Colorado launches platform to report misconduct by federal officers

DENVER — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser rolled out a new online platform for residents to report misconduct by federal officers on Wednesday amid growing public concern about overreach and violence by the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agents.

Weiser’s office has already received at least 180 complaints over the last year about misconduct by federal officers in Colorado, spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said, but the new online tool will “streamline” the process of reporting such claims.

The move comes two weeks after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, a week after federal officers there shot a man in the leg during an attempted arrest, and one day after a police chief in a Minneapolis suburb accused masked federal officers of racially profiling an off-duty officer, surrounding her and demanding to see her paperwork, even though she was a U.S. citizen.

In Colorado, federal officers have raided apartment complexes, going door-to-door to ask about residents’ legal status, arrested immigrants at courthouses and routinely carried out what a federal judge has said were illegal arrests.

—The Denver Post

FCC says 'The View,' 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' may not be exempt from 'equal time' rules for politicians

LOS ANGELES — The Federal Communications Commission is taking aim at broadcast networks’ late-night and daytime talk shows, including ABC’s “The View,” which often feature politicians as guests.

On Wednesday, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued a public notice saying broadcast TV stations would be obligated to provide equal time to an opposing political candidate if an appearance by a politician falls short of a “bona fide news” event.

For years, hosts of “The View,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” have freely parried with high-profile politicians without worrying about being subjected to the so-called “equal time” rule, which requires broadcasters to bring on a politician’s rival to provide balanced coverage and multiple viewpoints.

With the new guidance, FCC appears to take a dim view of whether late-night and daytime talk shows deserve an exemption from the “equal time” rules for stations that transmit programming over the public airwaves.

—Los Angeles Times

Trump’s actions around Greenland ‘dumb as hell,’ Beshear says to world leaders

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear had some choice words to say about President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland.

“Over the course of just one year, this president has taken America from being leader of the free world to the bully on the playground,” Beshear said Jan. 21 in Davos, Switzerland, while attending the World Economic Forum. “From trying to promote democracy worldwide and always standing firm with our allies and friends to saying we can use force just because we can.

“... I don’t curse in public, but this Greenland play by the president is dumb as hell,” he continued. “...It is so damaging, so concerning, and this is not who we are.”

The president also spoke at the conference Wednesday where he publicly said his administration had ruled out using force to take control of Greenland from Denmark. Later in the day, Trump announced there was a “framework” for a future deal concerning Greenland, though he did not share specifics.

—Lexington Herald-Leader

Putin to meet US envoys as Trump pushes for Ukraine peace deal

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said he and Jared Kushner will travel to Russia on Thursday for talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the latest proposals for a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.

“The Russians have invited us to come and that’s a significant statement from them,” Witkoff said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Annmarie Hordern at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. “Jared and I will leave Thursday night and arrive in Moscow late at night.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said he believed Russia and Ukraine “are at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done” during questions following his address to the forum Wednesday. “And if they don’t, they’re stupid — that goes for both of them — and I know they’re not stupid,” he said.

Trump said later he plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. Witkoff said he’ll meet with Ukrainian officials including lead negotiator Rustem Umerov before traveling to Moscow and will then go to the United Arab Emirates for “working groups.”

—Bloomberg News