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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 20
WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019
Inside NC well-represented at MLB All-Star Game, page B1
ALEX BRANDON | AP PHOTO
Saluting America President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Karen Pence and others stand as the US Army Band performs and the US Navy Blue Angels flyover at the end of an Independence Day celebration in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Thursday, July 4, 2019, in Washington.
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
Steyer launches 2020 campaign after saying he wouldn’t New York Billionaire investor and activist Tom Steyer said Tuesday he’s joining the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, reversing course after deciding earlier this year that he would forgo a run. Steyer, 62, is one of the most visible and deep-pocketed liberals advocating for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. He surprised many Democrats in January when he traveled to Iowa, home to the nation’s first presidential caucus, to declare that he would focus entirely on the impeachment effort instead of seeking the White House.
As Republicans seek override, Cooper makes budget offer
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
RALEIGH — A lawsuit filed in late June by environmentalist groups is seeking to have recent laws limiting nuisance lawsuits against farming operations declared unconstitutional. Rep. Jimmy Dixon (R-Duplin), senior chair of the House Agriculture Committee told North State Journal that the legislation he helped craft in no way violates the state’s constitution. “We believe that what we have done is in the best interest of agriculture, and we also believe that what we’ve done will stand constitutional if given a fair chance in an unbiased court.” Legislators and agriculture advocates who backed the laws say hundreds of lawsuits were
threatening to put farms out of business when they were not in violation of any laws or regulations. Dixon, along with House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) and Majority Leader John Bell (R-Wayne), released a joint statement after the latest lawsuit, saying, “We will continue to fight for hardworking North Carolina farm families and their communities by opposing any coordinated legal assault that seeks to profit off their livelihoods and potentially shut down their farms.” The Julius L. Chambers Center for Civil Rights, which spun out from the UNC School of Law after the UNC system and N.C. State Bar prevented the university from engaging in the prac-
See HOG FARMS, page A2
LAUREN ROSE | NORTH STATE JOURNAL | FILE
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By Curt Anderson The Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Financier Jeffrey Epstein is entangled in two legal fights that span the East Coast, challenging his underage sexual abuse victims in a Florida court hours after he was indicted on sex trafficking charges in a closely related case in New York. The timing of the New York indictment against Epstein was unexpected, coming as a Florida judge mulled what to do about the government’s violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act in his original plea deal. Epstein’s lawyer Roy Black filed
a response late Monday on the Florida case after a federal judge ruled prosecutors improperly failed to consult victims when cutting a non-prosecution plea deal in 2008 that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser state charges. On Tuesday, two women who say they were Epstein victims years ago gave interviews on network television welcoming the new charges. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who was Miami U.S. attorney when the plea deal was reached, also offered support for the new charges. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’ll look “very closely”
Environmental groups target protections for Judge strikes down farmers with lawsuit rule requiring drug ads to reveal prices
By David Larson and Parker Ferebee North State Journal
Raleigh Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper made a counteroffer to the two-year plan written by Republicans that he’s already vetoed. But GOP leaders remain unconvinced they’ll fail to locate enough votes to override his veto. House Republicans still were trying on Tuesday to persuade enough Democratic colleagues to go against the governor. Cooper told reporters earlier Tuesday about his counteroffer. He still wants to expand Medicaid, block a GOP provision to cut corporate franchise taxes and halt the growth of taxpayer-funded scholarships for children to attend private schools. Senate leader Phil Berger says he won’t negotiate with Cooper unless he stops insisting on Medicaid expansion.
Epstein’s legal woes pile up amid new charges
Rep. Jimmy Dixon (R-Duplin) is pictured at a National Ag Leaders Roundtable August 2018 in Raleigh.
See EPSTEIN, page A2
The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge Monday blocked a major White House initiative on prescription drug costs, saying the Trump administration lacked the legal authority to require drugmakers to disclose their prices in TV ads. The narrow ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., struck down a requirement that was set to go into effect within hours, on Tuesday. Drugmakers had argued that requiring them to disclose list prices amounted to coercion that would violate their free speech rights under the Constitution. But in his 27-page ruling Mehta avoided debating the First Amendment, saying simply that the Trump administration had failed to show it had legal authority under the statutes that govern federal programs such as Medicare to require price disclosure. He wrote that neither the law’s “text, structure, nor context evince an intent by Congress to empower (administrative agencies) to issue a rule that compels drug manufacturers to disclose list prices.” Mehta also said he wasn’t questioning the motives of the Health and Human Services Department, which issued the price disclosure rule. He suggested the administration could See DRUG ADS, page A2