The week at a glance ... United States

Seal Beach, Calif.

‘Mercy killing’ or murder? The shooting death this week of an 86-year-old nursing-home resident, allegedly at the hands of her 88-year-old husband, is being described as a “mercy killing” by the couple’s daughter. Police responding to reports of a single gunshot at the 198-bed Country Villa Healthcare Center arrested Roy Laird in the room of his slain wife, Clara. She suffered from late-stage dementia and could not walk, sit up, feed herself, or recognize visitors, said the couple’s daughter, Kathy Palmateer, who described her father as a devoted husband of 70 years who visited his wife three times a day and spoon-fed her. “Whatever she asked of him, that’s what he did,” said family friend Nancy Grijalva. When police arrived, Laird took a .38-caliber revolver from his pocket and placed it on a table. He faces a murder charge.

Phoenix

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Palin book campaign: Amid chants of “Go, Sarah!” Sarah Palin this week launched a 13-state tour for America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag, her second book. Palin’s tour skips coastal media centers in favor of traditionally Republican cities, including Tulsa and Houston. The key primary states of Iowa and South Carolina are on her itinerary, along with the presidential battleground of Ohio. In addition to favorite speeches, poems, and lyrics from other writers, Palin’s 224-page book includes her personal criticism of President Obama’s and the First Lady’s patriotism, of “talentless wannabes” on reality TV, and of Hollywood films like American Beauty. The book tour has heightened speculation about the former Alaska governor’s presidential prospects in 2012. In a radio interview with Sean Hannity, Palin said that if other Republicans unite to criticize her and stop her potential candidacy, “then I will know that I would probably do more harm than good to the cause.”

Dallas

Priest behind bars: A Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse is in jail this week, charged with attempting to hire a contract killer to murder his alleged victim. The Rev. John Fiala, 52, was arrested in September in Kansas, where he had fled after a Texas grand jury indicted him for abusing a teenage boy, now 18, for several years and threatening to kill the boy if he reported the abuse. While free on bail, Fiala allegedly offered an undercover agent $5,000 to kill the boy. The solicitation was captured on an audio recording. Police acted after receiving a tip from a neighbor of Fiala’s who reported that the priest was “talking about killing this young man.” Fiala’s bail is set at $700,000.

Minneapolis

Immigrant sex trafficking: Minnesota’s large Somali immigrant community is reeling from charges this week that Somali gangs for years have forced Somali girls as young as 12 into prostitution. A federal grand jury indicted 29 Somali immigrants, ages 19 to 38, on charges including sex trafficking, theft, and credit-card fraud. Their alleged victims were forced to have sex with gang members and paying customers and were threatened with death if they attempted to flee. In recent years Minnesota’s Somali population has been jolted by gang violence and reports that some young Somali men had returned to their homeland to wage jihad. “Everyone is wondering what’s going to be the next thing,” said Zuhur Ahmed, a Minneapolis radio host.

New York

9/11 settlement: More than 10,000 New York City construction workers, police officers, and firefighters who claim their health was damaged from clearing the World Trade Center site after 9/11 reached a compensation agreement with New York City last week. The city will pay at least $625 million to the workers in payments ranging from $3,250 to $1.8 million. The deal ended seven years of legal wrangling. Kenny Specht, a retired firefighter battling thyroid cancer, originally opposed the settlement—which allots him between $127,000 and $158,000—but changed his mind. “I am not sure that holding out for a better offer will ever be something that is attainable,” he wrote in a letter. The U.S. House of Representatives has approved more than $7 billion in compensation and medical payments for the workers, but the legislation’s fate in the Senate is uncertain.

Washington, D.C.

Chandra Levy conviction: Ingmar Guandique, an illegal Salvadoran immigrant, was convicted this week of killing Chandra Levy, a congressional intern whose disappearance in 2001 generated a media sensation and destroyed the career of former Rep. Gary Condit, who had been having an affair with Levy. A jury found Guandique, 29, guilty of first-degree murder for slaying the 24-year-old Levy in Washington’s Rock Creek Park. Her body wasn’t discovered until a year later. Investigators initially suspected Condit, a California Democrat, but eventually concluded he wasn’t involved. Prosecutors based their case on testimony from one of Guandique’s former prison cellmates, who said that Guandique had told him of killing Levy. After the verdict, Susan Levy, the victim’s mother, expressed gratitude to prosecutors, but added: “I have a life sentence of a lost limb missing from our family tree.”