Pennsylvania
Former state attorney general faces DUI charge
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s former top state prosecutor was arrested over the weekend and is expected to be formally charged with driving under the influence, Scranton police said Monday.
Kathleen Kane, a Democrat who resigned as attorney general after being convicted of perjury in 2016, was involved in a two-vehicle crash in the city at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll said.
Police did not release details about the crash, and until charges are filed there is no paperwork with information about the investigation.
Spotlight PA reported that Carroll declined to say if Kane’s blood was tested for alcohol level or why she was suspected of having been drinking.
Kane’s cellphone would not accept messages Monday and she did not respond to a text message seeking comment.
Kane, 55, was the first Democrat and remains the only woman to have been elected as the state’s attorney general.
While in office, she leaked grand jury documents about a civil rights leader who had been investigated to embarrass the rival prosecutor who ran the probe and declined to bring charges. Kane then lied to the grand jury investigating the leak, a jury found.
She served more than eight months of a 10- to 23-month county jail term and lost her law license.
Idaho
State files lawsuit to end tent city encampment
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Republican Attorney General Lawrence Wasden have filed a lawsuit to end a tent city encampment protest on the old Ada County Courthouse lawn near the Statehouse in Boise.
The lawsuit filed Monday in 4th District Court in Ada County contends the tent city isn’t symbolic but instead is being used by people illegally as a place to live. The lawsuit requests a judge to order the tent city’s removal.
“Idaho will not tolerate public encampments and destruction of public property,” Little said in a statement. “Idaho is not San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle, where public officials have engaged in failed experiments to permit and encourage public camping disguised as protests.”
The lawsuit lists as defendants Boise Mutual Aid, 10 named individuals and 50 unidentified individuals.
The lawsuit said the tent city is a public health hazard with feces, vomit, urine, rotting food, needles and other trash. The lawsuit states that one of the people living in the tent city battered an unnamed state lawmaker.
Protestors say skyrocketing home prices and rents have made worse the homeless problem in Boise. They say Boise officials haven’t done enough to meet their needs, and that homeless people are harassed by police.
Oregon
Lawmakers want feds to help farms tackle ‘forever chemicals’
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s congressional delegation wants the federal government to help farmers in the state cope with the growing problem of managing long-lasting chemical contamination.
The four lawmakers on Monday called on U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to make resources available to respond to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance contamination, or PFAS contamination. The substances are sometimes called “forever chemicals.” Maine authorities are trying to sample, treat, remediate and monitor the chemicals in the state.
The lawmakers said in a statement to Vilsack that the substances are “increasingly being found in soil, water, animal feed, crops and livestock on Maine’s farms.” They said USDA can help farmers with options such as loans and emergency assistance.
Exposure to high levels of the chemicals have been linked to increased risks of cancer and other chronic health problems.
Washington
White House tours to resume next month as virus fades
WASHINGTON (AP) — Public tours of the White House will resume next month after a more than 14-month hiatus due to the coronavirus, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.
Tours of the executive mansion were suspended indefinitely by President Joe Biden when he took office as he tightened virus protocols in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The free tours must be requested through a congressional office and will resume Friday and Saturday mornings beginning Friday, April 15.
The White House said it would continue to monitor COVID-19 cases based on recommendations from the CDC and other public officials and medical experts, and “reserves the right to adjust availability of the public tours as necessary” based on that guidance. Face masks will be available but optional for the tours.
Anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the 10 days prior, or has been in close contact with someone confirmed or suspected to have the virus, “should stay home,” the administration said.
Tours had been canceled for months by President Donald Trump at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic but resumed in September 2020 as the former president tried to project normalcy.
The White House said details about other White House events, including the annual Easter Egg Roll and spring garden tours, will be forthcoming.
Oregon
Ex-prison nurse charged with sex assault of women in custody
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has unsealed an indictment that accuses a former Oregon Department of Corrections nurse of sexually assaulting a dozen women in custody at the state women’s prison.
Tony Klein, 37, has been charged with 21 counts of depriving the victims of their constitutional right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by sexually assaulting them at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, The U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Oregon said Monday.
The indictment alleges that in 2016 and 2017 Klein, of Clackamas County, committed various forms of sexual assault including aggravated sexual abuse and “some resulting in bodily injury,” the Justice Department said.
Klein also faces charges of four counts of perjury related to a federal lawsuit over alleged sexual misconduct while he was a nurse at the facility, the attorney’s office said.
During a court hearing Monday, Klein through his attorney pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
Prosecutors asked for his detention, but Klein was granted pretrial release.
Klein could face life in prison if convicted.
