QUOTE OF THE DAY
“And the people are going to have to be careful of how they live, how they build their homes and what kind of vegetation is allowed to grow around them.”
California Gov. Jerry Brown,
discussing how Californians will have to proceed in the future after recent wildfires caused more than $20 million in damage
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8 hurt when bus hits overpass guardrail
NEWTON, Mass. — A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus crashed through a guardrail and fencing on an overpass Sunday, leaving the front of the vehicle hanging over the Massachusetts Pike. Eight people were injured, including the bus operator. Police Lt. Detective Mark Gillespie told the Boston Herald that the bus left the authority’s Watertown yard at 7:20 a.m. About 15 minutes later, while headed to Kenmore Station, the bus veered off the road in Newton, climbed onto a sidewalk and smashed into a guardrail, he said. Seven passengers and the bus driver were transported to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening injuries, said authority spokesman Kelly Smith. Three other passengers declined medical treatment. The bus was removed from its perch over the pike late Sunday morning. State police had said the bus was never in danger of falling onto the pike because the Newton Fire Department had secured it. Transit police detectives are investigating the cause of the crash.
Alabama abortion backers oppose law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal court trial begins today over an Alabama abortion law that proponents say will make abortions safer and opponents say will close three of Alabama’s five licensed abortion clinics.
Planned Parenthood Southeast and the American Civil Liberties Union are challenging the 2013 law, which requires doctors at abortion clinics to have approval to admit patients to nearby hospitals.
Proponents of the law say problems arise because traveling doctors remain in a city only a few hours and aren’t around to handle complications.
Attorney General Luther Strange’s staff members said in a court filing that the state will present witnesses, including physicians, who will testify that having a doctor on hand to manage complications and admit a patient to the hospital will improve the quality of care.
The plaintiffs argue that abortion is one of the safest medical procedures and that doctors can’t secure admitting privileges because they have too few patients to meet hospital requirements or the hospitals won’t admit abortion doctors because they are controversial.
The legislatures in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Pennsylvania are also considering similar requirements.
Ship hauls 2 tons back from space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The commercial cargo ship Dragon returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Sunday, carrying nearly 2 tons of science experiments and old equipment for NASA. SpaceX’s Dragon splashed into the Pacific Ocean five hours after leaving the orbiting lab. “Welcome home, Dragon!” the California-based company said via Twitter. After a one-month visit, the SpaceX cargo ship was set loose Sunday morning. Astronaut Steven Swanson, the station commander, released it using a large robotic arm as the craft zoomed more than 260 miles above the South Pacific. The SpaceX Dragon is the only supply ship capable of returning items to Earth. The others burn up on re-entry. This was the fourth Dragon to take back Space Station goods, with 3,500 pounds aboard; it came down off Mexico’s Baja California coast. NASA is paying SpaceX and Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. to make station deliveries. Orbital is next up, with a trip next month. Russia, Europe and Japan also make occasional shipments.
U.S. helps farmers fight coffee disease
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is stepping up efforts to help Central American farmers fight a devastating coffee disease. The farmers are fighting a fungus called coffee rust that has caused more than $1 billion in damage across Latin America. The fungus is especially deadly to Arabica coffee, the bean that makes up most high-end, specialty coffees. Already, it is affecting the price of some of those coffees in the United States. Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Costa Rica have all been hard hit.