In Other News: Red tape to blame for loss of Mississippi cruises; Uber reduces ambulance use

Published 10:50 am Friday, December 22, 2017

Editor’s note: “In Other News” is a list of state, national and global headlines compiled by the Daily Citizen-News staff. For links to these stories, visit dailycitizen.news. To suggest a story, email the appropriate link to inothernews@daltoncitizen.com. The deadline is 3 p.m. 

AT&T to give workers bonuses, increase investment due to tax reform

AT&T was quick to respond to news of U.S. tax reform, announcing it would give some employees bonuses once the legislation is signed into law. The telecom giant said it would give more than 200,000 of its U.S. workers who are union members a special bonus of $1,000. The company also increased its capital expenditures budget by $1 billion in the U.S. — CNBC

How Obama let Hezbollah off the hook

In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States. — Politico

Red tape to blame for loss of Mississippi cruises

Red tape and government regulations will keep one of the world’s largest river cruise companies off the Mississippi River. Viking Cruises run their boats in Europe, Asia and Africa. They wanted to run river cruisers up and down the Mississippi, but that’s not going to happen. Hannibal, Mo., City Manager Jeff LaGarce says Viking tried for two years to meet the myriad of federal regulations to run on the river. But recently, LaGarce said, Viking decided the regulations were too much to be profitable. — Illinois News Network

Black imprisonment rates are plummeting

One of the most damning features of the U.S. criminal justice system is its vast racial inequity. Black people in this country are imprisoned at more than five times the rate of whites. But for the last 15 years, racial disparities in the American prison system have been on the decline. Between 2000 and 2015, the imprisonment rate of black men dropped by more than 24 percent. At the same time, the white male rate increased slightly. Among women, the trend is even more dramatic. From 2000 to 2015, the black female imprisonment rate dropped by nearly 50 percent; during the same period, the white female rate shot upward by 53 percent. — The Marshall Project

Uber reduces ambulance usage across the country, study says

A study that looked at ambulance use in 766 U.S. cities in 43 states as Uber entered their markets from 2013 to 2015 found usage rates dipped significantly. Researchers say patients may have been taking an ambulance to the emergency room because they had no other way to get to a health care provider. But once they had access to the ride-sharing service they began to use it. — The Mercury News