The week at a glance ... United States

last updated 8 January 2015

Mojave National Preserve, Calif.

Cross stolen: The 7-foot-tall war-memorial cross that was the subject of a recent Supreme Court decision has been stolen from the rock outcropping where it once stood. Last month, a narrowly divided court ruled that the cross did not violate the separation of church and state, overturning an appeals court decision ordering that the cross be removed from federal parkland. A spokeswoman for the Liberty Institute, an advocacy group that represents the volunteer caretakers of the cross, called the theft “an outrage, akin to desecrating people’s graves.” It’s offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to recovery of the cross.

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Twisters batter Oklahoma: A violent storm system that spawned at least a dozen tornadoes tore through central Oklahoma this week, causing six deaths—including that of a young boy killed by flying debris—and 57 injuries, ripping down power lines, and flattening houses. Cleanup crews raced to clear wreckage as forecasters warned that another line of storms was heading to the region. Stephen Markee, 16, was driving with a friend when the storm struck. They took cover in a neighbor’s home. “I thought we were going to die,” Markee said. “It was quick. It was like 30 to 45 seconds from when we were in there, then the roof was gone.”

Bangor, Maine

Tea Party time: To the dismay of the state’s Republican elected officials, the Maine Republican Party this week adopted a platform that reflects the agenda of the Tea Party movement. The platform, approved by a large majority of 1,800 delegates to the state party convention, calls for the elimination of the federal Education Department and the Federal Reserve and for the sealing of U.S. borders. It also calls on elected officials to resist “federal intrusion.” Analysts say the platform reflects frustration among the rank-and-file with the party’s senior leadership, including the state’s two moderate senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Only 28 percent of the state’s voters are registered Republicans.

Newark, Del.

Biden’s son suffers stroke: Joseph “Beau” Biden III, attorney general of Delaware and son of Vice President Joe Biden, suffered a mild stroke this week and is recovering in a Philadelphia hospital. Doctors said Biden, 41, was in good spirits and chatting with friends and family. Biden last year returned from a yearlong Army National Guard deployment to Iraq and was widely expected to seek his father’s old Senate seat this November. But he bowed out, saying, “I’m gonna, first things first, make sure I focus on my family.” Medical experts say strokes are fairly common among younger people, accounting for 10 percent to 15 percent of the 700,000 strokes that Americans suffer each year.

New York City

Ferry crash: A ferry boat carrying 270 people from Manhattan to Staten Island crashed into a pier last week, injuring at least 37 people. Investigators said the vessel had appeared to lose braking power, causing it to plow into the pier at close to 6 mph. “He was going too fast,” said passenger Jason Watler, 30. Police praised the crew for anticipating the crash and herding passengers who had gathered at the bow back inside the vessel. The 3,000-ton, 310-foot-long ferry, the Andrew J. Barberi, crashed into a pier in 2003, killing 11. The boat’s captain at the time was found to have been impaired by painkillers. Investigators do not believe drugs or alcohol played a role in the most recent accident.

Gulf of Mexico

Still gushing: BP crews this week struggled to fit a containment dome over the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, while the millions of gallons of crude began to wash up on fragile wetlands along the Gulf Coast. The containment dome was hastily constructed to replace a larger dome that had failed to capture oil leaking from the well, which was damaged when BP’s offshore platform exploded on April 20, claiming 11 lives; BP said the dome would be positioned over the leak by the end of the week. BP said it might also shoot debris—including shredded tires and golf balls—into the wellhead in an attempt to plug the leak at its source. At congressional hearings in Washington, executives of BP; TransOcean, which leased the drilling rig to BP; and Halliburton, which performed cement work on the rig’s drilling pipes, blamed one another for the catastrophe.