National Roundup

Massachusetts
Police: Man’s fake $100 bills had wrong face
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — A Rhode Island man police say used counterfeit $100 bills to make purchases at a Target store made a critical mistake.
The bills had a picture of President Abraham Lincoln on them. Real $100 bills bear a picture of Benjamin Franklin. Lincoln’s portrait graces the $5 bill.
Dana Leland of Central Falls, R.I., was held on $1,000 cash bail after pleading not guilty Wednesday in Attleboro District Court to charges of uttering a counterfeit note and possession of a counterfeit note.
Police tell The Sun Chronicle the 29-year-old Leland used the fake notes on three consecutive days at the North Attleborough store to buy items worth less than $25.
Leland’s lawyer said her client has struggled with drug and alcohol problems and untreated mental health issues, and had a relapse.

Connecticut
Governor: Storm damage set at $360 million plus
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says the cost of damage to Connecticut businesses and homes by Superstorm Sandy is more than $360 million and climbing.
Malloy tells the Connecticut Post that the sum includes damage in all eight counties and that applications for assistance will keep growing.
He also said the state faces big challenges to strengthen roads, transportation systems and other public works to avoid similar storm damage in the future.
The governor says Connecticut has some “real big infrastructure issues.”
Earlier this week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported that more than 7,270 property owners in the state have applied for assistance.

California
San Francisco nudists sue to block new ban
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A group of San Francisco residents is suing the city to block a proposed ban on public nudity.
A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco claims an ordinance that city officials are considering would violate the civil rights of people who want to bare their bodies for personal or political reasons.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the measure next week. It would prohibit nakedness on city streets, sidewalks and plazas at all times except during permitted fairs and parades, such as the city’s annual gay pride event.
Lawyer Christina DiEdoardo filed the case as a dozen or so of her clients stood outside the courthouse in varying states of undress.
DiEdoardo says the ban is too broad and would inhibit the free speech of nudists who can’t afford a permit.

Texas
Dallas soccer CEO accused of beating his wife
DALLAS (AP) — The CEO of Dallas’ professional soccer team is taking an indefinite leave after being accused of beating and choking his wife at a hotel in New York City, the team said Wednesday.
Douglas Quinn, president of FC Dallas, asked to take the leave to “attend to personal matters,” according to a team statement. Hunt Sports Group Vice President Dan Hunt has taken over in the interim.
New York police allege that Quinn assaulted his wife, Elizabeth Quinn, after an argument in their Manhattan hotel room on Saturday. A criminal complaint said he repeatedly punched her in the face, put a pillow over her head and applied pressure so she couldn’t breathe.
Douglas Quinn was arraigned in Manhattan criminal court and freed on $20,000 bond. .

California
Plane lands on highway after losing power
ROCKLIN, Calif. (AP) — A small plane has made an emergency landing in traffic on a highway median in the Sacramento area.
The California Highway Patrol says the aircraft landed safely Wednesday morning on a grassy center divide of Highway 65 near Rocklin as cars whizzed by. No injuries were reported.
Pilot John Mares says he was testing a new engine on the Beech BE35-33A when it lost power at about 3,500 feet, leaving him with no choice but to find a place to land.
A mechanic was on scene to see if the fuel pump failed. The highway remained open although traffic slowed down to see the plane.

Ohio
State to review  malnutrition case in death of child
VERMILION, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio agency plans to investigate social workers’ previous interactions with a family whose youngest son died of malnutrition last week.
An Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesman tells the Sandusky Register the review will look at whether the death was a preventable tragedy and whether children’s services workers complied with state and federal regulations.
The head of Erie County Job and Family Services has said the children in the family were receiving proper care when court oversight and the agency’s year of supervision ended in 2009.
No charges have been filed in the death of the 18-month-old boy, but six other children were removed from the home.

California
Man pleads not guilty to LA bus rape charges
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man has been charged with raping an 18-year-old mentally disabled woman in the back of a Los Angeles County transit bus last week.
Prosecutors say 20-year-old Kerry Trotter pleaded not guilty Wednesday to one count each of forcible rape and rape of an incompetent person, and two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object. If convicted, Trotter faces more than 20 years in prison.
He was ordered to remain jailed in lieu of $285,000 bail. It’s not immediately known if Trotter has retained an attorney.

Ohio
Mom: Uncle and grandmother, not in 'right minds'
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The mother of three children killed this week in what police believe was a murder-suicide said Wednesday her mother and brother weren't in their "right minds" when the deaths occurred.
Notes found at a Toledo house indicate the children's grandmother and uncle planned to kill themselves and the children by funneling fumes from a pickup truck into a car.
The children, their 54-year-old grandmother Sandy Ford, and their 32-year-old uncle Andy Ford, died of carbon monoxide poisoning, a coroner ruled Wednesday.