The week at a glance...United States

last updated 8 January 2015

Los Angeles

General apologizes: David Petraeus used his first public speech since resigning as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency to apologize for the extramarital affair that led to his downfall. Speaking to an audience of around 600 people—mostly veterans—at the University of Southern California’s annual ROTC dinner, the former four-star general said he deeply regretted hurting his family and friends. “I know I can never fully assuage the pain that I inflicted on those closest to me,” he said. The former commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan was forced to leave the CIA in November, when his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell was revealed. Since then he has remained out of the public eye, but this speech—along with an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal this week—signals a possible comeback, most likely in the private sector. “Life doesn’t stop with such a mistake,” he said. “It can and must go on.”

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Suspect identified: Investigators have determined that a gun used by a man killed in a Texas shoot-out last week had also been used to kill Colorado’s prison chief two days earlier. Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements was shot at the door of his home outside Colorado Springs. Evan Ebel, a white supremacist recently paroled from a Colorado prison, emerged as the prime suspect when he was killed by Texas police after opening fire during a car chase. Authorities are now looking into Ebel’s prison connections to establish a possible motive for the murder of Clements, and are investigating possible links to the murder of a pizza deliveryman whose body was found two days before the prison chief was shot. A Domino’s pizza box and uniform were found in Ebel’s car, and police suspect he may have procured them in order to trick Clements into opening his front door.

Bismarck, N.D.

Abortion bill: North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple approved the country’s toughest abortion restrictions this week, signing into law a series of measures that would ban most abortions. The first of the three laws prohibits abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected, or as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Doctors who flout this law face up to five years in prison. A second measure bans abortions motivated by genetic defects, such as Down syndrome, while the third stipulates new hospital guidelines that endanger the future of the state’s sole abortion clinic, the Red River Women’s Clinic, in Fargo. Meanwhile, the legislature approved an amendment to the state constitution specifying that life begins at conception; if approved when it comes before voters in November 2014, that provision would essentially ban abortion entirely in North Dakota.

Prague, Okla.

Tremors from fracking: Scientists have linked Oklahoma’s largest earthquake—a 5.6 magnitude quake near the town of Prague, in 2011—to hydraulic fracturing, supporting claims that the process increases seismic activity. Fracking, as it is known, injects water and chemicals into petroleum deposits in order to extract trapped gas. This week, researchers at the University of Oklahoma, Columbia University, and the U.S. Geological Survey published findings that linked wastewater injection to seismic events in the area, highlighting the need for greater government oversight. The central U.S. has experienced an 11-fold increase in seismic activity in recent years. “There’s not a magic bullet,” said researcher Heather Savage, “but if we have more monitoring capabilities we can watch these things.” Oklahoma’s geological office said the quake, which destroyed 14 homes, could have been “the result of natural causes.”

Birmingham, Ala.

Airport tragedy: A 10-year-old boy was killed at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport last week when a 300-pound flight-notice board toppled over, crushing him and three family members. It took at least a half-dozen bystanders to lift the heavy steel board and free the family, who were returning home to Kansas from a Florida vacation. Luke Bresette was pronounced dead, and his mother, Heather Bresette, was in serious condition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. Two other sons also sustained injuries. “The whole thing flipped down on those kids,” said a witness. “We didn’t see any mounting brackets. All I saw was construction adhesive.” Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, which came just weeks after the terminal reopened following a $201 million face-lift.

Brooklyn

Freed but ailing: A man falsely imprisoned for 23 years for the murder of a Brooklyn rabbi was released last week, only to be hospitalized the following evening after a serious heart attack. David Ranta, 58, was imprisoned for the murder of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger in 1990, even though no physical evidence linked him to the crime. Prosecutors re-examining the case last year discovered that a witness had claimed a detective pressured him into fingering Ranta—“the guy with the big nose”—and said they had insufficient evidence to keep him in prison. Speaking to reporters upon his release, Ranta said he was looking forward to getting “the hell out of here.” A day later he was in the hospital under the care of cardiologists. “The accumulated trauma of being falsely convicted...coupled with the intense emotions experienced surrounding his release has had a profound impact on his health,” said Ranta’s lawyer.