Nation in brief: Man identified after plane arrest
MONTREAL – Canadian authorities identified Monday a man arrested on an Aeromexico flight from Paris to Mexico that was forced to divert to Montreal after U.S. authorities refused to let the plane use U.S. airspace.
Abdirahman Ali Gaal was arrested Sunday at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, said Robert Gervais, an Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada spokesman. He was arrested under an outstanding warrant.
Gervais said details of the arrest would be made public at Gaal’s detention review hearing on Wednesday.
The Canada Border Services Agency confirmed Monday the passenger was on a U.S. no-fly list.
Other passengers on Aeromexico Flight 006 were rescreened and allowed to reboard the flight, said Lauren Gaches, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. The plane arrived in Mexico City early Monday.
Gaches gave no further details.
Depot completes mortar disposal
STOCKTON, Utah – The Deseret Chemical Depot said workers have destroyed the last explosively configured mustard agent-filled munitions at its site in Utah’s west desert.
The depot said that with 4.2-inch mortar disposal operations completed last week, only bulk containers of mustard agent are left to be processed.
The U.S. Army said nearly 90 percent of the original Deseret Chemical Depot stockpile has been eliminated and more than 1 million munitions destroyed.
Ted Ryba, site project manager at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, said the facility can now start early decommissioning activities.
Veteran, 84, drives into parade crowd
WEST CHESTER, Ohio – A car driven by a World War II veteran went off the road and struck four people lined up for a Memorial Day parade, police said.
Authorities said 84-year-old Everett Cole’s vehicle rolled over and hit a tree in front of a house in West Chester, about 15 miles north of Cincinnati.
Cole was conscious and talked with emergency personnel as they extracted him from the car. Three people were taken to hospitals, including an 83-year-old Korean War veteran.
Cole had been assigned to drive a car in the parade Monday morning.
Graduation in church disallowed
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – A federal judge has ruled two Connecticut public high schools can’t hold their graduations inside a church because that would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall made the ruling Monday in the case of Enfield High School and Enrico Fermi High School, both in Enfield.
The Enfield school board said it voted to hold services June 23 and 24 at the First Cathedral in Bloomfield because it had enough space at the right price. Two students and three parents sued.
The judge said Enfield had unconstitutionally entangled itself with religion by agreeing to cover much of the church’s religious imagery. She also said the town coerced the plaintiffs to support religion by forcing them to enter the church for graduation.