BALTIMORE MAYOR RESIGNS AMID BOOK SCANDAL
BALTIMORE» The mayor resigned under pressure Thursday amid a flurry of investigations into whether she arranged bulk sales of her self-published children’s books to disguise hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks.
Mayor Catherine Pugh’s resignation came a week after her City Hall offices, homes and other locations were raided by FBI and IRS agents.
She is Baltimore’s second mayor in less than a decade to step down because of scandal.
She came to office contrasting her clean image with her main opponent, ex-mayor Sheila Dixon, who was forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal for misappropriating about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families.
“I am sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor,” Pugh said in a written statement.
Would-be NYC bomber gets 10 years in foiled al-Qaeda plot.
ORK» A former Aurora resident NE WY who plotted to bomb New York City’s subways, then switched sides after his arrest and spent nearly a decade helping the U.S. identify and prosecute terrorists, was rewarded for his help Thursday with a sentence of 10 years in prison, effectively time he has already served.
Najibullah Zazi, a 33-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who became radicalized and received explosives training from al-Qaeda after traveling to Pakistan in 2008, faced up to life in prison after pleading guilty to terrorism-related charges.
The subway plot sent shockwaves through New York and the federal law enforcement community, underscoring the continuing threat of terrorism years after Sept. 11. But federal prosecutors said Zazi, after his 2009 arrest, provided “extraordinary” assistance to U.S. counterterrorism authorities.
California governor makes big change to giant water project.
» Gov. Gavin
S A CR A MENTO , C A LIF .
Newsom scrapped a $16 billion plan Thursday to build two giant water tunnels to reroute the state’s water system and instead directed state agencies to restart planning for a single tunnel.
The move comes after $240 million has been spent on the project championed by former Gov. Jerry Brown to divert water from the north to the state’s drier south.
Mayor unveils bill to legalize recreational marijuana sales in D.C.
WASHINGTON» Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, announced legislation Thursday to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana dispensaries in the nation’s capital, setting up a potential showdown with the federal government.
The district’s marijuana laws are in limbo. Residents can grow and possess small amounts of the drug legally under a 2014 voterapproved law.
But they cannot purchase pot legally, and the city cannot tax sales because of a provision in the federal budget that prohibits the district from enacting or enforcing marijuana legalization laws.
Air Force estimates $420 million needed to rebuild base.
» The OFFUTT A IR FORCE BASE , NE B.
Air Force is raising its cost estimate to $420 million to repair and rebuild Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base following severe flooding that forced officials to scramble to save munitions and move aircraft to higher ground.
More than 130 structures were damaged by the Missouri River flooding at the base that houses the U.S. military’s Strategic Command.
Approximately 60 of those structures were damaged beyond repair and will need to be demolished, said John Henderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and energy.
“It wasn’t just the water; it was what was in the water,” Henderson told the Omaha World-Herald. The floodwaters ran as deep as 9 feet in some places and left behind a toxic sludge at the base. — Denver Post wire services