8 Things You Need To Know This AM — Aug 31 2016

1. Major News: President Obama shortened prison sentences for 111 inmates — and set a record for the most commutations by a president in one month.

"At our current pace, we are confident that we will be able to review and make a recommendation to the president on every single drug petition we currently have," Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates said in a statement. (NPR)

2. Here At Home: Over 1,000 people in Indiana public housing must relocate after the EPA revealed massive levels of lead poisoning.

After decades of concern, the EPA revealed that there are massive levels of lead and arsenic contamination in the soil, masked by grass and clumps of flowers. The community consists of roughly 1,100 African-Americans. (The Guardian)

3. In-The-Know: California lawmakers passed a bill to add mandatory prison sentences for certain sexual assault cases.

The measure comes after the firestorm following a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge’s decision not to sentence Stanford University student Brock Turner to prison in a high-profile case this year. (Los Angeles Times)

4. On The Trail: Three former models say they worked illegally in the U.S. while employed by Donald Trump's modeling agency.

Rachel Blais, a Canadian model, told Mother Jones she spent about three years working for Trump Model Management. When she moved to New York City in April of 2004, she said she originally worked on a tourist visa until she obtained an H-1B work visa that fall. (Read More)

5. Talking Points: The New York Court of Appeals ruled that non-biological, non-adoptive parents have the right to seek visitation or custody.

The court limited its opinion to instances in which two parents decided to conceive and raise a child together. The court declined to rule on whether non-biological, non-adoptive parents have parenting rights in situations where the couple didn't decide to conceive a child. (Gothamist)

6. Lawyer Up: E.U. regulators have ordered Apple to pay up to $14.5 billion in taxes, plus interest, to the Irish government.

Regulators say Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple. The company, along with Ireland, plan to appeal. Apple paid tax rates on European profits on sales of its iPhone and other devices and services of between just 0.005% in 2014 and 1% in 2003. (Time)

7. ICYMI: Twitter is outraged that Matt Bomer has been cast as a transgender woman for a new film.

The Tim McNeil film Anything came under fire for casting Matt Bomer, a cisgender man, as a transgender woman. Many believe the part should have gone to an actual trans woman, especially since this group is already underrepresented in the film industry. (Read More)

8. Not An Onion Story: Donald Trump is heading to Mexico.

Donald Trump will travel to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto, according to a tweet posted to Trump's official account. The visit comes on the same day as a major speech Trump is scheduled to give in Phoenix clarifying his immigration policy. (Read More)