Dorothy Abernathy, The Associated Press bureau chief for West Virginia and Virginia, shares the 10 things you need to know Tuesday, July 28, 2015. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers:
1. WHY USAF PUTS 4-STAR GENERAL IN COMMAND OF ITS NUCLEAR FORCE
After years of missteps and scandal, the service is working to reinvigorate its Global Strike Command, in charge of 450 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles.
2. NSA WILL EVENTUALLY DESTROY AMERICAN CALLING RECORDS
The National Security Agency collected the phone metadata under a controversial program leaked by former agency contractor Edward Snowden.
3. SCOUTS LIFT BAN ON GAY ADULT LEADERS
The new policy, aimed at easing a controversy that’s embroiled the Boy Scouts for years, takes effect immediately, but allows church-sponsored troops to maintain the exclusion for religious reasons.
4. WHERE US, TURKEY SEEK TO ELIMINATE ISLAMIC STATE
Both countries agree to a plan to rout the terror group’s forces from a strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, to allow safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians.
5. TWO LAFAYETTE THEATER SHOOTING VICTIMS LAID TO REST
Friends of Jillian Johnson pay homage to her independent spirit and artistic talent, while Mayci Marie Breaux was memorialized as “kind, always polite and always with that characteristic smile.”
6. CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON LARGEST US OFFSHORE WIND FARM
The turbines being built off Rhode Island’s coast represent a milestone that federal and state officials say will help the fledgling U.S. industry surge ahead.
7. HOW SOFTWARE TURNS SMARTPHONES INTO MEDICAL RESEARCH TOOLS
More than 75,000 people have enrolled in health studies that use specialized iPhone apps to submit medical data on a daily basis.
8. LAWYERS: IMMIGRANT MOTHERS COERCED TO WEAR ANKLE MONITORS
Attorneys say the women, who were held in a South Texas detention center, were been denied counsel and pressured to accept ankle-monitoring bracelets as a condition of release.
9. INITIAL AUTOPSY: NO CLEAR CAUSE OF BOBBI KRISTINA BROWN’S DEATH
Experts say the months that passed since the daughter of Whitney Houston was found unresponsive in a bathtub are working against authorities trying to determine the cause of her death.
10. USOC DROPS PLAN FOR 2024 BOSTON OLYMPICS
The Boston bid started souring within days of its beginning in January, beset by poor communication and an active opposition group that kept public support low.