NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Deportations: New government figures show people arrested by deportation officers increasingly have no criminal backgrounds, reflecting the Trump administration’s commitment to cast a wider net. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says 65 percent of arrests from October to December were criminals, compared with 82 percent during the final full three months of the Obama administration. Looked at another way, arrests of criminals jumped 14 percent to 25,626 from 22,484, but arrests of non-criminals nearly tripled to 13,548 from 4,918. Overall, there were 39,174 deportation arrests for the period, up from 27,402 during the final three months of the Obama administration. ICE’s Dallas office tallied the most arrests during the latest threemonth period, followed by Atlanta and Houston.
2 Library stabbing: A man approached a woman from behind at a public library Saturday near Boston and stabbed her repeatedly with a hunting knife, killing her and injuring an elderly man who came to her aid, police said. Prosecutor Marian Ryan said the 22-year-old woman was seated in a Winchester Public Library reading room when Jeffrey Yao, 23, stabbed her with a 10-inch knife. Police said the motive was not known. A 77-year-old man who was also stabbed suffered non-life threatening injuries. Yao was charged with murder.
3 Military death: A sailor died Saturday, three days after he was struck by a helicopter blade at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base north of San Diego. According to the Marine Corps, the sailor was hit by the spinning tail rotor of a Venom helicopter Wednesday evening and died at a hospital Saturday. The helicopter was on the ground at the time. The sailor was assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The sailor’s name and other details of the accident were not disclosed.
4 Flooding: A levee break along the Kankakee River in northwestern Indiana caused about 30 homeowners to evacuate. The breach was relatively minor when it was discovered Friday near Demotte, about 50 miles southeast of Chicago. Keener Township Volunteer Fire Chief Randy Woods said residents tried to sandbag the breach “but it just got bigger and bigger.” Local firefighters were called out to help, but eventually everyone had to evacuate for their own safety. No injuries were reported. Flooding was occurring Saturday along the Kankakee after several days of heavy rains and snowmelt that have sent streams out of their banks from the Ohio River to Michigan and Wisconsin.
5 Case dismissed: A judge in Moundsville, W.Va., has dismissed a lawsuit brought by coal company Murray Energy against HBO host John Oliver. A segment of Oliver’s show “Last Week Tonight” in June poked fun at Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray, who blames regulatory efforts by the Obama administration for damaging the coal industry. Oliver said the 77-year-old looked like a “geriatric Dr. Evil.” The company was seeking damages and an order barring rebroadcasts of the “defamatory statements.”