MARIETTA, GA.
Father sentenced to life
A judge on Monday sentenced a Georgia man to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury found that he intentionally left his toddler son in a hot SUV to die. Jurors last month convicted Justin Ross Harris, 36, of malice murder and other charges in the June 2014 death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. Harris did not speak at his sentencing hearing.
CHARLESTON, S.C.
Roof can rehire lawyers
A federal judge agreed Monday to let a white man accused of fatally shooting nine black parishioners rehire his attorneys until a verdict is reached, but to remain his own lawyer if he is found guilty and the trial moves into a penalty phase. The decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ended a week of Dylann Roof acting as his own lawyer in his death penalty trial. Roof wrote the judge a handwritten note with his request over the weekend.
WASHINGTON
Bill clears Senate hurdle
A bipartisan bill to speed government drug approvals and bolster biomedical research cleared its last procedural hurdle in the Senate on Monday in an emotional moment for outgoing Vice President Joe Biden. The 85-13 vote put the measure on track for final legislative approval by the Senate as early as Tuesday. The bill envisions providing $6.3 billion over the next decade, including $1.8 billion for cancer research. President Barack Obama had placed Biden in charge of a “moonshot” to find ways to cure and treat the disease, which killed his son Beau, 46, last year.
More downpours on way
Extreme downpours — like those that flooded Louisiana, Houston and West Virginia this year — will happen nearly three times as often in the U.S. by the end of the century, and six times more frequently in parts of the Mississippi Delta, according to a new study. Scientists have long pointed out that warmer air holds more moisture, so man-made climate change will increase the frequency of extreme downpours.
SAN ANTONIO
Deputy killed in sinkhole
Officials said an off-duty sheriff’s deputy died and two other people were hurt when two vehicles plunged into a water-filled sinkhole in San Antonio. Authorities on Monday identified the victim as Deputy Dora Linda Nishihara, 69. Utility officials say the sinkhole appeared after a sewer line ruptured during heavy rain Sunday.
Compiled from wire reports