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Major overhaul of chemical laws wins approval

 
Published June 8, 2016

Washington

Major overhaul of chemical laws wins approval

The Senate passed legislation Tuesday evening that will overhaul the way the federal government regulates every chemical sold on the market in the United States. The bipartisan accord represents the most sweeping environmental measure to pass Congress in a quarter-century. The bill, which drew support from the chemical industry, trial lawyers and many public health and environmental groups, updates a 40-year-old law long criticized as ineffective. In reauthorizing the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act on a voice vote, lawmakers are providing chemical manufacturers with greater certainty while giving the Environmental Protection Agency the ability to obtain more information about a chemical before approving its use. And because the laws involved regulate thousands of chemicals used in products including furniture, sippy cups and detergents, the measure will affect Americans' everyday lives in ways large and small. The bill passed the House by an overwhelming margin late last month.

Utah

Rare leopard flees and ... takes a nap

Hundreds of Salt Lake City zoo visitors took shelter inside buildings Tuesday morning after a rare leopard escaped and fell asleep near her exhibit. Reported missing at 9:30 a.m., the Amur leopard was captured about an hour later, according to officials. A visitor spotted the 4-year-old female snoozing on the outdoor beam about 2 feet from the exhibit, said Hogle Zoo spokeswoman Erica Hansen. An emergency team then tranquilized Zeya. No one was hurt, and Zeya was expected to be fine after the tranquilizer wore off, said a zoo official. Hansen said they don't know how or when she managed to get through the tall steel-grade mesh that surrounds the top and sides of her enclosure, but officials are investigating. Zoo visitors who were inside said the situation played out calmly and orderly.

Alabama

Ex-astronaut faces murder charge

A decade after his retirement from NASA, James Halsell Jr. is charged with murder after a car wreck Monday killed two sisters on a lonely stretch of highway in Alabama. State police said alcohol and speed may have been factors. Troopers said Halsell's Chrysler 300 collided around 2:50 a.m. with a Ford Fiesta in which Niomi Deona James, 11, and Jayla Latrick Parler, 13, were riding. The girls, neither wearing a seat belt, were thrown from the car and died. Halsell, 59, was arrested and released from jail on $150,000 bail. The girls' father, Pernell James, 37, had driven to Texas to pick them up at their mother's home in Houston for a summer visit to Alabama, said Dennis Stripling, the town of Brent's mayor. The father was expected to be released from a hospital Tuesday. A woman in his car, Shontel Latriva Cutts, 25, was listed in fair condition.

Quick takes

Turkey: A car bombing that targeted a police vehicle near a central tourist district in Istanbul on Tuesday instantly killed 11 people and wounded dozens, Turkish officials said, the latest in a series of deadly attacks in the country

Israel: Israeli police briefly detained a leader of a Jewish women's rights group Tuesday for bringing a Torah scroll to the Western Wall, signaling a resumption of the battle over rituals at the holy site.

Britain: British scientists took a major step toward bringing personalized medicine to mental health Tuesday, announcing they developed a blood test that can accurately predict whether you'll respond to conventional, commonly prescribed antidepressants.

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Times wires