Los Angeles
Brawl closes school: A lunchtime melee involving 600 students convulsed a Los Angeles high school last week, forcing the cancellation of classes and stoking concerns about gang violence. It took more than 100 police officers to quell the brawling at Locke High School, which broke out when rival Hispanic and black gang members challenged one another to a fight. “I’ve seen fights, and I’ve seen fights between black and brown, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” said 17-year-old senior Joseph Sherlock. Four people were arrested. The school, located in rundown south Los Angeles, has been a trouble spot for years, with soaring absenteeism and frequent fights between black and Hispanic students; it’s scheduled to close next year.
Picher, Okla.
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Swirling devastation: Ferocious storms ripped through three states over the weekend, killing at least 22 people and flattening entire towns. Most of the damage was done by a single tornado that at times swelled to a mile in width and packed winds of up to 175 mph. It tore a 63-mile swath from Oklahoma, where six people died, to southwestern Missouri, where 15 perished. The storm spawned a smaller tornado that killed one person in Georgia. The town of Picher, Okla., was all but wiped out by the twister. The storm only hastened the town’s demise. It’s slated for demolition next year, after being heavily polluted by decades of zinc and copper mining.
Palm Bay, Fla.
Arson suspected in wildfires: Wildfires fed by high winds and low humidity raced up Florida’s Atlantic Coast this week, closing schools and highways and spurring frantic efforts by residents to save their homes. In Palm Bay, firefighters spent three days trying to contain a fire that damaged about 70 houses and scorched 3,500 acres. All 18 schools in the town were closed. Palm Bay resident Butch Vanfleet lost his home after trying in vain to protect it with a garden hose. “The fire just came so quickly,” he said. “We had to get out of there.” Police believe the fires were set by an arsonist and said they were questioning a man seen by witnesses acting suspiciously near one of the blazes.
Coffeeville, Miss.
Dems take special election: Democrat Travis Childers won a special House election in Mississippi this week, capturing a district that had gone 62 percent for President Bush in 2004 and handing Republicans their third special-election defeat in two months. The election filled the seat vacated when Republican Roger Wicker was appointed to fill the remaining term of Sen. Trent Lott, who retired. Republicans had poured resources into the campaign, sending Vice President Dick Cheney, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and conservative favorite Mike Huckabee to campaign for Greg Davis, the mayor of Memphis suburb Southaven. The result, coupled with previous losses of supposedly safe Republican seats in Illinois and Louisiana, could spell trouble for GOP congressional candidates in November.
Atlanta
Barr for president: Former Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr this week announced he would seek the Libertarian Party’s nomination for the presidency. “America has more and better to offer than what the current political situation is serving up to us,” said Barr, 59. As a member of the House from 1995 to 2003, Barr was one of President Clinton’s most vocal critics and helped lead impeachment proceedings. If elected, Barr said, he would immediately begin to withdraw troops from Iraq, slash federal spending, and strictly enforce immigration laws. Political observers say that Barr, who still must win the Libertarian nomination at the party’s May 22 convention, is likely to siphon votes away from Republican John McCain.
Tribunals in jeopardy
A military judge last week barred a senior Pentagon official, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, from participating in military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, sided with former Guantánamo chief prosecutor Col. Morris Davis, who testified that Hartmann had exerted improper influence over military prosecutors and politicized the trials. Hartmann, who’d had broad authority over the conduct of trials at Guantánamo, is supposed to be impartial in deciding how to allocate resources between defense and prosecution and which cases to bring to trial. But critics say Hartmann pressured prosecutors to pursue trials and was hardly impartial. Allred’s ruling sets the stage for new challenges that could further delay prosecutions of suspected terrorists held at Guantánamo.
