New Jersey
Trump Plaza owners expect their casino will close
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Atlantic City’s crumbling casino market disintegrated even further Saturday as owners of the Trump Plaza casino said they expect to shut down in mid-September.
Trump Entertainment Resorts told The Associated Press no final decision has been made about the Boardwalk casino. But the company said it expects the casino to close its doors Sept. 16.
If Trump Plaza closes, Atlantic City could lose a third of its casinos and a quarter of its casino workforce in less than nine months..
New York
Charlie Haden, jazz bass innovator, dies at 76
NEW YORK – Bassist Charlie Haden, who helped change the shape of jazz more than a half-century ago as a member of Ornette Coleman’s ground-breaking quartet and liberated the bass from its traditional rhythm section role, has died. He was 76.
Haden’s wife of 30 years, singer Ruth Cameron, and his four children were by his side when he died Friday in Los Angeles after a prolonged illness, said publicist Tina Pelikan of ECM Records.
During his career, his lyrical bass playing could be heard in a broad range of musical genres, ranging from jazz to country to world music. He received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2013.
California
Sandra Fluke seeks wider influence in California
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The former Georgetown University law student who gained attention for being denied a chance to testify before Congress in favor of birth-control coverage in health plans is running for elected office.
Sandra Fluke is a first-time candidate for a seat in California’s state Senate to represent some of the most affluent communities of Los Angeles County.
Her campaign calls for matching campaign contributions, subsidized early education, environmental protection and public transit.
She spoke to a panel of Democrats after Republicans blocked her from testifying. Amid the national attention, radio personality Rush Limbaugh compared her to a prostitute, but he later apologized.
Ukraine
At least four civilians killed in artillery fire in Donetsk
MARYINKA, Ukraine – Artillery fire killed at least four people in an overnight attack on a residential area in eastern Ukraine, spurring more people to flee the besieged city of Donetsk and its suburbs Saturday to take their chances elsewhere.
Pro-Russian insurgents last week retreated from the strategic city of Slovyansk and holed up in Donetsk, a city of 1 million and potentially the final frontier for the rebels.
Italy
Work starts next week to tow away cruise ship
GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy – Italian authorities say work to float the shipwrecked Costa Concordia so it can be towed away for scrapping can start Monday, weather permitting.
The cruise liner struck a reef when it came too close to Giglio Island in January 2012 and capsized, killing 32 people. After a daring engineering operation set the Concordia upright in September, crews fastened huge tanks to its flanks like water wings to float it off underwater platforms for towing to Genoa, on the mainland, for scrapping.
Associated Press
