Floridians evacuated from Piney Point area can now return home — but the reservoir is still leaking
CBSN
Four days after being told to evacuate due to the threat of a leaking wastewater reservoir, hundreds of residents of Manatee County, Florida, were allowed to return home on Tuesday, officials announced. However, the Piney Point facility, which was previously used to mine phosphate, continues to leak.
Jacob Saur, the county's director of public safety, said Tuesday that the evacuation orders were lifted, effective immediately. Some road closures, however, will remain in place due to "future concerns." The 137 people and their pets who were placed in non-congregate shelters will also be allowed to return home. U.S. 441 was also reopened in the area on Tuesday. County commissioners extended the local state of emergency on Tuesday morning.Rodeo star Spencer Wright and his wife are making end-of-life preparations for their 3-year-old son after he was found unconscious in a creek, a close family friend said in updates posted on social media and confirmed to CBS affiliate KUTV. The boy had been playing on his tractor before he ended up in the water and a mile downstream.
The launch of Boeing's star-crossed Starliner spacecraft on its first piloted test flight is slipping to at least June 1 to give engineers more time to assess a small-but-persistent helium leak in the capsule's propulsion system, and its potential impact across all phases of flight, NASA announced Wednesday.
Washington — As former President Donald Trump's "hush money" criminal trial in New York proceeds to closing arguments next week, the legal focus is moving south. His attorneys and longtime aide Walt Nauta appeared before Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon, where they sparred with prosecutors during two contentious, day-long hearings on Wednesday.