SEATTLE COUNCIL PROTECTS PUBLIC BREASTFEEDING: SEATTLE (AP) — It's already against Washington state law to discriminate against public breastfeeding, but the Seattle City Council on Monday specifically made it illegal for businesses and other entities to ask nursing moms to stop, cover up or move to a different location in public areas.
The council unanimously approved a measure that adds a mother's right to breastfeed her child to a list of protected civil rights, such as race, color, disability and religion — allowing the city's office of civil rights to enforce the law and educate the public about the issue.
NAVY COMPENSATING THOSE AFFECTED BY VA. JET CRASH: VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — A slew of residents who lost their homes after a Navy jet crashed into their apartment complex began picking up government checks on Monday to help them pay for food, clothing and housing over the next two weeks as they try to figure out where they'll live.
Dozens of apartment units were destroyed or evacuated Friday when the F/A-18D Hornet careened into the Mayfair Mews apartment complex shortly after taking off from nearby Naval Air Station Oceana. Several people were injured, but nobody died when the plane slammed into the apartment complex's empty courtyard. Residents fled burning and damaged homes with few belongings, and fire officials worked Monday to help those who lived in undamaged homes retrieve medications and critical documents. Vehicles that had been towed away from the apartment complex were also being returned to residents.
Navy officials estimate that about 63 people living in 46 units were affected by the crash. Initial payments started at $2,300 for individual residents, with more going to those with families. Many apartment complex residents spent the weekend with family and friends and weren't sure what they planned to do for long-term housing.
SUSPECT ASKS JUDGE TO DECIDE 50-YEAR-OLD RAPE CASE: SYCAMORE, Ill. (AP) — A Seattle man charged with sexually assaulting an Illinois teenager 50 years ago decided Monday to have his case decided by a judge instead of a jury.
Jack McCullough, 72, made the request as jury selection was to begin in his trial on charges of rape and indecent liberties with a child in the alleged abuse of a 14-year-old Sycamore, Ill., girl in the early 1960s.
A grand jury indicted McCullough on those charges in September, a month after he was indicted on charges of kidnapping and murder in the 1957 death of another Sycamore girl, 7-year-old Maria Ridulph. Those charges aren't part of the current trial.
MOTIVE FOR TULSA SHOOTINGS MAY LIE IN 2010 KILLING : TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The explanation for a shooting rampage that terrorized Tulsa's black neighborhood and left three people dead may lie in a killing that took place more than two years ago.
Carl England, whose son is accused in the weekend shooting spree, was fatally shot in 2010 by a man who had threatened his daughter and tried to kick in the door of her home.
The man was black, and police say England's son may have been seeking vengeance when he and his roommate shot five black people last week.
Police documents given to the Associated Press said the two suspects have both confessed. According to a police statement, 19-year-old Jake England admitted shooting three people and 32-year-old Alvin Watts confessed to shooting two.
INDIANA MAN CHARGED WITH CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Investigators are trying to identify hundreds of potential victims whose images were found on the computer of an Indiana man charged with coercing two teenage boys into performing online sex acts for him by threatening to post on gay porn sites compromising videos he secretly made of them.
U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett said during a Monday news conference that the "sextortion" case against Richard Leon Finkbiner could become the largest of its kind in the U.S. to date.
Finkbiner, 39, was arrested Friday at his home in the Clay County community of Brazil and faces two preliminary counts of sexually exploiting a child. He remained in custody Monday and has a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Court records indicated he didn't have an attorney.
During questioning by FBI agents, Finkbiner estimated that he had coerced at least 100 young people into making explicit videos, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Terre Haute. Hogsett said investigators found "thousands" of explicit images on Finkbiner's hard drive, mostly of teenage boys.
Authorities released a mug shot of him Monday, hoping that other potential victims will come forward.
AT&T TO SELL MOST OF YELLOW PAGES TO CERBERUS: NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T Inc. on Monday said it agreed to sell a majority stake in its Yellow Pages business to the private-equity firm Cerberus Capital for $950 million.
The sale is part of AT&T's strategy to jettison shrinking parts of its business so it can focus on segments that are growing, particularly its wireless business. Revenue from the Yellow Pages unit has shrunk 30 percent in two years, as consumers continue to shun phone books in favor of the Web.
Phone books were once a cash cow, generating reliable profits as businesses paid for ads that were right under consumer's finger tips as they were looking for local stores and services. Even with the steep revenue decline, AT&T's Yellow Pages unit has been profitable before impairment charges for the last three years.
SPOOF COLUMN PRAISING HITLER DRAWS RUTGERS REBUKE: NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Rutgers University is investigating a student newspaper's spoof column praising Adolf Hitler as a potential bias incident.
The column "What about the good things Hitler did?" appeared last week in the satirical newspaper the Daily Medium, which is funded in part by Rutgers. The column was falsely attributed to a Jewish student writer for an independent Rutgers newspaper, the Daily Targum.
Student writer Aaron Marcus tells WWOR-TV that publication of the piece under his name was hurtful. He says his relatives died in the Holocaust.
Rutgers President Richard McCormick says the article was "particularly despicable" considering Marcus' Jewish faith.
