LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Call me a hopeless optimist, but I actually still think we can get it done.”
President Barack Obama, on a deal to avert the approaching “fiscal cliff” Article, 1A
3, then killer slain in Pennsylvania
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. - A man fatally shot a woman decorating for a children’s Christmas party at a tiny church hall and killed two men elsewhere in a rural township Friday before he was shot dead in a gunfight with state troopers.
Three troopers in patrol cars were injured in a pursuit that began after the gunman, driving a pickup, fired at them, police said.
The gunman was killed during a final exchange of gunfire after ramming his truck head-on into another police cruiser, authorities said.
The shootings began in Frankstown Township in central Pennsylvania about 9 a.m., and investigators were processing five crime scenes within about a 1.5-mile radius, authorities said at a news briefing Friday afternoon.
Troopers were responding to a 911 call of a shooting in the township when they heard calls reporting at least one other shooting elsewhere, state police said.
Authorities did not release the names of the victims or the shooter.
State police said they were still trying to piece together a timeline and motive. The gunman and the victims weren’t related, though the victims may have been, at least distantly, Blair County District Attorney Rich Consiglio said.
Panetta: Review kid-care workers
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is giving the Defense Department and the military services until Jan. 21 to review the backgrounds of all employees who have contact with children in department programs and to report back.
Panetta’s memorandum follows revelations that at least 31 people were suspended from two Army daycare centers at Fort Myer, Va., last week after officials scrutinized their backgrounds and found a range of criminal convictions. The Army also closed the center last week.
Chicago high-rise escapee in court
CHICAGO - A convicted bank robber captured days after a daring escape from a high-rise jail in downtown Chicago will likely return to the same federal lockup, though this time he’ll most likely be held in a special isolation unit, his attorney said Friday.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, attorney Beau Brindley said he expects Joseph “Jose” Banks to be held in isolation.
Another man involved in the escape early Tuesday, Kenneth Conley, remains at large.
The FBI said Banks was arrested late Thursday, days after he and Conley somehow broke a large hole into the bottom of a 6-inch window of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, dropped a makeshift rope made of bedsheets out and climbed down about 20 stories to the ground.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 12/22/2012