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Calif. bill would require product makers to help reduce plastic trash polluting the ocean
• SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- It's a common sight on the nation's beaches: among the sand, sea foam and gnarled kelp lay plastic bottles, bags and other garbage.
• Each year cleanup crews throughout the U.S. collect millions of pounds of plastic trash from beaches and coastal waterways, with the biggest numbers coming from California's 1,100-mile coastline.
• Once in the ocean, plastic takes ages to decompose. The manmade junk either collects into floating trash islands called "garbage patches," or it breaks into smaller pieces that harm and kill sea creatures throughout the food chain.
• It's a complex problem with no easy fix, but two California legislators have introduced an "extended producer responsibility" bill that would require manufacturers to figure out how to keep the most common plastic junk out of state waterways. The proposal, Assembly Bill 521, aims to reduce 95 percent of plastic pollution along the state's coastline by 2024.
• The Assembly Appropriations Committee will vote on the bill Friday. If it passes, the measure will go before the full chamber next week and would face several other legislative hurdles before it could become law.
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Mistrial in penalty phase of Arias case sets up whole new proceeding to decide punishment
• PHOENIX (AP) -- As jurors in Jodi Arias' murder trial filed one by one from the courtroom after a dramatic five months of gut-wrenching testimony and gruesome photographs, three women on the panel cried and one looked to the victim's family, mouthing the word, "Sorry."
• The silent gesture offered a glimpse into what was likely a tense few days inside the deliberations room as the jury finally determined it could not agree on whether to sentence Arias to life in prison or execution for murdering her boyfriend.
• After about 13 hours of deliberations over three days, the panel gave up.
• Judge Sherry Stephens gave a heavy sigh as she announced a mistrial in the penalty phase of the case Thursday. A conference with the judge and attorneys was set for June 20 to determine how both sides want to proceed. In the interim, Stephens set a July 18 retrial date, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board to rehash the shocking case and details of sex and lies to another 12 people.
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