NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 More kids uninsured: The number of uninsured children in the United States has increased for the first time in nearly a decade, placing it at 3.9 million in 2017, according to a report Thursday from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. Nationally, the number of uninsured children increased by an estimated 276,000 in 2017, from a historic low of 4.7 percent in 2016 to 5 percent last year. Experts say about 75 percent of the newly uninsured children are clustered in states that did not expand Medicaid such as Florida, Texas and Georgia. The study blamed the increases on the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to prompt an overhaul of publicly funded health care.
2 No charges for migrants: No criminal charges will be filed against any of the 42 people associated with a caravan of Central American migrants who were arrested in a clash that ended with U.S. authorities firing tear gas into Mexico. Rodney Scott, chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, has said those arrested for illegal entry included 27 men, with the rest being women and children. The incident occurred Sunday at the border in Tijuana, where thousands of caravan members have been arriving in recent weeks after fleeing poverty and violence in Central America. Most of them plan to seek asylum in the U.S. but may have to wait months because the U.S. government processes only about 100 of those cases a day.
3 Family slain: A New Jersey technology executive was charged Thursday with killing his brother and the brother’s family over a business dispute, and then setting fire to their Colts Neck, N.J., mansion and his own house in an attempt to cover up the crimes. Paul Caneiro, 51, was charged with four counts of murder, as well as arson and two weapons violations. The victims were shot, stabbed or both. Caneiro’s motive “was financial in nature,” stemming from two businesses
4 Abusers named: West Virginia’s Roman Catholic archdiocese released the names Thursday of priests or deacons who it said have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse since 1950. Eleven of the 18 are deceased, the archdiocesesaid. None of the others are in active ministry. The list included brief descriptions of the accusations.
5 Ex-priest convicted: A defrocked Roman Catholic priest who was a central figure in the clergy abuse scandal that rocked the Archdiocese of Boston was convicted Thursday of sexually abusing another boy. Ronald Paquin, who was released from prison in 2015, was convicted of assaulting a boy in the 1980s in Kennebunkport, Maine. The victim, now an adult, told reporters after the verdict that Paquin was “pure evil.” Two men testified Paquin befriended them as boys at a parish in Haverhill, Mass., and invited them on trips that included visits to Kennebunkport. They said he gave them alcohol, and let them drive his car without a license. The jury reached a guilty verdict on counts involving only one of the victims. Paquin was convicted of 11 of the 24 counts against him.