National Roundup

New York
NYC pulling down ‘Don’t Honk’ signs
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s “Don’t Honk” signs are coming down, but it’s still against the law to blow a car horn unnecessarily.
The city Department of Transportation says all the signs will be removed by the end of the year.
According to The New York Times, city officials say the decision is part of an effort to de-clutter the streets of signs that generally go ignored.
Unnecessary honking carries a $350 fine but is rarely enforced.
The DOT says complaints about honking have declined 63 percent since 2008.
But City Councilwoman Gale Brewer said in a letter to the DOT: “I can’t tell you how many requests I get for ‘no honking’ signs.”
The signs were introduced during Mayor Ed Koch’s administration.

California
Ex-49er charged in beating of former boyfriend
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former San Francisco 49er Kwame Harris has been charged with felony domestic violence and assault charges from an August beating involving a former boyfriend, a prosecutor and defense lawyer said.
Following a pretrial hearing in the case Monday, a San Mateo County judge set a late April trial date for Harris, an offensive tackle who played five seasons with the 49ers and one season with the Oakland Raiders, Assistant District Attorney Al Serrato said.
The charges stem from an altercation outside a Menlo Park restaurant between Harris, 30, and Dimitri Geier, who suffered several facial fractures that required surgery, Serrato said.
Although a handful of former NFL players have come out as gay, none has while still wearing a uniform. Defense lawyer Alin Cintean said Harris, who played for Stanford before he was drafted by the 49ers in 2003 and has gone back to school to finish his undergraduate degree, identifies as gay, but “is not very public about it.”
“He is a very private person. He doesn’t like to talk about his personal life,” he said.
Prosecutors are pursuing the domestic violence charge because the two men used to live together and had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship, Serrato said.

Illinois
Chicago near record for Jan. with 40 killings
CHICAGO (AP) — A bloody weekend in which seven people were killed and six wounded has put an abrupt end — at least for now — to hopes that Chicago was at least putting a lid on its frightening homicide rate.
With a few days left in the month, the nation’s third-largest city now finds itself on the cusp of its deadliest January in more than a decade. The news comes just after Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy had announced that after several violent months, Chicago had seen a drop in homicides at the end of 2012 and for the first few weeks of 2013.
Police say the homicide rate is a reflection of the city’s gang problem and a proliferation of guns. Chicago has for years tried to cut off the flow of guns. It has what city officials have called the strictest handgun ordinance in the U.S. But police officials say more needs to be done and that penalties for violating gun laws should be stiffer.
Among those killed over the weekend was 34-year-old Ronnie Chambers, who was shot in the head with what police believe was an assault weapon. Such guns are banned in Chicago but can be purchased legally in the suburbs or nearby states.
With the weekend shootings, Chicago now has 40 homicides — the exact same number as last January. With a few days left in the year, the city could reach its deadliest January since 2002, when it had 45 homicides in the first month.
Chicago’s homicide count eclipsed 500 last year for the first time since 2008, but last week, McCarthy announced recent figures showing homicides had dropped. The city saw a 16 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2012 and a 22 percent drop in the first weeks of January.

Nebraska
Man pleads not guilty to federal child porn counts
BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A Beatrice man in prison for beating and raping a woman has pleaded not guilty to separate federal child pornography charges.
The Beatrice Daily Sun reports that Joseph Buttercase entered to plea in federal court last Thursday, and his pretrial hearing is set for Feb. 12 in Omaha.
Buttercase is accused of enticing a person younger than 18 to engage in sexually explicit conduct and of transporting child pornography across state lines.
If convicted, the 31-year-old Buttercase could face up to life in prison for manufacturing child pornography. He faces additional time if convicted of transportation and possession of child pornography.
Buttercase is currently serving 26 to 41 years in a Nebraska state prison after being convicted of beating and raping a 29-year-old woman in July 2011.

New Mexico
Judges halt use of investigative grand juries
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Bernalillo County District Court judges are barring District Attorney Kari Brandenberg’s office from using investigative grand juries to probe shootings involving police officers.
Chief Judge Ted Baca and another judge say in a letter to Brandenberg that there’s an appearance of a lack of impartiality.
The judges’ letter says that’s because the investigative grand juries are used only in officer-involved shootings and only after there’s been a determination that there’s no probable cause for criminal charges against the officers.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that use of investigative grand juries already had been halted by Brandenberg since early 2012.

Pennsylvania
Man charged with moving dead man’s body
SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) — A southwestern Pennsylvania man has been jailed on abuse of a corpse and other charges for allegedly moving a friend’s corpse out of his apartment and into the dead man’s pickup truck, where it was found Sunday.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for 37-year-old Michael Moore, of Somerset, who was also charged with tampering with evidence, terroristic threats and witness intimidation in connection with the death of 53-year-old Frankie Sass.
Toxicology tests are needed to pinpoint the cause of Sass’s death, though Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller says he doesn’t suspect foul play.
Still, police say Moore called and later threatened a friend to help him move Sass from Moore’s apartment. Moore allegedly told the friend Sass was drunk and unconscious, even though Moore’s girlfriend tells police Sass was already dead.