NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
_1 Alaska quake: A powerful earthquake off Alaska’s southern coast jolted coastal communities late Tuesday, and some residents briefly scrambled for higher ground over fears of a tsunami. There were no immediate reports of damage, and the tsunami warning was canceled after the magnitude 7.8 quake off the Alaska Peninsula produced a wave of a less than a foot. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake struck Tuesday at 10:12 p.m. local time and was centered in waters 65 miles southsoutheast of the tiny community of Perryville. More than a dozen aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 or higher were reported after the quake.
_2 Murder charge: A North Carolina man who won a $10 million lottery prize in 2017 has been arrested on a murder charge. The Shallotte Police Department charged Michael Todd Hill, 52, of Leland, with murder after the body of a woman, Keonna Graham, was found in a hotel room on Monday, according to news outlets. Hill won $10 million from an Ultimate Millions scratchoff ticket in August 2017, WECTTV reported. Hill was arrested Tuesday in Southport, N.C. He was ordered held without bond at a Brunswick County jail after his initial court appearance.
_3 Fort Hood deaths: U.S. Army officials this week said the body of a Fort Hood soldier was found near the Killeen, Texas, army base, marking the third time in a month that a Fort Hood soldier’s body has been discovered. Pvt. Mejhor Morta, 26, was found July 17 in the vicinity of Stillhouse Hollow Lake, according to Fort Hood officials. On June 21, officials discovered the skeletal remains 10 miles from the same lake of 24yearold soldier Gregory Morales. On July 1, the human remains of 20yearold Pfc. Vanessa Guillen were found some 20 miles east of Fort Hood. Investigators believe she was killed and dismembered by someone stationed at Fort Hood.
_4 Court challenge: Civil rights groups on Wednesday gave notice in court of their intent to squelch an effort by President Trump to bar people in the U.S. illegally from being included in the head count when congressional districts are redrawn. Civil rights groups already challenging an order Trump issued last year directing the U.S. Census Bureau to gather citizenship data from administrative records made a request in federal court to expand their complaint to include the new directive Trump issued Tuesday. A federal judge in Maryland granted the groups’ request. The civil rights groups claimed the citizenship data gathering was motivated by “a racially discriminatory scheme” to reduce the political power of Latinos. _5 Park cleared: Police in riot gear moved in Wednesday to clear a monthlong encampment of protesters and homeless people from a park near New York’s City Hall. A line of officers with helmets and shields entered City Hall Park shortly before 4 a.m. and forced out about 50 people, many of them homeless, who remained at the encampment. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the clearing of the encampment, which had about 100 people still there, was unrelated to President Trump’s threats to send federal law enforcers to New York to take on protesters.