Two faces of Iran

January 29, 2016 - Daily News Briefing

Iran's door is open just enough for business. But Iran's hard-liners – fearful of losing control – are keeping their foot in it.

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The leader of the month-long occupation of a Oregon wildlife refuge has urged remaining occupiers to go home, after he and several other leaders of the occupation were arrested Tuesday. Ammon Bundy, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who had a well-publicized standoff with the government over grazing rights in 2014, was arrested along with his brother, Ryan Bundy. In his first public statement, delivered by his lawyer, Mr. Bundy urged remaining occupiers of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon to leave peacefully and urged authorities to let them leave without arrest: "Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. This fight is now in the courts." As of late Wednesday night, eight protesters had left the refuge and three were arrested.

Ferguson, Mo., the city that gained national attention after the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, released details on Wednesday of a deal with the US Justice Department to reform its police department. Under the proposed agreement, the Ferguson police department would be required to give bias-awareness training to its officers and implement a system to make officers accountable for stop, search, and arrest practices and ensure they do not discriminate based on race. Patrol officers, supervisors, and jail workers will need to be outfitted with body cameras within 180 days of the agreement taking effect. The cameras will be activated for all traffic stops, searches, arrests, and encounters with people having a mental health emergency.

The accusers are now the accused in the case of the hidden camera videos that purportedly show Planned Parenthood staff in Texas discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue – a crime in the United States if done for profit. The anti-abortion activists who captured the controversial footage last year now face criminal charges. A grand jury in Harris County cleared Planned Parenthood's Gulf Coast affiliate and indicted David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, in a courtroom twist that surprised many. Both are charged with using fake driver's licenses, and Mr. Daleiden is charged with violating Texas' law against the purchase and sale of human organs – the same law he accused Planned Parenthood of breaking – based on his email to Planned Parenthood in which he sought to buy fetal tissue. Their lawyers say they have done nothing wrong.

In outer space, it really does take a village to raise the next generation. That's according to new research, published Thursday in Science, that claims new stars can be born from a combination of massive, ancient star clusters with the help of gas from host galaxies. The study's authors say taking adjacent gas for star formation is a new concept that provides a more nuanced understanding of how galaxies take shape and evolve.

Space flight, in the thirty years since the space shuttle Challenger disaster, has been safer because of lessons learned from the tragedy. On the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For 73 seconds, the spaceship was in the air before a failed rubber seal in the shuttle's right booster rocket caused an explosion. Today, spacecraft in development are being built on top of rockets so crews may have a chance to fly to safety if a booster fails. In addition to a flaw in design, Challenger investigators determined that NASA's busy flight schedule at that time contributed to the accident.

Former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr. has died. He was the city's longest-serving mayor, elected to six terms with a total of 21 years in office. Despite having been forced to resign twice due to criminal activity, Mr. Cianci is being remembered as a "giant" of Rhode Island politics who helped revitalize the city. Many in public office have made public statements offering their memories and condolences.

What do Hawaii and Alaska have in common? A sense of well-being, according to a new survey. Hawaii is No. 1, followed by Alaska, in a new Gallup poll ranking all 50 states based on residents' sense of well-being. Alaska claimed the top spot last year, and Hawaii has been No. 1 in the poll five times since 2008, when the survey began. Mountainous Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming hold spots 3, 4, and 5 in the State of American Well-Being: 2015 State Rankings report, gathered from a non-scientific telephone interview of 177,281 residents across the country. The bottom five are Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and West Virginia, which has been last in the rankings for the past seven years. Kentucky has held No. 49 during the same time.

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