Washington
Judges to hear arguments over NSA surveillance
SEATTLE (AP) - A panel of federal appeals judges in Seattle is considering an Idaho woman's challenge to the National Security Agency's bulk collection of cellphone information.
U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Winmill ruled in Boise, Idaho, last June that the NSA's collection of such data doesn't violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches. But the judge also said the issue does raise privacy concerns and that the case could wind up before the Supreme Court.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have joined nurse Anna Smith's case for the appeal. Arguments at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals were scheduled for Monday morning.
The NSA has said it collects the phone numbers of calls made and received and how long a call lasts, but the agency contends it does not monitor the contents of a call. Smith said her cellphone is her primary means of communication with family, friends, doctors and others, and that her phone calls are none of the government's business.
Pennsylvania
Woman jailed for abducting baby dies in Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A western Pennsylvania woman who was sent to prison for impersonating a nurse and abducting a newborn from a Pittsburgh hospital has died.
Twenty-two-year-old Breona Moore of East McKeesport died late last week at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, officials said. Montour County Coroner Scott Lynn told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Moore died of natural causes.
Moore was serving a 2 ½- to-five-year sentence at Muncy state prison after pleading guilty in April to kidnapping a 3-day-old boy from Magee-Women's Hospital at UPMC.
Moore, who was 5-foot-4 and 230 pounds, had told friends for weeks that she was pregnant, prosecutors said.
On Aug. 23, 2012, dressed in hospital scrubs, Moore walked into the mother's hospital room and told her she was taking the baby for a medical test. Instead, she placed him in a handbag and carried him out of the hospital, prompting a frantic search for the missing child that lasted for several hours.
Police found Moore holding the baby, who was not harmed, in a janitor's closet in a downtown office building.
At her sentencing in June, Moore told the judge she became depressed after a doctor told her she would be unable to have children of her own. She apologized for her actions and to the baby's mother, even though she was not in the courtroom.
"I hope I will be as blessed as you some day," Moore said. "There are no words to say how remorseful I am."
New Mexico
Judge ousted by voters is trying to stay in office
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - An eastern New Mexico judge who lost a retention election last month is trying to stay in office by seeking appointment to fill the vacancy.
Voters in Quay, De Baca and Harding counties on Nov. 4 rejected District Judge Albert J. Mitchell Jr.'s attempt to remain in office, but the Albuquerque Journal reports there's no law that explicitly says judges can't be appointed to fill vacancies created by their losses in retention elections.
Mitchell and fellow Tucumcari attorney Donald Schutte are the only applicants for the resulting vacancy.
A nominating commission is scheduled to meet Thursday in Tucumcari to make a recommendation to Gov. Susana Martinez.
The state Supreme Court last week refused to bar the nominating commission from considering Mitchell's application because of his retention election loss.
Minnesota
Man settles suit against owner of McDonald's
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A disabled man who sued the owner of a McDonald's restaurant in Minneapolis has settled out of court.
Terms of the settlement between 53-year-old Robert Mingo and the restaurant owner were not disclosed. But, an attorney for the defendant says the agreement includes a requirement that all customers, including those with service dogs, will be welcome in the restaurant.
The Star Tribune says Mingo and his service dog visited the restaurant in August 2012. Mingo was refused service because of the dog, so he went to the drive-through and again was rejected. He went back inside and was finally served, but told not to return. Mingo went back to the restaurant in May 2013 and said he ordered food, but was told to leave. Mingo sued in April.
Nebraska
State high court backs city in junk vehicles case
BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) - Backed by a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling, officials say Beatrice will vigorously pursue $25,000 in fines levied against the owner of a parcel where junked vehicles were parked.
The Beatrice Daily Sun says the court on Friday backed an earlier ruling by the Nebraska Appeals Court that the city didn't violate the rights of the property owner. The landowner, Daniel Meints, had said a city officer needed a warrant to come onto Meints' property to gather information about 10 junk vehicles that were parked there in 2011.
The Appeals Court said the city didn't violate Meints' rights because the vehicles were seen in an open field, so the officer had probable cause to investigate violations of the city's code concerning junk vehicles.
Kentucky
2 men plead not guilty in death of adjunct professor
MAYSVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Two men charged in the death of a missing University of Cincinnati adjunct professor have pleaded not guilty in Kentucky to charges of murder, theft, kidnapping and tampering with evidence.
The Ledger Independent reports 37-year-old Kevin Howard and 55-year-old Charles L. Black were arraigned on Friday in Fleming County Circuit Court. They are charged with killing Randall Russ, who was last seen in August. Russ' car was found in September near the entrance of Fort Boonesborough State Park.
Kentucky State Police Detective Wes Prather said during a pretrial hearing that officers turned their attention to Black after a video was found of him using Russ' credit card at an ATM.
Prather says a body has been found, but it has not yet been positively identified.
Published: Tue, Dec 09, 2014
