Bear escapes; falling tree hits students; kiosk saving lives
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from the Midwest.
- Updated
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Medical Examining Board has suspended the medical license of the former chief of staff of the troubled Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The board suspended Dr. David Houlihan's medical license after a hearing Wednesday.
Houlihan was nicknamed "candy man" by some patients for allegedly handing out excess narcotics.
An attorney for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services called Houlihan's practice of medicine "downright dangerous."
Houlihan, a psychiatrist, was fired in November from the VA medical center and his clinical privileges revoked. But he still had a license to practice medicine in Wisconsin.
After the hearing, Houlihan told WKOW-TV (http://bit.ly/1M9dfcT ) that he finds it difficult "to not have the actual facts come out," and that his record shows he has provided "great care for our veterans."
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Information from: WKOW-TV, http://www.wkow.com
- By KEVIN BURBACH Associated Press
- Updated
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Terminally ill patients with only six months left to live could be prescribed life-ending medication under a bill considered Wednesday in the state Senate.
The Minnesota Compassionate Care Act would make the state the sixth in the nation to enact so-called "Right to Die" legislation. Hundreds of people packed into a Senate hearing room, with many opponents donning red shirts and stickers and bill proponents dressed in bright yellow.
Under Sen. Chris Eaton's proposal, two doctors would sign off on a patient's life expectancy and mental competency before a patient could eventually self-administer life-ending drugs.
On Wednesday evening, Eaton withdrew her bill from committee, saying she didn't think it was ready for a vote. She had said earlier in the day that the measure was unlikely to be considered this year by the Republican-controlled House, but said it's important to further the conversation in the state.
"Aid in dying gives those who are close to death with no chance of recovery an alternative when their agony becomes unbearable," she said. "These people are dying. If nothing is done, they will die."
Five other states have passed legislation allowing for terminally ill patients to end their lives. California, the latest state do so, will begin allowing patients to apply for medication in June.
Under Eaton's proposal, medical providers or insurers would not be required to participate and health care institutions could also prohibit employees from participating.
Patients would need to submit a written request and have two witnesses present. Two physicians would be required to confirm the life expectancy and mental competency of patients and provide them a full list of alternatives.
Patients would ultimately have to take a prescribed dose of medication — commonly secobarbital — themselves. It would be their choice whether to actually take the drugs.
Over a hundred opponents of the bill, sporting stickers that read "No Assisted Suicide," filed into a Senate hearing room on Wednesday afternoon.
Luba Hickey, a retired nurse from St. Paul who came to the hearing, said a medical diagnosis can be wrong and that the state should not be condoning physicians to help people die.
"Doctors are wrong, medicine is not perfect and compassion comes in taking care of your fellow human beings — not in killing them," she said.
Eaton, the bill's chief author, was joined Wednesday morning at a press conference by other lawmakers and Dan Diaz, who made national headlines in 2014 when he and his late wife Brittany Maynard decided to move to Oregon so she could legally end her life. Eaton's bill is modeled after Oregon's 1997 Death with Dignity Act.
Holding back tears, Diaz spoke about his 29-year-old wife's ultimate decision to die with the help of doctors following a lengthy battle with brain cancer. He said hundreds of Minnesotans should have the option of applying for medical aid in dying.
"And then they are the ones that are in control, they are the ones that are taking control back from their illness so that their final few days can play out peacefully," he said.
- Updated
LOWER BRULE, S.D. (AP) — The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe is looking to wipe out invasive trees that are reducing grazing area for cattle.
The tribe's Department of Wildlife, Fish and Recreation plans to remove eastern red cedar trees from 130 acres of land on the Lower Brule Reservation over the next four years, The Daily Republic reported (http://bit.ly/1RNKXRI ).
"In reality, that should all be flat, clear rangeland," Wildlife Biologist Shaun Grassel said.
The work is to begin this summer. The tribe also plans to spray nearly 3,000 acres of land over four years to kill weeds, beginning in the fall.
The tribe is taking advantage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "StrikeForce" program, which will reimburse part of the cost of the projects. The program provides aid to counties with high poverty levels.
"We identify total acreage that we are going to control each year," Grassel said. "What will happen is we will get reimbursed for a portion of that, then use that reimbursement to treat more land."
Thirteen South Dakota counties have utilized StrikeForce resources since the first year of the program in 2013, according to Jeff Zimprich, state conservationist in South Dakota for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service. Last year, $76 million went to nearly 1,300 projects.
"It's not like USDA strolls in and says, 'We're here to help you,'" Zimprich said. "It's people going, 'We really have this need, and we're trying to figure out how to solve it.'"
___
Information from: The Daily Republic, http://www.mitchellrepublic.com
- Updated
GANGES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a man poured what's believed to be acid on the face and chest of a woman during an attack at her home in western Michigan.
The Allegan County sheriff's department says the 53-year-old man caused a lot of damage at the 54-year-old woman's home in Ganges Township early Wednesday before she got home.
After she arrived, the department says the man tackled her before pouring suspected acid on her and making "several unusual statements." Details weren't immediately released. She sought help from neighbors. He fled and was arrested in Berrien County.
The Allegan County sheriff's office says the man is a habitual offender and has been charged with torture, home invasion and domestic violence.
He could be arraigned Thursday.
- Updated
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has filed a brief with the state Supreme Court supporting guns on Madison city buses.
Gun rights group Wisconsin Carry filed a lawsuit in 2014 alleging a Madison Transit and Parking Commission rule prohibiting weapons on buses can't stand in the face of a state law barring local governments from enacting ordinances or resolutions regulating guns that are more restrictive than state statutes.
The 4th District Court of Appeals upheld the ban in August, saying the prohibition is a rule, not an ordinance or resolution.
Wisconsin Carry has appealed to the Supreme Court.
Schimel, a Republican, filed a brief Wednesday in support of Wisconsin Carry arguing municipalities can't trump a state law that allows people to possess and transport firearms in vehicles.
- Updated
NAPOLEON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Three children have been struck by branches from a falling tree at a southern Michigan YMCA camp.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports (http://bit.ly/1UzTqgf ) that the Blissfield Public Schools students were participating about 10 a.m. Wednesday in an activity at Storer Camps in Napoleon Township when the tree fell.
Branches hit two boys, ages 10 and 11, in the back of their heads. An 11-year-old girl suffered scrapes to her back. The 10-year-old boy was taken to a hospital. The other two children were treated at the campgrounds, southwest of Detroit.
The tree was roughly 18 inches in diameter.
Napoleon Township interim Police Chief Phil Rutledge said high winds and moist ground could have caused the dead tree to fall.
___
Information from: Jackson Citizen Patriot, http://www.mlive.com/jackson
- By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer
- Updated
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Federal officials said Wednesday they will take a closer look at whether to bring more gray wolves to Isle Royale National Park, where the iconic predator is on the verge of dying out after suffering a population free-fall in recent years.
The National Park Service began a wide-ranging study in 2015 of strategies for managing the Lake Superior island chain's wolves, moose and vegetation for at least the next two decades. But with only two wolves believed to remain as of February, the agency said it would narrow its focus to whether to bolster their numbers — and if so, how.
"At this time, natural recovery of the population is unlikely," the park service said in a statement. "The potential absence of wolves raises concerns about possible effects to Isle Royale's current ecosystem, including effects to both the moose population and Isle Royale's forest/vegetation communities."
Taking the closer look does not necessarily mean the park service is leaning toward moving more wolves to the island, Superintendent Phyllis Green said. But internal discussions and public comments have led staffers to drop consideration of alternatives for keeping moose numbers in check through methods such as hunting, as opposed to maintaining the reliance on wolves as predators.
"The central question is in the next 20 years, while things are changing on the island, will wolves play a role in managing moose or not," Green said.
Wolves have been a beloved feature of Isle Royale, a rugged, isolated wilderness roughly 15 miles from the Canadian shoreline. Sightings are unusual, but visitors thrill to the occasional nighttime howls that announce the wolves' presence.
Scientists believe they first migrated to the island park across winter ice bridges in the late 1940s. Their numbers grew as they feasted on moose, which themselves had arrived around the turn of the 20th century. Since then, the two species have benefited each other, as moose provided the wolves an ample food supply, while wolves kept moose numbers from rising so high that they would gobble up too much of the island's trees and bushes.
Biologists with Michigan Technological University have studied their relationship since the 1950s in what is described as the world's longest continuous study of a predator-prey relationship in a closed ecosystem.
Wolf numbers have averaged in the low 20s, divided into several packs, but have declined steeply in recent years — probably because of inbreeding and disease, scientists say.
The park service hosted public meetings last summer and received thousands of comments, with some favoring bringing more wolves to the island and others opposing it. Because the study is being revised, the agency said an additional 30-day public comment period will be granted.
___
Online:
- Updated
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A man has dropped his federal lawsuit against Springfield over its aggressive solicitation ordinance after the city repealed the law.
The Springfield News-Leader (http://sgfnow.co/1Rmfd5G ) reports that 61-year-old Bobby Honicutt's motion to dismiss the case Tuesday says all claims have been resolved.
The suit, filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, said the city's law was unconstitutional.
"Springfield's panhandling ordinance is both confusing and overreaching in that it states it does not intend to limit any person's constitutional rights and then proceeds to profoundly restrict acts that are well-established examples of free speech," said Tony Rothert, the ACLU of Missouri's legal director.
In January 2014, City Council passed a stricter panhandling ordinance that defined panhandling as including a verbal request. It said that silent solicitation was illegal within 5 feet of a highway off ramp or street.
The suit said that in November Honicutt held a sign asking for money on a public sidewalk, and an officer warned him that he would give him a ticket if he didn't stop soliciting. Honicutt had "fallen on hard times," according to the suit, and had sought information on city ordinances so that he wouldn't be in violation while panhandling for money to support his family.
The City Council repealed the law in February after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against enforcing it. City Attorney Dan Wichmer had advised the council that such laws were being struck down across the nation. Councilwoman Kristi Fulnecky was the only one who voted to keep the law.
___
Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com
- Updated
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The transportation department has once again recommended removing speed cameras on Sioux City's Interstate 29, but they'll remain in place while lawsuits filed in other parts of Iowa are decided.
The Sioux City Journal (http://bit.ly/1SSvswS ) reports that the Iowa Department of Transportation notified Sioux City on Monday that it had evaluated the city's annual justification report and recommended removing the speed cameras because it's unclear what effect they've had on crash numbers.
Department officials also recommended eliminating red-light cameras at an intersection in northeast Sioux City because crashes there have increased since 2010, when the cameras were activated.
According to city officials, the city's main justification for installing the cameras along I-29 and at various intersections was to reduce crashes.
"Nothing has changed," assistant city attorney Justin Vondrak said.
The department says it won't enforce the removals until courts have decided other cities' legal challenges to the agency's traffic camera rules.
Also in a holding pattern is a separate petition to IDOT director Paul Trombino seeking a declaration on the legality of the IDOT's traffic camera rules, which the agency enacted in February 2014 in order to gain oversight on cameras placed on state roads to make sure they are being used to increase traffic safety, not just generate ticket revenues.
Traffic cameras have generated millions of dollars in revenues for the city, which has used the money for public safety projects. In fiscal year 2015, the city took in $446,000 from the red-light cameras and $510,000 from the I-29 speed cameras.
___
Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://www.siouxcityjournal.com
- By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press
- Updated
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a man who was tried last year on a 20-year-old drunken driving charge.
Jason Gale was arrested for drunken driving in 1995 in Grand Forks but wasn't called to court until last July, when a jury found him guilty. Gale's attorney, Scott Brand, argued to justices in December that the delay violated Gale's right to a speedy trial.
"The government was clearly negligent. It's 20 years, memories are going to fade and that was obvious at the trial," Brand told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "The officer just memorized his report. He didn't have any independent recollection as to what happened on that night."
Grand Forks city prosecutor Kristi Pettit Venhuizen did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
The opinion released late Tuesday said justices can't presume that a 20-year-old case was "diligently prosecuted when there is no evidence of any prosecution at all" and that two decades is an unprecedented amount of time for a DUI case to remain idle.
"I have never seen a case like this in my life or even so much heard of one," Brand said. "When I was analyzing the case law on my end, I didn't see a case that had been as long as this one."
Venhuizen had argued that Gale made a concerted effort to avoid prosecution and that there was ample evidence to pursue the case. But Brand said Gale moved to Colorado shortly after the DUI arrest and was told by his previous lawyer that he would settle the case in Gale's absence. Later, Gale was involved in separate court cases in two North Dakota counties and authorities failed to flag the outstanding warrant.
Venhuizen said the city sent Gale three notices two decades ago telling him the case was not settled. Gale said he wasn't aware of the warrant until he discovered it while applying for a job earlier this year. A judge rejected his request to dismiss the case and it went to trial. Gale lost and was ordered to pay a $500 fine.
"This shows that justice may not be swift," Brand said, "but it will come when the right case presents itself."
- Updated
YORK, Neb. (AP) — A York man accused of using a sandal to spank a 4-year-old girl has been given two years of probation.
Online court records say 23-year-old Luis Rodriguez-Olvera was sentenced Monday. He'd pleaded no contest to misdemeanor negligent child abuse after prosecutors lowered the charge from a felony.
Investigators say Rodriguez-Olvera was taking care of his fiancee's daughter on Aug. 8 last year while her mother was at work.
The York News-Times reports (http://bit.ly/1YZBJas ) that court documents say Rodriguez-Olvera acknowledged spanking the girl, striking her six or seven times with the sandal, because she was "acting up or misbehaving."
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Information from: York News-Times, http://www.yorknewstimes.com
- Updated
SPENCER, S.D. (AP) — An arrest warrant has been issued for a Spencer man accused of being married to two women at the same time.
Thirty-seven-year-old Omar Terry allegedly married a woman in Tyndall in September 2008, when he was already married to another woman.
The Daily Republic reports (http://bit.ly/1VbVVGd ) that Terry has been indicted on a felony bigamy charge that's punishable by up to two years in prison.
A home telephone listing for Terry couldn't be found.
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Information from: The Daily Republic, http://www.mitchellrepublic.com
- Updated
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — St. Paul school officials say a student was taken into custody after bringing an unloaded gun to school.
Officials got a tip Wednesday morning about the gun at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus. The school was put on lockdown for 15 minutes while staff and police searched for the gun.
The gun was found in a student's locker shortly after the school day began. Officials say it's unclear why the student brought the gun to school, but there were no known threats directed at anyone.
St. Paul police took the student into custody and are investigating.
Superintendent Valeria Silva says it's the second time a gun has been found in a St. Paul public school this year. Silva says the district will follow its student discipline procedures in the case.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Medical Examining Board has suspended the medical license of the former chief of staff of the troubled Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The board suspended Dr. David Houlihan's medical license after a hearing Wednesday.
Houlihan was nicknamed "candy man" by some patients for allegedly handing out excess narcotics.
An attorney for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services called Houlihan's practice of medicine "downright dangerous."
Houlihan, a psychiatrist, was fired in November from the VA medical center and his clinical privileges revoked. But he still had a license to practice medicine in Wisconsin.
After the hearing, Houlihan told WKOW-TV (http://bit.ly/1M9dfcT ) that he finds it difficult "to not have the actual facts come out," and that his record shows he has provided "great care for our veterans."
___
Information from: WKOW-TV, http://www.wkow.com
- By KEVIN BURBACH Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Terminally ill patients with only six months left to live could be prescribed life-ending medication under a bill considered Wednesday in the state Senate.
The Minnesota Compassionate Care Act would make the state the sixth in the nation to enact so-called "Right to Die" legislation. Hundreds of people packed into a Senate hearing room, with many opponents donning red shirts and stickers and bill proponents dressed in bright yellow.
Under Sen. Chris Eaton's proposal, two doctors would sign off on a patient's life expectancy and mental competency before a patient could eventually self-administer life-ending drugs.
On Wednesday evening, Eaton withdrew her bill from committee, saying she didn't think it was ready for a vote. She had said earlier in the day that the measure was unlikely to be considered this year by the Republican-controlled House, but said it's important to further the conversation in the state.
"Aid in dying gives those who are close to death with no chance of recovery an alternative when their agony becomes unbearable," she said. "These people are dying. If nothing is done, they will die."
Five other states have passed legislation allowing for terminally ill patients to end their lives. California, the latest state do so, will begin allowing patients to apply for medication in June.
Under Eaton's proposal, medical providers or insurers would not be required to participate and health care institutions could also prohibit employees from participating.
Patients would need to submit a written request and have two witnesses present. Two physicians would be required to confirm the life expectancy and mental competency of patients and provide them a full list of alternatives.
Patients would ultimately have to take a prescribed dose of medication — commonly secobarbital — themselves. It would be their choice whether to actually take the drugs.
Over a hundred opponents of the bill, sporting stickers that read "No Assisted Suicide," filed into a Senate hearing room on Wednesday afternoon.
Luba Hickey, a retired nurse from St. Paul who came to the hearing, said a medical diagnosis can be wrong and that the state should not be condoning physicians to help people die.
"Doctors are wrong, medicine is not perfect and compassion comes in taking care of your fellow human beings — not in killing them," she said.
Eaton, the bill's chief author, was joined Wednesday morning at a press conference by other lawmakers and Dan Diaz, who made national headlines in 2014 when he and his late wife Brittany Maynard decided to move to Oregon so she could legally end her life. Eaton's bill is modeled after Oregon's 1997 Death with Dignity Act.
Holding back tears, Diaz spoke about his 29-year-old wife's ultimate decision to die with the help of doctors following a lengthy battle with brain cancer. He said hundreds of Minnesotans should have the option of applying for medical aid in dying.
"And then they are the ones that are in control, they are the ones that are taking control back from their illness so that their final few days can play out peacefully," he said.
LOWER BRULE, S.D. (AP) — The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe is looking to wipe out invasive trees that are reducing grazing area for cattle.
The tribe's Department of Wildlife, Fish and Recreation plans to remove eastern red cedar trees from 130 acres of land on the Lower Brule Reservation over the next four years, The Daily Republic reported (http://bit.ly/1RNKXRI ).
"In reality, that should all be flat, clear rangeland," Wildlife Biologist Shaun Grassel said.
The work is to begin this summer. The tribe also plans to spray nearly 3,000 acres of land over four years to kill weeds, beginning in the fall.
The tribe is taking advantage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "StrikeForce" program, which will reimburse part of the cost of the projects. The program provides aid to counties with high poverty levels.
"We identify total acreage that we are going to control each year," Grassel said. "What will happen is we will get reimbursed for a portion of that, then use that reimbursement to treat more land."
Thirteen South Dakota counties have utilized StrikeForce resources since the first year of the program in 2013, according to Jeff Zimprich, state conservationist in South Dakota for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service. Last year, $76 million went to nearly 1,300 projects.
"It's not like USDA strolls in and says, 'We're here to help you,'" Zimprich said. "It's people going, 'We really have this need, and we're trying to figure out how to solve it.'"
___
Information from: The Daily Republic, http://www.mitchellrepublic.com
GANGES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a man poured what's believed to be acid on the face and chest of a woman during an attack at her home in western Michigan.
The Allegan County sheriff's department says the 53-year-old man caused a lot of damage at the 54-year-old woman's home in Ganges Township early Wednesday before she got home.
After she arrived, the department says the man tackled her before pouring suspected acid on her and making "several unusual statements." Details weren't immediately released. She sought help from neighbors. He fled and was arrested in Berrien County.
The Allegan County sheriff's office says the man is a habitual offender and has been charged with torture, home invasion and domestic violence.
He could be arraigned Thursday.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has filed a brief with the state Supreme Court supporting guns on Madison city buses.
Gun rights group Wisconsin Carry filed a lawsuit in 2014 alleging a Madison Transit and Parking Commission rule prohibiting weapons on buses can't stand in the face of a state law barring local governments from enacting ordinances or resolutions regulating guns that are more restrictive than state statutes.
The 4th District Court of Appeals upheld the ban in August, saying the prohibition is a rule, not an ordinance or resolution.
Wisconsin Carry has appealed to the Supreme Court.
Schimel, a Republican, filed a brief Wednesday in support of Wisconsin Carry arguing municipalities can't trump a state law that allows people to possess and transport firearms in vehicles.
NAPOLEON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Three children have been struck by branches from a falling tree at a southern Michigan YMCA camp.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports (http://bit.ly/1UzTqgf ) that the Blissfield Public Schools students were participating about 10 a.m. Wednesday in an activity at Storer Camps in Napoleon Township when the tree fell.
Branches hit two boys, ages 10 and 11, in the back of their heads. An 11-year-old girl suffered scrapes to her back. The 10-year-old boy was taken to a hospital. The other two children were treated at the campgrounds, southwest of Detroit.
The tree was roughly 18 inches in diameter.
Napoleon Township interim Police Chief Phil Rutledge said high winds and moist ground could have caused the dead tree to fall.
___
Information from: Jackson Citizen Patriot, http://www.mlive.com/jackson
- By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Federal officials said Wednesday they will take a closer look at whether to bring more gray wolves to Isle Royale National Park, where the iconic predator is on the verge of dying out after suffering a population free-fall in recent years.
The National Park Service began a wide-ranging study in 2015 of strategies for managing the Lake Superior island chain's wolves, moose and vegetation for at least the next two decades. But with only two wolves believed to remain as of February, the agency said it would narrow its focus to whether to bolster their numbers — and if so, how.
"At this time, natural recovery of the population is unlikely," the park service said in a statement. "The potential absence of wolves raises concerns about possible effects to Isle Royale's current ecosystem, including effects to both the moose population and Isle Royale's forest/vegetation communities."
Taking the closer look does not necessarily mean the park service is leaning toward moving more wolves to the island, Superintendent Phyllis Green said. But internal discussions and public comments have led staffers to drop consideration of alternatives for keeping moose numbers in check through methods such as hunting, as opposed to maintaining the reliance on wolves as predators.
"The central question is in the next 20 years, while things are changing on the island, will wolves play a role in managing moose or not," Green said.
Wolves have been a beloved feature of Isle Royale, a rugged, isolated wilderness roughly 15 miles from the Canadian shoreline. Sightings are unusual, but visitors thrill to the occasional nighttime howls that announce the wolves' presence.
Scientists believe they first migrated to the island park across winter ice bridges in the late 1940s. Their numbers grew as they feasted on moose, which themselves had arrived around the turn of the 20th century. Since then, the two species have benefited each other, as moose provided the wolves an ample food supply, while wolves kept moose numbers from rising so high that they would gobble up too much of the island's trees and bushes.
Biologists with Michigan Technological University have studied their relationship since the 1950s in what is described as the world's longest continuous study of a predator-prey relationship in a closed ecosystem.
Wolf numbers have averaged in the low 20s, divided into several packs, but have declined steeply in recent years — probably because of inbreeding and disease, scientists say.
The park service hosted public meetings last summer and received thousands of comments, with some favoring bringing more wolves to the island and others opposing it. Because the study is being revised, the agency said an additional 30-day public comment period will be granted.
___
Online:
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A man has dropped his federal lawsuit against Springfield over its aggressive solicitation ordinance after the city repealed the law.
The Springfield News-Leader (http://sgfnow.co/1Rmfd5G ) reports that 61-year-old Bobby Honicutt's motion to dismiss the case Tuesday says all claims have been resolved.
The suit, filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, said the city's law was unconstitutional.
"Springfield's panhandling ordinance is both confusing and overreaching in that it states it does not intend to limit any person's constitutional rights and then proceeds to profoundly restrict acts that are well-established examples of free speech," said Tony Rothert, the ACLU of Missouri's legal director.
In January 2014, City Council passed a stricter panhandling ordinance that defined panhandling as including a verbal request. It said that silent solicitation was illegal within 5 feet of a highway off ramp or street.
The suit said that in November Honicutt held a sign asking for money on a public sidewalk, and an officer warned him that he would give him a ticket if he didn't stop soliciting. Honicutt had "fallen on hard times," according to the suit, and had sought information on city ordinances so that he wouldn't be in violation while panhandling for money to support his family.
The City Council repealed the law in February after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against enforcing it. City Attorney Dan Wichmer had advised the council that such laws were being struck down across the nation. Councilwoman Kristi Fulnecky was the only one who voted to keep the law.
___
Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The transportation department has once again recommended removing speed cameras on Sioux City's Interstate 29, but they'll remain in place while lawsuits filed in other parts of Iowa are decided.
The Sioux City Journal (http://bit.ly/1SSvswS ) reports that the Iowa Department of Transportation notified Sioux City on Monday that it had evaluated the city's annual justification report and recommended removing the speed cameras because it's unclear what effect they've had on crash numbers.
Department officials also recommended eliminating red-light cameras at an intersection in northeast Sioux City because crashes there have increased since 2010, when the cameras were activated.
According to city officials, the city's main justification for installing the cameras along I-29 and at various intersections was to reduce crashes.
"Nothing has changed," assistant city attorney Justin Vondrak said.
The department says it won't enforce the removals until courts have decided other cities' legal challenges to the agency's traffic camera rules.
Also in a holding pattern is a separate petition to IDOT director Paul Trombino seeking a declaration on the legality of the IDOT's traffic camera rules, which the agency enacted in February 2014 in order to gain oversight on cameras placed on state roads to make sure they are being used to increase traffic safety, not just generate ticket revenues.
Traffic cameras have generated millions of dollars in revenues for the city, which has used the money for public safety projects. In fiscal year 2015, the city took in $446,000 from the red-light cameras and $510,000 from the I-29 speed cameras.
___
Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://www.siouxcityjournal.com
- By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a man who was tried last year on a 20-year-old drunken driving charge.
Jason Gale was arrested for drunken driving in 1995 in Grand Forks but wasn't called to court until last July, when a jury found him guilty. Gale's attorney, Scott Brand, argued to justices in December that the delay violated Gale's right to a speedy trial.
"The government was clearly negligent. It's 20 years, memories are going to fade and that was obvious at the trial," Brand told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "The officer just memorized his report. He didn't have any independent recollection as to what happened on that night."
Grand Forks city prosecutor Kristi Pettit Venhuizen did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
The opinion released late Tuesday said justices can't presume that a 20-year-old case was "diligently prosecuted when there is no evidence of any prosecution at all" and that two decades is an unprecedented amount of time for a DUI case to remain idle.
"I have never seen a case like this in my life or even so much heard of one," Brand said. "When I was analyzing the case law on my end, I didn't see a case that had been as long as this one."
Venhuizen had argued that Gale made a concerted effort to avoid prosecution and that there was ample evidence to pursue the case. But Brand said Gale moved to Colorado shortly after the DUI arrest and was told by his previous lawyer that he would settle the case in Gale's absence. Later, Gale was involved in separate court cases in two North Dakota counties and authorities failed to flag the outstanding warrant.
Venhuizen said the city sent Gale three notices two decades ago telling him the case was not settled. Gale said he wasn't aware of the warrant until he discovered it while applying for a job earlier this year. A judge rejected his request to dismiss the case and it went to trial. Gale lost and was ordered to pay a $500 fine.
"This shows that justice may not be swift," Brand said, "but it will come when the right case presents itself."
YORK, Neb. (AP) — A York man accused of using a sandal to spank a 4-year-old girl has been given two years of probation.
Online court records say 23-year-old Luis Rodriguez-Olvera was sentenced Monday. He'd pleaded no contest to misdemeanor negligent child abuse after prosecutors lowered the charge from a felony.
Investigators say Rodriguez-Olvera was taking care of his fiancee's daughter on Aug. 8 last year while her mother was at work.
The York News-Times reports (http://bit.ly/1YZBJas ) that court documents say Rodriguez-Olvera acknowledged spanking the girl, striking her six or seven times with the sandal, because she was "acting up or misbehaving."
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Information from: York News-Times, http://www.yorknewstimes.com
SPENCER, S.D. (AP) — An arrest warrant has been issued for a Spencer man accused of being married to two women at the same time.
Thirty-seven-year-old Omar Terry allegedly married a woman in Tyndall in September 2008, when he was already married to another woman.
The Daily Republic reports (http://bit.ly/1VbVVGd ) that Terry has been indicted on a felony bigamy charge that's punishable by up to two years in prison.
A home telephone listing for Terry couldn't be found.
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Information from: The Daily Republic, http://www.mitchellrepublic.com
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — St. Paul school officials say a student was taken into custody after bringing an unloaded gun to school.
Officials got a tip Wednesday morning about the gun at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus. The school was put on lockdown for 15 minutes while staff and police searched for the gun.
The gun was found in a student's locker shortly after the school day began. Officials say it's unclear why the student brought the gun to school, but there were no known threats directed at anyone.
St. Paul police took the student into custody and are investigating.
Superintendent Valeria Silva says it's the second time a gun has been found in a St. Paul public school this year. Silva says the district will follow its student discipline procedures in the case.
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