San Diego
Big drug bust: A massive drug raid this week netted 75 San Diego State University students and 21 others, following a sweeping undercover investigation launched after a student died last May from a cocaine overdose. Authorities raided several dormitories and fraternities on the sprawling campus, seizing $60,000 in cash, several guns, and large quantities of marijuana, hash oil, cocaine, methamphetamine, Ecstasy, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. One student arrested for dealing cocaine was working toward a master’s degree in homeland security. Police made more than 130 undercover drug buys during the operation.
San Diego
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Bomb damages courthouse: A pipe bomb shattered the glass entrance and damaged the entry hallway of the federal courthouse in San Diego last weekend, propelling shrapnel over a two-block radius. FBI investigators are examining what’s left of the bomb—a steel pipe packed with at least 50 nails—which they have compared to an explosive that damaged a San Diego FedEx store in April. FBI Special Agent Keith Slotter said the device left at the courthouse was not “overly sophisticated,” but that if it had exploded on a weekday rather than early on a Sunday morning, “there’s a very good chance someone in the immediate area could have been injured or killed.” Investigators don’t believe the bombing was the work of foreign terrorists.
Columbus, Ohio
State AG pressured to quit: Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, a Democrat, was clinging to his job this week after rejecting calls to resign from leaders of his own party. Since his term began in January 2007, Dann, who is married, has admitted to an affair with a subordinate and to using state vehicles for traveling to political events. Dann’s aide and longtime friend Anthony Gutierrez has been sued for sexual harassment by two women working under him, and Dann’s chief spokesman was disciplined for sending a profane, abusive e-mail to a co-worker. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, also a Democrat, has joined in calls for Dann’s resignation. So far, the attorney general has refused to go. “I think that there is a great chance that we can continue to do great work for the people of the state,” he wrote in an e-mail to employees.
Bonneville, Ore.
Sea lions shot: An unknown gunman shot and killed six sea lions this week as they lay in humane traps at the Bonneville Dam. For years, the federally protected sea lions have feasted on salmon climbing the dam’s fish ladders to their spawning ground. But this year, professional fishermen and Native American tribes, whose livelihoods depend on the salmon catch, have called for the sea lions’ removal—with lethal force if necessary. Salmon stocks have declined catastrophically in recent years, due to overfishing and droughts. The dead sea lions were discovered a day after three elephant seal carcasses were found at a breeding ground in San Simeon, Calif.
Nashua, N.H.
Lethal baseball rivalry: The heated rivalry between fans of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox turned deadly this week, when Yankee fan Ivonne Hernandez allegedly ran down a Red Sox fan who was part of a group that had been disparaging her team. Hernandez, 43, had just left a Nashua tavern when she got into an altercation with a woman from the group, police said. The woman’s friends noticed that Hernandez’s 1997 Dodge Intrepid was sporting a Yankees bumper sticker, and began to taunt her. Hernandez started her car and sped toward the group. “She never braked, and she accelerated at high speed for 200 feet,” said New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell. Hernandez struck Matthew Beaudoin, 29, who later died of massive head trauma. She has been charged with aggravated drunken driving.
Baton Rouge, La.
Bad omen for GOP? Democrat Don Cazayoux won a special congressional election in Louisiana last week, bolstering the Democrats’ House majority by capturing a seat held by Republicans since the 1970s. The slot opened up when incumbent Richard Baker resigned to join a lobbying firm. Cazayoux, a conservative Democrat, defeated Republican Woody Jenkins by three percentage points. Ads for Jenkins attempted to link Cazayoux to Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and “their radical liberal agenda.” Some analysts said the failure of that tack in the Deep South, a GOP stronghold, suggests that similar appeals could have limited success elsewhere. In March, Republicans lost another once-safe seat, when Democrat Bill Foster captured the Illinois seat previously held by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
