Chicago police announce arrests in gang and drug cases - Chicago Tribune

Driving past a street corner adorned with three spray-painted tributes to young men shot and killed on the streets, Chicago police officers jumped out of their cars and pulled a suspected drug dealer from an apartment.

The scene that played out Thursday morning is a result of an initiative that Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last month that calls for dozens of officers from several specialized units on West Side and South Side Chicago, which account for a quarter of the city's homicides.

For weeks, the undercover officers have been buying heroin in this West Side area, while other officers have been watching to see where the seller goes, whom he pays, who hands him more drugs and what that person does with the drugs and money he's handed.

That led to 17 arrest warrants for people suspected of dealing drugs in the neighborhood and on Thursday — with The Associated Press and a local television station in tow — they went out to round up suspects. By Thursday afternoon, they said the roundup that began a few days ago had led to the arrests of 11 of the 17 suspects. Most of them were arrested on drug conspiracy charges.

“The key is to get them working in concert,” said James O'Grady, the commander of the department's narcotics division, who likened the operation to a grocery store where a manager oversees the clerks and baggers. He said it doesn't matter if they are selling one bag or 50, “they're all part of the conspiracy.”

And that, he said, means more prison time than had they been arrested simply for possession for sale.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, who announced the initiative with Emanuel, said the areas where police would focus their attention were those that have seen both a thriving illegal drug trade but the worst gang violence.

Thursday's roundup followed a similar one targeting gang members late last month, and police say that by targeting those areas they hope that they will drive down violent crime, an issue that has become of particular concern as statistics from late 2011 and January of this year have shown an increase in homicides.

The lethal mixture of drugs and violence was as obvious as the words scrawled on the sidewalk outside the house where one of the suspected drug dealers was captured.

“They worked on this corner, they did,” said Adolph Leggin, 66, motioning to two of the three names he recognized as local drug dealers who were shot to death last year.

McCarthy has said that the undercover operations would be part of a wider effort that will include more uniformed patrols, including foot patrols, in areas to make sure the open-air drug markets don't reestablish themselves.

That is a marked difference, he said, from the department's since-disbanded Targeted Response Unit, when the Mobile Strike Force would swoop into the neighborhood, make arrests and then leave.

O'Grady said residents will now see that the police are committed to their neighborhood.

“We want them to know we're not just an occupying force, (that) we are there every day, that they can depend on us,” he said.

The effort is just a few weeks old, clearly not enough time to determine if what is being done will bring down the crime rate in a significant way as Emanuel and McCarthy hope it will.

Tio Hardiman, executive director of CeaseFire, an anti-violence group, was skeptical that the effort will have the long term effect on the targeted neighborhoods.

“It's been tried before and we wish police the best,” said Hardiman. “At the same time we have to have other solutions than just increased police presence and mass arrests.”

But Leggin said he is encouraged by what he's seen so far in the weeks since police focused their effort on the community where he's lived for more than 50 years.

“I come home now and I see nobody (dealing drugs) on this corner,” Leggin said.

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Police don't know if missing Virginia girl went with man willingly - CNN International

12-year-old girl abducted; mom deadBrittany Mae Smith had met the 32-year-old on the InternetThe man moved in with the girl and her mother in OctoberSmith's mother was found dead in their home

(CNN) -- A missing 12-year-old Virginia girl -- whose mother was found dead inside their home -- is believed to be with a 32-year-old man she met on the Internet, authorities said Tuesday, but they don't know whether she went with him willingly.

Police are "still actively searching" for Brittany Mae Smith, and have extended an Amber Alert for another 24 hours, Roanoke County Police Chief Ray Lavinder told reporters.

Authorities launched a search for the seventh-grader Monday after officers found the body of her mother, Tina Smith, 41, inside the family's Salem, Virginia, home. Tina Smith's co-workers contacted police after the woman failed to show up for work Monday morning. Her death is being investigated as a possible homicide, authorities said.

"We are extremely concerned for Brittany's safety," Lavinder said.

Police are "confident" that Brittany Smith is with Jeffrey Scott Easley, Lavinder said. He described Easley as a "friend of the family" who met the girl online over the summer and "developed a relationship" with her. Easley moved in with Smith and her daughter in October, the chief said.

Authorities aren't sure whether Brittany Smith was kidnapped, however. "We believe that she's with him, and we're not exactly sure about the situation," Lavinder said. He said police would like the girl to "at least contact us and let us know that she's OK."

Asked whether police believe Easley is responsible for Tina Smith's death, Lavinder said authorities have no information to indicate that, but that the investigation is ongoing.

"We would like to get Brittany back safely," he said. "We would like to get Mr. Easley back and make sure he's OK, and then we'd like to investigate the murder of Tina."

After finding Tina Smith's body, police soon got information that Brittany Smith's whereabouts were unknown, leading them to issue the statewide alert.

"We found out pretty quickly that (Brittany) had not shown up for school. Nobody seemed to know where she was. We're concerned that her disappearance is going to be, at least a good possibility, it has something to do with the homicide," Roanoke County Police Lt. Chuck Mason said Monday, according to CNN affiliate WSET of Lynchburg, Virginia.

Virginia's Amber Alert website noted early Monday evening that Easley's car, a 2000 red Chevrolet SUV, had been found. But authorities are still looking for Tina Smith's vehicle, a silver 2005 Dodge Neon four-door sedan with Virginia license plates.

Easley, a 265-pound white male, is 5 feet, 11 inches tall, has brown hair and hazel eyes, the Amber Alert says. Brittany Smith is 5 feet tall, weighs 100 pounds, and has straight brown hair and brown eyes.

Hall said authorities don't yet have a specific search area, as they are uncertain which direction Easley might be heading or how far he might have gotten. They have asked anyone with information to call 911 or Roanoke County police at 540-777-8641.

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Police: Usfiya boy, 14, admits to starting Carmel fire - Jerusalem Post

A 14-year-old resident of Usfiya was arrested on Monday on suspicion of hurling a charcoal from a water-pipe into a forest clearing near Usfiya on Thursday morning, witnessing the ignition of a large fire, and fleeing the scene. Police suspect the boy's actions directly led to the Carmel forest inferno.

The youth confessed to the suspicions against him and reenacted his alleged actions on Monday, police added.

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After witnessing the flames grow out of control, the youth became panicked, "ran back to his school [in Usfiya], and did not report the fire to anyone," police said.

The youth will appear before the Haifa Magistrate's Court on Tuesday morning for a remand hearing.

Hof police spokesman Mor Inbar told The Jerusalem Post that four additional Usfiya youths were questioned in recent days in connection with the water-pipe incident.

They included two brothers aged 16 and 14 who were arrested on Sunday, and who were released by the Haifa District Court on Monday after Judge Avraham Elikim accepted an appeal by attorneys representing the brothers against a decision by the Haifa Magistrate's Court to keep them in custody until Wednesday.

Judge Elikim noted that police suspect the minors of causing death through criminal negligence, but added that the suspects' young age represented an alleviating factor in the suspicions against them. "There is no disputing the trauma caused by the fires to many people, but we should not place a national disaster on the shoulders of two minors," Judge Elikim said during his decision on Monday.

Two additional minors were detained for questioning - though not arrested - by officers from the Hof police sub-district's central unit on Monday and released, before the 14-year-old suspect was arrested.
Meanwhile, Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a total of four suspects around the country have been arrested in recent days on suspicion of deliberately setting off smaller fires. Two suspects were arrested in the Jerusalem area and two more were arrested in Acre on suspicion of arson attacks.

Rosenfeld said "over 20 smaller fires around the country" that broke out since Thursday were suspected acts of arson. All of the smaller fires were put out by firefighters and did not cause injury.
A day after the last of the dead from the Prisons Service members who were burned to death in their bus near Kibbutz Bet Oren were buried, police said a full examination was underway to determine what could be learned from the tragedy. However, a police source added that no decision had yet been made about an investigations committee.

According to police, the bus, driven by 48-year-old David Navon - who was posthumously recruited into the Prison Service on Monday - attempted to turn around on the narrow single-lane highway connecting Bet Oren Junction to Atlit, after screeching to a halt in front of a wall of fire.

As the flames engulfed the vehicle from both directions, desperate IPS staff members attempted to flee the bus, and ran straight into the flames. The bus was accompanied by police cars containing Lior Boker, Itzik Melina, and Haifa police chief Ahuva Tomer, all whom died of burns related injuries.

Parents of two victims from the Prison Service - Roee Biton and Hagai Jerno, came forward on Monday to accuse the authorities of failing to prepare staff members with sending them on a mission to evacuate the Damon prison without means to defend themselves against a fire.

The families told Ynet said they did not blame the IPS for the tragedy, but rather "those who were responsible for putting out the fires, evacuating homes, and closing off roads."

A police source added, "Obviously, this tragedy will be examined from all directions, from the intelligence to the operational level. Lessons will be learned. An incident of this scale cannot go by without being examined in detail."

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British police know location of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange: report - Christian Science Monitor

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Police in Britain know WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s whereabouts in the country, but have not acted on an international arrest warrant for him, a British newspaper reported Thursday.

The enigmatic figure, whose organization is in the midst of releasing some 250,000 secret US diplomatic cables that have been embarrassing to the US and, according to some, could damage diplomatic relations around the world, is wanted in Sweden for questioning on rape allegations. Mr. Assange has been absent from public view for nearly a month.

In a statement on its website Dec. 1, the international police organization Interpol said that it had put out a "red notice" for Mr. Assange on Nov. 20 to all 188 member countries. The red notice was only made public this week, however, following official authorization by Sweden, Interpol said.

A red notice is not itself an arrest warrant, but a notification that a warrant exists in one country and that that country will seek extradition of the suspect if arrested, as The Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday. Some nations treat the notice as request for an arrest.

British newspaper The Independent reported today that police in Britain are “fully aware” of where Assange is staying, but have not authorized his arrest because officials are seeking “clarification” about his Swedish arrest warrant. Assange gave the police contact information when he moved to Britain in October, and Scotland Yard has been in touch with his attorneys for a month, reports the paper. He is believed to be in southeast England.

But unnamed sources told The Independent that Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) wants more information on the European Arrest Warrant issued for him by Swedish prosecutors. The Independent describes the warrant as using a “fast-track system for arresting suspects within the EU.”

MSNBC reports that according to Scotland Yard, “Swedish authorities need to issue a European arrest warrant – which is executable in the UK – before Assange can be arrested.”

The revelation comes as circumstances are already looking grim for Assange. On Thursday a Swedish court rejected his attempt to appeal his detention order in Sweden, reports the BBC. He had attempted to appeal court rulings allowing his arrest warrant to be issued. He has not been charged in the alleged rape, sexual molestation, and coercion but is wanted for questioning.

And the Associated Press reported Wednesday that Amazon.com refused to continue hosting WikiLeaks on its servers, and those who run the site were forced to move it back to a Swedish host. The website came under cyber attacks as it released the secret diplomatic cables, causing it to be unavailable at times. Amazon’s decision came after US senators contacted the company about the issue, according to the AP. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has also said the US may want to prosecute Assange for violating secrecy laws or espionage.

Assange’s lawyers have denied the charges against him, and said Swedish authorities have ignored his requests for a meeting. People close to Assange have said he has been subject to death threats. And his mother recently defended him, saying much of what had been written about him is untrue, and he is merely “fighting baddies,” reported The Christian Science Monitor.

But the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks are causing concern in the international community, with some saying they will have far-reaching damage on diplomatic relations. The Monitor reports that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the release “an attack on the international community.”

… Secretary Clinton said that both the furthering of US national interests and the operation of the world’s international political system depend on thousands of confidential exchanges, assessments, and conversations every day.

Far from being a “laudable” effort to make the workings of government transparent, the leaking of classified cables, she said, can have a chilling effect on such US foreign policy goals as the promotion of human rights or expansion of religious freedoms by discouraging the foreign proponents of those goals from working with the US.

The Monitor reports the released cables are unlikely to “lead to any significant geopolitical shifts or fundamental reworkings of US relations with other countries,” but may have a negative impact on the US diplomatic corps in its ability to have open conversations with their counterparts in foreign governments.

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Police Seek Clues in Slaying of Florida Family - AOL News

(Nov. 21) – Police are "putting all the pieces of the puzzle together," as they investigate the brutal slayings of young mother and three small children, found in a violent scene at their home in a normally peaceful subdivision in north Florida.

Autopsies were being performed today on the victims, Tallahassee police spokesman David McCranie said.

The victims' names were not released, but neighbors and relatives identified them as a 28-year-old single mother, her 6-year-old twin daughters and her 3-year-old son.

"Right now I'm still kind of distraught," neighbor David Mount told Tallahassee television station WCTV.

"I really don't believe it, that I'm not going to see those little girls running around, up and down the street anymore," he said.

Mount, who has lived in his home just a few doors down from the victims for the past five years, said the neighborhood has been hit recently by break-ins and other crime, but nothing violent.

The single-story home is located in a relatively new subdivision a few miles from the state Capitol. It is surrounded by dense woods, and McCranie said the neighborhood is made up largely of young families.

"This is a very shocking and unusual case for us," he told The Associated Press.

The bodies were found after police received a suspicious call at 10:15 a.m. Saturday. Authorities had never been called to the home before then, McCranie said.

Police described the scene inside the home.

"There's obvious violence in the home," McCranie told CNN. "How that violence transpired, we're not sure."

He added that authorities hope to release more information about the investigation soon.

"Right now, it's putting all the pieces of the puzzle together," he said.

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San Francisco Bay Bridge closed in police standoff - Reuters

The Bay Bridge, linking Oakland to the east with San Francisco, is shown in San Francisco, California August 18, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith

SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:50pm EST

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The San Francisco Bay Bridge was shut down for over an hour on Thursday after an apparently suicidal man claiming to have a gun and explosives stopped his car and threatened to blow it up, authorities said.

Traffic was halted on the bridge, a major commuter route into the city, when the man called in his threat at 6:58 a.m. It resumed flowing just over an hour later, after he was taken into custody.

Authorities said the unidentified man had his 16-year-old daughter in the car with him and may have been upset over marital issues.

The man threatened to blow up the Bay Bridge, but upon initial approach police determined he "wasn't much of a credible threat from an explosives standpoint," Highway Patrol spokesman Trent Cross said.

No explosives were recovered from the car and the man's daughter was being interviewed by authorities.

CHP Officer Shawn Chase said police on the scene witnessed the man, a resident of nearby Antioch, California, throw something into the bay.

"He said he had a fake gun, a toy gun that he threw over the rail," Chase said.

Shortly after the call, authorities stopped traffic to the bridge, designated as part of Interstate 80, at the westbound toll plaza, and asked westbound drivers already on the span to turn around and drive east.

Traffic on the bridge was lighter than normal because of the Veterans Day holiday in the U.S., Cross said.

The 8.4 mile Bay Bridge connects San Francisco to Oakland. Over 40 million vehicles crossed the span in the 2008-09 fiscal year, bringing in over $43 million in base tolls, according to the Bay Area Toll Authority.

(Reporting by Jonathan Oatis and Dan Levine; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Jerry Norton)

Really ruined the commute this morning – I’m back at home trying to rescue some of the day by working from here. I hope the police ‘help’ him to let us know why he did this, perhaps he needs a little trip to Guantanamo… Just the amount of fuel wasted as hundreds of thousands of people sat there with their engines running was enough of a disaster to warrant a good investigation. The East Bay was a parking lot.

fiendish Report As Abusive

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NATO Seeks Afghan Police in the South - New York Times

The mujahedeen were Afghan guerrilla fighters trained and backed by the United States to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. They later fought against the Taliban and helped topple them from power in 2001.

Under President Hamid Karzai, they were gradually disarmed and demobilized. But many maintain fearsome reputations and have deep links in communities that can be revived to gather intelligence and raise forces quickly.

NATO commanders hope that they can be used to help raise as many as 30,000 local police officers within six months, providing a critical element to help the government and coalition forces hold on to areas newly cleared of Taliban insurgents, the officials said.

Previous efforts to raise local defense forces have failed, largely because of a lack of support in communities and from the government. The police, meanwhile, have a reputation for poor discipline, drug abuse and corruption, and have proved easy prey for the Taliban.

Though some NATO commanders remain cautious about using the mujahedeen, others say the village-based forces can work as part of the coordinated military and civilian strategy that has begun to gain traction in the south since the arrival of 30,000 more American troops and thousands of extra Afghan troops this year.

Under the plan, the new forces will be approved by local councils, or shuras, to ensure that they have the support of all constituencies, that old rivalries between commanders and tribes are not reactivated, and that one faction does not gather too much power to itself.

“Then you partner it up effectively with I.S.A.F. and with the Afghan National Police, then you have got a very real possibility of keeping the Taliban out,” said Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, the departing British commander of coalition forces in the southern region, referring to the International Security Assistance Force of NATO.

Still, many, even in NATO, have reservations about recruiting and arming loosely controlled forces. Many Afghans, too, including President Karzai, are wary of empowering private militias, given the factional fighting among mujahedeen groups in the 1990s and the more recent tensions caused by Afghanistan’s private security companies.

General Petraeus had agreed with President Karzai to a pilot program of 10,000 such local Afghan policemen shortly after taking command in July. Recruitment has already begun in some places to expand that plan, with the blessing of the Karzai government.

On a recent day, General Carter sat with Afghan and American commanders on the roof terrace at the district headquarters of Arghandab, just north of the city of Kandahar, discussing how to consolidate their hold over areas cleared three weeks before.

“How quickly can you recruit 300 local police?” he asked a former mujahedeen commander, Hajji Hafizullah. “Can you bring them for training by tomorrow?” By the end of the meeting, the district governor was signing the papers of several dozen local men who will form the local police force.

General Carter calls the new forces “sons of the shura,” because they require approval by everyone on the traditional council of elders to prevent them from becoming what he called “one bloke’s militia.” The plan has clear echoes of the Sons of Iraq, the neighborhood militias that helped turn around violence there.

General Carter, who completed his one-year tour on Nov. 2, contends that the local forces can provide insight in the Taliban heartland, here in Kandahar Province and in neighboring provinces.

He said one early mistake he made was to remove the discredited local police from Marja, in Helmand Province, ahead of the large-scale operation against the Taliban there in February. Without leaving some of them there to provide important local intelligence, General Carter said, “we did not really have an understanding of what was going on probably for about four to six weeks.”

American Marines holding Marja have been plagued by the reinfiltration of insurgents since the operation. NATO commanders are bracing themselves for the same trouble in the newly cleared districts around Kandahar.

“The challenge always is what happens when a resurgent Taliban tries to come back and tries to undermine the security that you are trying to establish,” General Carter said. “And that we should expect on and off over the next few months.”

Whatever their reputation for excess, the former mujahedeen know their areas and their people like no one else. They have also proved themselves brave enough to stand up to the Taliban. “These guys have the clout to make people braver,” General Carter said.

Local police officers, trained and supervised by American Special Forces, are already operating in a number of places, including part of Marja and an area in Arghandab, and Special Forces units are already looking to recruit men in the newly cleared horn of Panjwai in Kandahar Province, said Brig. Gen. Frederick Hodges, the coalition director of operations in the south.

“It is promising, but the jury is still out,” he said in an interview.

Carlotta Gall reported from Arghandab and Ruhullah Khapalwak from Kabul, Afghanistan.

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Coordinated Attack Levels Pakistan Police Building - New York Times

The site of the attack in Karachi, Pakistan on Thursday.

KARACHI, Pakistan — A coordinated attack by gunmen wielding grenades and a powerful car bomb struck at a police compound in a heavily guarded quarter of central Karachi on Thursday, heavily damaging several buildings in a direct strike at government counterterrorism forces.

Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog »

A three-story police building was leveled, and a residential unit for families of police officers was reported heavily damaged.

As of Thursday evening, the death toll stood at 18, with at least 100 people injured, but rescuers were still sifting through rubble, and it seemed clear that the death toll would rise. Hospital officials said that women and children were among the injured.

That the attackers were able to penetrate the area — engaging police officers in a firefight and driving a bomb-laden vehicle to the compound’s second gate — was telling. Police officers patrol the streets; mass transit is barred from some streets; and gates keep most traffic from the compound. The area is home to two five-star hotels, government offices and the American Consulate.

Karachi has a history of sectarian and ethnic strife, and mosques and Western targets have been struck in the past by militant groups. But attacks directly on government targets have been rare.

Babar Khattak, a top police official, said some personnel remained unaccounted for. Twenty police officials had been on duty, he said. There were suspicions that the attack was a reprisal for a recent series of arrests of militants. Mr. Khattak said that the police counterterrorism unit had arrested nine militants in the past few days.

But there were conflicting reports about whether the suspects were in the compound at the time of the attack. Mr. Khattak said they were not, but Fayyaz Leghari, Karachi’s police chief, said that several militant suspects were there.

He said they were suspected of being members of Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, a banned sectarian group.

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Transit Police investigate death of BU grad, 22, struck by trolley - Boston Globe

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A 22-year-old Boston University graduate was struck and killed by an MBTA Green Line train headed eastbound shortly after midnight yesterday between the Longwood and Fenway stops.

The man, identified as Joshua Stimson of Brighton, was found on the eastbound tracks and pronounced dead at the scene, according to an MBTA spokesman, Joe Pesaturo.

It remains unclear why Stimson was inside the fence-enclosed Green Line right-of-way, where his body was found west of the Fenway stop, but Pesaturo said early investigation suggests alcohol may have been a factor. Problems with the train or signal on the Riverside line have been ruled out and the trolley driver received no citations or disciplinary actions.

Laurel Bennis, a friend, said Stimson had had dinner in her apartment near Kenmore Square Saturday and was making plans for the night when he left around 8 p.m.

“We’re still trying to piece it together, seeing who he was with,’’ Bennis said. “It’s kind of a big shock. It’s a mystery to all of us.’’

Friends described Stimson as fun-loving, smart, and an all-around good friend with a great sense of humor. He had been one of the top five racers on the Boston University ski team and did mixed martial arts to stay in shape.

“He was one of the greatest friends I’ve ever had,’’ said Bennis, who shared an apartment with Stimson last summer. “He always knew how to cheer you up, always knew how to get you out of a funk you were in.’’

Stimson graduated this spring from Boston University’s School of Management, where he studied finance, Bennis said. He had started a job last Monday at a global management company specializing in consulting, technology, and outsourcing, she said. He was very excited about it and really liked his co-workers, Bennis said.

Ben Elliott, who said he had known Stimson for “longer than I can remember,’’ grew up with him in North Haverhill, N.H., where they went to Woodsville High School. Elliott said he would always tell Stimson he was “too smart for his own good.’’

Elliott said he had just spoken to Stimson on Saturday and heard about Stimson’s death early yesterday from friends. Elliott said he was a Marine and had never shed a tear during his active duty, but, “This morning, hearing about Josh, I cried.’’

A Boston University spokesman, Colin Riley, said the university had been notified of the death. “It’s an extremely sad situation,’’ he said.

MBTA Transit Police were notified at 12:19 a.m. and Brookline police and fire departments, along with emergency medical services, responded. The death remains under investigation by the MBTA Transit Police.

Taylor M. Miles can be reached at tmiles@globe.com.

© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

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DC police identify students involved with drug lab - Washington Post

District police have identified two students and a campus visitor who were arrested Saturday on charges that they maintained a drug lab in a Georgetown University freshman dorm. Georgetown students Charles Smith and John Romano, who live on the ninth floor of Harbin Hall, and John Perrone, a visitor and friend of one of the students, were arrested and charged with manufacturing a controlled substance. Police said the three had a lab set up to produce the hallucinogenic drug DMT in the campus dorm room. District police did not release the ages or the home towns of the three. Police also did not say how much, if any, of the drug was found, although officials said chemicals used in the production of the drug were discovered in the room. Police were alerted to the room early Saturday when people reported a chemical odor in the building, later prompting a series of evacuations. District officials said that a few people were treated for exposure to the chemicals but that they posed no further threat to other dorm residents.

- Josh WhiteD.C. Water sued by Cafritz on fire losses

Peggy Cooper Cafritz, whose Northwest mansion and collection of African and African American art were lost in a fire last year, is suing D.C. Water for failing to maintain proper water pressure in her neighborhood along Chain Bridge Road. The lawsuit alleges that a lack of water pressure to area hydrants led firefighters to lose control of the July 29, 2009, blaze, and that testing showed that the water pressure was about one-third of the acceptable minimum for firefighting. A District report in August 2009 said that the water flow was low but that whether the extensive damage to the home and its artifacts could have been prevented is "debatable" because the blaze was so intense and fast. The fire started on a porch and consumed the civic leader's home and its irreplacable contents. The damage to the home, artwork and a rare book collection was officially estimated at $15 million, although the lawsuit says Cafritz's losses were $30 million. Cafritz's lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, seeks $30 million in punitive damages against D.C. Water, formerly known as WASA, to "ensure that the dangerous conditions caused by WASA's misconduct do not result in similar harm to other D.C. residents."D.C. Water officials have not commented specifically on the lawsuit, which was filed last week. "We recognize the very real tragedy in this situation and empathize with the loss Ms. Cafritz and her family experienced in the summer of 2009," George Hawkins, D.C. Water's general manager, said in a written statement. "While we have not yet reviewed her complaint, we look forward to reading it and taking whatever action is necessary at that time."

- Josh WhiteMARYLANDMan is arrested inburning of woman

A man accused of setting a woman on fire was arrested Saturday night by Howard County police.Police have not confirmed the identity of the man, who is believed to be homeless. The woman, who also might be homeless, was taken to Johns Hopkins Burn Center with severe burns.Howard police said the incident occurred in a wooded area near Gorman Road about 2:45 p.m. Saturday. A woman who is also thought to be homeless called the police from a nearby store.After a search, police found a man on Greenwood Place about 5 p.m. and took him into custody.

- Ovetta Wiggins

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Many Questions on Killing of Pace Student by Police - New York Times

It was the homecoming game, and a reunion of sorts for two childhood friends on the opposing teams. Danroy Henry Jr. was a junior defensive back for the home team, Pace University, in Pleasantville, N.Y. Everyone called him D.J.

Brandon Cox was a running back for the visitors, Stonehill College of Easton, Mass. The two 20-year-olds had been teammates at Oliver Ames High School in North Easton, where their coach called them inseparable. And though Stonehill drubbed Pace on Saturday, 27-0, that was no reason not to get together for some postgame fun at a Westchester County restaurant near campus.

Within hours, Mr. Henry lay fatally wounded in the front seat of a car riddled by police bullets, and Mr. Cox was injured, in a shooting that has mystified people who were close to the young men.

“They were just a joy to be around, never in any trouble,” said Jim Artz, their high school coach. “If my sons grew up to be like these two, I would have been very happy.”

The State Police and the Westchester County district attorney’s office said on Monday that they would join the investigation into the shooting, which involved Pleasantville and Mount Pleasant police officers.

According to the Mount Pleasant police, officers were trying to subdue an unruly crowd around 1 a.m. Sunday in a parking lot outside Finnegan’s Grill, a popular student hangout in Thornwood, about two miles from the Pace campus and about 33 miles north of New York City.

One of the officers approached a car that was parked in the fire lane, where Mr. Henry sat in the driver’s seat. Mr. Cox was in the passenger seat, and a third football player, Desmond Hinds, a senior wide receiver at Pace, was in the back.

When the officer knocked on the window, Mr. Henry tried to speed away, striking one officer and pinning another against the hood, the police said. The officer clinging to the hood then pulled out his gun and fired into the car. Another officer also fired into the car, which crashed into a parked police car and came to a stop.

At an impromptu news conference outside their upper-middle-class home in South Easton, about 30 miles south of Boston, Mr. Cox’s family gave a starkly different version of the shooting.

“They thought the police were asking them to move out of the fire lane,” Thomas Parks, Mr. Cox’s stepfather, said. “The next thing you know there’s a police officer jumping from behind a car and he starts shooting.”

Mr. Cox, who was grazed in the shoulder and wore a hooded sweat shirt covering the bandages as he joined Mr. Parks, said he was “devastated” by the loss of his friend, but did not discuss the shooting in detail.

“We did not do anything to deserve this,” he said. “In my mind, what went on, there was no need for any of that.”

The officer who fired from the hood was identified as Aaron Hess, a former New York City police officer who has been with the Pleasantville police since 2003. The other officer who fired was identified as Ronald Beckley, a 30-year veteran of the Mount Pleasant police. Both were in uniform at the time, the police said. It was unclear on Monday how many shots were fired at the car and how many bullets struck Mr. Henry.

No one has been charged in the case. The officers, who suffered minor injuries, have been placed on administrative duties.

Janet DiFiore, the Westchester district attorney, said the investigation would be “detailed, thorough and complete,” and would include many witness interviews and a review of video surveillance.

Mr. Henry’s parents, who had traveled from Massachusetts along with Mr. Cox’s parents to watch the game on Saturday, did not return calls seeking comment on Monday. The families had met for pizza before the game.

A message on the Henrys’ voice mail on Monday said the family needed some time alone and asked supporters to “tell every single person how much influence Danroy had on you, or the good person he was, and just let everybody know he’s not the kind of person they’re going to try to make him out to be.”

At Mount Pleasant police headquarters, Police Chief Louis Alagno had a pained expression as he greeted visitors on Monday. On his office wall was a classic Norman Rockwell print of an officer at a counter talking with a little boy. The picture could have been ripped from a scene out of Mount Pleasant, where, the chief said he believed, no officer had fired a weapon in the line of duty since the early 1980s.

“This is devastating,” Chief Alagno said. “Just about every officer that was on the scene is truly devastated.”

The chief said he met with Mr. Henry’s father, mother and two younger siblings on Sunday. “They are a beautiful family,” he said. Mr. Henry’s father, he said, “was much more composed than I would have been under the circumstances.”

Nate Schweber and Ted Siefer contributed reporting.

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Serb police clash with anti-gay rioters - BusinessWeek

By JOVANA GEC

BELGRADE, Serbia

Serbia's riot police fought running battles on Sunday with hundreds of far-right supporters who tried to disrupt a gay pride march in downtown Belgrade. Several dozen people were hurt, officials said.

Thousands of police officers sealed off the streets in the capital where the march took place, repeatedly clashing at several locations with rioters who were trying to burst through security cordons.

Several parked cars were set on fire or damaged, shop windows were broken, garbage containers were overturned and streets signs destroyed.

The rioters fired shots and hurled petrol bombs at the headquarters of the ruling pro-Western Democratic Party, setting the garage of the building on fire. The state TV building and other political parties headquarters were were also attacked, with many of the house windows shattered by stones.

The protesters, chanting "death to homosexuals!" hurled Molotov cocktails, bricks, stones, glass bottles and firecrackers at riot police. Police responded by firing tear gas and deploying armored vehicles to disperse the charging protesters in the heart of the capital even after the brief pride march ended.

The protesters hijacked a bus, ordered all of its passengers and the driver out, and pushed it down a steep street before hit an electric pole on a main Belgrade square.

Belgrade emergency hospital said 57 people have been injured, including 47 policemen, one seriously. Police said several rioters were arrested.

Right-wing groups say the gay events are contrary to Serbian family and religious values. Most of the rioters Sunday were young football fans whose groups have been infiltrated by neo-Nazi and other extremist organizations.

"These riots obviously have nothing to do with the gay parade or any moral values," said Democratic Party spokeswoman Jelana Trivan. "These are hooligan gangs which must be punished severely."

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac, vice president of the Democratic Party, said a part of the party's archive, warehouse and phone lines at the building were destroyed and shots were also fired at the building.

"It is high time that we deal in a very democratic way, through the courts, with those who call themselves members of the patriotic organizations," Sutanovac said. "Is this Belgrade or the wild West?"

Senior Justice Ministry official Slobodan Homen said that the state response will be "fierce." He said that the city center is covered with surveillance cameras and that the rioters have been identified and many already detained. He said they could face up to eight years in prison.

Sunday's march was viewed as a major test for Serbia's government, which has launched pro-Western reforms and pledged to protect human rights as it seeks European Union membership.

Right-wing groups broke up a pride march in 2001 and forced the cancellation of last year's event.

Vincent Degert, the head of the EU mission in Serbia, addressed around 1,000 gay activists and their supporters who gathered at a park in downtown Belgrade which was surrounded by riot police, including armored vehicles.

"We are here to celebrate this very important day ... to celebrate the values of tolerance, freedom of expression and assembly," Degert told the crowd waving rainbow flags.

The same right-wing group set the U.S. Embassy on fire during riots in 2008 to protest U.S. support for Kosovo's independence.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to visit Belgrade in coming days as part of a Balkan tour.

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Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed to this report.

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