National Roundup

New Hampshire
School removes online ‘bias-free language guide’
DURHAM, N.H. (AP) — The University of New Hampshire has removed from its website a “bias-free language guide” that deemed the word “American” problematic because it fails to recognize South America.

The guide was developed in 2013 by several advocacy groups whose members are appointed by the university president. But President Mark Huddleston, who was unaware of the guide until it was criticized in the media this week, said Wednesday that it was not campus policy and that he was offended by many of its entries.

Until Thursday, the guide was posted on a UNH website detailing the university’s efforts to create an inclusive, diverse and equitable community. The authors said it was meant to encourage critical thinking about commonly used terms.

Maryland
City’s monthly homicide rate hits new high
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore’s monthly homicide count is reaching a historic high for a second time this year.

Police reported a fatal shooting Wednesday night, bringing Baltimore to 42 homicides so far in July. That matches the number of slayings recorded in May, which was the deadliest month since August 1990, when the city recorded 42 homicides, according to the Baltimore Sun.

There were 29 slaying in June, but the pace picked up again in July. Police say there have been 186 homicides in Baltimore so far this year. That’s a nearly 60 percent increase over the same time last year.

The number of homicides and shootings spiked after unrest sparked by the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury while in police custody in April.

Illinois
Prosecutors reach resolution with former Rep.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock and his attorneys have reached a temporary resolution with federal prosecutors on civil contempt accusations he faced for failing to produce campaign and congressional records.

The Peoria Republican appeared Tuesday and Wednesday in federal court in Springfield on the contempt issue.

Both Schock’s attorney, George Terwillinger, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass said both sides reached an agreement. The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois didn’t immediately comment on details.

Schock, who resigned in March, is under federal investigation over his use of taxpayer and campaign money. A federal grand jury has been hearing testimony from former members of Schock’s staff. Last month, FBI agents removed boxes and other items from his central Illinois campaign office.

Federal prosecutors’ move to hold Schock in contempt on the issue of producing records wasn’t public record until Wednesday.

“I believe we have at least a temporary resolution that would cause us to request that we postpone this hearing and proceed no further,” Bass told U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough, who had ordered Schock to produce the documents.

Terwillinger said Schock was looking to secure his “constitutional rights in connection with a grand jury investigation. We are very pleased that we reached an agreement with the government that protects Mr. Schock’s rights as we complete the task of making available thousands of pages of documents.”

But still at issue are documents from Schock’s 18th Congressional District office, which his attorneys have said may be exempt. Bass said prosecutors plan to subpoena the U.S. House for the congressional material.

The issue next will be addressed at an Aug. 28 video status conference.

New York
Doctor gets 20 years to life for murdering wife
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A prominent central New York physician has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for killing his estranged wife inside their mansion and trying to cover up the crime.

Sixty-three-year-old Dr. Robert Neulander was sentenced Thursday in Onondaga County Court. The judge says he didn’t impose the maximum sentence of 25 years to life because of pleas for leniency by the victim’s family.

Neulander had been found guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.

Onondaga County prosecutors say the obstetrician-gynecologist killed 61-year-old Leslie Neulander in a fit of rage inside their home in suburban Syracuse in September 2012.

Robert Neulander told investigators his wife had slipped in the shower and he had carried her into the bedroom. The Neulanders were getting divorced at the time.


Ohio
Woman says she saw son kill his girlfriend, self
CLEVELAND (AP) — A woman says she saw her severely depressed son fatally shoot his pregnant girlfriend at a Cleveland home before killing himself.

Mary Scruggs tells WKYC-TV  that Christian Marie Njorodge begged Christopher Scruggs not to shoot her.

Doctors were able to deliver her baby girl Tuesday before Njorodge died at the hospital, where Scruggs also was pronounced dead.

Mary Scruggs lived in the home with her 32-year-old son and his 34-year-old girlfriend.

She says Njorodge was about six months pregnant, and she calls her granddaughter’s survival a blessing. The infant is in a hospital neonatal intensive care unit.

Mary Scruggs tells WKYC that her son served with the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan. She says he had been depressed but loved his girlfriend.

New Hampshire
Huckleberry Finn charged with sex assault, say cops
KEENE, N.H. (AP) — Police in New Hampshire say a man named Huckleberry Finn followed a woman into her home and sexually assaulted her.

Police in Keene stressed that the 36-year-old man’s real name is the same as the fictional protagonist in Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

Police say Finn assaulted the woman Saturday after following her into her home in Keene, a small southwestern New Hampshire city of about 24,000 people. They say they tracked him down based on a telephone number he left at the home. He was arrested Wednesday.

Finn is charged with aggravated sexual assault, a felony. He was being held on $25,000 bail. The public defender representing Finn did not immediately return a call seeking comment.