Trump OK'd to Intervene in House Battle for Tax Records
President Donald Trump can intervene in a case that seeks to lift the shroud over his tax records, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
By MEGAN MINEIRO
Justice Dep't Says Reforms Spurred Inmate Releases
More than 3,100 inmates will be released from federal custody Friday as a result of sentencing changes made in the sweeping criminal-justice reform bill that became law in December.
By TIM RYAN
50 Years After Moon Landing, NASA Eyes Trip to Mars
Fifty years ago the world stopped to watch in awe as Apollo 11 astronauts walked on the moon. The semi-centennial has rekindled NASA’s interplanetary ambitions. Tapping into a vibrant U.S. space industry, it’s eyeing the moon as a stepping stone to Mars.
By CAMERON LANGFORD & JAMES PALMER
Witness in Mueller Probe Faces New Sex Crime Charges
A witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference of the 2016 election, already accused of possessing child pornography, was indicted Friday on charges of transporting a 14-year-old boy from Europe to Washington, D.C. for sex.
By BRANDI BUCHMAN
International News
Dutch Supreme Court Affirms Nation’s Role in 1995 Massacre
The Dutch Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Netherlands’ liability for the deaths of hundreds of Muslim men killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, but reduced the amount of potential compensation for victims’ families.
By MOLLY QUELL
Iran Says It Seized British Oil Tanker in Strait of Hormuz
Iran said Friday it seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a fresh escalation in confrontations in the strategic waterway that has become a flashpoint in tensions between Tehran and the West.
Race to 2020
White House Hopefuls Woo Iowa Seniors at Forum
Sen. Elizabeth Warren led a group of four Democratic presidential hopefuls at an Iowa forum that focused on perennial issues that are important to older voters.
By TED WHEELER
Secret Files Revealed in NC Gerrymander Case
Formerly secret files of a deceased mapmaker were displayed for the first time publicly in a Raleigh court Friday in a lengthy trial to determine if Republicans unfairly gerrymandered state political districts in their party’s favor.
By ERIKA WILLIAMS
Smollett Fights Appointment of Special Prosecutor
Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett continues to assert that he was a victim in his hate crime fiasco, arguing in court papers filed Friday that an Illinois judge should not have ruled to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate how his criminal case was handled.
By LISA KLEIN
Department Commits to Abortion Gag Rule as White House Signals Delay
At federal agency and court levels, the resources America makes available to couples dealing with unwanted pregnancies suffered twin setbacks heading into the weekend.
By JACK RODGERS
Judge Leans Toward Slash of $2 Billion Roundup Cancer Verdict
A federal judge correctly predicted that $2 billion in punitive damages awarded to a Livermore, California, couple who attributed their cancer to the weed killer Roundup would likely be drastically cut down – though by how much remains to be seen.
By MARIA DINZEO
Painting, Stolen by Nazi Soldier, Is Back in Florence Museum
A Dutch still-life painting, stolen by retreating Nazis and sent by a German soldier as a present to his wife, came back to a Florence museum on Friday, thanks largely to a relentless campaign by the Uffizi Galleries’ director, a German.
Columns
By ROBERT KAHN
There Was a Time When Words Had Meaning
The Central Americans being arrested at the border are not “migrants,” and they are not being held in “shelters” or “facilities.” They are “people” being held in “prisons.”
Suit Over Iowa Ban on Medicaid for Trans Care Tossed
An Iowa judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by two transgender Iowans and a gay rights advocacy group challenging the constitutionality of a law that exempts sex reassignment operations from coverage under the state’s Medicaid program.
By ROX LAIRD
NYC Owes Cabbies Hearing on License Suspensions
Reviving a suit by taxi drivers who endured license suspensions after criminal arrests, the Second Circuit ruled Friday that New York City did not give the drivers a fair hearing, as is due with their very livelihoods on the line.
By ADAM KLASFELD
Read the Nightly Brief
DC Circuit Affirms Conviction of Capitol Gun-Toter
A year and a half after his victory at the Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit on Friday rejected an argument from a self-proclaimed “constitutional bounty hunter” that his 2014 guilty plea should be invalidated because a ban on guns on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol is a violation of the Second Amendment.
By TIM RYAN
Former Employee Files Suit Against Tesla After Whistleblower Complaint
Following a whistleblower complaint filed last year, a former Tesla employee filed a federal lawsuit in Nevada Friday against the company and CEO Elon Musk, claiming he was wrongfully let go from his job after filing the complaint.
By JON PARTON
EPA Dodges Suit Over Ditched Mining Regulation Proposal
After the Trump administration deep-sixed plans to give hardrock-mining companies a pass on proving their financial ability to tackle cleanup costs in the event of a spill, the D.C. Circuit shot down a challenge Friday to force the regulatory change.
Judge Unseals Warrant Used to Search Journalist's Phone
The public will soon learn what information San Francisco police used to seize a reporter’s phone records in violation of California’s journalist shield law after an 11-page warrant was ordered unsealed Thursday.
By NICHOLAS IOVINO
Katy Perry Testifies in 'Dark Horse' Copyright Trial
Pop star Katy Perry told a federal jury Thursday at the opening of a copyright infringement trial that she never heard the Christian rap song “Joyful Noise” and it never factored into the creative process for her hit song “Dark Horse.”
By MARTIN MACIAS JR.
Albuquerque Panhandling Law Ruled Unconstitutional
A federal judge Thursday ruled that an Albuquerque law against panhandling violates the First Amendment, and invalidated all of it except the parts “related directly to prohibiting pedestrians from standing in travel lanes.”
By VICTORIA PRIESKOP
Trump to Nominate Eugene Scalia for Labor Secretary
President Trump said Thursday he will nominate attorney Eugene Scalia, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to be his new labor secretary.
Camp Fire Victims Outraged at PG&E's Proposed Rate Hike
Not a single one of the nearly 100 people who spoke Thursday at a utility regulator’s public workshop about Pacific Gas & Electric’s intended rate hike spoke in favor.
By MATTHEW RENDA
Trump Says US Navy Shot Down Iranian Drone
The United States downed an Iranian drone that was threatening a U.S. ship in the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
By TIM RYAN
US Judge Denies Bail for Ex-Peruvian President Toledo
A United States judge has denied bail for former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo after prosecutors argued he was a flight risk and pointed out officials found a suitcase with $40,000 in cash during his arrest.
House of Commons Tries to Stop Tories' No-Deal Brexit
With Britain set to get a new pro-Brexit leader within days, lawmakers on Thursday erected a roadblock in the path of any attempt by the incoming prime minister to take the country out of the European Union without a divorce deal.
Ukraine's President Backs Prisoner Swap With Russia
Ukraine’s president on Friday outlined the details of an impending prisoner swap with Russia, saying that Kiev is willing to release a jailed Russian journalist in exchange for a Ukrainian film director.
Walt Girdner was born in central Iowa in 1922, one of five children. His father took a job as a Christian minister in Alameda after the family moved to California in 1925. Growing up during the Great Depression, Walt worked double shifts at a cannery to make money for college. He attended Stanford where he put together a string of letters and wins, running the quarter and half-mile. An invitation to join the U.S. Olympic team was negated by World War II and cancellation of the games. During the war, he disembarked in Normandy, fought in the infantry and marched into Germany .
As a young man, he developed an interest in imagery, first through drawing then through the developing technology of photography. Although he left the church where his mother and father were pastors, he kept a lifelong faith in the power and mystery of the natural environment, seeing in its beauty an overriding and everlasting spiritual force. His subjects focused on people and their settings. Farmers, flower sellers, youth were recurring themes.
He traveled in large part to find new images and capture them, in France at first, then the rest of Europe and later Africa and Mexico. Towards the end of his life, Walt focused on images in nature, including letters and numbers that emerged through abalone shells, beach tableaus and patterns in the sand. He had faith that imagery was a powerful way to communicate and believed young people were much better at interpreting the language of imagery, gifted with imaginations more agile and unencumbered.
