By JESSICA GRESKO
2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is about to tell President Donald Trump whether he has more power to use a favorite phrase: “You’re fired.”

A case being argued at the high court on Tuesday could threaten the structure of agencies that form an enormous swath of the federal government. It has to do with whether a president can fire the heads of independent agencies for any reason.

The case the justices are hearing involves the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency Congress created in response to the 2008 financial crisis. It was the brainchild of Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.

Experts say a decision could ultimately affect not only the CFPB but also how easily the president can fire a host of other independent agency heads, including leaders of the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission and Social Security Administration.

https://apnews.com/9e48d666c500c3c0116a3d129c9e8bda

With this right wing libertarian Robert federalist majority court .....................one just has to look at what they and how they ruled on union representation..........................because if he gets this ruling, if people think social security administration has issues now, then it will become the whipping boy as being not doing there job and ...........................especially if you have one Ginni Thomas in the back ground............. .

I do not trust the majority in the Roberts Court, his track record is really questionable....................

By WILL WEISSERT
an hour ago

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign said Sunday that it raised more than $46.5 million in February, a show of financial strength after the Vermont senator finished a distant second behind Joe Biden in South Carolina’s primary.

Fellow progressive Elizabeth Warren announced a short time later collecting a respectable $29 million last month, as she copes with a weaker South Carolina showing.

Sanders’ team said it was making television ad buys in nine more states: Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and Washington, which vote on March 10, and Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio, which vote a week later. The campaign said it is “currently on the air in 12 out of the 14 states” that are voting on Super Tuesday, in two days.

“The senator’s multi-generational, multiracial working class coalition keeps fueling his campaign for transformational change a few bucks at a time,” Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement. He said that, of the more than 2 million donations received this month, more than 1.4 million were from voters in Super Tuesday states.

https://apnews.com/53069b074d706a7d7228cf4ec6fb0311

By COLLEEN BARRY
43 minutes ago

MILAN (AP) — A new U.S. government advisory on Sunday urged Americans not to travel to two Italian regions hardest hit by a new virus, raising the level of warning for the Lombard and Veneto regions to the highest level.

The advisory cited quarantines set up in 10 Lombard towns and one in Veneto, with a combined population of 50,000 people, as well as the ’’the level of community transmission of the virus.″

It follows an earlier warning late Friday to avoid non-essential travel to all of Italy, where more than 1,100 cases were confirmed through Saturday along with 29 deaths.

Tourism officials have cited the previous warning covering all of Italy as potentially calamitous to the industry, which represents 13% of gross domestic product in a country famed for its world-class museums, archaeological sites, art cities and natural beauty.

https://apnews.com/8b8bb4c3bee81b7c73f9a8a423b06bef

By COLLEEN BARRY
2 hours ago

MILAN (AP) — When French President Emmanuel Macron leaned in to give Premier Giuseppe Conte the Italian double-cheek kiss not once, but on two separate occasions, during a Franco-Italian summit in Naples this week, it was much more than a greeting.

It was a signal to citizens not to fear their neighbors as a new virus from China spreads, with Italy established as Europe’s hotspot.

Friendly kissing in the time of coronavirus has become a fresh dilemma, especially in effusive southern Europe, with perhaps the power to reshape customs. But even more-reserved northerners are grappling with whether to forgo the hallowed handshake.

The government’s special commissioner for coronavirus, Angelo Borrelli, has suggested that Italians’ demonstrative nature could be contributing to the virus’ spread, with more than 1,100 people testing positive and 29 deaths, almost all in the country’s north.

https://apnews.com/b76b7e97cc6b3da0d2fa40a2e2b49503