National Roundup

New Jersey
Teacher plans to appeal firing for urinating in class
PATERSON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey second-grade teacher will appeal his firing for insubordination and inappropriate behavior, including urinating in class, his lawyer says.
The Record newspaper reports Ron Tuitt released a statement in which he denied sending students to flush bottles of his urine. He has taught in Paterson’s schools since 1996.
State Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf approved removing Tuitt’s tenure protection and firing him on April 18.
The state found the teacher once urinated in a classroom trash can, sometimes urinated in a plastic bottle and asked students to take his waste to the boys’ bathroom, and let students sit in his motorized wheelchair.
Tuitt denied some of the charges and told the state that others were because he was ill and his principal removed some accommodations.

California
Camp Ranger files lawsuit for  Dorner reward
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A camp ranger whose truck was taken by Christopher Dorner filed a lawsuit Monday for the $1 million reward offered for information leading to the capture of the rogue ex-cop believed to have committed suicide after killing four others during a rampage and manhunt.
Rick Heltebrake filed a breach-of-contract suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court claiming his call to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department after Dorner ordered him and his dog out of the truck and fled on Feb. 12 directly led to Dorner’s hideout in a mountain cabin where he engaged deputies in a final shootout.
Heltebrake “notified law enforcement of Dorner’s exact location and whereabouts, provided a description of the vehicle he was fleeing in, and was a substantial factor in the apprehension and capture of Dorner at the cabin location,” the lawsuit said.
The suit names as defendants the cities of Los Angeles, Irvine, Riverside and other entities who established the reward.
The LAPD has said three former judges will decide whether anyone can lay claim to the reward and, if so, how it should be distributed.
A couple who called police after Dorner tied them up and fled in their car and others have filed claims.

California
‘Spider-Man’ thief  snatches $6k at Hollywood office
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It looks like Spider-Man does have sticky fingers.
Los Angeles police were searching Monday for a man in a Spider-Man costume who authorities say snatched $6,000 from a tour company office on Hollywood Boulevard.
Hollywood’s Walk of Fame area is popular with street performers who dress as movie characters and try to earn tips by posing for photos with tourists.
Officer Chris No tells the Los Angeles Times that several street performers were questioned.
No one has been arrested.
The suspect also made off with credit card receipts.

Pennsylvania
Judge postpones hearing over Penn State suit
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A judge has postponed a hearing on the NCAA’s request to dismiss Gov. Tom Corbett’s antitrust lawsuit over sanctions college sports’ governing body imposed on Penn State over the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
Oral arguments had been scheduled for Wednesday. But the Centre Daily Times reports U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane has postponed them until May 20, citing plans to attend the funeral for Chief U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster.
Corbett sued the NCAA in January, arguing the sanctions violated federal antitrust laws. His lawsuit accuses the NCAA of exploiting the Sandusky case to increase the power of the organization’s president and help some universities gain a competitive advantage.
The NCAA says its consent decree doesn’t violate federal antitrust law.
Penn State isn’t a party to the lawsuit.

California
Suit seeks $3.25 million over virus outbreak at park
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A television station is reporting that a Southern California woman is seeking $3.25 million over the hantavirus outbreak at Yosemite National Park last year.
Fresno station KFSN-TV says that in a suit filed by Cathy Carrillo, she alleges that she became sick with the virus while staying in Curry Village last June.
In her suit against DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, Carrillo claims that she now has a million dollars in medical bills and suffers from diminished lung capacity and low energy.
Three park visitors died and several others were sickened during the outbreak.
Investigators later determined that deer mice, the most common carrier of the illness, were nesting inside the insulated walls of the new tents and likely were drawn by food guests brought.

Florida
U.S.: No new terror trial for Muslim cleric
MIAMI (AP) — Federal prosecutors say an interview by The Associated Press with an FBI informant and other legal claims are insufficient to warrant a new terrorism support trial for an elderly South Florida imam.
Prosecutor John Shipley says in court documents filed Monday that evidence against 77-year-old Hafiz Khan was overwhelming and nothing the informant said to the AP would change the outcome. Khan’s lawyers seek a new trial in part because of the informant’s comments to the AP.
Khan was convicted in March of four terrorism support-related charges involving the funneling of thousands of dollars to the Pakistani Taliban terror organization. He faces up to 15 years in prison on each count at sentencing May 30.
Shipley also rejected Khan’s claims that defense witnesses in Pakistan were wrongly prevented from testifying.

Wisconsin
State high court revokes license for sex conduct
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Supreme Court has revoked an attorney’s law license for having sex with a teenage girl.
According to court documents, Joseph Engl of Sheboygan contacted a 15-year-old girl via email, picked her up in November 2011 and had sexual contact with her. He pleaded no contest in Manitowoc County to child enticement-sexual contact and sexual assault of a child under 16. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
The court issued an order Tuesday revoking his license, calling his conduct disturbing. According to the order, Engl agreed revocation was appropriate.
Engl was convicted in 2004 for using a computer to set up a sexual encounter with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl. ?