¼ÃÄÏÄÇÓÐÖεúÃÉ侫¿ìµÄ(¼ÃÄÏÄÐÈËÉúÖ³Æ÷ÌÛÑ÷) (½ñÈÕ¸üÐÂÖÐ)

WASHINGTON (AP) ¡ª A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that represented Virginia in the U.S. Capitol has been removed.Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement that workers removed the statue from the National Statuary Hall Collection early Monday.¡°The Confederacy is a symbol of Virginia¡¯s racist and divisive history, and it is past time we tell our story with images of perseverance, diversity, and inclusion,¡± said Northam.Each state is entitled to display two statues in the collection. Lee¡¯s statue had stood with George Washington¡¯s statue since 1909 as Virginia¡¯s representatives in the Capitol.The Lee statue had been one among 13 located in the Crypt of the Capitol, representing the 13 original colonies.Northam had requested its removal and a state commission has recommended replacing Lee¡¯s statue with a likeness of Barbara Johns.Johns was an American civil rights leader who protested poor conditions at her all-Black high school in the town of Farmville in 1951. Her court case became part of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down racial segregation in public schools.Virginia¡¯s General Assembly must approve the replacement before a sculptor can be commissioned for the new statue. If approved, Johns would stand alongside Washington, and would be the only teenager represented in the collection.¡°I look forward to seeing a trailblazing young woman of color represent Virginia in the U.S. Capitol, where visitors will learn about Barbara Johns¡¯ contributions to America and be empowered to create positive change in their communities just like she did,¡± said the governor.U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia tweeted out a video of the Lee statue being taken down. 4:02 am. 12/21/20. Crypt of the US Capitol. pic.twitter.com/2ttGecsj5B¡ª Tim Kaine (@timkaine) December 21, 2020 1827

Volkswagen has been fined another €800 million (6 million) over its diesel emissions scandal, this time because of failings at its Audi subsidiary.Volkswagen said Tuesday it accepted the fine imposed by German prosecutors, waving its right to appeal. It said the penalty would hit earnings this year."As a negative special item, [it will] reduce the group earnings for fiscal year 2018 accordingly," it said in a statement.The penalty by Munich prosecutors is just the latest consequence of the scandal that emerged in 2015 and initially wiped out billions off the company's value.Volkswagen admitted cheating on clean air rules with software that made emissions look less toxic than they actually were.The fine concludes the Munich prosecutors' investigation into the company. However, probes into executives, including Audi's former CEO Rupert Stadler, continue, the prosecutors said.The €800 million fine comprises a €5 million penalty for administrative offenses, the maximum allowed under German law.On top of that, prosecutors ordered Volkswagen to repay €795 million they said the company made from the cheating. The prosecutors said this included profits from the sales of affected vehicles.In this case, the diesel emissions cheating affected nearly 5 million cars sold by the Volkswagen group in Europe and the United States, prosecutors said. Specifically, it concerned V6 and V8 diesel engines manufactured by Audi and installed in Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche brands, and Audi vehicles equipped with EA 189 and EA 288 engine made by Volkswagen.Shares in Volkswagen (VLKAF) and Audi (AUDVF) were trading higher on Tuesday. Volkswagen stock is down 11 percent so far this year. 1699

VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) -- Authorities are searching for a suspect they say groped a 14-year-old girl at a Vista restaurant.According to the San Diego County Sheriff¡¯s Department, a man walked into the Panda Express on Main Street in Vista and grabbed a 14-year-old on the buttocks on March 21.The department says the man then left the restaurant driving a black sedan.The suspect is described a black man between 35 to 45-years-old who is five feet, nine inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds.Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477. 573

WASHINGTON (AP) ¡ª Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West's iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty."It's a free-for-all," Dakota Snider, 24, who lives and works in Yosemite Valley, said by telephone Monday, as Yosemite National Park officials announced closings of some minimally supervised campgrounds and public areas within the park that are overwhelmed."It's so heartbreaking. There is more trash and human waste and disregard for the rules than I've seen in my four years living here," Snider said.The partial federal government shutdown, now into its 11th day, has forced furloughs of hundreds of thousands of federal government employees. This has left many parks without most of the rangers and others who staff campgrounds and otherwise keep parks running.Unlike shutdowns in some previous administrations, the Trump administration was leaving parks open to visitors despite the staff furloughs, said John Garder, senior budget director of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association."We're afraid that we're going to start seeing significant damage to the natural resources in parks and potentially to historic and other cultural artifacts," Garder said. "We're concerned there'll be impacts to visitors' safety.""It's really a nightmare scenario," Garder said.Under the park service's shutdown plan, authorities have to close any area where garbage or other problems become threats to health and safety or to wildlife, spokesman Jeremy Barnum said in an email Monday."At the superintendent's discretion, parks may close grounds/areas with sensitive natural, cultural, historic, or archaeological resources vulnerable to destruction, looting, or other damage that cannot be adequately protected by the excepted law enforcement staff that remain on duty," Barnum said.In the southern Sierra Nevada in Central California, some areas of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks were closed Monday evening. In Sequoia, home to immense and ancient giant sequoias, General Highway was closed because overflowing trash bins were spreading litter and posed a threat to wildlife and the icy, jammed roadway was seeing up to three-hour delays, according to the National Park Service.Also closed was the Grant Tree Trail, a popular hiking spot, because the government shutdown halted maintenance and left the path dangerously slick from ice and snow, with at least one injury reported, the park service said.Campers at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California's deserts were reporting squabbles as different families laid claims to sites, with no rangers on hand to adjudicate, said Ethan Feltges, who operates the Coyote Corner gift shop outside Joshua Tree.Feltges and other business owners around Joshua Tree had stepped into the gap as much as possible, hauling trailers into the park to empty overflowing trash bins and sweeping and stocking restrooms that were still open, Feltges said.Feltges himself had set up a portable toilet at his store to help the visitors still streaming in and out of the park. He was spending his days standing outside his store, offering tips about the park in place of the rangers who normally would be present."The whole community has come together," Feltges said, also by phone. "Everyone loves the park. And there's a lot of businesses that actually need the park."Some visitors have strung Christmas lights in the twisting Joshua trees, many of which are hundreds of years old, the Los Angeles Times reported.Most visitors were being respectful of the desert wilderness and park facilities, Joshua Tree's superintendent, David Smith, said in a statement.But some are seizing on the shortage of park staffers to off-road illegally and otherwise damage the park, as well as relieving themselves in the open, a park statement said. Joshua Tree said it would begin closing some campgrounds for all but day use.At Yosemite, Snider, the local resident, said crowds of visitors were driving into the park to take advantage of free admission, with only a few park rangers working and a limited number of restrooms open.Visitors were allowing their dogs to run off-leash in an area rich with bears and other wildlife, and scattering bags of garbage along the roads, Snider said."You're looking at Yosemite Falls and in front of you is plastic bottles and trash bags," he said.Officials at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado said Monday they were closing restrooms and locking up trash bins in many locations.In Yellowstone National Park, private companies have picked up some of the maintenance normally done by federal workers. The contractors that operate park tours by snowmobile, buses and vans are grooming trails, hauling trash and replacing toilet paper at pit toilets and restrooms along their routes.Nearly all roads inside Yellowstone are normally closed for winter, meaning most visitors at this time of the year access park attractions like Old Faithful or the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone through guides. Those guides are splitting the cost of grooming the trails used by their vehicles to keep their operations going, said Travis Watt, general manager of See Yellowstone Alpen Guides based in West Yellowstone, Montana.The tour companies can likely keep this system going through the entire winter season if they need to, Watt said."It's definitely not our preference ¡ª the park service does a good job doing their thing and we hate to see them out of work," Watt said. "But it's something we can handle."___Gecker reported from San Francisco. Matt Volz contributed from Helena, Montana. 5752

VISTA (CNS) - An Oceanside man convicted of abusing his neighbors' dogs, including gouging out the eye of a Siberian Husky, was sentenced to nearly 10 years in custody Friday.Jurors last summer found 37-year-old David C. Herbert guilty of six counts of animal cruelty, one count of burglary and four misdemeanor counts of vandalism for harming two separate families' dogs, one of which remains missing.Herbert was handed an 8-year, 8-month prison term in a Vista courtroom Friday morning, to be served along with a one-year jail term on the misdemeanor counts.RELATED COVERAGE: Navy veteran accused of torturing dogs ordered to stand trialMan arrested for assaulting huskies, stealing Oceanside dogsSearch warrant served in Oceanside dog torture caseStalker targets and tortures Oceanside dogs, neighbors sayAuthorities said Herbert targeted a family living next door to him in north Oceanside, burning their two huskies, Cocayo and Estrella, with caustic chemicals and repeatedly slashing the tires on the family's vehicles in 2017.The family moved out of their rental home after discovering that someone had broken in and gouged Estrella's eye out.About one month later, a new family with two dogs moved in, and within two days their 9-year-old Golden Retriever Lala disappeared. The dog has never been found and is presumed dead.Police found a small amount of blood in Herbert's car and on a baseball bat he owned.Herbert, who represented himself at trial, testified that Lala jumped in his car and he was about to take her to a shelter when she jumped out and ran off. 1580

À´Ô´£º×ÊÑô±¨