CHICAGO
Settlement in woman’s jail death
The mother of Sandra Bland, a black woman who died last summer in a Texas jail after a contentious traffic stop, has reached a $1.9 million settlement in her wrongful-death lawsuit, her attorney said Thursday. Local officials in Texas insisted the agreement was not yet final. Bland, who was from the Chicago area, died in her cell days after she was pulled over by a white Texas state trooper for a minor traffic offense. Her death was ruled a suicide, and Bland’s family later sued Waller County and the Texas Department of Public Safety. The settlement includes a requirement that the jail have a nurse or emergency medical technician on duty 24 hours a day, the family’s Chicago-based attorney, Cannon Lambert said.
WASHINGTON
House report condemns Snowden’s acts
A House intelligence committee report issued Thursday condemned Edward Snowden, saying the National Security Agency leaker is not a whistleblower and that the vast majority of the documents he stole were defense secrets that had nothing to do with privacy. The Republican-led committee released a three-page unclassified summary of its two-year bipartisan examination of how Snowden was able to remove more than 1.5 million classified documents from secure NSA networks, what the documents contained and the damage their removal caused to U.S. national security.
Bill approved for Flint, other projects
The Senate approved a $10 billion water projects bill Thursday that includes emergency funding for Flint, Mich. — nearly a year after officials declared a public health emergency because of lead-contaminated water. The measure now goes to the House, where approval of a similar bill — minus the Flint provision — is expected as soon as next week.
NEW YORK
Tobacco giant adds Boehner to board
Cigarette maker Reynolds American says former House Speaker John Boehner, a longtime smoker, is joining its board of directors. Reynolds American Inc. is the company behind Camel, Newport and Pall Mall cigarettes. Boehner was elected House Speaker in 2011 and resigned from the position and Congress nearly a year ago. An Ohio native, Boehner was first elected to the House in 1990.
Compiled from wire reports.