NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
Ship breakdown: The U.S. Navy’s newest ship had to be towed to a base in Virginia after breaking down during its journey to its home port in San Diego. The Milwaukee, a littoral combat ship that was commissioned in November, was towed more than 40 nautical miles to Virginia Beach after suffering an engineering failure Friday. The ship was on its way from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Florida, where it was planning to stop before continuing on its trek to San Diego. The cause of the ship’s failure remains under investigation.
Jail death: Mississippi officials say an enlarged heart is a likely factor in the death of a 30-year-old inmate jailed since May in the slayings of two Hattiesburg police officers. Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict said there were no signs of trauma on the body of Marvin Banks, who died Friday. Warren Strain, of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, said the initial autopsy shows an enlarged heart and scar tissue on the heart. A cause of death won’t be finally determined until other tests are completed. Banks was found unresponsive in his cell. He was charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate.
Police protest: Black leaders in Virginia say they will march every week until they believe justice has been served in the case of a man who died in police custody after officers shocked him repeatedly with stun guns. Dozens of NAACP members marched Saturday in South Boston and called on the county’s prosecutor to complete her investigation into the death of Linwood Lambert Jr. Videos showed three South Boston police officers using stun guns multiple times on Lambert, 46, whom they had brought to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. He later died in their custody. The prosecutor has not said whether charges will be brought against the officers.
Destroyer rescue: The U.S. Navy’s new stealth destroyer, the Zumwalt, assisted in the rescue of a fisherman who had a medical emergency early Saturday off the Maine coast, officials said. The Zumwalt — the largest destroyer ever built for the Navy — was out for sea trials when Coast Guard officials received a distress call from the fishing boat around 3 a.m. A small boat from the Zumwalt transferred the man to the destroyer’s deck, where he was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital on shore.
Sapphire thefts: Police say they’ve charged a part-time university employee with stealing sapphires from Cleveland’s natural history museum. Investigators say the suspect smashed a display case just over a week ago and made off with seven of the gemstones worth $81,000. Hans Wrage, 36, was arrested on a grand theft charge Friday, police said. Wrage is a part-time employee in the physics department at John Carroll University near Cleveland. A message seeking comment was left through his university e-mail address Saturday. The gemstones were part of the museum’s mineral collection. Police did not say if they were recovered.