Illinois
Feds appeal secret docs order in terror case
CHICAGO (AP) — Federal prosecutors are appealing a court ruling that gives defense lawyers access to documents requesting permission to conduct secret surveillance in a Chicago terrorism investigation.
The U.S. District Attorney’s office in Chicago filed its appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit late Monday in the case of 20-year-old Adel Daoud.
A federal judge said last month that Daoud’s attorneys should get access to the government’s application to an intelligence court for clandestine surveillance.
If the ruling is implemented, it would offer an unprecedented look at a request made to the country’s secret intelligence court for permission to spy on a U.S. citizen.
Daoud is accused of trying to detonate a car bomb outside a Chicago bar in 2012, which he denies.
Maryland
Police: Person of interest in two girls’ vanishing
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) — Police in Maryland say a convicted child sex offender has been identified as a person of interest in the 1975 disappearance of two sisters who never returned home from a Montgomery County shopping mall.
County police said Monday that the person they want to question is imprisoned in another state and had traveled extensively around the country.
Authorities scheduled a news conference for Tuesday and expect to release more information, including details on why the man is considered a person of interest. Police also are seeking the public’s help to learn more about the man.
The announcement could represent a significant break in the investigation into the disappearance of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old sister Katherine. They went missing after walking to a nearby shopping center.
North Carolina
Woman who killed pedestrian while texting apologizes
BELMONT, N.C. (AP) — A southern North Carolina woman, who authorities say hit and killed a pedestrian while texting, has apologized.
Forty-five-year-old Belinda Strange Hudspeth apologized to the victim’s family in court Monday in Belmont, outside Charlotte.
Seventy-five-year-old Lavon Ramsey died Saturday when she was struck by a SUV on a street in Belmont.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol says Hudspeth was texting while driving and was impaired by prescription medication when the wreck occurred.
Investigators say her SUV ran off the right side of the road and hit Ramsey outside her home.
Hudspeth faces charges of murder, reckless driving, failure to carry a valid driver’s license, driving while intoxicated and a text/email violation. She was being held on a $1 million bond.
New Hampshire
Court upholds text-reading crash conviction
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s highest court is upholding the assault conviction of a driver who was reading a text message as his car drifted across two lanes and into oncoming traffic.
The court’s ruling means that 30-year-old Chad Belleville will continue serving a 3 1/2- to seven-year sentence for vehicular assault and second-degree assault.
The court, in its unanimous ruling Tuesday, said Belleville was recklessly negligent when he took his eyes off the road long enough to nearly hit one vehicle and then hit two others without braking.
He first hit a couple’s car, causing traumatic brain injury to their son.
New Hampshire lawmakers are considering several proposals addressing distracted driving, including one that would ban all but hands-free cellphone use.
Kansas
Bill would require fines for those who purchase sex
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas assistant attorney general is urging state lawmakers to require mandatory $2,500 fines against anyone convicted of paying for sex, even if they receive diversion.
Pat Colloton testified Monday that a state fund to help human trafficking victims is in danger of going broke because many people convicted of patronizing prostitutes are given diversion but not fined. The fines are used to fund the Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Fund.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports a bill before a Kansas House committee would require the fines, and also prevent offenders from getting a second diversion if they are convicted of the crime twice. Local courts also would be required to report all convictions and diversions for patronizing prostitutes to a central Kansas Bureau of Investigation database.
Arizona
Justice: Maricopa courts worse than believed
MARICOPA, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court says financial troubles with two Pinal County courts are worse than initially believed.
The high court's chief justice in January ordered a Pinal County Superior Court judge to oversee administration of city and justice courts in Maricopa.
Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch took that action after an audit disclosed that the Maricopa courts hadn't been making deposits of fines and other payments.
Berch now says in a new order that the two Maricopa courts' courts' financial, record-keeping, and case management systems have broken down.
Her order says management by Judge and Justice of the Peace Scott Sulley has been “problematic” and that he is being reassigned to unspecified duties.
Berch says that’s necessary to rebuild the two courts and restore their proper functions.
Arizona
Ruling: Schools don’t have to shield students
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A new court ruling says Arizona schools don't have to supervise students as they go to or from schools.
A state Court of Appeals ruling Monday upholds a trial judge's ruling in favor of a Tucson charter school in a lawsuit filed by a young woman.
She was injured in 2003 when struck by a truck at a busy intersection's crosswalk while bicycling home from BASIS School Inc.
The girl was a fifth-grader at the time. She sued in 2013 after she turned 18.
Her suit alleges the school was negligent because it didn’t have a crossing guard at the intersection.
However, the Court of Appeals says there’s no general legal obligation for schools to protect students while they’re away from school or not on a school-supervised activity.
