Veteran police official Edward Caban becomes first Latino to head the NYPD

NEW YORK (AP) — Edward Caban, who joined the New York Police Department as a young patrol officer in 1991 and rose through the ranks, was sworn in Monday as police commissioner, becoming the first Latino to lead the 178-year-old department. Mayor Eric Adams administered the oath of office in front of the Bronx stationhouse where Caban started his career, and praised his new police commissioner as “representative of this blue-collar city.” Caban, the son of a transit police officer who served with Adams when the now-mayor was on the transit force, said he joined the NYPD as “a young Puerto Rican kid” at a time when “the top bosses of the police department didn’t really look like me.”

New drug to protect babies and toddlers from RSV gets FDA approval

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials on Monday approved the first long-acting drug to protect babies and toddlers against a respiratory virus that sends tens of thousands of American children to the hospital each year. RSV is a cold-like nuisance for most healthy people, but it can be life-threatening in the very young and the elderly. The Food and Drug Administration approved the injection for infants and children up to 2 years old who face increased risk of severe RSV.

Store that sold Murdaugh’s son beer must pay $15M to family of teen killed in crash

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The family of a teen killed in a boat crash, which prosecutors said begin the financial downfall of double murderer Alex Murdaugh, has reached a $15 million deal to settle a lawsuit against a convenience store chain that sold Murdaugh’s son alcohol while under age. Sunday’s deal came after a judge refused to allow the Parker’s Kitchen chain to be separated from Murdaugh in a wrongful death trial next month in Hampton County, South Carolina, where Murdaugh was once a powerful and well-known attorney.

Vanishing whale’s decline worse than previously thought, feds say

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A review of the status of a vanishing species of whale found that the animal’s population is in worse shape than previously thought, federal ocean regulators said Monday. The North Atlantic right whale numbers less than 350, and it has been declining in population for several years. The federal government declared the whale’s decline an “unusual mortality event,” which means an unexpected and significant die-off, in 2017. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released new data that 114 of the whales have been documented as dead, seriously injured or sub-lethally injured or sick since the start of the mortality event.

Marathon swimmer returning to fundraise, aims to swim more than 80 miles

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A man who swam across Lake Michigan in 1998 said he’s returning 25 years later for a longer splash. Jim Dreyer will attempt to swim at least 82.5 miles, without getting out of the water, from Milwaukee to Grand Haven, Michigan, beginning on Aug. 1. Dreyer, who turns 60 in August, will be raising money for the Chief Petty Officers Association, an independent group that offers a variety of services to enlisted members of the U.S. Coast Guard.