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Mitsui petrochemical unit probed after Texas fire rages for days

State and local investigators have begun probing a petrochemical storage company outside Houston where a massive fire fed by giant tanks of fuel burned for days, darkening the skies with soot for dozens of miles, officials said. The blaze at Mitsui unit Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) in Deer Park, Texas, began on Sunday and was not extinguished until early Wednesday. The agency has cited Intercontinental Terminals for violations of state air-emissions rules 39 times in the last 16 years.

Trump's border wall money may come at expense of schools for military kids

The U.S. Department of Defense is proposing to pay for President Donald Trump's much-debated border wall by shifting funds away from projects that include $1.2 billion for schools, childcare centers and other facilities for military children, according to a list it has provided to lawmakers. The Pentagon gave Congress a list on Monday that included $12.8 billion of construction projects for which it said funds could be redirected. The move comes as a surprise given the Trump administration's oft-touted support for the sacrifices made by military families and suggests the White House's desire to build a wall on the border with Mexico outstrips nearly all other issues.

Harvard sued by descendant of U.S. slave photographed in 19th century

The photos, depicting a black man named Renty and his daughter Delia, were taken as part of a study by Harvard Professor Louis Agassiz and are among the earliest known photos of American slaves. A representative for Harvard declined to comment and said the university had not yet been served with the complaint. Tamara Lanier of Norwich, Connecticut, who claims to be the great-great-great-granddaughter of Renty, accused Harvard of celebrating its former professor who studied "racist pseudoscience" and profiting from photos that were taken without Renty and his daughter's consent.

U.S. judge blocks drilling over climate change, casting doubt on Trump agenda

The ruling, by Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was issued late on Tuesday, according to court documents. It blocked drilling on more than 300,000 acres (121,400 hectares) in Wyoming until the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management conducts further analyses about how the development would impact climate change.

Justice Thomas speaks as U.S. top court confronts racial bias in jury selection

U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared poised to side with a black Mississippi death row inmate put on trial six times for a 1996 quadruple murder who accused a prosecutor of repeatedly blocking black potential jurors, though the court's only black member sounded skeptical. Justice Clarence Thomas, who had not posed a question during an oral argument in three years, asked several in the case involving Curtis Flowers, 48, who has argued that his constitutional right to a fair trial was violated. Thomas, an idiosyncratic conservative and only the second African American ever appointed to the court, signaled through his questions he might vote against Flowers, who otherwise drew broad support among the other justices, both liberal and conservative.

Trump gets a U.S. Supreme Court victory on immigration detention

The Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed the U.S. government's authority to detain immigrants awaiting deportation anytime - potentially even years - after they have completed prison terms for criminal convictions, handing President Donald Trump a victory as he pursues hardline immigration policies. The court ruled 5-4 along ideological lines, with its conservative justices in the majority and its liberal justices dissenting, that federal authorities could place such immigrants into indefinite detention anytime without the possibility of bail, not just immediately after they finish prison sentences. The ruling, authored by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, left open the possibility that some immigrants could challenge their detention.

Missouri towns brace for more flooding as Nebraska cleans up

Small Missouri towns on Wednesday prepared for the next wave of flooding along the snow melt-swollen Missouri River after high waters wreaked an estimated $1 billion in damage in Nebraska, and officials warned the deadly disaster was far from over. Floodwaters spawned by last week's late-winter storm and warmer weather that swiftly melted snow this week inundated a large swath of Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa along the Missouri River, North America's longest river. The Missouri River's next big flood crest was due to hit on Thursday at St. Joseph, Missouri, about 55 miles (89 km) north of Kansas City, Missouri, and the town of Atchison, Kansas, a short distance downstream, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman James Lowe.

Ford adds production of electric vehicles at second North American site

Ford Motor Co said on Wednesday it is adding production of a fully electric vehicle at a second North American plant as part of its $11 billion investment plan set last year. The No. 2 U.S. automaker said it is investing about $900 million in southeast Michigan and creating 900 jobs through 2023 as part of its electric vehicle push. "When we were taking a look at our $11 billion investment in electrification, it became obvious to us that we were going to need a second plant in the not-too-distant future to add capacity for our battery electric vehicles," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of global operations, said in a telephone interview.

Petrochemical blaze near Houston extinguished, company says

Firefighters on Wednesday extinguished a fire at a Mitsui & Co petrochemical storage site outside Houston that has been billowing acrid smoke for days, the company said. By Tuesday morning, the fire had ignited 12 of 15 tanks. There were no employees or firefighters injured since the blaze began, an ITC spokesman said on Tuesday.

In early campaigning, 2020 Democrats try out tactics for taking on Trump

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York appears willing to go the furthest yet, at least symbolically, in trying to prove she is ready to go toe-to-toe with the president. On Sunday, she will deliver her campaign launch speech at a rally in view of one of Trump's hotels in New York City, taking her "vision of restoring America’s moral integrity straight to President Trump’s doorstep," her campaign said. Trump is present at every campaign stop - not physically, but as a constant topic of discussion, even if his name is not uttered by those seeking to defeat him.

Pence arrives in Nebraska as U.S. Midwest reels from historic floods

Vice President Mike Pence in Nebraska on Tuesday took stock of the devastation unleashed across the U.S. Midwest by floods that have killed four people, left one missing and caused more than a billion dollars in damage to crops, livestock and roads. The way communities come together and people volunteer to put themselves in harm's way to help others," Pence said Tuesday in Omaha, according to an official statement. Pence also said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to expedite a request from Nebraska's governor for a federal emergency declaration, which will provide more aid to the state.

Patriots owner Kraft can avoid prosecution in Florida prostitution sting: prosecutors

Robert Kraft, the National Football League team owner, is receiving the same offer from the Office of the State Attorney for Palm Beach County as the other first-time misdemeanor offenders caught up in the case last month, said Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for the office. Edmondson declined to say if Kraft has agreed to the offer for avoiding prosecution. Kraft, 77, a businessman who built the Patriots into the NFL's most dominant franchise, was charged following a police sting targeting sex-trafficking in day spas and massage parlors.

Missouri River flooding catches small Nebraska town off guard

When Jim and Rose Downing heard forecasts last week for dangerously high water in their Nebraska hometown on the Missouri River, they were nonplussed since their house had not flooded in 100 years. Rose is the third generation of her family to reside in the brick home in the Gunnysack Flats neighborhood near downtown Peru, Nebraska, and 2 miles west of a levee that townspeople said never faltered in the past. This time was different, as the fewer than 1,000 residents of Peru discovered on Saturday when numerous Missouri River levees were breached due to heavy rainfall and snow melt.

Pence arrives in Nebraska as U.S. Midwest reels from historic floods

The floodwaters have inundated a large swath of farm states Iowa and Nebraska along the Missouri River, North America's longest river, prompting half of Iowa's 99 counties to declare states of emergency."Touched down in Omaha, Nebraska to survey flood damage & thank volunteers & emergency personnel," Pence said on Twitter, in a post that included photos of him meeting with the governors of both states and lawmakers. Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin have all declared states of emergency in the floods, which stem from a powerful winter hurricane known as a "bomb cyclone" that slammed into the U.S. Farm Belt last week, killing untold numbers of livestock, destroying grains and soybeans in storage, and cutting off access to farms because of road and rail damage. The latest confirmed death was identified by the sheriff in Fremont County, Iowa, as 55-year-old Aleido Rojas Galan, who was pulled from floodwaters along with another man on Friday and later succumbed to injuries.

Houston petrochemical fire spreads, Texas expands air monitoring

Houston officials and environmental groups raced to expand air monitoring after a raging fire at a Mitsui & Co petrochemical storage site spread on Tuesday, billowing acrid smoke that could be seen and smelled miles away. The blaze at Mitsui unit Intercontinental Terminals Co in Deer Park, Texas, has ignited or consumed 12 of 15 tanks at the site, officials said in a late Tuesday briefing. The fire began on Sunday when a leaking tank containing volatile naphtha, a fuel used in the production of gasoline, ignited and flames quickly spread to nearby tanks, ITC said.

Trump gets a U.S. Supreme Court victory on immigration detention

The Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed the U.S. government's authority to detain immigrants awaiting deportation anytime - potentially even years - after they have completed prison terms for criminal convictions, handing President Donald Trump a victory as he pursues hardline immigration policies. The court ruled 5-4 along ideological lines, with its conservative justices in the majority and its liberal justices dissenting, that federal authorities could place such immigrants into indefinite detention anytime without the possibility of bail, not just immediately after they finish prison sentences. The ruling, authored by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, left open the possibility that some immigrants could challenge their detention.

No re-sentencing for Chicago policeman in Laquan McDonald murder, court rules

Van Dyke, 40, who is white, was convicted in October in the shooting death of 17-year-old McDonald in 2014 in a case that highlighted racial tensions in America's third-largest city. Van Dyke faced 20 years in prison for second-degree murder and up to 30 years for each of 16 counts of aggravated battery - one count for each shot he fired at McDonald, who was carrying a knife.

Pennsylvania prosecutor focuses on officer's motive in murder trial

A Pennsylvania prosecutor on Tuesday urged jurors in the racially-charged trial of a white police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Antwon Rose in June 2018 to focus on what motivated him to pull the trigger. East Pittsburgh Police officer, Michael Rosfeld, 30, does not dispute shooting Rose, 17, as he sought suspects following a drive-by shooting. Rosfeld faces a single count of homicide.

Asylum seekers returned from Mexico for first U.S. court hearings

The U.S. program, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), turns people seeking protection in the United States around to await pending U.S. court dates in Mexican border towns. Some 240 people - including families - have been returned to Mexico since late January, according to U.S. officials. Court officials referred questions about the number of hearings being held on Tuesday to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which did not respond to a request for comment.

Statue of Liberty climber sentenced to community service, probation

A woman convicted of trespassing and disorderly conduct after she climbed the Statue of Liberty's stone pedestal on July 4 last year to protest U.S. immigration policy was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and five years' probation on Tuesday. Therese Patricia Okoumou arrived at her sentencing hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein in Manhattan with her whole face in clear tape, wearing a headband that said "I CARE". Okoumou was arrested after she scaled the base of the statue and began a three-hour standoff with police that led to the evacuation of Liberty Island on one of the landmark's busiest days of the year.

The curious case of tainted milk from a Maine dairy farm

For Maine dairy farmer Fred Stone, the discovery in 2016 that his cows were producing tainted milk has since brought financial ruin and threatened to shut down a century-old family business. Now state regulators and health experts are investigating whether the contamination could reflect a much broader problem for farms that used similar methods to fertilize their land. The chemicals on Stone's farm likely came from biosolids, or nutrient-rich sewage from municipal utilities, that he spread across his fields, according to a report last year by Maine's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

California university says students tied to admissions scam could face expulsion

The school said on Monday night it has already "placed holds on the accounts of students who may be associated with the alleged admissions scheme," preventing them from registering for classes or acquiring transcripts. It did not name specific students, but Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli are among 50 people charged last week with participating in what federal prosecutors called a $25 million bribery and fraud scam. Prosecutors said some students involved in the scandal were not aware their parents had made the alleged arrangements, although in other cases they knowingly took part.

Puerto Rico debt adjustment plan not 'realistic' in April: official

The executive director of Puerto Rico's federally created financial oversight board said on Monday that a plan to restructure the U.S. commonwealth's core government debt likely cannot be done by the end of April. An attorney for the board last week told a U.S. judge who is hearing Puerto Rico's bankruptcy cases that a draft plan was expected next month, according to local media reports.

Three dead, one missing in devastating floods across U.S. Midwest

As floodwaters began to recede in much of the area inundated by the aftermath of a storm dubbed a "bomb cyclone," Nebraska officials were taking in the damage in a state where 64 of the 93 counties have declared emergencies. "This is clearly the most widespread disaster we have had in our state's history," in terms of sheer size, Governor Pete Ricketts told reporters on an afternoon briefing call. State officials said on the call that 290 people had been rescued by the Nebraska State Patrol, National Guard troops, and urban search and rescue teams.

Alan Krueger, economic adviser to Obama and Clinton, takes own life at 58

The statement did not elaborate about the circumstances of Krueger's death, nor did the university when confirming it earlier in the day. Krueger served in the last two Democratic administrations - as chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor during the Clinton era and as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers for Obama. "It is with tremendous sadness we share that Professor Alan B. Krueger, beloved husband, father, son, brother, and Princeton professor of economics took his own life over the weekend," his family said in the statement furnished by the university.

Flooded U.S. Air Force base underscores climate risk to security: experts

Flooding at a U.S. Air Force base in Nebraska that damaged buildings and forced the removal of a plane integral to the nation's nuclear attack response highlight the risks climate change poses to national security, experts said on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned whether humans cause climate change and has been angered by assessments from his military and intelligence agencies that say the phenomenon poses national security risks. Last week's "bomb cyclone" storm flooded about 60 structures including 30 buildings at the Offutt Air Force Base, said Ryan Hansen, a spokesman for the 55th Wing, a unit providing reconnaissance, intelligence and combat support to U.S. leaders.

U.S. floods kill three, cut off towns as rivers rise

The Missouri River, the longest in North America, has flooded much of Nebraska between Omaha and Kansas City at the Missouri state line. It was expected to crest at 47.5 feet (14.48 m) on Tuesday, breaking the previous record, set in 2011, by more than a foot, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said in the latest bulletin on its web page. "This really is the most devastating flooding we've probably ever had in our state's history, from the standpoint of how widespread it is," Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts said in a Twitter post on Monday.

Puerto Rico debt adjustment plan not 'realistic' in April: official

The executive director of Puerto Rico's federally created financial oversight board said on Monday that a plan to restructure the U.S. commonwealth's core government debt likely cannot be done by the end of April. An attorney for the board last week told a U.S. judge who is hearing Puerto Rico's bankruptcy cases that a draft plan was expected next month, according to local media reports.

Peruvian ex-president arrested for being drunk in public in California

Peru's former president, Alejandro Toledo, considered a fugitive in Peru, was arrested for being drunk in public in California and released early on Monday, authorities in California said. Since 2017, Toledo, a resident of California, has refused to heed orders by a local judge to spend up to 18 months in pre-trial detention in connection with a massive bribery probe. The United States is still evaluating Peru's request to extradite Toledo.

Poppy apocalypse: Crowds descend on California city to see 'superbloom'

The rare profusion of orange poppies in Walker Canyon, set in the Temescal Mountains and accessible on foot via a trail, owes thanks to above-average rainfall in the arid region. The profusion of tourists in Lake Elsinore, located about 70 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, apparently owes thanks to the popularity of Instagram. The city of 63,300 has seen 50,000 tourists from around the country and as far away as Europe come to the 3.5-mile (5.6 km) trail in Walker Canyon over the last two weeks to take in the orange flowers carpeting the surrounding hills.

Former UAW vice president charged in U.S. corruption probe

U.S. prosecutors in Detroit on Monday charged a former high-ranking United Auto Workers official in charge of the labor union's relations with Fiat Chrysler (FCA) of misusing funds for lavish purchases for himself and other union officials. Norwood Jewell, who headed the UAW's FCA department from 2014 until his retirement in January 2018, was charged with conspiracy to violate labor laws and accepting improper payments in a criminal information - often a precursor to a plea agreement. Jewell is the highest-ranking former UAW official charged so far in a wide-ranging investigation into illegal payoffs to UAW officials.

U.S. top court hands defeat to Hawaii B&B that spurned lesbian couple

The justices refused to hear an appeal by Phyllis Young, who runs the three-room Aloha Bed & Breakfast in Honolulu, of a lower court's ruling that she violated a Hawaii anti-discrimination law by refusing to rent a room to Diane Cervilli and Taeko Bufford in 2007. A state court ruled that Young ran afoul of Hawaii's public accommodation law, which among other things bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Supreme Court's action came nine months after it sided on very narrow grounds with a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for two men, citing his Christian beliefs.

Massive fire at Houston petrochemical storage terminal may last two more days

A massive fire at a fuels storage company along the Houston Ship Channel may burn for two more days, an official said on Monday as the blaze spread a plume of black smoke across the city, shutting schools in two nearby communities. The fire began Sunday morning in a giant storage tank containing naphtha, a volatile substance used to create octane-boosting components of gasoline. No injuries were reported from the fire but nearby residents were encouraged to remain indoors.

U.S. high court takes up sentencing appeal in 'D.C. Sniper' case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether a man serving life in prison over his role in a deadly 2002 shooting spree in the Washington area should be resentenced because he was only 17 years old at the time. The nine justices will hear an appeal filed by the state of Virginia objecting to a lower court's decision ordering that Lee Boyd Malvo's sentence of life in prison without parole in the so-called D.C. Sniper crimes be thrown out. Malvo and an older accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, shot dead 10 people over three weeks in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.

Top U.S. court spurns Georgia death row inmate's racist juror claim

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for a black Georgia death row inmate to be executed, turning away his bid to challenge his death sentence for the 1990 murder of his sister-in-law on the basis that the trial was tainted by a racist white juror who questioned whether black people have souls. The allegations of racial bias arose from an interview with one of the jurors years later, not comments made during the trial. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a statement agreeing with the court's decision not to hear the case, noting that it turned on whether Tharpe could appeal and not the merits of his claim.

Supreme Court takes up Kansas identity theft case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider a bid by Kansas to revive the state's policy of prosecuting people for identity theft for using other people's Social Security numbers to gain employment in a case linked to immigration issues. The justices will hear the state's appeal of a 2017 Kansas Supreme Court ruling that voided the convictions of three restaurant workers and found that a 1986 federal law, the Immigration Reform and Control Act, prevents states from pursuing such prosecutions. The three men - Ramiro Garcia, Donaldo Morales and Guadalupe Ochoa-Lara - had provided their employers Social Security numbers that were not their own before being prosecuted for identity theft.

Nebraska nuclear plant still at full power as floodwaters recede

"We are operating at full power and the water is receding ... and we expect the water level to continue dropping," NPPD spokesman Mark Becker said, noting there was no danger to the plant employees or the public. Becker said NPPD and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have checked the levees at Cooper and they are "in good shape." He also noted the Army Corps was reducing water releases from the Gavins Point Dam on the Missouri River between Nebraska and South Dakota to help reduce flooding downriver.

Democratic donor in $292 million bank fraud gets early prison release

A New York financier and Democratic political donor who pleaded guilty to a $292 million bank fraud is being released early from his 12-year prison term and moving to home confinement, court papers show. Hassan Nemazee, 69, who has spent about 8-1/2 years in prison, obtained approval last week from the federal Bureau of Prisons for the move, which is scheduled for late this week. Nemazee in January had asked his sentencing judge, U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein, for early release.

Trump wants GM CEO 'to do something quickly' to reopen Ohio plant

President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that he urged General Motors Co's chief executive to "do something quickly" to reopen the company's Lordstown, Ohio, plant that was idled more than a week ago. Referring to his conversation with CEO Mary Barra, Trump added: "I asked her to sell it or do something quickly. Trump also tweeted on Saturday to urge GM to reopen the plant, saying: "Toyota is investing 13.5 $Billion in U.S., others likewise.

Far-flung job offers pose tough choices for GM Ohio workers

General Motors Co built the final Chevrolet Cruze small car at its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant on March 6, despite demands from President Donald Trump, Ohio political leaders and the United Auto Workers union not to close the plant and leave nearly 1,500 workers laid off. Dina Mays, a 14-year veteran of Lordstown Assembly, was not at the plant for its last day. Consumers shifting away from traditional sedans such as the Cruze have left GM with more workers assigned to building cars than the market can support.

Americans to bet $8.5 billion on NCAA's 'March Madness' basketball tournament: report

A plurality of bettors - 29 percent - favor Duke University's Blue Devils to win, according to a report from the American Gaming Association (AGA), a casino industry group. The National Collegiate Athletic Association's tournament to determine the Division I men's basketball champions begins on Tuesday and ends April 8 in Minneapolis. This year is the first time the tournament will be held since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May 2018 allowed states to legalize, regulate and tax sports betting.