IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Friday's Mini-Report, 5.20.16

Today's edition of quick hits.
Today's edition of quick hits:
 
* White House: "A man was shot outside the White House grounds after approaching a checkpoint with a gun and refusing commands to drop it, officials said. The White House was placed on lockdown after the shooting near 17th and E streets. The shooting was reported shortly after 3 p.m."
 
* Flight MS804: "Egypt's military said it found the first pieces of a missing EgyptAir passenger plane -- though there were no signs officials were any closer to solving the puzzle of what sent the aircraft falling out of the sky."
 
* News out of Oklahoma, Part I: "Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday vetoed a measure that would have banned abortion in Oklahoma, saying the bill was vague and would not withstand a criminal constitutional legal challenge."
 
* News out of Oklahoma, Part II: "A grand jury investigation into Oklahoma's execution mistakes during 2015 found that the department of corrections and others in the process 'failed to perform their duties' with the care and attention required when attempting to carry out capital punishment."
 
* News out of Oklahoma, Part III: "No, states can't actually impeach U.S. presidents. But Oklahoma Republican lawmakers are urging Congress to take up their cause. Reuters reports the Republican-dominated state legislature filed a measure Thursday calling for Obama's impeachment over the administration's recent recommendations that public schools accommodate transgender students in bathrooms."
 
* Maybe someone should let congressional Republicans know: "More than 270 pregnant women in the U.S. are infected with the Zika virus and are at risk of their babies being born with birth defects, federal health officials announced Friday."
 
* Given California's size, this may be a very important policy: "The state Senate on Thursday approved sweeping new restrictions on using guns in California... Lawmakers approved 11 bills including measures mandating background checks for Californians buying ammunition and outlawing the manufacture and sale of semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines."
 
* Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan "on Thursday became the latest state leader to sign contentious legislation restricting civil asset forfeiture -- the process that allows police to seize and keep property suspected of being connected to illegal activity without having to convict, or even charge, the owner with a crime."
 
* Virginia: "A federal judge has upheld Virginia's voter ID law challenged by the Democratic Party of Virginia and two voters alleging the Republican-controlled state legislature enacted it to curb the number of young and minority voters."
 
* Sounds like a problem: "A federal judge with a history of anti-immigrant sentiment ordered the federal government to turn over the names, addresses and 'all available contact information' of over 100,000 immigrants living within the United States. He does so in a strange order that quotes extensively from movie scripts and that alleges a conspiracy of attorneys 'somewhere in the halls of the Justice Department whose identities are unknown to this Court.'"
 
* Science matters: "'Oregon school board bans books that question climate change,' charges an explosive headline in the Washington Times. There go those intolerant liberals again! Except the story does not actually describe a book ban. It describes a ban on 'textbooks and other teaching materials that deny climate change exists or cast doubt on whether humans are to blame.' Which is to say, the school is requiring its science textbooks to teach science rather than pseudoscience."
 
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.