Deported woman wins in visa lottery
SAN FRANCISCO -- A nurse who was deported to Mexico has won her improbable fight to return to her four children and job in California after winning a ticket in a visa lottery.
Maria Mendoza-Sanchez told the San Francisco Chronicle she learned Friday that her visa had been approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
"This is amazing," she said. "I could barely believe it."
Mendoza-Sanchez, 47, and her husband were deported to Mexico last year amid President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
Her case drew support from political leaders, and her colleagues at Highland Hospital in Oakland held a rally protesting her deportation.
The hospital petitioned for her to get an H-1B visa, arguing her experience caring for cancer patients qualifies her as a high-skilled worker.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she was pleased Mendoza-Sanchez was granted the visa, given the nurse's contributions to her community and the importance of reuniting her family.
Mendoza-Sanchez entered the country in 1994 without a visa to join her husband. She obtained work permits in the early 2000s, studied and worked her way up to become an oncology nurse.
She said she plans to go back to work at the hospital and to try to obtain a visa for her husband.
Democratic governors elect chairman
NEW ORLEANS -- Weeks after an election that boosted its membership, the Democratic Governors Association selected Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as its new chairman on Saturday.
She was elected by her peers during the group's annual meeting in New Orleans, taking over for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was elected vice-chairman, putting him in line to lead the group in 2020, the next presidential election year.
In November's midterm elections, Democrats flipped seven seats to their control without losing any governor's offices currently held by the party. Raimondo said it was the biggest Democratic gain in governors' seats since 1982.
When the new governors are sworn in, there will be 23 Democratic state executives and 27 Republicans. The balance was 33 Republicans, 16 Democrats and one independent before the Nov. 6 election.
The Republican governors group met last week in Arizona, where Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts was elected chairman.
Ricketts and Raimondo will oversee fundraising efforts for 2019, when Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi elect governors. Eleven states elect governors in 2020.
Duke history building gets name change
DURHAM, N.C. -- A building on Duke University's campus will no longer be named after a benefactor who espoused white supremacist ideas.
The university said its board of trustees on Saturday voted to approve removing Julian Carr's name from a building where the history department is located.
Carr was a Confederate veteran and tobacco magnate who gave land where part of Duke was built, helping facilitate the university's move to Durham. He once bragged during a 1913 speech about whipping a black woman.
The school's history professors filed a formal request to remove Carr's name earlier this year. A special committee and President Vincent E. Price both recommended removing Carr's name.
Duke said the trustees chose to restore the building to its original name, the Classroom Building.
In video, officer calls holy book 'trash'
A police sergeant in Miami was suspended on Friday after a video emerged in which he could be seen tossing a Jewish holy book into the back of a pickup and calling it "trash."
In the 12-second clip, which was reported on by local news station WPLG-10, the sergeant, who appeared to be recording himself, could be seen holding a Tanakh, which is a Jewish holy book, and a wooden box engraved with the Star of David.
"We don't need this either, man," the sergeant said, including an expletive as he tossed both items into the bed of a red pickup. "Taking out the trash, dog," he said.
It was unclear when the video was filmed.
In a statement Friday, the chief of the Miami Police Department called the video "disturbing" and said the sergeant had been suspended and an internal affairs investigation was underway.
In a statement Friday, the Miami Fraternal Order of Police identified the sergeant as Roberto Destephan, its vice president. It said the video was "heavily edited" and that "the motive here appears to be political blackmail."
John Cunill, a lawyer whose firm has represented Miami police officers and city officials, said he brought the video to the attention of WPLG "days ago." He would not say how he obtained the footage.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 12/02/2018