Boulder
JonBenet revelations: Documents released this week show that a Colorado grand jury voted in 1999 to indict the parents of slain 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey on charges of child abuse resulting in death, but that the district attorney decided not to file charges, citing insufficient evidence. The previously sealed documents indicate that the grand jury believed the couple helped whoever killed their daughter, though it did not name a murder suspect. The child beauty pageant queen was found strangled and bludgeoned to death in 1996 in the basement of her Boulder home, just hours after her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, reported her missing. A subsequent district attorney cleared the couple in 2008, two years after Patsy died of cancer. The family’s lawyer, L. Lin Wood, called last week’s developments “nonsensical,” saying that the jury had no access to DNA evidence. “The Ramsey family is innocent,” he said.
Austin
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Abortion ruling: A federal judge struck down part of a controversial Texas abortion law that gained national attention in June when it was filibustered by Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled this week that a provision in the bill requiring doctors who perform an abortion to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital was unconstitutional. “Admitting privileges have no rational relationship to improved patient care,” said Yeakel. Texas officials said they would appeal the decision. Meanwhile, the judge upheld a provision of the law that restricts the time women can obtain medication-induced abortions to only 49 days after their last period. One of the most contentious parts of the law—its ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy—was not at issue in the case and came into effect this week.
Silver Spring, Md.
Incriminating photos: Maryland attorney general and gubernatorial hopeful Douglas F. Gansler has been scrambling to explain photos that emerged last week showing him surrounded by underage drinkers at a teenage beach party. Gansler, a Democrat who has taken an aggressive public stance against teenage drinking, said at first that he visited the party briefly to talk to his son and couldn’t remember seeing anyone drinking alcohol. But when another photo came out showing him apparently taking a photo of two shirtless men grinding with a young woman on a tabletop, Gansler apologized for a lapse of judgment. “In hindsight, I probably should have assumed there was drinking,” he said. Referring to the photo of him holding up his phone in the thick of the party, he said, “My guess is what I am doing is reading a text.”
State College, Pa.
Abuse settlement: Penn State University announced this week that it will pay $59.7 million to 26 sexual-abuse victims of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky to settle their claims against the school. The settlements include confidentiality agreements, and university officials said they would be paid for mostly by insurance, and not from tuition, donations, or taxpayer funding. Sandusky is serving a 30- to 60-year prison sentence for 45 criminal counts of abuse over a 15-year period. Several young victims testified that he groped them in the shower, and in some cases had oral and anal sex with them. The scandal rocked the university when it emerged in 2011, leading to the firing of iconic head coach Joe Paterno. Penn State has already spent more than $50 million on lawyers’ fees, public relations expenses, and new policies related to sexual-abuse complaints.
New York City
Buying while black: Two New York City department stores have come under fire for their “shop-and-frisk” policies after a fourth African-American claimed that he was racially profiled while shopping. Art Palmer, 56, said this week that he was surrounded by police and searched after buying $320 worth of clothing on his credit card at the flagship Macy’s. Actor Robert Brown, a star in HBO’s Treme, has filed a lawsuit against Macy’s alleging that he was paraded through the store in handcuffs after buying a $1,350 gold Movado watch for his mother. Meanwhile, two other black shoppers have said they will sue Barneys for allegedly stopping, frisking, and detaining them during recent shopping trips. Both stores blame the New York Police Department, claiming their staff played no role in the incidents. The state attorney general’s office has launched an investigation.
Danvers, Mass.
Teacher killed: Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral this week of Colleen Ritzer, the 24-year-old high school math teacher who was allegedly murdered by one of her students. Ritzer’s body was found last week in the woods near her school. The day before, investigators say, 14-year-old pupil Philip Chism followed Ritzer into a school bathroom, punched her, and then killed her with a box cutter he had brought into school with him that morning. Authorities say he then stashed her body in a recycling bin and dragged it to the woods, where the body was dumped. Chism has been charged as an adult with murder, and police are now investigating a motive for the killing. Fellow classmates said Chism was quiet and a “really good student.” Ritzer had allegedly asked him to stay behind on the day of the killing so she could help him prepare for a test.
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