NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Cell phone surveillance: Covert cell phone tracking devices have been used by the New York Police Department on at least 1,000 occasions since 2008, according to documents obtained by the New York Civil Liberties Union. The documents, which the civil liberties group released Thursday, offers the first glimpse into how the nation’s largest municipal police department has used the surveillance devices while avoiding any public debate or any major courtroom review of the constitutionality of what it was doing.
2 Officer dies: A North Dakota police officer died Thursday of a gunshot wound suffered while responding to a domestic disturbance hours earlier, becoming just the second Fargo officer to die in the line of duty and the first in more than a century. Officer Jason Moszer, 33, a six- year veteran of the force with a wife and two children, died about 12: 45 p. m. Moszer was hit while standing outside a house near downtown about 7 p. m. Wednesday.
3 Chemical spill: A former Freedom Industries executive was sentenced Thursday to one month in federal prison for a chemical spill that fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West Virginians. Dennis Farrell also was fined $ 20,000 in U. S. District Court. “I’m truly sorry for what happened,” Farrell said prior to sentencing on pollution violations. The January 2014 spill of a coal-cleaning agent into the Elk River in Charleston got into a water company’s intake and prompted a tap- water ban in nine counties for up to 10 days. Residents immediately cleared store shelves of bottled water, and many restaurants were forced to close or cut back services temporarily. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection eight days after the spill, was fined $ 900,000, although a federal judge called the fine symbolic.
4 Officer convicted: A New York City police officer was convicted of manslaughter Thursday in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn for killing an unarmed man who was hit by a ricocheting bullet fired from the officer’s gun in the stairwell of a housing project. The officer, Peter Liang, and his partner were conducting a patrol on Nov. 20, 2014, inside the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York, Brooklyn. At one point, Liang opened a door into an unlighted stairwell and his gun went off. The bullet glanced off a wall and hit Akai Gurley, 28, who was walking down the stairs with his girlfriend, piercing his heart.
5 Ultrasound bill: Kentucky lawmakers have advanced a bill that would require doctors to perform ultrasounds prior to abortions and to describe what is seen to the pregnant woman. The measure cleared the Senate Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee on Thursday. The committee action is the latest effort by abortion opponents to impose conditions prior to abortions.