The president announced an emergency grounding of two versions of Boeing's 7-3-7 Max aircraft.... following a deadly weekend crash in Ethiopia. The two black boxes from last weekend's Ethiopia plane crash are on their way to Paris for investigation. An Ethiopian Airlines spokesman says France's air accident investigation agency will analyze the flight recorders. The contents of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder will provide critical details about what caused the crash that killed 157 people.
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There are still plans for a casino in Long Beach, and it has residents asking questions of a local realtor. Stephanie Mankiewicz told WLOX her clients have been asking whether they should just sell now, instead of sit on it...wondering whether the casino would help or hurt it? She says she's also been asked about crime--whether it would get better when a casino comes in because the city would have more dollars for police. Mayor George Bass doesn't think crime will go up, and he says buying or selling a home shouldn't be impacted by a casino because the site had businesses on it before. It could still be years before the proposed casino becomes a reality. Long Beach Harbor Resorts still has to get funding, and the site has to be found suitable by the MS Gaming Commission.
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Former Texas Congressman Beto (Bet-Oh) O'Rourke is officially running for President. The 46-year-old former representative from El Paso announced today he is a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination. O'Rourke's profile has been high since he ran a surprisingly strong, but unsuccessful midterm election campaign against Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
President Trump says he is in no hurry to wrap up a trade agreement with China. Trump told reporters Wednesday that any deal must include protections for intellectual property. Reports claimed Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping [[ she jeen-peeng ]] would meet at a summit at Mar-a-Lago later this month, but no dates have been settled and no talks have taken place for weeks.
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