National Roundup

Colorado
Teacher accused of taping mouths of her students
AURORA, Colo. (AP) — A Denver area second-grade teacher is accused of taping her students’ mouths shut when they wouldn’t be quiet.
The incident happened Thursday at Fulton Academy, a charter school in the suburb of Aurora. Police are investigating and the unidentified teacher is on paid administrative leave.
According to KUSA-TV, one parent said all 28 kids in the class may have been affected.
“My daughter’s been in the house crying, begging me not to send her back to school. (She) said that she’ll do good in home school and she promises. She doesn’t want to go back to a public school,” Tenisha Bynes said.
The girl said the punishment was painful.
“When she put it on, it was like, OK, and then, like, it started to hurt my mouth right here. It’s also hard for me to breathe with the tape, too,” she said. The girl’s name is being withheld because of her age.
The teacher did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Aurora Public Schools issued a statement saying it’s taking this seriously and will conduct its own investigation.
“Due to privacy laws, we are unable to discuss these allegations specifically. When we receive allegations of this nature, we immediately contact the police, begin our own investigation and possibly place the staff member on administrative leave during the investigation. We do not condone any inappropriate adult conduct toward students, and we cooperate fully with the police,” said spokeswoman Paula Hans in an email statement.

Louisiana
Sentence in 1994 death suspended
GONZALES, La. (AP) — More than 16 years after having his sentence for negligent homicide confirmed by an appeals court, Stanley White remains a free man.
The Advocate reports state Judge Jessie LeBlanc suspended White’s two-year sentence on Friday, placing him on two years of probation in the 1994 death of 10-week-old Brittany Deville.
White was a 19-year-old Donaldsonville resident when his vehicle collided with a car carrying Deville’s family on July 31, 1994. Deville was unrestrained and was ejected from the vehicle. She later died from her injuries.
White pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in July 1995 and was sentenced to two years in prison. After having his sentence upheld by an appeals court, however, he was never taken into custody and didn’t serve his sentence.
LeBlanc ruled that enforcing the sentence now would be an “inordinate delay” that would violate “the fundamental principles of liberty and justice.”
Prosecutors David Weilbaecher and Kurt Wall with the state’s Attorney General’s Office objected to LeBlanc’s ruling and said they planned to file an appeal with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.
“There’s no question somewhere about 17 years ago the judicial system let this family down,” Wall said.
Rachel Deville, the infant’s mother, said she was frustrated by Friday’s ruling but was determined to continue seeking justice for her daughter.
“It’s heartbreaking that someone in this courthouse just won’t give us justice, so we’ll move on.”
White declined to comment on Friday’s ruling through his attorney, Steven Moore.

Texas
Judge declines to dismiss suit against Exxon
HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge has declined to throw out a 2010 environmental lawsuit against ExxonMobil Corp. over emissions from its Baytown oil refinery.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston on Thursday adopted a magistrate’s April 3 recommendation that the Sierra Club and Environment Texas lawsuit be allowed to proceed.
Hittner in 2011 also declined to dismiss the lawsuit that alleges the nation’s largest refinery violated air pollution laws thousands of times since 2005.
Irving-based ExxonMobil didn’t immediately comment Friday. The company previously denied the allegations and said emissions from its Baytown refinery were lower than limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Luke Metzger with Environment Texas says the ruling vindicates the rights of citizens to bring polluters to justice when state and federal agencies aren’t getting the job done.

Florida
Anti-’Shariah’ bill is dead for this legislative round
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A bill that would ban Islamic law and other foreign laws from being applied in state courts has died on the last day of Florida’s legislative session.
Senate President Don Gaetz on Friday declared the bill (HB 351) “resolved” after its sponsor decided not to ask for the unanimous vote required to move the bill forward.
It had failed a previous procedural vote on Thursday. The House approved the legislation on a 79-39 vote last month.
Sen. Alan Hays sponsored the bill. The Umatilla Republican said he wanted to protect Floridians from foreign law being used against them in state courts.
But there are no reported cases in which a Florida court applied foreign law. That led critics to deride it as a solution to a “phantom menace.”

Illinois
Suit filed against grocery chain in security breach
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A Missouri-based supermarket chain faces a potential class-action lawsuit in Illinois related to a security breach affecting up to 2.4 million credit and debit cards of its customers.
St. Louis attorney Jeffrey Millar filed the lawsuit in St. Clair County on behalf of a man who shopped at a Schnucks store in Belleville during the time the company says customers’ accounts may have been compromised.
Maryland Heights, Mo.-based Schnucks Markets has said the breach dated to December and came to light in March. Many customers have reported fraudulent charges, some in the thousands of dollars.
The Belleville News-Democrat reports that Millar’s lawsuit questions why the problem wasn’t made public quicker.
Schnucks spokeswoman Lori Willis says the company will fight the lawsuit that she says is without merit.