In brief: Great Lakes carp protection alternatives offered by Army Corps of Engineers
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – A federal agency sent Congress a list of alternatives Monday for shielding the Great Lakes from an invasion by Asian carp that could devastate native fish, including construction projects in Chicago waterways that could cost more than $18 billion and take 25 years to complete.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declined to endorse a single plan after studying the matter since 2009. Instead, the Corps provided a 232-page analysis with eight possible approaches.
Two would place dams in the Chicago waterway system to seal off Lake Michigan from the carp-infested Mississippi River watershed. Environmentalists and five states that unsuccessfully sued the Corps in federal court favor that approach, while Illinois, Indiana and local shipping interests oppose it.
‘Jihad Jane’ gets 10-year term
PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia-area woman who supported violent jihadists under the online screen name “Jihad Jane” was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Petrese B. Tucker described acts undertaken by Colleen LaRose – including helping plot to assassinate in 2009 a Danish cartoonist who had offended some Muslims – as “gravely serious.”
Pleading for clemency, LaRose, wearing a dark headscarf and green prison jumpsuit, said she remained committed to Islam but has since rejected violent jihad.
She has cooperated on several government terrorism investigations since her arrest in 2009.
Priest was beaten to death
GRANTS PASS, Ore. – A beloved priest who was killed in the Northern California city of Eureka was beaten to death with a wooden stake and a metal gutter pipe, his autopsy shows.
Humboldt County Coroner Dave Parris said Monday that investigators don’t want to release more details of how the Rev. Eric Freed was beaten, pending further investigation.
But at his arraignment, Gary Lee Bullock, 44, of Humboldt County, was charged with murder with a special allegation of torture. Bullock pleaded not guilty and bail was set at $1.2 million.
SAN FRANCISCO – A Chinese national called police to tell them he lit a blaze at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve, telling investigators he was driven by voices he was hearing, the FBI said Monday.
Yan Feng, 39, of Daly City, Calif., told investigators he unsuccessfully tried to use his passport to ignite gasoline he had poured on the consulate’s door and steps, an FBI affidavit said.
The suspect, who has permanent resident status, made his first court appearance Monday.
No one was hurt in the blaze that charred a doorway and damaged the lobby of the building.