NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
Pot bribe: Federal officials have charged a brother and sister with offering Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon Lopey $1 million to turn a blind eye to their marijuana growing operations. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento said Chi Meng Yang and Gaosheng Laitinen offered Lopey the money earlier this year in exchange for protection from raids. Lopey said he contacted federal authorities after the bribe was offered and wore a hidden device to record conversations with Yan and Laitinen while pretending to cooperate. Yang was arrested Thursday; officials are still trying to find Laitinen.
Nurse handcuffed: A Utah police officer’s body camera video shows a hospital nurse being handcuffed after refusing to draw blood from an unconscious patient. The video taken at University Hospital in Salt Lake City shows nurse Alex Wubbels explaining to Salt Lake detective Jeff Payne that she couldn’t draw blood on a patient who had been injured in a car accident. She told the officer a patient was required to give consent for a blood sample or be under arrest. Otherwise, she said police needed a warrant. The dispute ended with Payne telling the nurse she was under arrest and physically moving her out of the hospital. Payne was put on paid administrative leave after prosecutors called for a criminal investigation.
Comey criticism: President Trump on Friday lashed out anew at the FBI director he fired in May, charging that James Comey had “exonerated” Hillary Clinton before fully completing the investigation into her use of a private email server. In an early morning tweet, Trump complained of “a rigged system,” returning to his grudge against the former FBI chief. While the president had initially cited Comey’s conduct in the Clinton investigation as the reason for his ouster in May, he later conceded that he had been stewing about Comey’s focus on possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to sway the election when he decided to dismiss him.
Prison riot: Delaware prison administrators dismissed warnings of trouble brewing at the state’s maximum-security prison in the days leading up to a deadly inmate uprising and hostage-taking, independent investigators said in a report released Friday. The dismissal of the security warnings at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna was indicative of an overcrowded, understaffed facility plagued by mismanagement, according to the review. Correctional officer Steven Floyd was killed in the uprising.
Active retirement: A retired Ohio police officer with multiple college degrees has re-enrolled as a freshman at the University of Toledo for the opportunity to join the school’s marching band. Virginia Todd, 59, took to the field with her clarinet Thursday night for Toledo’s football season opener. Todd spent 21 years with the Oregon Police Department outside of Toledo and is now an attorney, a coroner’s office death investigator and a fullfledged member of the Rocket Marching Band.
Chronicle News Services