NEW YORK – The agency charged with overseeing New York City jails has voted to create restrictive Rikers Island housing units for violent inmates and limit the use of solitary confinement. The change bans the use of solitary confinement for inmates younger than 21 by 2016. The Board of Correction …
Read More »Prospective juror has sympathy for Tsarnaev, says maybe 'he just made a really big mistake'
BOSTON – One prospective juror in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR’ tsahr-NEYE’-ehv) has sympathy for him, saying he’s young and she wonders if “he just made a really big mistake.” The woman said Friday during jury questioning that it would be difficult for her to …
Read More »Crews recover body of Japanese woman who went missing during November fishing trip in Montana
KALISPELL, Mont. – Authorities in northern Montana have recovered the body of a Japanese woman who went missing during a fishing trip in November. The Flathead Beacon reports (http://bit.ly/1AD5lSV ) that 75-year-old Fuki Nishibayashi’s (FOO’-kee nish-uh-BY’-ashee) body was found Tuesday in Mission Lake near Cut Bank. Three people were believed …
Read More »Coroner: Mississippi official fatally shot himself before court appearance in corruption case
GULFPORT, Miss. – Authorities say a Mississippi official who was facing federal corruption charges fatally shot himself the day he was to appear in court. Coroner Gary Hargrove says Supervisor William Martin died early Thursday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, with a note found nearby. Martin had been set to …
Read More »Girl Scout troop at Utah gay pride center invites transgender kids, girls from LGBT families
SALT LAKE CITY – The Girl Scouts are opening a troop at a gay pride center in Salt Lake City that officials say will welcome transgender youth and children from LGBT families. At the troop’s first meeting Monday, five girls made friendship bracelets and learned the Girl Scouts handshake. In …
Read More »Lawyer: John Hinckley, Reagan's would-be assassin, should live outside mental hospital
WASHINGTON – Prosecutors and lawyers for the would-be assassin of President Ronald Reagan are disagreeing over what conditions should be imposed if he’s allowed to leave a mental hospital for good and live full-time with his mother in Virginia. John Hinckley Jr.’s attorney, Barry Levine, said Wednesday during the opening …
Read More »DOE to fund $73M in infrastructure projects to settle nuke dispute in New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – More than $73 million will be funneled toward road and water infrastructure projects as part of a settlement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the state over a radiation leak that forced the indefinite closure of the federal government’s troubled nuclear waste dump in southern New …
Read More »Missing 86-year-old woman with dementia found dead in passenger seat of neighbor's truck
LOWER BURRELL, Pa. – An 86-year-old Pennsylvania woman with dementia who disappeared over the weekend has been found dead in the passenger seat of her next-door neighbor’s pickup truck. The Westmoreland County coroner’s office tells the (Tarentum) Valley News Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1K4fMCo ) that it appears Sheila Creevey died of natural …
Read More »Ex-jail guard convicted in inmate's death says he got poor legal help; sentencing delayed
NEW YORK – A former New York City jail guard convicted of ignoring the pleas of a dying inmate has made a last-minute claim his legal representation was insufficient, leading a federal judge to postpone his sentencing. Terrence Pendergrass had faced up to 10 years in prison at his scheduled …
Read More »Florida woman allegedly stabs boyfriend in eye with rabies needles for looking at other women
A Florida woman is behind bars after she allegedly stabbed her boyfriend with rabies needles because he was looking at other women. Sandra Jimenez, 44, was charged with aggravated battery in connection with a Saturday incident at a home shared with her boyfriend, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department arrest …
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