Judge strikes down EPA mining rule

Judge strikes down EPA mining rule

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

The Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its powers by setting up water-quality criteria for coal-mining operations in Appalachia, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton in Washington ruled that the EPA infringed on the authority given to state regulators by federal clean-water and surface-mining laws. A coal-mining industry coalition sued the EPA and Administrator Lisa Jackson, and the lawsuit was joined by West Virginia and Kentucky.

Professor charged with arson in Calif.

SANTA ANA, Calif.

A University of California professor was held without bail Tuesday after prosecutors said they found evidence he plotted to kill students and administrators at a high school where his son was disciplined before committing suicide.

Rainer Reinscheid, 48, an associate professor of pharmaceuticals at the University of California, Irvine, is charged with arson for a series of five fires set earlier this month at University High School, a school administrator’s house, and a nearby park, where his son killed himself in the spring.

After Reinscheid’s arrest last week, authorities found emails on his cellphone describing a plot to burn down the high school, commit sexual assaults and purchase weapons to murder school officials and students there before killing himself, said Orange County district attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami.

Gay-marriage ban backers seek ruling

SAN FRANCISCO

Backers of California’s ban on same-sex marriages asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to overrule a federal appeals court that struck down the measure as unconstitutional, a move that means the bitter, four-year court fight over Proposition 8 soon could be resolved.

Lawyers for the coalition of religious conservative groups that sponsored the voter-approved ban petitioned the Supreme Court to review the lower court’s finding that the 2008 amendment to the state constitution violated the civil rights of gay and lesbian Californians. The request had been expected since a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its 2-1 decision earlier this year.

If the high court declines to take the case, it would clear the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California.

3 Mexican military officers charged

MEXICO CITY

Mexican prosecutors formally lodged drug charges Tuesday against four high-ranking army officers, including three generals and a lieutenant colonel.

They are the highest-ranking Mexican army officials arrested in at least 15 years and reportedly provided protection for the Beltran-Leyva drug cartel. They were detained in May and have been under a form of house arrest.

Bill addressing toxic water goes to Obama

RALEIGH, N.C.

A bill to help Marines and family members sickened by contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune over three decades heads to President Barack Obama.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the Janey Ensminger Act by voice vote.

The bill is named for a girl who died of a rare form of leukemia in 1985 at age 9. Her father, Jerry Ensminger of Elizabethtown, led the fight to get health care for those who were exposed.

It covers those who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune from 1957 to 1987. Health officials believe as many as 1 million people may have been exposed.

Associated Press