3 GOP House members fined for not wearing mask on floor
WASHINGTON — Three House Republicans each must pay $500 fines imposed by the sergeant-at-arms for being warned and then failing to wear a mask on the House floor.
Reps. Brian Mast of Florida, Beth Van Duyne of Texas and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa were all fined, according to an announcement released Friday by the House Ethics Committee.
The three were among 10 Republicans who defied House rules in May requiring the wearing of masks on the floor at the time. Warnings were issued, with the rules providing for fines in the event of a second offense.
Mast and Van Duyne unsuccessfully appealed and Miller-Meeks did not file an appeal to the ethics panel over the infractions. Unless a majority of the bipartisan 10-member committee agrees to the appeal, it is rejected.
Subsequent offenses come with a $2,500 fine.
Although several members have publicly announced their defiance of the House mask mandate, the three are the first to be announced by the Ethics Committee.
—CQ-Roll Call
NC governor vetoes attempt to restrict Down syndrome, race-selective abortions
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a Republican-backed bill Friday that would have banned providers from performing abortions because of a fetus's race or possible Down syndrome diagnosis.
The bill will now head back to the Legislature, where the Republican-led General Assembly could vote to override that veto.
Though the move was widely expected, Republicans' reframing of the bill as a civil rights issue could make it more difficult for some moderate Democrats — particularly those who hail from culturally conservative districts — to follow the governor's lead and vote against the bill.
House Bill 453, known as the Human Life Nondiscrimination Act/No Eugenics, is the first of its kind to make its way through the state Legislature here. The introduction of it placed North Carolina among the ranks of states across the country that have championed Down syndrome-related abortion legislation in recent years, a strategy that some North Carolina Democrats have spoken out against.
The legislation has made its way through numerous discussions, debates and floor votes as the newly conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court gears up to review a Mississippi law banning abortions beyond 15 weeks. That decision could impact abortion access across the country, including in North Carolina.
And the bill made it to Cooper's desk around the same time a federal appeals court struck down a lower court ruling upholding North Carolina's 2019 law to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy — a sign that Republicans have lost the abortion restriction battle, for now.
—The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Biden signs bill designating Pulse nightclub a national memorial
President Joe Biden signed into law Friday the bill designating the site of the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, as a national memorial, according to the White House.
“Just over five years ago, the Pulse nightclub, a place of acceptance and joy, became a place of unspeakable pain and loss,” Biden said. “And we’ll never fully recover, but will remember. ... May no president ever have to sign a monument like this.”
Biden was joined at the White House by First Lady Jill Biden, survivors and family members of the victims of the June 2016 shooting, as well as Florida Congress members and members of the Congressional Equality Caucus. Behind them were names and photographs of the 49 people who died.
The bill designating the National Pulse Memorial, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, passed unanimously earlier this month in the Senate The U.S. House’s version of the bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto along with U.S. Reps. Val Demings and Stephanie Murphy, also passed unanimously in May.
Congress “enshrined in perpetuity a monument to the loss that occurred there,” Biden said. “And an absolute determination that we’re going to deal with this every single solitary day, and make sure that we’re not in a position to see this happen again.”
—Orlando Sentinel
Women accused of stealing $100,000 worth of items using Walmart app
Two Arizona women are in custody after allegedly stealing more than $100,000 in merchandise from several Walmart stores by making it appear they had already paid for items through an app on their mobile phones.
Mary Garcia, 47, and Melinda Rodriguez, 38, were arrested June 17 and charged with multiple counts of organized retail theft, according to reports citing the Mesa Police Department.
The pair allegedly carried out the scheme in several Western states, including Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado and Texas, before they were eventually caught.
An investigation began in March when a loss prevention team noticed a “series of suspicious transactions” involving the store’s touch-free payment app called Walmart Pay.
The app, which the retail giant introduced in 2016, allows shoppers to pay for items using their phones instead of cash and debit cards.
In the self-checkout lane, shoppers are supposed to scan the items and then hold their phones over a QR code that displays on the register.
From there, a chime would indicate the purchase is confirmed, and there’s no need to wait for a receipt.
“The problem was once they reached the checkout, payment was bypassed, and they simply walked out with the unpaid merchandise,” the Mesa Police Department alleged. “By using the app, the suspect gave the appearance that they were paying for the items.”
In Maricopa County, Garcia is accused of walking out of Walmart stores with approximately $72,000 in stolen items, while Rodriguez had allegedly used the same method to steal approximately $34,000 in goods, according to FOX 10 News in Phoenix.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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