Third parties hired to play Pokemon Go
NEW YORK — Too busy with your real life to play the hit augmented reality game Pokemon Go? For a price, some entrepreneurs will play the game for you.
New ads are popping up on Craigslist nearly every day from people who say they will log on to your Pokemon Go account and effectively run up your score while you are stuck at work or sitting in class. One trainer in London offers to boost your Pokemon account up to Level 20, which is very high, for a price of $185. Others offer Uber-like driving services with the promise of taking a player to some of the hottest Pokemon hunting grounds around the city.
Publishers of such titles deem the act cheating and warn they’ll cancel accounts of users who enlist outside assistance to mine for virtual currency or level up their characters. The terms of service in Pokemon Go explicitly forbid the practice of transferring access to an account to a third party.
Police reform in Chicago
CHICAGO — As battles over police reform in Chicago continue, the agency that investigates shootings by police is recommending that the Police Department tighten its rules on deadly force to further limit the circumstances in which officers can shoot.
A quarterly report from the Independent Police Review Authority in part aims to prevent shootings that could be considered legally justifiable — but also are unnecessary.
One recommendation calls for the department to revise its “fleeing felon” rule, which allows officers to shoot fleeing suspects who have committed violent crimes.
Tightening the rules could give police disciplinary authorities greater leeway to suspend or fire officers after shootings, which the city has almost never done. Of more than 400 police shootings of people since 2007, only three have been ruled to violate the city’s use-of-force policies, records show.
Average price of gas drops
CAMARILLO, Calif. — The average price of gasoline has dropped 7 cents over the past three weeks to $2.22 a gallon for regular grade.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday lower oil prices and an abundant gasoline supply caused the decline. She says the price is 60 cents less than it was a year ago.
The Lundberg Survey found the average price of midgrade unleaded is $2.51 a gallon and $2.72 for premium.
Child left in hot car dies
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Authorities say the death of a 4-year-old Pennsylvania girl who was left in a car for hours on a hot day apparently was an accident, although negligence may have been involved.
Lycoming County coroner Charles Kiessling Jr. said an autopsy didn’t provide a definitive cause for Samaria Motyka’s death Friday. Williamsport police expect toxicology tests to take several weeks.
A woman who was supposed to take the child to a day care center instead drove to downtown Williamsport then went to work, police said.
Body found in wildfire
LOS ANGELES — Thousands of homes remained evacuated Sunday as two massive wildfires raged in tinder-dry California hills and canyons, and authorities said a burned body was found in one neighborhood swept by the flames.
The body of a man was discovered inside a burned sedan Saturday evening outside a home in Santa Clarita. There was no evidence the death was crime-related, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.