Arrest made in felling of Connecticut’s ‘door tree’

HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut authorities say the person responsible for cutting down a distinctive tree has been arrested. The New Haven-based Regional Water Authority announced the arrest Tuesday. No name was released. The authority said the Door Tree in Hamden, a 200-year-old white oak that grew in a "distinctive doorway-like arch," had been cut down with a chainsaw on July 18. The Regional Water Authority owns the land where the tree stood. David Johnson, Hamden's municipal historian and a member of the Hamden Historical Society which first discovered the tree had been felled, called it a "terrible act of thoughtless vandalism." The historical society says the tree was first photographed in 1898 and was featured in works including Ripley's "Believe It or Not."

Changing channel on shootings

NEW YORK (AP) -- Revulsion over the weekend's twin mass shootings and the nagging sense that it's all an inconclusive rerun has frustrated the news media and those who rely upon it -- and triggered the stirrings of a new debate over how such tragedies should be covered.

"It's time for journalists to take sides," tweeted prominent Columbia University professor Bill Grueskin, and he's not just a voice in the wilderness. News outlets haven been dominated by coverage of the shootings that killed 31 people in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Editors at The New York Times discovered the extent to which nerves are frayed when they put together the newspaper's Tuesday edition. The first edition's lead headline, "TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM," provoked a social media backlash. Some tweeters said they canceled subscriptions in disgust.

Ex-cardinal letters raise red flag

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- At first glance, the handwritten postcards and letters look innocuous, even warm, sometimes signed off by "Uncle T." or "Your uncle, Father Ted." But taken in context, the correspondence penned by disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to the young men he is accused of sexually abusing or harassing is a window into the way a predator grooms his prey, according to two abuse prevention experts who reviewed it for The Associated Press. Full of flattery, familiarity and boasts about his own power, the letters provide visceral evidence of how a globe-trotting bishop made young, vulnerable men feel special -- and then allegedly took advantage of them. The AP is exclusively publishing correspondence McCarrick wrote to three men ahead of the promised release of the Vatican's own report into who knew what and when about his efforts to bed would-be priests. Access to an archbishop for young men seeking to become priests "is a key piece of the grooming process here," said one of the experts, Monica Applewhite.

Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick, 89, in February after a church investigation determined he sexually abused minors as well as adult seminarians. The case has created a credibility crisis for the Catholic hierarchy , since McCarrick's misconduct was reported to some U.S. and Vatican higher-ups, but he nevertheless remained an influential cardinal until his downfall last year.

Peter Strzok sues FBI for firing

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A veteran FBI agent who wrote derogatory text messages about Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Tuesday charging that the bureau caved to "unrelenting pressure" from the president when it fired him.The suit from Peter Strzok also alleges he was unfairly punished for expressing his political opinions, and that the Justice Department violated his privacy when it shared hundreds of his text messages with reporters. "This campaign to publicly vilify Special Agent Strzok contributed to the FBI's ultimate decision to unlawfully terminate him," the lawsuit says, "as well as to frequent incidents of public and online harassment and threats of violence to Strzok and his family that began when the texts were first disclosed to the media and continue to this day." The complaint, which names as defendants Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray, revisits a political drama that was seized on by conservative critics of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation as proof that the bureau was biased against Trump. It provides new details about the circumstances of Strzok's firing and amounts to the latest defense of his reputation, coming months after a fiery congressional hearing in which he insisted that his personal views never influenced his work. Multiple investigations are underway examining whether the FBI acted properly during the Russia investigation, and Strzok remains a frequent target of Trump's scornful tweets. A Justice Department inspector general report focused on the early days of the Russia probe is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

'Target list' prompts FBI review

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The discovery of a "target list" containing religious institutions, courthouses and other sites compiled by the gunman in a mass shooting at a California food festival has prompted the FBI to open a domestic terrorism case. Shooter Santino William Legan, 19, appeared to be interested in conflicting violent ideologies, but authorities still have not determined a motive for the July 28 attack that killed three people, including two children, said John Bennett, the FBI's agent in charge in San Francisco. Authorities have not found a written explanation from Legan, but Bennett said they cannot rule out white nationalism as a factor. On the day of the attack, Legan urged his Instagram followers to read a 19th century book popular with white supremacists who follow extremist websites. He also complained about overcrowding towns and paving open space to make room for "hordes" of Latinos and Silicon Valley whites.

Naloxone boom cuts OD deaths

NEW YORK (AP) -- Prescriptions of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone are soaring, and experts say that could be a reason overdose deaths have stopped rising for the first time in nearly three decades. The number of naloxone prescriptions dispensed by U.S. retail pharmacies doubled from 2017 to last year, rising from 271,000 to 557,000, health officials reported Tuesday. The United States is in the midst of the deadliest drug overdose epidemic in its history. About 68,000 people died of overdoses last year, according to preliminary government statistics reported last month, a drop from the more than 70,000 in 2017. "One could only hope that this extraordinary increase in prescribing of naloxone is contributing to that stabilization or even decline of the crisis," said Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University drug abuse expert. About two-thirds of U.S. overdose deaths involve some kind of opioid, a class of drugs that includes heroin, certain prescription painkillers and illicit fentanyl. Naloxone is a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses, restoring breathing and bringing someone back to consciousness. It first went on sale in 1971 as an injection. An easier-to-use nasal spray version, Narcan, was approved in 2015.

New Scout abuse claims uncovered

(AP) Lawyers bringing a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America said Tuesday they believe they've turned up allegations of sexual abuse against more than 350 people not previously identified in files released by the organization. Attorneys with the Abused in Scouting group filed a lawsuit Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, alleging a one-time scout leader sexually abused a minor identified only by initials. The suit alleges that the abuse of the then-12- or 13-year-old victim by an assistant scout leader started around 1974 or 1975 and continued until about 1980. It also says that the lawyers received allegations of abuse from their clients against more than 350 people involved with the scouts who had not previously been named. The Irving, Texas-based scouts compiled so-called ineligible volunteer files for years on people considered to pose a risk of abuse, and about 5,000 of these files have been made public as a result of court action. Monday's suit is claiming that the lawyers now have hundreds of names that were not in those public files. It does not list the names.

Feds clarify change on opioids

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is clarifying a policy change that will limit the prescribing of opioid painkillers to federal workers. The Labor Department issued a statement Tuesday saying the limitations will apply to employees injured on the job and covered under the government's workers' compensation program. Last week at a White House briefing a senior administration official suggested the change would apply to the federal health plan, which is a much bigger program.Beginning this fall, workers injured on the job will be limited to an initial seven-day supply of opioid painkillers, with a maximum of three refills. Additional prescriptions beyond the first 28 days will require medical certification. Painkillers prescribed as part of medical care unwittingly became a gateway for some people caught up in the nation's opioid epidemic.

Chaos at Louisiana Walmart

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Two men arguing at a Walmart customer service counter pulled guns on each other, setting off a stampede of panicked customers, some of whom thought there had been a shooting. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux says a preliminary investigation did not find any evidence of a shooting Tuesday at a Walmart store in Baton Rouge, though authorities are still investigating. The incident occurred three days after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, leaving 22 people dead and dozens injured. Customers running out of the Louisiana store told deputies they had heard "popping" sounds which they thought were gunshots. Gautreaux says surveillance video showed two men pulling guns during an argument. One was detained. Police and deputies were looking for the other.

Man charged with selling guns

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A Pennsylvania man has been charged with selling machine guns and other firearms and ammunition stolen from a federal storage facility in West Virginia. Richard Adam Schreiber of Everett was indicted Tuesday after federal agents seized about 100 guns, more than 1,300 gun components and nearly 124,000 rounds of ammunition. Prosecutors say Schreiber plotted with a security guard who pilfered the weapons and ammunition from a gun-disposal facility operated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The guard, Christopher Lee Yates, has pleaded guilty in the case and is due to be sentenced in late August. Prosecutors say Schreiber bought the stolen weapons from Yates and then sold them over the internet.

Air Force base to be rebuilt

MEXICO BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The Trump administration is confirming that a U.S. Air Force base in the Florida Panhandle that was devastated by Hurricane Michael will be rebuilt so it can house F-35 fighter jets. Vice President Mike Pence tweeted Tuesday that squadrons of F-35 fighter jets will be based at Tyndall Air Force Base outside Panama City beginning in 2023. The Air Force had previously conducted an evaluation showing Tyndall can accommodate three F-35 squadrons. With 11,000 military and civilian workers, the base suffered catastrophic damage from the Category 5 storm last October. The estimated cost to rebuild the base is $4.7 billion.Most of the F-22 Raptor fighter jets that were housed at Tyndall before the hurricane were moved to other bases.

Water in Hawaii crater hot

HONOLULU (AP) -- Scientists have discovered that the water inside Hawaii's Kilauea volcano crater is hot. The U.S. Geological Survey says temperature readings taken over the weekend show that a growing pool of water in Halemaumau crater, the former home of Kilauea's summit lava lake, is about 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Geologists also observed steam rising from the pond. For the first time in recorded history, the presence of water in the crater was confirmed last week. Since then, scientists have found two other small pools of water nearby. The crater floor collapsed last summer and the lava lake disappeared as Kilauea stopped erupting for the first time in over 30 years. In certain circumstances, underground magma interacting with water can create explosive eruptions.

Uruguay issues travel warning

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Uruguay issued a warning to its citizens early this week about traveling to the U.S. after two mass shootings killed more than 30 people. The Latin American country also cited three cities citizens should avoid: Albuquerque, Detroit and Baltimore. Uruguay's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the three cities are among the 20 most dangerous in the world and cited CEOWORLD magazine at its source.

Albuquerque has garnered national attention in recent years over its high auto theft rates and violent shootings.

Uruguay advised its citizens to avoid U.S. theme parks, shopping centers, art festivals, religious activities and sporting events.