NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Syrian refugees: The number of Syrian refugees admitted to the U.S. after fleeing their war-torn homeland has plummeted to just 44 since the first of October — down from around 6,000 in the same period a year ago, according to the Refugee Processing Center, run by the U.S. State Department. The United States, which traditionally took in the largest number of refugees, has scaled back its resettlement program under the Trump administration. The U.S. has welcomed more than 20,000 Syrian refugees since 2011, including around 2,000 since President Trump took office. However, since November, admissions have nearly screeched to a halt, with only 11 Syrian refugees getting in.
2 Alex Jones lawsuit: The parents of children who died in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., have accused conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and InfoWars of defamation and seek damages in excess of $1 million. Two lawsuits filed on behalf of Neil Heslin, Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa allege that Jones and his media organization spread false information related to the tragedy. Heslin’s suit arose from accusations InfoWars made in 2017 that Heslin was lying about holding his son’s body and seeing a bullet hole in the child’s head. The pair of lawsuits marks the third to be filed against Jones and his company in recent weeks. Marcel Fontaine is suing Jones for more than $1 million after he used an image of Fontaine that portrayed him as the shooter who killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February.
3 GOP lawmaker to resign: Republican Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania says he’ll resign from Congress in the coming weeks, after the leader of an influential caucus of GOP moderates announced last year that he wouldn’t seek re-election. The seventerm Dent didn’t give a precise departure date in Tuesday’s statement. He has been a frequent critic of President Trump and polarization and dysfunction on Capitol Hill.
4 Statue removed: New York City tore a statue of controversial 19th century gynecologist J. Marion Sims from its perch in Central Park Tuesday — less than a day after it was deemed unfit to remain in the iconic space. The Public Design Commission on Monday voted unanimously to relocate the statue to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery because Sims — once hailed as the father of modern gynecology — had experimented on enslaved women. The Parks Department removed the statue from its spot near E. 103rd St., where it has stood for more than 120 years. Sims’ work was groundbreaking as a cure for pregnancy-related fistula — a debilitating condition caused by prolonged obstructed child birth. In the 19th century, women who suffered a fistula — a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder — were left incontinent of urine or feces or both for life. In his search for a surgery that would fix the condition, Sims operated on three enslaved women — multiple times — who suffered from fistulas.
5 Pot-based drug: A medicine made from the marijuana plant reduces seizures in children with severe forms of epilepsy and warrants approval in the U.S., health officials said Tuesday. British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals is seeking permission to sell its purified form of an ingredient found in cannabis — one that doesn’t get users high — as a medication for rare, hard-to-treat seizures in children. If successful, the company’s liquid formula would be the first government-approved drug derived from the cannabis plant in the U.S.
Chronicle News Services