Calif. declares hepatitis A emergency
SAN DIEGO — California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday declared a state of emergency to combat a hepatitis A outbreak that has claimed 18 lives in San Diego.
Mr. Brown said the federally-funded supply of vaccines is inadequate. His proclamation allows the state to buy vaccines directly from manufacturers and distribute them.
California is experiencing the largest hepatitis A outbreak in the United States transmitted from person to person — instead of by contaminated food — since the vaccine became available in 1996. The state says the majority affected are homeless, using drugs or both.
Vegas timelime shifts
LASVEGAS — Police have once again shifted their timeline of how the Oct. 1 massacre unfolded in Las Vegas, saying Friday that a hotel security guard was shot only moments before the gunman shot at a concert crowd — not six minutes before the attack began, as they had previously stated.
Slaying suspect arrested
COLUMBUS,Ohio — Unarmed,worn out and ready togive up, the suspect in the fatalshootings of three adults anda 7-year-old boy didn’t try toflee when officers arrested himFriday as he walked alonga road in far southern Ohio,a sheriff said.
Officers were acting on a tip from a resident who spotted 23-year-old Arron Lawson. Authorities had said he fled into the woods Thursday, shortly after midnight.
Mr. Lawson is being held on charges of murder and aggravated murder. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he has an attorney.
Herbicide limits
WASHINGTON— The Trump administration has reached a deal with three major agribusiness companies for new voluntary labeling requirements for a controversial herbicide blamed for damaging crops.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday its agreement with Monsanto, BASF and DuPont regarding the application of dicamba, which is used to control weeds in fields of genetically modified cotton and soybeans. Farmers who don’t buy the special resistant seeds sold by the herbicide makers have complained that dicamba sprayed on neighboring properties drifts over and harms their crops. Under the deal, dicamba products will be labeled as “restricted use” beginning with the 2018 growing season.
Estate tax repeal
WASHINGTON— President Trump and Republican leaders have positioned a proposed repeal of the estate tax as a way to help farmers, ranchers and small business owners. But on Friday, Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, offered a significant concession about who would benefit the most if the so-called death tax disappears: the rich.
Estates are taxed at a rate of 40 percent, but the first $5.49 million of an inheritance is exempt from taxation. Couples can leave their heirs as much as $11 million, none of it taxed, meaning only a few thousand wealthy estates are subject to the tax a year.
Russia-linked accounts
MENLOPARK, Calif. — Twitter has handed over to Senate investigators the profile names, or “handles,” of 201 accounts linked to Russian attempts at influencing the 2016 presidential election. The company has stepped up its efforts to cooperate with investigators after it was criticized for not taking congressional probes seriously enough. The handover occurred last week, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.