California became the first state to make it illegal for teenagers under 18 to use tanning beds. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown said Sunday that he signed the bill into law. It will take effect Jan. 1.
Texas banned the use of tanning beds for children younger than 16. California is the first state to set a higher age limit. Thirty other states have age restrictions, said the bill's author, Democratic state Sen. Ted Lieu.
Under current California law, children 14 and under cannot use the beds, but those ages 15 to 17 can do so with permission from their parents.
Lieu and other ban supporters said the higher age limit is needed because the radiation used in tanning beds often leads to melanoma, a skin cancer that can be fatal.
7 rescued 20 hours after boat capsizes
A woman died and seven people treaded water in choppy seas for 20 hours before being rescued off the Florida Keys, the Coast Guard said.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Nick Ameen said a person who rescued three of the boaters called the Coast Guard early Sunday and said others were still in the water. He said that about an hour later, a boat crew found the four, who had drifted about 4 miles from their boat, which had capsized and sank Saturday off Marathon, Fla.
Ameen said the group was not able to stay together and an 80-year-old woman never resurfaced. Among those rescued was a 4-year-old girl who was suffering from hypothermia, he said.
No winner yet in Cherokee election
The challenger in the embattled election to lead the Cherokee Nation was ahead after an initial vote count Sunday, but it was too early to declare a winner in a race that has been marred by months of complications.
The Cherokee Nation Election Commission counted votes that were cast in person since the new election began Sept. 24. The unofficial tally showed Cherokee Nation Councilman Bill John Baker with 61% of the vote, receiving 6,223 votes compared with 4,046 for former principal chief Chad Smith. As many as 12,000 absentee ballots still have to be counted. The winner may not be known until Wednesday.
Generators go out at nuclear plants
Four generators that power emergency systems at U.S. nuclear plants have failed when needed since April, according to reports compiled by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
None of these failures has threatened the public. The diesel generators supply electricity to cooling systems that prevent a nuclear plant's radioactive fuel from overheating, melting and potentially releasing radiation into the environment. That happened this year when the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan lost all backup power after an earthquake and tsunami.
Three diesel generators failed after tornadoes knocked out electric lines serving the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry nuclear plant in April. Another generator failed at the North Anna plant in Virginia after an earthquake in August.
"To me, it's not an alarming thing," said Michael Golay, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "But if this trend were to continue, you'd certainly want to look into it."
Two of three wandering whales die
Federal biologists confirmed that two of the three killer whales that swam far up a river in southwestern Alaska have died.
Julie Speegle, a fisheries spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the carcasses were spotted during a flight over the Nushagak River.
The two dead whales appeared to be adults. The third, a juvenile, was seen downriver from the carcasses, and biologists were going to assess its health in deciding whether to try to force it out to sea. The whales were first spotted about three weeks ago and had been in danger of starvation.
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