NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Stabbing plot: One of two Wisconsin girls charged with stabbing a classmate to impress horror character Slender Man will plead guilty in a deal that calls for her to avoid prison time and instead receive treatment for mental illness, attorneys announced Friday. The deal calls for doctors to evaluate 15-year-old Morgan Geyser and report to a judge to determine how long she should remain in a state mental hospital. Geyser’s co-defendant, Anissa Weier, faces at least three years in a mental hospital after a jury this month determined she was mentally ill at the time of the attack on classmate Payton Leutner. All three girls were 12 at the time. Weier and Geyser lured Leutner into the woods at a park in Waukesha. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier urged her on, according to investigators. Leutner survived the attack.
2 Officer killed: Police Officer Kristin Hearne, 29, died and another officer was wounded after they were shot Friday while approaching a stolen car in Georgia, officials said. Barry Atkison, assistant county manager for Polk County, said two suspects were arrested in the shootings 60 miles northwest of Atlanta. Atkison said the officers were responding to a call about a suspicious vehicle that had been reported stolen. One officer had called the other to serve as backup and both were shot as they approached the vehicle, he said. The wounded officer, David Goodrich, was shot in the chest, but appeared to have only a minor injury as the bullet struck the officer’s protective vest, Atkison said.
3 Hawaii telescope: The $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope project has won key approval from Hawaii to join other telescopes atop the dormant volcano of Mauna Kea, but protesters are vowing to continue fighting construction on land that’s sacred to Native Hawaiians. The summit offers scientists a clear view of the sky with very little air and light pollution. Opponents likely will appeal Thursday’s decision by a state land board to allow the project.
4 Abandoned kids: A suburban Des Moines, Iowa, mother has been jailed after she left her four children home alone while she traveled to Europe for a 12-day vacation, police said Friday. Erin Macke, 30, has been charged with four counts of child endangerment and one of transferring a firearm to a person under 21. Police said the latter charge was filed because a firearm was left at home within the children’s reach. Police said Macke tried but failed to make child care arrangements for her children — two age 12, one 7 and the other 6 — before leaving Sept. 20 for a vacation in Germany. The father of one of the children was called by his child the next day, and he tipped off police that the children had been left unsupervised, Johnston police spokeswoman Janet Wilwerding said. Johnston police Lt. Tyler Tompkins told television station KCCI that Macke left the two 12year-olds in charge. The mother was arrested on her return from Germany on Thursday.