WASHINGTON
Must-do funding bill stalls
A must-do bill to prevent the government from shutting down this weekend and to fund the fight against the Zika virus is stalled in the Senate, held up by bipartisan opposition as the clock ticks toward a Friday deadline. Democrats, demanding money so Flint, Mich., can address its lead-contaminated water crisis, overwhelmingly opposed the measure in a Senate test vote Tuesday. So did a dozen of the Senate’s most conservative members. The 45-55 vote ties up the stopgap funding bill — for now at least. The GOP defections left Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., short of a simple majority, much less the 60 votes needed to clear a filibuster hurdle.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
Order details prior threat
The black man killed by Charlotte police had a restraining order filed against him a year ago when he threatened to kill his wife and her son with a gun, according to court documents obtained Tuesday. Keith Scott’s wife filed the order on Oct. 5, saying that law enforcement officers who encounter him should be aware that he “carries a 9 mm black” gun. Police have said Scott had a handgun when they approached him at an apartment complex last week. Scott’s family has said that he was not armed.
NEW YORK
Blast kills battalion chief
A battalion chief who had been considered a rising star in the Fire Department of New York was killed Tuesday when a row house exploded as he was supervising an evacuation following a report of a gas leak, and authorities are looking into whether the building was being used to grow marijuana. Investigators said they were questioning a person of interest. The two-story house and adjoining homes in the Bronx had already been emptied of occupants and fire personnel had been on the scene for an hour when the 7:30 a.m. blast occurred.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
Plan would colonize Mars
On a personal quest to settle Mars, SpaceX founder Elon Musk envisions 1,000 passenger ships flying en masse to the red planet well within the next century. Musk outlined his zealous plan Tuesday to establish a self-sustaining city on Mars, complete with iron foundries and even pizzerias. He wants to make humans a multiplanetary species, and says the best way to do that is to colonize the red planet. “I think Earth will be a good place for a long time, but the probable life span of human civilization will be much greater if we’re a multiplanetary species,” he said.
Compiled from wire reports