LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I don’t think there’s ever going to be an optimal point where we say, ‘This is all done. This is perfect. This is just the way we wanted it.’ This is a process, and it’s sometimes a messy process.”
President Barack Obama after he and global leaders set an exit path that will keep their troops in Afghanistan for two more years Article, 1A
Rutgers student gets 30 days, fine
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - A former Rutgers University student who used a webcam to spy on his homosexual roommate was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail.
Dharun Ravi, 20, could have gotten 10 years behind bars for his part in a case that burst onto front pages when Tyler Clementi, 18, threw himself to his death off the George Washington Bridge.
Instead, Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman gave Ravi a month in jail, placed him on three years’ probation and ordered him to get counseling and pay $10,000 toward a program to help victims of hate crimes.
Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said he will appeal the sentence, calling it insufficient.
Ravi, his family and his lawyers left court without comment.
The judge also said he would recommend Ravi not be deported to his native India; however, deportation is still a possibility.
6 missing in Gulf after mayday call
GALVESTON, Texas - Six people are missing in the Gulf of Mexico after they abandoned their sinking fishing boat in the waters off Galveston, Texas, the Coast Guard said Monday.
The boat’s captain sent a mayday call Sunday afternoon saying the vessel was sinking and that the six people onboard were planning to escape in an orange life raft, said Coast Guard command center controller Elvie Damaso.
“We have an onboard emergency. We are taking on water, sir,” the unidentified boat captain said in a distress call to the Coast Guard.
Damaso says authorities are not sure whether the boat is called Scallywag or Skylark because the quality of the line was poor.
Damaso said at least three boats, a helicopter, a plane and two cutters are involved in the search for the missing fishermen.
Prison riot kills guard, hurts 20
JACKSON, Miss. - A gang fight in a prison for illegal aliens quickly escalated into a riot involving as many as 300 inmates, a sheriff said.
A guard was beaten to death and at least 20 other people were injured. The riot began Sunday afternoon and lasted into the night, with inmates dragging mattresses and wood to an outdoor recreation yard to set ablaze, Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said.
Authorities inside the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez responded with tear gas and tactical units. They slowly corralled the inmates into a yard and searched them. By 2:45 a.m.
Monday, all prisoners were back in their cells and the prison was locked down.
Mayfield said it’s not clear whether the violence began within a gang or it was a dispute between rival groups, but “once it got started, it spread like wildfire.”
The prison holds nearly 2,500 low-security inmates, with most serving time for coming back to the United States after being deported, said Emilee Beach, a prison spokesman.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 05/22/2012