In brief: U.S. gives $3 billion for climate change prep, cleaner energy
WASHINGTON – The United States is giving $3 billion to a U.N. fund to help poorer vulnerable countries prepare for a changing climate and develop cleaner energy.
President Barack Obama will announce the contribution at a meeting of world leaders in Australia, the administration said.
The United Nations is trying to raise at least $10 billion for its Green Climate Fund to help developing nations adjust to rising seas, warmer temperatures, and more extreme weather. It also would help the nations come up with energy sources that limit or reduce heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions from coal, oil and gas.
The American pledge would be the biggest to date and would double contributions to $6 billion, according to international environmental groups. France has promised $1 billion, with Germany pledging nearly as much. Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland have all pledged at least $100 million, while Denmark, Norway, Mexico, Luxembourg, Czech Republic and Indonesia have pledged lesser amounts, according to officials at Oxfam America.
Volcano in Alaska erupting
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska’s most active volcano is spitting lava into the air and producing an ash cloud at low elevations.
The 8,262-foot Pavlof volcano started erupting this week in a relatively uninhabited area of the Alaska Peninsula about 625 miles southwest of Anchorage. The closest community is about 40 miles away.
Observers from that community, Cold Bay, reported seeing dark snow on the surface of the volcano Wednesday, indicating an eruption had started. The eruption intensified that afternoon and continued Friday.
An ash cloud from the volcano extends about 125 miles, but at a relatively low altitude of about 16,000 feet.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory says the eruption could continue for days, weeks or even months.
N. Dakota oil boom draws FBI
WILLISTON, N.D. – The FBI is opening a permanent office in western North Dakota’s oil patch to help the area deal with rising crime that has followed the state’s oil boom. A few things to know about the office and why it’s being established:
The North Dakota oil patch was once a sleepy and remote corner of America. But the oil boom in recent years – brought on by advances in oil extraction technologies – has brought tens of thousands of new arrivals to the area and given western North Dakota the nation’s fastest-growing communities. With the growth has come more crime – and more sophisticated kinds of crime.
Police have found themselves dealing with human and drug trafficking, organized crime and homicides.
The FBI currently has satellite offices in Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck and Minot. But in expansive North Dakota, those are all long drives. Agents cycle into the oil patch, but local law enforcement officials have said that’s not enough and have pushed their representatives to secure more federal help.
Doctor elated to end quarantine
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – After three weeks of Ebola-related quarantine, Dr. Colin Bucks emerged from his home Friday and celebrated his freedom with a hearty omelet, hash browns and coffee.
The emergency physician and disaster preparedness expert spent 21 days isolated from friends and colleagues – even his wife and dog, who stayed in a hotel as an added precaution. The relieved couple reunited for a “luxurious” breakfast in Menlo Park.
“To sit in a diner and have a slow breakfast was very nice,” he said.
Bucks was jubilant Friday afternoon as he returned to work at Stanford Hospital, though his government-mandated quarantine had hardly been slothful. The doctor viewed his isolation as an extension of his monthlong deployment to remote Liberia, where he treated patients with the deadly viral disease and watched many of them die.
The latest outbreak of Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa and one in the United States.
Lawyer wins sex case, gets fired
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles school district on Friday removed a lawyer who successfully defended it in a sexual abuse lawsuit in which he told jurors that a 14-year-old girl who had sex with a male teacher shared responsibility despite her age.
The trial victory spared the cash-strapped district a potentially pricey verdict, but news of the trial strategy and remarks by attorney W. Keith Wyatt that it was a more dangerous decision to cross the street than to have sex with a teacher drew criticism.
“Mr. Wyatt’s comments yesterday were completely inappropriate, and they undermine the spirit of the environment we strive to offer our students every day,” Dave Holmquist, general counsel for the school district, said in a statement.
“Our deepest apologies go out to the young woman and her family, who were hurt by the insensitive remarks of Mr. Wyatt.”
Wyatt, who had worked with the district through an outside firm for 27 years and had 18 cases pending, would not comment.
The girl who lost the case is appealing because the judge allowed evidence of her sexual history to be presented and because Wyatt blamed her for consenting to the sex even though she was too young to do so.
The teacher in the case, Elkis Hermida, was sentenced in 2011 to three years in prison for lewd acts against a child.