A symbol of civilization

March 29, 2016 - Daily News Briefing

Palmyra's liberation is a small win in the war against Islamic State but a victory for the values of the civilized world.

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Police shot a man on Monday after he pulled a weapon at a US Capitol checkpoint as spring tourists thronged Washington, authorities said. The suspect, who was known to police, incident was taken to a local hospital. A female bystander also sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The Capitol was on lockdown for about an hour and the White House also was briefly locked down. The event unfolded with Congress on recess and lawmakers back in their districts. Capitol Chief of Police Matthew R. Verderosa declined to officially identify the suspect.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a controversial religious liberty bill that would have allowed clergy to refuse performing gay marriages and allowed opponents of same-sex marriage to deny services to gay and lesbian couples. The Georgia bill was one of several put forward in various state legislatures reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision last summer that made same-sex marriage legal across the country. But under pressure from a population increasingly supportive of same-sex marriage, and threatened by potential boycotts from big-name companies should the bill become law, the governor rejected the bill.

Civil rights advocates in North Carolina say they will fight the state's new law preventing Charlotte and other local communities from passing rules aimed at stopping LGBT discrimination. The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and Equality North Carolina announced on Monday in Raleigh that they filed federal litigation to challenge the law, which was approved last week by the state legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

US immigration agents have arrested more than 1,000 people after a five-week operation targeting international gangs, officials announced on Monday. The suspects were arrested on charges ranging from drug and sex trafficking to murder and racketeering. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement headed the operation, dubbed Project Shadowfire, between Feb. 15 and March 21, the agency said in a statement. The majority of the 1,113 arrestees were US citizens, but 239 were foreign nationals from countries in Central America, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Authorities also seized 150 firearms, over 20 kg of narcotics, and more than $70,000 in US currency.

The US Geological Survey has added manmade earthquakes to its 2016 earthquake forecast for the central and eastern United States (CEUS), which have become increasingly common in the region in part due to oil and gas drilling activity.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) lost contact with its ill-fated X-ray satellite, Hitomi, over the weekend. The satellite, which was launched on February 17 and was calibrating its equipment before it was due to explore the universe, was supposed to start operating at 3:40 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday. But the spacecraft didn’t send a signal to Earth at that time. Hitomi, Japanese for “pupil of the eye,” was supposed to detect with incredible precision X-rays from black holes, dark matter, and galaxy clusters. JAXA invested $265 million into the operation, according to Nature.

Rapper, producer, and entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs will join a long list of celebrities who have invested their money in primary education. Mr. Combs announced Monday that a new charter school that he has founded, Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School, will open in the fall. It will be managed by Capital Preparatory Schools, an organization founded in 2012. The founder of the organization, Steve Perry, is the principal of Capital Prep Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., which has operated since 2005, targeting “historically disadvantaged students,” according to its website. Combs says creating the school is "a dream come true."

At least 1,200 comments have poured in from around the country from people eager to weigh in on the federal government’s proposal to drop manatees from the endangered species list. The US Fish & Wildlife opened the issue up for public input in January, when it announced a plan to change the federal status of the West Indian manatee (found most commonly in Florida in the winter) from "endangered" to "threatened." So far it at least, it seems a resounding majority of the pubic doubts that it is time to reduce protections for Florida's beloved manatees.

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