CALIFORNIA
Transient charged in boardwalk crash
A transient from Colorado was charged on Tuesday with murder and assault for allegedly driving his car down Los Angeles’ Venice Beach boardwalk, killing an Italian tourist and injuring 16 other people. A felony complaint outlined 34 counts against Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, and says he acted willfully. Alice Gruppioni, 32, who was on her honeymoon, was killed in the incident.
FLORIDA
Exhumation OK’d at reform school
Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Cabinet members voted Tuesday to let researchers dig up and try to identify remains buried at a closed reform school for boys. Former students have accused employees and guards at The Dozier School for Boys of physical and sexual abuse, so severe in some cases it may have led to death. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated, but in 2009 the agency concluded it was unable to substantiate or dispute the claims.
SYRIA
Blast near Damascus kills 18
A car bomb in a pro-regime district near the Syrian capital killed at least 18 people on Tuesday while rebels captured a major air base in the north and swept through a string of villages in the heartland of President Bashar Assad’s minority Alawite sect in the west. The powerful car bomb struck in Damascus’ suburb of Jaramana late on Tuesday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
IRAQ
Car bombs kill 36 people
A wave of bombings, mainly targeting markets in and near Baghdad, killed 36 people on Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a surge of violence that has gripped Iraq. The deadliest among Tuesday’s attacks came before sunset, when a car bomb exploded near a market in Baghdad’s southeastern suburbs of Nahrwan, police officials said. That attack killed six people and wounded 17.
NEW YORK
Ex-madam charged with selling pills
A former madam running against former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in the race for New York City comptroller peddled hundreds of powerful painkillers and other prescription pills in exchange for Ecstasy and cash from a drug dealer wearing a wire, federal authorities said Tuesday. Prosecutors made the accusation against Kristin Davis, 38, while announcing her arrest on charges of distributing and possessing a controlled substance. Davis was released on $100,000 bond.
ILLINOIS
Daredevil pulls off coffin skydive
A Wisconsin daredevil freed himself from shackles and a locked casket while plummeting to the earth at 130 miles per hour on Tuesday, eventually parachuting gently into a northern Illinois field. Anthony Martin, 47, waved to the cameras and the crowd that turned out to watch his stunt after he landed at a farm in Serena, Ill., about 70 miles southwest of Chicago.
NEVADA
Recluse’s gold coins sold at auction
The last of a fortune of coins found in the Carson City garage of a recluse who died last summer has been auctioned off for more than $3 million. Brittany Carlson of Silver State Coin in Reno made the winning bid Tuesday on three of the six lots, including one with 880 $20 gold Saint Gaudens that went for nearly $1.8 million. Cleaning crews found the rare coins after Walter Samaszko died in June 2012.
CHINA
Bird flu could go person to person
Chinese scientists have found the strongest evidence yet that a new bird flu strain is sometimes able to spread from person to person, but they emphasized that the virus still does not transmit easily. The new bird flu strain, known as H7N9, was first reported by Chinese authorities in March. As of the end of May, there were 132 cases and 37 deaths in China and Taiwan linked to the virus. Except for a single case reported last month, the infections appear to have stopped since Chinese authorities took measures to slow the virus, including shutting down live markets across the country.
About the Author
