NEWS OF THE DAY
Holocaust denier: The long-shot candidacy of a Holocaust denier’s Republican bid for Congress was defeated Tuesday, but not before the neo-Nazi received more than 53,000 votes in Illinois’ 3rd District. As expected, incumbent U.S Rep. Dan Lipinski cruised to victory with just under 75 percent of the unofficial vote tally in the Democratic stronghold that stretches from Chicago’s Southwest Side to the west and south suburbs. With a little over 95 percent of precincts reporting, Lipinski received 149,749 votes compared with Arthur Jones’ 53,415. Jones, 70, had run for office several times before but had never advanced to the general election.
FBI reward: The FBI is offering a $15,000 reward in the case of a 13-year-old girl kidnapped from a North Carolina mobile home park. News outlets report the search for Hania Noelia Aguilar also expanded this week as authorities circulated her picture across North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Family members say the eighth grader went outside Monday morning to start a relative’s SUV to prepare to leave for the bus stop. Police say a man then forced her into a green Ford Expedition with the South Carolina license plate NWS 984 and drove off.
Saving orcas: The Washington state task force on critically endangered Northwest orcas wants to temporarily ban commercial whale-watching boat tours. The group advising the governor voted this week to recommend a three-to five-year moratorium in order to reduce boating traffic and help orcas hunting for food. Orcas have hit the lowest numbers in more than three decades, capturing global attention as starvation has caused their deaths. Just 74 animals remain in the area. Researchers say reducing boat traffic must be the first step to mitigating the problem because white noise makes it difficult for them to find salmon. Critics say the move doesn’t address their dwindling food supply, and that barge and commercial fishing boats are far louder. Zoo vandalism: A 23-year-old man was injured after breaking into an alligator farm in Florida and jumping into a pond full of Nile crocodiles, police said. Police responding to reports of vandalism Tuesday at the Alligator Farm Zoological Park in St. Augustine found the underwear-clad man with an injured leg crawling across a nearby yard. Brandon Keith Hatfield was arrested, charged with vandalism and taken to a hospital where he tried to escape before getting caught in a retention pond lined with barbed wire, police said.
Twin sisters: Identical twins gave birth about two hours apart from each other. The Fresno Bee reports Wednesday that BaoKou Yang went into labor first on Sunday. Shortly after, her sister BaoNhia Yang went into labor. BaoKou gave birth at 6:59 p.m. Sunday. Her sister then delivered at 8:48 p.m. Both gave birth to daughters who almost were the same weight.