Nation
Oldest lighthouse marks 300 yearsBOSTON — The nation’s oldest lighthouse station is turning 300 years old with celebrations and a ceremonial relighting.Boston Light sits on a small island roughly 9 miles from downtown Boston.Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh are among the dignitaries expected to attend a morning celebration today in downtown Boston.A smaller celebration is happening on Little Brewster Island, where the lighthouse is located. The nearby community of Hull has festivities planned as well.At sunset, the light’s beam will be briefly powered down and symbolically relit.The 89-foot tall lighthouse was built by the British in 1716, destroyed during the American Revolution and rebuilt by the U.S. in 1783. It’s the Coast Guard’s last manned lighthouse.
British man pleads guilty in Trump caseLAS VEGAS — A British man pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. federal court to trying to grab a police officer’s gun and open fire at a June campaign rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump in Las Vegas.Standing before a judge in orange jail clothes with the word “detainee” across his back, Michael Steven Sandford acknowledged that he has been treated in the past for mental illness.Court documents say Sandford previously told a federal agent that he drove from California to Las Vegas with a plan to kill Trump.“I plead guilty, your honor,” Sandford told U.S. District Judge James Mahan when asked for his plea to being an illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm and disrupting an official function.“I tried to take a gun from a policeman to shoot someone with, and I’m pleading guilty,” he said.Sandford didn’t get the gun before he was arrested, and no shots were fired.Sentencing was set for Dec. 13 and Sandford was ordered to remain in federal custody.
Looser gun laws, stricter voting rulesJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature was poised to significantly relax the state’s gun laws and tighten its voting requirements as it prepared to convene today for a short session devoted to overriding vetoes made by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.The sweeping gun legislation would allow most adults to carry concealed weapons without needing a permit while also expanding people’s right to defend themselves both in public and private places. The elections law change would require people to show a government-issued photo ID at the polls, if voters also approve a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.Both measures passed earlier this year with enough support for lawmakers to overturn Nixon if they stick to their original votes. A veto override requires a two-thirds majority in each chamber — 109 House votes and 23 Senate votes. Republicans control 114 House seats and 24 Senate seats.
Brain infection kills N.Y. college studentA New York college student has died of a rare brain infection she probably contracted while swimming in a body of fresh water in Maryland, health officials said.Kerry Stoutenburgh, 19, of Kingston, N.Y., died in Kingston on Aug. 31, weeks after officials say she visited Cecil County in northeastern Maryland and swam in county waters.Dr. Carol Smith, health commissioner in Ulster County, N.Y., said officials there confirmed that Stoutenburgh’s death was caused by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba.Gregg Bortz, spokesman for the Cecil County health department in Maryland, said by phone Tuesday that New York state officials notified his agency on Sept. 2 of Stoutenburgh’s death.The amoeba occurs naturally in bodies of warm, fresh water, Bortz said.While the amoeba can forcefully enter through the nose and travel up the olfactory nerve to the brain, he said, the risk of infection is low. But his health department says anyone jumping into a warm body of water should hold their nose, and anyone swimming in a river, lake or pond should wear a nose clip.Stoutenburgh was a student at CUNY Brooklyn College, majoring in film and photography.
