NEWS OF THE DAY
Subway closed: Some commuters in the Baltimore area struggled to get to work Monday after an emergency closure of the metro rail system used by thousands of riders. Officials expect the metro to be closed into March after safety inspections revealed the need for emergency repairs. Commuters who usually use the 16-mile line connecting Owings Mills to downtown Baltimore had difficulty finding the coach buses that were organized as a replacement. About 40,000 people board the metro each weekday.
_2 Storm flooding: Heavy rains over the weekend caused floods and mudslides in parts of Appalachia, forcing dozens of people out of their homes and into shelters as the high water closed roads and schools. Kentucky Emergency Management spokeswoman Monica French said Harlan, Bell, Knox, Letcher and Floyd counties and the city of Pineville have declared states of emergencies. The National Weather Service still had flood warnings posted Monday for areas in Kentucky and Tennessee.
_3 Stolen infant: A woman pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping an infant from a hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., nearly 20 years ago. The plea deal calls for Gloria Williams, 52, to serve up to 22 years in prison when she’s sentenced in May. Prosecutors said Williams kidnapped newborn Kamiyah Mobley from the hospital in 1998 and raised her in Walterboro, S.C. The victim is now 19 and named Alexis Manigo. She eventually met her birth parents, but continues to support the only woman she’s known as her mother. The mystery unraveled when National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tips led authorities to Williams.
_4 Trump Jr. scare: Donald Trump Jr.’s wife and mother-in-law were hospitalized as a precaution Monday morning after opening an envelope containing a white powdery substance that investigators later determined was cornstarch and was not hazardous, police officials said. The letter, addressed to Donald Trump Jr., was sent to the Manhattan apartment of his mother-in-law, Bonnie Haydon. When Vanessa Trump opened it, at least one of them appeared to start coughing and felt nauseous, one official said. They called 911, and the New York police and fire departments responded. Medical personnel from the Fire Department took Haydon, Trump and a third person to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center as a precaution. It was not clear who the third person was.
_5 Police corruption: Two Baltimore police detectives were convicted of robbery, racketeering and conspiracy Monday in a trial that’s part of a federal investigation into corruption among rogue members of the city’s police force. The trial was dominated by four ex-detectives who testified that the department’s elite Gun Trace Task Force was made up of thugs with badges who stole cash, resold looted narcotics and lied under oath to cover their tracks. The jury deliberated for two days. Detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor face up to 20 years on each of the three counts.
Chronicle News Services