CRANSTON, R.I. – Flooding across the Northeast forced hundreds of residents from their homes by Wednesday, knocked out sewage plants, and snarled traffic on major East Coast routes as roads transformed into a soaked labyrinth of detours and closures.
NEW YORK – A senior U.S. official says the Obama administration will pledge $1.15 billion over the next two years to help with Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction.
WASHINGTON – In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling 50 miles off Virginia’s shorelines. At the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska.
Obama’s plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation’s shores. Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico.
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