• BURN VICTIM DOUSES SELF WITH SLURPEES AT 7-ELEVEN: GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Things were quiet at a convenience store in Southern Oregon when a tattooed man came in and started dousing himself with Hawaiian Punch Slurpees.
The man had suffered burns and was being chased by two others Tuesday afternoon when he ran into the 7-Eleven store in downtown Grants Pass.
Store clerk Charlie Bentley says he didn’t know what was going on, but he and another employee kept the two pursuers outside while the man filled his shirt from the Slurpee machine and rubbed the icy concoction on his skin.
Police say they traced the disturbance back to a residence a few blocks away, where a man and a woman were burned with hot oil during a dispute between neighbors.
• CHICAGO MAYOR OFFERS GUN STORE LAW, CRITICS POUNCE: CHICAGO (AP) — Forced by court order to allow long-banned gun stores to open in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday introduced an ordinance that is so strict and so dramatically limits where the stores can operate that critics say it is little more than a continuation of the city’s longtime ban.
In a city that for years has been at the center of national debate over gun control and gun violence — even before its decades-old handgun ban was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 — the ordinance will almost certainly trigger a legal fight.
Under the ordinance sent to the council’s Public Safety committee, gun shops would be prohibited in 99.5 percent of the city. Stores also would not be allowed to sell more than one handgun to individual buyers per month and must open their books to police for inspection “at all reasonable times.”
• BILL WOULD BAN ‘GAY PANIC’ DEFENSE IN SLAYINGS: SACRAMENTO (AP) — A bill making its way through the Legislature would prevent defendants from using a so-called “gay panic” defense to escape murder charges.
AB2501 heads to the Senate after passing the Assembly Wednesday on a 42-16 vote.
California criminal law considers killings done in the heat of passion manslaughter, not murder. The bill says a defendant’s discovery of his victim’s true gender or sexual orientation is not grounds for a “heat of passion” crime.
Democratic Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla of Concord says her bill sends a message that violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people is not acceptable.
It’s not clear if a gay panic defense has been used successfully in California. A teenager who shot and killed a gay classmate in 2008 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
• CALIFORNIA COUPLE’S BURIED GOLD COINS FETCH $2M SO FAR: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man handling the sale of rare, 19th century gold coins discovered by a California couple out walking their dog estimates they had fetched about $2 million as of noon on Wednesday.
Don Kagin said about half of the 1,400 coins had sold. They were put up for sale the previous night on Amazon.com and his website, Kagins.com.
Kagin said the more valuable coins were still out there, though he wasn’t surprised since they would likely be snapped up by more knowledgeable buyers who wanted more time to look.
The coins date from 1847 to 1894 and have been valued at $11 million. The couple, whom Kagin declined to identify, found them last year buried under the shadow of a tree on their rural Northern California property.
Several coins were auctioned at the Old San Francisco Mint on Tuesday night, and one of them — an 1874 $20 double eagle that is usually worth $4,250 — sold for $15,000.
