NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
Lottery scam: A 25- year- old man was convicted Thursday for his role in a Jamaican lottery scam that authorities say cost victims around the country millions of dollars. Sanjay Williams, of Montego Bay, Jamaica, was found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering and faces up to 40 years in prison. Investigators described Williams primarily as a “lead broker” who bought and sold “sucker lists” of potential victims. He was the only one of 32 defendants to opt for trial; about a dozen defendants are awaiting extradition from Jamaica. Jurors in U. S. District Court in Bismarck, N. D, had deliberated since Tuesday afternoon before reaching a verdict.
HIV outbreak: Top Indiana health official says the dwindling number of new HIV cases in a rural southern county could mean the state’s largest- ever HIV outbreak is ending. Deputy State Health Commissioner Jennifer Walthall said Thursday there have been 149 confirmed HIV cases and one preliminary positive case in Scott County and adjacent areas since December, but only about 15 new cases over the past two weeks. Nearly all of the outbreak’s HIV cases have been traced to needle- sharing among intravenous drug users. A needle- exchange program is operating in Scott County to combat the outbreak.
Armed campus police: University of Rhode Island campus police will start carrying guns Friday, making it the final public university in the nation to arm its officers. The move to arm police came after a false alarm in 2013, when some students in a lecture hall thought they heard someone say they had a gun, setting off a panic on the bucolic campus in South Kingstown. While campus police arrived at the scene in less than a minute, it took about five minutes for armed police from South Kingstown to arrive. No gun was ever found.
San Diego paper sold: The publisher of the Los Angeles Times is buying U- T San Diego for $ 85 million, strengthening its presence in Southern California and putting the top newspapers in the state’s two largest cities under common ownership. Tribune Publishing Co., owner of the Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and other publications, said Thursday that the 145- year- old U- T would remain a separate newspaper.
Cosby lawsuit: A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments in a defamation lawsuit filed by three women who allege Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them decades ago. The hearing, in U. S. District Court in Worcester, Mass., represents the first in the suit, which applies solely to the defamation allegation and not for any of assault allegation. It was originally filed in December. Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz say Cosby’s representatives publicly branded them liars while trying to defend him as they publicly stepped forward with their accusations in recent years.