Demoted worker shoots CEO, police say
CHICAGO -- A demoted worker shot and critically wounded his company's CEO before fatally shooting himself Thursday inside a downtown high-rise office building in Chicago's bustling financial district, police said.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said a worker at a technological company pulled a gun after entering the 17th-floor office to privately meet with his CEO. There was a struggle for the gun, and the CEO was shot in his head and abdomen before the gunman fatally shot himself, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said the company was downsizing and "a number of people," including the shooter, were being demoted.
"Apparently he was despondent over the fact that he got demoted," McCarthy said.
The 54-year-old victim was listed in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to a hospital spokesman. Police said the 59-year-old gunman was pronounced dead at the scene.
The men's names and the name of the company haven't been released.
About 10 people were in the office at the time, McCarthy said. No other injuries were reported.
Ex-exec: Gifts to governor a bad choice
RICHMOND, Va. -- A former CEO testified Thursday that his cozy relationship with Virginia's first family was a poor business decision, not friendship.
The government's star witness in the corruption trial against former Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, and his wife, Maureen, testified that he showered the family with gifts requested by the former first lady. But businessman Jonnie Williams said he shouldn't have had to buy things such as an expensive Rolex to get the help he needed for his company, Star Scientific Inc.
"It was a bad decision on my part to buy that watch when she asked for it," Williams said. "I shouldn't have had to buy things like that to get the help I needed."
Williams said he thought it was wrong to buy the watch while he was seeking government support for his dietary supplements company's signature product, and he didn't want people to know. He testified that he wanted keep that and other gifts and loans secret, and the governor agreed it was a good idea.
The watch represents a tangible chunk of the more than $165,000 in secret gifts and loans prosecutors say Bob McDonnell and his wife received from Williams.
Crews shore up crater in road by UCLA
LOS ANGELES -- Repair crews on Thursday were shoring up a giant hole in the middle of Sunset Boulevard caused by a ruptured pipe, as officials at the water-logged University of California, Los Angeles, continued to assess damage from the 20 million gallons that inundated the campus.
Workers were reinforcing the excavated 56-by-41-foot crater and making the site safe for crews, said Mike Miller, district superintendent for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Meanwhile, off-site workers were fashioning new valves and a Y-joint connector to replace the burst section of the century-old steel line.
The Department of Water and Power said repairs along the famed boulevard, a heavily traveled east-west thoroughfare, likely won't be completed until the weekend.
The flooding sent water cascading into the Pauley Pavilion, less than two years after a $136 million renovation.
UCLA Vice Chancellor Kelly Schmader said 8 to 10 inches of water covered the basketball court, and it showed signs of buckling. The floor will be repaired or replaced as necessary and will be ready by the start of the basketball season this fall, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said.
Trial ends for Oklahoma bombing videos
SALT LAKE CITY -- A four-day trial to determine whether the FBI has done an adequate search for additional videos of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing has come to a close in Salt Lake City.
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups didn't issue a ruling Thursday. Instead, he requested final court briefs summarizing arguments from both sides: FBI attorneys and Jesse Trentadue, the Utah man who filed the lawsuit against the federal agency.
A ruling is likely months away.
The FBI on Thursday capped off its attempt to convince Waddoups that it is not hiding unreleased surveillance videos by bringing witnesses who testified that there have never been any security-camera videos of the bomb exploding.
Trentadue says he still believes there is a video showing Timothy McVeigh was not alone in detonating the bomb.
Trentadue says he believes the presence of a second suspect explains why his brother, who resembled a police sketch of a suspect, was flown to Oklahoma months after the bombing. His brother died in a federal holding cell.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 08/01/2014