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A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 28 June 2018

Justices give Florida narrow win in water fight with Georgia

By JESSICA GRESKO and that water.”
GARY FINEOUT Breyer was joined in his
Associated Press opinion by Chief Justice
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — John Roberts and Justices
Florida’s governor is cheer- Anthony Kennedy, Ruth
ing and his Georgia coun- Bader Ginsburg and Sonia
terpart is digging in for a Sotomayor
fight after the U.S. Supreme In announcing the decision
Court allowed Florida to Wednesday, on the last
press its case in a decades- day of the Supreme Court’s
long battle between the term before summer re-
two states over a river that cess, Breyer said that if
serves them both. the public wishes to “learn
The justices’ 5-4 ruling something of the beauty
Wednesday concerns a and emotional appeal of
dispute over Georgia’s use this southeastern river ba-
of water from the Chat- sin,” he could recommend
tahoochee and Flint rivers songs: Alan Jackson’s song
that serve booming metro “Chattahoochee” or Bing
Atlanta, Georgia’s power- Crosby and Bob Hope per-
ful agricultural industry and forming “Apalachicola,
Florida’s oyster fisheries be- Fla.” But he said if “you wish
yond the river’s mouth. to learn about water rights”
The court said a special In this April 2, 2015, file photo, John Stokes, center, culls Apalachicola oysters while his two sons and “equitable apportion-
master appointed to hear Ryan, left, and Wesley Stokes tong oysters from the bottom of Apalachicola Bay. ment of river water among
the lawsuit should recon- Associated Press states” he’d recommend
sider Florida’s argument families all the way to the main committed to mak- Florida’s call for limiting wa- reading the opinions in the
that limiting how much U.S. Supreme Court. I am ing every effort to defend ter consumption from the case.
water Georgia uses would glad that the court ruled in Georgia’s water resources Flint river. But five of the jus- Justice Clarence Thomas,
provide more water down- Florida’s favor today and for our current and future tices did not agree with his who grew up in Georgia,
stream to the Apalachicola we look forward to further citizens. decision. wrote that he would have
River that flows into Apala- securing a healthy Apala- We look forward to obtain- “Five of us believe that the sided with Georgia
chicola Bay and the near- chicola Bay while protect- ing a positive ruling on the special master, as Florida “In the final analysis, Florida
by Gulf of Mexico. ing the thousands of jobs merits in this case.” said, did apply too strict a has not shown that it will
Florida officials celebrated that depend on this natural The states’ battle over wa- standard and that under appreciably benefit from
the decision even though resource. The best interest ter use dates back to 1990, a proper standard, Florida a cap on Georgia’s water
it means that the expensive of these families will always and includes drawn-out did adequately show that use,” Thomas wrote in a dis-
battle, which has cost the come first.” negotiations and several relief may be possible,” Jus- sent for himself and Justices
state’s taxpayers $57 mil- Georgia Gov. Nathan lawsuits. Alabama, which tice Stephen Breyer said in Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan
lion in the last four years, will Deal, however, said he “re- has the Chattahoochee announcing the opinion. and Neil Gorsuch.
continue forward. mained confident” in his on its eastern border, is not “We hold that the mas- Though the decision in the
“Today’s ruling is a huge win state’s legal position. part of the current lawsuit ter should go on to make case was 5-4, the justices
for the entire state of Flori- “Georgia remains commit- that was first filed nearly five further factual findings in did not split along ideologi-
da,” said Gov. Rick Scott, ted to the conservation ef- years ago. the case, such as whether cal lines, with two conser-
who pushed to have the forts that make us amica- The special master the Georgia is, in fact, using too vative justices joining three
state sue Georgia directly. ble stewards of our water court appointed to hear much Flint River water, and liberal justices in the ma-
“After decades of failed resources,” said Deal, add- the lawsuit had recom- if so, whether Florida could jority and Kagan, a liberal,
negotiations, we took our ing that both he and Attor- mended that the court side benefit significantly from joining three conservatives
historic action to protect ney General Chris Carr “re- with Georgia and reject a cap on Georgia’s use of in dissent.q

FBI holds summits on preventing mass school shootings

By ERIC TUCKER “We can’t allow ourselves Santa Fe, Texas, last month 77 percent, had spent a dedicated himself to lob-
Associated Press to become numb to it,” that claimed 10 lives. Those week or longer planning bying for improvements to
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Josh Skule, the FBI’s execu- shootings are part of what their attack and that many school safety. “After the
leaders and local law en- tive assistant director for in- officials described as an of them had shown multiple shooting, just trying to deal
forcement officials are telligence, said in an inter- alarming increase in the signs of warning behavior with my grief, I was just in-
studying shootings in view. “We just cannot think number of mass shootings, in the year before the vio- censed that Alex was killed
schools to piece together that this is an acceptable though the reasons for the lence. The FBI said it could because this monster shot
trends and come up with way to live our lives, and uptick are still being de- verify that 25 percent of the right through the glass and
ways to prevent future vio- so however this topic stays bated. “The active shooter shooters who were studied he never went into the
lence, officials said. at the forefront so that folks threat is here to stay,” said had been previously diag- classrooms,” Schachter
The FBI on Wednesday continue to talk about ... FBI Deputy Director David nosed with a mental illness. said in an interview, speak-
hosted a daylong session at is critical to mitigating the Bowdich. “I wish it wasn’t. Among the speakers was ing of the suspect in that
its headquarters to discuss threat.” I wish it was a passing Max Schachter, whose case, Nikolas Cruz. “I just
common warning signs of The session comes on the phase.” On Wednesday, 14-year-old son was didn’t understand why
shooters, information shar- heels of deadly school the FBI shared the findings among the victims of the the schools were so un-
ing among law enforce- shootings like the February of recent research into 63 Marjory Stoneman Doug- safe and tried to figure out
ment and response plans attack in Parkland, Florida, active shooters. The re- las High School shooting in what I could to make them
among schools. that killed 17 and the one in search showed that most, Florida and who has since safe.”q