Vermont
Woman dies while seeking help for husband
IRASBURG, Vt. (AP) — A 71-year-old woman who went to get help for her husband after he fell getting out of their vehicle has been found dead near their home, state police said.
The couple was returning from a shopping trip Monday night when Stewart Little fell and wasn’t able to stand up, police said. His wife, Patricia, decided to walk to a neighbor’s house for help.
After some time, Stewart Little managed to crawl into the living room of their Irasburg home but couldn’t reach a phone to call 911, police said. A family member who stopped by the home Wednesday discovered that Stewart Little was suffering from an undisclosed medical problem and that Patricia Little was missing, police said.
After troopers and a canine unit arrived, a dog found Patricia Little dead in a field between her home and the neighbors’. Police said there’s no sign of foul play and a cause of death is pending.
“We suspect, obviously with the weather, that she may have fallen and was unable to get up, and she succumbed to the weather,” State Police Capt. J.P. Sinclair told WCAX-TV.
“It’s obviously tragic — very, very sad. We certainly wish it could’ve ended differently,” Sinclair said.
Stewart Little was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover.
New York
New York City SantaCon retains civil rights lawyer
NEW YORK (AP) — Organizers of the SantaCon bar crawl have retained a civil rights lawyer amid growing opposition to the annual event from New York City neighborhoods.
Attorney Norman Siegel says the Santa-clad participants have a right to express themselves as long as they don’t break the law.
The event has been criticized by some for being too rowdy. Thousands of red-suited revelers hit the streets and then fan out through the city’s bars.
Some community boards have banned the event from their neighborhoods.
Siegel tells WABC-TV he intends to support the group, which is now seeking street permits, and help turn around its image.
SantaCon is set for Saturday. Its location will be announced Friday.
NJ Transit, LIRR and Metro-North are banning alcohol on trains during SantaCon.
Florida
Sexual predator wins $3 million from lottery
MOUNT DORA, Fla. (AP) — A sexual predator has won almost $3 million from a Florida Lottery scratch-off ticket.
Orlando television station WKMG reported Wednesday that Timothy Poole purchased the winning ticket last weekend at a convenience store in Mount Dora, near Orlando.
Poole is listed on a Florida Department of Law Enforcement website as a sexual predator.
The television station says Poole was arrested in 1999 for on a charge of sexually battering a 9-year-old boy. Poole denied the allegations but pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery and was sentenced to time served in jail.
His probation was revoked in 2003 after he failed to show up for counseling sessions.
He was sentenced to three years in prison and released in 2006.
Poole tells WKMG he was wrongly accused.
Louisiana
Court refuses to toss case against judge for lying
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A state appeals court panel has refused to dismiss the criminal indictment against departing Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Judge Yolanda King for allegedly lying about living in New Orleans when she qualified last year to run for the seat.
The New Orleans Advocate reports the decision was dated Monday, two days after local attorney Desiree Cook-Calvin won a runoff to replace King on the bench.
The ruling clears the way for state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell’s office to move forward with the criminal case against King. No new court date was set as of Wednesday.
King, 57, was indicted in March on a felony charge of filing a false public document and a misdemeanor election code violation, accused of claiming a New Orleans address when she actually lived at a house she owns in Slidell.
Two months later, the Louisiana Supreme Court barred her from taking the bench pending a resolution of the criminal case. King ran third in a field of six in the November primary, booting her from the race. Her last day is Dec. 31.
For years, King claimed a homestead exemption on the St. Tammany Parish house, and she listed St. Tammany as her home parish in a bankruptcy filing in late 2012. By law, judicial candidates in Louisiana must have lived in the parish where they run for at least a year.
King is believed to be the first candidate for public office in Louisiana to be charged criminally over an allegation that is frequently lodged against would-be elected officials.
She claims the homestead exemption was a mistake that she rectified last year, just before her surprise runoff victory against former Jefferson Parish prosecutor Doug Hammel, who was backed by Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro.
King claims she was threatened by “political operatives” if she didn’t get out of the race, describing her prosecution as political payback.
King argued that prosecutors violated grand jury secrecy rules, and also that Caldwell’s office took on the case illegally, securing an indictment before Cannizzaro’s office formally recused itself in an April 2014 letter.
But an appeals court panel refused to overturn a judge’s ruling, finding he didn’t abuse his discretion.
King’s criminal attorney, Clarence Roby Jr., has called her prosecution “a quest for vengeance.”
Oklahoma
County judge says football game won’t be replayed
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma County judge says he won’t order a contested high school football playoff game to be replayed.
Judge Bernard Jones said in an order Thursday, “there is neither statute nor case law allowing this court discretion to order the replay of a high school football game.”
Jones also said that the courts shouldn’t intervene in such activities, especially when the teams are part of an association.
It all started during a state quarterfinal Nov. 28, when an improperly enforced penalty erased a touchdown that would have put Douglass ahead of Locust Grove with 64 seconds left. Locust Grove won 20-19, and Douglass appealed to the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.
The association’s staff declined the appeal, and its board rejected the replay options, prompting Douglass to go to court.
