NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Dreamers’ licenses: Nebraska ended the nation’s last ban on driving privileges for young people brought into the United States illegally as children, after the Legislature voted 34- 10 Thursday to override a veto from the state’s new Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts. President Obama announced an executive action in 2012 that creates the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gives the youths a Social Security number, a twoyear work permit and protection from deportation. Although a few states initially said they would deny licenses to those youth, only Arizona and Nebraska ultimately adopted policies to exclude them. A court blocked Arizona’s law in July.
2 Air traffic fire: A Naperville, Ill., man faces at least a decade behind bars and potentially millions of dollars in restitution after pleading guilty Thursday to charges he set a fire during a failed suicide attempt at a Chicagoarea radar facility that wreaked havoc on the nation’s air traffic system last September. Brian Howard, who had worked as a telecommunications contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration, pleaded guilty to willfully damaging an air navigation facility and using fire to commit a federal felony. Prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines could call for up to 19 years behind bars.
3 Spelling Bee: The national event hadn’t ended in a tie for 52 years — until last year. Now it’s happened for an unprecedented two years running. Gokul Venkatachalam and Vanya Shivashankar had worked too hard and come close too many times not to win the 2015 National Spelling Bee in Oxon Hill, Md. Vanya’s final word was “scherenschnitte.” After being informed he’d be the co- champion if he got the next word right, Gokul didn’t even bother to ask the definition before spelling “nunatak.” Gokul finished third last year.
4 Casino saturation: The casino market in the Northeastern United States is saturated, yet that’s not stopping some states from approving gambling legislation and companies from building gambling halls. That’s the consensus of participants at a major casino conference in Atlantic City, N. J. Eugene Johnson of Spectrum Gaming Group said that by the end of this year, there will be 60 casinos in the Northeast. More casinos are planned for Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland and New York.
5 Lohan off probation: For the first time in nearly eight years, actress Lindsay Lohan is not on probation. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Young on Thursday ended Lohan’s probation in a reckless driving case, Young said he reviewed community service logs and determined Lohan had completed her sentence.