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US pastor in Turkey may soon be released

WASHINGTON 鈥� An American pastor may soon be released after two years of captivity in Turkey.

A person involved in efforts to free Andrew Brunson say the 50-year-old evangelical pastor from North Carolina could be freed at his next court appearance on Friday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because officials had not yet reached a final agreement on the release and it could still fall through.

Brunson was among thousands of people arrested in Turkey in police sweeps following a failed July 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Brunson is under house arrest but could get up to 35 years in prison if convicted on charges that his lawyers say are baseless.

USPS wants to increase

stamp price by 5 cents

WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. Postal Service is seeking to increase the price of its first-class stamp by 5 cents to 55 cents to help stem its mounting red ink.

If approved by regulators, the 10 percent increase to the cost of mailing a 1-ounce letter would be the biggest since 1991.

The price of each additional ounce would go down, from 21 cents to 15 cents.

The proposed increase would take effect in January. It comes as President Trump has criticized the Postal Service for “losing a fortune” by not charging higher shipping rates for online retailers such as .

The Postal Service has seen years of financial losses as an unrelenting drop in mail volume and costs of its health care and pension obligations outweighed strong gains in package deliveries.

NEW YORK

Ex-Trump lawyer

joins

Democratic Party

NEW YORK 鈥� President Trump鈥檚 former lawyer Michael Cohen returned to the Democratic Party on Thursday, the latest in a series of steps he has taken to distance himself from the Republican president following a bitter falling-out.

Cohen鈥檚 defense attorney, Lanny Davis, announced on Twitter that his client has changed his registration from Republican to Democrat.

Davis described the move as an effort to distance 鈥渉imself from the values of the current鈥� administration.

Cohen retweeted Davis鈥� post and a link to an Axios story that first reported the news.

The switch came on the eve of Friday鈥檚 deadline for New Yorkers to register to vote in the November election.

Davis on Thursday described Cohen鈥檚 latest about-face as 鈥渁nother step鈥� in Cohen鈥檚 promise to place 鈥渇amily and country first,鈥� a pledge he made over the summer that signaled his willingness to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller鈥檚 investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

MASSACHUSETTS

Overpressurized gas lines tied to blasts

LAWRENCE 鈥� Federal investigators are confirming that overpressurized natural gas lines were the source of the deadly explosions and fires in communities north of Boston last month.

Thursday鈥檚 preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board says Columbia Gas workers failed to account for the location of critical gas pressure sensors in Lawrence on Sept. 13. It caused high-pressure gas to flood a low-pressure distribution system at excessive levels.

The excessive pressurization led to more than 80 explosions and fires across Lawrence, North Andover and Andover that killed one person and injured 25 others. The gas explosions also damaged or destroyed dozens of homes, and left thousands of homes and businesses without natural gas service.

Harvard to honor Kaepernick, Chappelle

CAMBRIDGE 鈥� Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and comedian Dave Chappelle are among eight people being saluted by Harvard University for their contributions to black history and culture.

The eight recipients of the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal are being honored Thursday afternoon by the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard.

Kaepernick, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers, created a firestorm when he began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and social injustice.

The other honorees are Kenneth Chenault, chairman and a managing director of General Catalyst; Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Pamela Joyner, founder of Avid Partners, LLC; psychologist and author Florence Ladd; Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative; and artist Kehinde Wiley.

CALIFORNIA

Great white attacked boy, DNA test shows

SAN DIEGO 鈥� DNA testing has revealed the shark that attacked a 13-year-old boy last month off a Southern California shore was a great white, according to a report.

Scientists gathered the shark鈥檚 DNA by swabbing the wet suit Keane Webre-Hayes wore when he was bitten while diving for lobsters near Encinitas, the reported Wednesday.

The bite on Sept. 29 tore his back, shoulder, torso, face and ear. The teen was released from a hospital after surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

Witnesses estimated the shark was about 11 feet long.

Chris Lowe, director of Long Beach State University鈥檚 Shark Lab, said in a statement that while 鈥渟hark bite incidents are exceedingly rare,鈥� swimmers should be aware that more large sharks move along the coast during the fall season. Southern California is a known nursery area for white sharks.

The lab test used to confirm the DNA is similar to a new procedure being developed that can detect a shark鈥檚 environmental DNA in ocean water samples, the newspaper said. Environmental DNA 鈥� or eDNA 鈥� can be found in cellular materials left behind by sharks and other animals.