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CBS4 News is sending its condolences to the family and friends of longtime WPLG anchor and reporter Todd Tongen.

Tongen, who was with WPLG for nearly 30 years, was found dead in his home. He was 56.

According to WPLG, Tongen’s wife was out of town and unable to reach him so she asked a friend to check on him. Police were called and found him.

A cause of death is not known at this time.

more here:

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2019/06/03/wplg-todd-tongen-found-dead/

In a surprise announcement that could compromise a major trade deal, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.

He said the percentage will gradually increase “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”

Trump made the announcement by tweet after telling reporters earlier Thursday that he was planning “a major statement” that would be his “biggest” so far on the border.

“On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,” he wrote, “at which time the Tariffs will be removed.”

Trump has accused the Mexican government of failing to do enough to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants who have been flowing to the U.S in search of asylum from countries including El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

more here:

https://www.apnews.com/afec271c5f9c4fdb82f57b48cb593add

Congested Google servers in the eastern United States caused problems for users of Snapchat and YouTube on Sunday, with complaints on social media that the popular apps weren't accessible.

Google acknowledged the issue, writing in a statement on its Cloud Platform status page that it was dealing with "high levels of network congestion in the eastern USA, affecting multiple services in Google Cloud, G Suite and YouTube."

"Users may see slow performance or intermittent errors," it said, adding that engineers had completed the first of two steps to restore normal operations.

Earlier in the day, social media users complained of trouble loading a slew of popular websites and apps.

"Google, YouTube, Snapchat, Shopify, all currently down. Is the internet melting?" asked one Twitter post.

Snapchat and Google-owned YouTube both acknowledged the server issue on their Twitter accounts.

more here:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/google-server-trouble-snarls-youtube-snapchat-051647180.html

In a federal lawsuit, the tech giant Oracle has provided new details to support its accusation that Amazon secretly negotiated a job offer with a then-Department of Defense official who helped shape the procurement process for a massive federal contract for which Amazon was a key bidder.

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft are now the two finalists to win the highly contested $10 billion contract for what is known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI. The deal, one of the largest federal contracts in U.S. history, would pay one company to provide cloud computing services in support of Defense Department operations around the world.

But the contract has been hotly contested since the department began soliciting proposals last year. Two of Amazon’s competitors, IBM and Oracle, filed complaints with the Government Accountability Office saying that the winner-take-all process unfairly favored Amazon, which is seen as an industry leader in cloud computing. When its claim was rejected, Oracle sued the government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

more here:

https://theintercept.com/2019/06/03/amazon-defense-department-jedi-contract/

Congress will be taking a close look at the power of big tech.

The House Judiciary Committee announced Monday that it will hold a series of hearings as part of a bipartisan investigation into whether there is enough competition among U.S. technology companies.

While no companies were named, any investigation will inevitably touch on Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple, all of which have come under increased scrutiny in recent years for their dominance in a variety of markets including social networking, online advertising, online search, e-commerce and mobile apps.

"A small number of dominant, unregulated platforms have extraordinary power over commerce, communication, and information online," the Judiciary Committee noted in a news release that included the names of both Democratic and Republican members. "Based on investigative reporting and oversight by international policymakers and enforcers, there are concerns that these platforms have the incentive and ability to harm the competitive process."

more here:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/house-judiciary-investigate-market-dominance-big-tech-companies-n1013426

, vowing it would not back down and accused Washington of being an untrustworthy negotiator as tensions continue to escalate between the two countries.

China released a policy paper that claimed the U.S. had backtracked three times during trade negotiations by implementing new tariffs and other conditions. The report said that China has kept its word throughout 11 rounds of talks and will honor its commitments if a trade agreement is reached.

“The more the U.S. government is offered, the more it wants," the paper said, adding that America's negotiators are "resorting to intimidation and coercion."

"A country's sovereignty and dignity must be respected, and any agreement reached by the two sides must be based on equality and mutual benefit," it said.

more here:

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/china-blames-us-for-trade-war-says-nothing-is-agreed-until-everything-is-agreed

Marijuana has gone mainstream, casino gambling is everywhere and sports wagering is spreading. Could prostitution be next?

Lawmakers across the country are beginning to reconsider how to handle prostitution, as calls for decriminalization are slowly gaining momentum.

Decriminalization bills have been introduced in Maine and Massachusetts; a similar bill is expected to be introduced to the City Council in Washington D.C. in June; and lawmakers in Rhode Island held hearings in April on a proposal to study the impact of decriminalizing prostitution.

New York may be next: Some Democratic lawmakers are about to propose a comprehensive decriminalization bill that would eliminate penalties for both women and men engaged in prostitution, as well as the johns whom they service.

more here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/nyregion/presidential-candidates-prostitution.html

When she first heard a woman screaming "active shooter" while dashing down her office hallway, Christi Dewar's first thought was: It must be a drill.

Dewar, 60, of Chesapeake, Va., who has worked in the city of Virginia Beach's public utility department for nearly 13 years, had been there long enough to know that loud sounds were not necessarily cause for alarm.

On Friday afternoon, a workplace renovation was still underway, so when she heard the first blasting pop sounds, she didn't realize she was in the midst of one of America's deadliest workplace shootings.

"When we heard the first shots, it sounded like a nail gun going off," Dewar said.

But as popping kept piercing the air, alarm set in for Dewar and one of her closest friends and longtime colleague, Ryan Keith Cox.

more here:

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/02/728986386/virginia-beach-shooting-survivor-says-victim-laid-down-his-life-to-save-colleagu

Speaking on his LBC radio show, the Brexit Party leader hit back at Sadiq Khan for comparing the language used by Donald Trump to that of the "fascists of the 20th century". The London Mayor claimed it was wrong to roll the red carpet for the US President claiming he should not have been allowed a state visit to the UK. But Nigel Farage argued that, unlike Mr Khan who wants a second Brexit referendum, the American President "at least believes in democracy".

Mr Farage added: “We’re not directly debating Brexit but we are debating Trump’s involvement with this debate.

“Alan on Twitter says to me: ‘Intervene? Hardly. Anyway, if Juncker wants to comment on our politics then so can POTUS [President of the United States]’.

“And some even think here it’s not even right we let Trump into the country.

“I’m sorry, what is wrong with you people? Whether you like him or not, he is the President of the United States of America.

more here:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1135268/Donald-Trump-UK-visit-Nigel-Farage-Sadiq-Khan-Brexit-news

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a series of attacks on US President Donald Trump ahead of his state visit.

Mr Khan compared the language used by Mr Trump to that of the “fascists of the 20th century” and later added that Britain should not be “rolling out the red carpet” for the president next week.

In the past, the Mayor of London has had several clashes with Mr Trump over Twitter as well as repeatedly criticising the president and speaking out against his state visit to the UK this year.

Writing in the Observer on Sunday, Mr Khan said: “President Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat.

more here:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/sadiq-khan-compares-donald-trump-to-20th-century-fascists-as-he-launches-fresh-attack-ahead-of-state-a4157261.html

A top House Republican is asking the Justice Department’s inspector general whether Peter Strzok is the former FBI official accused of leaking sensitive materials to the press and accepting gifts from a reporter.

Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter Thursday to Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general (IG), inquiring about the identity of a former FBI deputy assistant director (DAD) who was investigated for unauthorized contacts with the press.

Collins said the description of the official in a summary of the IG investigation matches up with Strzok, who was fired from the FBI on Aug. 13, 2018, for sending anti-Trump text messages.

“While the DAD is not named in the Summary, there are several indications the DAD in question is former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok,” Collins said, noting Strzok had been promoted to the position of deputy assistant director in the FBI’s Espionage Section in September 2016.

more here:

https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/01/doug-collins-strzok-fbi-leaker/

The U.S. blueprint to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, still in draft form after almost two years, is seen by Palestinians, and by some Arab officials and politicians, as a plan to finish off the Palestinian cause.

The initiative, driven by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser, was billed by the U.S. president as the "deal of the century".

While its precise outlines have yet to be revealed, Palestinian and Arab sources who have been briefed on the draft plan say Kushner has jettisoned the two-state solution - the long-standing U.S. and international formula that envisages an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.

After several postponements, Washington plans a first formal outing of the economic components of the plan at a "Peace for Prosperity" workshop in June in Bahrain.

more here:

http://news.trust.org/item/20190602064302-zdxhp

Apple is set to court software savants at its annual developers conference beginning Monday while contending with criticism that the iPhone maker has made its App Store a walled garden.

The App Store is the lone shop for content for Apple devices, with the technology giant deciding which software creations to accept and taking a 30 percent cut of financial transactions.

But last month the US Supreme Court ruled that a 2011 consumer lawsuit accusing Apple of illegally monopolizing the store and driving up prices may proceed.

"We only collect a commission from developers when a digital good or service is delivered through an app," Apple said in a page recently established in defense of the App Store.

Launched 11 years ago, Apple says the App Store has helped create millions of jobs and generated more than $120 billion for developers.

more here:

https://news.yahoo.com/app-store-crosshairs-apple-courts-developers-034045451.html