Calif. bans soda taxes through ‘30

Compiled from news services

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California banned taxes on soda and sugary drinks for more than a decade with a bill signed Thursday.

The law, which prohibits new local taxes on “groceries” through 2030, was the linchpin of a political deal between the beverage industry and organized labor.

Proponents of a separate initiative that would have made it harder to raise taxes agreed to remove the measure from the November ballot in exchange for the new law.

‘Low income’ in the Bay

SANFRANCISCO — The government now classifies a family earning up to $117,400 as lowincome in three counties around the Bay Area.

That figure, the nation’s highest, includes San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties.

The second-highest threshold is in Honolulu — but the third is close, in Santa Clara County, the heart of Silicon Valley.

Major charges dropped

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— A New Mexico district attorney dropped first-degree murder and rape charges Friday against a man arrested in the grisly killing of a 10year-old Albuquerque girl, saying an ongoing investigation revealed that much of what authorities had believed about the case was “simply not true.”

Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez’s announcement followed the victim’s mother, Michelle Martens, pleading guilty to child abuse resulting in death. She was cleared of more than 12 charges, including murder.

Mr. Torrez said Ms. Martens told police after the 2016 killing that Fabian Gonzales, her boyfriend, had sex with her daughter the night the girl’s brutalized remains were found.

However, a crime lab analysis found another unidentified male’s DNA on the girl’s body.

Toxic algae returns

MIAMI — Green algae blooms are seeping down the Caloosahatchee River toward Florida’s southwest coast. Ooze has piled up on Lake Okeechobee’s banks, pushing against a gate leading to milliondollar waterfront homes and businesses along the St. Lucie River estuary.

While state testing has confirmed low amounts of toxic bacteria, Calusa Waterkeeper, a nonprofit river watch group, posted results showing levels hundreds of times above limits for exposure in some waterways.

The nasty slime could have wide-ranging implications in the state. Gov. Rick Scott, who consistently cut funding to Florida’s environmental regulators, issued emergency orders to try to hinder the algae, a potential stain on his U.S. Senate campaign.