National Roundup

New Jersey
Town that denied mosque permit to pay Islamic group $3.25M
BERNARDS TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey town will pay an Islamic group $3.25 million to settle a lawsuit over its denial of a permit to build a mosque.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced details of the settlement Tuesday, which include requiring the town to allow the mosque to be built.

The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge sued Bernards Township last year, claiming the town changed its zoning ordinances in order to deny the group’s plans.

The Justice Department also sued the town, alleging it treated the group differently than it treated other religious groups.

Under the settlement, the group will be allowed to build the mosque. The town also agreed to limit the zoning restrictions placed on houses of worship.

New York
Performer attacked by subway dancers using hula hoop
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City subway performer says he was injured after an attack by a subway dance group that was angry they didn’t receive tips for a dance routine.

Jean Loup Wolfman says he tried to calm down the dancers after they started threatening an elderly couple at the Union Square subway station on Monday. But his attempt to intervene led to the three unidentified dancers chasing him around the station, catching him and beating Wolfman with a hula hoop he was carrying for subway performances.

The NYPD says they’ve arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the assault. Wolfman needed stitches and staples for wounds sustained in the assault, but says he would do it again to help someone in need.


California
Police: Man yelled racial slurs before machete attack
CLEARLAKE, Calif. (AP) — A California man is facing hate crime and other charges after police say he stabbed a black man with a machete after yelling racial slurs over the holiday weekend.

Police in Clearlake, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) north of San Francisco, say they responded to an apartment complex Saturday night after people reported someone yelling racial slurs in the parking lot and later attacking the victim with the knife.

Police say the 34-year-old suspect, Anthony Hammond, went back into his apartment and an hours-long standoff began. He eventually came out of the apartment and was arrested.

In addition to a hate crime count, Hammond is charged with aggravated mayhem, battery and assault. He’s being held on more than $1 million bond.

Attorney information for Hammond couldn’t be located online.

Thieves snatch $1,800 baby cockatoo from pet store
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Police are looking for a baby cockatoo reported stolen from a suburban New York pet store.

News station CBS2 says the 12-week-old Goffin’s cockatoo was taken Saturday from For Birds Only, a store in Mineola.

Goffin’s cockatoos are native to Indonesia and known as intelligent and affectionate.

Store co-owner Ida Ferreira says the stolen bird needs to be fed formula through a dropper. She’s pleading with the thieves: “Don’t let him die.”

CBS2 says three people came in and asked an employee about the $1,800 cockatoo. Security video shows two grabbing it from an open-topped enclosure and stuffing it in a bag while the third apparently plays lookout.

The bird’s disappearance was discovered minutes after the thieves left.

The Nassau County Police Department is investigating.

South Dakota
Blackjack dealer pleads guilty to stealing $10K from casino
WATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota blackjack dealer has pleaded guilty to stealing $10,000 from his then-employer.

The Aberdeen News reports that Jeremy Brown pleaded guilty in federal court this month to a felony conspiracy charge. Court documents allege he worked with three others to steal money from Dakota Sioux Casino near Watertown in December 2015 and January 2016.

A second charge of theft by an employee of a gaming establishment on Indian land and aiding and abetting was dismissed.

Jordan Rondell, Lito Bolocon and Fern Gill have pleaded not guilty to felony conspiracy and felony theft by an employee of a gaming establishment on Indian land and aiding and abetting. They’ll go to trial in federal court in Aberdeen in July.

Brown is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

Ohio
High court again upholds woman’s death sentence 
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state Supreme Court has for the third time upheld the death sentence for Ohio’s only condemned female killer.

The court ruled 6-1 Tuesday in the case of Donna Roberts, sentenced to death for a third time in 2014.

In the past, the court said a prosecutor improperly helped prepare a sentencing motion in Roberts’ case and that a judge hadn’t fully considered factors that could argue against a death sentence.

Justice Terrence O’Donnell, writing for the majority, rejected arguments that allowing a new judge to sentence Roberts after the original judge died was unconstitutional.

The 73-year-old Roberts was accused of planning her ex-husband’s murder with a boyfriend in hopes of collecting insurance money.

The boyfriend, Nathaniel Jackson, also was sentenced to death in the 2001 slaying.

Georgia
High court reverses murder conviction in fatal shooting
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s highest court has tossed the conviction for a man accused of fatally shooting a man who stopped to ask for directions.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday reversed the murder conviction of Avery Leon Bryant, who was 17 when prosecutors say he shot Newton Gordon in July 2008.

The unanimous opinion says there was enough evidence to convict Bryant. But it says the search warrant used to obtain the physical evidence against him wasn’t valid because it didn’t state with “particularity” what was to be seized.

The high court found there was a “reasonable probability” of a different outcome if the evidence had been excluded.