|
Volume CXXXIII, Number 17 |
 |
News briefs
University President arrested for impersonating a police
officer
Richard L. Judd, president of Central Connecticut State University, was
arrested last week under charges of impersonating a police officer and
is accused of pulling over a driver in January.
Peter Baba was allegedly speeding in New Britain on January
23, when he was pulled over by a car with flashing lights. Judd stepped
from his vehicle and approached Baba, then flashed a badge which later
turned out to be an award from the university. He then proceeded to verbally
reprimand Baba for speeding.
Judd served as New Britain's police commissioner from 1981
to 1989, and then again from 1993 to 1995; that job did not carry the
authority to apprehend criminals.
If convicted, Judd could face up to five years in prison.
Maine feels symptoms of East coast draught
Feeling the winter is cheating us on snowfall this year? We're not alone.
The conspicuous lack of snow in Maine this year is a symptom of a vast
mid-winter drought that spreads over the entire Northeast and most of
the East coast in general.
Many weather experts have identified this drought as among the worst
in decades. Experts are worried mostly because the enormity and span of
the drought conditions are unprecedented.
Much of the state of Maine- inland and to the north- is experiencing
what the National Drought Mitigation Center classifies as an extreme drought,
while most of the rest of the state is experiencing a severe drought.
The coastal area is experiencing a modest drought.
Last year was Maine's driest year on record.
A mid-winter drought is different from a summer drought, since the winter is when groundwater supply is normally replenished with snow and rain.
York woman acquitted in anthrax-scare hoax
A Maine jury found Kinley Gregg, 38, innocent of charges stemming from
a letter that caused an anthrax scare.
On October 30, Gregg mailed a letter to friend Janice Harney of Somersworth
containing salt; the measure was intended as a joke.
Gregg was facing a $250,000 fine and five years in prison under the federal charge of mailing a "threatening communication."
U.S. Woman denied Peruvian Presidential pardon
Lori Benson, an alumna of M.I.T., was denied her request for a pardon
this week, by President Alejandro Toledo of Peru. She was imprisoned for
collaborating with the Túpac Amaru revolutionary movement.
Benson was arrested in Lima in 1995; in her house police found several thousand rounds of ammunition and several thousand sticks of dynamite. Her retrial, which concluded this week, resulted in no presidential pardon and a reduction of her sentence from life in prison to twenty years.
Dog-mauling case opens in L.A.
Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel, a San Francisco couple, are on trial
this week for charges ranging from "harboring mischievous dogs"
to second-degree murder, stemming from an attack in January of 2001 that
left their neighbor dead.
Knoller was with her dog as it attacked and viciously killed her neighbor,
Diane Wipple. The prosecution contends that Knoller stood by and allowed
the attack to occur, while the defense states that she risked her life
to save her neighbor.
Also in question is the couple's relationship with Paul Schneider, their
adopted son, just seven years Ms. Knoller's junior. Bane, the dog that
attacked Wipple, was one of two dogs at the Knoller-Noel residence belonging
to Schneider. Schneider, 39, who is currently serving a life sentence
in prison for attempted murder, is thought to have bred these dogs as
"war dogs."
The trial is expected to last for the next six to eight weeks.
Motive revealed in Dartmouth double-murder
James Parker, 17, and Robert Tulloch, 18, who were arrested last February
for the stabbing murders of Dartmouth professors Half and Susanne Zantop,
were indicted this past week. The two Vermont youths had planned to steal
their victims' ATM cards, obtain their P.I.N. codes at knifepoint, and
then stab them to death. According to the boys, the Zantop incident marked
their first successful entry into a home, after having been turned away
from numerous front doors under the guise of stranded motorists or students
conducting a door-to-door poll.
In the trial, which is expected to begin in the coming months, Tulloch has indicated that he will assume the insanity defense when facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder. Parker, who has agreed to testify against Tulloch, will face a reduced charge of serving as an accomplice to second-degree murder.
-Compiled by Daniel Miller