Patch Morning Briefing: Trump Blocked Again; White House Budget; Russian Spies

Good morning, Patchers. Here's what you need to know this morning:

U.S. Judge Blocks 'Muslim Ban 2.0'; Trump Calls It 'Unprecedented Judicial Overreach'

A federal judge in Hawaii temporarily halted implementation of the president's second ban on immigration from six majority-Muslim countries. The new order was supposed to go into effect at midnight this morning. Trump called the decision "an unprecedented judicial overreach." (Patch)

"This ruling makes us look weak," Trump says, then continues not helping legal case saying it's a "watered down version of the first one."
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 16, 2017

Donald Trump Budget Slashes Funds for EPA and State Department

The federal budget proposal that the White House is expected to unveil today would cut funding for the two departments by 31 percent, The New York Times reported. "The budget outline, to be unveiled on Thursday, is more of a broad political statement than a detailed plan for spending and taxation," the Times says. "But it represents Mr. Trump’s first real effort to translate his bold but vague campaign themes into the minutiae of governance." (The New York Times)

2 Russian Spies Indicted in Yahoo Hack

A total of four people were charged in the hack, which affected 500 million accounts in 2014. (Patch)

Quick Hits

• Teens Given Wrong Pizza Open Fire On Market: Police (Patch)
• Raccoon Breaks Into NYC Bank, Waits Out Snowstorm (Patch)
• First DC Bald Eagle Chick Hatches (Video) (Patch)

News Minute

No Evidence Trump Tower Was Wiretapped, Lawmakers Say

The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, said Wednesday that, "I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower." There continues to be no evidence to back up the president's claim that President Obama "had my 'wires tapped,'" as Trump alleged on Twitter. (Patch)

House Intel Chair says there's no evidence of Trump's wiretapping allegations https://t.co/l8CPhOhpX5 pic.twitter.com/mR9r9wSMra
— TIME (@TIME) March 15, 2017

Dutch Prime Minister Claims Victory Over Anti-Muslim Candidate

People worried a possible global spread of fiery nationalism were keeping an eye on this election in the Netherlands. "The result was embraced by other leaders inside and outside the Netherlands as a major blow to anti-immigrant populism," The Washington Post reports. (The Washington Post)

Rachel Maddow Defends Herself

The MSNBC host defended her Tuesday night TV special in which she released a part of Trump's 2005 federal tax return. "Because I have information about the president doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a scandal," she told the AP. "It doesn’t mean that it’s damning information. If other people leapt to that conclusion without me indicating that it was, that hype is external to what we did." (The Associated Press)

Her segment still provided late-night TV hosts with plenty of material:

Sliding Into The Weekend Like:

A Few More

• DC's Cherry Blossoms Are in Big Trouble, National Park Service Says (Patch)
• Ditch The Green Beer! Mix Up These Killer St. Patrick's Day Cocktails (Patch)

On This Day In History

1802 – The Army Corps of Engineers is established

2016 — President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court

Famous Birthdays

1751 — James Madison, U.S. president

1926 — Jerry Lewis, actor

Image: AP Photo/Mark Humphrey