Committee retires 2017 hurricane names
Good riddance, Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate. They were the monsters of the hurricane season from hell. Now, their names are being banished. An international committee of meteorologists has officially retired the names of the four 2017 storms from the rotating roster of cyclone names.
Washington, D.C.
Madoff victims to get $504M from fund
Victims of Bernie Madoff, the architect of one of Wall Street's largest frauds, will receive another $504 million, proceeds from assets that the government seized after Madoff's financial firm collapsed. With this distribution, the second in a series of payouts, about 21,000 victims will have received a total of more than $1.2 billion, the Justice Department said.
New York
Chagall painting recovered after 30 years
An oil painting by Marc Chagall stolen from a New York City apartment has been recovered by the FBI and is expected to fetch several hundred thousand dollars at auction three decades after it went missing. The theft was "an inside job" by a temporary employee who had access to the apartment building in Manhattan's Sutton Place neighborhood, the FBI said.
Florida
Parkland teacher left gun in public bathroom
A Parkland teacher who said he was open to the idea of arming himself after the mass shooting at the high school has been arrested after he left a loaded gun in a public bathroom. Sean Simpson placed his personally owned gun on the handrail of a bathroom stall at the Deerfield Beach International Fishing Pier, then left it behind as he went to wash his hands.
California
Backpage CEO pleads guilty, will cooperate
The CEO of Backpage.com, which authorities have dubbed an "online brothel," pleaded guilty to reduced charges and agreed to cooperate in prosecuting the site's creators. Carl Ferrer will serve no more than five years after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of money laundering.
Puerto Rico
840,000 left in dark after latest outage
About 840,000 people across Puerto Rico were without power as the island struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria last fall, the island's Electric Power Authority said. The power company said a tree had fallen onto the main line supplying power to San Juan and its surrounding communities.
Afghanistan
Taliban attack government building, kill 11
Taliban insurgents overran a government headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan, killing a district governor and the chief of security as well as at least nine others, officials said. A spokesman for the governor said the attackers used heavy weapons and destroyed the district government building.
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