EPA cancels water delivery to residents

EPA cancels water delivery to residents

ALLENTOWN, Pa.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly changed its mind Saturday about delivering fresh water to residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential wells were found to be tainted by a natural-gas drilling operation.

Only 24 hours after promising them water, EPA officials informed residents of Dimock that a tanker truck wouldn’t be coming after all — an about-face that left them furious, confused and let down — and, once again, scrambling for water for bathing, washing dishes and flushing toilets.

Afghans accuse US of abuse at prison

KABUL

Afghan investigators accused the American military Saturday of abusing detainees at its main prison in the country, bolstering calls by President Hamid Karzai for the U.S. to turn over control of the facility and complicating talks about America’s future role in Afghanistan. The investigators also called for any detainee held without evidence to be freed.

Park reopens after slaying of ranger

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash.

Rangers and volunteers somberly embraced as Mount Rainier National Park reopened to the public Saturday for the first time since an Iraq War veteran shot and killed a park ranger there New Year’s Day.

Margaret Anderson, who had worked as a ranger with her husband at the park for three years, was shot dead by 24-year-old Benjamin Colton Barnes after he broke through a snow-tire checkpoint.

Authorities say Barnes, who showed signs of erratic behavior since returning from war, had fled to the mountain hours after a house-party shooting in the Seattle suburb of Skyway that left four injured.

After killing Anderson and shooting at another ranger, Barnes fled for the woods. He was found dead in a creek the following day. An autopsy showed he drowned.

NLRB allows group claims in court

WASHINGTON

Employers can’t require workers to sign arbitration agreements that prevent them from pursuing group claims in court, the National Labor Relations Board said Friday, in a decision that some experts say could have wide repercussions.

The NLRB said agreements that required private-sector workers to make claims only as individuals and only to an arbitrator violated their right to join together in “concerted action” under the National Labor Relations Act.

On Jan. 3, the board said D.R. Horton, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, could not require new hires to sign a document agreeing to have all disputes settled on an individual basis through binding arbitration.

Iran welcomes US rescue of fishermen

TEHRAN, Iran

Iran’s government on Saturday welcomed the U.S. Navy’s rescue of 13 Iranian fishermen held by pirates.

U.S. officials announced Friday that the fishermen had been rescued by a U.S. Navy destroyer Thursday, more than 40 days after their boat was commandeered by suspected Somali pirates in the northern Arabian Sea. The rescue came just days after Tehran warned the U.S. to keep the same group of warships out of the Persian Gulf.

“The rescue of Iranian sailors by American forces is considered a humanitarian gesture, and we welcome this behavior,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by state TV’s Al-Alam Arabic channel.

Iran’s hard-line Fars news agency had a different take, calling the rescue operation a Hollywood dramatization of a routine event.

Associated Press