Wednesday morning news: April 4, 2018

YouTube shooting » A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters in California on Tuesday, wounding several people before fatally shooting herself.

Zach Vorhees is a software engineer at YouTube.

VORHEES: I was sitting at my desk when we all heard the fire alarm come off. So we evacuated the building. I had my skateboard. I started skating down toward the lunch courtyard area, and I heard a commotion, and I heard someone screaming out come and get me.

Officers found three victims who were all transported to an area hospital for treatment. One patient is in critical condition, and another in serious condition.

Police have yet not released the identities of the shooter or the victims.

OK teacher walkout »

AUDIO (OK teachers protest): Make it happen (claps)

Oklahoma teachers at the state capitol, demanding more school funding and better pay. Three of the state’s largest school districts had to shut down Tuesday, the second day of the public school strike.

Rick Meacham was one of thousands of teachers to walk out. He said his full-time job as a P-E teacher doesn’t cut it, so he has to work a second job as a waiter.

MEACHAM: There’s days you’re just exhausted from your school day, and then you know you have to go change and put on your work face to go back to another job.

Teacher frustration boiled over last week after Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill giving them a 15 to 18 percent raise. The striking educators are demanding more. Oklahoma teachers make about $45,000 a year. That ranks 49th in the nation.

Critics say schools need to trim unnecessary districts and high administrative costs.

First sentence in Russia probe » A Dutch lawyer will spend 30 days in prison for lying to FBI investigators in the Russia probe.

Alex van der Zwaan is the first person sentenced as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. He admitted in February that he lied about his contacts with Trump campaign aide Rick Gates and an unnamed person with ties to Russian intelligence. In addition to the jail time, he’ll also pay a $20,000 fine.

EPA rolling back auto regulations » The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back aggressive Obama-era auto emission standards. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt:

PRUITT: I think the focus in the past has been on making manufacturers make cars that people aren’t going to buy. And our focus should be on making cars that people purchase actually more efficient.

The Obama era rules mandated cars meet a 36 miles per gallon standard by 2025. Pruitt says his agency will revise those standards and set up new ones with the help of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Meantime, Scott Pruitt has been under scrutiny over his spending habits. The House Oversight Committee is following up on reports that he’s spent thousands flying first class and staying at fancy hotels.

On Monday, the president called Pruitt to say he still has confidence in him. But at the White House on Tuesday, he sounded less than enthusiastic.

REPORTER: Do you support Scott Pruitt? TRUMP: I hope he’s gonna be great.

Pruitt says his travel spending has not been excessive.

Esty won’t see reelection » Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty has announced that she’ll leave Congress at the end of her current term. The 3rd-term Connecticut Democrat has been caught up in a harassment scandal, with calls growing for her to resign.

Reports emerged last week that Esty waited to fire her male chief of staff, Tony Baker until several months after he left a female staffer a voicemail threatening to kill her if she didn’t answer his calls. An internal probe revealed widespread accusations of abuse against Baker.

Drama in Israel over migrants » Israel is backtracking on a plan to resettle thousands of African migrants. WORLD Radio’s Sarah Schweinsberg has more.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has halted an agreement with the United Nations to resettle thousands of migrants in Western nations, letting some of them stay in Israel. That announcement on Tuesday came just hours after Israel signed on to the agreement.

Under the terms of the deal, about 16,000 migrants would have resettled in western countries such as Canada, Italy, and Germany while another 20,000 or so would’ve been allowed to stay in Israel.

But Netanyahu backpedaled on the deal after meeting with residents of Tel Aviv, where the majority of the migrants live. The prime minister said, his words, “I have listened carefully to the many comments on the agreement” … “As a result, and after I again weighed the advantages and disadvantages, I decided to cancel the deal.”

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

And I’m Jim Henry. Straight ahead on Washington Wednesday: a conversation about the Trump administration’s high turnover rate. Plus, Paul Butler on the life of Martin Luther King Junior. This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Emergency and law enforcement personnel exit YouTube headquarters, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in San Bruno, Calif. 

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