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Most students in a Georgia district return to class nearly a week after a school shooting

WINDER, Ga. (AP) — Many students in Georgia’s Barrow County headed back to class Tuesday, six days after a shooting killed two teachers and two students at the school district’s Apalachee High School northeast of Atlanta. No return date has been set for the 1,900 students at that high school, but the 13,000 students in Barrow County’s other schools did return, including at the middle school and elementary school that border the Apalachee campus in Winder. The mother of two students at other schools says she tried to put on a “hero face” to help them. Superintendent Dallas LeDuff said sheriff’s deputies and state troopers would provide extra security when schools reopened, with counseling available at all campuses.

Limits to anti-nausea pill coverage wear on cancer patients and doctors

Some cancer patients are hitting coverage limits on a cheap anti-nausea pill that can ward off waves of vomiting after treatment. Doctors say restrictions on the number of tablets can hurt care. Pharmacy benefit managers say their restrictions guard against overuse. In between visits, patients may have to ration pills or opt for less-effective help. The conflict offers a glimpse at how relatively simple acts of care can grow complex in the fragmented U.S. health care system.

SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A billionaire has rocketed back into orbit, aiming to perform the first private spacewalk. Unlike his previous chartered flight, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX this time around. Isaacman, along with a pair of SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot, launched before dawn Tuesday aboard a SpaceX rocket from Florida. The four aim to reach new heights during their five-day trip, higher than the International Space Station. Isaacman and a SpaceX employee also plan to test their new custom suits with a spacewalk Thursday where they’ll always have a hand or foot touching the capsule.

NYPD officer lands $175K settlement over ‘courtesy cards’ that help drivers get out of traffic stops

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police officer has reached a $175,000 settlement with the city in a lawsuit that illuminated the use of the “courtesy cards” that officers dole out to friends and relatives to get out of traffic stops and other minor infractions, according to an agreement filed in Manhattan federal court Monday. The deal brings an end to a lawsuit brought last year by Officer Mathew Bianchi that claimed he’d been punished by his superiors for failing to honor the cards, though the settlement itself makes no substantive changes to how the cards are used by NYPD officers. The laminated cards, which typically bear an image of an NYPD badge and the name of one of the city’s police unions, are not officially recognized by the police department but have long been treated as a perk of the job.