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111 Volume 168, issue 242 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2019 24/7 COVERAGE: MERCURYNEWS.COM » $1.50

PELOSI/SCHUMER: ‘THIS IS PLAINLY A POWER GRAB BY A DISAPPOINTED PRESIDENT’

Trump declares an emergency

Declaration enables president to divert $3.6 billion budgeted for President
Trump said,
military construction projects to the border wall, officials said “We have an
invasion of
drugs and
By Peter Baker INSIDE: California to sue over the emergency declaration. PAGE A6 criminals
The New York Times coming into our
WASHINGTON » President Donald highly charged policy dispute into tect the country from the flow of country.”
Trump declared a national emer- a fundamental confrontation over drugs, criminals and illegal im- CHIP SOMODEVILLA
gency at the border on Friday to separation of powers. migrants coming across the bor- — GETTY IMAGES
access billions of dollars to build In a televised announcement in der from Mexico, which he char-
a border wall that Congress re- the Rose Garden, Trump said he acterized as a profound threat to
fused to give him, transforming a would sign the declaration to pro- TRUMP » PAGE 6

2020 PRESIDENTIAL RACE NFL

‘DRAFT BETO’ BACKERS Does the

Kaepernick
BUILDING IN BAY AREA settlement
end career?
This is Co-
lin Kaepernick’s
golden parachute,
a parting gift as
a 49ers quarter-
back for six sea-
sons and then as Cam
an NFL outcast Inman
for the past two Columnist
years.
This is the NFL’s escape
hatch, settling on an unspecified
amount of hush money to end
Kaepernick’s collusion grievance
and silence potentially damag-
ing testimony from team owners,
coaches and general managers.
The league now can move on
to whatever crisis is next after
NFL officials and attorneys for
Kaepernick and Eric Reid an-
nounced Friday they had reached
a settlement in a collusion griev-
ance case the players had filed
for being blackballed for taking
a knee during the playing of the
national anthem to protest social
injustice.
Kaepernick’s NFL career can
PAUL RATJE — AFP/GETTY IMAGES INMAN » PAGE 7

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke speaks to a crowd of marchers during the “March for Truth” in El Paso, Texas, on Monday.

New campaign is designed Guests mingle in

Mountain View
MORGAN HILL

to lay the groundwork for a

potential bid by the former
congressman from Texas
By Casey Tolan
ctolan@bayareanewsgroup.com
MOUNTAIN VIEW » When two dozen young
people crowded into a Google employee’s
living room last weekend for one of Silicon
Valley’s first events of the 2020 presidential
race, they were greeted by freshly printed
campaign signs, a table full of chocolate
cookies and enthusiastic volunteers eager
to sign them up.
The only thing missing: their candidate.
A “Draft Beto” movement is off and run-
ning in the Bay Area, even though, so far,
the former Texas congressman is not. The
meetup was part of a growing effort to lay
the groundwork for a presidential bid and
push Beto O’Rourke to join a crowded field
of Democrats. The group has recruited a
long list of political strategists in Califor-
nia and around the country and begun or-
ganizing volunteers and raising money for
a Beto 2020 campaign.
“The way he’s inspired young people
on Feb. 9 during
a gathering
of supporters
who want to
draft former
congressman
Beto O’Rourke to
run for president.
ANDA CHU —
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
and people who weren’t politically active the month.
is amazing,” said Dylah Ray, 30, the host As they wait for his decision — hanging
of the Mountain View event and a native on his every Instagram video and Medium
Texan who flew home to Dallas to volun- post — O’Rourke’s biggest fans insist he has
teer for O’Rourke’s Senate campaign. “We’re a unique ability to connect with voters, es-
here, we’re ready for him, we’re all set to go.” pecially millennials starved for authenticity
O’Rourke, the 46-year-old who cap- in politics, even though his biggest step onto
tured Democratic daydreams during his the national stage ended in defeat.
ultimately unsuccessful challenge to Texas The former Texas congressman attracted
Sen. Ted Cruz last year, has said he’ll decide a new wave of attention Monday as he led
whether to run for president by the end of BETO » PAGE 6
Courthouse:
Cursed or
just shoddy?
By Nico Savidge
nsavidge@bayareanewsgroup.com
When the basement of Santa
Clara County’s Morgan Hill court-
house flooded two years ago, it
was just the latest in a string of
structural calamities that have
afflicted three iterations of the
satellite courthouse dating back
more than two decades.
Was the building cursed, some
wondered, dooming the well-in-
tentioned effort to bring court
services closer to South County
residents?
A new lawsuit — this one
filed by a state oversight panel
of judges — is not entertaining
any such superstitions. Instead,
COURTHOUSE » PAGE 7

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