NEWS OF THE DAY

From Across the Nation

1 Border wall: The Pentagon’s acting chief on Saturday visited the U.S.Mexico border in Texas as he considers how to use emergency powers invoked by President Trump to help build a border wall. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan arrived in El Paso with Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Shanahan plans to get a firsthand view of areas along the border, west of El Paso, where military troops are assisting Customs and Border Protection with barrier replacement work. The sites are along known drug smuggling corridors.

2 Red tide: Florida’s coastal waters appear free from a devastating red tide bloom that began in October 2017. A state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report released last week said the toxic algae were no longer present in water samples collected anywhere in the state. The bloom caused respiratory irritations in people and killed vast numbers of sea turtles, manatees, dolphins and fish. Red tide is caused by an organism called Karenia brevis, which occurs naturally in the waters off Florida. University of South Florida red tide expert Robert Weisberg said currents that swept the organisms up from deep offshore waters toward shore have stopped.

3 Flooding: Homes, highways, parks and bridges throughout the South have been flooded or rendered out of commission, as days of drenching rains swelled waterways and pooled over saturated lands. Transportation officials said Interstate 40 near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina was closed Saturday because of a rockslide, one of the dozens of roads and highways shut down throughout the South. In Bruce, Miss., rivers broke flood stage and flash flooding hit homes and businesses.

4 ‘El Chapo case’: The defense team for Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman say they will seek a new trial for the notorious drug lord in light of “misconduct” on the part of several jurors who allegedly followed media accounts of the case against the instructions of a federal judge. Defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo said in a court filing in New York City that he intends to ask U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan to conduct a hearing “to determine the extent of the misconduct.” Guzman was convicted of murder conspiracy and drug-trafficking charges. He faces life in prison at his June sentencing.

5 Jet crash: A Boeing 767 cargo jetliner heading to Houston with three people aboard crashed Saturday into a bay just east of the city. Lynn Lunsford of the Federal Aviation Administration said the twin-engine plane crashed into Trinity Bay. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said no survivors are expected to be found after the plane disintegrated when it went down “nose first” at the north end of the bay. Witnesses heard the engines surging. The Atlas Air Flight 3591 had departed Miami, and an FAA alert was issued after officials lost contact with the aircraft when it was about 30 miles southeast of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.