Santa Cruz, Calif.
Officers killed: Santa Cruz experienced its “darkest day,” the city’s police chief said, when two police officers were fatally shot this week by a sexual assault suspect. It was the first time in the city’s history that officers were killed in the line of duty. Sgt. Loren “Butch” Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler died in a shoot-out at the home of 35-year-old Jeremy Goulet, who had been arrested and subsequently fired last week for allegedly making inappropriate sexual advances to a work colleague. When Baker and Butler went to Goulet’s house this week to follow up, they were fired upon and called for backup; Goulet was shot dead in a second gun battle with police. “This is a horrific day,” said police Chief Kevin Vogel. “We need to figure out a way to bring our department together and get through this.”
Pinal County, Ariz.
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Detainees freed: Federal officials caused an uproar this week when they released hundreds of illegal immigrants from detention centers across the country, in anticipation of the looming sequester of federal spending. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said a number of detained aliens had been placed on “an appropriate, more cost-effective form of supervised release” in order to prepare for the mandatory spending cuts. Serious criminal offenders would remain in detention, she confirmed. Congressional Republicans accused the Obama administration of going to dangerous lengths to dramatize the impact of the sequester. The move amounted to a “mass budget pardon,” said Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, which has seen more than 500 detainees released. “Obama would never release 500 criminal illegals to the streets of his hometown, yet he has no problem releasing them in Arizona.”
Southern Plains
Hard blow: A crippling winter storm battered the Plains states for a second week, burying the region in snow and leaving at least three people dead. This week the blizzard blanketed Texas, Oklahoma, and parts of Kansas, shutting highways and forcing flight cancellations. Up to 19 inches of snow were dumped in Amarillo, Texas, breaking a 120-year record for one-day snowfall in February, while the city’s airport measured hurricane-force gusts of 75 mph. In Woodward, Okla., a man was killed when the roof of his house collapsed, while in Kansas two people were killed in separate car accidents. By Tuesday afternoon, the storm had headed north and east, blanketing Chicago and Detroit before moving on to northern New England.
Chicago
Special election: Gun-control advocate Robin Kelly easily won a primary battle to replace disgraced former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in Congress with the help of a $2.2 million ad campaign funded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun Super PAC. With 52 percent of the vote, Kelly won the Democratic primary by a 27-point margin over former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, an opponent of gun control. Kelly, a shoo-in to win the April 9 special election in the heavily Democratic district, vowed in her victory speech to fight “until gun violence is no longer a feature on the evening news.” Halvorson accused Bloomberg of buying the race. “It shows, unfortunately, you can’t go against that big money,” she said. Bloomberg aide Howard Wolfson said that “for a long time the NRA was the only player on the field. Now the mayor is helping to even that out.”
New York City
Cannibal trial: The estranged wife of a New York City cop accused of plotting to kill and eat her and others took to the stand this week, in a case that raises questions about whether fantasies can be a crime. Kathleen Mangan-Valle, 27, told the packed court she had found emails and chat transcripts on husband Gilberto Valle’s computer detailing his plans. “I was going to be tied up by my feet and my throat slit, and they were going to have fun watching the blood gush out of me,” she testified. Her husband, who was visibly distraught during Mangan-Valle’s testimony, also allegedly discussed raping two of her friends in front of each other, and planned to roast another woman alive over a fire. The 28-year-old officer is also charged with using police databases to compile a target list, but his defense lawyers claim he was merely role-playing a fantasy that he had no intention of carrying out. “You can’t convict people for their thoughts,” argued defense lawyer Julia Gatto, “even if they’re sick.”
Daytona Beach, Fla.
Breached fence: NASCAR has come under pressure to improve track safety after a violent 12-car crash at Daytona International Speedway tore a hole in a catch fence and sent debris hurtling into a spectator grandstand. Twenty-eight fans were injured, two critically, at last week’s Nationwide Series race after rookie Kyle Larson’s car was knocked airborne and hit the 22-foot-high, steel-and-reinforced-wire safety fence about 10 feet from the first row of seats. The expected safety review by NASCAR may force track owners to move spectators farther away. “If you put the first row about 30 feet back, and about 14 feet up in the air, that would solve almost every problem you’ve got,” said former Charlotte Motor Speedway president H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler.
