The week at a glance...United States

Oakland

School massacre: A gunman shot and killed seven people and wounded three others this week in a revenge-fueled slaughter at a small Christian college. The alleged shooter, One Goh, 43, had been attending Oikos University as a nursing student, but had been asked to leave several months ago, police said. Goh reportedly returned to the school with a semiautomatic handgun, seeking vengeance against the school official who had expelled him. Unable to find the official, he shot and killed a secretary at the front desk and entered a classroom, where he began “systematically and randomly shooting victims,” police said. Witnesses said Goh ordered the students to line up against a classroom wall and began executing them one by one at point-blank range, according to authorities. “It was a very bloody scene,” said Police Chief Howard Jordan, describing the Bay Area’s worst mass killing in almost 20 years.

Phoenix

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Sheriff in showdown: The standoff between “America’s toughest sheriff” and the U.S. Justice Department escalated to an impasse this week, as negotiations broke down amid charges of bad faith and broken promises. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has been under federal investigation for discrimination against Hispanic residents, refused to allow a court-appointed third party to oversee his department, as part of a settlement. An outside monitor “usurps the powers and duties of an elected sheriff,” Arpaio said, adding, “This will not happen, not on my watch!” The sheriff, who has been lionized for his harsh treatment of prisoners, recently forced another last-minute cancellation of negotiations. On March 1, he announced that he had found evidence of forgeries in President Obama’s birth certificate. The government charged that the sheriff had “walked back from its agreement” to accept a court monitor, which “requires us to prepare for civil action.”

Dallas

Twisters strike: A cluster of tornadoes ripped through the Dallas–Fort Worth area this week, peeling off roofs, tearing down power lines, and tossing trailers and mobile homes like toys, according to the National Weather Service. In Lancaster, south of Dallas, some 300 buildings were damaged, said officials, and a citywide curfew was ordered. “It was like The Wizard of Oz,” said Lancaster resident Gwen Dabbs, who huddled in a corner of her living room while a tornado blew her windows out. In Arlington, nursing-home therapist Patti Gilroy herded her patients into a hallway before the storm arrived. “It sounded like a bomb hit,” said Gilroy. “We hit the floor, and everybody was praying.” Describing the scenes of devastation as “just horrific,” Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said, “We’ve got reports of a number of injuries, but no reports of fatalities at the present time.”

Madison, Wis.

Recall election: The historic recall election of Gov. Scott Walker officially began last week. After certifying more than 900,000 signatures in favor of the recall, the state’s Government Accountability Board scheduled the general election on June 5, after a Democratic primary on May 8 to select his opponent. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett announced that he would seek the nomination, shaking up the state’s Democrats, who had all but settled on Kathleen Falk, a former Dane County executive who has strong union support. Walker was targeted for recall after he pushed through laws that all but ended collective-bargaining rights for most state workers and forced them to contribute more to pension and health-care costs. “My hope is, just as we earned the trust of the majority of voters in November 2010, that we’ll have a chance to earn that trust again this June,” said Walker.

New York City

Terror warning? New York police and federal authorities scrambled this week to investigate a threatening graphic image posted on terrorism websites that predicted an al Qaida attack on the city. “Al Qaeda Coming Soon Again in New York” read the stylized headline, which was superimposed over a composite of the city’s skyline in imitation of a 3-D movie poster. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the graphic is “not tied to any threat,” but should serve as a reminder that New York is still the No. 1 target for terrorists. The graphic was discovered by the NYPD on several Arabic language websites, and is believed to be the work of an Egyptian writer who uses the Internet to spread propaganda about al Qaida. “They want to keep the message out there,” Kelly told the New York Daily News. “They want to give us a certain amount of angst and anxiety.”

Washington, D.C.

Strip searches approved: The Supreme Court this week ruled that people arrested for even minor offenses may be strip-searched before being admitted to jail. By a 5–4 vote, the court rejected a challenge by a New Jersey man who was strip-searched after being mistakenly arrested for an unpaid fine. His lawyers argued that such searches were unconstitutional unless police had reason to believe a suspect was carrying a weapon or drugs. But Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion that it is difficult for correctional officials to know who’s dangerous among the 13 million prisoners they process each year, as criminal records aren’t always available at the time of intake. The court also noted that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was initially arrested for driving without a license plate. “People detained for minor offenses can turn out to be the most devious and dangerous criminals,” said Kennedy.