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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sees the Trump White House as a rogues' gallery of flawed people sidetracking the work of the U.S. president, according to excerpts of his forthcoming memoir posted on the news site Axios on Wednesday. President Donald Trump employs a "revolving door of deeply flawed individuals — amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons — who were hustled into jobs they were never suited for, sometimes seemingly without so much as a background check via Google or Wikipedia," Christie, who was a senior adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign, says in his memoir, "Let Me Finish," which is due to be released on Jan. 29. Christie had sought the Republican presidential nomination himself in 2016 before becoming a diligent supporter and surrogate for Trump, but his work with the administration has been limited and he recently withdrew his name from consideration for Trump's chief of staff.

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 20:02:14 -0500

An ad hoc group, called Pay It Furloughed, has set up a website that allows furloughed federal workers or those working without pay to grab a cold one - or two - at several craft breweries in Washington, including Atlas Brew Works, DC Brau and Shop Made in DC. "We are frustrated by the lack of leadership in Washington, D.C. and the negative impact the government shutdown is having on hundreds of thousands of our friends, neighbors and members of our community," reads a statement by Pay It Furloughed, which was set up by Washington community kitchen Mess Hall, food writer Nevin Martell, app developer 3Advance and public relations firm Quixotic.

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 19:52:59 -0500

Workers in public health laboratories are reporting disruptions in the analysis of DNA from food samples involved in foodborne outbreaks, and have raised concerns about a USDA program that tests agricultural commodities for unsafe levels of pesticides, they said. The shutdown is "putting our nation's food supply at risk," Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat, said at a briefing of the House Congressional Food Safety Caucus on Wednesday. Only about a third of the FDA's regular inspections are being carried out, she said.

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 19:39:25 -0500

No negotiations have been scheduled since contract talks with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) collapsed last Friday when union leaders rejected management's latest offer as an "insult." More than 30,000 educators represented by United Teachers Los Angeles walked off the job on Monday, demanding higher pay, smaller classes and more support staff. The mayor's office confirmed that Garcetti, who has expressed support for the teachers' cause, was speaking with both parties individually seeking to nudge them back to the bargaining table. LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Haber declined comment on prospects for renewed talks.

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 19:30:02 -0500

Hasher Jallal Taheb, of the Atlanta suburb of Cumming, was arrested in Gwinnett County on Wednesday and appeared briefly in federal court in downtown Atlanta in a case brought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Byung Pak, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, told reporters. "His alleged intent was to attack the White House and other targets of opportunity in the Washington, D.C., area by using explosive devices, including an improvised explosive device, an anti-tank rocket," Pak told reporters.

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 19:14:42 -0500