Colorado man says wife killed daughters
DENVER — A Colorado man told police that he killed his pregnant wife in “a rage” when he discovered she had strangled their two daughters after he sought a separation, according to an arrest affidavit released on Monday.
Colorado prosecutors, though, filed formal charges earlier in the day, accusing the former oil and gas worker of murdering his entire family days before he was interviewed by local television stations and pleaded for his missing family’s safe return home.
Christopher Watts, who is being held without bail, is due back in court on Tuesday morning to be advised of the charges filed against him.
District Attorney Michael Rourke declined to answer most questions about the case Monday but said his office has three prosecutors assigned to it.
Trump ready to ease rules on coal-fired power plants
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is set to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s efforts to slow global warming, the Clean Power Plan that restricts greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.
A plan to be announced Tuesday would give states broad authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. The Environmental Protect Agency announced late Monday that acting administrator Andrew Wheeler planned to brief the news media by telephone Tuesday on what the administration is calling the “Affordable Clean Energy” rule — greenhouse guidelines for states to set performance standards for existing coal-fired power plants.
President Donald Trump is expected to promote the new plan at an appearance in West Virginia on Tuesday.
The plan is also expected to let states relax pollution rules for power plants that need upgrades, according to a summary of the plan and several people familiar with the full proposal who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the plan publicly.
Combined with a planned rollback of car-mileage standards, the plan represents a significant retreat from Obama-era efforts to fight climate change and would stall an Obama-era push to shift away from coal and toward less-polluting energy sources such as natural gas, wind and solar power. Trump has already vowed to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement as he pushes to revive the coal industry.
By wire sources