Immigration dominated the news, as advocates for migrants
tussled with the Trump administration as it moved to tighten the
southern border to illegal immigrants.
The administration made multiple trips to court and sent
thousands of troops to the U.S.-Mexico line as caravans of Central
Americans sought asylum in the U.S. Yet federal judges have
repeatedly stymied the president's efforts to change immigration
policy.
Among the administration moves at least temporarily blocked by
judges: the ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program for young immigrants; the cancellation of temporary
protected status for immigrants from some Central American
countries and Haiti; and blocking access to the asylum system for
immigrants apprehended crossing the border illegally.
Mr. Trump himself reversed his most controversial enforcement
policy: separating parents and children caught crossing the border
illegally. More than 2,500 children had been separated. Many, but
not all, have since been reunified.
The president did win one significant victory: The Supreme Court
ruled in June that the third iteration of his ban on travel from
certain Muslim-majority countries could be enacted.
The makeup of immigrants arriving in the U.S. continued to
evolve this year away from individuals seeking work and toward
families seeking asylum. Many fled violence-racked countries in
Central America, including El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
A record 107,000 immigrants traveling as families were
apprehended after crossing the U.S. border illegally in the federal
fiscal year that ended in September. But the overall number of
illegal border crossers arrested -- roughly 396,000 -- remains well
below the peak of more than 1.6 million people arrested in
2000.
More recently, multiple caravans involving thousands of Central
American migrants made their way to the border. The president
denounced the caravaners as an "invasion" and sent some 5,000
troops to help reinforce border security, primarily by laying razor
wire.
The mass arrivals combined with the administration's tactics
created lengthy waits to enter the U.S. to seek asylum, as well as
a high-profile attempt by hundreds to cross the Tijuana-San Diego
border that resulted in Border Patrol agents shooting tear gas.
Last week, President Trump threatened to let the federal
government shut down if Congress fails to fund his border wall as
part of negotiations over a year-end spending bill.
Alicia Caldwell
Trump Campaign Figures Aid Mueller Probe
Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian
interference in the 2016 presidential election -- and whether
President Trump or his associates played a role in it -- entered
its second year with new charges and guilty pleas.
Mr. Mueller set his sights on some of Mr. Trump's closest
advisers among more than two dozen individuals, including his
former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen and former campaign adviser
Paul Manafort , as he moved closer to wrapping up the probe.
The investigation, which some Republicans see as politically
motivated, charged 25 Russian citizens and three Russian companies
in two separate cases. Mr. Mueller filed court documents that
detailed an alleged conspiracy by Moscow to interfere in U.S.
politics by stealing emails and unleashing a social media campaign
aimed at inflaming tensions in American society.
The special counsel obtained a guilty verdict against Mr.
Manafort on charges of tax fraud and other financial wrongdoing. In
a separate case, he won a guilty plea and a cooperation deal from
Mr. Manafort, though prosecutors later said Mr. Manafort had
reneged on the deal by lying to them.
In addition, Mr. Mueller charged Mr. Cohen, for years one of the
president's closest confidantes, with lying to Congress about Mr.
Trump's business dealings in Russia.
That came on top of other federal charges Mr. Cohen faced
involving campaign finance and tax-fraud allegations; he pleaded
guilty to eight charges and last week received a three-year prison
sentence. The charges were based in part on payments the lawyer
made to silence women who accused the president of having sexual
encounters with them, including former adult film actress Stormy
Daniels.
Mr. Cohen helped Mr. Mueller's team after pleading guilty.
The special counsel's team also revealed new details about the
extent of former national security adviser Mike Flynn's cooperation
-- detailing 19 meetings to assist in three separate inquires. The
office continues to investigate Roger Stone, another close friend
of Mr. Trump, for his contacts with the antisecrecy website
WikiLeaks. The site published hacked and stolen Democratic emails
during the 2016 campaign.
Mr. Trump, for his part, gave Mr. Mueller written answers to
questions in November after months of wrangling over the terms of
the questioning. The president's complaints about Mr. Mueller grew
increasingly bellicose over the year, as he accused Mr. Mueller of
being "out of control" and pressuring witnesses to lie.
Byron Tau
Kavanaugh Drama Riveted Public
President Trump had the chance to forge the most conservative
Supreme Court majority in decades with the retirement of Justice
Anthony Kennedy in July.
He chose Brett Kavanaugh, a judge admired by conservatives and a
veteran of the George W. Bush White House and Kenneth Starr's
independent counsel team that investigated President Bill
Clinton.
The pick prompted an outcry from liberals, who mounted a vocal
opposition campaign. And that was before Dr. Christine Blasey Ford,
a California professor, came forward to allege the nominee sexually
assaulted her when the two were teenagers, charges he denied.
The allegations set the #MeToo movement on a collision course
with the battle over the direction of the high court, creating a
new level of acrimony in the confirmation process.
Congressional testimony by Justice Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford
riveted the nation, recalling the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill drama
of 1991. In October, the Senate approved Justice Kavanaugh on the
slimmest vote for a confirmed Supreme Court nominee in modern
times.
Brent Kendall
Shooting Forged Teen Activists
Teenagers became the new faces of the gun-control movement after
a troubled 19-year-old killed 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February.
The students led marches and put pressure on lawmakers and
businesses. Dick's Sporting Goods stopped selling AR-style rifles
like the one used in the attack. States including Vermont and
Florida raised the minimum age for buying a rifle to 21 from
18.
Two other shootings came in quick succession this fall: An
anti-Semitic attacker killed 11 Jewish people at a Pittsburgh
synagogue on Oct. 27; 10 days later, a troubled veteran killed 13
at a bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Among those left dead in Thousand
Oaks was a survivor of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting.
Though the number of U.S. deaths from mass shootings was down
from 2017, the tragedies inspired a louder response from
gun-control activists than in the past. Still, mass shootings
continue to make up a small percentage of all gun deaths.
Of the 13,741 U.S. gun deaths as of Dec. 12, not counting
suicides, 363 came in attacks where four or more people, excluding
the shooter, were injured or killed, according to the Gun Violence
Archive, a nonprofit research group. In 2017, 437 people died in
U.S. mass shootings.
Zusha Elinson
Rates Rise, but Fed's Path Is Less Clear
The Federal Reserve is set to cap a year of rising rates by
boosting its short-term benchmark level on Dec. 19, in what would
be its fourth increase for 2018. But it has indicated greater
uncertainty over the pace of increases next year.
The most recent rise, in September, lifted the benchmark to a
range of between 2% and 2.25%
A year ago, Fed officials penciled in three increases this year,
but projections of stronger growth due to tax cuts and a federal
spending deal in February prompted an extra rise. Yet recently,
officials indicated they may take a more wait-and-see approach to
future boosts, basing them on the economy's response to past
rises.
Meantime, the Fed saw a leadership transition. Jerome Powell
succeeded Janet Yellen, a Barack Obama appointee, as chairman, in
February. Richard Clarida joined the central bank as vice chairman
in September. And John Williams moved from president of the San
Francisco Fed in June to run the New York Fed, one of the central
bank's most influential positions.
Since his confirmation, Mr. Powell has repeatedly been
criticized by President Trump for the rate boosts. Mr. Trump called
the Fed "out of control" and blamed it for the stock market's
selloff in October.
The Fed chairman didn't respond to the criticisms, working
instead to make allies outside of the Oval Office and talk publicly
about the economy, not politics.
Nick Timiraos
California Fires Left Devastation Behind
California's fire season was literally one for the record books
in 2018.
The 153,000-acre Camp Fire in November destroyed about 14,000
homes and killed at least 86 people, including in Paradise, Calif.,
was both the most destructive and most deadly in California
history.
The 459,000-acre Mendocino Complex fire in July was the largest
ever in the state.
Records keep breaking, fire officials say, because inadequate
logging, warmer temperatures from climate change and increased
development in combustible areas have extended California's fire
season from a few months in late summer to virtually all year.
Jim Carlton
New Sexual-Abuse Crisis for Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church found itself mired in another
sex-abuse crisis this year.
A Pennsylvania grand-jury report released in August detailed
more than 1,000 cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in
the state dating back to the 1940s. The Justice Department and more
than a dozen states have now opened their own investigations into
abuse by Catholic clergy around the country.
U.S. Catholic bishops had hoped to establish new rules for
dealing with abuse allegations at their annual meeting in November.
But at the last moment, the Vatican barred them from taking any
action until after a global meeting on sexual abuse in February
2019.
Ian Lovett
Amazon.com Picked Two Cities for New Headquarters
Amazon.com Inc.'s unprecedented public search for the location
of a new headquarters launched a nationwide beauty pageant among
cities eager to win a promised 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in
investment. But the quantity of tech talent Amazon would require
proved too much for any single city to provide.
When Amazon finally announced in November that it would split
the project's jobs and investment between New York City and
Arlington, Va., some questioned whether the results justified a
process that had set city and economic-development officials
scrambling to please the online retail giant and offer up billions
in economic incentives.
Shayndi Raice
MSU Settled Suit Naming Gymnastics Doctor
Michigan State University agreed in May to settle a $500 million
lawsuit with victims of Larry Nassar's sex abuse. The Midwestern
powerhouse with 50,000 students said it planned to raise the money
through a bond offering, with the note to be repaid from the
school's investment income.
Nassar was accused of sexual abuse by hundreds of women while
working as a team physician at MSU and for the U.S. Olympics
gymnastics team. He pleaded guilty last year to state sexual-abuse
charges in Michigan and to federal child-pornography charges, for
which he is serving an effective life sentence.
Doug Belkin
Letter Bombs, Explosions Inflict Fear
Two domestic terrorism sprees this year shook ordinary Americans
and national leaders alike.
In March, a 23-year-old college dropout named Mark Anthony
Conditt carried out a string of package explosions in Austin,
Texas, that killed two people and left several injured. He blew
himself up along a highway as authorities closed in.
In October, a series of letter bombs was sent to prominent
Democrats and Trump opponents, including former President Barack
Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and billionaire liberal philanthropist George
Soros. None of the bombs exploded.
Cesar Altieri Sayoc, a 56-year-old former exotic dancer and
fervent Trump supporter, was charged in a 30-count indictment in
New York. He has pleaded not guilty.
Dan Frosch
Harvard Admissions on Trial
The trial of a lawsuit against Harvard University highlighted
the role race can play in elite college admissions and exposed
details about how one of the nation's most selective schools
chooses its undergraduate classes.
A nonprofit group whose members include Asian-American
applicants rejected by Harvard sued the school in 2014, alleging it
illegally discriminated by holding them to a higher standard than
other applicants.
Harvard denies the allegations of discrimination.
The federal suit went to trial in October, but additional briefs
will be filed into next year.
A decision, which could end up before the Supreme Court, could
affect the admissions practices of many other private
universities.
Melissa Korn
Flu Season Sets a Grim Record
The worst flu epidemic in nearly a decade prompted schools to
close in more than 11 states and caused the deaths of a record 185
children in the season that ran through the spring. Schools shut
anywhere from one day to a week due to widespread absenteeism as
administrators tried to stop the spread of the virus and disinfect
buildings.
A dominant strain of the flu, H3N2, known for being particularly
virulent, tended to strike children and the elderly hard. Early
data found that flu shots were likely only about 30% effective
against it.
Tawnell Hobbs
Americans Die Younger Due to Opioids, Suicide
Life expectancy for Americans continues to fall. Life expectancy
fell by one-tenth of a year, to 78.6 years, in 2017, says the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. is
experiencing the sharpest annual increase in suicides in nearly a
decade and a continued rise in deaths from powerful opioid drugs
like fentanyl. Influenza, pneumonia and diabetes also contributed
to the increase.
The data paint a dark picture of health and well-being in the
U.S., reflecting the effects of addiction and despair, particularly
among young and middle-aged adults, as well as diseases plaguing an
aging population and those with lower access to health care.
--Emily Nelson
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 16, 2018 16:16 ET (21:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.