News briefs

Tribune News Service on Jun 12, 2025

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As officers sue over Jan. 6 plaque, Democrats hang replicas

WASHINGTON — Two officers who protected the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack are turning to the courts to try to compel the installation of an overdue plaque honoring law enforcement.

The lawsuit, filed by former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and current Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges, argues that failure to place the plaque violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

“By refusing to follow the law and honor officers as it is required to do, Congress encourages (the) rewriting of history. It suggests that the officers are not worthy of being recognized, because Congress refuses to recognize them,” states the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and names Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin as the defendant.

It comes as Democratic lawmakers are ramping up pressure on their Republican colleagues to install the plaque, which according to statute should have been up on the West Front of the Capitol no later than March 2023.

—CQ-Roll Call

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro says President Trump brings 'chaos' in militarized protest response

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has a message for President Donald Trump: keep your hands off the state National Guard.

In an interview Wednesday with The Washington Post, Shapiro said local and state law enforcement will keep any protests in the Keystone State peaceful without federal or U.S. military meddling.

He accused Trump of sparking "chaos" by deploying the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles in the wake of demonstrations against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown turning violent. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says Trump's takeover of the state's Guard was illegal, and several Democrats say the president has sought to ignite a crisis — not keep peace.

Protests over the administration's aggressive deportation and immigration enforcement tactics have risen in cities across the country, and Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard beyond California. Nearly 2,000 protests against the Trump administration's effort to expand executive power are planned for this weekend.

—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Trump cancels landmark Columbia River agreement with tribes, Washington, Oregon

SEATTLE — A sweeping Biden-era initiative to restore Columbia Basin salmon runs, boost tribal energy development and provide a pathway for dam removal on the Lower Snake River has been canceled by President Donald Trump.

A presidential memorandum issued Thursday revoked the 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, which Trump stated “placed concerns about climate change above the Nation’s interests in reliable energy sources.”

A statement from the White House said Trump’s action “stops the green agenda in the Columbia River Basin.”

The memorandum directs cabinet secretaries to withdraw from agreements stemming from “Biden’s misguided executive action.” The agencies were directed to coordinate with the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality to review and revise environmental reviews related to the agreement, including a revised environmental impact statement underway on dam operations on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

—The Seattle Times

105 South Koreans sue former president for 'emotional damages'

SEOUL, South Korea — It's been a season of legal woes for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

His short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 first landed him in front of the Constitutional Court — which removed him from office later that month — and then in the Seoul Central District Court, where he is now being tried on charges of insurrection.

There is also the group of 105 irate citizens suing Yoon for emotional damages related to his power grab, which sent special forces soldiers to occupy the National Assembly and brought the press briefly under military control.

Filed shortly after South Korean lawmakers voted to overrule Yoon's martial law order last year, the lawsuit is demanding compensation of 100,000 won ($73) for each of its plaintiffs. The first hearing is due later this month.

–Los Angeles Times