Domestic Glance
A southwestern Illinois judge already under scrutiny after a colleague died of a cocaine overdose at his family's hunting lodge was charged Friday with possession of heroin and guns.
Wearing cutoff shorts and a T-shirt with the slogan "Bad is my middle name," St. Clair County Circuit Judge Michael Cook pleaded not guilty to federal counts of possessing heroin and having a firearm while being an illegal user of controlled substances. The criminal complaint alleges those offenses took place Thursday, and that Cook is an addict.
Illinois judge charged with heroin, gun possession
Bridge over Washington's Skagit River collapses, cars with people in water
The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.
The four-lane bridge collapsed about 7 p.m., Trooper Mark Francis said. Francis said he had no immediate estimate of how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or deaths.
Boy Scouts of America approve plan to accept openly gay boys; gay leaders still banned
The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday voted to allow gay youths in the organization, partially ending a long-standing ban on accepting homosexual members.
Of the 1,400 scout leaders voting at the annual meeting in Texas, more than 60% supported the proposal. The members voted in favor of adjusting the BSA membership rules to read: "No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone."
Oklahoma businesses accused of fraud
Investigators said they have uncovered evidence of businesses committing fraud by increasing prices in areas of Oklahoma devastated by tornadoes.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt told ABC News that 30 investigators began checking for fraud in the hours after the tornado hit. The investigators said they quickly found businesses violating the law, Pruitt said, including a grocery store that was allegedly charging $40 for a case of water.
Poor planning left Texas firefighters unprepared
The fertilizer-plant explosion that killed 14 and injured about 200 others in Texas last month highlights the failings of a U.S. federal law intended to save lives during chemical accidents, a Reuters investigation has found.
Known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, the law requires companies to tell emergency responders about the hazardous chemicals stored on their properties. But even when companies do so, the law stops there: After the paperwork is filed, it is up to the companies and local firefighters, paramedics and police to plan and train for potential disasters.
Boston bomb investigators kill Florida man
A Chechen immigrant living in Florida was shot and killed during a violent confrontation with Boston bombing investigators, officials have said. The shooting took place early on Wednesday in Orlando as officials questioned Ibragim Todashev, 27.
An FBI agent and two Massachusetts State police officers were present.
US media report Todashev admitted a role in a triple murder near Boston in September 2011 and implicated bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the crime.
U.S. acknowledges killing of four U.S. citizens in counterterrorism operations
The Obama administration Wednesday for the first time acknowledged killing four U.S. citizens in “counterterrorism operations” abroad.
The deaths of three of the Americans — Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son Abd al-Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki, and Samir Khan, all of whom were killed in drone strikes in Yemen in 2011 — had been previously reported. The death of the fourth, Jude Kennan Mohammad, a Florida native apparently killed in Pakistan, had not been.
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