NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
_1 Big cats: Authorities are investigating the discovery of tigers, lions and a leopard in a barn in Arkansas. State Game and Fish Commission spokesman Randy Zellers said seven tigers, six lions and one leopard were found over the weekend in Poinsett County in cages. Zellers said the animals’ owner was keeping them until they could be flown to Germany. He said the man possessed the appropriate paperwork for ownership of the animals. Zeller said the man didn’t alert the county that he would be temporarily holding the animals in Arkansas. Bringing such animals to the state is restricted without prior written approval from the commission. No arrests have been made.
_2 Prison escape: Parole has been denied to Joyce Mitchell, a prison tailor who was sweettalked into providing hacksaw blades, chisels and other tools that two killers used in an upstate New York prison break. Mitchell will remain behind bars for at least two more years for helping Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from the maximumsecurity Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in June 2015, according to a parole board decision released Monday. Matt and Sweat used tools smuggled by Mitchell to cut through a steel cell wall and several steam pipes to make an escape route. The huge threeweek manhunt following their escape ended with Matt shot dead and Sweat captured near the Canadian border.
Four slain: Authorities say a baseball bat was found on the property of a Massachusetts home where officials say a recent college graduate killed his mother, his grandparents and a caregiver. Prosecutor Marian Ryan said Monday that the bat “may have been used” in the killings Friday in Groton. Oberlin College graduate Orion Krause, 22, of Rockport, Maine, was ordered held without bail at Bridgewater State Hospital pending a competency hearing at his arraignment on murder charges Monday. Ryan identified the victims as Elizabeth “Buffy” Krause, 60; Elizabeth Lackey, 85; Frank Lackey III, 89; and Bertha Mae Parker, 68.
_4 Wife stabbed: A New York City man fatally stabbed his wife before jumping out a window and falling eight stories to his death, police said. Bernarda Ferreiras, 53, was apparently stabbed to death inside the Manhattan apartment she shared with her husband, Francisco Ferreiras, 69. Officials say Ferreiras jumped out a window Sunday night after stabbing his wife. Officers said they found the man unconscious next to the Harlem apartment building.
_5 Hepatitis outbreak: Streets in San Diego will be power-washed every other week and hand-washing stations are being installed where homeless people congregate under a plan to combat a deadly outbreak of hepatitis A, according to the mayor’s office. San Diego County officials declared a public health emergency this month because of the spread of the liver disease, which has killed 15 people and hospitalized 300 more. The region’s homeless population has been hit the hardest since the outbreak started in November.