NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 U.N. budget: The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said Sunday that the U.N.’s 2018-19 budget would be slashed by over $285 million. The mission said reductions would also be made to the U.N.’s management and support functions. The announcement didn’t make clear the entire amount of the budget or specify what effect the cut would have on the U.S. contribution. U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said that the “inefficiency and overspending” of the organization is well-known, and she would not let “the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of.”
2 School suit: An Oklahoma school and its board of directors are being sued on behalf of 15 girls who say they were molested by a teacher’s aide. The federal lawsuit filed Friday in Oklahoma City seeks unspecified damages from the Perry school district and the school board for allegedly failing to protect the elementary students from molestation by 86-year-old Arnold Cowen. No attorney for the school or board is listed in court documents. Cowen has pleaded not guilty to 19 felony charges of committing lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16, one count of making an indecent proposal and one count of possessing child pornography.
3 Foul delivery: The U.S. Secret Service says it has interviewed someone claiming responsibility for delivering a gift-wrapped package of horse manure addressed to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. The box was found Saturday at the home of Mnuchin’s neighbor in the wealthy Bel-Air neighborhood in Los Angeles. The LAPD bomb squad responded to the package, which police say was marked as being from “the American people.” Secret Service spokesman Cody Starken said Monday that the agency was contacted by Los Angeles police and interviewed a person who claimed responsibility. He declined to identify the person.
4 Arrested again: A Mexican man who was charged in a crash that killed an Oregon sheriff ’s deputy in 2007 and then mistakenly released 10 months ago has been arrested again, authorities said. Oregon State Police said in a statement Sunday that it learned Alfredo de JesusAscencio, 29, had been caught. A grand jury had indicted him on charges of criminally negligent homicide more than a decade ago after a head-on collision that killed his 19-year-old passenger and Marion County Deputy Kelly Fredinburg. Oregon State Police said de Jesus-Ascencio was arrested Thursday in Michoacan state in Mexico. Oregon State Police and the Marion County district attorney’s office worked jointly to find de Jesus-Ascencio with the FBI, U.S. Embassy, Interpol and the Mexican attorney General’s Office.
5 Sentence in theft: A Nevada man who sold smoke grenades and military-issued ammunition stolen from the U.S. Air Force has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and two years’ probation. U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre says Temogen Tran Noguni, 38, of Henderson was sentenced Friday in Las Vegas. Myhre says Noguni was arrested after he listed the items for sale on the Internet.