QUICK HITS

1 States get broadband funds: More than half a billion dollars in federal funding will be sent to four U.S. states to expand broadband access as part of a national effort to bring affordable service to rural and low-income Americans, the U.S. Treasury Department said. Louisiana, New Hampshire, Virginia and West Virginia are the first to benefit from this part of the $10 billion Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, which is expected to bring internet service to 200,000 homes and businesses in the four states. It’s part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package enacted in March 2021.

2 Guilty plea in IS case: American 2 woman Allison Fluke-ekren pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to leading an all-female battalion of Islamic State militants in Syria. The charge carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

3 Drug bust in Italy: Italian agents confiscated 4.3 tons of cocaine (street value of nearly $270 million) in the city of Trieste, dealing a blow to Colombia’s Gulf Clan in one of the largest drug busts ever in Europe. Arrest warrants were being executed for 38 people in six countries.

4 Dominican official slain: The Dominican Republic’s minister of the environment and natural resources, the son of a former president , was shot to death in his office by a close friend Monday, the office of the president said. Authorities said Orlando Jorge Mera was shot by Fausto Miguel de Jesús Cruz de la Mota, who was arrested at a church after telling a priest he committed a crime and handing over a gun to him. Officials gave no motive for the shooting.

5 Goodyear recalls tires: Nineteen years after the last one was made, Goodyear has agreed to recall more than 173,000 of the G159 recreational vehicle tires that the U.S. government says can fail and have killed or injured 95 people.