WORLD DIGEST || Woman sentenced for trying to sell daughter, 2, for sex

Woman sentenced for trying to sell daughter, 2, for sex

CONROE, TEXAS

A Houston woman accused of offering to sell her 2-year-old daughter for sex at a cost of $1,200 has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Twenty-five-year-old Sarah Marie Peters was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to charges that include promotion of prostitution.

Authorities say undercover officers in Montgomery County, north of Houston, encountered Peters online on a social media site. They say she forwarded photos of young girls and asked if there was anyone who wanted "to have fun" with her daughter.

Detectives watched Peters board a bus in Houston with her daughter to travel to Conroe, where she thought she was meeting a man who would pay for sex with the toddler. She was arrested Feb. 22. Her daughter is in the custody of state Child Protective Services.

Judge commends family reunification, eyes next deadline

SAN DIEGO

A federal judge Friday commended the Trump administration efforts to reunify families separated at the border but also planned to keep close watch as another big deadline nears.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said at a hearing in San Diego that the government has demonstrated good faith and largely complied with a deadline this week to reunite families with children under 5 years old.

At the same time, he indicates he will be monitoring the administration’s actions ahead of a July 26 deadline to reunite more than 2,000 children who are 5 and older.

The judge said the administration must provide a list of names of parents in immigration custody and their children by Monday and complete background checks for them by Thursday.

FDA OKs 1st drug to treat smallpox, in case of terror attack

WASHINGTON

U.S. regulators Friday approved the first treatment for smallpox – a deadly disease that was wiped out four decades ago – in case the virus is used in a terror attack.

Smallpox, which is highly contagious, was eradicated worldwide by 1980 after a huge vaccination campaign.

But people born since then haven’t been vaccinated, and small samples of the smallpox virus were saved for research purposes, leaving the possibility it could be used as a biological weapon.

Maker SIGA Technologies of New York has already delivered 2 million treatments that will be stockpiled by the government, which partially paid for the development of the drug, called TPOXX.

Smallpox killed about 300 million people worldwide in the 20th century before its eradication. Symptoms include fever, fatigue and pus-filled sores.

Snyder wants to sue 3M to recoup costs of contamination

LANSING, MICH.

Gov. Rick Snyder said Friday the state of Michigan intends to sue the Minnesota-based manufacturer of chemicals linked to contaminated water near military bases and industrial sites, citing “significant costs” that will only rise in the future.

Snyder, whose administration has been scrambling to combat potential health risks in drinking water that stem from per-and polyfluorinated substances, or PFAS, wrote a letter to state Attorney General Bill Schuette requesting that he immediately file a lawsuit against 3M Co and “all other responsible parties.”

The company began manufacturing the chemicals in the 1950s and stopped production in 2002. They were used in Scotchgard, fire retardants, nonstick cookware and other products.

Associated Press