The Washington Post - 30.08.2019

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A

ILLINOIS

Appeals court upholds

assault weapons ban

A federal appeals court has

upheld an assault weapons ban

in Chicago and the rest of Cook

County, Ill.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for

the 7th Circuit ruled Thursday

that gun rights advocates

provided no compelling reason

that the court should overturn its

2015 ruling upholding a similar

ban in the Chicago suburb of

Highland Park.

In that ruling, the court said

Highland Park did not violate the

Second Amendment right to bear

arms because residents could

still obtain other types of guns

for self-defense.

Thursday’s unanimous ruling

by a three-judge panel rejected

the argument that the ban in

Cook County, which includes

Chicago, should be assessed

differently because the area has

higher crime rates.

— Associated Press

ALABAMA

Man’s life sentence

for stealing reduced

An Alabama man sentenced to

life in prison for stealing $50.

will have his time cut short after

being resentenced to time served.

News outlets reported that

Alvin Kennard, 58, was ordered

released from prison Wednesday

after serving 36 years.

Court records say Kennard

was given a life sentence in 1983

under Alabama’s Habitual Felony

Offender Act for stealing from a

bakery. Kennard was previously

charged with burglary and grand

larceny, making him eligible to

be sentenced under the act.

Kennard’s attorney Carla

Crowder argued that he would

have received a maximum

sentence of 20 years under new

sentencing guidelines.

Kennard said he will live with

relatives in Bessemer and work

in carpentry.

— Associated Press

Governor apologizes

for blackface skit

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R)

apologized Thursday after a

radio interview described her

wearing blackface during a

college skit in the 1960s.

Ivey issued a statement saying

that she does not remember the

sketch or ever wearing blackface

but wanted to “offer my heartfelt

apologies for the pain and

embarrassment this causes.”

Ivey issued the apology and

released a 1967 recording of an

Auburn University radio

interview her then-fiance, Ben

LaRavia, gave describing the skit.

Ivey at the time was vice

president of the Student

Government Association. He

describes her wearing “black

paint all over her face” in a skit at

the Baptist Student Union party.

Ivey said Thursday that she

did not remember the skit, but

“will not deny what is the

obvious.”

She said “that is not who I am

today.”

— Associated Press

DIGEST

Politics & the Nation

BY CHRISTIAN DAVENPORT

AND PAUL SONNE

President Trump on Thursday
took a key s tep toward reorganiz-
ing the nation’s armed forces to
focus more on the threats posed
in space, formally establishing
the U.S. Space Command.
In a 10-minute ceremony in
the Rose Garden, Trump called
the command’s creation a “land-
mark moment” in protecting
America’s assets in space and
said i t would h elp “defend Amer-
ica’s vital interests in space, the
next warfighting domain, and I
think that’s pretty obvious to
everybody. It’s all about space.”
The White House is still work-
ing toward persuading Congress
to create a Space Force, which
would become the sixth branch
of the military and the first new
one since the Air Force was creat-
ed in 1947. Both the House and
Senate have provisions for a
Space Force in their Pentagon
spending bills, but they differ on
some k ey d etails, such as how the
force would be organized.
In June, the Senate confirmed
Air Force Gen. John W. Raymond
as the c ommander o f Space Com-
mand. Raymond t old reporters in
a briefing before the ceremony
that protecting U.S. assets in
space, i ncluding the satellites the
military depends on for every-
thing from missile defense to
communications, was a critical
mission of the new command.
“I really believe we are at a
strategic inflection point, where
there is nothing that we do in the
joint coalition force that isn’t
enabled by space. Zero,” he said.
The U. S. Space Command is
the nation’s 11th combatant com-
mand. Others include geographic
commands, such as C entral Com-
mand, Africa Command and In-

do-Pacific Command, which

oversee operations in the Middle

East, Africa and Asia, respective-

ly, and functional commands,

such as Transportation Com-

mand, which oversees logistics

across the military, or Strategic

Command, which controls the

nuclear arsenal. Space Command

is the U.S. military’s first new

unified combatant command

since the Pentagon elevated Cy-

ber Command to become a uni-

fied combatant command in

2018. Cyber Command was c reat-
      ed in 2009.
      As of Thursday, Space Com-
      mand counted 287 personnel as-
      signed to it, largely made up of
      those currently deployed with a

unit of U.S. Strategic Command

devoted to space. Raymond said

the Air Force is still deciding

where to locate Space Com-

mand’s headquarters among six

U.S. bases.

The United States military has

had a Space Command before. It

was launched in 1985 and dis-

banded in 2002 as the Pentagon

reorganized in the wake of the

Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Raymond

said the new version is a “differ-

ent command built for a different

environment.”

In particular, he cited advanc-

es by Russia and China that have

rendered space a contested do-

main where the United States

faces threats that it didn’t b efore,

from the jamming of GPS and

communications satellites to the

possibility those satellites could

be shot down. He cited a 2 007

test in which China used a mis-

sile fired from Earth to destroy

one of its own weather satellites.

Fighting e xtraterrestrial life i n

space is not one of the new com-

mand’s m issions, said Stephen L.

Kitay, the deputy assistant secre-

tary of defense for space policy.

“Space Command and the

United States Space Force, at the

end of the day, is focused on life

here on Earth, because space

does impact... our way of war

and our way of life,” Kitay said.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Trump formally launches U.S. Space Command

BY ARELIS R. HERNÁNDEZ

The two U.S. territories in
Hurricane Dorian’s path through
the Caribbean were able to exhale
Thursday as Puerto Rico and the
U.S. Virgin Islands largely es-
caped without severe damage.
The Category 1 hurricane left a
trail of intense rain and darkness
in St. John, where the Virgin
Islands governor was traveling
Thursday after Dorian caused
islandwide power outages. But
fears that the storm could follow
the trail of Hurricane Maria —
which devastated Puerto Rico
two years ago — ended up unreal-
ized as Dorian swerved away
from the island as it headed into
the Atlantic Ocean.
Florida and the southeastern
United States might not fare as
well; Dorian is expected to hit the
U.S. mainland, probably on La-
bor Day. Meteorologists expect
the hurricane to intensify as it
spins northwest over the warm
ocean waters, and it could be-
come a Category 4 storm as it
nears the Florida coast, with
winds greater than 130 mph. But
the storm’s path is uncertain,
potentially targeting anywhere

from Miami to Jacksonville and

points farther north, prompting

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to

expand an emergency declara-

tion to all 67 counties across the

state.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R)

also declared an emergency for

the state’s coastal counties, where

state officials are primarily con-

cerned about flooding in commu-

nities such as Savannah.

“It’s too early to tell, and that’s

part of the struggle,” said Lisa

Rodriguez-Presley, external af-

fairs supervisor for the Georgia

Emergency Management Agency.

“We are preparing for all kinds of

contingencies.... The storm has

slowed and given us time to get

ready.”

The Federal Emergency Man-

agement Agency is moving quick-

ly to wrap up operations in

Puerto Rico and pivot to the

states where life-threatening

storm surge, hurricane-force

winds and blinding rain could

begin to pound the U.S. coastline

by Sunday night into Monday

morning.

While the southeastern states

worry about what might be com-

ing, the U.S. territories in the

Caribbean are worried about

what might have been — govern-

ment officials say they aren’t sure

they’re ready should a major

hurricane make a direct hit, espe-

cially since the islands have not

fully recovered from Maria.

In the Virgin Islands, Gov.

Albert Bryan (D) surveyed the

damage in St. John and St. Thom-

as, where Dorian swept through

with 80 mph winds that downed

power lines and cut off electricity

to thousands of customers. Resi-

dents recorded video footage of

intense rain, flooding and terrify-

ing gusts.

Government officials said that

by first light, public works crews

were clearing roads and utility

workers were repairing power

lines. The government was inves-

tigating one report of a death of

an elderly resident but it ap-

peared she might have suc-

cumbed to natural causes.

Four inches of rain in Puerto

Rico on Thursday from Dorian’s

tail triggered flooding in the

southeast and center of the big

island. Fewer than 1,000 custom-

ers lost power due to the storm,

not much different from a nor-

mal day given Puerto Rico’s fra-

gile power grid, officials said. At

least one person was reported

dead after a fall during the storm,

but government officials have not

confirmed details.

Normalcy resumed on Thurs-

day and by midmorning, Gov.

Wanda Vásquez-Garced released

a copy of Puerto Rico’s first

emergency plan drafted after Ma-

ria, identifying crucial failures in

the island government’s ability to

respond to a disaster.

Hurricane Maria and its after-

math displaced and killed thou-

sands of residents, collapsed tele-

communications and the power

grid, destroyed about 70,

homes and resulted in an esti-

mated $90 billion in overall dam-

ages. Congress has appropriated

nearly half that much in disaster

aid, but a little more than $14 bil-

lion has been spent in Puerto

Rico.

Puerto Rico’s electric and com-

munication infrastructure is an

“extreme vulnerability” for the

U.S. commonwealth and its gov-

ernment’s “excessive bureaucrat-

ic and regulatory procedure”

hampered the response and re-

covery, the emergency plan said.

[email protected]

Expected to intensify as it heads toward Florida,

Dorian was relatively tame in the Caribbean

JABIN BOTSFORD/THE WASHINGTON POST

President Trump, Vice President Pence and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper see the command’s flag unfurled.

BY FELICIA SONMEZ

AND SEUNG MIN KIM

President Trump announced

Thursday that he is canceling a

planned trip to Poland and will

remain in the United States to

monitor Hurricane Dorian, which

is headed toward a potential land-

fall in Florida or elsewhere along

the East Coast by early next week.

The president had been set to

travel to Poland this weekend to

participate in a World War II

commemoration ceremony. Vice

President Pence will make the trip

instead, Trump said.

“To ensure that all resources of

the federal government are fo-

cused on the arriving storm, I

have decided to send our vice

president, Mike Pence, to Poland

this weekend in my place,” Trump

said in the Rose Garden of the

White House during an event fo-

cused on the new space com-

mand. “It’s something very im-

portant for me to be here. The

storm looks like it could be a very,

very big one indeed.”

The official National Hurricane

Forecast predicts Dorian will

reach Category 4 strength while

approaching the eastern coast of

Florida on Monday night.

The president, who returned

from the Group of Seven summit

in France earlier this week, never

appeared t o be enthusiastic about

the second overseas trip and had

already shortened it twice. He

abruptly called off the second half

of the trip, to Denmark, earlier

this month.

Then he seemed prepared to

pare back the Poland trip, skip-

ping a planned visit to a Polish

military base where U.S. forces

serve alongside Polish forces, a

U.S. defense official said before

Trump’s announcement Thurs-

day.

White House officials had be-

gun discussing t he cancellation of

the trip earlier this week, accord-

ing to a person briefed on the

discussions. And Trump has in

recent days repeatedly lashed out

at the media over the coverage of

his G-7 trip.

“The G7 in France was so suc-

cessful, and yet when I came back

and read the Corrupt and Fake

News, and watched numerous

networks, it was not even recog-

nizable from what actually took

place at the Great G7 event!” he

tweeted Tuesday.

Trump said Thursday that he

had informed Polish President

Andrzej Duda of the change in

plans and had conveyed to him

“my warmest wishes and the

wishes of the American people.”

“Our highest priority is the

safety and security of the people

in the path of the hurricane, and I

will be rescheduling my trip to

Poland in the near future,” Trump

said.

Earlier Thursday, Trump tweet-

ed that Dorian “looks like it will be

hitting Florida late Sunday night.”

“Be prepared and please follow

State and Federal instructions, it

will be a very big Hurricane, per-

haps one of the biggest!” he said.

Trump owns several properties

along Florida’s eastern coast, in-

cluding his Mar-a-Lago Club in

Palm Beach and three golf courses

in West Palm Beach, Jupiter and

Doral, west of Miami.

In September 2017, Mar-a-

Lago, along with the rest of Palm

Beach island, was ordered to evac-

uate due to Hurricane Irma.

Pence went to Poland in Febru-

ary.

Duda had most recently visited

the White House in June, when

Trump announced that the Unit-

ed States would be adding 1,

troops to Poland and rolled out a

lavish welcome for Duda that in-

cluded an F-35 flyover that the

two leaders and their wives

viewed from the South Lawn.

Trump and Duda said in a joint

statement during that visit that

the United States would establish

a small forward command head-

quarters for hundreds of Ameri-

can forces in Poland, as well as

combat training centers through-

out the central European country.

In turn, Poland would pay for

those facilities.

Trump has found a natural ally

in Duda, the right-wing leader of

Poland whom Trump has repeat-

edly praised, particularly as the

nation meets its NATO defense

spending obligations while other

countries such as Germany fall

short. Trump said during Duda’s

visit in June that he has a “very

warm feeling for Poland,” and

Duda has pitched a permanent

U.S. base in Poland, which the

Polish leader said would be called

“Fort Trump.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

Anne Gearan, Damian Paletta and

Matthew Cappucci contributed to this

report.

Tr ump cancels trip to

Poland, saying he wants

to monitor hurricane

BRYNN ANDERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Shoppers at a Home Depot in Pembroke Pines, Fla., load their truck with supplies Thursday as they prepare for Hurricane Dorian.

“Our highest priority is

the safety and security

of the people in the path

of the hurricane, and I

will be rescheduling my

trip to Poland in the

near future.”

President Trump