National Roundup

Connecticut
Man convicted of stealing $500K in cigarette cartons
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A New Jersey man has been convicted in federal court of breaking into a Connecticut warehouse and stealing more than 8,000 cartons of cigarettes worth about $500,000.

Andrew Oreckinto, of Matawan, New Jersey, was convicted on Monday of theft from an interstate shipment. He faces up to a decade in prison.

Prosecutors say surveillance cameras recorded the 52-year-old Oreckinto breaking into New Britain Candy in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in March 2011. A glue-like substance was used to disable door locks. Wires to an outside surveillance camera and a phone line were also cut.

Authorities linked Oreckinto to the theft by analyzing his call history.

Oreckinto is currently serving a five-year prison term in New Jersey for stealing $100,000 worth of copper cable and selling it for scrap.

South Carolina
Hearing held over ‘colored’ and ‘white’ monument
A judge heard arguments about a lawsuit that seeks belated integration for a World War I memorial that separates the soldiers’ names by race.

Lawyers for the state of South Carolina argue that the lawsuit should be thrown out.

On the other side is a Greenwood group that wanted to change plaques on the World War I monument that list the dead under separate “colored” and “white” sections. They were stopped by the Heritage Act.

The act requires a two-thirds vote from the state Legislature to change any historical monument from any era of history. It was passed in 2000 when lawmakers feared a backlash against monuments and street names honoring Confederates.

Several motions including the request to toss out the lawsuit were heard Tuesday morning in Laurens.


Pennsylvania
Man caught driving 22 times without license loses appeal
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A state court panel says a Pennsylvania man caught driving without a license 22 times got the punishment he deserved.

Randy Stallsmith had claimed that his 3-to 6-month prison term was excessive for driving offense No. 22 in 2015. He pleaded guilty to driving without a license.

Pennlive.com reports a state Superior Court panel upheld the sentence, saying the 49-year-old Erie County man’s past behavior sank his appeal.

Stallsmith appealed to the Superior Court because a county judge wouldn’t allow him to serve his time on work release.

Stallsmith argued he should’ve received a lighter sentence because he took responsibility for his actions.

The panel agreed with the county judge, saying with 22 offenses already on his record, Stallsmith “provided no indication that his aberrant conduct would cease.”

Louisiana
Court won’t re-hear the ‘dusky gopher frog’ case
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Advocates for an endangered species of frog have won a victory in a case that’s headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans has refused to revive an environmental case involving the “dusky gopher frog.”

Last year, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Louisiana business’s attempt to keep the federal government from listing its timberland as essential for the frog’s future.

On Monday the full court voted 8-6 against re-hearing the case.

The frogs now live in some parts of Mississippi but once were found in Alabama and Louisiana as well. Environmentalists say the Louisiana land in question contains a type of pond essential to the species’ survival.

The case next goes to the Supreme Court.

The majority offered no comment Monday. Judge Edith Jones wrote a strongly worded 30-page dissent on behalf of the six-member minority. Among her arguments: the habitat in question contains one, but not all, of the features deemed necessary for the dusky gopher frog’s survival.

Jones said the appeals court’s majority applied federal law incorrectly and the landowner should not be prohibited from developing land where the frog cannot “naturally live and grow.”

“She agreed with us that non-habitat can never be critical habitat,” said Reed Hopper, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents landowner Markle Interests LLC. He confirmed that a Supreme Court appeal is planned.

The majority opinion in last June’s 2-1 panel decision was by Judge Stephen Higginson, who wrote that the federal government acted within the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Protection Act and the Constitution.

An environmental group was quick to applaud Monday’s development.

Collette Adkins, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney, said the land in question contains a network of “ephemeral ponds” that dry up in the summer, leaving them free of fish that might eat the frogs’ eggs. The ponds on the Louisiana land are within “hopping distance” of each other and are vital to the species.

She said in a telephone interview that making the area suitable for the frog would require thinning a canopy of pines. The network of ponds, however, is “the treasure that cannot be easily re-created.”

Adkins said in a news release that landowners should end their legal challenges and cooperate with habitat restoration and reintroduction of the frog in Louisiana.


Georgia
Man charged for engaging in sex act with dog
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — An Atlanta-area man has turned himself in after he was accused of engaging in a sex act with a dog while working as a landscaper.

Jail records show that 61-year-old Cruz Barrera-Lugo turned himself in to authorities Monday.

A Lawrenceville man called police Saturday to report that he was playing in his yard with his nephew when they saw the landscaper participating in “a lewd sexual act” with their dog. The man said Barrera-Lugo fled when he realized he’d been seen.

Police say surveillance video captured the incident.

Barrera-Lugo has been charged with bestiality and cruelty to children.

The suspect’s last name is listed in jail records as “Barrera-Lugo.” Previous information distributed by Gwinnett County police gave his name as Barreralugo.

He was being held without bond. It’s unclear whether he has an attorney.