National Roundup

New York
Government reaffirms it will sell ex-lab island
NEW YORK (AP) — The federal government has reaffirmed it plans to sell Plum Island, finalizing the environmental review of the animal disease research site off Long Island, even though environmental regulators and some lawmakers say there's not enough information about the effects of selling it.
The General Services Administration and Department of Homeland Security issued what's called a “record of decision” last week. The document marks one of the last steps before a sale.
Congress voted in 2009 to close the laboratory, which opened in 1954. Sale proceeds would go toward moving the research to Kansas State University.
A GSA environmental study in June suggested homes might be built on the island. Environmental groups want it to become a nature preserve. Some members of Congress want to stop the sale of the island 100 miles east of New York City.
Environmentalists have sounded alarms that selling the island would jeopardize endangered terns, seals and other wildlife, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency raised some red flags earlier this month. The island provides “important habitat for a number of species,” and the GSA hadn’t done a detailed enough evaluation of selling the island, regional EPA administrator Judith Enck said.

Kentucky
Soldier pleads guilty in theft of truckloads of fuel 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An Army sergeant based at Fort Campbell has pleaded guilty for his part in the theft of fuel from a military base in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Justice Department said in a news release that Bilal Abdullah pleaded guilty to bribery on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell in the Western District of Kentucky.
The statement says Abdullah admitted taking payments from a trucking company representative to facilitate the theft of 25 truckloads of fuel, causing a loss to the U.S. of more than $400,000.
The guilty plea by Abdullah, of the 426th Brigade Support Battalion, is the third to come out of the investigation. Military contractor employee Jonathan Hightower pleaded guilty to similar charges last August, and Christopher Weaver pleaded guilty to fuel theft last October.

Illinois
Feds say terror suspect sought agent’s murder
CHICAGO (AP) — A teenager facing terrorism charges for allegedly trying to bomb a downtown Chicago bar is now accused of seeking to have an undercover FBI agent killed while the suspect was behind bars, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Adel Daoud faces multiple charges, including solicitation of murder or attempted murder for allegedly trying to kill the agent, who the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago says played a role in a sting that led to the suspect’s initial arrest in 2012.
The 19-year-old Hillside man has been jailed since that arrest for allegedly trying to ignite what he thought was a car bomb outside the bar; the bomb was fake and part of the sting. Daoud has pleaded not guilty to charges in the bombing case.
As part of the alleged terror plot, prosecutors say Daoud was introduced to an undercover FBI agent posing as a terrorist in New York. After Daoud’s arrest, he learned the person was an FBI agent, and at that point allegedly sought his murder.
Daoud’s attorney, Thomas Durkin, said in an emailed statement on Thursday that “the government was pursuing the allegations of a notoriously unreliable street gang jailhouse informant.”
Daoud already faces up to life in prison if convicted of the terrorism charges filed last year. A conviction on the solicitation count carries a maximum 20-year prison term; another murder-for-hire count carries a maximum 10-year sentence.

Louisiana
Chimp wins first prize in online artwork contest
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A painting by a 37-year-old Louisiana primate who applies color with his tongue instead of a brush has been deemed the finest chimpanzee art in the land.
Brent, a retired laboratory animal, was the top vote-getter in an online chimp art contest organized by the Humane Society of the United States, which announced the results last week. He won $10,000 for the Chimp Haven sanctuary in northwest Louisiana.
Chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall chose her favorite from photographs she was sent. That painting, by Cheetah, a male at Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce, Fla., won $5,000 as Goodall’s choice and another $5,000 for winning second place in online voting, Humane Society spokeswoman Nicole Ianni said.

New York
Police: woman offers stamps to pay for murder
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police say they’ve arrested a woman after she offered an undercover officer a $60,000 stamp collection to kill her husband.
Police say Elena Adams was arrested Thursday and charged with conspiracy and criminal solicitation. They say the 57-year-old met with an undercover officer inside a car in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn to discuss the murder-for-hire plot.
Police say Adams told the officer her husband should be struck by a hit-and-run driver on Sunday as he crossed a street after lunch. They say Adams gave the investigator a picture of her husband, the stamp collection and jewelry.
Adams was arrested at the scene. She’s in custody and unavailable for comment. A home phone number listed in her name is out of order, and there’s no available information about an attorney for her.

New York
Lawsuit cites judge’s stop and frisk ruling
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man who claims he was falsely arrested under the police department’s stop and frisk practice has filed a lawsuit.
It claims racial profiling and cites a judge’s ruling this month that the policy is unconstitutional.
Allen Moye of Queens says “it may be inferred” that police illegally targeted him, based on the judge’s finding. The judge found the use of stop and frisk violated minorities’ civil rights and ordered a monitor to oversee changes.
Moye says he was arrested on false charges while waiting for a friend in Harlem in 2010. Credit card forgery charges against him were later dismissed.
Moye, who is black, is seeking unspecified damages.
The city is appealing the judge’s decision. It declined to comment, saying it hasn’t been served with the papers.