State senate OKs giving US House state tax return

State senate OKs giving US House state tax return

ALBANY, N.Y.

New York’s Senate easily approved a bill Wednesday that would allow three congressional committees to get access to President Donald Trump’s state tax returns, giving Democrats a potential end-run around the administration’s refusal to disclose the president’s federal returns.

The bill, which now goes to the state Assembly, doesn’t target Trump by name but would authorize state tax officials to release any state returns filed in New York if requested by the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation. Both chambers of the state Legislature are controlled by Democrats.

The vote fell along party lines, with 39 Democrats in the 63-seat Senate voting for the measure.

Florida gov. signs bill allowing more armed teachers

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

More Florida teachers will be eligible to carry guns in the classroom under a bill Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Wednesday that immediately implements recommendations from a commission formed after the Parkland high school mass shooting.

DeSantis signed the bill in private and didn’t issue a statement afterward. But he previously made it clear he supports the changes made to the law enacted after a rifle-toting former student walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 people in February 2018.

Downpours prompt more evacuations, flash flood fears

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

Rain swamping the nation’s midsection forced people from their homes in Kansas, stranded dozens of Texas children at school overnight and strained levees along the surging Mississippi River in Illinois, Missouri and elsewhere Wednesday prompting yet more flash flood concerns.

The flooding began in earnest in March, causing billions of dollars of damage to farmland, homes and businesses across the Midwest. Rivers in many communities have been above flood stage for more than six weeks following waves of heavy rain.

Beverly Hills may be first city to end most tobacco sales

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.

The smoke hasn’t cleared yet, but Beverly Hills is poised to become the first U.S. city to end most tobacco sales.

The City Council in the world-renowned enclave of the rich and famous unanimously indicated Tuesday that it’s ready to snuff out most sales when it meets again May 21.

The proposal currently contains a loophole allowing cigarette-loving tourists to obtain smokes at hotels.

Associated Press