NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
Wrongful arrest: An Arizona man who was arrested, transported cross-country and jailed for a robbery that he didn’t commit is suing the Iowa prosecutor responsible for charging him. Joseph McBride spent two months in custody after authorities arrested him in Phoenix in August. The 23year-old was among three people charged for a Jan. 1, 2017, home invasion in his hometown of Cedar Rapids — even though he had proof he was 1,500 miles away. Investigators never spoke with him before his arrest. McBride’s lawsuit alleges that the complaint signed by Linn County Attorney Vander Sanden contained materially false statements, including that police had “phone records and social media” suggesting he was involved.
Sexual harassment: Four women and two men will decide whether to recommend expelling Kentucky’s GOP House speaker after he signed a secret sexual harassment settlement. Eight Republican lawmakers filed formal disciplinary charges against Jeff Hoover on Wednesday, asking for a special bipartisan committee to recommend expelling him from the House. House rules require the majority and minority leaders to appoint a special six-person committee to investigate. The formal disciplinary charges include sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment and using taxpayer resources to hide the allegations from the public.
Oregon sues Monsanto: The state of Oregon sued the agrochemical company Monsanto on Thursday over pervasive pollution from PCBs, the toxic industrial chemicals that have accumulated in plants, fish and people around the globe for decades. The company called the lawsuit baseless. The lawsuit seeks $100 million to use to mitigate pollution, particularly along a 10-mile stretch of the Willamette River in Portland that will be the target of a $1 billion cleanup announced by federal authorities in 2016. Oregon’s lawsuit cites internal memos and correspondence indicating that Monsanto knew about the toxic effects. Train derailment: Three cars on an Amtrak train carrying more than 300 people from Miami to New York derailed in snowy Savannah, Ga., in the aftermath of a brutal winter storm but no injuries were reported, authorities said Thursday. Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said the Silver Meteor train No. 98 was backing slowly into the Savannah station about 10 p.m. Wednesday — hours after the storm clobbered the Southeast coast — when two sleeper cars and a baggage car derailed. No winners: No winning tickets were sold for the $460 million Powerball drawing. The winning numbers selected Wednesday night were 2, 18, 37, 39 and 42, and the Powerball number was 12. The jackpot jumps to an estimated $550 million for Saturday’s drawing at lottery’s headquarters in Tallahassee, Fla. That would make it the nation’s 8th largest lottery prize ever. Powerball is played in 44 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The odds of winning are one in 292.2 million.