USA

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man has received the U.S. Coast Guard’s second-highest civilian honor for saving a girl from drowning when they were both children more than 20 years ago, a report said.

George Lambert received a silver lifesaving medal in Anchorage Saturday for rescuing Pamela Smith, The Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday.

The award was presented by Coast Guard Rear Admiral Matthew Bell Jr., who told the story of the rescue during a ceremony attended by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — A grand jury is set to hear the case of a Georgia man accused of threatening to share explicit photos of several Alabama women if the women didn’t meet him for sex.

The Tuscaloosa News reports 22-year-old Micheal Antonio Downing waived his preliminary hearing Friday, sending the case to the jury. He was arrested last month and charged with attempted sexual extortion, sexual extortion and second-degree human trafficking. University of Alabama police say Downing contacted the women over Instagram and paid them to video chat.

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Sunglasses shield your eyes from the infrared lights that give oxygen to your body’s cells. Uggs boots, rubber gloves and shorts are the only protection from freezing temperatures as cold as minus 200 degrees. Then comes the sensory deprivation of floating pitch black in 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt while meditation music plays.

And that’s just at work. At home is a custom-made mattress designed to get just the right about of sleep.

VASHON ISLAND, Wash. (AP) — Sarah Day is a school nurse with “street cred” when it comes to the polarizing issue of vaccines on an idyllic island in Washington state known for its rural beauty, counterculture lifestyle and low immunization rates.

Since she began communal living on Vashon Island more than 20 years ago, the registered nurse has been advocating for getting kids their shots against a loud contingent of anti-vaccine parents in the close-knit community of about 11,000 that’s accessible only by ferry, a serene 20-minute ride from Seattle.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — A South Texas church began a fresh chapter of worship on Sunday as it unveiled a new sanctuary a year and a half after a gunman opened fire and killed more than two dozen congregants in the deadliest mass shooting in state history.

Parishioners, elected leaders and relatives of those killed or injured at the First Baptist Church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs gathered at the new sanctuary for its dedication. Some among the hundreds in attendance wore royal blue shirts with ”#evildidnotwin” written across the back.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump distanced himself from Alabama’s restrictive new abortion law by laying out differing personal views even as he urged anti-abortion activists to stay united heading into the 2020 election.

In a series of tweets about abortion, Trump did not state whether he was for or against the Alabama law, which forbids the procedure in almost all circumstances, including cases of rape and incest.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is using “treason” rather lightly as he assails unidentified U.S. officials for investigating operatives of his campaign in 2016. There’s no allegation or even suggestion that they committed this punishable-by-death crime, if any crime at all.

MADRID, Iowa (AP) — Iowa farmer Tim Bardole survived years of low crop prices and rising costs by cutting back on fertilizer and herbicides and fixing broken-down equipment rather than buying new. When President Donald Trump’s trade war with China made a miserable situation worse, Bardole used up any equity his operation had and started investing in hogs in hopes they’ll do better than crops.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators marched to the Alabama Capitol on Sunday to protest the state’s newly approved abortion ban, chanting “my body, my choice!” and “vote them out!”

The demonstration came days after Gov. Kay Ivey signed the most stringent abortion law in the nation— making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases unless necessary for the mother’s health. The law provides no exception for rape and incest.

BOKOSHE, Okla. (AP) — Susan Holmes’ home, corner store and roadside beef jerky stand are right off Oklahoma Highway 31, putting them in the path of trucks hauling ash and waste from a power plant that burns the high-sulfur coal mined near this small town.

For years, when Bokoshe residents were outside, the powdery ash blowing from the trucks and the ash dump on the edge of town would “kind of engulf you,” Holmes said. “They drove by, and you just couldn’t breathe.”