• FEDS CHARGE WOMAN IN HILLARY CLINTON SHOE-THROW: LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal authorities have lodged two criminal charges against a Phoenix woman accused of throwing a shoe at Hillary Rodham Clinton while she gave a convention speech at a Las Vegas Strip resort.
Alison Michelle Ernst, 36, is charged with trespassing and violence against a person in a restricted building. She could face up to a year in federal prison on each charge if she’s convicted.
Las Vegas police booked Ernst last week on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and freed her with a June 24 court date. A disorderly conduct conviction could get Ernst up to six months in county jail.
Ernst immediately surrendered and was arrested after the incident Thursday in a ballroom at the Mandalay Bay resort.
The federal charges accuse her of bypassing security to enter the ballroom and committing a violent act by throwing the shoe that police say she pulled from a purse and hurled about 60 feet toward the former secretary of state.
Clinton expressed surprise but wasn’t struck by the shoe. She made a couple of jokes and continued her speech before more than 1,000 people at a recycling industry conference.
Ernst acknowledged throwing a shoe but didn’t explain her actions to reporters as she was taken into custody by the U.S. Secret Service.
The incident reminded some of an Iraqi journalist throwing shoes at former President George W. Bush during a Baghdad news conference in December 2008. Shoe-throwing is considered an insult in Arab cultures.
Clinton has Secret Service protection because former presidents and their spouses are covered for their lifetime.
• 79-YEAR-OLD PLAYER JOINS DUBUQUE ELEMENTARY BAND: DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — One member of the Kennedy Elementary School band in Dubuque brings a certain maturity to his playing.
That’s because Tony Boland is a 79-year-old flute player.
Boland asked about joining the fifth graders in the band after volunteering at the school, which his grandchildren attended, for more than a decade. He helps children with their reading, noting he recalls struggling with his reading as a child.
He started playing the flute a number of years ago, when his wife suggested getting rid of their daughter’s flute.
Boland knew that his progress would be slow unless he played with others.
“When you play alone, it’s not as fast when you’re playing in a band,” he told the Telegraph Herald.
Band director Brian Enabnit thought Boland would make a terrific addition to the band.
“He’s great. He’s encouraging to the students around him,” Enabnit said.
Boland practices with the students weekly and performs with them regularly, including at the Dubuque Community School District’s Band Festival earlier this month.
Fifth-grade student Courtney Less has been impressed by her older classmate.
“He’s kind of a more experienced player,” Courtney said. “All of us are messing up, but he doesn’t.”
• JAIL FOR DAD WHO OVERDOSED AT MCDONALD’S PLAY AREA: CINCINNATI (AP) — A man who overdosed on heroin with his girlfriend at a McDonald’s play area near Cincinnati was sentenced Monday to six months in jail for child endangering.
Robert Palmer, 37, was sentenced by Hamilton County Municipal Judge Cheryl D. Grant, who last month convicted him on two misdemeanor counts after a nonjury trial.
Emergency crews responded to a March 9 call about two unresponsive adults in the fast-food restaurant’s indoor play area. They needed emergency treatment to recover from what police called “life-threatening overdoses.”
Authorities said the couple from Dillsboro, Ind., acknowledged using heroin while with two children, a 5-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy. Palmer is the girl’s father; the boy’s relationship with the couple wasn’t made clear.
