NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Mall slaying:
A man argued with his former wife Saturday at a Southern California mall before fatally shooting her and turning the gun on himself, authorities said, leading shoppers to run into stores and out the exits. The man went to a store at the Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks (Ventura County) and argued with the 30-year-old victim before shooting her, sheriff ’s Sgt. Eric Buschow said. The 33year-old gunman was taken to a hospital in critical condition, officials said. Their identities were not immediately released.
2 Sexual misconduct:
A Salvadoran woman who said a guard groped her inside a Texas immigration detention facility has been released, advocates said. Laura Monterrosa-Flores was released from the facility outside of Austin, where she had been held for months, Grassroots Leadership organizer Bethany Carson said Saturday. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which had sued on Monterrosa-Flores’ behalf, said in a statement that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security agreed to release her under deferred action, which provides individuals temporary relief from deportation. The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation into Monterrosa-Flores’ case.
3 Robocalls:
A federal appeals court has rolled back rules intended to deter irritating telemarketing robocalls, saying they were too broad. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the 2015 regulations from the Federal Communications Commission could wrongly classify every smartphone as an autodialing device subject to anti-robocall fines. Those 2015 rules attempted to graft modern definitions onto a 1991 law that predated the iPhone by more than 15 years. The court also struck down rules that could levy fines on telemarketers who repeatedly call phone numbers reassigned to people who have opted out of such calls.
4 Submarine christened:
The U.S. Navy’s newest attack submarine, the Colorado, joined the fleet Saturday in a ceremony at Connecticut’s Naval Submarine Base in Groton. Annie Mabus, the daughter of former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, gave the order to bring the ship to life before the crew boarded the vessel at the end of the ceremony, which is a Navy tradition. The 377-foot-long sub can fight submarines and surface ships, conduct surveillance and deliver Special Operations troops.
5 Emergency alerts:
Hawaii has appointed a retired Navy captain to lead an overhaul of the state Emergency Management Agency two months after an employee mistakenly sent an alert warning of a ballistic missile attack. Thomas Travis has commanded a submarine squadron and was deputy commander of an aircraft carrier strike group. The false missile alert sent to cell phones and airwaves in January triggered widespread panic. The agency’s previous director, Vern Miyagi, resigned after the mishap. The employee who sent the alert was fired. A second worker quit before disciplinary action was taken, and another was suspended without pay.