Shutdown Averted: Lawmakers on Thursday night negotiated a $1 trillion spending plan to keep the federal government running past Friday, The Washington Post reports. The legislation will fully fund most of the government for the remainder of fiscal 2012.
Appealing: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday said it is appealing a federal judge's decision last month to reject a $285 million agreement Citigroup Global Markets Inc. reached with the SEC to settle civil fraud charges the agency brought against the company, The National Law Journal reports. "The court's new standard is at odds with decades of court decisions that have upheld similar settlements by federal and state agencies across the country," SEC Enforcement Division head Robert Khuzami said.
Death Sentences: The number of people who received death sentences this year fell below 100 for the first time since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, The National Law Journal reports. Death sentences were given this year to 78 people, a 34-person drop from 2010.
Sheriff Joe: Following a three-year investigation into the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday said the controversial Arizona lawman and his deputies participated in "unconstitutional policing" that was discriminatory against Latinos, The New York Times reports. Arpaio said the criticism was politically motivated.
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