Midday Roundup: U.S. officials say airstrikes damaging ISIS

Making headway? U.S. officials say Islamic State (ISIS) militants have lost control of about one-quarter of the territory taken in Iraq, insisting coalition-led airstrikes have “unquestionably inflicted some damage” to the terror group. But they acknowledge the group’s position in neighboring Syria hasn’t changed, proving how difficult it will be ultimately to defeat the radical Islamic fighters. ISIS took control of a large swath of Iraq and Syria, about one-third of each country, last year. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is in Washington this week to appeal for more U.S. airstrikes and military assistance in the fight against the terrorists. The offensive launched last week by Iraqi forces has had mixed results. Although Iraqi forces and friendly militias are working to take back Anbar, the country’s biggest province, ISIS fighters are pushing into two new districts in the area.

Caught. Early this morning, Florida police arrested a man accused of shooting an instructor at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, N.C., on Monday. Kenneth Morgan Stancil III, 20, was spotted sleeping on the beach in Daytona Beach, Fla., and was arrested without incident. North Carolina officials say the former student fatally shot Ron Lane, a print shop operator, on the third floor of the school Monday. Local media outlets reported Stancil once worked for Lane and was fired, but police have not revealed a possible motive for the attack. The school reopened today, and spokeswoman Tara Humphries tried to calm fears on campus. “We will have extra law enforcement presence on this campus so that everyone feels safe,” she said. Authorities say the shooting was an isolated incident.

Convicted. Four Americans convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working for the military contracting firm Blackwater were sentenced Monday. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced Nicholas Slat to life in prison for murder in the September 2007 incident in Baghdad. Three other guards—Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard—were sentenced to 30 years for multiple counts of manslaughter. A court convicted the men last fall after a jury found the guards recklessly fired into a crowd, killing 14 people and injuring others. The men claimed self-defense, saying they were under fire while a nearby car bombing incident was cleared. But fellow guards disputed that testimony. All four have filed appeals.

Supervision spat . A Maryland mom and dad are under suspicion again for their “free-range” parenting style. Alexander and Danielle Meitiv were first investigated by Child Protective Services in January for allowing their two children, 10-year-old Rafi and 6-year-old Dvora, to walk their neighborhood without an adult—something Danielle Meitiv defended on NBC. “We are amazed that this has become a national conversation because we are just doing what our parents did, what was considered perfectly normal just one generation ago,” she said. Over the weekend, authorities seized the two children after finding them at a nearby park, together but unsupervised, and waited three hours before alerting the frantic parents. The Meitivs were forced to sign a “safety plan” before taking their children home.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry and Carl Peetz contributed to this report.