Minnesota
Former officer opens fire in crowded bar
CHISOLM, Minn. (AP) -- Authorities credit a bystander with taking down a former police officer who opened fire in a crowded bar in northeastern Minnesota, killing one man and wounding two others.
The gunman entered Jim's Sports Club Bar and Grill in Chisolm through a back door Saturday night and started shooting at a table of patrons, which included his ex-wife.
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension spokesman Andy Skoogman says a bystander smashed a wooden chair over the gunman's head, knocking him unconscious. The bar was packed with people from a nearby golf tournament. Skoogman tells the Star Tribune there could have been more victims, if the gunman hadn't been subdued.
Forty-year-old Edward Walberg was killed. Twenty-nine-year-old Cale Nelson was shot twice and is in critical condition at St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth. Thirty-eight-year-old Larry Elj was shot in the upper arm and was treated and released from a nearby hospital.
Texas
Gunman killed in shootout with police at Walmart
COMMERCE, Texas (AP) -- A man walked into a Walmart carrying at least two guns before engaging in a shootout with police outside the store, authorities said. The man was killed and an off-duty officer in the store who had tried to stop him was injured.
The shootout Sunday in the east Texas city of Commerce began when police received a call that shots had been fired from a car in nearby Greenville, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas, said City of Commerce spokeswoman Marty Cunningham.
Commerce police intercepted the car just outside the city limits, where the man exchanged gunfire with officers, Cunningham said. He then drove to Walmart and entered the store "carrying a long gun and pistol," the spokeswoman said.
Cunningham said an off-duty officer from another agency was in the store and saw the man leave. The officer tried to stop the suspect in front of the store, where the officer and Commerce police exchanged gunfire with the man.
The off-duty officer was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries, Cunningham said. She said two people inside the store at the time of the shooting were hospitalized after complaining of chest pains.
Virginia
State AG: Colleges can't ban gay
discrimination
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia's attorney general has advised the state's public colleges that they don't have the authority to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, saying only the General Assembly has that power.
The letter sent by Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli to state college presidents and other officials Thursday drew swift criticism from Democrats and gay rights activists.
Cuccinelli said the legislature has repeatedly refused to exercise its authority. As recently as Tuesday, a subcommittee killed legislation that would have banned job discrimination against gay state employees.
"It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including 'sexual orientation,' 'gender identity,' 'gender expression,' or like classification, as a protected class within its nondiscrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly," Cuccinelli wrote.
The Republican advised college governing boards to "take appropriate actions to bring their policies in conformance with the law."
Jon Blair, chief executive officer of the gay rights group Equality Virginia, said Cuccinelli's "radical actions are putting Virginia at risk of losing both top students and faculty, and discouraging prospective ones from coming here."
C. Richard Cranwell, state Democratic Party chairman, said Virginia's colleges and universities were more than capable of setting policies that work for them "without meddling from Ken Cuccinelli."
The attorney general said his letter merely stated Virginia law, which prohibits discrimination because of "race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, or disability," but makes no mention of sexual orientation.
Cuccinelli said the criticism was coming from people who have been frustrated in their attempts to change the law.
"None of them suggest our reading of the law is wrong. It's people who don't like the policy speaking up because it's their opportunity to go on the attack," he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg said colleges are bound by U.S. Supreme Court decisions not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
A spokesman for the Family Foundation of Virginia, which has opposed expanding state anti-discrimination policies to protect gays, said the criticism of Cuccinelli's action is unwarranted.
"My understanding is all he's done is essentially ask the universities to follow the law," spokesman Chris Freund said. "It's a little perplexing to see people respond the way they have."
Virginia's last two Democratic governors, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, signed executive orders barring state agencies from discriminating in hiring, promotions or firing based on sexual orientation. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who took office in January, removed protections based on sexual orientation from his anti-discrimination order.
As attorney general in 2006, McDonnell said Kaine exceeded his constitutional authority by extending protections to gays.
Illinois
No bond for pair charged in deaths of family members
WHEATON, Ill. (AP) -- Two men charged in the shooting deaths of three members of a suburban Chicago family have been denied bond.
Prosecutors say 28-year-old Johnny Borizov persuaded 23-year-old alleged shooter Jacob Nodarse to kill the mother of his 1-year-old son, her parents and brother over a custody dispute.
The woman, Angela Kramer, escaped injury. But the bodies of her mother, father and brother were found at their Darien home on Tuesday. A funeral mass for all three victims was scheduled for Monday.
Prosecutors claimed in court Sunday that Nodarse broke into the house using a hammer. They also allege Borizov planned an alibi by going to the Empress Casino in Joliet during the killings.
Defense attorneys say the allegations are false. Both men are due in court March 29.
Published: Tue, Mar 9, 2010
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