State Glance
Arizona’s Flake opposes Trump nominee for CIA
Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake is the third Republican to oppose President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director.
Flake said in a statement Wednesday that while he appreciates Haspel’s 30year career at the CIA, the United States needs to turn the page on the spy agency’s former program of detaining and harshly interrogating terror suspects.
Haspel supervised one of the covert detention sites in Thailand where suspects were harshly interrogated. She also drafted a cable that her boss sent ordering the destruction of videotapes showing one detainee’s ordeal at the site.
Flake says he still has questions about Haspel’s role in the destruction of the tapes.
GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona also oppose Haspel. McCain is battling cancer and is not expected to be present to vote.
Phoenix police: 2 wounded in shooting in store parking lot
PHOENIX — Phoenix police say two men were hospitalized after being wounded during a shooting at a convenience story’s parking lot.
Police say no immediate arrest was made in the Tuesday night shooting in which a 29-year-old man and a 24-year-old man were wounded, and it’s unclear what prompted the shooting. The shooting occurred near North 27th Avenue and West Indian School Road.
Man convicted of killing couple; bodies never found
TUCSON — A jury in Tucson has convicted a man of killing a Phoenix couple more than 15 years ago although their bodies have never been found.
KOLD-TV reports Brian Ferry was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of first-degree murder.
His first trial ended in a mistrial in February when jurors couldn’t reach a verdict.
Authorities say Charles Russell and Catherine Nelson were last seen in early February 2002 when they traveled from Phoenix to Tucson to buy a motorcycle. Tucson police later found the couple’s truck in a church parking lot.
Pima County prosecutors say Ferry posted an advertisement for the motorcycle to lure the victims to his Tucson home and his DNA was found in the couple’s truck. Ferry was arrested and charged in the case in January 2015.