LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Anyone who thinks this wasn’t a catastrophe must be far away from it.”
Bob Dudley,
who heads BP’s oil spill recovery and will take over as CEO in October Article, 1A
Governor seeks advice on alien law
PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is asking legislators to consider whether they should change the state’s immigration law in the wake of a judge’s ruling blocking enforcement of parts of it.
Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman confirmed Friday that the governor called top legislative leaders Thursday to broach the possibility of changing provisions of the law, a day after U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton issued a preliminary injunction putting on hold parts of the new law that would have required officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws.
Senseman said the possibility of having legislators meet in special session to consider changing the law is “very preliminary” and merely being explored. He said Brewer is still pressing ahead with her appeal of Bolton’s order.
“The governor believes that the law is constitutional and she is obviously going to pursue the appeal,” Senseman said.
Gore groping case tossed in Oregon
PORTLAND, Ore. - Former Vice President Al Gore won’t be prosecuted over allegations by a masseuse that he groped and assaulted her in his Portland hotel room in 2006, the county prosecutor said Friday.
District Attorney Michael Schrunk said the case has numerous problems and isn’t appropriate for a criminal prosecution.
Among the difficulties that Schrunk cited: Although the red-haired masseuse said she was terrified of Gore, she also said she called him after their encounter and told him to “dream of redheaded women.”
Schrunk also said the woman - Molly Hagerty - told the hotel she appreciated the business referrals it had given her, and didn’t mention any problems with Gore just two nights earlier.
Gore has denied the charges, including under questioning July 22 by detectives.
Detectives investigated the claims in 2006 and 2009 but decided not to pursue the case because of what they called the accuser’s lack of cooperation and erratic behavior. She waited two months after the alleged incident to contact police, then canceled several meetings only to finally meet with officers three years later.
Woman is 4th convicted in ’07 slaying
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Vanessa Coleman was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison for helping in the kidnapping, rape and murder of 21-year-old Channon Christian.
Coleman was the last of four people convicted and sentenced in the crimes against Christian.
The other three were also convicted of similar crimes against Christian’s 23-year-old boyfriend, Chris Newsom.
A jury convicted Coleman, of Lebanon, Ky., as a facilitator in the crimes against Christian. The jurors did not find her guilty of crimes against Newsom.
Prosecutor Leland Price said Coleman provided “substantial assistance” to the three men convicted in the January 2007 murders. He also cited her youth: She was 18 at the time of the killings.
In previous, separate trials, Coleman’s boyfriend Letalvis Cobbins and George Thomas were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Lemaricus Davidson, who prosecutors said was the ringleader in the crimes, was convicted and sentenced to death.
Wildfire leaps channel, nears homes
PALMDALE, Calif. - A wildfire in the high desert wilderness north of Los Angeles jumped an aqueduct Friday, rushing toward hundreds of houses as firefighters also tried to keep flames from damaging power lines that carry electricity to Southern California.
Some 2,000 structures were threatened and 300 homes were evacuated, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
Winds apparently carried embers across the wide concrete channel, with flames rapidly spreading to backyard fences at the edge of Palmdale. Plumes of smoke streamed across the city of 139,000 as a predicted afternoon increase in winds finally arrived.
Helicopters dipped buckets into the aqueduct to make rapid water drops. No homes immediately appeared to have been damaged. Numerous fire engines were in the area. A Boeing 747 supertanker arrived over Palmdale to join the battle.
Temperatures neared 100 degrees with single-digit relative humidity, and the National Weather Service predicted gusts in the area up to 50 mph Friday night. The fire has burned more than 20 square miles since flaring up Thursday afternoon and was 20 percent contained, Schwarzenegger said.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 07/31/2010