. Whitefish Energy pulled its crews yesterday because the commonwealth's utility hasn't paid more than 83-million dollars it owes the company. Puerto Rico awarded a 300-million dollar contract to Whitefish Energy to help restore power after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory's electricity grid.
The Montana-based company had only two full-time employees at the time. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello [[ roh-SAY-oh ]] last month ordered the contract voided. On Friday, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's executive director resigned after documents revealed the authority's attorneys advised not signing the contract with Whitefish Energy.
The company’s CEO says they hired over 500 contractors and subcontractors to get the island back on the grid and noted "It may have not been the best business decision coming to work for a bankrupt island."
PREPA, the island’s utility authority, will not comment while a federal investigation is ongoing.
Source: The Hill
DOJ Is Blocking AT&T Merger; AT&T Responds-
The AT&T -Time Warner union may not happen after all.
The Justice Department is suing to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner. The DOJ believes the combo would reduce competition and innovation by merging Time Warner's content with AT&T's distribution platform. The department argues that the combined company would hinder its rivals by forcing them to spend more to distribute Time Warner networks. The 85-billion-dollar proposed merger has drawn criticism as a dangerous consolidation of the telecommunication and media industries.
The head of AT&T is not happy about the situation and fired back. At a press conference, Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said the DOJ's claim that a merger would have unlawful power in the market defies logic and is unprecedented. He noted that online and streaming platforms reach millions more people than a combination of the companies ever could. Stephenson addressed speculation that the DOJ's move has to do with CNN. He said he doesn't know if the network is the issue, but the company will not part with CNN and won't allow an agreement that gives the perception of compromising the First Amendment.
Some have hinted that the rollback of Net Neutrality rules by the FCC would give AT&T a much greater stake than it has before the merger.
Source: The Verge
SPORTS
*The Blues take on the Oilers tonight
(Photo: Getty Images)