Diesel prices hit record $6 as Trump presses Ukraine on oil strikes
A second federal judge late on Sunday prevented the Trump administration from implementing a new U.S. Postal Service rule that would tighten mail-in voting requirements, while the Supreme Court continues to weigh the administration’s request to overturn a separate order blocking the rule.
District Judge Carl J. Nichols in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction against the rule, which was issued on Aug. 21. The rule stems from an executive order Trump issued earlier this year. Election officials have said it would be impossible to implement the changes this close to a general election.
“Plaintiffs have demonstrated that, absent an injunction, there is an increased risk that a significant number of otherwise appropriate absentee or mail-in ballots will ultimately not be counted in the upcoming elections,” Nichols wrote. “The public has a strong interest in ensuring that doesn’t happen.”
Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, had refused to issue an injunction in May, ruling that a lawsuit seeking one was brought too early. That was the Supreme Court’s reasoning late last month when it lifted an earlier freeze issued by District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama. After the administration issued its latest rule to move ahead with Trump’s plan, plaintiffs in Boston and Washington refiled their lawsuits.
Separately, Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. His comments came after diesel prices in the U.S. hit a record on Friday.
In other developments, British ministers are facing calls to act after US authorities secretly flew a UK diplomat accused of possessing indecent images of children out of the country, according to reports. US officials reportedly raided the diplomat’s London flat in August before taking him to an American airbase and flying him out of the country, without warning the Metropolitan police.
A coroner in Pennsylvania announced the death of a 40-year-old woman associated with the state’s ongoing measles outbreak, the third death reported. Two previous deaths were in infant children — in one case, an infant born with a genetic defect that made her vulnerable to infection, and in the second case, an infant infected with measles who died of a ruptured spleen.
Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin said he had to swim to safety after a plane he was traveling in made an emergency landing in a lake late Saturday. Tiffany said he was returning from the La Crosse county Lincoln Day Dinner when the light aircraft lost power as it approached Wausau downtown airport. The pilot made an emergency landing in Lake Wausau, and both ended up in the water and swam to safety.
A newly unveiled statue of Charlie Kirk — described by The Guardian as a rightwing activist — was vandalized with red spray paint at the Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. A nearby poster memorial in front of the statue was also vandalized with red paint.
Former President Barack Obama, speaking at a closed-door fundraiser in Manhattan last week, urged Democrats to prioritize a “public conversation” about artificial intelligence management and safety, according to a report. He reportedly called for a sweeping framework addressing areas from a safety “slow-down” to domestic job losses and children’s wellbeing.