San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Police discipline: Dallas police officials say 25 officers face disciplinary measures after they were found to have posted bigoted or other offensive material to social media in violation of the department’s code of conduct, including mocking protesters who were peppersprayed. Four of the officers have been placed on administrative leave because of the extreme nature of their posts. The findings come after the Plain View Project released a database last month cataloging thousands of bigoted or violent posts by police officers in several states.
2 Record heat: Alaska’s largest city and other state locations reached record high temperatures last week. The National Weather Service says Anchorage reached 90 degrees on Independence Day. The previous record for the city was 85 degrees on June 14, 1969. Kenai and King Salmon also reached new high temperatures of 89 degrees, while Palmer matched its record high at 88 degrees. Forecasters said a highpressure ridge over much of southcentral Alaska is strengthening and responsible for the record temperatures.
3 Flag law: Two senators say the American flags the federal government purchases should have to be made in America. Sen. Susan Collins, RMaine, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, DOhio, have introduced legislation they call the AllAmerican Flag Act that would require the government to buy flags produced entirely with U.S.made materials. The flags would also have to be manufactured in the U.S. The government is required to buy flags made from at least 50 percent Americanmade materials under current law. Collins says the rule change would make sure “the symbol of our nation is preserved while supporting American jobs and manufacturers.”
4 Hospital safety: Seattle Children’s Hospital has been cited for multiple federal safety violations related to mold that led to a patient death and five additional infections, officials said. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a report listing more than two dozen violations of federal regulations and hospital policy. The facility detected Aspergillus mold during a test of operating rooms May 18, hospital officials said. The hospital, which disclosed the death and infections last week, has submitted a plan of correction to the agency.
5 Maritime auction: A Titanic survivor’s walking stick, with a light she used to signal for help from a lifeboat, is one of thousands of maritime items that will be up for auction in Rhode Island. Guernsey’s auction house is holding the auction in Newport on July 19 and 20. Guernsey’s President Arlan Ettinger described Ella White’s cane as one of the most extraordinary items to have survived the 1912 sinking. “It’s a fabled object and Titanic enthusiasts have certainly heard of it,” he said. The preauction estimate is $300,000 to $500,000, though Ettinger said it’s very hard to predict what it might fetch because it’s such an unprecedented artifact. A violin played by the Titanic’s bandleader as the ship sank sold at auction in 2013 for about $1.7 million.