10 things you need to know today: November 12, 2019

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1. Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit attempting to block release of tax returns
2. King becomes 20th House Republican to decide against seeking re-election
3. Mexico grants Bolivia's ex-president Evo Morales asylum
4. Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick mulls presidential bid
5. Boeing says 737 Max jets will return to skies in January
6. Mexico arrests suspects in connection with massacre
7. Trump met with boos, cheers at New York Veterans Day event
8. 900 flights canceled in Chicago as winter blast begins
9. Canadian hockey commentator Don Cherry fired over 'divisive' remarks
10. Jimmy Carter hospitalized for brain procedure

published 12 November 2019

1. Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit attempting to block release of tax returns

A federal judge on Monday threw out President Trump's lawsuit seeking to block Congress and the state of New York from obtaining his tax returns. It was the latest in a string of defeats for Trump on the matter. Trump had tried to preemptively stop Congress' Ways and Means Committee from seeing the returns. He brought a lawsuit after New York passed a law mandating state tax officials release certain federal officials' tax returns if certain House committees ask for them, though the House committee hadn't demanded Trump's taxes. But Trump didn't establish "personal jurisdiction over either of the New York defendants" that would've allowed him to sue, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols wrote in his ruling, so he opted to throw out the case.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a moderate Republican now in his 14th congressional term, announced Monday that he would not run for re-election in 2020. King, while "in good health," decided with his wife that he'd like to spend more time with his children and grandchildren, he said in a statement. "The prime reason for my decision was that after 28 years of spending 4 days a week in Washington, D.C., it is time to end the weekly commute and be home in Seaford," King said. "This was not an easy decision." King is the 20th House Republican to decide against running for re-election next year. Only eight Democrats have bowed out. King won his district in 2018 with 53 percent of the vote, suggesting Democrats have a shot at flipping the district.

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Mexico granted Bolivia's ousted president, Evo Morales, asylum on Monday. Morales resigned under pressure from street protesters and the military after he tried to extend his presidency into a fourth term after an election his opponents said was marred by fraud. Mexico's foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said Mexico was giving refuge to Morales, who resigned Sunday, "for humanitarian reasons and in light of the urgent situation Bolivia is facing." After weeks of protests, lawmakers are scrambling to fill a power vacuum created when Morales and several leaders in the line of succession stepped down.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is preparing for a possible bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing sources with knowledge of his decision. Patrick, 63, said in December that he would not launch a campaign for the White House, citing "the cruelty of our elections process." The two-term ex-governor, last elected in 2010, is now the second potential contender to reconsider starting a campaign in the last week after saying he wouldn't. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently said he was looking into a run just months after ruling it out. The second thoughts came less than three months before the Iowa caucuses as some Democrats expressed dissatisfaction with the current field, which is led in the polls by former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Boeing announced Monday that its 737 Max jets would likely be approved to resume commercial service in January. The planes were grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes that were linked to a software issue in a flight control system. Boeing said it expects the Federal Aviation Administration within weeks to approve returning the jets to service. The aircraft maker previously said commercial service could begin as soon as December, and some airlines have said they will push the resumption even further, to install new software and ensure compliance with regulations. The FAA has not confirmed that service will resume in January, but Boeing shares rose 5 percent after the company's announcement.

Mexican authorities have made arrests in connection with last week's massacre of three women and six children from Mormon families with dual U.S.-Mexico citizenship, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said Monday. Durazo, speaking in Mexico City, declined to say how many suspects had been detained, or provide any further details. The nine victims were killed in an ambush on a remote dirt road in Sonora state in northern Mexico. Investigators said they suspected the attack was carried out by drug cartel gunmen. On Sunday, Mexico's government said it had asked for help from the FBI in the investigation.

President Trump expressed gratitude to America's military veterans at a Veterans Day event in New York City on Monday. "This nation is forever in your debt and we thank you all," he said. Trump avoided partisan politics in his remarks, but the Manhattan crowd did not. Protesters called for Trump's impeachment, and shouted, "Shame!" Supporters, many wearing pro-Trump "Make American Great Again" hats, cheered Trump. The appearance, Trump's second to his longtime home city since he announced he was making Florida his official home, came as House Democrats prepare to start public impeachment inquiry hearings on Wednesday with testimony from William Taylor, the charge d'affaires in Ukraine, and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau.

Airlines canceled more than 900 flights in Chicago on Monday due to heavy snow. A plane slid off a runway as it landed at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. "As soon as we landed, we could start feeling something a little off there and we tried to do a little turn and that's when we started going sideways," passenger Shaun Steele told ABC Chicago station WLS. The fast-moving storm hit the Midwest and the Rockies with deep snow that left highways covered in ice. The Midwest, South, and Northeast braced for a brutal cold front that left 16 states from Oklahoma to Maine under winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories.

Cable channel Sportsnet fired hockey commentator Don Cherry, a Canadian hockey institution, on Monday over a televised rant in which he said new immigrants don't respect fallen soldiers enough. "You people," Cherry said Saturday night, "you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that," referring to the tradition of wearing poppies to honor Canada's war dead on Remembrance Day, which was Monday. Rogers Sportsnet President Bart Yabsley announced the decision to let the 85-year-old broadcaster go, saying Cherry's "divisive" comments "do not represent our values or what we stand for." The National Hockey League also condemned the remarks as "offensive and contrary to the values we believe in."

Former President Jimmy Carter, 95, checked into Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on Monday for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding from several recent falls, the Carter Center said. Ahead of the procedure, scheduled for Tuesday morning, Carter "is resting comfortably, and his wife, Rosalynn, is with him." Carter, who in March became the longest-living president in American history, recently suffered a "minor pelvic fracture" in a fall at his Plains, Georgia, home. It was his second fall in two weeks, and his third since May, when he broke his hip in another fall. After his most recent hospitalization, he quickly resumed his active schedule, participating in a Habitat for Humanity project in Nashville with a black eye and a head bandage.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.