The nation in brief

Robert Edmonson rests Wednesday after pulling a dolly through sand as he helps salvage belongings from his brother-in-law’s hurricane-destroyed home in Mexico Beach, Fla.
Robert Edmonson rests Wednesday after pulling a dolly through sand as he helps salvage belongings from his brother-in-law’s hurricane-destroyed home in Mexico Beach, Fla.

Florida hurricane deaths now up to 34

MEXICO BEACH, Fla. -- The death toll a week after Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida panhandle rose to at least 34 Thursday, as authorities in Florida confirmed 24 storm-related deaths.

The storm, which struck with 155 mph winds on Oct. 10, retained hurricane-force winds as far inland as southern Georgia and affected the Carolinas and Virginia. Six deaths were reported in Virginia, mostly from flash flooding. North Carolina had three deaths, and Georgia had one.

Across the region, residents continued picking up the pieces Thursday. Power is still out in much of the panhandle where thousands of buildings are destroyed or damaged.

Residents among the community of about 1,200 people who rode out the storm have been in Mexico Beach since Michael hit, but officials used the city's Facebook page to tell others who evacuated to stay away.

In the meantime, in many areas devastated by the hurricane, law enforcement officials are battling looting of homes and businesses. Mexico Beach residents aren't expecting electricity to be restored anytime soon.

Carlton Hundley, 25, returned to the house he rented to find nothing but a pile of shattered wood. What few possessions he found, including his shoe, were scattered across the ground.

"I knew it was bad, I'd already seen the pictures. But it's a lot more than I thought," he said.

Ex-FBI agent sentenced in leaks case

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A former FBI agent in Minnesota who admitted leaking classified internal documents to a reporter was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.

Terry James Albury, 39, pleaded guilty in April to one count each of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information and unauthorized retention of national defense information.

"I truly wanted to make a difference and never intended to put anyone in danger," Albury said in a statement read in court. He took responsibility for his actions and apologized to the people he hurt.

Prosecutors said Albury betrayed public trust when he stole more than 70 documents, including 50 that were classified. The information he shared with an online news organization included a document classified as "secret" that related to how the FBI assesses confidential informants.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last year that the Justice Department had more than tripled the number of active leak investigations since President Barack Obama left office.

Groups sue over waivers for border wall

HOUSTON -- Three environmental groups filed another lawsuit Thursday challenging the Trump administration's use of waivers to speed up construction of a border wall, this time in Texas.

The groups sued the Department of Homeland Security a week after the agency waived environmental laws along a roughly 25-mile stretch of border in the Rio Grande Valley.

The lawsuit claims that Homeland Security is wrongly using authority that it received in 2005 for specific projects to waive reviews under more than two dozen laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. It was filed in Washington by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Lawsuits have also been filed to try to stop construction in California and New Mexico. So far, no judges have stopped Homeland Security from moving forward with construction, though a federal appeals court in California heard arguments in that state's case in August.

In Texas, the government wants to connect existing sections of fencing on river levees in Hidalgo County and to close other gaps in fencing in neighboring Cameron County.

U.S. opens inquiry into priests abuses

PHILADELPHIA -- Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania, using subpoenas to demand secret files and testimony from high-ranking leaders in what victims' advocates are describing as the first such investigation ever begun by the U.S. Justice Department.

The subpoenas, served last week, follow a scathing state grand jury report over the summer that found that 301 "predator priests" in Pennsylvania had molested more than 1,000 children over seven decades and that church leaders had covered up for the offenders.

The intervention by the federal government opens a new front of legal peril for the Catholic church, given that investigations into sexual abuse by clergy have historically been handled exclusively by state and local authorities.

U.S. Attorney William McSwain of Philadelphia, who issued the subpoenas, wants to know if priests, bishops, seminarians or others committed any federal crimes.

photo

AP/The Philadelphia Inquirer/DAVID MAIALETTI

U.S. Attorney William McSwain, shown Aug. 29 in Philadelphia, sent out grand jury subpoenas last week to Pennsylvania dioceses.

A Section on 10/19/2018

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