New rules could close some child care businesses in Ohio

New rules could close some child care businesses in Ohio

DAYTON

A new report shows planned rule changes in Ohio could cause certain child-care providers to go without state funding.

The Dayton Daily News reports the new Step Up To Quality system is aimed at exposing more children to enrichment programs and educational offerings. Providers will be required to earn at least one star by July 2020 to receive per-child funding from the state, and three stars by 2025.

Advocates say the new rules will have a host of unintended consequences, with some operators choosing to close over new requirements for providers.

Out of 1,513 centers receiving subsidized child care across southwest Ohio, more than 1,000 are currently unrated.

State officials say more than half of the state’s children are already in rated programs.

Documents detail how absentee ballots gathered in NC vote

RALEIGH

Affidavits released Sunday by North Carolina’s elections board allege absentee ballots were collected from voters by the man at the center of vote fraud allegations or those working for him.

These latest documents focus on last month’s disputed 9th Congressional District race, the year’s only unresolved congressional election. Investigators are looking into whether McCrae Dowless and others working on behalf of GOP candidate Mark Harris ran an illegal operation to collect large numbers of absentee ballots from voters in at least two counties.

In the batch of affidavits released Sunday, registered voter Christopher Eason of Bladenboro alleges he gave his signed but otherwise blank mail-in absentee ballot directly to Dowless, who had been hired by the chief strategist for Harris’ campaign. It’s illegal for anyone other than a close relative or guardian to take a person’s ballot.

“I signed the absentee ballot envelope but left the ballot completely blank. I did not make any selections in any of the contests on the ballot,” Eason said in his affidavit signed Dec. 7, adding Dowless came to his home and asked for his absentee ballot.

Another voter, Hazel Guyton of Bladenboro, said in an affidavit that she filled out her absentee ballot, and Dowless and a woman stopped by to pick it up. She said he’d been “doing that for me for several years,” though she states she suffers no legal disabilities.

London airport open, but location of drone culprit up in air

LONDON

London’s Gatwick Airport operated without problems Sunday, but the fugitive drone operators who brought incoming and outgoing flights to a standstill over multiple days remained at large – and a potential threat – after police cleared two local residents who were arrested as suspects.

Sussex Police were hopeful they had halted the disruptive and costly drone incursions during one of the heaviest travel periods of the year with Friday’s arrests of a couple who live near the airport. But they were released Sunday, and police said they were no longer suspects.

Tens of thousands of passengers suffered through long flight delays or were stranded by cancellations after two drones were reported seen above the airfield at Gatwick on Wednesday night, prompting an immediate suspension of all air traffic.

Sussex Chief Detective Jason Tingley said Sunday he could not rule out new drone activity at Gatwick or other U.K. airports. He also said it was possible that witnesses who reported sightings after the first ones aroused alarm were mistaken.

SpaceX launches Air Force’s best GPS yet, ends banner year

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

SpaceX has launched the U.S. Air Force’s most powerful GPS satellite ever built.

A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Sunday, hoisting the satellite into orbit.

The satellite was supposed to soar Tuesday but rocket concerns and then weather delayed the flight.

Heather Wilson, secretary of the Air Force, says this next-generation GPS satellite is three times more accurate than previous versions and eight times better at anti-jamming. It’s the first in a series and nicknamed Vespucci after the 15th-century Italian explorer who calculated Earth’s circumference to within 50 miles.

Sunday’s launch was Space X’s 21st and final launch of the year, a company record.

Jennie-O recalls more than 164,000 pounds of ground turkey

MINNEAPOLIS

A Minnesota-based poultry producer is recalling more than 164,000 pounds of raw ground turkey products that may be contaminated with salmonella.

The Jennie-O Turkey Store products have markings saying to use or freeze by Nov. 12 or 13. The recall includes plain ground turkey and turkey with taco or Italian seasonings.

The products were shipped to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin.

Food safety officials are worried that some contaminated turkey may be in people’s freezers. The recalled products have the tag P-579 marked on the lower left corner of the front of the package.

Cruise ship rescues fishermen who had been adrift for weeks

MIAMI

A cruise ship has rescued two Costa Rican fishermen who had been stranded at sea for about three weeks.

Royal Caribbean Chief Meteorologist James Van Fleet tweeted that the sailors were saved Friday night between Grand Cayman and Jamaica by the Empress of the Seas cruise ship.

Fleet says the cruise ship was not scheduled to be there but had taken an alternate route because of bad weather.

Fleet tweeted Sunday that the fishermen left Porto Limon, Costa Rica, and had been adrift since Dec. 1. They said they had fallen asleep while their nets were soaking and ran out of gas while trying to return.

Both received medical attention onboard.

Body of girl who died at US border returns to Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY

The body of a 7-year-old girl who died while in custody of the U.S. Border Patrol arrived in her native Guatemala on Sunday and was being driven hours into the countryside to be handed over to family members for a last goodbye.

A white coffin containing Jakelin Caal was received in the afternoon at Guatemala City’s international airport by representatives of the country’s Foreign Ministry and then loaded into the back of a black hearse by workers in orange vests.

No family members were on hand. Domingo Caal, the girl’s grandfather, told The Associated Press that the family didn’t have money to travel from their poor hamlet to Guatemala’s capital.

Relatives expected the body to arrive in the pre-dawn hours today in the hamlet of about 420 people who mostly live off growing of corn and beans.

Tsunami hit without warning in Indonesia, killing more than 200

CARITA BEACH, Indonesia

The death toll from a deadly tsunami has risen past 280 with more than 1,000 people injured.

The tsunami struck Sunda Strait coastal areas along western Java and southern Sumatra islands without warning in the darkness Saturday night.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the latest tolls this morning were 281 dead and 1,016 injured. The tally of missing is 57, but the numbers are expected to rise.

The waves that swept terrified people into the sea followed an eruption and possible landslide on Anak Krakatau, one of the world’s most infamous volcanic islands.

It was the second deadly tsunami to hit Indonesia this year, but the one that struck the island of Sulawesi on Sept. 28 was accompanied by a powerful earthquake that gave residents a brief warning before the waves struck.

Associated Press