In brief: Arpaio recall try falls short of signers

Phoenix – A campaign to force a recall election against the polarizing sheriff of metropolitan Phoenix failed on Thursday after recall organizers said they couldn’t collect enough voter signatures to bring the lawman to the ballot again.

Critics of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had argued that the 80-year-old sheriff should be booted because his office has failed to adequately investigate more than 400 sex-crimes cases, has cost the county $25 million in legal settlements over treatment in county jails and his office was found by a federal judge to have systematically racially profiled Latinos in his signature immigration patrols.

Man sentenced in foiled bomb plot

Chicago – A Chicago man who planted a backpack he thought contained a bomb outside Wrigley Field three years ago on a busy Saturday night was sentenced Thursday to 23 years in prison in federal court.

Sami Samir Hassoun was nabbed in an FBI sting in 2010 after an informant tipped authorities off about his desire to unleash a violent attack on the city, according to the charges against him.

Undercover agents who met with Hassoun over several months secretly recorded him discussing his plans. They then provided him with an inert bomb after he picked an exact location for the Sept. 19 attempt.