Cleveland delays razing gazebo

Cleveland delays razing gazebo

CLEVELAND

Cleveland has agreed to a request from the Smithsonian’s new African-American history museum to delay the demolition of a gazebo where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot to death by police.

City officials decided Monday to hold off on demolition for 30 days.

Workers expected to begin dismantling the structure this week. It became a makeshift memorial after Rice’s death in 2014, which became part of a national outcry over fatal confrontations between black people and white police officers. Rice, who was black, was playing with a pellet gun when a white rookie patrolman, responding to a call about a man waving a gun, fatally shot him.

Proposals for new Syrian cease-fire

BEIRUT

Syria’s military extended its own, unilateral cease-fire around Damascus for an additional 48 hours Monday amid an intense diplomatic push by the United States and Russia to restore a partial truce for the entire country – one that would include war-battered Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

American officials say one idea being considered by the U.S. side is a detailed map that would be drawn up with the Russians laying out “safe zones” where civilians and members of moderate opposition groups covered by the truce could find shelter from persistent government attacks.

It was not immediately clear whether Russia would accept such a plan or if Moscow could persuade Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government to respect the prospective zones.

Expanded health coverage in Flint

FLINT, Mich.

An additional 15,000 children and pregnant women grappling with Flint’s lead-contaminated water crisis should become eligible for government health insurance starting next week, once the funding receives final legislative approval, Gov. Rick Snyder said Monday.

The expanded health coverage will apply to people under 21 years old who used Flint’s water system from April 2014, when the city switched its water source, until the time it is deemed safe again. It also will cover women who were pregnant or become pregnant between early March and the safety declaration. They would remain eligible until age 21 or, if pregnant, until two months after their child is born.

Fireworks likely source of pollution

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.

Past fireworks displays at Mount Rushmore National Memorial are the likely source of a pollutant found in water within the site in western South Dakota, according to a government report released Monday.

The U.S. Geological Survey findings show the contaminant perchlorate was found in groundwater and surface water within the park. The agency and the National Park Service studied perchlorate and metals associated with fireworks in 106 water and 11 soil samples taken between 2011 and 2015.

Trial in hot-car death to be moved

MARIETTA, Ga.

The trial of a Georgia man accused of intentionally leaving his toddler son in a hot SUV to die will be moved, the judge said Monday, granting a defense request to have it elsewhere because pretrial publicity has caused potential jurors to form strong opinions about the case.

Justin Ross Harris, 35, faces charges including murder in the June 18, 2014, death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. Police have said the boy died after spending about seven hours in the SUV on a day when Atlanta-area temperatures reached at least into the high 80s.

Associated Press