Sentencing set to begin for Bergdahl
RALEIGH, N.C. — The fate of Bowe Bergdahl — the Army sergeant who pleaded guilty to endangering his comrades by leaving his post in 2009 in Afghanistan — now rests in the hands of a judge.
A sentencing hearing for Sgt. Bergdahl starts Monday at Fort Bragg and is expected to feature dramatic testimony about soldiers and a Navy SEAL badly hurt while they searched for the missing Sgt. Bergdahl, who was held captive for five years by Taliban allies after leaving his post. Sgt. Bergdahl faces up to life in prison on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after pleading guilty to the charges last week.
The judge, Army Col. Jeffery Nance, will also have to resolve last-minute arguments by defense attorneys that President Donald Trump has unfairly swayed the courtmartial with new comments about the highly politicized case.
Sgt. Bergdahl’s lawyers are hoping that the five years that he spent as a Taliban captive will win him some leniency from the judge. Sgt. Bergdahl, 31, has said he was caged, kept in darkness and beaten.
Body cameras worth it?
After a series of highprofile police shootings, police departments across the nation turned to body cameras, hoping they would curb abuses. But a rigorous study released Friday shows that they have almost no effect on officer behavior.
The 18-month study of more than 2,000 police officers in Washington found that officers equipped with cameras used force and prompted civilian complaints at about the same rate as those who did not have them.
Advocates for body cameras — including police officers, lawmakers and citizens in high-crime neighborhoods — have long argued that requiring officers to wear the devices would have a “civilizing effect” on both officers and the civilians who encounter them.
Sonoma County fire
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Theseries of fires that laid waste to huge swaths of Northern California this month reached a new level of in famy Friday when the 36,432-acre Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County became the most destructive wildfire in modern state history.
The fire, which destroyed an estimated 5,300 structures, surpassed the October 1991 Tunnel Fire, which obliterated 2,900 homes and killed 25 people in the Oakland hills, as California's most damaging fire.
The Tubbs Fire alone killed 22 of the 23 people confirmed dead in Sonoma County, making it the third-deadliest wildfire in California.
HIV ‘quarantine’ uproar
Astate lawmaker who has drawn criticism after asking about the legality of quarantining people with HIV has said her comments were misunderstood and intended to be “provocative” and “rhetorical” in a broader conversation about curtailing the virus.
“What are we legally able todo? I don’t want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it,” Republican Georgia state representative Betty Price said Tuesday during a discussion on why Georgia ranks second inthe nation when it came tonew HIV cases.
Toddler’s body found
Police in Texas say they have “most likely” found the body of Sherin Mathews, the missing 3-yearold girl whose father claims he sent her alone into an alley when she wouldn’t drink her milk.
Officers and search dogs Sunday morning discovered a small child’s body in a culvert near Spring Valley and Bowser roads, less than a mile from the Mathews’ home. Sherin disappeared Oct. 7.