At least 11 dead after record-breaking snowstorm swept across the South

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Thursday issued a nationwide injunction blocking the Trump administration from freezing federal funding without going through Congress — offering a scathing critique of what he said was the White House’s attempt to disrupt the separation of powers.

The judge, U.S. District Judge John McConnell, had already issued a temporary order in January blocking the freeze. Thursday’s injunction effectively finalized that order and will allow the Trump administration to appeal the ruling — though they had already tried to do so and were denied.

The injunction prohibits the Trump administration from “reissuing, adopting, implementing, giving effect to, or reinstating under a different name” a short-lived directive issued by the Office of Management and Budget that froze billions in funds.

“The Executive’s categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government,” McConnell wrote in Thursday’s ruling. “The interaction of the three co-equal branches of government is an intricate, delicate, and sophisticated balance — but it is crucial to our form of constitutional governance. Here, the Executive put itself above Congress.”

Judge McConnell noted that his order is “not limiting the Executive’s discretion or micromanaging the administration of federal funds,” but rather it reiterates the limit of the president’s power.

“Rather, consistent with the Constitution, statutes, and caselaw, the Court is simply holding that the Executive’s discretion to impose its own policy preferences on appropriated funds can be exercised only if it is authorized by the congressionally approved appropriations statutes,” he wrote.

In his ruling, the judge offered a history lesson to explain why the funding freeze was unlawful.

“We begin by restating the American government principles learned during critical civics education lessons in our youth. Our founders, after enduring an eight-year war against a monarch’s cruel reign from an ocean away, understood too well the importance of a more balanced approach to governance, ” Judge McConnell wrote. “These concepts of ‘checks and balances’ and ‘separation of powers’ have been the lifeblood of our government, hallmarks of fairness, cooperation, and representation that made the orderly operation of a society made up of a culturally, racially, and socioeconomically diverse people possible.”

Regarding a claim made by a group of 22 state attorneys general about unlawfully freezing millions in FEMA funding, Judge McConnell ordered the Trump administration to issue a report to the court detailing their compliance — or lack thereof — with the court’s preliminary injunction.
 

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(OXFORD, OHIO) — A fraternity at Miami University in Ohio has been suspended after a student complained of “inhumane” hazing, according to a hazing incident report obtained by ABC News.

According to the report, which was made by a member of another fraternity, an unnamed student was “coerced and forced into accepting a Bid at Sigma Alpha Epsilon,” after which he was allegedly “hazed for multiple days and was forced to cut communication with all others.”

The student was allegedly “required to ingest an entire can of chewing tobacco and then do a handstand.” He vomited as a result, and “was then told to eat the throw up,” though the report states he did not.

Students pledging the fraternity were also “forced to do wall sits while covered in baby oil” and forced to drink every time they slipped, the report states.

They were allegedly also forced to stay in a basement and not permitted to leave except for food and showers, it states.

In a message the alleged victim showed the reporting student, an active member allegedly threatened a pledge, saying he would hold a “12 gauge down his throat and watch his brain splatter.”

As a result of the alleged hazing, the unnamed student contacted the student who made the report and asked to join his fraternity instead, saying Sigma Alpha Epsilon “was not the right fit for him,” the report states.

“During this phone call I noticed that his voice sounded shaky and fearful,” it states.

Upon informing Sigma Alpha Epsilon he would be dropping out of the pledging process, members allegedly tried to convince him to stay, according to the report.

Members “said things such as ‘the first week is always the hardest’ ‘you’ll see why we do all the things we do’ ‘we all had to go through it’ ‘some of the guys haze just to haze,'” the report states.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was suspended as a result of the hazing incident report, the student newspaper, The Miami Student, first reported.

A spokesperson for the university did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News but confirmed the suspension in a statement to local ABC affiliate WCPO.

“A Miami University Greek organization (Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity) is under investigation and its activities have been summarily suspended by the Office of Community Standards for allegations of hazing,” the statement said.

The fraternity chapter, as well as the national organization, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Much-anticipated rain could be headed to drought-stricken Southern California this weekend — but rainfall also brings the threat of landslides in the wake of Los Angeles County’s devastating fires.

Rain and mountain snow are expected in Southern California on Saturday and Sunday.

Rainfall rates are expected to be light, up to 1 inch over the course of the weekend.

But thunderstorms are possible; lightning could spark new fires and the thunderstorms would cause heavier rainfall.

Heavy rain over the vulnerable wildfire burn scars would be extremely dangerous because it could lead to landslides.

The extreme burn scars are the result of the Palisades and Eaton fires, which erupted on Jan. 7. The wildfires ripped across the LA communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, destroying neighborhoods, claiming more than two dozen lives and forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate.

“We’ve never seen a burn scar in an urban area of this scope and magnitude,” LA City Council member Traci Park said Tuesday.

“I normally pray for rain. God knows, we generally need it,” Park said during a news conference. “But right now, let me point out the obvious: The burn scar of the Palisades Fire not only sits feet from the ocean itself, but already on hillsides that are already prone to slide, and which have already absorbed a tremendous amount of water from firefighting, broken pipes and melted pools.”

“Adding water to this mess and saturated, unstable hillsides is the last thing we need,” she continued. “But we already know at some point, it’s going to happen. And let me remind folks burn scars don’t absorb water at a normal rate. They simply add to the risk of floods, landslides and debris flow.”

LA Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order on Tuesday to shore up the burn areas ahead of the rain.

“This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravished by fire, and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,” Bass said during the news conference. “The action plan I have directed our city Public Works bureaus to implement includes the installation of barriers, debris removal and diverting runoff from our stormwater system and into our sewer system where it can be treated.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that he’s deploying specialized debris flow teams to Southern California ahead of the rain.

Among the state resources will be more than 400 California Conservation Corps members who’ll “be working on watershed protection at firestorm burn scar areas to place silt fencing, straw wattles, and compost socks to act as physical barriers to filter contaminants found in rainwater runoff,” the governor’s office said. “More Corpsmembers will be trained to augment capacity in the coming days.”

More than 80 California National Guard service members are also headed to the scene “with 2 dozers, 1 excavator, 1 loader, 4 dump trucks and other engineering assets to haul 527,000 cubic yards of materials in local debris basins,” the governor’s office said.

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