New Orleans council votes to remove Confederate symbols

New Orleans council votes to remove Confederate symbols

NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans’ leaders Thursday made a sweeping move to break with the city’s Confederate past when the city council voted to remove prominent Confederate monuments along some of its busiest streets.

The council’s 6-1 vote allows the city to remove four monuments, including a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has stood at the center of a traffic circle for 131 years.

It was an emotional meeting – often interrupted by heckling – infused with references to slavery, lynchings and racism, as well as the pleas of those who opposed removing the monuments to not “rewrite history.”

US-Cuba deal allows up to 110 flights a day

HAVANA

The United States and Cuba have struck a deal to allow as many as 110 regular airline flights a day, allowing a surge of American travel to Cuba that eventually could flood the island with hundreds of thousands more U.S. visitors a year, officials said Thursday on the anniversary of detente between the Cold War foes.

The deal reached Wednesday night after three days of talks in Washington opens the way for U.S. airlines to negotiate with Cuba’s government for 20 routes a day to Havana and 10 to each of Cuba’s other nine major airports, the State Department said.

Ex-prison chaplain charged with sex assault of inmates

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

A former chaplain at an Arkansas women’s prison was charged with sexual assault Thursday, after authorities said he coerced three inmates into having weekly sexual encounters with him and said no one would believe them if they told prison officials.

Prosecutor Henry Boyce announced Thursday that 50 counts of third-degree sexual assault had been filed against 67-year-old Kenneth Dewitt. The affidavits obtained from the Jackson County Circuit Clerk’s Office allege that DeWitt initiated and scheduled sexual encounters in his office with three inmates at the McPherson Unit – a women’s prison in Newport – between January 2013 and September 2014.

Parks raise security

ORLANDO, Fla.

With the nation increasingly concerned about safety in public, three major theme parks announced Thursday that they are adding security measures including metal detectors ahead of the busy holiday season.

Officials at Disney, Universal and SeaWorld’s Florida theme parks said all three parks will be using metal- detector screening for guests as they enter.

In addition, Disney is discontinuing the sale of toy guns at both its Florida and California parks and no longer will allow those items to be brought in.

Carter admits improper email use

IRBIL, Iraq

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged Thursday he sometimes used a personal, unsecured email account to conduct official business after he took office in February, a practice he called “entirely my mistake.”

His admission followed a New York Times report revealing that he continued the practice even after Hillary Clinton triggered a wave of criticism in March for using a private email account to conduct government business while she was secretary of state. The FBI and several congressional committees are investigating Clinton.

Associated Press