Felons in Florida regain vote rights
MIAMI -- The right to vote was restored for most Florida felons as of Tuesday, increasing the pool of eligible voters by as many as 1.4 million in a battleground state known for its narrow margins in key elections.
A ballot measure went into effect Tuesday that overturns a prohibition that resulted in Florida having the highest number of disenfranchised felons in the nation.
"I'll be a human being again. I'll be an American citizen again," said Robert Eckford, who served seven years for a drug conviction and wept after filling out an application at the elections supervisor's office in Orlando.
Nearly 65 percent of Florida voters last November approved Amendment 4, which was crafted so that it would take effect automatically. It applies to all felons who have done their time and completed the terms of their probation and parole, with the exception of people convicted of murder or sex offenses.
Until the amendment passed, Florida's constitution automatically barred felons from being able to vote after leaving prison unless rights are restored through a clemency process.
U.S. cancer deaths drop for 25th year
NEW YORK -- The U.S. cancer death rate has hit a milestone by falling for at least 25 years, according to a new report released Tuesday by the American Cancer Society.
Lower smoking rates are translating into fewer deaths. Advances in early detection and treatment also are having a positive impact, experts say.
But obesity-related cancer deaths are rising, and prostate cancer deaths are no longer dropping, said Rebecca Siegel, lead author of the society's report.
Cancer also remains the nation's No. 2 killer. The society predicts there will be more than 1.7 million new cancer cases, and more than 600,000 cancer deaths, in the U.S. this year.
The nation's cancer death rate was increasing until the early 1990s. It has been dropping since, falling 27 percent between 1991 and 2016, the Cancer Society reported.
Declines in lung cancer is the main reason. Among cancers, it has long killed the most people, especially men. But the lung-cancer death rate dropped by nearly 50 percent among men since 1991, believed to be a delayed effect from a decline in smoking that began in the 1960s, Siegel said.
CO2 releases said to rise 3.4% in '18
WASHINGTON -- America's carbon dioxide emissions rose by 3.4 percent in 2018, the biggest increase in eight years, according to a preliminary estimate published Tuesday.
The uptick in emissions occurred even as a near-record number of coal-fired plants around the United States were retired last year.
The estimate, by research firm Rhodium Group, pointed to a stark reversal. Fossil-fuel emissions in the United States have fallen significantly since 2005 and declined each of the previous three years, in part because of a boom in cheap natural gas and renewable energy, which have been rapidly displacing dirtier coal-fired power.
However, a steep drop in coal use last year wasn't enough to offset rising emissions in other parts of the economy. Some of that increase was weather-related: A relatively cold winter led to a spike in the use of oil and gas for heating.
And, the report said, as U.S. manufacturing boomed, emissions from the nation's industrial sectors -- including steel, cement, chemicals and refineries -- increased by 5.7 percent
A Section on 01/09/2019