COLORADO
Prosecutors not ready to agree to Holmes plea
Prosecutors in the Colorado theater shooting Thursday abruptly rejected an offer from suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and accused defense lawyers of a serious breach of court rules by making the offer public. In a scathing court document, prosecutors said the defense has repeatedly refused to give them the information they need to evaluate the plea offer, so the offer can’t be considered genuine. No plea agreement exists, prosecutors said, and one “is extremely unlikely based on the present information available to the prosecution.” Neither the defense nor the prosecution immediately returned phone calls.
OKLAHOMA
Dental practice
causes health scare
Health officials on Thursday urged an Oklahoma oral surgeon’s patients to undergo hepatitis and HIV testing, saying filthy conditions behind his office’s spiffy facade posed a threat to his 7,000 clients and made him a “menace to the public health.” State and county health inspectors went to Dr. W. Scott Harrington’s practice after a patient with no known risk factors tested positive for both hepatitis C and the virus that causes AIDS. They found employees using dirty equipment, reusing needles and administering drugs without a license. Harrington voluntarily closed his offices in Tulsa and suburban Owasso and is cooperating with investigators. He faces a hearing April 19 and could lose his license.
VIRGINIA
Former chef for
governor indicted
Former Virginia Executive Mansion chef Todd Schneider was arrested Thursday on four felony embezzlement counts amid a continuing criminal investigation into his tenure as head of kitchen operations at the official residence of the governor and first family. The indictments were handed up March 20 by a multijurisdictional grand jury. The four one-page indictments allege that Schneider, in his role as the mansion’s chef, embezzled property valued at $200 or more from the state in July, September and December of 2011 and in January of 2012. The indictments contain no further details. Schneider, 52, now a Sarasota, Fla., resident, became chef at the executive mansion in 2010 shortly after Gov. Bob McDonnell and his family took residence there.
NEVADA
Lawmakers vote to
oust one of their own
A troubled lawmaker whose erratic behavior dominated headlines for weeks will go down in Nevada history as the first assemblyman ever expelled from the Legislature after his peers voted to oust him Thursday during a tearful floor session. After a short but emotional floor session, the Assembly overwhelmingly ousted Steven Brooks from his District 17 seat representing North Las Vegas. Many lawmakers referenced him as being a friend. Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, choking through tears, called for a voice vote on a committee recommendation for expulsion, then declared, “Steven J. Brooks is hereby expelled from the Assembly.”
BOSTON
Mayor announces he
won’t seek re-election
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, struggling to keep his emotions in check, told well-wishers gathered at historic Faneuil Hall on Thursday that he won’t seek re-election to an unprecedented sixth term after nearly two decades in office. “I am here with the people I love, to tell the city I love, that I will leave the job that I love,” Menino said, with his wife Angela and family by his side. “I can run, I can win and I can lead, but not in the neighborhoods all the time as I like.” Menino, who used a cane to walk to the podium, has had persistent health problems including a six-week hospital stay last year to treat a respiratory infection and a compression fracture in his spine. Menino also was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
WASHINGTON
White House proposes
auto emission cleanup
The Obama administration will unveil a proposal today to clean up gasoline and automobile emissions, a step that will result in cleaner air across the U.S. But refiners claim it will raise the price of gasoline at the pump. The EPA estimates the rule to reduce sulfur and tighten emissions standards will increase gas prices by less than a penny per gallon. But the agency says it will yield billions of dollars in health benefits by slashing smog- and soot-forming pollution come 2017.
LOS ANGELES
Police seek suspects
in abduction of girl
More than 20 Los Angeles detectives are hunting for two men who grabbed a 10-year-old girl from her bedroom before dawn and held her for nearly 12 hours before dropping her off at a hospital near her San Fernando Valley home, police said. LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith asked for the public’s help in finding the men Thursday, saying they believe strangers took the girl to several locations in different cars. The girl was found with cuts and bruises on her face and told police she did not know the men.
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