North Carolina
Police: Body of newborn girl found in yard
LOUISBURG, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say the body of a newborn baby was found buried in a yard in North Carolina.
Sheriff Jerry Jones said deputies responding to a tip went to a home near the town of Louisburg on Sunday evening and asked to speak to a teenage girl they believed to be the mother. Jones said they left when told the girl was not home.
The sheriff said the girl’s father later called the deputies and asked them to return. When they did, they were directed to a shallow grave where the 8Ω-pound baby girl was found in a bag.
Jones said the state medical examiner’s office determined the baby had been born healthy. It was not clear how or when she died.
Jones said the teenage girl is hospitalized, and no charges have been filed pending further investigation.
Maryland
Ruling against young boy in ‘the Pop-Tart case’
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A hearing examiner has affirmed the suspension of a Maryland boy who chewed his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.
The Washington Post reports that hearing examiner Andrew Nussbaum supported a principal’s assertion that the suspension was based on a history of problems, not the pastry episode some refer to as “the Pop-Tart case.” Nussbaum’s 30-page opinion is dated June 26.
The incident took place last year when the Anne Arundel County boy was 7 years old.
The case happened during a time of increased sensitivity to guns after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The boy’s punishment was one of several D.C.-area suspensions involving imaginary or toy guns.
Indiana
Ex-teacher faces child seduction involving student
NAPPANEE, Ind. (AP) — A former northern Indiana high school teacher faces a child seduction charge alleging that she kissed and fondled a male student on two occasions.
Twenty-seven-year-old Brooke Wilson was charged June 24 and a warrant was issued for her arrest, but she had not surrendered as of Tuesday.
The Elkhart Truth reports Elkhart County court records say Wilson was a teacher at NorthWood High School in Nappanee when she went on two dates in spring 2013 with a boy between 16 and 18 years of age and they allegedly engaged in “touching, fondling and kissing.”
The student reported the relationship to officials in September 2013 and Wilson was fired the following month.
Wilson allegedly told police she went on two dates with the student in April and May 2013.
Alabama
Judge orders new mediation in suit on desegregation
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge is ordering mediation to resolve a dispute over racial segregation in Huntsville’s city schools.
U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala ordered the talks as the city attempts to draw new district lines for its school zones.
The rezoning has to be approved by a federal judge because of a desegregation lawsuit dating back to 1963, when the federal government sued to end racial segregation in the system.
The Justice Department objects to the system’s current rezoning plan, arguing it would lead to more students attending class in segregated environments.
The school system and the federal government each submitted districting plans, but the judge rejected both and ordered mediation.
Huntsville schools are about 40 percent black and 60 percent white, but the judge says segregation continues.
Louisiana
Funds available to restart trial in child murder
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — The judicial wheels are turning again in the first-degree murder case against Landon Broussard, whose trial was blocked this year when state money for expert witnesses dried up.
Attorneys for Broussard told a state judge on Monday that the case’s second mitigation specialist, Stacey Farraro, received state money in early June to begin her role in the case. Farraro will look into Broussard’s past, researching appellate court decisions that could affect the case and lining up witnesses.
The Advocate reports the 22-year-old Broussard has been awaiting trial in the March 2013 death of 3-year-old Julien Madera.
Julien’s mother, 24-year-old Laura Smith, pleaded guilty on May 19 to cruelty to a juvenile, admitting she was guilty of doing nothing to stop the beatings and other abuses of her child.
Kansas
Man convicted for second time in Topeka murder
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man whose first conviction was overturned by the Kansas Supreme Court has been found guilty again in a death after a barroom fight.
A Shawnee County District Court jury on Monday convicted 29-year-old James Arthur Qualls III of premeditated first-degree murder in the July 2008 death of Joseph Beier. Qualls will be sentenced July 23.
Beier was shot 12 times in a confrontation at the Whiplash Bar. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Qualls testified that he shot Beier in self-defense.
Qualls was first convicted in 2010 and sentenced to life in prison with a mandatory minimum term of 25 years. But the Kansas Supreme Court ordered a new trial after finding that the judge in the first trial gave improper jury instructions.
Connecticut
Rowland argues charges false, unconstitutional,
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Lawyers for former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland are arguing that some of the federal charges he faces are unconstitutional.
They filed new arguments Monday night seeking to have much of the case against the 57-year-old former governor dismissed.
Rowland is accused of trying to create secret paid consultant roles with two congressional campaigns in 2010 and 2012.
Charges include conspiracy, falsifying records in a federal investigation, causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission, and causing illegal campaign contributions. He has pleaded not guilty.
Among other things, Rowland’s lawyers argue that campaign finance restrictions cited by the government are unconstitutional based on recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
They also argue that some finance limits cited by the government only apply to contributions, not to campaign expenditures.
