13 RUSSIANS INDICTED FOR MEDDLING IN 2016 ELECTION: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 13 Russians as a brazen scheme “with the stated goal of spreading distrust” toward the U.S. political system, but the charges lay out a litany of cyber skullduggery aimed at a narrower mission: boosting Donald Trump and bashing Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The grand jury charges, secured by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, are replete with examples of how an 80-member team, allegedly bankrolled by a crony of Russian President Vladimir Putin, managed to flood American cyberspace with social media messages backing Trump or echoing some of his campaign’s harshest anti-Clinton themes. The Russians’ tilt toward Trump began in early and mid-2016, it charges – not late in the campaign as previously believed.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article200653109.html

THE 18TH SCHOOL SHOOTING IN 2018 CLAIMS 17 LIVES IN PARKLAND FLORIDA: The suspect in a deadly rampage at a Florida high school is a troubled teenager who posted disturbing material on social media before the shooting spree that killed 17 people and wounded more than a dozen others, according to a law enforcement official and former schoolmates. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said the 19-year-old suspect, Nikolas Cruz, had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for "disciplinary reasons." "I don't know the specifics," the sheriff said. However, Victoria Olvera, a 17-year-old junior, said Cruz was expelled last school year after a fight with his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. She said Cruz had been abusive to his girlfriend. Nikolas Cruz asked to move in with a friend's family in northwest Broward. The family agreed and Cruz moved in around Thanksgiving. According to the family's lawyer, who did not identify them, they knew that Cruz owned the AR-15 but made him keep it locked up in a cabinet. He did have the key, however.
http://www.wral.com/suspect-s-disturbing-social-media-posts-being-dissected/17342131/

ALLEGATIONS SURFACE THAT PREGNANT NC INMATES REMAIN SHACKLED DURING CHILDBIRTH: SisterSong, which focuses on reproductive rights for women of color, said it reached out to the department Jan. 22 after someone from a local medical facility contacted them and said two prisoners were shackled despite medical staff asking that the shackles be removed. "Active labor" is one of a few exceptions to the prison system's restraint policies, which generally require inmates be restrained while outside a correctional facility or a secure transport vehicle. The policy also says new mothers "shall be restrained after birth of the child and the medical authorities have completed their work," but also that she "shall not have her hands restrained while bonding and feeding the baby." "The handcuffs will be removed from an inmate who has recently given birth in order for the inmate to hold her newborn child," the policy states. "The inmate must remain sitting in her bed or chair while holding the newborn child. Leg irons will remain on the inmate."
http://www.wral.com/state-prisons-plan-policy-change-after-reports-of-pregnant-women-shackled-during...

LEGISLATIVE LEADERS HOLD SHAMEFUL KANGAROO COURT SESSION: If anyone needs an example of the kind of abusive, unprofessional and unbusiness-like manner in which the General Assembly operates these days, all they needed to do was witness the conduct Thursday afternoon of the legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee meeting. It was an exercise in abuse by the legislative leadership and an embarrassment to the General Assembly and the citizens of North Carolina it represents. The time, place and manner of the grilling made for a disgusting display. The inquisitors were less concerned with answers than making veiled accusations, playing to their partisan base, the TV cameras and intimidating Lilly and the governor’s office. They owe Lilly, their fellow legislators and the voters who have given them the privilege to represent them, a full and sincere apology.
http://www.wral.com/editorial-legislative-leaders-hold-shameful-kangaroo-court-session/17323763/

AFTER A LONG LIFE OF PUBLIC SERVICE, REP. MICKEY MICHAUX ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: A political fixture in Durham and the General Assembly, N.C. Rep. H.M. “Mickey” Michaux, 87, announced Thursday that he will retire from elected office. After King was assassinated, Michaux said Thursday in a speech at the General Assembly, he told himself he’d never go into politics. Now, after winning 22 elections to represent Durham in the General Assembly, Michaux is in his 43rd year in politics. It’ll be his last, he said Thursday, announcing he doesn’t plan to run for re-election. When he first joined the legislature, he was just the third African-American person ever elected. They decided to band together. “We were referred to as smart Negroes. That was to our face. So we decided we need to have our caucus, so we started the first black caucus,” he said. Michaux touched on his accomplishments in advancing civil rights in his speech to lawmakers Thursday. “I want you to be very careful what you do when I’m not here,” he told them.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article199194364.html