San Francisco
Women in combat: Four military servicewomen who completed tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq sued the U.S. Defense Department this week to end its ban on women in combat. The lawsuit calls the restriction an artifact of a bygone era and asserts that in modern warfare women are frequently in the line of fire. “Our clients in this case have served in capacities where they’re shot at by enemy fire, they’re engaged, they’re attached to combat units,” said Elizabeth Gill of the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit. “They’re fighting in exactly the same circumstances as men, but they’re not recognized for that work.” Combat duty is a traditional path to promotions and honors, which are thus unfairly denied to women, the suit alleges; 80 percent of Army officers have combat experience. In all, some 238,000 positions in the armed services remain off-limits for women, said the ACLU.
Jefferson County, Texas
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Record collision: A series of massive Thanksgiving Day pileups involving more than 140 vehicles left two people dead and as many as 100 others injured, authorities said last week. Heavy fog and high speeds were behind three separate chain-reaction collisions on Interstate 10 at about 8 a.m., one of the busiest driving times on one of the highest-traffic days of the year, police said. The accident was caused by “a heavy fog bank [that] rolled into this area this morning,” said Deputy Rod Carroll of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. “Driving out there, I couldn’t see 10 feet in front of my car. I still had people trying to pass me and I had headlights and sirens on.” Debra Leggio, 60, and Vincent Leggio, 64, died after their SUV was crushed in a multi-car collision started by an 18-wheeler.
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Manatee rider busted: A woman was arrested last week for riding on the back of a manatee, a violation of a strict state law that protects these rare sea mammals. Ana Gloria Garcia Gutierrez, 53, turned herself in on Oct. 2 after photos surfaced in the media of her joy ride a few days before. She told police she had recently moved to the area and did not realize it was illegal to touch the gentle, slow-moving manatees. She was educated on the law and last week was booked on one misdemeanor count of violating the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, which makes it illegal for “any person at any time, by any means, or in any manner intentionally or negligently to annoy, molest, harass, or disturb or attempt to molest, harass, or disturb” the endangered aquatic creatures. Gutierrez was released on $1,500 bail, and the manatee was reportedly not hurt in the incident.
Orlando
Casey Anthony evidence: Important evidence in the sensational murder trial of Casey Anthony was overlooked by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, a local TV station reported this week. A computer search determined that someone in the Anthony home Googled “foolproof” suffocation methods on the day 2-year-old Caylee Anthony was last seen alive. The computer’s browser then recorded activity on the social-networking site MySpace, which was known to be used by Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in the murder of her daughter, Caylee. Anthony’s lawyers, who said the toddler accidentally drowned in the family pool, knew of the search, but the evidence never reached the state’s attorneys. “It’s just a shame we didn’t have it,” said prosecutor Jeff Ashton. It would have “put the accidental death claim in serious question.”
Jersey City
Gay ‘conversion’ lawsuit: Four gay men who underwent “conversion therapy” that promised to change their sexual orientation filed a lawsuit this week, charging their therapists and a prominent counseling group with fraud. The men claim they were lured to the treatment by promises of transformation, then forced to endure humiliating “therapy” that included stripping nude and beating effigies of their mothers with tennis rackets. The nonprofit Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing elicited hefty fees from the men, the complaint said, only to inform them that their failure to change was their own fault. “Reparative therapy” advocates claim that homosexuality arises from sexual abuse or family dynamics, a view disputed by the American Psychiatric Association, which warns that this treatment can cause “depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior.”
New York City
Data drop: Police this week are investigating how shredded confidential documents made their way into confetti dropped at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The strips of paper included Social Security numbers and even police details about a motorcade for presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said authorities. “It was everywhere,” said parade-goer Saul Finkelstein, who first alerted authorities about the inadvertent data dump. The scraps of paper were piled three inches off the ground, said Finkelstein, who later determined that the confetti contained information from Nassau County police incident reports, as well as the names, Social Security numbers, and bank account information of Nassau police officers and employees. “I’m completely in shock,” said Inspector Kenneth Lack, who said his department would be “reviewing procedures for the disposing of sensitive documents.”
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