America's Talking

(The Center Square) − Court records reviewed by The Center Square show a pattern in which defendants in Orleans Parish initially facing multiple felony weapons charges have had the vast majority of those charges dismissed, often as part of plea deals that result in minimal jail time and little long-term supervision. Meanwhile, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office, led by District Attorney Jason Williams, revealed last week that they have refused nearly 40% of felony cases in the last year. Take the case of Tyrone Howard, for instance. Arrested in September 2023 and charged with eight counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, along with illegal weapons possession and drug charges, Howard was facing a potential years-long sentence if convicted on all counts. 

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Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/louisiana/article_741d224e-e7a7-47d2-af48-99c78e90a1e9.html

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(The Center Square) – Ten people have been arrested so far in a “planned ambush” of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in north Texas. On July 4, the Alvarado Police Department announced that one of its police officers had been shot in the neck after responding to a call without stating the incident occurred outside of an immigration facility. It was the first of two officer involved shootings outside of a federal immigration facility in Texas this week, The Center Square first reported.

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Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/texas/article_a0a1ea2f-c61f-4311-8846-0726c9175e9b.html

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(The Center Square) – Gov. Greg Abbott announced a new agenda for a special legislative session to begin July 21. After the regular legislative session concluded in May, Abbott vetoed 26 bills and called a special session to address six legislative priorities, The Center Square reported. After the historic July 4 flooding and catastrophic loss of life, he announced a revised session agenda that prioritizes emergency preparedness and many other issues. The session will convene at noon July 21 and last for 30 days with the possibility of being extended by another 30 days.

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Full story: 

Gov. Abbott revises special session agenda to include emergency preparedness

Texas Hill Country death toll reaches 119, with 173 missing statewide

Meteorologists debunk 'cloud seeding conspiracy theorists'

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(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump traveled to Florida Tuesday to visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ the new, quickly constructed immigrant detention center that will hold up to 5,000 foreign nationals facing deportation. “Very soon, this facility will house some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet,” Trump said at a panel Tuesday. The facility – which might ultimately look more like a deportation camp – is the nearly 40-square-mile Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Miami-Dade County. Nestled amidst the wetlands of the Big Cypress National Preserve and with a nearly 11,000-foot runway, it was selected to be quickly transformed into a deportation site. It is typically used for military training.  

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Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_7908ce1e-4815-4e6e-ad2a-353ff30e71d3.html

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(The Center Square) – Against all odds, U.S. House Republicans finally united around the Senate-revised “big, beautiful bill” and passed it in a 218-214 vote Thursday afternoon, sending the multitrillion-dollar budget reconciliation package to the president’s desk. The bill’s passage marks yet another herculean feat by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who not only persuaded – with President Donald Trump’s help – the most recalcitrant GOP holdouts to vote for the bill as is, but also passed it by a self-imposed July 4 deadline. The $3.3 trillion megabill, formerly titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, hikes the debt ceiling by $5 trillion and implements the bulk of Trump’s tax, energy, border and defense agenda. 

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Full story:  https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_0000b183-fc4d-4f26-b600-3dd62984e978.html

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(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump heads home from the NATO summit in the Netherlands touting a slew of international successes, including the member nations committing to more than doubling their defense spending. NATO partners, comprised of 32 member nations, agreed to Trump’s demands that the countries increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP. The proposal initially had been met with resistance, given that the current spending threshold is 2%. However, in recognition of Russian aggression and terrorism threats on member nations, the leaders agreed to increase their spending by 2035 substantially. 

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Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_0e44637e-c752-476f-95f5-713c05ab3d5b.html

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(The Center Square) – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday that the U.S. gained nothing from its strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Khamenei, in his first public comments since a ceasefire with Israel on Tuesday, said the U.S. "gained no achievements" from strikes on Fordow, a key nuclear site in Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the strikes "obliterated" Iran nuclear facilities. On Wednesday he assessed Iran's nuclear program was destroyed. 

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Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_743ba3d3-b5f8-4858-9442-2810641cb4b5.html

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(The Center Square) – As the conflict between Israel and Iran closes in on a week since it began, President Donald Trump won’t say if U.S. will get involved in the conflict. Despite dire warnings from Iran against the U.S. and its potential involvement, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Iranians want to meet, adding they want to come to the White House. However, he appeared to throw water on the idea, adding the Islamic Republic should have made a deal.

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Full story: 

https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_5814eeb9-2b77-4f3c-b9cb-21a483161e11.html

https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_a6925015-3bad-4478-bc01-423c29f645bd.html

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(The Center Square) – Federal stalking and murder charges have been filed against 57-year-old Vance Boelter in a 20-page charging document on Monday in what was described as the “stuff of nightmares.” Boelter is expected to have a 1:30 p.m. Monday appearance in federal court in St. Paul. The charges include firearms offenses, stalking using interstate commerce and murder for the stalking and killing of Minnesota House Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman and her husband along with the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and his wife. The Hoffmans are expected to make a full recover.

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Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/minnesota/article_b97e3a4a-6a08-4982-90cd-531dc7a5ad4e.html

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(The Center Square) – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants the state to take over some funding of government services for rural, thinly-populated fiscally constrained counties and allow them to eliminate their property taxes. DeSantis made the statement at an economic development announcement in Crawfordville on Monday. His estimate of how much this would cost Florida taxpayers would be about $300 million per year, a drop in the bucket of the nearly $50 billion in general fund spending that is part of a tentative budget deal by lawmakers.

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Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/florida/article_02bc5827-0aca-4bda-a991-5fbf6333225a.html

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