In brief: New federal rules will expand overtime pay

WASHINGTON – Millions of Americans could see a boost in wages or reduced workload as a result of new federal regulations on overtime pay the Obama administration is unveiling this week.

Under the regulations, private-sector workers who make up to $50,400 a year will be guaranteed the right to earn additional pay if they work more than 40 hours per week. Currently, only workers who make $23,660 a year, or less than $455 a week, have those same protections.

The salary threshold had not been raised for a decade when Obama ordered the Labor Department to conduct a review last year, calling the figure outdated. The president plans to discuss the change Thursday in a trip to Wisconsin and previewed it in a Huffington Post op-ed posted Monday night.

Lawmakers in S.C. say flag should go

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A survey of South Carolina legislators shows there is enough support to remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds if all supporters cast a vote.

The Post and Courier newspaper, the South Carolina Press Association and the Associated Press asked all lawmakers how they intend to vote. At least 33 senators and 83 House members say the flag should go.

That appears to meet the two-thirds majority needed from both chambers to move the battle flag. That rule is part of the 2000 compromise that took the flag off the Statehouse dome and put a smaller, square version beside a monument to Confederate soldiers.

The flag push follows the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston on June 17. The suspect in the shooting, Dylann Storm Roof, was shown in photographs brandishing the flag as a symbol of hate.

Republican Gov. Nikki Haley called on legislators a week ago to send the battle flag to a museum.

Engineers review SpaceX explosion

LOS ANGELES – SpaceX officials say they will be holding daily meetings with NASA and the Air Force in hopes of quickly determining what caused an unmanned rocket carrying cargo for the International Space Station to explode in midair just minutes after liftoff Sunday.

Teams of engineers have been deployed to review thousands of sources of data transmitted by the rocket before the explosion occurred, including video, company officials said.

Investigators still don’t know what caused SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which had flown successfully 18 previous times, to disintegrate and fall back to Earth, despite good weather and a smooth countdown.

UC Berkeley sued over investigations

OAKLAND, Calif. – Three current and former University of California, Berkeley students sued the school Monday, accusing administrators of not doing enough to investigate their sexual assault claims and hand out punishment.

The three women said the administrators mishandled their claims, failed to keep them informed about the disciplinary process, and handed out inadequate punishment.

Janet Gilmore, a university spokeswoman, said campus officials have not seen the lawsuit and couldn’t comment on its allegations. She said the school is committed to fighting sexual assault on campus.