Weekly News Briefs: Sept. 18

Local

President Trump approved emergency fund for Georgia

On Sept. 17 President Donald Trump allowed Georgia access to federal funds after Hurricane Irma. As reported by East Atlanta Patch. The fund was requested by Gov. Nathan Deal and will be reserved for areas hit the worst by the tropical storm including, Camden, Chatham and Glynn counties. With the new fund put in place 75 percent of the recovery costs will be covered by the federal government, while state and local government will pick up the rest.

National

Sanctuary Cities does not have to pay millions of dollars

According to U.S. News, a federal judge in Chicago stopped a Justice Department directive, which planned to reprimand “sanctuary cities” through millions of dollars in law enforcement grants, if they chose not to comply with federal immigration enforcement. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber of the Northern District of Illinois ruled that the Justice department does not have the authority to implement conditions to following to federal laws without the overt approval by Congress.

Global

UN Security Council creates a new resolution for war crimes

According to Global News, The UN Security Council is creating a resolution that authorizes UN investigators to help Iraq collect evidence to prosecute extremists from the Islamic State group for possible war crimes. The resolution would ask Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to create an investigative team to assist Iraq in preserving evidence “that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.” The council hopes to have the draft done by Sept. 21.