National Roundup

Illinois Workers find human foot in Chicago rail yard CHICAGO (AP) -- Workers at a rail yard on Chicago's West Side made a gruesome discovery: a human foot. Chicago police say the foot was found inside a boot late Tuesday while the workers were performing maintenance work at the yard. Authorities say they believe the foot belonged to a man who was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in Racine, Wis., last month. Police say his foot couldn't be found after the accident, and it may have gotten stuck underneath the train only to fall off after the train arrived in Chicago. The rail yard is shared by Metra and Amtrak trains. The Cook County medical examiner's office says a pathologist plans to examine the foot. New York State top court rejects claim from bad investment ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York's top court has rejected a request by French investors to reinstate their lawsuit over losing $43 million out of $50 million they put into two structured investment vehicles. The investors claim Barclays Bank, Standard & Poor's and two management companies were complicit in leaving investors with plummeting securities shortly before the Wall Street collapse. Oddo Asset Management says collateral managers Avendis Financial Services and Solent Capital conspired with Barclays in early 2007 to transfer subprime mortgage-backed securities from Barclays to the two vehicles and that S&P was complicit by confirming inflated note ratings for Golden Key Ltd. and Mainsail II Ltd. The Court of Appeals says the managers had no fiduciary duty to the investors, so Barclays and S&P couldn't be liable for abetting any breach. Virginia Woman claims exorcism turned to sexual abuse RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A woman who claims a priest molested her during a more than two-year exorcism is suing the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. The lawsuit in Arlington County Circuit Court also names Bishop Paul Loverde and Front Royal-based Human Life International Inc. as defendants. It seeks more than $5.3 million in damages. The complaint says the woman went to the Rev. Thomas Euteneur in 2008 for spiritual help. Euteneur was president of HLI, an anti-abortion ministry, and also performed exorcisms. According to the lawsuit, Euteneur's sessions with the woman frequently involved inappropriate touching and directing her to undress. The complaint says Euteneur explained passionate kisses as "blowing the Holy Spirit" into her. The Arlington Diocese says Euteneur was never a priest of the diocese and reported the allegations to his superiors. Washington, D.C. U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Va 'spitwad' case RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A Virginia student suspended for shooting fellow students with plastic pellets won't be arguing his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Rutherford Institute says that the nation's high court has refused to hear Andrew Mikel's case. The Spotsylvania High School student was suspended in December 2010 for the rest of the school year. School officials said he shot small, hollow plastic pellets at other students during lunch, which constituted "violent criminal conduct" and possession of a weapon. The Supreme Court of Virginia rejected the institute's initial appeal and later refused to rehear the case. The civil liberties group's lawyers have argued that Mikel's actions weren't criminal. They also said Mikel's due process rights were violated. Georgia Volunteers of America sues city over group homes ATLANTA (AP) -- A nonprofit organization says that city leaders in a Georgia town have taken steps to exclude group homes for people with disabilities. Volunteers of America maintains in a new federal lawsuit that city officials in Springfield approved zoning rules which effectively exclude group homes for people with intellectual disabilities from any residential district. VOA says the city's decision was motivated by public prejudice against people with intellectual disabilities, and was made with the intent to discriminate against them. Springfield's city manager could not immediately be reached by The Associated Press Wednesday morning. The plaintiffs are Volunteers of America of Georgia Inc.; and Mobile, Ala.-based Volunteers of America Greater Southeast Inc. Kansas Judge tosses many claims by ex-Kansas detective WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A federal judge has dismissed much of a lawsuit by a former Kansas City, Kan., police detective alleging authorities retaliated against him for refusing to conceal a motorist's beating by federal agents. Max Seifert sued last year. Seifert alleges he was forced to retire in 2005 in retaliation for investigating Drug Enforcement Administration agents involved in a 2003 "road rage" incident that left a man with permanent brain damage. He sued the sheriff, undersheriff and Unified Government of Wyandotte County, which covers the county and Kansas City, Kan. U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten on Tuesday granted a defense request to dismiss any claims for damages occurring before June 2009. Marten said constitutional claims brought in Kansas are subject to the state's two-year statute of limitations. Florida State: Too late for S. Fla. prison privatization TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A lawyer for the state concedes it's too late to carry out the Legislature's plan to privatize nearly 30 South Florida prison facilities. Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Glogau acknowledged that to the 1st District Court of Appeal on Wednesday in Tallahassee. A budget provision calling for the outsourcing expires Saturday. Glogau still urged a three-judge panel to reverse the trial judge's ruling the budget provision was unconstitutional and uphold the Legislature's ability to use that option again. Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford of Tallahassee ruled the Republican-led Legislature should have passed a stand-alone law instead. A separate privatization bill subsequently was defeated. The judges, meanwhile, questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi's ability to appeal the ruling after the Department of Corrections declined to do so. Published: Thu, Jun 28, 2012