PROTEST TURNS VIOLENT IN VENEZUELA
VIDEO ALLEGEDLY SHOWS COP PLANTING DRUGS
A Baltimore police officer has been suspended and two other cops placed on administrative duty amid an investigation triggered by body camera footage the public defender’s office says shows an officer allegedly planting drugs at a crime scene and then “discovering ” the evidence moments later.
While police said they have not reached any conclusions regarding the allegations, the video, released Wednesday by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, shows officer Richard Pinheiro during a drug arrest in January placing a soup can, which holds a plastic bag, into a lot strewn with trash.
Two other officers accompany Pinheiro as he hides the drugs.
AFRICAN ROBOTICS TEAM MISSING AFTER COMPETITION
Two of six teenage members of a robotics team from Burundi who disappeared after an international competition in Washington were seen crossing into Canada, police said Thursday.
“We don’t have an update on the whereabouts (of the others), but we have no indication that there was foul play,” police spokeswoman Margarita Mikhaylova told USA TODAY.
The teenagers were competing in the FIRST Global Challenge robotics competition and were reported missing Wednesday, according to police documents.
YOSEMITE-AREA FIRE, DESTRUCTION EXPANDS
A wildfire that started about 10 miles outside the borders of Yosemite National Park grew Thursday to more than 100 square miles and destroyed 45 structures, fire officials said.
More than 3,100 firefighters are on hand to continue to try to contain it, looking to protect the historic foothills town of Mariposa, Calif., and keep one of the nation’s most popular national parks open to its estimated 20,000 daily visitors.
Cal Fire officials said 1,500 structures near what they are calling the Detwiler Fire still are threatened, and six have been damaged in addition to those destroyed.
ALSO...
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 20-0 Thursday to recommend the confirmation of Christopher Wray to be the next FBI director. The vote paves the way for what is expected to be overwhelming bipartisan approval by the full Senate.