Grand jury: Driver was texting when she killed 2 teens

Grand jury: Driver was texting when she killed 2 teens

AKRON

An Ohio woman has been indicted on charges she was texting when she crossed a marked curb line and struck three teenagers, killing two 14-year-old girls and seriously injuring a 15-year-old boy.

A grand jury indicted 24-year-old Natasha Boggs, of New Franklin in Summit County, on Wednesday on two counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and charges that include tampering with evidence and texting while driving.

Boggs is charged with killing Taylor Galloway, of Akron, and Amber Thoma, of Coventry Township, on May 28 in Coventry Township. The 15-year-old boy was hospitalized.

Military scrambles for transgender policy after tweets

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s tweets declaring transgender people unwelcome in the armed forces have plunged the Pentagon into a legal and moral quagmire, sparking a flurry of meetings to devise a new policy that could lead to hundreds of service members being discharged.

Months after officially allowing transgender troops to serve openly in the military, the department may be forced to throw out those who willingly came forward after being promised they’d be protected.

A team of military lawyers has been pulled together to deal with the matter, Adm. Paul Zukunft, the Coast Guard commandant, said at the Center For Strategic and International Studies this week. These lawyers are working with the White House to flesh out some of the issues, and they’re bolstered by a Pentagon working group that had initially been set up to advance the implementation of the Obama administration’s year-old repeal of a transgender ban.

After weeklong outage, NC islands get power back

RALEIGH, N.C.

Power was restored Thursday to two North Carolina islands after a weeklong outage that hit the local economy at the height of the lucrative summer vacation season.

Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative announced that transmission lines were pumping electricity to all of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Visitors will have access to both islands starting at noon Friday, according to a statement from the governor.

Power was cut to both islands a week ago when construction crews working on a new bridge plunged a steel casing into underground transmission lines.

Inky water near Niagara Falls leads to call for resignations

BUFFALO, N.Y.

Several lawmakers want the board that runs Niagara Falls’ wastewater treatment plant to resign after a sewage-smelling discharge blackened the water near the base of the falls during a busy tourist weekend.

Members of the Niagara County Legislature’s Republican majority said Thursday they also want the New York attorney general, county district attorney and the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate for possible criminal charges. An investigation by the state Department of Environmental Conservation already is underway.

The legislators complained they have received little information about an incident that had the potential to damage the county’s $827 million-a-year tourism industry.

Associated Press