No Drilling:  A federal judge in Alaska has ruled that President Trump’s executive order lifting an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the North Atlantic coast is unlawful.

  Judge Sharon Gleason decided that President Barack Obama’s protection of  about 120 million acres of Arctic Ocean and about 3.8 million acres in the Atlantic “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress.” She said Trump exceeded his authority.

  The decision immediately reinstates the drilling ban on most of the Arctic Ocean off Alaska, an unspoiled wild region where polar bears and bowhead whales roam. Along the Atlantic coast, it blocks drilling around a series of coral canyons that run from Norfolk, Va., to the Canadian border. 

  This adds to Trump’s record of losing about 40 environmental court cases, but of course this one will be appealed, probably all the way to the Supreme Court. What’s going to be tested is whether a President can reverse legally authorized environmental decisions of a previous President just because he doesn’t like them 

Money Wall:  President Trump announced that he plans to stop aid to three Central American countries because they aren’t doing enough to stem the flow of their citizens fleeing to the Unites States.

  “I’ve ended payments to Guatemala, to Honduras and El Salvador. No more money is going there anymore,” Trump told reporters. “We were giving them $500 million. We were paying them tremendous amounts of money, and we’re not paying them anymore because they haven’t done a thing for us.”

  Foreign aid is intended to make conditions better in the recipient country so, for instance, their citizens won’t leave for a better place to live. Many are leaving home to escape criminal gangs pushing drugs, killing people, and charging protection money from ordiary people.

  Trump’s decision cuts off  nearly $500 million in 2018 aid and millions more left over from the prior fiscal year that has not yet been spent.

  Illegal migration is swelling to meet Trump’s description of it as an invasion. The number of migrant apprehensions along the US -Mexico border has been spiking, with more than 76,000 migrants taken into US custody last month alone.

Congestion: The New York State legislature yesterday passed a law to install “congestion pricing,” a toll on vehicles travelling below 60^thStreet in Manhattan. The money would be funneled into fixing and improving New York City’s beleaguered mass transit.

  They also passed a new tax on the sale of homes valued at $5 million or more. It would top out at 4.15 percent on properties selling for $25 million and beyond.

Serial Story:The podcast Serial  debuted in 2015 with an exhaustively researched story about a former high school student name Adnan Syed who was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend, Hae Nin Lee

  The podcast had tantalizing information that supported both guilt and innocence without coming to a conclusion. No physical evidence connected Syed to the crime, but a trial witness testified that he helped the 17-year-old bury the girl’s body.

  The Baltimore Sunnow reports that prosecutors in preparation for a possible retrial commissioned DNA tests on fingernail clippings, blood samples, a liquor bottle, and condom wrapper. None of the dozen or so items tested positive for Syed’s DNA

  “NOTHING was matched to Syed,” his attorney, C. Justin Brown, announced on Twitter. “There is no forensic evidence linking him to this crime.”

  Prosecutors say the absence of Syed’s DNA doesn’t mean he’s innocent. “These results in no way exonerate him,” said Raquel Coombs, spokeswoman for the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.

  Syed’s quest for a new trial was denied and his lawyer fights on.

Gathering Moss: The Rolling Stones are postponing tour dates in the US and Canada so that Mick Jagger can receive medical treatment. “Mick has been advised by doctors that he cannot go on tour at this time, as he needs medical treatment,” the band announced in a statement.

   Mick tweeted, “I’m devastated for having to postpone the tour but I will be working very hard to be back on stage as soon as I can.”

  No one is saying what the problem is, but Mick is 75, which seems like it should be excuse enough not to go on a rock tour.

Say Again:Pete Buttigieg, the relatively unknown mayor of South Bend, is surging in popularity as a Democratic candidate for President. He’s a Navy veteran of Afghanistan and married to a man 

  Here’s one more important thing you should know about him. It’s pronounced “Boot-edge-edge.”

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