***DUPLICATION ALERTS:
PBP, AJC: Please note Florida, Georgia connections in naval training brief.
BIZ EDITORS: Please note Adelson lawsuit brief.
PBP: Please note execution brief.***
NEW YORK
5 wounded in bike path knife attack
An apparently homeless, emotionally disturbed man went on a rampage with scissors along a busy Manhattan bike path Tuesday, slashing or stabbing five people, including a 1-year-old boy. The victims — the child plus two women and two men in their 30s — were all expected to survive. One woman was listed in critical condition. The attack took place about 8 a.m. in Riverside Park along the Hudson River. Julius Graham, a 43-year-old Texas native who had been living in a Bronx shelter, used half a pair of scissors in the attack, police said.
ATLANTA
Naval undersea training range approved
A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Navy to build a $100 million undersea training range off Georgia and Florida. The Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents about a dozen conservation groups, had challenged the Navy’s plans, saying war games in that area would pose a risk to right whales, which migrate each winter to the coasts of Georgia and Florida to give birth to their calves. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that said the Navy had appropriately studied whether the location of the range posed a risk to whales.
RUSSIA
Group nominates Putin for Peace Prize
A Russian advocacy group said Tuesday that it had nominated President Vladimir V. Putin for the Nobel Peace Prize. Members of the International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation of Peoples of the World said Putin was far more deserving of the peace prize than President Barack Obama, who received it in 2009 but has continued to lead U.S. military operations — including drone strikes. The group seized on Putin’s proposal to dismantle Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile and forestalling a missile strike that had been threatened by Obama. The 2013 Peace Prize recipient will be announced in Oslo on Oct. 11.
PUERTO RICO
FBI dismantles powerful drug group
The FBI has dismantled a powerful drug trafficking organization in Puerto Rico with ties to the U.S. and the Dominican Republic that generated more than $100 million in revenue, agency officials said Tuesday. The 27 suspects indicted are accused of conspiring to import cocaine from the Dominican Republic into Puerto Rico to sell it on the U.S. mainland and in Puerto Rico’s northern and central regions.
NEVADA
Casino mogul Adelson loses libel suit
Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has lost a defamation lawsuit against the National Jewish Democratic Council. Adelson asked for $60 million in damages, arguing the council libeled him by saying his political contributions were sullied by links to prostitution. A federal judge on Monday found that the council’s speech was protected. Adelson, whom Forbes ranks as the ninth-richest American, is chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and a major Republican donor. Adelson has denied any wrongdoing.
FLORIDA
Killer of exotic dancer executed
A former escort service owner convicted of killing two women in the 1980s was executed Tuesday for the death of one of those women, an exotic dancer. Marshall Lee Gore, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following an injection at Florida State Prison, authorities said. He had spent 23 years on death row. Gore was sentenced to die for the March 1988 killing of Robyn Novick, a 30-year-old exotic dancer whose nude body was found in Miami-Dade County. Gore also was convicted of killing another woman.
MISSISSIPPI
Town sued over gay bar permit denial
A woman is suing the leaders of a north Mississippi town, accusing them of conspiring to prevent her from opening a gay bar by denying an application for a business license. Pat “PJ” Newton, 55, filed the federal lawsuit Tuesday against the mayor and several aldermen of Shannon, a town of about 1,700 where Newton has been trying to open a cafe and bar. The Southern Poverty Law Center is representing the Memphis, Tenn., woman in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. Mayor Ronnie Hallmark and aldermen did not immediately respond to a phone message left Tuesday at Shannon Town Hall.
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