What to Know
- After more than a decade of making cars and SUVs — and, more recently, solar panels — Tesla Inc. wants to electrify a new type of vehicle
- U.S. regulators have approved the first new treatment in nearly two decades to prevent internal bleeding in certain patients with hemophilia
- London's Old Vic Theatre said it has received 20 allegations of inappropriate behavior by its former artistic director Kevin Spacey
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Tesla Wants to Electrify Big Trucks, Adding to Its Ambitions
After more than a decade of making cars and SUVs — and, more recently, solar panels — Tesla Inc. wants to electrify a new type of vehicle: big trucks. The company unveiled its new electric semitractor-trailer near its design center in Hawthorne, California. CEO Elon Musk said the semi is capable of traveling 500 miles on an electric charge — even with a full 80,000-pound load — and will cost less than a diesel semi considering fuel savings, lower maintenance and other factors. Musk said customers can put down a $5,000 deposit for the semi now and production will begin in 2019. The truck will have Tesla's Autopilot system, which can maintain a set speed and slow down automatically in traffic. It also has a system that automatically keeps the vehicle in its lane. Musk said several Tesla semis will be able to travel in a convoy, autonomously following each other.
Flames Rip Through Pennsylvania Senior Living Community
Flames ripped through a senior living community in Pennsylvania, sending 140 residents into the cold and local shelters. About 20 residents were sent to local hospitals. The five-alarm fire at the Barclay Friends community in West Chester led staff to evacuate residents on foot, in wheelchairs and even in beds, wrapped in blankets. Residents were triaged on a neighborhood street, then were transported to a number of different shelters on ambulances and school buses. People at the scene described a frightening rescue from the fire. Unhurt residents were being reunited with friends and family at the nearby shelters; the Red Cross responded to help those displaced.
Big House Victory for GOP Tax Plan, But Senate Fate Unclear
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Republicans have stretched closer to delivering the first big legislative victory for President Trump and their party, whisking a $1.5 trillion overhaul of business and personal income taxes through the House. Thorny problems await in the Senate, though. The House passage of the bill on a mostly party-line 227-205 vote also brought nearer the biggest revamp of the U.S. tax system in three decades. But in the Senate, a similar measure received a politically awkward verdict from nonpartisan congressional analysts showing it would eventually produce higher taxes for low- and middle-income earners but deliver deep reductions for those better off. The Senate bill was approved by the Finance Committee and sent to the full Senate on a party-line 14-12 vote. Like the House measure, it would slash the corporate tax rate and reduce personal income tax rates for many.
Trump Criticizes Franken, Silent on Moore
President Trump is displaying selective outrage over allegations of sexual harassment against prominent men in politics, as his own tortured past lingers over his response. Trump moved quickly to condemn accusations against Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken as "really bad," but he has remained conspicuously silent on the more serious claims leveled against Roy Moore, the Republican in Alabama's special Senate race who faces allegations he sexually assaulted teenage girls decades ago. Trump has repeatedly declined to follow Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan in calling on Moore to quit the race. Both had said they believe Moore's accusers. With the nation confronting revelations of sexual impropriety by powerful men in entertainment and politics, Trump is an inconsistent as well as an unlikely critic of alleged offenders.
FDA OKs New Therapy for Some Hemophilia Patients
U.S. regulators have approved the first new treatment in nearly two decades to prevent internal bleeding in certain patients with hemophilia, an inherited blood-clotting disorder. The Food and Drug Administration approved Hemlibra, a weekly injection for hemophilia A patients who have developed resistance to standard medicines. Genentech, the drug's developer, says the list price will be about $482,000 for the first year and slightly less after that. Genentech, a subsidiary of Swiss drugmaker Roche, says that's half the cost of the only other option for patients with this resistance. That treatment requires an IV drip several times a week. Hemophilia mostly affects males.
Famed Theater Receives 20 Allegations Against Kevin Spacey
London's Old Vic Theatre said it has received 20 allegations of inappropriate behavior by its former artistic director Kevin Spacey, and acknowledged that a "cult of personality" around the Hollywood star had made it difficult for the alleged victims to come forward. The London theater launched an investigation into Spacey after claims of sexual harassment emerged in the United States. Spacey, 58, led the Old Vic between 2004 and 2015. The Old Vic said it had received 20 allegations of "a range of inappropriate behavior," from actions that made people feel uncomfortable to "sexually inappropriate" touching. All the alleged victims are young men, none under 18 years old. The reported incidents took place between 1995 and 2013, many of them at the Old Vic, and all but four of the alleged victims are former staff of the theater.
