The Nation in Brief

Edward Maciejczyk destroys a tossed pumpkin as he and other knights at Medieval Times in Schaumburg, Ill., use weapons to destroy leftover Halloween pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns Monday.
Edward Maciejczyk destroys a tossed pumpkin as he and other knights at Medieval Times in Schaumburg, Ill., use weapons to destroy leftover Halloween pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns Monday.

Drug use cited in crash that killed Scouts

LAKE HALLIE, Wis. -- A young driver was inhaling chemical vapors, or huffing, just before striking and killing three Girl Scouts and a mother and critically injuring a fourth girl who had been picking up trash along a rural Wisconsin highway, police said Monday.

Colten Treu, 21, who sped off after the Saturday morning crash in Lake Hallie, later surrendered.

Treu was being held in the Chippewa County jail on 13 possible charges, including four counts of intoxicated use of a motor vehicle, Chippewa County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Jensen said. His bail was set at $250,000 during his first court appearance Monday.

On Monday, Lake Hallie police said Treu and a passenger in the pickup both told investigators they had intentionally been inhaling chemical vapors just before the crash.

Police identified the deceased as 9-year-old Jayna Kelley and 10-year-old Autum Helgeson, both of Lake Hallie, and 10-year-old Haylee Hickle and her 32-year-old mother, Sara Jo Schneider, from Lafayette.

The surviving girl was hospitalized in Rochester in critical condition.

Two small groups of Girl Scouts and their adult chaperones were wearing bright green safety vests Saturday as they walked along both sides of County Highway P, which they had adopted as a community service project.

Lake Hallie police Sgt. Daniel Sokup said Saturday that Treu's black Ford F-150 crossed a lane and veered into a roadside ditch, striking the victims.

Jury-picking starts in trial of 'El Chapo'

NEW YORK -- Jury selection began Monday for the U.S. trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman with potential jurors quizzed about how much they knew about Guzman's reputation as a ruthless drug lord in Mexico.

They were also questioned in Brooklyn's federal court about their views on the legalization of marijuana, their fluency in Spanish and their feelings toward both law enforcement and cooperating witnesses.

Guzman has pleaded innocent to charges that his Sinaloa cartel smuggled tons of cocaine and other drugs, laundered billions of dollars and oversaw a ruthless campaign of murders and kidnappings. He faces life in prison if convicted. Opening statements in the trial are expected Nov. 13.

Potential jurors arrived at the courthouse Monday to find it under tight security that included heavily armed officers and sweeps by bomb-sniffing dogs. Prosecutors are hiding the identity of cooperating witnesses out of concerns the cartel could seek retribution, while a judge is keeping the jury anonymous to protect them from intimidation.

Most of the jurors questioned at the outset said Guzman's name "sounded familiar" to them. Some mentioned they were aware he had escaped from prison in Mexico.

Judge halts cut of red wolf's N.C. range

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A federal judge ruled that authorities violated a federal law aimed at preserving endangered species by planning to shrink the territory of the only red wolves living in the wild, blocking a move that environmentalists said would hasten the animal's demise.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle signed an order Sunday stating that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also violated the Endangered Species Act by authorizing private landowners to kill the canine predators even if they aren't threatening humans, livestock or pets.

The ruling represents a victory for environmental groups who argued in their lawsuit that the federal government neglected the wolves for years and allowed their population to decline. About 35 red wolves remain in the wild, all in eastern North Carolina. They numbered about 120 a decade ago. About 200 live in captive breeding programs.

The wildlife service announced a plan in June to constrict the wolves' territory from five counties to federal land in two counties, as well as lifting restrictions on killing wolves that stray from that area. The new rules implementing the plan were set to be finalized by Nov. 30.

The groups who filed the lawsuit in 2015 -- the Red Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Welfare Institute -- said the plan would reduce the protected range of red wolves by almost 90 percent.

Court passes on concealed carry case

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court refused a new invitation to make a ruling on gun rights, leaving in place California restrictions on carrying concealed handguns in public.

On Monday, the justices rejected an appeal from Sacramento residents who argued that they were unfairly denied permits to be armed in public.

The complaint alleged that a prior Sacramento sheriff who was in charge of handgun permits arbitrarily rewarded friends.

The state urged the court to reject the case, noting that a new sheriff has changed the permit policy. But California Attorney General Xavier Becerra acknowledged that state and local gun restrictions might someday "warrant further consideration by this court."

The court has rejected several appeals asking it to elaborate on the extent of gun rights it declared in decisions in 2008 and 2010.

-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports.

photo

AP/Sun Journal/ANDREE KEHN

Lewiston Fire Department firefighters clear the scene Monday at Longley Elementary School in Lewiston, Maine, after investigating a call. Firefighters said an alarm in an outside classroom was pulled.

A Section on 11/06/2018

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