The nation in brief

Capitol emptied when plane enters zone

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Capitol Police said the Capitol and surrounding office buildings were briefly evacuated after a small airplane entered restricted airspace over Washington.

The evacuation was ordered about 1:30 p.m. Saturday. A Capitol Police spokesman said the pilot of the aircraft did not immediately communicate after it flew into restricted space, leading to the evacuation.

The alert was lifted about 2 p.m. after the pilot began communicating, and visitors and staff members were allowed back into the buildings.

The Secret Service said its agents planned to interview the pilot, in line with protocol. The agency said the incident didn't affect security at the White House. President Barack Obama was playing golf at a military base in Maryland at the time.

Courthouse attacker had clip-on bombs

ATLANTA -- The man who police said staged an assault on a Georgia courthouse carefully planned the weapons and supplies he would need to enter the building and harm people inside, authorities said Saturday as they sought to explain why Dennis Marx opened fire outside the building, wounding one deputy before dying in a shootout.

Police said they found a checklist at Marx's home in Cumming, Ga., that matched the items inside the rented silver Nissan sport utility vehicle used in Friday's midmorning attack. Marx had a number of bags and buckets holding homemade and commercial explosive devices that could be clipped to hostages; a gas mask; two handguns; zip ties and two bullet-resistant vests, police said. They said Marx wore one of the vests and clipped a hand grenade and wire to himself.

"All the items were checked off," Forsyth County sheriff's Deputy Doug Rainwater said. "So this was a very deliberate planned assault on the Forsyth County Courthouse."

Investigators still have questions about any motive Marx, 48, had for the attack that began about 10 a.m. Friday on the courthouse square in Cumming. Marx had been due in court to plead guilty in a drug case earlier Friday.

Deputy Daniel Rush, who first engaged Marx outside the courthouse and was shot in the leg, remained in stable condition Saturday.

2nd arrest made in theater bottle bombs

WASHINGTON -- A second man has been charged with blowing up soda bottles inside movie theaters in the Washington, D.C., area, authorities said Saturday.

Michael Hollingsworth, 23, of Takoma Park, Md., was arrested Friday and charged with two felonies in connection with a "bottle bomb" detonation last month at a theater in Largo, Md., fire officials said.

The first suspect in the bottle bomb explosions was arrested May 31. Manuel Joyner Bell, 20, is facing felony charges in Maryland and Virginia in six explosions at five movie theaters this spring. Authorities said Joyner Bell confessed to detonating bottle bombs, and the new arrest was the first indication that authorities believe he had an accomplice.

Investigators suspect that Hollingsworth was Joyner Bell's accomplice in all six of the explosions, said Mark Brady, a Prince George's County, Md., Fire Department spokesman. Hollingsworth could face additional charges in other jurisdictions, Brady said.

A bottle bomb is a crude device that's made by combining an acid and a base inside a sealed plastic bottle, causing it to explode. No one was injured in the movie theater explosions, but authorities have said people could have been hurt by flying plastic, by the acid inside or during the panic that ensued after the explosions.

6 cities seek '16 Democratic convention

WASHINGTON -- New York and two cities in presidential battleground Ohio are among the six locations under consideration for the 2016 Democratic National Convention, officials announced Saturday.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida congressman who leads the Democratic National Committee, said it had received proposals from Birmingham, Ala.; Columbus, Ohio; Cleveland; New York; Philadelphia; and Phoenix. Wasserman Schultz said the committee had "fantastic options" and that a group of national committee officials would evaluate the cities and make site visits as the committee considers its options.

Republicans are considering four cities for their 2016 convention: Dallas, Denver, Cleveland and Kansas City, Mo.

-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports

A Section on 06/08/2014

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