Polar bear's fatal attack on young mother and son leaves Northwest Alaska community reeling
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two days after a polar bear killed a 24-year-old woman and her year-old son in the Bering Strait village of Wales, community members continued to grieve as questions linger over what may have contributed to the fatal mauling.
Summer Myomick was leaving the Kingikmiut School in Wales with her young son, heading to the village clinic Tuesday afternoon in whiteout conditions with poor visibility, when the polar bear attacked, Alaska State Troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said.
Their deaths represent the first fatalities from a polar bear mauling in Alaska in more than 30 years.
In a joint statement, the Alaska Nannut Co-management Council, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said they do not know what may have caused or contributed to the fatal attack, but are working together to gather more information about the incident. Troopers weren't aware of any other injuries stemming from the mauling, McDaniel said.
—Anchorage Daily News
Feds say Elizabeth Holmes ‘attempted to flee’ the US with one-way ticket after conviction
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes tried to flee the U.S. after a jury convicted her of felony fraud in early 2022, federal prosecutors alleged in a new court filing.
“Holmes booked an international flight to Mexico departing on January 26, 2022, without a scheduled return trip,” the document from prosecutors, filed Thursday, said. It was only after government prosecutors contacted Holmes’ legal team about the “unauthorized flight” that the trip was canceled.
“The government anticipates (Holmes) will note in reply that she did not in fact leave the country as scheduled — but it is difficult to know with certainty what (she) would have done had the government not intervened,” the filing said. Holmes’ partner, hotel heir Billy Evans, left the county on that day in January with a one-way ticket and didn’t return for six weeks.
Holmes, 38, was convicted after a four-month trial on four counts of fraud for bilking investors in her now-defunct blood-testing startup out of more than $144 million. In November, Judge Edward Davila in U.S. District Court sentenced a pregnant Holmes to more than 11 years in prison, deferring her incarceration until April 27.
—The Mercury News
Environmental rules stoke anger as California lets precious stormwater wash out to sea
Environmental rules designed to protect imperiled fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have ignited anger among a group of bipartisan lawmakers, who say too much of California's stormwater is being washed out to sea instead of being pumped to reservoirs and aqueducts.
In a series of strongly worded letters, nearly a dozen legislators — many from drought-starved agriculture regions of the Central Valley — have implored state and federal officials to relax environmental pumping restrictions that are limiting the amount of water captured from the delta.
"When Mother Nature blesses us with rain, we need to save the water, instead of dumping it into the ocean," Assemblymember Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, wrote in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Since the beginning of January, a series of atmospheric rivers has disgorged trillions of gallons of much-needed moisture across drought-stricken California, but only a small fraction of that water has so far made it into storage. In the delta — the heart of the state's vast water system — nearly 95% of incoming water has flowed into the Pacific Ocean, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
—Los Angeles Times
Pressure is on Germany to supply tanks to Ukraine as Western allies meet
MANNHEIM, Germany — Western allies, led by the U.S., met at the U.S. base in Ramstein in western Germany to discuss further arms deliveries to Ukraine.
The core focus of the discussions was whether Germany would send its Leopard 2 battle tanks to help Ukraine fight off the Russian invasion, and to allow its allies to do likewise.
Berlin has so far refused to act unilaterally, insisting that it can only do so in concert with its allies, though domestically and abroad calls are growing louder to provide more modern and heavier weapons to embattled Kiev.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin praised Germany as a reliable partner despite its hesitation in delivering the Leopards. "Yeah, they are a reliable ally. They've been that way for a very, very long time," Austin said in response to questions at Ramstein. Germany has already contributed a lot to supporting Ukraine, he added.
—dpa
