NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Gymnastics ranch: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a criminal investigation into claims that former doctor Larry Nassar abused some of his victims at a Texas ranch that was the training ground for U.S. women’s gymnastics. Abbott ordered the Texas Rangers, the state’s top criminal investigations unit, to look into the Karolyi Ranch. It hosted training camps for more than a decade until earlier this year. Several gymnasts have said Nassar abused them at the ranch. Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison last week. More than 150 women and girls have said he had molested them under the guise of medical treatment.
2 Missile alert: A mistaken missile alert that caused widespread panic and confusion in Hawaii has led to the resignation of the state’s emergency management leader and the firing of the worker who sent the false warning. Maj. Gen. Joe Logan, the state adjutant general, says Hawaii Emergency Management Agency administrator Vern Miyagi resigned Tuesday. The employee who has been fired mistakenly sent an emergency alert to mobile devices and TV and radio stations warning of an incoming missile strike on Jan. 13.
3 Kennedy cousin: Connecticut officials are asking the state’s highest court to revoke Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s bail and send him back to prison, reminding justices it has been more than a year since they reinstated his murder conviction. Skakel, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy and his widow, Ethel Kennedy, was convicted of murder in 2002 in the bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley in their wealthy Greenwich neighborhood in 1975, when both were teenagers. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. But another judge granted him a new trial in 2013, citing mistakes by his lawyer.
4 Ex-governor arrested: Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says he will pay a fine after being arrested with a loaded handgun in his briefcase as he went through an airport security checkpoint. Barbour — Republican National Committee chairman in the mid-1990s and governor from 2004-12 — said on Tuesday that he was trying to board a flight Jan. 2 from Jackson to Washington. He said he forgot he was carrying the gun, which he had put in his briefcase. The fine for having a loaded firearm at an airport checkpoint begins at $3,920, according to a TSA website.
5 Glee actor dies: Mark Salling, who played bad-boy Noah “Puck” Puckerman in the hit musical-comedy “Glee,” died of an apparent suicide Tuesday, weeks after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography. He was 35. Salling pleaded guilty in December after authorities said a search of his computer and a thumb drive found more than 50,000 images of child porn. He was scheduled to be sentenced March 7, and prosecutors planned to ask a judge to send him to prison for four to seven years. A law enforcement official said Salling was found hanging in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles.