National Roundup

Indiana
Woman can’t keep pet pigs within city limits
ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) — A judge has ruled that a woman can’t keep her three miniature pigs within the city limits of her central Indiana community.

The Herald Bulletin reports Madison County Circuit Court Judge George Pancol rejected Lily Harsh’s appeal of a 2017 decision by the Anderson Board of Zoning Appeals to deny her a zoning variance to keep the pet pigs.

Assistant City Attorney Paul Podlejski had argued that keeping the pigs was a violation of city ordinance prohibiting livestock within city limits. He says zoning appeals board members worried that a variance would “open the door” for other livestock to be kept as pets in Anderson.

Harsh had argued that she ­didn’t consider the pigs — named Batty, Margie and Yoshi — to be livestock.

Maryland
Panel says judge should be ­suspended for misconduct
BALTIMORE (AP) — A state panel has recommended that a Baltimore City District Court judge be immediately suspended for six months due to misconduct.

The Daily Record reports that the Commission on Judicial Disabilities decided that Judge Devy Patterson Russell should be punished for yelling at judges and staff and other inappropriate behavior.

The commission also found that Russell failed to process search warrants properly.

The commission released its report Friday. The case is now before the Court of Appeals for a final decision.

Russell has previously denied wrongdoing. She has said she’s been mistreated by her colleagues because she supported a discrimination lawsuit filed by a former clerk against another court employee.

Montana
70-year-old man gets 10 years in prison for methamphetamine distribution plot
BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a Montana man to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a plot to distribute methamphetamine.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen sentenced 70-year-old Steven Francis Reychler to five years in prison for conspiracy and five years for possessing a firearm as part of the crime.
Reychler pleaded guilty to the charges in August.

Federal prosecutors say Reychler sold 4 ounces (114 grams) of meth to a confidential informant in 2016. Reychler mentioned plans to bring large amounts of meth to Butte from Las Vegas.
Police also arrested Reychler’s niece, Jennifer Lynn Marshall, for planning to buy four pounds of meth in California.

Christensen recently sentenced Marshall to eight years in prison following her conviction.

Louisiana
Retired federal judge who ­struggled with alcoholism dies
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — A federal judge who retired from the bench in Louisiana last year amid struggles with alcoholism has died in her home.

Citing a news release from Deputy Chief Mark Kraus, KPLC-TV reports that 60-year-old retired U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi was found dead in her Lake Charles home Saturday.
Calcasieu Coroner Dr. Terry Welke says Minaldi’s death appears to be the result of natural causes.

Tony Moore, the clerk of court for the Western District of Louisiana, confirmed Minaldi’s death to the AP but said he didn’t know any details.

Minaldi served as a judge in the 14th Judicial District Court from 1996 to 2003 before being appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003 as a federal judge in the Western District of Louisiana.

Her July 2017 disability retirement came after she had been on medical leave for months for treatment of severe alcoholism.

New York
Mother charged for leaving baby in car that was stolen
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Police in Buffalo say the mother of a baby found inside a stolen car will face charges alongside the 15-year-old boy and 18-year-old accused of stealing the vehicle.

Capt. Jeff Rinaldo says the 25-year-old woman has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Officials say she left the car running outside a liquor store when it was stolen Saturday with her 2-month-old infant still inside.

Rinaldo says the two suspects, aged 15 and 18, are in custody for stealing the vehicle. Police say afterward one of the suspects took the baby to a hospital in the city of Niagara Falls, 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Buffalo.

Police say they’ve connected the two suspects to an armed robbery on Friday.

Massachusetts
Fraternities, sororities sue Harvard over ­single-sex rule
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Several fraternities and sororities are suing Harvard University over a 2016 rule that discourages students from joining single-gender clubs.

Two fraternities and two sororities filed a lawsuit against Harvard in Boston’s federal court on Monday, while another sorority sued the school in Massachusetts state court.

The lawsuits say Harvard’s rule discriminates against students based on their sex and spreads negative stereotypes about students who join all-male or all-female groups. They’re the first lawsuits challenging the rule.

Harvard officials did not immediately provide comment.

The rule says students in single-gender social clubs can’t lead campus organizations or sports teams, and the school won’t endorse them for fellowships.

It was meant to curb secretive all-male groups that the school previously accused of having misogynistic attitudes, but it also prompted some fraternities and sororities to close or go co-ed.

Washington
Target in Mueller probe files ­complaint against prosecutors
WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative author in the crosshairs of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has filed a complaint with the Justice Department, alleging prosecutors tried to coerce him to give false testimony.

Jerome Corsi said Monday that the prosecutors were trying to entice him to lie to a grand jury and threatened to indict him.

Corsi is an associate of former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone.

Mueller’s investigators are trying to determine whether Corsi and Stone had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release hacked material damaging to Hillary Clinton’s presidential effort.

Corsi has released documents showing prosecutors offered him a deal to plead guilty to a false statements charge. He’s rejected the deal and says he didn’t knowingly mislead investigators.

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.