• EX-TV JUDGE JOE BROWN ARRESTED IN TENNESSEE: MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The star of the television show “Judge Joe Brown” has been arrested and charged with five counts of contempt of court in Tennessee, court officials in Memphis said Monday.
Shelby County Juvenile Court officials said the 66-year-old Brown was sentenced to five days in jail after causing an outburst Monday in a child support hearing. Brown is running in the Democratic primary for Shelby County district attorney general.
Magistrate Judge Harold “Hal” Horne charged the former TV judge with contempt of court, said Dan Michael, chief magistrate judge of the Shelby County Juvenile Court.
“He darn near caused a riot in the courtroom, he had people so inflamed,” Michael said of the former TV judge.
Brown could not be reached for comment. Neither jail officials nor juvenile court officials knew whether he had retained a lawyer. WREG-TV was reporting that Brown had been released from jail.
The former TV judge was representing a woman who had been brought in on a warrant in a child support case, Michael said. Brown, he said, was yelling and repeatedly challenging Horne’s authority and even addressing his comments to a crowd of people inside the courtroom.
Brown’s nationally syndicated TV show was canceled last year.
• NY JAIL OFFICER ACCUSED OF IGNORING DYING INMATE: NEW YORK (AP) — A jail guard supervisor accused of violating the rights of an inmate by ignoring his pleas for medical attention in the hours before his death was arrested by federal authorities on Monday.
Terrence Pendergrass was charged with violating the rights of Jason Echevarria, who was in a unit at the Rikers Island jail for inmates needing mental health treatment at the time of his death in August 2012, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan announced.
Pendergrass faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Echevarria was in the mental health unit after suicide attempts, including swallowing a battery. Authorities said another officer mistakenly gave Echevarria a highly caustic cleaning agent, and two correction officers and a pharmacy technician became concerned because he appeared ill and said he’d swallowed it. Authorities said other inmates also heard Echevarria asking for help.
According to the complaint, Pendergrass was told of Echevarria’s pleas and ignored them and failed to notify medical personnel.
• NAVY BREAKS DOWN ICE CAMP NORTH OF ALASKA: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Cracks in polar sea ice north of Alaska will force the closing of an ice camp supporting a Navy submarine exercise, the Navy announced Monday.
Ice Exercise 2014 will continue but temporary structures erected as Camp Nautilus about 150 miles north of Prudhoe Bay began to come down Sunday, the Navy said in the announcement issued from Norfolk., Va.
All personnel are safe, the Navy said.
The Virginia-class attack submarine USS New Mexico and the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Hampton were taking part and will continue collecting data and conducting drills until they exit the Arctic for open water, the Navy said.
The exercise began March 17 and was scheduled to conclude March 30. The weather, however, did not cooperate.
A change in wind directions created instabilities in the ice floes on which the camp was erected, the Navy said. The wind changes led to multiple cracks in ice near the camp, which included a handful of buildings.
• 4 ARRESTED IN WORLD TRADE CENTER JUMP: NEW YORK (AP) — Three extreme-skydiving enthusiasts accused of parachuting off the 1 World Trade Center tower last fall were arrested Monday, authorities said, in a second criminal case in two weeks arising from surreptitious stunts at the nation’s tallest skyscraper.
The three daredevils and someone accused of being an accomplice were facing charges including felony burglary in a Sept. 30 leap from the building, where a teenage boy was arrested on March 16. Authorities said the teen had slipped through a gap in a fence, eluded an inattentive security guard and spent about two hours atop the 1,776-foot-tall tower.
The incidents have raised questions about security at the lower Manhattan site, which is supposed to be one of the most tightly protected in the country. The site is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
• WARREN BUFFETT FANS CAN BUY CUTOUTS OF HIS HEAD: OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Fans of investor Warren Buffett can now buy oversized cutouts of his head to wave around in public.
Fathead usually makes cutouts and life-size posters of athletes and celebrities. The Detroit-based company said Monday that customers wanted a Buffett cutout after they were used to promote Buffett’s $1 billion NCAA tournament challenge.
Fathead CEO Patrick McInnis says Buffett agreed to let the company sell his likeness because all the profits will go to two Detroit nonprofits: Money Matters for Youth and Motor City Blight Busters.
Buffett made several television appearances in recent weeks because his firm was insuring a $1 billion prize for a perfect NCAA tournament bracket in a Quicken Loans contest.
• INDIANA WITHDRAWING FROM COMMON CORE STANDARD: INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana on Monday became the first state to formally withdraw from the Common Core education standards in a move that did little to appease critics of the national program, who contend the state is simply stripping the “Common Core” label while largely keeping the benchmarks.
Indiana was among 45 states that in recent years adopted Common Core standards spelling out what students should be learning in math and reading at each grade level. Some conservatives have since criticized the initiative as a top-down takeover of local schools, and in signing legislation Monday to pull Indiana from the program, Republican Gov. Mike Pence trumpeted the move as a victory for state-level action.
