×

Super tall condo being built

NEW YORK — A condominium tower near Central Park in New York City will be the world’s tallest predominantly residential building when it opens next year but will be competing with other ultra-luxury buildings for billionaire buyers. Extell Development Co. President Gary Barnett said Tuesday that the $3 billion, 1,550-foot Central Park Tower is entering an “oversupplied” market. He said Extell and its partners will have to be “flexible” in selling the building’s multimillion-dollar apartments. Barnett spoke at a “topping out” ceremony Tuesday to celebrate the fact that the tower has reached its full height. Apartments now listed on Central Park Tower’s website range from $6.9 million for a 33rd floor two-bedroom to $63 million for a 112th-floor five-bedroom. Nordstrom department store will occupy the first seven floors of the West 57th Street building.

Progress reported in GM talks

DETROIT — Faced with weakening sales, a deteriorating global economy and an unpredictable trade war, General Motors and striking auto workers appeared to be making progress Tuesday toward a four-year labor contract. The two-day walkout by 49,000 workers brought to a standstill more than 50 factories and parts warehouses in the union’s first strike against the No. 1 U.S. automaker in over a decade. Workers left factories and formed picket lines shortly after midnight Monday. “They are talking, they’ve made progress,” said Brian Rothenberg, spokesman for the United Auto Workers union. Talks continued into the evening. Bargainers could take a break during the night, but they planned to resume work Wednesday, Rothenberg said. GM and the union are negotiating at a time of troubling uncertainty for the U.S. auto industry. Driven up by the longest economic expansion in American history, auto sales appear to have peaked and are heading down. Long-term challenges also loom: GM and other carmakers are struggling to make the transition to electric vehicles.

Green Beret killed in Afghanistan

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A 41-year-old Green Beret who was on his fourth combat deployment has been killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin was from Greenbrier, Tennessee, and was a Special Forces communications sergeant based at Joint Base Lewis-McCord in Washington state. Griffin was engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan’s Wardak Province. Col. Owen G. Ray, commander, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), said Griffin was a “warrior” and a “respected and loved Special Forces Soldier.” Griffin joined the Army in 2004. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart. He is the 17th American servicemember to die this year in Afghanistan.

‘Jeopardy!’ host resumes chemo

NEW YORK — “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek says he’s had a setback in his battle with pancreatic cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy again. Trebek told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday that after a short period of optimism when he stopped chemotherapy, his “numbers shot up” and doctors ordered him back on the treatment. The 79-year-old game show host announced in March that he had advanced pancreatic cancer. But he hasn’t missed a day on the show, which tapes episodes in advance. Trebek said his goals for the summer were to get his strength and hair back, and his progress on both fronts was dismal. There have been no changes to this season’s taping and production schedule, producer Sony Pictures Television said. Trebek is taping the Tournament of Champions shows Tuesday and Wednesday as planned. Those episodes, with last season’s star James Holzhauer among the 15 contestants, will air Nov. 4-15. So far, 40 episodes have been taped out of the 230 planned. “Jeopardy!” typically has a compressed shooting schedule which, as Trebek has said, gives him long breaks. Trebek said he didn’t feel terrible, although he had fatigue and occasional pain in his back. “There are moments when, for no reason at all, I feel this surge of sadness, depression,” he said. “It doesn’t last for very long, but it takes over your whole being for a period of time.” While he’s concerned about what his passing would mean for his loved ones, Trebek said he’s not afraid of what lies ahead. “I’m 79 years old,” he said. “I’ve had one hell of a good life.”

Apple backs glass supplier

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Apple on Tuesday deepened its ties with a Kentucky manufacturing plant by awarding $250 million to support Corning Inc.’s continued work to develop glass for iPhones and other devices. The award builds on the $200 million that Corning received from Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund in 2017, the tech giant said. The combined investments support Corning’s research and development that will be crucial for next-generation consumer devices, Apple said. Scratch-resistant glass for every generation of iPhone has been made at Corning’s plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Corning also supplies glass for iPads and Apple Watches.

Arrested, couple was undeterred

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — A man and a woman who were stopped for drunken bicycling in a Florida beach town had sex in a deputy’s patrol car before one of them fled naked. Nassau County deputies last Friday arrested Aaron Thomas and Megan Mondanaro. Both face charges of resisting arrest with violence, committing a lascivious act and exposing sexual organs. Adeputy was patrolling Fernandina Beach when he spotted the bicyclists almost get hit by a car. After they were put into the squad car to await being taken to jail, they took off their clothes and started having sex. A naked Thomas was removed from the cruiser but fled. He was later captured.

New York bans flavored e-cigs

NEW YORK — New York became the first state to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes Tuesday, a move that comes as federal health officials investigate a mysterious surge of severe breathing illnesses linked to vaping. The vote by the state Public Health and Health Planning Council means the prohibition, which covers flavored e-cigarettes and other vaping products except for menthol and tobacco flavors, goes into effect immediately. Retailers will have two weeks to remove merchandise from store shelves. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, had proposed the emergency ban Sunday, citing surging use among young people. According to data from the state health department, nearly 40% of high school seniors and 27% of high school students overall in the state use e-cigarettes. Use among high-school students went from 10.5% in 2014 to 27.4% in 2018. Vape shop owners say they’re considering a legal challenge to the new regulation, which they say should have gone before lawmakers for hearings, debate and a vote. Several spoke at the meeting to urge council members to reject the ban. Mike Kruger owns two vape shops in the Albany region and said the ban could force hundreds of businesses like his to close. He said smokers looking to quit will have fewer options under the ban, potentially leading to an increase in the use of traditional tobacco products. As for the breathing illnesses, Kruger said he believes they are the result of people buying black market vape liquid, not the items he sells. “We are bypassing the legislative process,” he said of the ban. Kruger added that many adults seek out the flavored versions. He himself prefers blue raspberry. “Vaping has been around for 12 years. And now this.”

Utah spending on 2020 Census

SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly two dozen states are spending millions of dollars to make sure people participate in the 2020 Census amid concerns that undercounting could mean losing critical federal funding or seats in Congress. Utah became the latest on Monday as its GOP-dominated Legislature voted to spend $1 million on outreach for the census, a first for the state that’s one of the youngest and fastest-growing in the country. Its varied population includes big families with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a growing number of immigrants, and Native Americans on remote reservations. Utah has added an estimated half-million people since the previous census in 2010, but the number of census workers knocking on doors there is expected to shrink by half, Democratic state Rep. Karen Kwan said. “It’s a bipartisan issue. It’s not one side or the other saying it’s important,” she said. “This is the time to do it right.”

Cougar goes inside house

SONORA, Calif. — Officials say a mountain lion wandered inside a California house and was captured in a photo lying on a bathroom floor. The Tuolumne County Sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post that family members and the mountain lion ran away from each other Sunday after the cougar entered the home when the door was opened to let in cool air. The big cat dashed to the second-story bathroom of the home in the Sierra Nevada foothill town of Sonora and the family ran away from it. The mountain lion was coaxed out of the bathroom window by sheriffs’ deputies and state wildlife officers. Then it jumped to the ground. Authorities said the mountain lion didn’t threaten anybody.

Bermuda braces for Humberto

MIAMI — Officials in Bermuda said Tuesday that schools, public transportation and government offices on the British Atlantic territory will close early ahead of the likely arrival of Hurricane Humberto as a Category 2 storm. National Security Minister Wayne Caines told reporters that schools, government offices and ferries on the island would close at noon Wednesday and bus service would end at 4 p.m. Officials said tropical storm-force winds were expected to start hitting Bermuda, with hurricane-force gusts, starting about 3 p.m. Wednesday and lasting until about 4 a.m. Thursday. A small shift in track could bring the storm itself over the island. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Humberto’s maximum sustained winds were about 105 mph late Tuesday afternoon and it was predicted to strengthen, bringing it close to major hurricane force by Wednesday morning. The storm was centered about 450 miles west of Bermuda and moving to the east-northeast at 12 mph. Bermuda was expected to see rainfall of up to 4 inches, with large swells along the coast. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lorena formed off Mexico’s Pacific Coast, and forecasters predicted heavy rains and flooding by Thursday, likely without it reaching hurricane force.

Suit: Cops let dog attack sleeper

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — A Colorado man says officers in suburban Denver allowed a police dog to attack him while he slept, nearly killing him and permanently damaging his vocal chords. The Denver Post reported Monday that 25-year-old Spencer Erickson sued Lakewood police, saying officers improperly released the dog to search an apartment for him in September 2018 when they were investigating a non-violent property crime. The lawsuit says the dog bit Erickson’s neck, leaving wounds nearly 2 inches deep that came dangerously close to a jugular vein. The lawsuit says the officers were responding to a 911 call from Erickson’s roommate who said Erickson had cut a hole in the apartment’s attic and might be in the crawlspace.

Vets nurse rare injured whale

GULFPORT, Miss. — Veterinarians say a rare whale with shark bite wounds found stranded along the Mississippi coast is showing signs of improvement. News outlets report fishermen spotted the melon-headed whale Thursday near Cat Island. Institute for Marine Mammal Studies researchers say the juvenile whale was in critical condition, with bite marks and lesions on his body. But veterinarian Christa Barrett says he’s making strides and she hopes to get him swimming and eating on his own before releasing him. The Gulfport-based institute’s director also has said researchers will test the whale to determine if his lesions are similar to those found on dolphin carcasses that washed ashore in record numbers this year. The wounds are thought to be caused by fresh water from Louisiana’s Bonnet Carre Spillway.

Man arrested in school threat

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas man who was jailed for fighting with his 16-year-old stepson is accused of threatening to kill all the students at the Arkansas high school the teen attends, causing multiple lockdowns on campus. Police in Austin, Texas, arrested Patrick Pleasant last Thursday and charged him with third-degree felony retaliation. Pleasant, 36, was initially arrested in Jacksonville, Arkansas, last month on a charge of domestic battery for the fight with his stepson. On Aug. 21, after his release from jail, Pleasant contacted the police in that city to demand that his stepson be arrested too, for biting him during the fight, an arrest warrant affidavit says. Pleasant was “highly upset” and told police he planned to go to Jacksonville High School to kill the boy.

Thieves steal $80,000 in wigs

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Thieves stole up to $80,000 in merchandise from a wig warehouse. The owner of Prime Trading Hair and Wigs told detectives in Miami Gardens that he was notified overnight Tuesday that the alarm at the warehouse had been triggered. Owner Rakib Hossain tells Miami television station WFOR that some of the products are worth up to $800 each. Hossain says the thieves appeared to know what they were doing and were in the warehouse for no more than 5 minutes. Video surveillance shows a truck backing up and ramming the warehouses front door three times. Hossain says he is insured for his losses.

Ant infestation forces changes

ATLANTA — An official has been put on leave and others reassigned following a report of a cancer patient bitten more than 100 times by ants at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs living center in Georgia. Dr. Richard Stone, the Veterans Health Administration executive in charge, said in a news release Tuesday that the VA’s Southeast regional director was placed on administrative leave. Laquna Ross told WSB-TV she found her father, Air Force veteran Joel Marrable, with swollen, red bumps at Eagles’ Nest Community Living Center near Atlanta before he died earlier this month. The department also reassigned the regional chief medical officer and seven other staff members at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Stone says the agency is streamlining its incident reporting office and retrain personnel on reporting urgent issues.

Netanyahu falls short of majority

JERUSALEM — In an apparent setback for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the longtime Israeli leader on Tuesday fell short of securing a parliamentary majority with his hard-line allies in national elections, initial exit polls showed, putting his political future in question. Results posted by Israel’s three major TV stations indicated that challenger Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party held a slight lead over Netanyahu’s Likud party. However, neither party was forecast to control a majority in the 120-seat parliament without the support of Avigdor Lieberman, a Netanyahu rival who heads the midsize Yisrael Beitenu party. Lieberman said there was only “one option” for the country: a secular unity government between him and the two largest parties. Israeli exit polls are often imprecise and the final results, expected Wednesday, could shift in Netanyahu’s favor. But three stations all forecast similar scenarios. The apparent deadlock sets the stage for an extended period of uncertainly and complicated political maneuvering, but with Netanyahu in a relatively weaker bargaining position. The parties could be forced into a broad unity government that could push Netanyahu out.

Agent admits role in trafficking

NEW YORK — A federal narcotics agent scheduled to stand trial this month has pleaded guilty to participating in a decadelong drug conspiracy that involved the smuggling of thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to New York. Prosecutors said Fernando Gomez, a former U.S. Marine, infiltrated the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2011 and remained a federal agent until his arrest last year, even as he assisted a drug trafficking ring known for slaughtering its rivals. Gomez, 42, faces up to 20 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 21 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. His guilty plea happened last month but had not previously been reported. A newly released transcript shows Gomez, in pleading guilty, admitted selling firearms to a high-volume cocaine trafficker drug dealer, Jose Martinez-Diaz, while Gomez was working as a police officer outside Chicago. Martinez-Diaz, a member of La Organizacion de Narcotraficantes Unidos, pleaded guilty this summer to distributing more than 5,000 kilograms of cocaine, drugs he smuggled from the Dominican Republic by boat.

Coral gardeners bring back reefs

OCHO RIOS, Jamaica — Everton Simpson squints at the Caribbean from his motorboat, scanning the dazzling bands of color for hints of what lies beneath. Emerald green indicates sandy bottoms. Sapphire blue lies above seagrass meadows. And deep indigo marks coral reefs. That’s where he’s headed. He steers the boat to an unmarked spot that he knows as the “coral nursery.” ”It’s like a forest under the sea,” he says, strapping on blue flippers and fastening his oxygen tank before tipping backward into the azure waters. He swims down 25 feet (7.6 meters) carrying a pair of metal shears, fishing line and a plastic crate. On the ocean floor, small coral fragments dangle from suspended ropes, like socks hung on a laundry line. Simpson and other divers tend to this underwater nursery as gardeners mind a flower bed — slowly and painstakingly plucking off snails and fireworms that feast on immature coral. When each stub grows to about the size of a human hand, Simpson collects them in his crate to individually “transplant” onto a reef, a process akin to planting each blade of grass in a lawn separately. Even fast-growing coral species add just a few inches a year. And it’s not possible to simply scatter seeds.

Balancing diplomacy, military threat

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration tried to balance diplomacy with fresh talk of military action Tuesday in response to the fiery missile and drone attack on the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry — a strike marking the most explosive consequence yet of the “maximum pressure” U.S. economic campaign against Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was headed to Jiddah in Saudi Arabia to discuss possible responses to what U.S. officials believe was an attack coming from Iranian soil. President Donald Trump said he’d “prefer not” to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at next week’s U.N. session but “I never rule anything out.” Iran continued to deny involvement in last weekend’s attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil processing plant and its Khurais oil field, a strike that interrupted the equivalent of about 5% of the world’s daily supply. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said Tuesday that more than half of the country’s daily crude oil production that was knocked out by the attack had been recovered and production capacity at the targeted plants would be fully restored by the end of the month. The Trump administration was moving cautiously as it navigated competing impulses — seeking to keep up a pressure campaign aimed at forcing Tehran to negotiate on broader issues with the U.S. while deterring any further Iranian attacks and avoiding another Middle East war. It all was occurring as the administration deals with a host of other foreign policy issues and has no national security adviser, following the recent ouster of John Bolton. Echoing Trump’s warning from earlier in the week, Vice President Mike Pence said American forces were “locked and loaded” for war if needed. But he also noted that Trump said he doesn’t want war with Iran or anyone else.

Attack part of dangerous pattern

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The assault on the beating heart of Saudi Arabia’s vast oil empire follows a new and dangerous pattern that’s emerged across the Persian Gulf this summer of precise attacks that leave few obvious clues as to who launched them. Beginning in May with the still-unclaimed explosions that damaged oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, the region has seen its energy infrastructure repeatedly targeted. Those attacks culminated with Saturday’s assault on the world’s biggest oil processor in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdom’s production and caused energy prices to spike. Some strikes have been claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have been battling a Saudi-led coalition in the Arab world’s poorest country since 2015. Their rapidly increasing sophistication fuels suspicion among experts and analysts however that Iran may be orchestrating them — or perhaps even carrying them out itself as the U.S. alleges in the case of Saturday’s attack. “Iran can count on public skepticism to afford it some deniability under any circumstances, but an attack of this magnitude stands a much greater chance of provoking very severe diplomatic and military consequences,” warned Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. For its part, Iran only claimed one attack during this period, the shootdown of a U.S. military surveillance drone it alleges entered its airspace on June 20. It publicly gave medals to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard members who manned the anti-aircraft battery that downed the drone. It separately has acknowledged seizing oil tankers, the most-prominent one the British-flagged Stena Impero on July 19.

Lewandowski, House Dems spar

WASHINGTON — Democrats’ first impeachment hearing quickly turned hostile Tuesday as their sole witness, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, stonewalled many of their questions and said they were “focusing on petty and personal politics.” Lewandowski, a devoted friend and supporter of President Donald Trump, was following White House orders not to discuss conversations with the president beyond what was already public in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Trump was cheering him along as he testified, tweeting that his opening statement was “beautiful.” The hearing underscores what has been a central dilemma for House Democrats all year as they try to investigate — and potentially impeach — Trump. Many of the Democrats’ base supporters want them to move quickly to try to remove Trump from office. But the White House has blocked their oversight requests at most every turn, declining to provide new documents or allow former aides to testify. On Tuesday, Lewandowski made clear he wouldn’t make life easy for the Democrats. He demanded that Democrats provide him a copy of the Mueller report, sending Democratic staff scrambling to find one. He then read directly from report, showing that he wouldn’t say much beyond what Mueller wrote. Republicans on the panel then forced a series of procedural votes, immediately sending the hearing into disarray. “He’s filibustering,” a frustrated Nadler said.

Trump outpaces Obama, Bush

WASHINGTON — In less than three years, President Donald Trump has named more former lobbyists to Cabinet-level posts than his most recent predecessors did in eight, putting a substantial amount of oversight in the hands of people with ties to the industries they’re regulating. The Cabinet choices are another sign that Trump’s populist pledge to “drain the swamp” is a catchy campaign slogan but not a serious attempt to change the way Washington works. Instead of staring down “the unholy alliance of lobbyists and donors and special interests” as Trump recently declared, the influence industry has flourished during his administration. The amount spent in 2019 on lobbying the U.S. government is on pace to match or exceed last year’s total of $3.4 billion, the most since 2010, according to the political money website Open Secrets. Trump also has pulled in hefty contributions from industries with business before his administration, and his hotel near the White House has been a magnet for lobbyists and foreign interests since he was elected. “An administration staffed by former industry lobbyists will almost certainly favor industry over the general public, because that’s the outlook they’re bringing to the job,” said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow in the political reform program at the think tank New America and author of the book “The Business of America is Lobbying.” Former lobbyists run the Defense and Interior departments, Environmental Protection Agency and office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The acting Labor secretary, Pat Pizzella, is a former lobbyist and Trump’s pick to run the department, Eugene Scalia, also is an ex-lobbyist. Scalia’s confirmation hearing before a GOP-controlled Senate committee is scheduled for Thursday and Democrats are expected to grill him on his long record of opposing federal regulations.

Settlement relies on opioid sales

The tentative multibillion-dollar settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma would raise money to help clean up the opioid mess by … selling more OxyContin. That would amount to blood money, in the opinion of some critics. And it’s one reason two dozen states have rejected the deal. “The settlement agreement basically requires the settlement payments to be made based on the future sales and profits of opioids. That doesn’t really feel to me like the right way to do this,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said this week. Massachusetts is among several states that have pledged to continue pushing back in court against the company and especially members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue. On Tuesday, North Carolina became the latest state to sue the Sacklers. Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue, cast as a major villain in the opioid crisis in some 2,600 lawsuits brought by state, local and tribal governments, hospitals, unions and others, filed for bankruptcy Sunday in the first step toward putting the settlement into effect.

Vape maker overhauls packaging

LOS ANGELES — A short walk from police headquarters in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, a cluster of bustling shops are openly selling packaging and hardware that can be used to produce counterfeit marijuana vapes that have infected California’s cannabis market. Bootleggers eager to profit off unsuspecting consumers are mimicking popular, legal vape brands, pairing replica packaging churned out in Chinese factories with untested, possibly dangerous cannabis oil produced in the state’s vast underground market. The result: Authentic-looking vape cartridges sold by unlicensed dispensaries and delivery services, along with rogue websites. The deceptive rip-offs on the street could be linked to an emerging public health crisis. Hundreds of people across the U.S. have been sickened, mainly by vaping cannabis oil. Seven deaths have been reported, the latest on Monday in California’s Tulare County. Public health officials aren’t sure what’s causing the breathing issues, vomiting and other symptoms, but in California they say most patients reported purchasing vapes from pop-up shops or other illegal sellers that are a pipeline for counterfeit products.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today