CLEVELAND PUNISHES 12 OFFICERS IN DEADLY CHASE: CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland police fired a sergeant and meted out demotions and suspensions Tuesday for a car chase last year that involved five dozen cruisers, 137 rounds of ammunition fired by 13 officers, and the death of two people who, it turned out, were probably unarmed.
A captain and lieutenant were demoted, and nine sergeants got suspensions ranging from one day to 30 days. They and the fired sergeant will appeal their punishment, according to Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8, which represents police supervisors.
Dozens of cruisers became involved in the chase without permission from superiors and with little direction, according to a state report released earlier in the year.
WOMAN APPROACHES KIDS WITH CHAIN SAW: WINFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman is accused of trying to scare children by approaching them with a chain saw while wearing a ski mask.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department says Lynn Marie Herzog of Winfield, Mo., is charged with felony harassment in the Sunday incident.
Patricia Manker called the police after she saw Herzog yelling at her son and his friend and walking toward them with the mask and chain saw.
According to a probable cause statement, Manker and another neighbor say the 50-year-old woman has also been seen photographing and videotaping neighborhood kids.
Sheriff's department spokesman Andy Binder said the chain saw was not running during the alleged incident. Manker told police she didn't believe the children were in danger.
MYSTERIOUS BROWN FOAM PROMPTS TESTING AT LAKE MEAD: LAS VEGAS (AP) — Authorities took a boat onto Lake Mead on Tuesday to gather water samples they hope could shed light on mysterious brown foam found floating on the lake's surface over the weekend.
Park officials urged people to avoid the Overton Arm, a northern extension of Lake Mead, after several dozen carp were found dead and the foam was seen extending about eight miles from near the mouth of the Virgin River to Echo Bay.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority is monitoring water quality at two intakes and so far hasn't found anything problematic, according to spokesman Bronson Mack. Typically, pollutants are diluted in the reservoir.
"It really is a massive body of water, and that's one benefit from a drinking water perspective," Mack said, noting that water from the Overton Arm typically takes about a month to meander to the intake area.
DA: COUPLE HAD TEQUILA BEFORE STILETTO STABBING: HOUSTON (AP) — A prosecutor says a Houston woman accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death with her stiletto heel had been drinking tequila with him at a nightclub earlier.
A judge decided Tuesday there was probable cause to hold 44-year-old Ana Lilia Trujillo (troo-HEE'-yoh) on a felony murder charge. She is jailed in Harris County on $100,000 bond.
Fifty-nine-year-old Alf Stefan Andersson was fatally stabbed Sunday at his condominium.
Prosecutor John Jordan told the judge the victim became angry at the nightclub after a man tried to buy Trujillo a drink. The defendant's statement says the victim became abusive at the condo.
Trujillo's attorney, Lott J. Brooks III, says Trujillo is emotionally drained and that he would have further comment once he can talk to her more.
NY MAN, 97, GETS DIPLOMA 8 DECADES LATER: WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — It took nearly eight decades, but Frederick Gray is finally a high school graduate.
The 97-year-old World War II veteran was presented Monday with a diploma from Watertown High School during a ceremony at his northern New York home.
Gray was set to graduate in 1934 but dropped out a year early to get a job to help support his family during the Great Depression.
Gray worked in a factory before being drafted into the Army in 1942. He served in the 24th Infantry Division in the Pacific campaign, earning a Bronze Star.
After the war, he returned to his job and retired as head of the company's billing department.
MAN LINKED TO HACKER GROUP AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY: SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An Ohio man linked to the hacker collective Anonymous plans to plead guilty to charges that he breached police-agency websites, under an agreement with the federal government that calls for prison time and nearly $230,000 in restitution.
Court documents filed April 15 show 22-year-old John Anthony Borell III agreed to plead guilty to five charges related to the hacking of law enforcement websites in Utah, California, New York and Missouri.
The Toledo, Ohio, man would receive three years in prison and have to pay restitution under the agreement, which still needs court approval.
Borell is scheduled to appear before a judge at an Aug. 21 hearing for approval of the plea deal, and sentencing.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah declined to comment on the agreement. Messages left with Borell's attorney Jamie Zenger were not immediately returned Tuesday.
As part of the deal, Borell would admit to hacking into the websites for Salt Lake City police; the Utah Chiefs of Police Association; police in Syracuse, N.Y.; the city of Springfield, Mo.; and the Los Angeles County Canine Police Association. He also would admit to hacking into a local community website in Illinois called "Pendleton Underground."
FEDS: MORNING-AFTER PILL APPEAL OFFICIALLY ON HOLD: NEW YORK (AP) — The Obama administration's appeal in the legal fight over morning-after pills has been officially put on hold until a judge weighs a new plan to allow girls of all ages to buy the contraceptives without a prescription, according to a government letter filed Tuesday.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice and those for the plaintiffs who sued over the issue told the clerk for the federal appeals court in Manhattan that they wanted to suspend the appeals case until they hear again from U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in the letter.
The government had appealed the judge's underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered emergency contraceptives based on the hormone levonorgestrel be made available without a prescription, over the counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.
