National Roundup

North Carolina @ROUND UP Briefs Headline:Lawsuit ­continues against ­novelist Sparks, school he started RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The former headmaster of a private Christian school founded by novelist Nicholas Sparks can continue to sue the school, the author and the foundation Sparks created to support the school, a federal judge said. U.S. District Judge James Dever III ruled last month that a jury should decide whether the author of "Message in a Bottle" and "The Notebook" defamed Saul Hillel Benjamin and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sparks was described as telling parents, a job recruiter and others that the former Epiphany School of Global Studies headmaster suffered from mental health problems, the judge said. Benjamin was in the position for less than five months and said he was forced out. "Sparks' statements are directly related to Epiphany's decision to allegedly terminate Benjamin's employment," Dever wrote in his ruling. "The cited testimony constitutes direct evidence of disability discrimination by a decision-maker on the basis of Benjamin's perceived mental impairment." Attorneys from both sides have proposed settlement discussions for next month and a potential trial starting in March. Dever also said a jury should decide whether Benjamin resigned as headmaster of the New Bern school or was pressured into quitting. Jurors also should decide whether the school and the Nicholas Sparks Foundation had sufficient grounds to fire Benjamin if he hadn't resigned. The school said Benjamin misrepresented his qualifications before being hired. If Benjamin resigned from his school position, he would forfeit any severance pay. If he was violating one of a number of fireable offenses, he would have had 30 days to correct the offending behavior. But if he was fired without cause, he would be paid the remainder of his four-year contract plus an extra year. Benjamin's contracts with both the school and Sparks' foundation totaled $256,000 a year plus bonus and benefits. The judge ruled Benjamin hadn't showed evidence to back up claims in his four-year-old lawsuit accusing Sparks and other school leaders of forcing him out when he tried to recruit black students and faculty and supported a bullied group of gay students. Benjamin also accused Sparks and other school leaders of making religiously dismissive remarks, but the judge found Benjamin didn't produce direct evidence his Jewish background played a role in his lost employment. "I am pleased that the Court has now dismissed the vast majority of the claims against me, my Foundation and the School," Sparks said in a statement through his public relations firm. "Very importantly, the Court has dismissed any claims of discrimination or harassment against me. I am confident that any further decisions on the remaining claims will be made in our favor as well." Benjamin headed the college-prep K-12 school in Sparks' hometown of 30,000 people about 120 miles (193 kilometers) east of Raleigh between July and November 2013. His hiring came after professorial jobs in Morocco, Germany and Lebanon and working as a senior adviser in President Bill Clinton's Education Department, according to his resume. Montana Judge rejects challenge to Blackfeet Water Compact HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A federal judge has rejected a legal challenge to a water-rights compact between the Blackfeet Indian Tribe, the state of Montana and the U.S. government. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris said in a ruling Friday the lawsuit challenging the Blackfeet tribe's business council's authority to negotiate and ratify the compact is a matter of tribal law that must be taken up in tribal court. Morris says tribal sovereignty would effectively be destroyed if federal courts start interpreting tribal law and constitutions. The compact lays out the tribe's water rights and its jurisdiction of those rights on the reservation. Five tribal members claimed the compact is invalid because the business council wasn't authorized to negotiate it and because less than a third of eligible voters cast ballots in the referendum to adopt it. Louisiana Won't seek death penalty in witness's 2012 death NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Federal prosecutors in New Orleans say they will not seek the death penalty against five men charged in the 2012 slaying of a federal witness in a health care fraud scheme. Louis Age Jr. and four others were indicted last year in connection with the shooting death of 60-year-old Milton Womack. Despite Womack's death, Age was convicted in a $17 million fraud scheme. He, his son and three others faced a possible death sentence if convicted on charges that included conspiracy to obstruct justice by murder. But prosecutors said in a court document Monday that they won't seek execution for any of the five. The filing did not give a reason for the decision. Florida Miami 'cocaine cowboy' deported to Dominican Republic MIAMI (AP) - One of Miami's former drug kingpins from the "cocaine cowboy" era has been deported to the Dominican Republic after serving prison time. News outlets report that Guillermo "Willie" Falcon was deported Nov. 6 after completing a 20-year money laundering sentence. Falcon and partner Salvador "Sal" Magluta were two of the top cocaine traffickers for Colombian cartels in South Florida during the 1980s. Although Falcon grew up in Miami, he never became a U.S. citizen and thus was eligible for deportation. Magluta is serving a 195-year drug trafficking sentence. Falcon's younger brother, Gustavo, recently was sentenced to 11 years in prison after spending a quarter-century as a fugitive. Gustavo "Taby" Falcon was arrested in 2017 in the Orlando area, where he and his wife were living under false names. Maryland Bartender sentenced to life for restaurant triple slaying BOWIE, Md. (AP) - A bartender who pleaded guilty to killing three co-workers at a Maryland restaurant has been sentenced to life in prison. News outlets report 42-year-old Karlief Moye was sentenced on Monday to three consecutive life terms in the January 2017 shooting that left 27-year-old Jin Chen, 46-year-old Sherwood Morgan and 28-year-old Xue Xin Zou dead. Court testimony shows that Morgan got Moye a job at Blue Sunday Bar & Grill, but the restaurant's opening was delayed, straining Moye's finances. Prosecutors say Moye and the business owners disagreed about $2,100 he thought he was owed, leading to the shootings. When police found Moye after a manhunt, he shot himself twice. Moye apologized to the victims' families in court, and said he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2014 that changed his personality. Published: Thu, Nov 22, 2018