Christie, Buono win New Jersey primaries
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and state Sen. Barbara Buono are headed for a showdown in November’s general election.
Christie brushed aside a token challenge in the Republican gubernatorial primary and Buono likewise won easily on the Democratic side Tuesday night.
Christie has sought to build bipartisan appeal as he looks to score a blowout win in November, which could set him up for a presidential run in 2016.
Buono, meanwhile, has looked to cast doubt on Christie’s claims the state’s economy has turned around, focusing attention on its continuing high unemployment and high property taxes.
Christie holds a big fundraising advantage while his popularity soared after Superstorm Sandy.
Rising Mississippi River threatening towns
ST. LOUIS – Mississippi River communities scrambling Tuesday to fend off the rain-engorged waterway got discouraging news: More rains looming across much of the nation’s midsection threatened to slow the potential retreat of the renegade river.
Such an outlook may not be welcomed in the northeast Missouri town of West Alton, where a makeshift levee’s breach Monday fanned worries that the 570-resident town – which was mostly swept away by a flood in 1993 – would be inundated again. A voluntary evacuation advisory before the breach was fixed was heeded by just 15 percent of the town’s residents, but “everyone else is ready to go at a moment’s notice” if the hastily shored-up barrier shows signs of gives way, Fire Chief Rick Pender said Tuesday.
Chrysler refuses request to recall Jeep vehicles
DETROIT – A defiant Chrysler is refusing to recall about 2.7 million Jeeps the government says are at risk of a fuel tank fire in a rear-end collision.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent Chrysler a letter asking that the company voluntarily recall Jeep Grand Cherokees from 1993 through 2004 and Jeep Libertys from 2002 through 2007.
Chrysler Group LLC said in a statement Tuesday that the Jeeps are safe and it “does not intend to recall the vehicles.”
Such a refusal by an auto company is rare. It was unclear how NHTSA would respond. Messages were left for an agency spokeswoman.
Obama appointees using secret email accounts
WASHINGTON – Some of President Barack Obama’s political appointees are using secret government email accounts to conduct official business, The Associated Press found, a practice that complicates agencies’ legal responsibilities to find and turn over emails under public records requests and congressional inquiries.
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday acknowledged the practice and said it made eminent sense for Cabinet secretaries and other high-profile officials to have what he called alternative email accounts that wouldn’t constantly fill with unwanted messages. Carney said all their email accounts, public and otherwise, were subject to congressional oversight and requests by citizens under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
“There’s nothing secret,” Carney said.
Gator taken from home, cruelty charges possible
CINCINNATI – A 7-foot alligator found in an Ohio man’s basement is malnourished, has bone disease from a lack of sun for 15 years and was being taunted by teenagers on a regular basis, authorities said Tuesday.
The Humane Society of Greater Dayton confiscated the 15-year-old gator from its owner on Sunday in the southwestern Ohio home where it was being kept after a video was posted on Facebook showing the reptile being taunted.
Sheila Marquis, cruelty investigator of the Humane Society of Greater Dayton, said the alligator’s owner and young men in the video may face charges of animal cruelty in the next couple days as she wraps up her investigation.
Rumors had been coming in for at least two years about the alligator in the basement. But, authorities could not enter the home and investigate without probable cause to believe it was being subjected to cruelty, which came in the form of the Facebook post of the video, said Tim Harrison, director of Dayton-based Outreach For Animals.
Associated Press
