National Roundup

New York Activists compile book of campus rape stories NEW YORK (AP) - Two activists featured in the campus rape documentary "The Hunting Ground" have compiled a book of "intensely personal" stories about sexual assault. "We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Violence Speak Out," by Annie E. Clark and Andrea L. Pino, will be published April 12 by Henry Holt and Co. The publisher told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the book will feature more than 30 accounts from men and woman and also will tell "of the institutional betrayals" and "the healing and activism that followed." Clark and Pino are survivors of sexual assault and among the founders of End Rape on Campus. "The Hunting Ground" was produced by CNN, and this week received a Producers Guild of America nomination for best documentary despite questions about its accuracy. Pennsylvania @ROUND UP Briefs Headline:Ex-beauty queen faces charges in cancer scam STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - A former Pennsylvania beauty queen accused of faking leukemia to benefit from fundraisers has been charged with stealing from three more victims. Twenty-three-year-old Brandi Weaver-Gates, of Pleasant Gap, was arraigned Tuesday on three additional counts each of theft and receiving stolen property. She's been jailed since her arrest in August. Authorities believe she conned at least 165 people into donating nearly $30,000 through a bingo event in April and other fundraisers since August 2013. Public defender Deb Lux says the former Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International pageant winner is sorry for the thefts and hopes to repay the money. Lux says she's also going to push Weaver-Gates to get a mental evaluation - not to pursue an insanity defense but to get insight on "why this happened." New Jersey Prosecutors in bridge case have nothing to hide NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - The attorney for one of the defendants in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane-closing case claims it was his client's ex-colleague who gave the order for the closures to coincide with the first day in school. An attorney for former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official Bill Baroni filed a document Tuesday that reveals some passages that were blacked out in a filing earlier this month. Baroni and former Gov. Chris Christie aide Bridget Kelly filed motions this month seeking access to documents that have been withheld and deemed privileged. Tuesday's filing shows they also are focusing on an alleged admission by former Port Authority official David Wildstein that he planned the lane closures to coincide with the first day of school in Fort Lee. The defense says the government has alleged Baroni planned the timing. Prosecutors filed a 55-page brief late Tuesday, rejecting claims by the defense attorneys, who alleged evidence has been withheld or dumped in an unusable manner. The government also opposed a request to move the trial out of northern New Jersey. Wildstein has pleaded guilty, and Baroni and Kelly were indicted last spring on counts including conspiracy, fraud and deprivation of civil rights. As part of his plea, Wildstein said the closures were meant to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie for re-election. Christie, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, hasn't been charged and has disavowed any prior knowledge of the scheme. The closures plunged Fort Lee into gridlock for four days in September 2013 before the Port Authority's executive director ordered the lanes reopened. The unredacted portions in Tuesday's filing bolster the notion that the defendants will seek to portray Wildstein as a habitual liar who deceived them about the reason for the lane closings. Baroni and Kelly also are seeking access to additional information from the government under rules of discovery, which require prosecutors to share evidence that might be exculpatory. The defendants say Christie's office has claimed thousands of documents are privileged and off-limits, including emails sent between Christie's then-press secretary and Wildstein. Baroni and Kelly also want access to interview notes made by Gibson Dunn, the law firm hired by Christie at taxpayer expense to investigate the lane closings. The firm's report issued in 2014 cleared Christie of wrongdoing, though it didn't interview several key players. Baroni also wants prosecutors to disclose chain of custody and other information about a hard drive Wildstein allegedly stole from Baroni's work computer and showed to government investigators. Virginia @ROUND UP Briefs Headline:Authorities: Man stalked boy, 10, hid GPS trackers VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Authorities have arrested a Virginia Beach man they say stalked a 10-year-old boy he unsuccessfully tried to adopt and gave him items with hidden GPS trackers. The Virginian-Pilot, citing court documents, reports 41-year-old William Thomas Duncan Jr. had given the boy three items with GPS trackers hidden inside. Court documents say Duncan showed up at the boy's school and at a field trip at the Carolina Zoo earlier this month. In an affidavit, Homeland Security Investigations Agent Kristin Joseph says Duncan confessed to hiring a private detective to track down the boy's school. Joseph says Duncan had unsuccessfully tried to adopt two 10-year-old boys in the past two years from different counties in North Carolina. A federal magistrate on Tuesday ordered Duncan to be held without bond on one count of interstate stalking. It isn't clear if Duncan has an attorney. California Man charged with killing artist painting a mural OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The man charged with gunning down an artist as he worked on a mural in Oakland had to be forcibly removed from a courtroom Tuesday after he began shouting expletives at a judge reading a litany of charges against him. Marquise Holloway, 20, of Oakland was arrested Friday at his mother's home in Stockton on suspicion of second-degree robbery and murder in the killing of Antonio Ramos, who was shot to death Sept. 29 while working on a mural under an Interstate 580 overpass, police said. Police officials described Holloway as a suspected serial robber who set off the deadly confrontation with Ramos, 27. Holloway is known to hang around the same neighborhood of West Oakland where Ramos was killed and had been associated with members of a street gang, Lt. Roland Holmgren said. Published: Fri, Nov 27, 2015