EPA: Raise standards for fuel efficiency for heavy trucks

EPA: Raise standards for fuel efficiency for heavy trucks

WASHINGTON

The Obama administration Friday proposed tough new standards to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon-dioxide pollution from trucks and vans, the latest move by President Barack Obama to address global warming.

The new rules are designed to slash heat-trapping carbon emissions by 24 percent by 2027 while reducing oil consumption by up to 1.8 billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the rule.

The proposal comes amid a flurry of recent actions by Obama on the environment, including a new federal rule regulating small streams and wetlands and a separate rule to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes.

22 hurt as cruise ship crashes in NY

MASSENA, N.Y.

A cruise ship taking European tourists to Ontario, Canada, crashed into a wall while entering a lock on the St. Lawrence Seaway in northern New York, injuring 19 passengers and three crew members, officials said Friday.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the 286-foot Saint Laurent was headed from Montreal to Toronto when it hit a wall in the Eisenhower Lock in Massena, near the Canadian border, shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday. There were 273 people on board, including 81 crew members and 192 passengers who are mainly French and Swiss nationals.

The ship’s operator, Miami-based FleetPro, said 19 passengers and three crew members were treated at Massena Memorial Hospital and released.

WikiLeaks to leak Saudi documents

ISTANBUL

WikiLeaks is in the process of publishing more than 500,000 Saudi diplomatic documents to the Internet, the transparency website said Friday, a move that echoes its famous release of U.S. State Department cables in 2010.

WikiLeaks said in a statement that it already has posted roughly 60,000 files. Most of them appear to be in Arabic. There was no immediate way to verify the authenticity of the documents, although WikiLeaks has a long track record of hosting large-scale leaks of government material.

Mom pleads guilty in roof-riding case

NEWPORT, Vt.

A Vermont woman has pleaded guilty to riding with her 5-year-old son on the roof of a station wagon, holding onto the cargo rack as the vehicle traveled at least 50 mph.

The Caledonian Record reported that Lindsey Perkins of Newport pleaded guilty Tuesday in Orleans Superior Court, avoiding trial on charges of providing false information to a police officer and cruelty. A charge of reckless endangerment was dropped.

Police say the vehicle operated by 20-year-old Nicholas Nobaris was traveling at speeds of 50 to 55 mph. Perkins was sentenced to one to three years in jail, all suspended except four days.

Man convicted of killing stripper

gretna, la.

A jury has found a Louisiana man guilty of killing and dismembering a stripper he lured from a New Orleans French Quarter bar.

Terry Speaks and his ex-girlfriend, Margaret Sanchez, were charged with the second-degree murder of 22-year-old Jaren Lockhart. Sanchez’s trial has not yet been scheduled.

Lockhart’s head, lower legs and left thigh washed up on Mississippi beaches in June 2012. Prosecutors say Speaks and Sanchez tried to derail investigators by dismembering the woman’s body and cutting tattoos from her body to make her unidentifiable and scrubbing down their apartment and vehicle.

Associated Press