NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NATION: DUCT TAPE USED IN THEFT OF 23 GOATS: HONOLULU (AP) — More than 20 purebred goats— most of them pregnant — were stolen from a Hawaii farm on a full moonlit night, with duct tape used to keep the animals from making noise, their owner said.
Sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning, 23 goats valued for a total of about $10,000 were stolen from Kahuku Goats, a 250-acre farm on Oahu's North Shore, said owner Keal Pontin. Two bucks were left behind with ropes around their neck and duct tape over their mouths, he said Monday.
"It was devastating to us," said Pontin, 23, who has been goat farming with several friends for about a year. "We're going to find these guys."
Twenty-one of the goats were pregnant and 10 of them were days away from giving birth. "If you think about it, they're taking nannies with babies in them and throwing them over a 6-foot-tall fence," he said. "Just thinking of our pregnant goats going over a fence like that is just sickening to us."
POSTAL SERVICE HONORS RAY CHARLES WITH LIMITED-EDITION STAMP: ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service has added a world-famous musician and Georgia native to its "Music Icons Forever" stamp series.
Postal service officials unveiled a limited-edition stamp featuring Ray Charles, of Albany, on Monday along with one of the artists' previously unreleased songs.
Charles was a singer and songwriter who pioneered the soul and rhythm and blues genres. He died in 2004.
Events were planned in Atlanta and Los Angeles to celebrate Charles' induction into the series.
R&B singer, Ashanti, and the Morehouse Glee Club performed at the school's Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, and Chaka Khan is headlining an event at the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live.
KENTUCKY WOMAN MUST TESTIFY AGAINST PARTNER: LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky judge has ruled that the same-sex partner of a woman charged with murder must testify against her and isn't protected by the husband-wife privilege under state law.
The case is the first legal test in the state over forcing same-sex partners to testify against each other.
WDRB-TV (http://bit.ly/18PUgPP) reported that Jefferson County Circuit Judge Susan Schultz Gibson ruled Monday that it's "abundantly clear" that Kentucky doesn't recognize same-sex marriages within the state or from other states.
Bobbie Jo Clary and Geneva Case entered into a civil union in Vermont several years ago. Prosecutors argued Case should have to testify about hearing Clary admit to killing a man two years ago and seeing her clean blood out of the man's van. Clary maintains she acted in self-defense while being raped.
PLANETARIUM STARS ALIGN, SPELL LOVE FOR GA. COUPLE: MACON, Ga. (AP) — The way the stars aligned inside a Georgia planetarium caught the 22-year-old woman by surprise, spelling out the question: "Krystal Sanderson Will You Marry Me?"
Sanderson's boyfriend, Alan Gilbert, was behind the weekend message that appeared at the planetarium of the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Macon. One of their first dates had been under the stars, and they regularly enjoyed gazing up at the night sky.
So the 23-year-old Gilbert persuaded Sanderson to join him at the planetarium Sunday. The couple sat through a 30-minute show about prehistoric sea creatures before the big question appeared on screen — against a backdrop of Earth and stars while music played.
Others attending the show applauded when Sanderson, no longer in the dark, accepted the ring.
PROFESSOR GRATEFUL FOR RESPONSE TO HATE ATTCAK: NEW YORK (AP) — A Columbia University professor who is Sikh said Monday he was overwhelmed by the support he received since being attacked by a group of young men who called him "Osama" and a "terrorist."
Prabjhot Singh, 31, told reporters on Monday he is thankful that his injuries, including a fractured lower jaw, are not worse.
The attack occurred around 8 p.m. Saturday in upper Manhattan. Singh said he was walking with a friend after dropping off his 1-year-old and his wife at the family's apartment when he was approached by a group of 12 or 15 young men.
"I heard 'Get him. Osama.' I heard 'terrorist.' And I felt somebody grab my beard," Singh said. "What ensued was punching until I was ultimately on the ground."
Singh said three bystanders intervened and stopped any further damage, but his lower jaw was fractured and was wired shut by an oral surgeon on Sunday.
BOARD: EX-PA. SCHOOL OFFICIALS TRADED RACIST TEXTS: COATESVILLE, Pa — Two top administrators of a large southeastern Pennsylvania school district traded a series of racist and sexist text messages on their district phones, the school board confirmed Monday, seeking to contain the fallout by mandating sensitivity training for all district employees.
Coatesville Area School District Superintendent Richard Como and the high school's athletic director, Jim Donato, resigned on Aug. 29 after they learned of the board's intent to fire them over the "highly offensive" messages, according to a statement released by the district's lawyer.
"The racist and sexist language expressed by these two men was sickening and obviously unacceptable," school board President Neil Campbell said in the statement, released after the texts were obtained and published by The Daily Local News of West Chester.
The scandal has rocked Coatesville, a steel town 35 miles west of Philadelphia where nearly a third of the district's students are black. Como and Donato are both white.
