NAACP has plan for Flint water crisis

NAACP has plan for Flint water crisis

FLINT, Mich.

Chief among the priorities that national and local NAACP leaders listed Tuesday for the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint is the repeal of Michigan’s emergency manager law.

The “15-point priority plan,” which the NAACP drew up with Flint residents, was the focus of a community meeting and also was expected to be discussed at a meeting between Gov. Rick Snyder and National NAACP President and Chief Executive Cornell Brooks.

The plan also calls for the distribution of bottled water to households to be steered from National Guard members to Flint youths who would be paid at minimum wage, as well as free home inspections to determine the extent of damage to the plumbing caused by lead that leached from aging city pipes.

Group: All should get depression screening

WASHINGTON

All adults, including pregnant women and new mothers, should be screened for depression as a routine part of health care, a government advisory group recommended Tuesday.

Depression is a common public-health problem, and screening simply involves health workers asking about certain symptoms even if patients don’t mention them.

The second part of the recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is more difficult – ensuring systems are in place to properly diagnose and treat people identified through screening.

Obama loosens trade embargo

HAVANA

The Obama administration is loosening the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba with a new round of regulations allowing American companies to sell to Cuba on credit and export a potentially wide range of products to the Cuban government for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

The changes are President Barack Obama’s third attempt to spur U.S.-Cuba commerce despite an embargo that still prohibits most forms of trade with the island.

U.S. travel to Cuba has exploded since Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro declared detente in 2014. But U.S. hopes of building wider trade between American businesses and Cuba’s private sector have been largely frustrated by Congressional reluctance to end the embargo itself and by the island’s labyrinthine restrictions on imports, exports and private business.

Report: Principal died saving kids

INDIANAPOLIS

An Indianapolis elementary school principal was seen pushing several students out of the way of an oncoming bus before the vehicle fatally struck her, authorities said Tuesday.

Susan Jordan, the principal of Amy Beverland Elementary School on the city’s far northeast side, was killed and two 10-year-old children were hospitalized with serious but nonlife-threatening injuries when the bus suddenly lurched forward, authorities said.

Buses were lined up outside the school when the accident happened around 2:45 p.m., Indianapolis Fire Department Capt. Rita Reith said.

2 dead, 3 wounded in Seattle shooting

SEATTLE

Police say two people have been fatally shot and three others wounded by gunfire at a homeless encampment in Seattle.

The Seattle Times reports the shooting happened Tuesday night near Airport Way South and South Atlantic Street south of downtown.

Police are searching for at least one person connected with the incident.

Combined dispatches