NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Utah election: Democrat Ben McAdams flipped a U.S. House seat in deep-red Utah, defeating incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Mia Love by less than 700 votes in a race that took two weeks to settle. She needed about 20 more votes to be able to request a recount. Final results posted Tuesday showed McAdams defeated Love by a margin barely over what would have been needed to require a recount. The back and forth race had been too close to call until the final votes were tallied. State election officials will certify the results next Monday. McAdams adds to the Democratic majority in a year when they’ve flipped more than three dozen Republican-held seats across the country.
2 “Cocaine cowboy”: One of Miami’s former drug kingpins from the “cocaine cowboy” era has been deported to the Dominican Republic after serving prison time. Guillermo “Willie” Falcon was deported Nov. 6 after completing a 20-year money laundering sentence. Falcon and partner Salvador “Sal” Magluta were two of the top cocaine traffickers for Colombian cartels in South Florida during the 1980s. Although Falcon grew up in Miami, he never became a U.S. citizen and thus was eligible for deportation. Magluta is serving a 195-year drug trafficking sentence.
3 Pot shops: People lined up in the rain Tuesday to be among the first customers at the first two legal pot shops on the U.S. East Coast, more than two years after Massachusetts voters approved of recreational marijuana for adults. The state’s first commercial pot shops opened in Leicester and Northampton. Items for sale include various strains of the part of the plant that can be smoked, pre-rolled joints and edibles such as brownies and chocolate bars. Cannabis is sold legally in six Western states. Several more stores could open in the coming months.
4 Elderly bank robber: More than 10 years after being sent to prison for committing bank robberies in four states, an 82-yearold man fled a Long Beach halfway house and returned to his old ways, federal authorities said Tuesday. The FBI said Charles Richard Manrow is facing charges on suspicion of robbing a Phoenix bank on Nov. 15 at gunpoint.
5 Saks lawsuit: Eight former employees at the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store filed a race and age discrimination lawsuit Tuesday against the high-end store and its corporate parent, alleging they were subjected to a hostile work environment and unfairly fired. The suit, filed in New York, said the men “were each forced to endure a pervasive pattern of discrimination and retaliation ... their respective managers deliberately targeted them because of their race and/or age.” Attorney Derek Sells said managers for the four black, two white and two Hispanic men engaged in a range of actions including making it difficult to get customers from store foot traffic, using abusive language, not allowing promotions, and letting younger, white colleagues get away with harassing behavior, all with the intention of moving toward a younger, whiter workforce.
Chronicle News Services