NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Disaster aid: The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would provide $1.7 billion to help residents of the Carolinas and elsewhere recover from recent natural disasters. Lawmakers describe the disaster aid as a down payment. They say billions more will be needed in the months ahead to help communities devastated by Hurricane Florence. The Senate must also pass the bill before it can be signed into law by the president. North Carolina agriculture officials estimate $1.1 billion in losses. Preliminary estimates show about 2,000 homes have been damaged by flooding in South Carolina.
2 Texas execution: A Texas inmate was executed Thursday for fatally running over his girlfriend in a jealous rage more than 18 years ago. It was the state’s second execution in as many days. Daniel Acker was condemned for the 2000 slaying of Marquetta George. Prosecutors said he ran over George with his truck in rural northeast Texas because he believed she had been unfaithful to him. Asked by the warden if he had any final statement, Acker replied: “No, sir.” Acker, 46, is the 18th inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the 10th in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.
3 Missing boy: Search crews found a body believed to be that of Maddox Ritch, the 6-year-old North Carolina boy who has been missing since Saturday, Gastonia police said Thursday. The boy, who is autistic and nonverbal with strangers, was with his father when he disappeared after running after a jogger. Police said they’re also looking for a male jogger.
4 Nuclear waste cleanup: Some of the illegally dumped nuclear waste buried near a long-smoldering underground fire at a Missouri landfill will be dug up and the rest will be capped under a federal plan announced Thursday. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s remedy comes a decade after its initial cap-and-monitor proposal at suburban St. Louis’ West Lake Landfill was met with so much opposition that the agency went back to the drawing board. The partial excavation proposal was initially recommended by EPA in February. The project is expected to take a little over four years and cost $205 million, a price tag that will be shouldered by the landfill’s owner and other parties deemed responsible for the contamination.
5 Drug sweep: Federal officials say 76 people were arrested on drug charges in a sweep of traffickers on western North Carolina tribal land. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters Thursday the operation, which focused on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ reservation, began weeks ago and culminated in recent days with arrests by federal, state, local and tribal officers. He said officers seized about 250 pounds of heroin, pills and other drugs with a $2 million street value. The tribe’s principal chief, Richard Sneed, said reservations have been hit particularly hard by the national opioid crisis.