NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Contaminated homes: The Environmental Protection Agency proposed to buy several homes contaminated by arsenic from a 19thcentury mine in upstate New York as part of a $5.8 million Superfund cleanup plan announced Wednesday. The agency said an asyetundetermined number of residents would be relocated and their homes demolished at the 12acre site in Kent, 50 miles north of New York City. There are 10 homes with soil contaminated by arsenic from a nearby longabandoned mine. The EPA first became aware of water contamination in the area in 1987 when two residents were hospitalized with arsenic poisoning.
2 Campus shooting: Arkansas State University was placed on lockdown for several hours after a student was shot in the leg early Wednesday in the parking lot of a campus apartment complex, officials said. University police issued a shelterinplace warning following the shooting, then lifted it at about 5 a.m., Chancellor Kelly Damphousse said in a letter to students, faculty and staff. A student was shot in the leg “by an unknown assailant,” the chancellor said. The student is being treated for an injury that isn’t considered lifethreatening, he said. Authorities didn’t immediately say what led to the shooting. No arrests have been made. About 700 of the school’s roughly 14,000 students remain on campus, Jonesboro TV station KAIT reported.
3 Kennedy tragedy: Authorities found the body of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s missing grandson in the Chesapeake Bay, two days after finding her daughter’s body. Maryland police said they found 8yearold Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean’s body Wednesday, about 2,000 feet away from where authorities found his mother, Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, on Monday. Maeve McKean was the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, the former New York senator.
4 Suspect killed: A man who fatally stabbed three employees and wounded a customer at a Tennessee travel center before being killed was a truck driver from North Carolina, authorities said. The Knox County Sheriff ’s Office responded to a call at the Pilot Travel Center on Tuesday to find a person with stab wounds outside the store and Idris AbdusSalaam, a 33yearold from Durham, armed with a knife in the parking lot, police said. A deputy shot and killed AbdusSalaam after he refused to drop the weapon. Authorities found Pilot employees Joyce Whaley, 57, Patricia Denise Nibbe, 51, and Nettie R. Spencer, 41, with stab wounds and pronounced the women dead at the scene.
5 Primary delays: New Jersey and Virginia on Wednesday joined at least 15 other states in delaying their primaries amid the coronavirus pandemic so election officials can make preparations to address public health concerns and deal with a poll worker shortage brought on by the outbreak. The two states were the first to postpone their elections since Wisconsin this week declined to move its primary, meaning some voters had to ignore orders to stay at home to help stem the outbreak so they could cast ballots at busy polling places.