Wednesday morning news: August 16, 2023

Hawaii update » Authorities in Hawaii are painstakingly working to identify 99 people now confirmed killed in a massive wildfire. And they’re expected to release many more names of the victims today.

Gov. Josh Green told reporters.

GREEN: The scale of the destruction is incredible. And so our hearts are broken even a little bit more than they were 48 hours ago with the extra fatalities.

Crews with cadaver dogs have now scoured about 1/3 of the fire-ravaged area. Police are asking the families of those still missing for DNA samples.

Dana Lucio is a crisis mental health counselor:

LUCIO: I spoke to one gentleman who lost his home, his wife and kids, and his vehicle. I think he said his job also burned down. So he had literally lost everything.

Some of the wildfires still haven’t been fully contained. But it’s already the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century.

Texas lawsuit » A federal court may soon decide whether Texas can recoup millions of taxpayer dollars paid to Planned Parenthood. WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry has more.

LAUREN CANTERBERRY: Texas wants to recover $17 million dollars in Medicaid payments the abortion provider received from 2017 to 2021 when Planned Parenthood was officially removed from the Texas Medicaid program.

A judge heard arguments in the case on Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood argues that it only used the money for things like cancer screenings and birth control access and not for abortions.

The state sued under the federal False Claims Act, which carries heavy fines for violations. The abortion provider says if it loses the case, it could be facing a judgment of more than a billion dollars.

For WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

Trump employee plea » The property manager of former President Trump’s Florida estate has pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped obstruct a federal investigation.

Prosecutors say Carlos De Oliveira lied to investigators about moving boxes of classified documents, and that he tried to erase security camera footage to keep it from investigators.

Donald Trump and one other co-defendant have already pleaded not guilty in the case.

Trump reaction » Meantime, Republicans continue to blast the latest Trump indictment, this time state charges out of Atlanta. Congressman Buddy Carter of Georgia:

CARTER: It’s a sad day here in America that our judicial system has been weaponized like it has been.

For his part, Donald Trump says the charges are purely political.

Democratic Fulton County prosecutor Fanni Willis insists she is enforcing the law impartially. She claims Trump and 18 co-defendants illegally plotted to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

She also says she’s hoping to get the trial underway within the next six months. But former federal prosecutor David Weinstein says that’s awfully ambitious.

WEINSTEIN: We haven’t seen yet the volumes of evidence that she’s going to have to provide to all of these people, interlocking statements that are made by certain of the co-defendants.

Trump and his co-defendants have until Friday of next week to turn themselves in at the Fulton County Courthouse.

DC selective enforcement case » A federal appeals court Tuesday ruled in favor of pro-life demonstrators who say the city of Washington D.C. discriminated against them. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Police arrested two pro-life activists in August of 2020 for using sidewalk chalk to write the words “Black pre-born lives matter” on a public sidewalk outside an abortion center.

Two pro-life groups sued on behalf of the activists, saying the city unfairly targeted them. Their lawyers noted that police did not arrest Black Lives Matter protesters who defaced a federal mural with spray paint the very next month.

In a 3 to 0 decision, the court allowed the case to move forward, overturning a lower court’s dismissal of the complaint.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Blinken on Iran prisoner exchange » Secretary of State Tony Blinken officially announced on Tuesday that Iran has moved several jailed Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest.

He said that’s a positive step, but they’re still not home.

BLINKEN: We will not rest until our fellow citizens are back in the United States.

The State Department has been negotiating with Iran to release the five prisoners in exchange for unfreezing billions of dollars of Iranian cash frozen under sanctions in South Korea.

Blinken pushed back on complaints that the United States is effectively paying a “ransom” and funding Iranian terrorism in the Middle East.

BLINKEN: Iran will not have direct access to these funds. There will be significant oversight and visibility from the United States.

Iranian leaders dispute that, saying they’ll use the money as they see fit.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: What’s in the new indictment against Donald Trump. Plus, getting a diploma without the debt.

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