Nation in brief: O.J. Simpson trial held till September
A judge agreed Friday to delay the armed robbery and kidnapping trial for O.J. Simpson and two co-defendants until September to give the defense more time to prepare.
Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass refused to throw out the charges against the former football star, and refused to separate his trial from co-defendants Charles Ehrlich and Clarence “C.J.” Stewart.
In her ruling to push the trial to Sept. 8, Glass acknowledged it took longer than expected for prosecutors to analyze and enhance tape recordings, transcripts and fingerprints and turn them over to the defense to prepare for trial, which had been set initially for April 7.
Simpson, Ehrlich and Stewart are accused of kidnapping and robbing two sports collectibles dealers in a September meeting in a room at a Las Vegas hotel-casino. Simpson maintains he was retrieving items that belonged to him and that no guns were involved.
Washington
Reporter ordered to reveal sources
A federal judge held a former USA Today reporter in contempt of court Friday and ordered her to pay up to $5,000 a day if she refuses to identify her sources for stories about a former Army scientist under scrutiny in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Toni Locy must pay fines out of her own pocket as long as she continues to defy his order that she cooperate in scientist Steven J. Hatfill’s lawsuit against the government.
Hatfill accuses the Justice Department of violating his privacy by discussing the investigation with reporters.
Locy had asked that a contempt citation be delayed while she appeals to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The judge refused.
Starting at midnight Tuesday, Locy is ordered to pay fines of $500 a day for the first week, $1,000 a day for the second week and $5,000 thereafter until she appears before the judge on April 3.
Locy, 48, is a former Associated Press reporter who wrote about Hatfill while working at USA Today.
“I’m terribly disappointed in the judge’s ruling,” said Locy, now a professor at West Virginia University’s journalism school. “I had hoped he would reconsider this draconian sanction.”
New Haven, Conn.
Tony Blair will teach at Yale
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will teach at Yale next year, school officials said Friday.
Blair was named the Howland Distinguished Fellow and will lead a seminar on issues of faith and globalization. His efforts relate to the work of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which he will launch later this year.
Blair’s oldest son, Euan, is in his second year of a two-year master’s program in international relations at Yale.