News briefs

Tribune News Service on Jul 24, 2026

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Congress weighs killing more seals, sea lions to save salmon

WASHINGTON — Federal lawmakers are considering whether to expand the government’s authority to kill more sea lions and seals to bolster salmon recovery efforts in the Pacific Northwest.

The region’s critical salmon runs are on life support: Fourteen species and populations of salmon and steelhead trout in Washington State are deemed at risk of extinction under the Endangered Species Act. The hurdles to their livelihood are numerous, spanning a worsening climate crisis, habitat loss, pollution and — as Congress members debated this week — proliferating predators.

The House Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries on Tuesday probed bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Reps. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, and Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, that would ease restrictions in the Marine Mammal Protection Act for killing sea lions and seals, renewing a decades-old conversation over whether humans should intervene to curb pinniped predation. It’s the second attempt this month by a Washington lawmaker to expand culling of the marine mammals.

The debate comes as marine wildlife officials investigate the shooting of a baby harbor seal found near Bellingham this month with a gunshot wound to its face.

—The Seattle Times

Sen. Tuberville says ‘thug’ NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani should be jailed at Guantanamo Bay

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is calling Mayor Zohran Mamdani a “thug” who should be jailed at Guantanamo Bay because he “hates this country.”

The staunch supporter of President Donald Trump predicted the popular mayor would cross some unspecified line that would lead authorities to arrest him and send him to the U.S. military base that mostly functions as a camp for the indefinite detention without charge of foreign terror suspects.

“Sooner or later he will do something more stupid than what he’s done to where we’ll finally say, ‘Enough’s enough,’ go putting handcuffs on him and get him the hell out of here and send him to Gitmo,” Tuberville, R-Alabama, told far right-wing media figure Benny Johnson.

“The guy hates this country, he wants to change it,” Tuberville added. “We’re not going to allow a thug like this to change it and take us into another direction.”

—New York Daily News

This could be the deadliest year for child drownings in Florida’s history

MIAMI — There have been 15 child drownings so far this year in South Florida and data shows that 2026 is set to become the deadliest for child drownings in the Florida’s history.

In Florida, 119 children drowned in 2025, 80% of whom were under the age of three, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families. This year already, there have been 74 child drownings in the state, making it on track to be deadlier than last year. The state had a total of 452 unintentional drowning deaths in 2024, a rate of 1.9 per 100,000 people.

The Herald previously reported the deaths of a 2-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl in Plantation after they drowned in lakes near their home within a week of each other earlier this month.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. About 4,000 children die from unintentional drowning per year in the nation. That’s 11 every day.

—Miami Herald

Trump to meet Ukraine’s Zelenskyy next week in bid to end war

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with President Donald Trump early next week, according to a White House official, amid efforts to revive diplomatic talks to end the war with Russia.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet Tuesday, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing the president’s schedule.

The session will come just days after the Ukrainian president said on social media that he had a “good, important conversation on how to reinvigorate diplomacy and bring peace closer” with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

It also comes after a series of long-range Ukrainian drone strikes deep into Russia have put pressure on the Kremlin and amid political turmoil in the war-time Ukrainian capital. Last week, widespread protests broke out after Zelenskyy fired a popular defense minister who boosted the country’s successful use of drones against Russia amid tensions between him and the army chief, who was later also ousted.

—Bloomberg News