***DUPLICATION ALERTS:
SPORTS: Note California blackface brief.
OHIO: Note gay marriage lawsuit brief. Check metro lineups.
BUSINESS: Check New Mexico horse slaughter brief.***
NEVADA
Driver in bus stop crash sentenced
A 25-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 24 to 80 years in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed four people and injured several others last year at a Las Vegas bus stop. Clark County District Judge Jennifer Togliatti handed down the sentence for Gary Lee Hosey Jr., who pleaded guilty in August to five counts of DUI causing death or substantial bodily harm. A witness told police she saw a 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo traveling at what appeared to be more than 100 mph before it veered into the crowded regional transit bus stop.
ISRAEL
Air strikes kill four militants in Gaza
Israeli military air strikes killed four Palestinian militants from the military wing of Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza, late Thursday and early Friday after five Israeli soldiers were wounded in an explosion near the Israel-Gaza border. It was the deadliest confrontation in the area since November 2012, when an Israeli offensive set off eight days of fierce cross-border fighting, which ended with a fragile, Egyptian-brokered cease-fire. The episode began late Thursday when Israeli soldiers from an elite engineering unit were on a mission to destroy part of a mile-long tunnel running beneath the border from Gaza into Israel.
CALIFORNIA
Three suspended for blackface incident
Two high school football coaches and a teacher were suspended for two days without pay after posting pictures on Facebook showing themselves wearing blackface and costumes meant to mimic the famed Jamaican bobsled team, San Diego school officials announced Friday. The costumes were worn at a Halloween party last weekend. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Anti-Defamation League had protested that wearing blackface and posting pictures on the Internet showed intolerance and racial insensitivity.
MEXICO
State approves gay civil unions
Lawmakers in the western state of Jalisco approved a change in the state’s constitution that legalizes same-sex civil unions. Jalisco is home to Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara. The law approved Thursday provides gay couples with numerous social benefits similar to those of married couples. Neighboring Colima state approved a similar law in July. Mexican same-sex marriages are allowed in Mexico City, the southern state of Oaxaca and the state of Quintana Roo, home to the resort city of Cancun. The northern state of Coahuila began allowing same-sex civil unions in 2007.
NORTH CAROLINA
War vet, candidate switches parties
An Iraq War veteran campaigning for Congress in eastern North Carolina against U.S. Rep. Walter Jones has changed his party registration from Republican to Democrat, saying the tea party has made the GOP too extreme. In a statement on his website Thursday, former U.S. Army Sgt. Jason R. Thigpen said the recent federal government shutdown triggered his switch. “I simply cannot stand with a party where its most extreme element promotes hate and division amongst people,” said Thigpen, 36.
OHIO
Judge OKs gay-marriage lawsuit
A federal judge on Friday ruled that a lawsuit seeking to have gay marriages recognized on Ohio death certificates can proceed despite a statewide ban on the nuptials. Judge Timothy Black rejected a request from state attorneys asking to have a funeral director removed from the lawsuit, a move that essentially would have squelched it. By allowing Cincinnati funeral director Robert Grunn to remain a plaintiff, the judge allows for his upcoming final ruling in the lawsuit to apply to potentially every gay Ohio couple who married in another state.
NEW MEXICO
Judge clears way for horse slaughter
A federal judge on Friday cleared the way for horse slaughterhouses to resume operating in the U.S. as early as next week. U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo threw out a lawsuit by The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups that alleged the Department of Agriculture failed to conduct proper environmental studies when it issued permits to Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, N.M., and an Iowa company to slaughter horses for human consumption. The decision ends, for now, a two-year battle by Valley Meat to open its slaughterhouse.
COLORADO
Judge OKs use of Holmes’ statements
Police officers who arrested James Holmes moments after the Colorado theater shootings will be allowed to tell jurors that when they asked Holmes if he had an accomplice, he replied, “No, it’s just me,” the judge ruled Friday. The judge ruled the arresting officers’ testimony about Holmes’ statements can be used as prosecution evidence even though police had not read Holmes his Miranda rights advising him he could remain silent. The judge said officers were allowed to question Holmes under a public safety exception to the Miranda rule.
GREECE
Tougher anti-racism laws in works
The Greek government unveiled plans Friday to toughen laws against racism and prohibit “malevolent” denial of the Holocaust, amid an increase in racist violence. The draft legislation presented by the Justice Ministry provides for maximum three-year prison terms, and fines up to 20,000 euros ($27,000), for people found guilty of inciting racist crimes. The draft legislation will be forwarded to Parliament for debate.
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