National Roundup

Nebraska ROUND UP Briefs Headline:Woman gets probation for drowning puppy GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) - A Florida woman has been given two years of probation for drowning a 3-week-old puppy in a Nebraska airport toilet. Cynthia Anderson, of Edgewater, Florida, was sentenced Thursday in Hall County District Court in Grand Island. She pleaded no contest in May to cruelly neglecting an animal, resulting in its death. A no contest plea isn't an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing. During Thursday's hearing, the 57-year-old Anderson apologized for her actions and pleaded for mercy and probation. Anderson was barred from boarding a Jan. 23 flight at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport because the puppy was so young and wasn't properly contained. Authorities say she then was seen entering the restroom. Another woman soon reported finding the Doberman puppy dead in a toilet. Louisiana ROUND UP Briefs Headline:Nov. retrial date expected for former engineer NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Attorneys are eyeing a November retrial date for Kurt Mix, the former BP engineer charged with obstructing a federal investigation into the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Court papers filed Thursday show attorneys are working toward a Nov. 16 date but may seek to push the trial back to Nov. 30. Federal prosecutors say Mix deleted text messages about the amount of oil flowing from BP's well after a 2010 rig explosion. Mix's lawyers say he shared information about the flow rate throughout the government investigation. Mix was acquitted on one criminal count in 2013 but convicted on an obstruction of justice charge. That conviction was thrown out, however, because the forewoman was found to have improperly told a deadlocked jury about remarks she heard outside of the trial. California Governor allows parole for school bus hijacker SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The governor of California last week allowed parole for one of three men convicted in the 1976 kidnapping of 26 children and their school bus driver who were held captive in a buried trailer. Gov. Jerry Brown had until midnight Thursday to decide whether to approve parole for 63-year-old James Schoenfeld or send the case back to the board that recommended his release. The governor chose not to act, which allowed the parole board's decision to stand. Schoenfeld, his brother, Richard, and a friend, Fred Woods - all from wealthy families in the San Francisco Bay Area - were convicted in 1976. The men spent 18 months devising the plot and planned to ask for a $5 million ransom for the children, who ranged in age from 5 to 14. The hostages were taken from Chowchilla to a quarry near Livermore and kept inside the ventilated trailer stocked with mattresses, food and water. The scheme unraveled when the Dairyland Union School District students and bus driver Ed Ray escaped while the kidnappers took a nap. The three men were given life sentences after pleading guilty to kidnapping charges. An appeals court later reduced their sentences to life with the possibility of parole. James Schoenfeld is serving his sentence at California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Luis Patino says once the prison is notified of the decision, it will have five days to schedule Schoenfeld's release. His brother, Richard Schoenfeld, was paroled in 2012. Woods could have a parole hearing this fall. Idaho Sister of kidnap suspect files claim vs. FBI BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The sister of a man killed in the Idaho wilderness after he was suspected of kidnapping a teen girl and killing her mother and brother in California has filed a claim seeking $20 million from the FBI. Lora DiMaggio Robinson's lawyer, C. Keith Greer, says James DiMaggio never got a chance for a fair trial before he was shot by FBI agents two years ago. Greer filed a claim with the FBI on Thursday and said he plans on filing a lawsuit in Idaho's federal court next week. "We need a lot more information," Greer said. "We need to know why the officers felt like they were being targeted and to find out if they truly were in harm's way." DiMaggio, 40, was killed Aug. 10, 2013, one week after authorities said he abducted 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and killed her relatives in Boulevard, California. Authorities have said DiMaggio set fire to his home using a timer to help give him and Anderson a head start. The teen's disappearance triggered a massive search spanning much of the western U.S. and parts of Canada and Mexico. FBI agents rushed to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness near Cascade, Idaho, after four horseback riders reported spotting DiMaggio and Anderson. A law enforcement airplane later spotted their campsite, and rescue teams were dropped in by helicopter. Agents believed they were being targeted by DiMaggio after he fired rifle shots as they closed in on the campsite. According to the autopsy report, DiMaggio was shot six times by two agents. "The FBI agents' unprivileged use of force therefore constitutes an assault and battery against DiMaggio, leading to DiMaggio's wrongful death under Idaho law," attorneys stated in the claim. "None of the agents present sought to intervene to prevent the excessive force, though able." The FBI agents' actions were later deemed reasonable by U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson, and they did not face criminal charges. New York Chimps denied legal personhood will be retired from research STONY BROOK, N.Y. (AP) - Two chimpanzees that inspired an unsuccessful lawsuit to grant them personhood rights will be retired from research at a New York state university. Stony Brook University professor Susan Larson tells Newsday that her experiments involving Hercules and Leo ended this year and the chimps will be leaving the university on Long Island soon. Hercules and Leo gained attention when the Nonhuman Rights Project filed a lawsuit attempting to grant them legal personhood. A judge dismissed the lawsuit Thursday. The New Iberia Research Center at the University of Louisiana Lafayette owns the chimps and loaned them to Stony Brook in 2010. The center tells Newsday that the chimps will no longer be used for research. Officials wouldn't say when they will leave Stony Brook. Published: Mon, Aug 03, 2015